I've Cried Enough For All Of Us: The Mabel Fairbanks Story

Photo courtesy "Ebony" magazine

"I have a certain way of being in this world, and I shall not, I shall not be moved from doing what I think is right by jealousy, ignorance or hate." - Maya Angelou

"I do not skate with my feet but with my head." - Mabel Fairbanks, "The Chicago World", June 26, 1948

Mabel Fairbanks was born on November 14, 1915 on the land of the Seminole people in the Florida Everglades. She didn't know her father and her mother died at the age of eight, after which she was raised by her grandmother in Jacksonville. At the age of fourteen, she was sent up to New York City to live with her sister and take a business course. While working as a babysitter to a young mother, she watched other people her age skating on a small pond that wasn't far from Central Park and was so taken by the sport that she became determined to take it up herself. 

Using a dollar and twenty five cents from her meagre babysitting wages, Mabel bought a pair of used skates at a pawn shop that were two sizes two big and stuffed them so they'd fit, and headed out skating on the pond. She struggled with the subpar ice conditions and an onlooker suggested that she'd fare better at an actual rink. To say Mabel, who was of both African American and Seminole heritage, wasn't exactly accepted with open arms was the understatement of the century. A cashier at the Gay Blades Ice Casino on Broadway and 52nd Street told her "blacks didn't skate there". She returned several time and each time was told th same thing and turned away. Finally, Lewis Clark (a manager at the rink) let her take to the ice. Maribel Vinson Owen and Howard Nicholson were sympathetic and offered her some tips, but she certainly wasn't welcomed to the sport with open arms.

Photo courtesy "Ebony" magazine

I want to get a few things across here. This wasn't the bible belt; this wasn't Alabama, Tennessee or Arkansas. This was New York City and the racism wasn't watered down in the least. Maribel Vinson Owen and Howard Nicholson weren't permitted to teach Mabel on the regular sessions, so they stayed behind and gave her free lessons on the public sessions because she saw something in her. When you have rinks blatantly posting signs that say "No Negroes Allowed", not only was Mabel at risk of being booted out of there at any minute, Maribel and Howard were in real danger of losing her jobs and/or students for helping Mabel... and that's a big part of this story that's not given much contemplation. Also, Mabel just wasn't a good skater, she was an excellent skater. Yet, she couldn't test or compete. Want someone to point your finger at? Look no further than the two men who held the presidency of U.S. Figure Skating from 1930 to 1937 in alternating terms: eight-time U.S. Champion Sherwin Badger and former pairs skater Charlie Morgan Rotch. They called the shots at the time. They could have changed things if they wanted to, but they didn't. This isn't really about finger pointing though, because right down to the cashier who wouldn't let Mabel in to skate to the parents and fellow skaters who viewed her with derision, racism was and is a societal problem... not just an issue of a couple jerks being jerks. 

Photo courtesy "Opportunity" magazine

At any rate, the ever-determined Mabel didn't give up hope of being able to compete with her peers and even tried to do something about it. In the "LA Times" in 1998, she recalled, "I wanted to train for the Olympics. So I went to black doctors, lawyers, teachers, anyone I could think of who might help fund lessons and everything I'd need. They all said, 'Go away little girl.'" By now most people would have hung up their skates but Mabel wasn't having it one bit.

In 1940, Mabel ultimately made the decision to leave New York City behind and move to California. With the help of a promoter named Wally Hunter, she embarked on a professional career, performing with Belita in "Rhapsody On Ice" at the Teatro Blanquita in Havana, in USO nightclub shows in France and Germany, "School Days On Ice", George Arnold's Ice Revue in Palm Springs and on an ice tanks installed at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem and the Gayety Theatre and Play Room Night Club in Los Angeles. She also performed as a dancer in a floor show called "Harlem Holidays" at the Little Harlem Club in Los Angeles, wowing audiences with a dance she called the 'Holly-Harlem-Hula-Boogie'. She'd received instruction in dance from Jean Hamilton of Michael's School of Acrobatics.

Bob Turk and Mabel Fairbanks. Photo courtesy "Ebony" magazine.

A clip of Mabel's skating found its way to the "All-American News" - America's first newsreel catering to black audiences - in 1945. Her skating took her to places of the world many only dreamed of visiting, but when she wanted to be considered for the big touring ice shows of the time - the Ice Capades and Follies, she was flatly turned down and told, "We don't have Negroes in ice shows." A letter to Sonja Henie, whom she'd idolized after seeing "One In A Million", went unanswered. 

Photo courtesy "JET" Magazine

World Champion Randy Gardner explained, "Mabel's professional skating career was during the time where there was segregation in this country and abroad. I remember her telling me that when she would do shows, during the breaks or at dinner time, she would have to sit outside away from the other cast members to eat her meal. But, Bob Turk (who later became producer and director of the Ice Capades) would go out and sit with her during those times so she wouldn't have to be alone. Even going through those experiences, she had so much spirit and drive, I guess she had to create a survival technique in order to succeed in a prejudiced world. And she did!"

Photos courtesy "Ebony" magazine (top) and "JET" magazine (bottom)

Ignoring the signs of "coloured trade not solicited" displayed in California rinks, she embarked on a lucrative coaching career in California at The Polar Palace in 1949. She continued to perform professionally throughout the fifties and early sixties, appearing in the television program "Frosty Frolics" and the International Ice Festival in Bogota, Colombia.

Photo courtesy "World Ice Skating Guide"

Mabel also toured with her own show, "Ice America", which was billed as the "world's only interracial ice and stage show". The tour donated a portion of the proceeds to the Bronx charity Eastside Settlement House Building Fund. 

