Interview With Angelo D'Agostino

If you followed figure skating in the eighties, chances are you've watched some amazing performances by my latest interview victim. Angelo D'Agostino was very much a contender both within the U.S. and internationally during that decade and after turning ending his competitive career, he embarked on a professional career that would see him perform around the world, coach and choreograph and even install shows on cruise ships for Willy Bietak Productions. You name it, he's done it... and I think you're going to love the candor with which Angelo talks about his life in skating in this must read interview:

Q: Your "amateur" skating career was certainly full of some great accomplishments. After winning the pewter medal at the 1986 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, you won the NHK Trophy in Japan in 1986. You won the silver medal at the 1987 Grand Prix St. Gervais event in France behind Petr Barna and the bronze medal at Skate Canada International in 1988 right behind the two men that would dominate the sport for the next several years - Kurt Browning and Viktor Petrenko. Looking back on your competitive career, what moments and memories stand out as the most special or your proudest?

A: First, let me say you are very complimentary in your recap of my skating accomplishments. Thank you! When I hear them listed out like this it does make me sit back and say wow... what a great ride I had. I worked very hard for many years but I also have to say I was very fortunate to have had the opportunities I did thanks to my wonderful parents who supported me and to all the great coaches I had who helped me see what was possible in the world of skating, the sport I'm still in love with today. My proudest moment is a toss up. It has to be either winning the 1986 Grand Prix NHK Trophy in Tokyo or that same year finishing second in the long program at the 1986 Nationals behind Brian Boitano. These were both career defining moments for me. They were surreal moments as on both occasions I was not expected to have done so well at either of these events. I was the underdog at each event catching a lot of skaters and officials by surprise. Kurt Browning even mentioned it in one of his books that he had underestimated me that year in Japan. It was always my goal to focus on myself and do my personal best the day of competition because what I learned was the rest of the story was completely out of my hands. I knew at a young age how unpredictable the world of subjective figure skating was. It was frustrating and ridiculously absurd at times. You could skate great but sometimes that didn't matter. Fortunately, on both those days I proved to myself that my best was good enough to to run with the big dogs... even to beat some of the big dogs as well! It was the culmination of a lot of years of hard work and the beginning of an amazing run that has lasted over thirty years. I'm still fortunate to be working in the worlds of both amateur and professional skating today. How fortunate am I?

Q: You were coached by the legendary Carlo and Christa Fassi. What made them both such brilliant and revered coaches, in your opinion?

A: As I said before, I was very fortunate to have parents who were able and willing to support my skating and provide excellent coaching, especially at the end of my career. The move to Colorado Springs was a life changing event for me. It was in Colorado Springs that all the pieces started to fall into place for me. What was so great about working with Carlo and Christa Fassi was how they complimented each other so well. They were truly the "dynamic duo". They each had their strengths; all bases were covered. Carlo was the ultimate career manager and compulsory figures technician. Christa was excellent with jumps and overall technique. Christa was also my friend at so many competitions keeping me grounded, focused and calm when Carlo couldn't be there. What a lot of people don't know is that my father is also Italian and my mother is German just like Carlo and Christa. Carlo being from Italy and Christa from Germany, it was a perfect fit for me. Many times it did feel like "family" for me and I think on some levels I wanted to please my "pseudo parents" by skating well for them. Don't get me wrong I always skated for myself and the joy of skating but who doesn't want to please their parents at some point. I think that what often made it work so well with me and Carlo and Christa was not only Carlo and Christa themselves but the environment they created at the Broadmoor during those years. Carlo had an amazing support staff of coaches all of which taught me so much. I had Christy Krall, Janet Champion and Phillip Mills as my support staff. Talk about the dream team! Carlo, Christa, Christi, Janet and Phillip. Come on! This is why I say I was so blessed. It was a special time in skating history too. The Broadmoor Skating Club was very powerful on an international scope. We attracted the best skaters from around the world and every session I skated on was an inspirational international event. I skated every day with Paul Wylie, Todd Eldredge, Caryn Kadavy, Jill Trenary, Tracey Damigella, Joanne Conway, Jim Cygan, Erik Larson and Eddie Shipstad to name a few. There were always plenty of international skaters coming in and out the door throughout the year. We all naturally brought out the best in each other. Maybe on occasion the worst too. This is skating after all!  However, the diverse crowd Carlo and the Broadmoor Skating Club could attract was part of the appeal for me. Ironically it helps me in my job today as every time I mount a new show on board a cruise ship the casts are very international, just like those days at the Broadmoor. Being around such great skaters made me want to be my absolute best and win the practices everyday. I do have an ego too, just like most performers though I'm probably one of the most laid back but highly competitive persons you'll ever know. Sort of an oxymoron isn't it?

Q: Professionally, you've toured with Ice Capades, competed at the U.S. Open and done countless other shows. Having had so much experience in show skating, what advice would you offer to a skater who wanted to pursue that career path?

A: Be ready to grow.The biggest mistake amateur skaters make is thinking turning professional will be easy compared to competitive skating. I've experienced it myself thinking I was the cats ass as they say the year I turned professional. Nothing compares with the boot camp that it takes to get a show open and perform daily. It's extremely hard work. I tell the skaters in the shows that I'm involved with that no one gets to skip any part of the transformation process. Some will have a harder time than others. The ones who are "clay" and moldable are doing themselves the biggest favor. Those who think they possess all the skills needed because they were very good at competitions struggle the most yet it is their work ethic that we're banking on to carry them to the next level if they can shift their focus. In professional skating, the focus shifts onto to the nuances of performing, the necessity of projecting outward to the audience and to deliver figure skating with a look and refinement we just don't see in amateur skating. It's subtle most of the time. It has to be learned. It could just be the way you hold your hands or the way you remember that your legs don't stop at the ankle and that pointing through the toe is how you finish a move. It's how you use your face to advance the emotional arch of the program along or maybe sometimes you might have an awkward costume, prop or a partner you will have to deal with. It doesn't matter. You still have to nail it and that curtain will go up at call and you will have to give the performance that those people sitting in the audience paid for. My best advice is to spend some time picking the brain of someone who is a professional skater or work with a coach who specializes in finishing work. My friends joke with me when I tell them I want to open a "finishing school" for skaters. Like beauty pageant contestants but I'm not joking. I've done a lot of work with skaters getting them ready for their auditions and have had good success. They think I should call it Angelo's skating beautification and charm school (thanks to Ray for the name). I'm lucky that my job with Willy Bietak Productions where I am a cast installer and choreographer on board cruise ships that I work with over fifty professional skaters a year when I'm installing shows. That;s also over fifty egos too. Sometimes the egos are let's just say... challenging but for the most part I have met some amazing people who love skating the way I do. I love when I get my hands on a newbie. This is a skater newly turning professional. I'm getting them for their first professional show ever sometimes. I love the process of bringing them kicking and screaming into our world. It's like having a baby sometimes and you have to do everything for them but when you see them take their first steps I'm like a proud papa on opening night... IF they point their toes!

