Discover The History Of Figure Skating!
The 1971 European Figure Skating Championships
Canadian Skating Carnivals Through The Years
"Lions and tigers and bears... oh my!" The famous line from "The Wizard Of Oz" describes three animals you'd likely find at any zoo... as well as three costumes that you'll be bound to see at any skating club's annual club carnival or ice show. These annual fundraising efforts have been staples of Canada's figure skating scene for well over a century and truth be told, the general format hasn't differed all that much. The club's best skaters typically perform solos and duets, while the up-and-comers are relegated to the lion, tiger and bear costumes. Guest skaters might be brought in to fill up seats; the club's professionals might even dust off an old standby and get in on the fun. Yet, when we go back through the accounts and pictures of these shows, we sense just how much skating clubs have evolved through the years. Hop in the time machine and I'll show you just what I'm talking about!
1975 (ST. ALBERT FIGURE SKATING CLUB)
On January 18, 1975, the St. Albert Figure Skating Club just northwest of Edmonton showed just how excited a tiny skating club could be over a bit of star power. In what was great 'get' for the mostly recreational club, they snagged Canadian Champions Louise and Barry Soper for "An Afternoon With The Sopers". Fourteen guest skaters from Edmonton complemented the skaters from St. Albert, which only numbered forty. The show played to a packed house and helped generate interest in ice dancing in the area.
Rollers And Ice: The Gloria Nord Story
Born August 2, 1922 in Santa, Monica, California, Gloria Louise Nordskog was the youngest of Arne and Daisy Nordskog's five children. Born and raised in Iowa, where he met his wife, Arne Nordskog was a successful concert tenor and politician of Norwegian descent who co-founded the Hollywood Bowl and established one of the first opera companies in Los Angeles. Around the same time as his daughter's birth, his short lived Nordskog Records company produced the only recordings of Canadian vaudeville singer Eva Tanguay. Little did he know at the time that his infant daughter would grow up to become perhaps the most famous roller skater of all time.
Young Gloria got her start as a dancer, performing professionally in Vaudeville style shows in nightclubs at the tender age of nine and using the money towards ballet classes. As a teenager, she attended Miss Long's Professional School. Having received her first pair of ice skates at the age of four, she took a break from her studies and headed to the Polar Palace and took the ice to do her best impression of Sonja Henie.
Travelling throughout North America and even to Cuba with mother Daisy in tow, Gloria was hailed by reporters as "Sonja Henie on rollers". Her style was heavy on showmanship. In the "Fabulous Ice Age" documentary, Gloria recalled, "The first time I met [Sonja] she came and watched me. In her next movie, I saw some of my arm movements. But that's okay... I copied her. I didn't know anything about skating until I saw her. So that was fine... I was flattered."
Gloria was by all accounts an incredibly hard worker, and despite numerous tumbles and mishaps, American audiences embraced her glamorous style. Tour life wasn't without its tribulations though. At one show in Duluth, Minnesota, her roller skates were stolen. When she arrived in the next city, the police were called and a car was dispatched to the nearest sports outfitter to fetch her a new pair. Dennis Holman, writing for "The Newcastle Sun" on July 22, 1954, claimed, "The car, escorted by motor cyclists, and with sirens screaming, rushed a new pair to Gloria with five minutes to spare." After that, she carried two extra pairs of roller skates with her to every show. At another show, a stuffed lamb mounted on skates used as a prop in one of her numbers was stolen and placed among a flock of real sheep. Neither Gloria nor the police called in to look for Gloria's Little Lamb were amused.
Gloria suitably impressed film scouts at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1943 and was, along with her "Skating Vanities" cast, brought in to roller skate in the 1944 Twentieth Century-Fox film "Pin Up Girl" which starred her old friend Betty Grable. Her appearance in publicity materials surrounding the film earned her a following with U.S. soldiers.
Gloria ultimately made her big figure skating debut alongside Daphne Walker at Wembley's Empire Pool in Arnold's production of "Sleeping Beauty". The show, which was in direct competition with Claude Langdon's "Jack And The Beanstalk On Ice" at Empress Hall starring none other than Belita, was a success. The two years, she appeared in "Chu Chin Chow On Ice" and "Ice Circus Of 1952" at Wembley. She said, "I have skated on rollers so much for so long at a time that I find when I go ice skating that it sharpens me up, is just enough different to keep my wits about me, and because I do not feel quite as much at home, the 'existence' of hands, arm movements and free-leg position becomes more conscious and I become less careless."
On January 7, 1955 at the age of thirty, Gloria married her twenty-seven year old roller skating partner Edwin Delbridge at a Presbyterian chapel in Los Angeles and returned to "Skating Vanities" as a special guest, performing in South America in what would be her final tour. By the early sixties, she'd hung up her skates permanently. She later remarried and had two hip replacements and surgery on her toe, but according to her Washington Post obituary, "She continued to dance socially and wear high heels."
Gloria passed away at the age of eighty-seven on December 30, 2010 in Mission Vieho, California. Although best remembered today - and rightfully so - for her accolades on rollers, her brave transition to the ice is an often overlooked footnote from skating history that is absolutely worthy of recognition.
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.
Exploring The Collections: Protocols
Every Skate Guard blog that is put together draws from a variety of different sources - everything from museum and library holdings and genealogical research to newspaper archives and dusty old printed materials I've amassed over the last ten years or so. This year, I thought it would be fun to give you a bit of a 'behind the scenes' look at the Skate Guard Collections, which include books, magazines, VHS tapes, show and competition programs, photographs and many other items. These Collections date back to the nineteenth century and chronicle figure skating's rich history from the days of quaint waltzes in coats and tails to quadruple toe-loop's. Whether you're doing your own research about a famous 'fancy' skater in your family tree or a long-lost ice rink in your community or just have a general skating history question you can't find the answer to online, I'm always happy to draw on these resources and try to help if I can.
This month, I'd like to talk about protocols. Historically, after every major ISU Championship, a summary of the results as approved by the referee has been made available shortly afterwards. Thanks to the generosity of BIS Historian Elaine Hooper, there are at this time a dozen of these protocols in the Skate Guard collections, spanning from the fifties to the seventies. These booklets are brimming with useful information. A time schedule of the events, the size of the ice surface used, the weather conditions for each phase of the competition (if outdoors) is always included. In singles, the school figures drawn are listed and in ice dance, the compulsory dances drawn are stated. There are also, of course, detailed results and ordinals (and on some occasions the actual marks given), the names of the officials and podium photos.
When you look at these protocols, you'll really get a more detailed picture as to the judging of each international competition than you would if you popped a competition into the Google. As an example, the protocol for the pairs event at the 1950 World Championships in London tells us, "Originally the 7th and 9th places were transposed. The correct result above for the 7th place is arrived at by the application of Rule 314 para 4 concerning the lower total of place numbers when the majority of more than one competitor are equal. The 8th and 9th places are decided by absolute majorities under Rule 314 para 1."
In terms of historical research, protocols are valuable because they were the approved, official results of each competition at the time. Unfortunately, due to 'the telephone game', incorrect competition results are sometimes shared on the internet. Going back to the original, primary sources ensures us that we are 'getting it right' when we look back at a competition that occurred thirty or forty years ago through a modern lens.
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 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.