In 1951, Mabel toured the Southern states in George Arnold's production "Rhythm On Ice" and was sent by Columbia Pictures to the Far East, where she was the only American star in a skating production at a Japanese rink.

Photo courtesy "Ebony" magazine

Over the years at the Polar Palace and Iceland, Mabel taught a who's who of Hollywood how to skate - Natalie Cole, Eartha Kitt and her daughter Kit, Joe Louis, Dean Martin's whole family, Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby's granddaughter among them. She also coached an impressive roster of elite competitive skaters and mentored skaters like Debi Thomas, Kristi Yamaguchi, Rudy Galindo and Scott Hamilton. If someone was too poor to pay for lessons, she taught them for free and let them stay with her at her home on Laurel Canyon Boulevard... that's what kind of woman Mabel was. She continued to fight for the rights of skaters of colour her whole life, petitioning the Culver City Skating Club to admit Richard Ewell III to its membership in 1965, making him one of the first African American skaters to gain admission to a U.S. figure skating club. The next year, she coached Atoy Wilson to become America's first U.S. champion of colour when he won the novice title at the 1966 U.S. Championships. She coached Ewell and his partner Michelle McCladdie, who become America's first African American pair team to win a U.S. junior title in 1972. When Rory Flack wanted to quit skating at the age of thirteen because of the racism she was experiencing, Mabel urged her to soldier on. 

Left: Tai Babilonia and Mabel Fairbanks. Right: Mabel Fairbanks and her student Gjert Gjertson standing in the ruins of The Polar Palace, destroyed by fire in 1962

Mabel was also the person who paired World Champions Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner. Tai recalled, "Mabel was not of this planet. She was unique, eclectic, one of a kind, motivating. I could go on and on. In the late sixties, in her locker in the back room at the rink in Culver City, she had at least four pairs of skates in different colours. I think they were Harlick's made especially for her? I never asked. A pair were pink and that's why I wear the pink skates - to honor her. She had flaming red hair, her wardrobe was different and eclectic. It looked part couture, part old pieces she had... just a mix and match of everything. It's so hard to explain her but she really liked to stand out and she knew how. She lived in Hollywood and the house is still there. For a lot of her students it was like our second home. We'd stay there after skating Friday nights and have sleepovers and she'd drive us to the rink the next day. I have magical memories of that home. She lived a block and a half north of Sunset Boulevard. It was just so normal for us. On ice, she was very much a disciplinarian but just so motivating!" 

Photo courtesy "Ebony" magazine

Randy Gardner recalled, "I started group classes with Mabel when I was seven years old. She was exuberant, colourful and fancy. I had never really met anyone quite like that before. Her personality made her classes and private lessons so much fun. I couldn't wait to get to the rink to take her class. Mabel was the one that paired up Tai and me for the local skating club show. She took a chance, I guess, but she really encouraged us to skate pairs, but neither of us really wanted to do it. After all, I was ten years old and Tai was eight. Later in life, when she had retired and health issues arose, she never forgot to call me during all the holidays, especially Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Those calls made me feel like I was special, just like she always had when I was young boy beginning to skate... She changed my life, my family's life, she changed Randy's life. Who knew it would start with something as simple as 'hold his hand and skate around the rink together'... To say that we are still holding hands so many years later, that's so powerful to me. I am so grateful for the lessons from her that I learned that I still use in my skating life and everyday life and as a mother, person and a woman. She never backed down and that's what I loved about her. You don't back down. You learn from that. She fought for herself but more than that she fought for us. She was a remarkable woman."

Photo courtesy "Ebony" magazine

Mabel devoted the majority of her time to skating, but also enjoyed swimming, playing tennis, exercising, glass etching and painting. She never really got into dating, telling an "Ebony" reporter, "Skating was my great love. Everyone wanted to marry me, but I was married to skating." Her students became almost like surrogate children to her and she coached until she was seventy nine years old. 

At the 1997 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Nashville, Mabel was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall Of Fame, a moment that meant just so much to her and the students lives that she touched. Tai Babilonia recalled, "That was her moment! I was there and Atoy [Wilson] was there. I've never seen her happier than that night.  Mabel getting that induction and to be there for her and walk her out on the ice, that is up there in the top three moments of our career, because without that, we wouldn't even be talking."

Photo courtesy "The Greater Omaha Guide"

Sadly, Mabel was diagnosed with the neuromuscular disease Myasthenia gravis in 1997. In 2001, she was also diagnosed with leukemia. She passed away in Burbank, California on September 29, 2001, the same month as the 9/11 attacks in the city she grew up as a young skater. Tai Babilonia kept in touch with Mabel until the day she passed. She received a call from Atoy Wilson letting her know that Mabel had just passed away and rushed to the hospital right away to sit with her. "I felt she was still there," Tai recalled. "To be able to sit and have that final conversation... that was a very special moment."  

In 1998, when a reporter visited Mabel's home and teared up hearing about the struggles she faced in the figure skating world, Mabel told her, "Don't cry dear... I've cried enough for all of us." Thank you, Mabel Fairbanks, for making an impact... and for never backing down.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

The Brilliant Brunet's

Photo courtesy National Archives Of Poland

Simply put, no French pairs team in history has ever replicated the achievements of the husband and wife team of Andrée (Joly) and Pierre Brunet. As a pairs team, they won eleven French national titles, a European title, four World titles and three consecutive medals (the latter two gold) at the Winter Olympic Games.

Left:  Andrée Brunet posing in her skates. Photo courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France. Right:  Andrée and Pierre Brunet in 1927. Photo courtesy National Archives Of Poland.

What made The Brunet's dominance even more incredible was that during their tenure, they also both dominated the singles competitions at the French Championships as well. Andrée won ten consecutive national titles from 1921 to 1930 and Pierre won seven men's titles to boot after claiming the silver medal in his first effort at age seventeen in 1923. Even more mind blowing was that during their career as a pair in international competition, they were only ever defeated twice: at the 1924 Olympics and the 1925 World Championships.