Q:You have coached for over fifteen years and continue to perform professionally in shows. What has been the secret to keeping that passion for the sport going when the climate and overall popularity of the sport has changed so much over the years?

A: For me, skating is something I think I will always be involved in. I have fantasies of going into the corporate world someday but skating always seems to rear it's head reminding me it's pretty cool. I got very burnt out on teaching when I was in San Francisco. I had my stable of little skaters all working to be their best how ever when the IJS system came into place it became such a circus of rules I threw in the towel. I was very fortunate that a job opportunity was out there to go back to my first love which is professional shows this time on the other side of the curtain in production. I've had an ongoing relationship with Willy Bietak Productions for over twenty six years as Willy himself hired me in his own living room for my first professional show ever - Ice Capades in 1989. When I took my current job working on ships, I had no idea it would be so much teaching skating but it really is. I'm not just teaching a show and it's a lot of mentoring too. I just love it! Now when I teach amateur skaters I use motion analysis software and work as a technical coach. Following in the foot steps of Christy Krall. She was the one who got me interested in using Dartfish... so in order for me to still love teaching I had to rewrite the way I teach. I'm much better as a consultant than the daily managing of a skater's career. When I figured all these pieces out this is when the joy came back into teaching ice skating. Recently I've started choreographing for amateur skaters, again putting my toe back into the ocean of IJS. The jury is still out I'll let you know if the sharks bite it off or not.

Q: From a coaching perspective, what are the pros and cons as you see them about the current IJS judging system? 

A: That is a million dollar question which I will blatantly sidestep! Can I simply say that when a skater nails an IJS program, it can be amazing. The con is so few ever have but I'm open to being impressed. I'll just leave it at that.

Q: Who are your three favourite skaters of all time and why?

A: Robin Cousins, Kurt Browning and Toller Cranston. Robin for his huge jumps because of his long legs and because he was so tall for a skater... not to mention we took from the same coaches. Kurt for his amazing quickness, fast feet and amazing musical interpretation. Toller, for just being Toller. I saw him skate in Chicago when I was a young boy. He was so outrageous. I knew I was seeing something unique. No male skater had ever skated like that before. Completely theatrical and over the top. The crowd went wild. Years later, when I was actually performing in a show with him I knew I had finally made my way in skating. I'll never forget he said to me as we made our way down the dark corridor to back stage "Is there anything blacker than black velvet?" So dark... just like Toller at times and I love it!

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

A: What people don't know about me is that I'm can be very stubborn and very driven especially when someone tells me I can't make something happen. I love putting doubting Thomas' in their place. I started skating very late at age ten. Many told me it was too late to start skating but that motivated me to play catch up. By the time I was sixteen years old I had made my first Nationals in novice. I'm a very positive person as a rule and when those around me try to push their negativity onto me I will go out of my way to kill them with kindness... a trait my father taught me, When that doesn't work I'll go in for the kill. I'll always give them a chance to change their attitude but if need be I'll call a spade a spade. Often tinged with humor however, the recipient doesn't always laugh when I'm done. I can become a force to be reckoned with. I'm learning that my first instincts are almost always right and to follow them more and more as I age. It's when I doubt myself that I sometimes get into trouble. But recently I have learned when to step back. It doesn't always have to be my way. I never claim to be perfect but I am naturally curious. If you can tell me "the why" you may get me to change my mind. My stubbornness has gotten me into a lot of trouble but it is also the thing that helps me reach my goals. I'm like a dog with a bone when I have my mind set on something, I seldom give up because it's too hard. I think people sell themselves short by not asking themselves to do the impossible when needed.  Being stubborn doesn't always get you where you need to go the most gracefully, however it will push you to places you didn't think you could get to.

Q: What do you love more than anything about figure skating?

A: The first thing that comes to my mind is the way it feels to simply glide. One push and sustained momentum holds you on that perfect edge.... solid and smooth. I ask my new students if they are "in love with gliding". I always get the same knowing smile back from them. The answer is yes. When I was at my top performance the faster I could skate the better. Then I could glide for a really long time on just one edge, on one skate, with my one love.

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.

Mabel Davidson, Skating's First Female Star

If you know a thing or two about figure skating's history (which I like to think I do), you definitely know the name Madge Syers. If Jackson Haines is considered the sport's father, Madge Syers would surely be considered skating's mother. However, one story the history books don't always tell you is that of Mabel Davidson, the first female skating star who predated Syers and left her own indelible impression on the sport.

What impression did Mabel Davidson make on the people who watched her skate? I want to start by sharing a charmingly glowing excerpt from the January 6, 1897 edition of "The Sketch": "She has the great advantage of a pretty face, and frocks to match; she is exquisitely graceful, while of her skill it would be hard to speak too highly or write extravagantly. She is a perfect mistress of ice, takes every possible and impossible liberty with it, and the poor ice can't ever manage to retaliate. She runs over it by way of variation, digs the heels of her skates into its tender parts, leaving a palpable bruise, while the ice looks coldly on and resigns itself to wait patiently for the amateurs and take revenge on them. Miss Davidson's exhibition is one of the sights of London. On the night of the last Carnival Ball at the Skating Palace - a most successful function from start to finish - the great skater was in special form. At about midnight the instructors cleared the ice, and she appeared in a sort of Canadian costume, very appropriate, and fitting her like the proverbial glove. The spirit of gaiety, the blaze of lights, the gay costumes, the sweet music, all seemed to inspire Miss Davidson with an energy and daring that appeared anxious to eclipse all its previous efforts. She held the spectators spellbound while she treated the ice to such a series of gymnastics as is seldom or never seen. All the things that careful people would avoid on nasty slippery ice she essayed with a coolness and indifference that made every man cheer with all his might, and almost made some of the ladies forgive her for being so well dressed and agile... She is one of the best."

The February 6, 1897 edition of the "Mariposa Gazette" was just as complimentary: "There is an American girl in London who can probably perform more wonders on skates than any other girl living. In fact, there are few men who can equal the feats and the feet of Miss Mabel Davidson on the ice. At present she is performing - if a pleasure may be called "performing" - at the National Skating palace. She is a veritable 'queen of the ice' and is a constant marvel to the Londoners. Never a fairy had lighter feet than this slender miss. She appeared last week before a crowd numbering thousands... Miss Davidson claims the title of the 'champion lady skater of the world' and she certainly seems to deserve that honor. She swayed and turned and whirled and pirouetted and waltzed with amazing rapidity and grace. All her figures were cut so rapidly that few but expert skaters themselves could follow the changes. Probably the tricks that were most applauded were a foot over foot movement and a forward and backwards run in a sitting posture, one leg being kept straight out in front of the body. Miss Davidson appeared in a bright Scotch plaid frock, with a skirt that barely reached to the top of her high boots. Once upon the ice, she dud not delay her performance a moment. She began by skating swiftly backward around the big rink. There was nothing particularly artistic in this. Many an English girl could have done the same thing. Stopping suddenly, Miss Davidson reversed and came gliding around in the sweeping outside edge movement so familiar to all. The outside edge backward was more difficult and elicited a storm of applause. At the same time there were many who discounted Miss Davidson's work, apparently because it was so easily done." The article goes on to describe in vivid detail and great enthusiasm how Davidson one over the large crowd - to a standing ovation - with swing rolls, figure eights, spread eagles, spins and shoot the ducks. It concluded by saying that Davidson herself "concluded with a bewildering series of cross foots, serpentines, loops and ringlets that put the rink in an uproar. When she had finished, there was a loud volley of 'Bravos!' and everyone went away convinced that Miss Davidson deserved the lady championship."

Who was this precocious young skater who'd managed to escape the consciousness of figure skating history?  Mabel Davidson was born on Christmas Day, 1873 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her father and brothers were all talented skaters, and her sister Fanny [Noble] was a well-known roller and ice skater in her own right. She took up skating as a young child and by the age of ten, was giving exhibitions in indoor rinks from Minnesota to Chicago to Canada. Then she went overseas, giving exhibitions in Paris and London with her family. She wasn't the first American woman to do so, but she was one of them.

In 1873, a roller and figure skater from Concord, Massachusetts named Carrie Augusta Moore had put together an exhibition tour of Europe with Callie Curtis and E.T. Goodrich (former competitors of Jackson Haines), paving the way for the Davidson family (with Mabel as the star attraction) to tour London and Paris in 1896. Where did Mabel earn the title 'Champion Lady Of The World'? We know that the Davidson family moved from Minnesota to Toronto in the 1880's and one clue to that unofficial World title claim might perhaps be in Margaret Ann Hall's book "The Girl And The Game: A History Of Women's Sport In Canada". Hall notes that the Rideau Skating Club held a ladies skating competition in 1890 and that in that time period, Mabel Davidson was giving skating exhibitions "all over Ontario and in the Maritimes".

What makes Mabel's story even more compelling is that in addition to giving skating exhibitions, she was in fact the sister of a bicyclist and skater named - wait for it - Harley Davidson... and she used to bring her bicycle on the ice as part of her act. Are you kidding me? That's insane and I love it! For the record though, although a cyclist named Harley Davidson might raise some eyebrows, it was actually William S. Harvey and William A. Davidson who pioneered the motorcycle of the same name. Back to Mabel's bicycling on ice...  In an interview with England's Cycle And Motor World publication, Mabel Davidson explained, "My wheel never slips with me. Of course, I have steel coverings for the tyres; but with that exception my wheel is like an ordinary one. Even when I am riding out in the streets on slippery, greasy roads, I have never had a side-slip." In this interview, Mabel was asked about her skating practice regime and responded, "I scarcely ever practise; my work here keeps me in very good trim. I give two shows a day, each one lasting fifteen to twenty minutes. Of course, my full performance of all of my tricks takes me considerably longer than that. I could go on for an hour, but I find it best to stop long before I get tired... I've been cycling for years, and skating ever since I was eight years old. One of my brothers is the amateur champion of Canada, and the other is the professional, so I'm very interested in cycling."

In addition to her talents for skating and cycling, Mabel also enjoyed acting and told Cycle And Motor World "I should very much like to play the role of 'Dick' in 'The Two Little Vagabonds', but I don't expect to go back to the stage unless some very enterprising manager will produce a play with an ice scene in it - real ice it must be - and let me play a part in which my skating would be useful... But I'll have to wait a long time for that."

Tragically, Mabel's almost prophetic idea of the combination of skating and theatre would never come to be. She died in St. Paul, Minnesota on November 24, 1898 from "consumption, resulting from a heavy cold contracted while on a professional tour of England" according to her obituary. She was only twenty five years old. It would only be a few short decades until the worlds of theatre and skating would come together on the silver screen in the pictures of famous skater/actresses like Sonja Henie, Belita and Vera Hruba Ralston... and Mabel must surely have been smiling down at their efforts.

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.

I Can Do Better: Talking About IJS Skating's PC(S) Culture

In the 2004 remake of "The Stepford Wives", Nicole Kidman plays Joanna Eberhart, who starts the film as a highly successful executive producer of reality television shows for a major network. We see her promoting a show called "I Can Do Better" where men and women choose between their spouses and prostitutes, which really isn't far off that "Temptation Island" foolishness they had on for a while. That repeated mantra "I Can Do Better" - which sounds like something right out of a Susan Powter self-help book - very much applies to how I feel when I watch competitive figure skating these days. If the choreography of nine out of the ten competitive programs I watch leaves me feeling empty - like I haven't watched choreography at all - then surely I can do better than that as a viewer, right? How alone am I in this feeling? I know I am most certainly not, but there seems to be such a large segment of today's figure skating fans who seem perfectly content adding up numbers and beleaguering over grades of execution, downgrades, upgrades, levels and similar mumbo jumbo that I feel the following question needs to be asked: "has the IJS judging system's adoption of Program Component Scores (PCS) as opposed to a general mark for Artistic Impression or Presentation generated a skating culture and a fan base that is less interested in the artistic side of skating?"