Photos courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France

Born in June of 1902, Pierre Brunet got his start as a skater at the age of nine when he came to Paris from Northern Paris with his father, a French industralist. His New York Times Obituary describes his beginnings as a skater: "Playing hooky one day, he stumbled upon a frozen pond in the Bois de Boulogne and was so enchanted by the novel sight of the skaters that he promptly went home, got his savings and bought himself a pair of skates and a book of instruction." According to Steve Milton's book "Figure Skating's Greatest Stars", "Brunet was a 19-year-old engineering student at Paris Technical Institute when he met Andrée Joly on Paris' only indoor rink... 'When I saw a couple engaged in skating pairs for the first time, I gave up the idea of engineering,' Brunet recalled to New Yorker magazine in 1954. 'I could see that there was so much to be done,., from an engineer's point of view.'" And invoke change was exactly what these two did.

Photos courtesy National Archives of Poland, Bibliothèque nationale de France

The Brunet's were every bit as groundbreaking as they were unbeatable. They invented mirror skating, the term coined to describe performing side-by-side movements in opposite directions (such as jumps and spins) in unison and Andrée broke convention of the times by wearing black skates like her partner's and wore black instead of the customary white dress of the time to match her partner's costume. They were lauded for being the first team to present a more complete package. American judge Joel Liberman wrote: "They have everything: program, rhythm, speed, style and personality. One cannot think of them apart. Even their separating moves are part of a pairs picture." Though their performance of the first one handed lift in ISU competition was a technical innovation, Pierre Brunet himself once famously said that skating was becoming "a sport for kangaroos" in reference to the drive to add more and more athletic jumps to programs.

Marrying in 1929 halfway through their competitive career, the pair soldiered on, winning their final World title in 1935. They turned professional prior to the 1936 Winter Olympics in Germany,
refusing to participate or support the Nazi propaganda that was thematic in those Games.

Top: Otto Gold, Joy Ricketts and Andrée and Pierre Brunet in "St. Moritz And The Engadine Express". Middle: Andrée and Pierre Brunet striking a pose. Bottom: Andrée and Pierre Brunet at the fore of a group of bowing skaters at the Palais de Glace in Paris.

After narrowly losing the World Professional title, they appeared in "Rhapsody On Ice" at London's Royal Opera House  alongside professional star Belita and "St. Moritz And The Engadine Express" at the Stoll Theatre with Otto Gold. They emigrated to the U.S. in 1940, appeared in numerous carnivals and took up coaching. During World War II, they ran a summer school at the Pullar Ice Stadium in Sault St. Marie, Michigan.

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

Their son Jean-Pierre Brunet was a very successful skater in his own right who won two U.S. pairs titles with his partner Donna Pospisil in 1945 and 1946. Tragically, the summer after he won his second U.S. pairs title, he was tragically killed in an automobile accident at the age of nineteen in his prime. This loss would have unhinged many parents but as coaches, The Brunet's were every bit as unstoppable as they were competitors.

Andrée and Pierre Brunet with baby Jean-Pierre in Paris. Photo courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France.

They taught at the New York Skating Club's rink at the old Madison Square Garden and later in Long Island, Illinois and Michigan, Among their pupils at one point or another were some of the sport's most iconic champions, names like Carol Heiss Jenkins, Donald Jackson, Janet Lynn, Gordon McKellen, Alain Giletti, Alain Calmat, Scott Hamilton and Dorothy Hamill.

Photos courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Olympic Gold Medallist Carol Heiss Jenkins spoke of her time with The Brunet's in her 2012 interview with Allison Manley for the Manleywoman SkateCast: "So I was a member of the Brooklyn Figure Skating Club until I was about six, and someone said to my mom, you should get in touch with the Brunets. And by the time we joined the Skating Club of New York, we were all skating. I didn’t take from Mr. Brunet right away. I started with his wife Andrée, everyone had to start with her and you had to be just a little bit better. I do remember very clearly skating around him when he was giving lessons, I was probably a real pest, so he would see me and notice me because I wanted to take from him so badly. So finally after about a year of taking from Mrs. Brunet, my mom said I would get a tryout lesson with Mr. Brunet, and oh my gosh, I was just beside myself. And I had Mr. Brunet as my coach for all those years, from when I was six and a half, and he was the only coach I ever had, except during the summer when he didn’t teach and we would go away and take from someone else for a few weeks... Pierre was a second father to me, and I can say that now because as the years went by, my mother became ill, and he comforted me during my mother’s death. I trained six days a week, I didn’t always have a lesson every day, but he was always in the rink nearby. And as the years went by we had some heartaches and tragedies, his son being killed in 1948 at the age of 18, and then my mother’s death. And then the wonderful times, winning my first national championship, getting my Axel, getting my double Axel clean, winning the world championship, and of course the Olympics. As I got older and thought back to the lessons at the rink, he would talk about politics, he would talk about what was going on that day, and if you didn’t know what was going on, he told you to read the newspaper."

Photo courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France

Scott Hamilton too spoke of his time working with Pierre Brunet in his book "The Great Eight": "I was intoxicated by everything Pierre offered... He would come to the rink every day, dressed formally in a white shirt, jacket and tie, and he spoke with a thick, French accent. He did everything as classy as it could be done. He introduced me to structure and discipline in my skating for the first time. I responded very well to his coaching style."