The quote that first prompted me to ask this question came from Debbi Wilkes' book "Ice Time" and none other than one of skating's most profilic artists himself, Toller Cranston. Toller said that "there was a very rich, creative cultural period in skating in the seventies, a very thoroughbred, Arabian stallion approach. John Curry would have aspired to the same level. It was all deliberate in retrospect, a facade that was affected and cultivated, but there was something rather imperious about us. 'Don't even look at us the wrong way, we're intelligent, we're untouchable, we're gods, we're artists.'  Janet Lynn, a great skater, the kind that comes along once in a century, but completely forgotten now, certainly in America, had exquisite programs. Her coach told me she wanted Janet's opening to reflect the attitudes she discovered on ancient Greek vases in the Metropolitan Museum. If you were going to tell a skater today, 'Now, for your opening, take this motif from a Greek vase...' they'd think you were out of your fucking mind. They're not into it. It doesn't exist. They don't want to be artistic, interesting, bizarre or be whoever the top ballet stars are."

Cranston raises a valid point as the choreography we are seeing from many of today's top skaters isn't that groundbreaking or deep material that we saw in many of the competitive performances of yesteryear, but it wouldn't be fair to say that skating under the IJS system hasn't produced many outstanding and musical skaters and programs that are absolutely memorable. Part of the problem as I see it as to why many of skating's newer fans don't have the interest in "the second mark" stems from some of the seemingly incomprehensible evaluation of PCS scores in international competition.

Sarah Kay once said that "artistry is important. Skill, hard work, rewriting, editing and careful, careful craft: All of these are necessary. These are what separate the beginners from experienced artists." In the men's short program at the 2014 LEXUS Cup Of China, Uzbekistan's Misha Ge skated cleanly, performing a triple axel, triple lutz/triple toe and triple flip. His musical interpretation and choreography were without question better than most of the men out there in that particular competition and yet his PCS scores were ALL lower than China's Han Yan, who faltered on all three jumping passes he attempted in his program and skated with poor posture. The interpretation of the lively music "If I Were A Rich Man" from "Fiddler On The Roof" looked half hearted and reliant mainly on transitional footwork and little kicks. Even under the guise or premise that IJS would duly reward his Transitions/Footwork separately from the other parts of the PCS score, it's hard to make an argument how a flawed Yan could earn just shy of ten points more than Ge with a program that was  in my opinion both technically and artistically inferior... which should have clearly reflected in the final three marks allocated for Performance/Execution, Choreography/Composition and Interpretation.

3	Han YAN	CHN	79.21	39.43		39.78	8.21	7.71	7.75	8.04	8.07	0.00	#8
4	Richard DORNBUSH	USA	77.23	38.98		38.25	7.71	7.32	7.64	7.79	7.79	0.00	#9
5	Alexei BYCHENKO	ISR	76.96	43.70		33.26	6.68	6.36	6.75	6.79	6.68	0.00	#3
6	Nam NGUYEN	CAN	72.85	38.39		34.46	6.79	6.71	7.07	6.96	6.93	0.00	#7
7	Misha GE	UZB	69.46	33.28		36.18	7.04	6.86	7.43	7.39	7.46	0.00	#6

It's about comparing apples with oranges though and while I get that subjectivity is always going to be a challenge that skating will always face, as the sport's audience we need to always reserve our right to say "I Can Do Better" if artistry is something as fans we personally value. That brings us to the pressing question at hand: "HAS the IJS judging system's adoption of Program Component Scores (PCS) as opposed to a general mark for Artistic Impression or Presentation generated a skating culture and a fan base that is less interested in the artistic side of skating?". I asked some of skating's biggest fans this very question and got some interesting and varied responses:

JOSEPH STEWART: "To answer your question, I think PCS has eliminated the concept of 'artistic impression' judging. The former artistic impression score was the best way we've ever had to score the 'je ne sais quoi' that really is the essence of artistry.  The new method of quantifying it through set areas like transitions and 'skating skills' takes away the benefit of being original and encourages skaters to try and fit a cookie cutter mold of what has been known to work in the past. Fans can't identify to this as opinion no longer matters: you need to be well versed on how the scoring system works to understand results, which is not fan friendly!"

JOSH KENNON: "Interesting question. I think it has, to a degree, because people understand the quantifiable measures on the technical side... the 'a triple axel is worth so and so points, plus or minus three if they do it well or badly' thing. People don't easily understand how you can easily quantify things like speed, emotion, leg line individually...some people have the capability to measure that because of their understanding of dance/skating..but the regular fan doesn't. All they understand is the performance that reaches across that barrier between skater and audience member, that covers that distance across the boards, to get inside their hearts and move them."

CLAIRE CLOUTIER: "I do think the adoption of IJS has changed the skating fan base a little bit. I think there are now a lot of fans who are very focused on the technical side of the sport and will argue endlessly over questions of underrotations, who has the best lutz, who has the most transitions, etc. I think it's the adoption of IJS as a whole, rather than PCS in particular, that has driven this. It's the existence of protocols and the actual code of points, which allows fans to analyze the technical side of the sport in much greater detail than ever before. Before, fans knew the differences between the jumps, but they didn't really know exactly how much the jumps counted for, or how much anything else counted. Now they have a much better sense of this. In the process, for some fans, the technical side of the sport has taken precedence. This isn't true for all fans, though; most still want a balanced approach (great artistry along with great jumps), I think."

As Elizabeth Cady Stanton famously said: "The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls." Here's my humble opinion. Figure skating CAN do better... and it can start by people looking - really looking - at the skating between the all so important jumps with fresh eyes, putting down the calculator, protractor and abacus and once again thinking about how the performance in front of them made them feel and how the music was really interpreted.

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.

The Barbara Ann Scott Doll

Photo courtesy Canadian Museum Of History

Four time Canadian Champion, two time World Champion and 1948 Olympic Gold Medallist Barbara Ann Scott was honestly nothing short of a national treasure and was described by the newspapers of her day "a tiny exquisite doll". To this day, she is the only Canadian ladies skater to win Olympic gold and throughout her amateur and professional careers and later life she was a complete class act... someone I would have really loved to have met. That said... many young girls and fabulous boys who never met Scott in person got to welcome her company in their homes every day because in the late 1940's and 1950's, if you didn't have a Barbara Ann Scott doll you might as well just have thrown in the towel right there and then.

Back in a time where many young ones played with paper dolls, the U.S. based Madame Alexander doll company owned by Beatrice Alexander had marketed a very popular Sonja Henie doll in the late 1930's. Figure skating was immensely popular in North America at the time and it was no wonder a doll in the likeness of the three time Olympic Gold Medallist and skating diva caught on. After Barbara Ann Scott's win at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Reliable Toy Company marketed a doll in Scott's likeness... and it caught on even more than Henie's!

The Toronto company that became the Reliable Toy Company was founded in 1920 and was originally named the Canadian Statuary and Novelty Company. By 1935, they were the largest toy company in the British Empire and they're even still in operation today. The composition Barbara Ann Scott doll was designed by popular doll maker Bernard Lipfert, was fifteen inches high and according to the Museum Of Vancouver was "made of a mixture of glue and sawdust, which created a more durable material than bisque (or porcelain). The doll has a moveable head, arms, and legs. She has sleeping blue eyes, an open smiling mouth. Her skates and headband are original; but her skating costume is not. The doll, which sold well until 1954, came with a hangtag shaped like an ice skate, a letter from Barbara Ann, a pair of shoes and a small book about the skater." The Canadian Museum Of History further explains that "in 1948, it wore a lace skating costume trimmed with marabou. A new costume was created each year and was always trimmed with marabou." According to Jim Trautman's article "The Barbara Ann Scott Skating Doll", "though the doll was always composition, her skating outfit did change. In 1948, the first doll wore a blue lace skating outfit trimmed with maribou feathers, a pearl coronet had and figure skating boots - the boot type which can be taken off, put back on, and laced up. The metal skate blades are attached to the bottom of the skate boots with little rivets. The other unique item is a small skate tag which hung from her hand. It reads 'Barbara Ann Scott' (printed in red), then 'Doll' (printed in blue) and then 'Barbara Ann Scott' again (again in red). On the skate blade, 'Reliable Toy company Limited, Toronto' is printed in red. The 1949 version wears a blue costume and a tiara. The 1950 version also had a hat and a velveteen skating costume. It should be noted that each of the costumes was nicely trimmed with marabou feathers. The 1951 Barbara Ann Scott wears a blue outfit with gold dots and the marabou trim. A second version is pink with gold dots. As befits an outfit for skating in the cold outdoors, all of her costumes are long-sleeved. The doll's box is not elaborate. On the side panel is printed 'Barbara Ann Scott Doll' with the Reliable Toy Company information. On the right side of the label panel is Barbara Ann Scott in a skating pose, looking up. The label also has the colour stamped on it."

During the period the doll was sold sales skyrocketed and it was on the top of many young people's Christmas lists but due to the delicate nature of the doll's 'ingredients' as it were, although many Barbara Ann Scott dolls survive in museums and private collections, a lot of the ones you'll find at antique shops will have deteriorated or cracked in time unless they were kept in mint condition, which is a real shame.

I absolutely love that Allison Manley was able to interview Barbara Ann for The Manleywoman SkateCast in 2010 and am completely jealous at the same time! It was most probably the last full length interview she gave before her death two years later. Laughingly, Barbara Ann said "when we were married, Tommy had never seen one, so I said, it’s a ratty-looking doll with marabou around the bottom. So yes, we have one. And several years later they made another edition." Barbara Ann wouldn't be the only Canadian ladies skater to have a doll made in her likeness - Regal Toys produced a plastic Karen Magnussen doll and Star Dolls and Distinctive Doll of Canada made a Liz Manley doll - but Scott's is without question the most popular doll made in a skaters likeness, certainly here in Canada at least. I think we should continue the tradition with a Joannie Rochette doll, don't you? It would really be rude not to.

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.

Twas The Night Before Shanghai

It just wouldn't be Christmas time on the blog without a visit from Jolly Ol' Saint Dick, now would it?
Last season, Twas The Night Before Sochi took a tongue in cheek take on Clement Clarke Moore's "A Visit From St. Nicholas" (widely known as "Twas The Night Before Christmas") in the form of a Christmas poem featuring a visit from none other than two time Olympic Gold Medallist and living legend Dick Button. Being the aloof character I sometimes am, I didn't even realize until THIS year that I was totally copying Allison Manley's idea from her 2012 Ode To Dick Button. Great minds think alike apparently? That said, with the 2015 World Figure Skating Championships around the corner this March in Shanghai, I thought it only right that my own rendition of a Saint Dick holiday poem made a little redux on the blog leading up to Christmas! Happy holidays to all of you, thanks for continued support, and hope you enjoy:

Twas the night before Shanghai and all through the rink
Not a skater was lutzing, or flutzing I think
Jason Brown's MC Hammer pants were hung in the dressing room with care,
In hopes that Dick Button soon would be there.

The judges were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of edge calls danced in their heads
Jeremy Abbott in brown and Sergei Voronov in something iffy
Were asleep in their hotel beds looking quite spiffy.

When in the host hotel there arose such a clatter,
the skaters sprang from their beds to see what was the matter.
Away to the windows they flew in a pack,
To see if St. Dick had arrived with his sack.

The moon on the breast of the cold Chinese snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to the courtyard below.
When, what to their wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight skate-clad reindeer.

With a jolly driver, so lively and quick,
In a minute they knew it must be St. Dick!
More rapid than spread eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Salchow! Now Henie! Now Fleming And Hamill!
On Axel! On Buttle! On Layback And Camel!
To the top of the rink! To the top of the wall!
Now skate away! Skate away! Skate away all!"