Photo courtesy "World Ice Skating Guide"

Pierre Brunet continued to coach star pupils until his retirement in 1979 although his wife retired earlier due to a back injury suffered in a car accident. One moment that stands out when thinking of Pierre Brunet is his recognition of Janet Lynn's amazing talent, for it was he that encouraged her to go out and bow to the appreciative audience when she didn't medal at the World Championships despite giving an otherworldly free skate.

Dismayed by the elimination of compulsory figures in world competition the year previous, Pierre Brunet passed away of Parkinson's Disease at his home in Boyne City, Michigan on July 27, 1991 at the age of eighty nine. Andrée too, would pass away at age ninety one in Boyne City in 1993. Though Abitbol and Bernardis claimed bronze in 2000, the Brunet's remain to this day the only pairs team in history from France to win a World title and their contributions not only to skating but to coaching many of skating's greatest stars were absolutely vital.   

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

The Proof Is In The Precedent: A 1955 Switcharoo

If you don't share my opinion that the gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games should not have been shared and should have instead been awarded solely to Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree. Interestingly, what many people may not know is that there is absolutely precedent for something quite similar happening quite some time ago. However, since the results of the competition in question were not on an Olympic or world stage or on live internet streams and network television it is a story that remains largely unknown to many.

In 1955, what was then known as the Federal Republic Of Germany (West Germany) held their National Championships in Krefeld, a city just a few kilometers from the Rhine River more known for its twelfth Century restored Burg Linn Castle then its figure skating involvement. Most of that year's Nationals actually went on without incident and were actually held in Berlin. Marika Kilius and Franz Ningel won their first of three consecutive West German pairs titles together, Rosi Pettinger won her first of two national ladies titles and Hedwig Trauth and Wilhelm Trauth emerged victorious in the ice dance event. Only the men's event was held in Krefeld and only the men's event was bungled up... badly. Manfred Schnelldorfer (who would go on to become Olympic Gold Medallist years later) was awarded his first national title at the age of twelve ahead of Düsseldorf's Tilo Gutzeit and Werner Kronemann. That was that. Both Schnelldorfer and Gutzeit went on to compete at that year's European Championships in Budapest, Hungary, where Gutzeit outranked the twelve year old Schnelldorfer and earned a spot at that year's World Championships in Vienna, Austria. Several months down the road (after the Nationals in Krefeld and both Europeans and Worlds were held), Werner Rittberger (judge, referee and the inventor of the loop jump) acted upon his suspicion that something was amiss in the scoring of the men's event in Krefeld. He recalculated the results of the men's competition and confirmed his suspicions. The results were corrected and Gutzeit and Schnelldorfer physically exchanged their silver and gold medals.

Tilo Gutzeit

It's funny... because you think about what went on in Salt Lake City and most recently, last year at the Sochi Olympics with the ladies competition and you have to remind yourself that the results are no fault of the skaters. I still personally don't think Adelina Sotnikova or Yuna Kim's performances were as gold medal worthy as Carolina Kostner's on that given day if you're talking about the whole package and performance and not all these IJS mathematical spreadsheets... but I digress.

Under both the 6.0 and IJS judging systems the sport has seen plenty of controversial results and we'll be seeing them until 2394 when Evgeni Plushenko and Evan Lysacek's descendants are announcing their comebacks for the upcoming Olympics on the planet something or other. I think the lesson to be learned from this story is that it only takes one person in the position of authority who recognizes that something is wrong to dig a little deeper and enact real, quantitative change when the results don't end up how they are supposed to. Bravo to Werner Rittberger and to Manfred Schnelldorfer and Tilo Gutzeit - West German Champions both. To me, a fair result is a fairytale ending and a city sporting a gorgeous and historic castle with a moat couldn't have proved a more fitting backdrop if it tried.

Definitely food for thought as we head into this week's World Figure Skating Championships in Shanghai, where Ottavio Cinquanta's anonymous judging system is once again sure to cause more controversy. When does it not?

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Interview With Marie-France Dubreuil

There's a moment in every skater's career when all of the hard work seems to culminate one magical, perfect performance that literally leaves your jaw on the floor somewhere. Emotion and a connection to the music takes over and you know that you've been witness to something truly special... and timeless. That's how I felt when I watched Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon's silver medal (and free dance winning) free dance at the 2006 World Figure Skating Championships in Calgary, Alberta and how I felt watching so many of their performances throughout their long and accomplished career. With two World medals, five Canadian titles, a Four Continents title, medals at the Grand Prix Final and eleven Grand Prix events to their credit, Dubreuil and Lauzon were top contenders at almost every event they entered for close to a decade. It was a privilege to have chance to talk to Marie-France, now a professional skater, coach, choreographer and mother, about her competitive career, motherhood, coaching and life today in this must read interview. You'll love it, mark my words!:

Q: Your career has just been incredible! Five Canadian titles, two medals at the World Championships, four medals at the Four Continents Championships (including gold in 2007) and wins at Skate Canada, the NHK Trophy and the Bofrost Cup On Ice. Looking back on your competitive career now, what moments stand out as the most special or your proudest memories of them all?

A: There were two moments in my career that made me feel like I really achieved something special. Both happened in Calgary: our first Canadian title and our first medal at Worlds. The Saddledome has been mythical for so many Canadian skaters and it was for us too.

Q: I have to say, I still find myself going back and watching your "Somewhere In Time" free dance. It's just SO beautiful! Where did the concept for this particular program come from and how did it develop to get to the incredibly high level of performance that it was at by the time of the World Championships in 2006? 

A: "Somewhere In Time" was one of my favourite movies when I was younger and the first movie I cried to... probably because of the music. So, as we where looking for music for the 2006 Olympic year, I played that soundtrack for Patrice and he loved it right away. We then decided to ask our friend, famous Canadian choreographer David Wilson, to help us put it together and that's how magic happened. David doesn't normally work with ice dancers so it was sort of a gamble but we joked around thinking that if between the three of us we can't create a masterpiece... then nobody can. And we did!