As so the sleigh landed and he looked around
And let his sack of presents fall down to the ground.
"Let's get down to business," St. Dick exclaimed.
"We won't be having any tomfoolery or reindeer games!"

"Don't make those referees blow on their whistles!
You better be sure that you nail those twizzles!
There needs to a little more swan in that Swan Lake.
Extend that free leg and don't let it shake!

Leave your catchfoots at home and forget those haircutters.
A good program is clean and doesn't look cluttered!
Turn your foot out, my dear, and hunch shoulders you mustn't.
Whatever that was supposed to be... it wasn't!

Make those layback spins first rate and those landings tight!
I don't give a rusty hoot what they say, you must do it right!
Keep your back straight, and gosh sakes, hold that edge!
Get your hair cut - get the Dorothy Hamill wedge!

If that doesn't put a fanizzle in their shanizzle nothing else will!
Show them your best! Show them your skill!
Bamboozle them with your feet and not with your hands!
Then they'll be cheering all through the stands!

For you fine young ladies and you fine young men,
all deserve a level ten!"
One skater shouted "but it only goes to five!"
St. Dick laughed and let out a sigh.

"The biggest gift that you can give them is your best skate.
Just do your best and make it first rate!
There's no time for sleep, get on that ice quick!
Practice all night! And watch that toe pick!"

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But they heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Gold medals for all, and to all a good night!"

SAINT DICK'S RESPONSE TO THE POEM

Dick Button: "You get my approval instantly! I think it was charming, humorous, a great put on, most times right on... The rhyming spot on terrific... and more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Thanks for the send off and a happy season to you and yours... Dick, aka Big  Daddy. St. Dick, Popeye on Ice, the octogenarian, etc. etc. etc."

A big HAPPY HOLIDAYS from my family to yours! Get your eat and drink on, laugh and be merry! Most importantly, don't do anything I wouldn't do... which is a pretty short list. Merry Christmas!

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.

Putting The Soul In Solstice: Winter Solstice On Ice

Directed by Lawrence Jordan for Automatic Productions and A&E television in 1999, Winter Solstice On Ice hearkened back to the kind of artistically invigorating and truly meaningful work we saw in Toller Cranston's television specials, for instance. The show was hosted by musician Jim Brickman and featured a stellar cast of skaters from around the world interpreting winter and holiday themes from around the world with an array of both live and recorded music as backdrop.

The show's skating cast consisted of Brian Boitano, Susanna Rahkamo and Petri Kokko, Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas, Rory Flack, Alexander Abt, Yuka Sato and Jason Dungjen, Caryn Kadavy, The Ice Theatre Of New York and Mandy Wötzel and Ingo Steuer.

One thing that stood out in particularly about this show to me is that there was great attention put into costuming. The cinematography by Rick Siegel was also just so on point and the dreamy outdoor settings just enhanced the moods of each of the pieces. The works skated themselves were a lesson in contrasts, from Rory Flack's "Esawayo" and Drobiazko and Vanagas' "Stars To Share" with music by Samite to softer pieces like Rahkamo and Kokko's performance to Johann Pachelbel's "Canon", each performance had its own distinct, standalone flavor and the sum of all parts contributed to a cohesive whole.

Rahkamo and Kokko's creation to Mark Isham's "Mr. Moto's Penguin (Who'd Be An Eskimo's Wife?)" was full of whimsy and in direct contrast to Alexander Abt's softer "Winter" which was presented on the same snowy outdoor stage.

In my own humble and always outspoken opinion, I would love to see more skating like this on our television sets instead of the overproduced and rather kitschy holiday skating specials that we are accustomed to largely now. Winter Solstice On Ice was a prime example of the kind of true artistry that would give us all something meaningful to celebrate about figure skating if it returned.

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.

Move Over Père Noël, This Blog's About Per Thorén

Christmas may be creeping up on faster than a jolly Père Noël to a serving of milk and cookies, but unfortunately this blog's going to make the man with a bag take the back seat of the sleigh for a moment. The man at the reins of this sleigh is Per Thorén, a turn of the century Swedish skater who won a European title and medals at both the World Championships and Olympic Winter Games.

The son of Lars Petter Petersson and Wilhemina Thorén, Per Ludvig Julius Thorén was born in Stockholm, Sweden on January 26, 1885. In the first decade of the twentieth century, he won the Swedish men's title twice, along with four medals at the European Championships including gold in his final attempt at the singles crown in 1911 and two World medals (bronze in 1905 and silver in 1909). With partner Valborg Lindahl, he medalled at the Nordic Games in pairs skating.

In 1908, he found himself smack dab in the middle of his teammate Ulrich Salchow's skirmish with Russia's Nikolay Panin at the Summer Olympics in London, England and with Salchow and Richard Johansson was one of three Swedish men who swept the podium in the men's event that year. Never mind that two of the five judges were Swedish. That said, Per's medal win at those Games was impressive moreso in the fact that he climbed from sixth place in the school figures to claim the bronze at a time in history where school figures obviously played a very prominent role in determination of the overall results. He was noted as a particularly high jumper.

After winning the 1911 European men's title in Russia, Per eyed a new challenge - pairs skating - and caught on very quickly. He teamed up with Elna Montgomery, who had been an Olympic teammate of his at the 1908 Summer Games. They won the 1912 Swedish pairs title in Gothenburg. The following year in Stockholm, he claimed a second pairs title with Elly Svensson and retired from competition.

Elly Svensson and Per Thorén

Per's most notable contribution to skating is his invention of the Thorén jump where a skater takes off as they would in a loop but instead lands on the opposite leg on a back inside edge, allowing them in a combination for instance to go right into a Salchow or flip jump. This jump, known for many years as the half loop, has also been called a Euler and credited to a German skater.

After retiring from competitive skating, Per married Jenny Gerda Viran Lindström, survived both World Wars and passed away on January 5, 1962. He is buried in the Northern Necropolis in Solna, Sweden. Richard Witt's book "A Lifetime of Training for Just Ten Seconds: Olympians in their own words" quotes a modest Per reflecting on his 1908 Olympic medal win: "I really lack the words to compliment myself today". Even if Per may have been modest of his Olympic medal win, we don't have to be. Way to go, Per and thanks for the half loop, wherever you are!