Q: After such an up and down season with the injury and withdrawal in Torino and the silver medal at Worlds, you returned the following year and really dominated every competition you entered. Did you ever consider staying in until the 2010 Games in Vancouver or was it simply put time to step away?

A: 2005 to 2007 was so high in emotion and our hard work and sacrifices finally paid off during that time period. The only thing missing was an Olympic medal... but at this point I didn't enjoy training as much anymore and felt we accomplished what we wanted to do in our eligible career. Doing the Olympics in our own country would have been an awesome experience but when the heart is not there anymore it's definitely time to step away. Our previous experience taught us that you don't stay just to participate at Olympics, it's the journey there that's important and in that regard we feel that we've done it all.

Q: Not only are you and Patrice skating partners, you're married, you're parents and you coach and choreograph together. Not many people get to have that experience of getting to share their love of skating with the person they love! How do you balance your personal life with your life in the sport?

A: Balance is like happiness. You work at it all your life! I prefer to focus on what makes me joyful and complete. Long ago we decided to do skating at a level very few people reach and we decided to do the same with coaching. We dedicate a lot of time to our job but we are very passionate people and we couldn't do it any other way. When our daughter Billie-Rose showed up in our lives, she became our priority but from the beginning she also became part of our figure skating life. We toured while I was pregnant and at only seven months she was with me on Battle Of The Blades. Right away, she loved the artistry of figure skating. Billie-Rose is not even four and gives us her opinion on music and movements! She's very instinctive and a little artist in the making so I do take her opinion tenderly and seriously.

Q: Speaking of coaching, you've got an incredible roster of students right now including Sara Hurtado and Adrià Díaz, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron and Elisabeth Paradis and Francois-Xavier Ouellette. What is your philosophy as a coach and how rewarding is it to see your coaching pay off in the results these incredible ice dancers have been getting lately?

A: I learned so much in my career. I was blessed with wonderful coaches and mentors that made us grow not only as skaters but also as people. My goal as a coach is to make my skaters reach their full potential as athletes AND as individuals so they can stand strong on their two feet on and off the ice.

Q: You've done some pretty amazing things as a professional skater including touring with Stars On Ice and appearing on three seasons of Battle Of The Blades where you skated into the top three with your hockey player partners ALL THREE TIMES! This December, you went to Illinois to skate in the Shall We Dance On Ice show with skaters like Davis and White, Anissina and Peizerat, Belbin and Agosto and Sinead and John Kerr. Is touring or competing professionally something you'd do if the opportunity arised or are shows your preference? 

A: I am a natural performer and always will be. My career as a performer is more or less over but once in a while when my agent has an interesting offer that can be worked around my coaching schedule, I do it. Shall We Dance was a great concept and I was thrilled to be a part of this show and to skate one more time with my husband. Patrice and I hadn't performed together in five years so we tried to enjoy ourselves and disconnect from our coaching duties for two days.

Q: If someone was coming to Marie-France Dubreuil's house for a fabulous dinner, what would be on the menu?

A: Champagne and oysters to start followed by maple wild salmon with organic salad and vegetables! Sorbet and berries for dessert or maybe Patrice's famous gluten free brownies.

Q: Who are your three favourite skaters (or ice dance teams) of all time and why?

A: Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov were my absolute favourites. As competitors, they were great. Perfect classical lines and effortless speed but to me as professional skaters they reached a level of artistry and intimacy in their already perfect skating that will probably never be matched. Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean because their skating is smart. Brilliant and intricate with a perfect understanding of the blade movement on the ice. Needless to say, Christopher's work is phenomenal! I would love to borrow his brain during any choreography session. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir because they are a mix of my two favourite teams. Beautiful lines, great technique, effortless skating and a real connection between them that makes you forget they're on skates. On top of that, they're the nicest people you'll ever meet!

Q: What's one thing most people don't know about you?

A: Music has a lot of influence on my mood and I listen to a wide variety through out the day. Hip hop in the morning to pump me up as I drive to the rink, classical music or jazz when I drive back home to relax and disconnect from coaching and hard rock when I clean the house!

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Patinage Poetry: The Language Of The Ice (Part Deux)

How doth I love skating? Let me count the ways... Just prior to the Sochi Olympics, I put together a collection of poetry about skating called Patinage Poetry: The Language Of The Ice. Most of these poems came from Edgar Syers' book "The Poetry Of Skating". The topic of poetry (which I just love) also recurred in Georg Heym: The Skating Prophet. One of my readers from Italy kindly provided me with a translation of  "Invernale" (Wintry) by Guido Gozzano, published for the first time in 1910. The location described in this poem is a skating pond at Parco del Valentino (Valentino Park) in Turin, Italy and my lovely translator noted its "belle époque feel, despite its darker undertones, that remind me a bit of the Regent Park's Skating Tragedy you described on your blog". They also suggested that I do a second edition of "Patinage Poetry". After reading this poem, I was raring for Part Deux. Starting with the translation of Gozzano's poem, here's another collection of skating related poetry that you're going to just love:

"INVERNALE" BY GUIDO GOZZANO (1910)

«...cri...i...i...i...icch...»
l'incrinatura
il ghiaccio rabescò, stridula e viva.
«A riva!» Ognuno guadagnò la riva
disertando la crosta malsicura.
«A riva! A riva!...» Un soffio di paura
disperse la brigata fuggitiva.

«Resta!» Ella chiuse il mio braccio conserto,
le sue dita intrecciò, vivi legami,
alle mie dita. «Resta, se tu m'ami!»
E sullo specchio subdolo e deserto
soli restammo, in largo volo aperto,
ebbri d'immensità, sordi ai richiami.