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 Jean Scott Brennan

When we think of ladies figure skating in the early seventies, several names obviously come to mind... Olympic Gold Medallists Trixi Schuba and Dorothy Hamill, World Champions Karen Magnussen, Gaby Seyfert and Christine Stüber-Errath and U.S. Champion Janet Lynn among them. However, another very talented ladies skater from Great Britain was also very much in the mix at that time as well. In 1973, Jean Scott Brennan won the silver medal at the European Figure Skating Championships in Cologne, West Germany and twice she finished in the top five at the World Championships. Also a two time British Champion, her story of overcoming injury to find success is an inspiration and her years of dedication to the sport as a coach have helped pave the way for a future generation of skaters in England to become their very best. It was my pleasure to speak with Jean about her competitive career, overcoming injuries sustained in a car accident to go on and win a European medal, coaching and much more in this fabulous interview:

Q: You had such an impressive skating career, winning two British titles, the European silver medal in 1973, medals at both Skate Canada and the Richmond Trophy and competing at the 1972 Winter Olympics and three World Championships. Looking back on it all now, what are your proudest moments or most special memories from your "amateur" career?

A: My proudest moments were representing Great Britain in the Europeans and Worlds and competing in the 1972 Olympics. Also, winning back my British title.

Q: During your career, you competed against some of skating's biggest legends including Janet Lynn and Dorothy Hamill. What  was your relationship with the skaters you competed against like - were the rivalries as 'bitter' back in those days?

A: I became friendly with Janet Lynn. She is such a lovely and sincere person. Karen Magnussen was really nice to me too but her mother gave Janet such a hard time! Christine Errath and Karin Iten were also very nice,. Yes, there was quite a bit of rivalry even then but thankfully I was never involved.

Q: In 1972, after finishing sixth at the World Championships, you were actual involved in a serious car accident where you suffered both arm and leg injuries and really had to fight your way back into the physical condition you needed to be in. What can you share about this whole experience?

A: After my car accident, it was so difficult as I was told to stay off the ice for about three months. I was naughty and I didn't obey the orders although I concentrated mainly on figures as my upper arm had forty eight stitches inserted and was likely to burst open if I had fallen on it. The concentration both my coach (Margaret Vernal) and I gave to my figures paid off and we reaped the rewards afterwards.

Q: When you won the British ladies title in 1974, John Curry won the men's title. What are your memories of John both as a skater and as a person?

A: My second British title was actually in December 1973 after winning silver in Europeans and fifth in Worlds that year. I was very fond of John Curry. He and I became very close when we competed; he was a massive fan of my coach and my mother who just doted on him. John actually asked Frau (my pet name for my coach) to coach him in Sapporo as John Pierce was the team coach and with Haig (Oundjian) being his pupil also competing, I think John was a little concerned.

Q: After you retired from competitive skating in 1974, you turned to coaching and coached at the Magnum rink for twenty five years and earned the British Ice Teachers Association Coach Of The Year Award in 2002. What is your coaching philosophy and what is the biggest lesson that your skaters have taught YOU?

A: Coaching taught me lots of things including how temperaments differ and having to adjust technique to achieve the best from a pupil. When I was training a lot of the time I was on my own after various rinks closed in Scotland and Frau had a young family so it was at weekends when I had most of my lessons but because I had to think for myself it helped me a great deal when it came to coaching.

Q: This year, you were one of the baton holders as The Queen's baton made its journey from India to Scotland through seventy nations as part of the Queen's Baton Relay for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. What did the experience mean to you?

A: When I was selected as a baton bearer I was dreading it but it was a wonderful experience! I had so much support from family, friends, neighbours and ex-pupils.

Q: Who are your three favourite skaters of all time and why?

A: My favourite skaters in the past are John Curry for his grace and great technique and Janet Lynn for much the same as John. She was so lovely to watch even just skating around the rink without the jumps or spins. Katarina Witt, not for technique but for her all around personality.

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

A: Most people who have got to know me are surprised at my lack of confidence. Even today, I'm quite a shy person although I tried very hard to hide that when competing.

Q: When you look back on all of your experiences and a life dedicated to skating... would you do it all again?

A: Yes, if I had my time again I would do it all again... but hopefully with more confidence.

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.

Ina Szenes-Bauer: Brigitte Bardot On Ice

Considered by many one of the most strikingly beautiful moves in the field figure skating boasts, the Ina Bauer is a variation on the spread eagle where one leg is bent deeply at the knee, the back and body bend backwards and the other leg traces a parallel line on a back inside edge. It's not an easy move to pull off with grace but when mastered most certainly adds a dramatic flair to choreography. Much like the Salchow, the Lutz or the Biellmann spin, the Ina Bauer too is named after a real skater who popularized the movement.

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

Born in 1941 in the midst of World War II, Ina Bauer made her first appearance on the senior level at the 1956 West German Figure Skating Championships in Cologne, where she finished second to Rosi Pettinger, the former rival of 1954 World Champion Gundi Busch. The following three years Ina would rise to prominence nationally, decisively winning the national title in West Germany in 1957, 1958 and 1959. She competed at a total of four European and World Championships, improving her results very quickly along the way - perhaps due to the fine training she was receiving overseas in Colorado Springs at the time. In 1958, she just missed the podium at the World Championships. The following year, she'd have the same luck when she finished fourth to two different Dutch skaters (Joan Haanappel and Sjoukje Dijkstra) at the European and World Championships.

In 1960, she did not compete at her National Championships but did go on to the European Championships which were held in her home country at the Olympia-Kunsteisstadion arena in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. She however opted to withdraw after the compulsory figures and effectively ended her competitive career. In "Skating World" magazine, Dennis Bird remarked, "Ina Bauer had been built up into something of a national heroine by the German Press and TV. When she finished the figures no higher than fourth, and her father forbade her to continue, there was a strong reaction. Headlines appeared describing her withdrawal as 'Unintelligible - unsporting!' and critical remarks by Gundi Busch, Carlo Fassi and the German instructor Erich Zeller were widely quoted. In fairness to Frl. Bauer, it must be remembered that in Germany a father's power over his daughter is probably much greater than it might be in Britain; German women are still to some extent expected to be subservient. Frl. Bauer herself may not have wished to retire. But whoever was to blame, the whole affair was regrettable." I'm sure many a skater breathed a sigh of relief as she was at the time certainly considered an up and comer. In Allison Manley's 2013 Manleywoman SkateCast interview with Carol Heiss Jenkins (who won Olympic gold medal), when asked who she was most nervous to compete against Carol responded "probably the German girl, Ina Bauer, because she came in with the Bauer and she had flaming red hair."