Fatto lieve così come uno spetro,
senza passato più, senza ricordo,
m'abbandonai con lei, nel folle accordo,
di larghe rote disegnando il vetro.
Dall'orlo il ghiaccio fece cricch, più tetro...
dall'orlo il ghiaccio fece cricch, più sordo...

Rabbrividii così, come chi ascolti
lo stridulo sogghigno della Morte,
e mi chinai, con le pupille assorte,
e trasparire vidi i nostri volti
già risupini lividi sepolti...
Dall'orlo il ghiaccio fece cricch, più forte...

Oh! Come, come, a quelle dita avvinto,
rimpiansi il mondo e la mia dolce vita!
O voce imperiosa dell'istinto!
O voluttà di vivere infinita!
Le dita liberai da quelle dita,
e guadagnai la ripa, ansante, vinto...

Ella solo restò, sorda al suo nome,
rotando a lungo, nel suo regno solo.
Le piacque, alfine, ritoccare il suolo;
e ridendo approdò, sfatta le chiome,
e bella ardita palpitante come
la procellaria che raccoglie il volo.

Non curante l'affanno e le riprese
dello stuolo gaietto femminile,
mi cercò, mi raggiunse tra le file
degli amici con ridere cortese:
«Signor mio caro grazie!» E mi protese
la mano breve, sibilando: «Vile!».

(translation)

"..cre...ee..ee..ee...ak..."
the rift, harsh and vital,
arabesqued the ice.
"Ashore!" Everybody reached the shore
fleeing the unsound crust.
"Ashore! Ashore!..." A blast of fear
dispersed the fugitive brigade.

"Stay!" She clutched my arm,
she entwined her fingers, vital ties,
to my fingers. "Stay, if you love me!"
And on that slippery, deserted mirror
we stayed alone, in a wide free flight,
elated with infinity, deaf to their calls.

As light as a ghost,
with no past or memory,
I abandoned myself with her, in foolish harmony,
as we drew big circles on the glass.
From the edge the ice creaked – gloomier...
from the edge the ice creaked – more muffled...

I shivered as if I were listening to
Death's shrill grin,
and I bent with pensive eyes,
and I saw our faces showing through,
already supine,livid, buried...
From the edge the ice creaked – louder...

Oh! How, clutched at those fingers,
how I missed the world and my sweet life!
Oh, imperious voice of my instinct!
Oh, infinite joy of living!
I freed my fingers from those fingers,
and I reached the shore, gasping, defeated...

She stayed alone, deaf to her name,
turning at length in her lonely kingdom.
Eventually, she felt like coming back to earth:
she landed, laughing, her hair undone,
beautiful, brave, palpitating, as
a storm petrel folding its wings.

Indifferent to the worry and the rebukes
of the colourful feminine crowd,
she pursued me, she reached me
among my friends, smiling graciously:
"My dear sir, thank you!" And she shook
my hand briefly, sibilating: "Coward!"

"UNDERNEATH" BY J.W. DEFOREST (1902)

The skater lightly laughs and glides,
Unknowing that, beneath the ice
Whereon he carves his fair device,
A stiflened corpse in silence slides.

It glareth upward at his play;
Its rigid, ashy fingers steal
Beneath his gaily flying heel;
It floats along and floats away.

He has not seen its horror pass;
His heart is blithe; the village hears
His distant laughter; he careers
In festive waltz athwart the glass.

We are the skaters, we who skim
The glare of life's enchanted flood,
And drive with gladness in the blood
A daring dance from brim to brim.

Our feet are swift, our faces burn,
Our hopes aspire like soaring birds;
The world takes courage from our words
And sees the golden time return.

But ever near us, silent, cold,
Are those who bounded from the bank
With eager hearts, like us, and sank
Because their feet were overbold.

They sank through breathing-holes of vice,
Through luring sheens of unbelief;
They know not their despair and grief;
Their hearts and minds are turned to ice.

"ICE-SKATING" BY CAITLYN C. WARNBERG (2012)

My legs are shaking as I step 

Onto a frozen lake

In skates that are not my own.

He grabs my hands

and whirls me in a wide circle

I scream and beg for him to stop.

He leaves me for a while

to wobble slowly

on my own.

Then he returns with a shopping cart

And dumps me in it

To push me across the lake

At an alarming rate.

With tears in my eyes

I beg him to stop.

I know I am being jettisoned

Towards my death.

"LITTLE CHINCHILLA" BY PAUL ALFRED RUBENS (1872)

She wears the shortest skirts,
And shows the whitest frilling;
She looks, as Queen of Flirts,
Miraculously killing!
She'll skim the thinnest ice,
As light as Queen Camilla;
She looks supremely nice—
My little pet Chinchilla!

Oh, should the gracious fates
But deign to be propitious,
I strap her fairy skates
On furry boots delicious;
Her willing hand I take,
In spite of Aunt Priscilla,
Then speed I o'er the lake
With little love Chinchilla!

The sleekest otter cuffs,
The rosiest of real skin,
The sablle-est of muffs,
The softest gloves of seal-skin,
The quaintest hose with "clocks,"
A "cloud" like a mantilla,
The velvetest of frocks—
Wears little sweet Chinchilla!

The warmth of her regard
I take as sort of token;
Although 'tis freezing hard.
Our social ice is broken!
Coquettish in her furs,
She minds not my Manilla;
Ah! what a glance is hers,
My little dear Chinchilla!

She'll figure, glide, and twirl,
And worry the officials;
She'll cut out ev'ry girl
As easy as initials!
Oh, I could skate for miles,
Or dance a seguidilla,
Cheered by the sunny smiles
Of little smart Chinchilla!

Had I enough a year
To find my sweet in sable;
To wrap my dainty dear
In ermine were I able;
Had I a longer purse,
A neat suburban villa—
For better or for worse

I'd take my pet Chinchilla!

"THE SKATER" BY SIR CHARLES GEORGE DOUGLAS ROBERTS (1901)

My glad feet shod with the glittering steel
I was the god of the wingèd heel.

The hills in the far white sky were lost;
The world lay still in the wide white frost;

And the woods hung hushed in their long white dream
By the ghostly, glimmering, ice-blue stream.

Here was a pathway, smooth like glass,
Where I and the wandering wind might pass

To the far-off palaces, drifted deep,
Where Winter's retinue rests in sleep.

I followed the lure, I fled like a bird,
Till the startled hollows awoke and heard

A spinning whisper, a sibilant twang,
As the stroke of the steel on the tense ice rang;

And the wandering wind was left behind
As faster, faster I followed my mind;

Till the blood sang high in my eager brain,
And the joy of my flight was almost pain.

The I stayed the rush of my eager speed
And silently went as a drifting seed, --

Slowly, furtively, till my eyes
Grew big with the awe of a dim surmise,

And the hair of my neck began to creep
At hearing the wilderness talk in sleep.

Shapes in the fir-gloom drifted near.
In the deep of my heart I heard my fear.

And I turned and fled, like a soul pursued,
From the white, inviolate solitude.

"THE MIDNIGHT SKATERS" BY ROGER MCGOUGH (1989)

It is midnight in the ice rink

And all is cool and still.

Darkness seems to hold its breath

Nothing moves, until

Out of the kitchen, one by one,

The cutlery comes creeping,

Quiet as mice to the brink of the ice

While all the world is sleeping.

Then suddenly, a serving-spoon

Switches on the light,

And the silver swoops upon the ice

Screaming with delight.

The knives are high-speed skaters

Round and round they race,

Blades hissing, sissing,

Whizzing at a dizzy pace.

Forks twirl like dancers

Pirouetting on the spot.

Teaspoons (who take no chances)

Hold hands and giggle a lot.

All night long the fun goes on

Until the sun, their friend,

Gives the warning signal

That all good things must end.

So they slink back to the darkness

of the kitchen cutlery-drawer

And steel themselves to wait

Until it's time to skate once more.

At eight the canteen ladies

Breeze in as good as gold

To lay the tables and wonder

Why the cutlery is so cold.

EXCERPT FROM "THE SKATERS" BY JOHN ASHBERY (1963-1964)

A great wind lifted these cardboard panels

Horizontal in the air. At once the perspective with the horse

Disappeared in a bigarrure of squiggly lines. The image with the crocodile in it became no longer apparent.

Thus a great wind cleanses, as a new ruler

Edits new laws, sweeping the very breath of the streets

Into posterior trash. The films have changed-

The great titles on the scalloped awning have turned dry and blight-colored.

No wind that does not penetrate a man's house, into the very bowels of the furnace,

Scratching in dust a name on the mirror-say, and what about letters,

The dried grasses, fruits of the winter-gosh! Everything is trash!

The wind points to the advantages of decay

At the same time as removing them far from the sight of men.

The regent of the winds, Aeolus, is a symbol for all earthly potentates

Since holding this sickening, festering process by which we are cleansed

Of afterthought.

A girl slowly descended the line of steps.

The wind and treason are partners, turning secrets over to the military police.

Lengthening arches. The intensity of minor acts. As skaters elaborate their distances,

Taking a separate line to its end. Returning to the mass, they join each other

Blotted in an incredible mess of dark colors, and again reappearing to take the theme

Some little distance, like fishing boats developing from the land different parabolas,

Taking the exquisite theme far, into farness, to Land's End, to the ends of the earth!

But the livery of the year, the changing air

Bring each to fulfillment. Leaving phrases unfinished,

Gestures half-sketched against woodsmoke. The abundant sap

Oozes in girls' throats, the sticky words, half-uttered, unwished for,

A blanket disbelief, quickly supplanted by idle questions that fade in turn.

Slowly the mood turns to look at itself as some urchin

Forgotten by the roadside. New schemes are got up, new taxes,

Earthworks. And the hours becomes light again.

Girls wake up in it.

It is best to remain indoors. Because there is error

In so much precision. As flames are fanned, wishful thinking arises

Bearing its own prophets, its pointed ignoring. And just as a desire

Settles down at the end of a long spring day, over heather and watered shoot and dried rush field,

So error is plaited into desires not yet born.

Time for a note about John Ashbery's "The Skaters"! I chose this particular excerpt for its lush imagery. "The Skaters" is actually a seven hundred and thirty nine line poem written over the course of two years by Ashbery so for brevity's sake I didn't dream of including the poem in its entirety. There was another poem that I actually had in the back of my head when I was compiling the first collection of Patinage Poetry that I chose not to include here but to devote an entire other blog to, because I really wanted to break down and talk about it. So, poetry fans - we're not done yet! That one will be coming soon. If poetry isn't really usually your thing, I hope this little collection might have changed your mind a little.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Karl Schäfer: Vienna's Golden Boy

Photo courtesy United Archives

Hailing from Vienna, Austria, Karl Schäfer remains to this day one of the most accomplished male athletes figure skating has ever seen. Along with Gillis Grafström and Dick Button, he is one of only three skaters to win an Olympic men's title more than once (not counting Evgeni Plushenko who won an Olympic men's and team gold medal). He won a whopping seven consecutive World titles from 1930 to 1936 and eight consecutive European titles from 1929 to 1936. However, the story of Karl Schäfer is so much more than trophies and medals and through a little research, I'm excited to be able to share a bit more of that story with you than you might have previously known.