After retiring from competition, Ina made her name as a professional skater touring with Ice Follies and actually starred in two movies in 1961: the comedies "Kauf dir einen bunten Luftballon" and "Ein Stern fällt vom Himmel". She appeared in both films alongside Austrian alpine skier Toni Sailer. "Kauf dir einen bunten Luftballon" is actually featured above in its entirety, and within the first ten minutes you get a chance to see Bauer skate! She was quite a popular show skater. A 1960 New York Times review wrote of Bauer's American debut in Ice Follies: "19-year-old Ina Bauer, three-time figure skating champion of West Germany has been called 'Brigitte Bardot on ice' and it's easy to see why." It was while touring with the Ice Follies that she met Hungarian Champion István Szenes, whom she married in 1968.

As an interesting aside, when Shizuka Arakawa further popularized her own variation of the skating move named after Bauer and won Olympic gold in 2006 Asahi Breweries Ltd. in Japan filed an application for a patent to name an alcoholic drink 'the Ina Bauer'. They were categorically shut down by the Japanese patent office, who responded that "such behavior to capitalize on the fame of Ms. Arakawa would offend public order and morals". The patent office added that Bauer herself did not respond in approval of the proposal.

Having a skating move named after you is pretty freaking cool if you ask me and aside from Ulrich Salchow and Denise Biellmann for instance, a lot of the skaters who have this honor of being perpetually remembered for their contributions to skating aren't world or Olympic Champions. I think what that speaks to is that you don't have to be the best skater to be the most creative... and it is creativity that really gets you remembered in figure skating. Sadly, Ina Szenes-Bauer passed away on December 13, 2014 in Krefeld after contributing so much more than her trademark skating move to the sport. She founded the Ina Bauer Cup and worked tirelessly in her community and with the skating club she founded and will be remembered fondly.

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.

A Cornucopia Of Skating Miscellany

When it comes to interesting stories, the proverbial cup always runneth over... and this time of year is no exception. A lot of times when I am sifting through material looking for blog ideas, I come across some pretty interesting facts and stories that may not be "enough for a whole blog" but definitely deserve to be shared with all of you. I saved a handful of these very interesting factoids and stories to share with all of you as a little holiday gift of sorts. I hope you find these all as fascinating as I did:

SANDY HILL

Prior to marrying Nancy Kerrigan, Jerry Solomon was briefly married to Sandy Hill, the second American woman to to ascend the world's Seven Summits: Mount Everest, Aconcagua in The Andes, Mount McKinkley, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanazania, Mount Elbrus in Russia's Caucasus Mountains, Mount Vinson in Antarctica, Puncak Jaya in Indonesia and Mount Kosciuszko in Australia. If you've read Jon Krakauer's best seller "Into Thin Air" about the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, you'll remember Sandy well... and if you haven't I highly recommend it. I read it on a really long bus ride to Ontario once (NEVER again!) and it was definitely a page turner.

WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER

It might be a little muggy... but who knows? Maybe in the year 4018, they'll be holding figure skating competitions on Mercury. In 1991, astronomers fired radar signals at Mercury's poles and their findings led them to believe there could be ice at both poles of the planet. This was further confirmed by 1999 measurements. In 2011, NASA confirmed that there was indeed ice at the planet's North Pole, a very curious fact considering the rest of the planet can reach temperatures as four hundred and twenty seven degrees Celsius. Just a tad balmy... but it gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "when hell freezes over".

HITLER'S SKATES?

Bridget Hitler, Adolf Hitler's sister-in-law penned a book in the thirties that was published in 1979 affer her death called "The Memoirs Of Bridget Hitler". The book, which has been widely dismissed by historians as a hoax written to cash in on his fame, claimed that Hitler actually briefly lived in England in 1912 to evade military service. Some claim that a pair of his skates were displayed behind glass at the Wavertree Ice Rink in Liverpool but much like the claims in the 1979 book, finding proof of this claim was an elusive task.

PRINCESS MARGARET OF CONNAUGHT

Princess Margaret of Connaught was the Crown Princess of Sweden and first wife of the future Swedish King Gustaf VI Adolf. Sadly, she passed away before her husband's ascension to the throne. Margaret, who was known as Margareta when she moved Sweden, not only took great interests in photography, gardening and painting, but was also an avid hockey player and ice skater. Her tragic and sudden death in 1920 due to an infection after an operation - while she pregnant with her sixth child - sent an entire country into mourning.

A GALLANT TRAGEDY

On December 6, 1901, Henry Albert Harper, well known journalist and personal friend of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, attended a skating party thrown on the Ottawa River below Rockcliffe by the Governor General, the Earl Of Minto. The ice gave way and Bessie Blair and Alex Creelman found themselves in the water. Creelman pulled himself to safety while Blair struggled in the water. Harper dove in to save Blair and both ended up drowning. It's all so sadly reminiscent of The Regent's Park Skating Tragedy, isn't it? There seems to be some debate as to whether his last words were indeed "What else can I do?" when friends tried to talk him out of attempting to save Blair. Some say he quoted Galahad's famous "If I love myself, I save myself" before gallantly diving to his ultimate death. King was very distraught over his friend and former roommate's death and arranged to fittingly have a statue of Galahad installed at the entrance to Parliament Hill in Ottawa, where it remains today.

THE GANGSTA GINGERBREAD MAN

After putting all of these together, I realized that this was turning into one DEPRESSING Christmas gift so I wanted to finish things off on a lighter note with yes, you guessed it, a little skating! From the wonderful world of YouTube, here's Jessica Jamieson skating to "The Gingerbread Man". I kind of think this is the best thing ever.

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.