Photos courtesy German Federal Archive, Bildarchiv Austria

Karl Schäfer was born on May 17, 1909 and like most who make it to the top took up skating at a young age. He was discovered by coach Rudolf Kutzer at eleven years of age and trained at the Eduard Engelmann Sr.'s rink in Hernals and Wiener Eislaufverein in Vienna.

Although Karl was well known as a master of the school figures, he was quite an athlete for the time and as early as 1925 in his mid-teens was practicing double loops and double Lutzes at events, long before anyone had officially landed either in competition. He was an unconventional competitor in that while most skaters of the era designed their programs without music and asked an on-site orchestra to play a waltz or a ten-step as a simple backdrop to the steps, spins and jumps in their free skating routine, he created actual choreography on the fly that properly interpreted the music played. He was in this way seemingly much like master improviser Gary Beacom. In his book "Figure Skating's Greatest Stars", Steve Milton shared U.S. judge Joel Liberman's impression of Karl's free skating: "Schäfer says he has no real program. He introduces elements from his vast pool of them, as the music allows. His rather casual program depends upon execution and surprise more than pattern. Every move with Schäfer must be a novelty." Among his trademarks were his Axel, spread eagle and sit spin.

Not only a strong skater, Karl found success as a swimmer, winning the Austrian breaststroke title seven times. At the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, he competed in the two hundred meter breaststroke. After qualifying from the first heat with a time of 2:56.6, he was unfortunately eliminated in the second semi-final of the event. He and Eduard Engelmann Jr. also won three Austrian titles in motorboating (Peter Griffin laugh) in the 750 cm3 class.

Top: Karl Schäfer and EWASK swimmer Herr Jahn. Photo courtesy Bildarchiv Austria.. Bottom: Karl playing table tennis with Cecilia Colledge in Lugano.

Karl was also a very talented musician as well. He played both the saxophone and violin and later in life had his very own dance band. One might say that his understanding of music while playing it contributed to his ability to so expertly improvise to and interpret it. The versatile Austrian also excelled as tennis.

Karl's career wasn't without controversy, and the biggest one was through absolutely no fault of his own. At the 1930 European Championships, the referee and Yugoslavian judge both were not certified by the ISU. This fact wasn't discovered until after the competition. Czechoslovakian Jozef Sliva (who had never placed higher than fourth at an international competition) won, defeating Karl, and the ISU ended up ordering the competition to be reskated a month later in Berlin. Karl won; Sliva did not attend. Gotta love judging funny business. It's been around since the beginning and still goes on...

Okay, back! Just had to get a quick hug from Alla Shekhovtsova. We'll carry on with Karl Schäfer!

Photo courtesy Bildarchiv Austria

After defeating a who's who of skating during that era to win his seven World titles and two Olympic gold medals including three time and reigning Olympic men's champion Gillis Grafström at the 1932 Games, Karl retired from competition in 1936. He married fellow skater Christine Engelmann and skated professionally in U.S. club carnivals, on Crystal Lake in West Orange, New Jersey and on his Gay Blades tour with 1932 Olympic Bronze Medallist Maribel Vinson (where she met her future husband Guy Owen).

Left: Karl Schäfer and his wife Christine Engelmann. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland. Right: Karl Schäfer and a group of young German skaters prior to World War II. Photo courtesy United Archives.

In 1938, he returned to Vienna and opened a sports store. He also worked with skating coach Herta Wachter and formed the Karl-Schäfer-Eisrevue, which was a forerunner to the popular Vienna Ice Revue. In 1943, Karl and Olly Holzmann starred in the film "Der weiße Traum" (The White Dream), which was produced on Engelmann's ice rink.

Photos courtesy United Archives

By the end of World War II, Eduard Engelmann Sr. had passed away and the rink had been damaged badly by bombings. Karl worked with the family both physically and financially to help rebuild it. He stayed and taught skating at the rink for ten years before moving to the U.S. to teach skaters there until 1962. He then returned to his beloved Vienna where he lived and taught skating until his death on April 23, 1976 at the age of only sixty six. He was buried in the Hernalser cemetery in Vienna in the Engelmann family tomb.

Karl Schäfer, Sepp and Josef Staudinger. Photo courtesy Bildarchiv Austria.

According to Siegfried Neuhold, "Schäfer received the large gold medal for services to the Republic of Austria and the large golden Medal of the Province of Vienna. In the foyer, the stairway to the ice skating rink in the Syring 6-8 in 1988 unveiled a plaque commemorating Karl. A street in Vienna was named after him." Within the figure skating community, he was remembered with the annual Karl Schäfer Memorial competition, which was held annually from 1974 to 2008. Winners over the years included fantastic skaters like Brian Orser, Nancy Kerrigan, Lu Chen, Carolina Kostner, Tatiana Volosozhar, Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas, Laetitia Hubert, Rudy Galindo, Nicole Bobek, Michael Chack, Kyoko Ina and Jason Dungjen, Tomáš Verner, Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin and Krisztina Czako, In 1997 and 2005 the event served as an Olympic qualifying competition for countries who had not previously qualified spots for skaters through the World Championships process.

Karl Schäfer presenting a young skater to Prince Bernhard at the Wiener Stadthalle in 1962. Photo courtesy Dutch National Archives. 

Karl  not only made it through seven years on the top undefeated with the exception of that hullabaloo in 1930, but also went on to do a really good thing for skating. He personally helped rebuild the rink that he trained on after World War II, which provided a training space for a whole new generation of talented skaters in his country to succeed and carry on where he'd finished... and Austrian skaters did continue to succeed! I also love that he shared his knowledge in the U.S. as well. We owe a lot of gratitude for this man's contributions to skating.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.