The 1929 World Figure Skating Championships

Sonja Henie in Budapest. Photo courtesy Bildarchiv Austria.

In early 1929, Erich Maria Remarque's book "Im Westen nichts Neues" ("All Quiet On The Western Front") was published in book form, the amiable characters Popeye and Tintin made their first appearances, George Gershwin's "An American In Paris" was first recorded for posterity and the world's best figure skaters convened in two European cities to compete in the 1929 World Figure Skating Championships.

Women's competitors in Budapest

The women's and pairs events were held on February 2 and 3, 1929 at the Városligeti Műjégpálya in Budapest, Hungary. The men competed on March 4 and 5, 1929 at the Westminster Ice Club in Millbank, London, England. The London event was allotted to London as a precursor to the National Skating Association's Golden Jubilee gala, celebrating the organization's fifty year anniversary. In Budapest, Olympic Gold Medallists Ludovika and Walter Jakobsson made history as the first husband and wife to judge at the same World Championships. She judged the pairs event; he the women. The men's event in London drew an extremely large crowd, including British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin and His Royal Highness Prince Edward, Duke of Cornwall, who told Ulrich Salchow that he had been unable to imagine "such things could be performed on skates". The women's and pairs events also drew large audiences, on account of the fact they were held in conjunction with the Budapesti Korcsolyázó Egylet's sixtieth anniversary. Let's take a look back at how everything played out in the final World Championships of the roaring twenties!

THE PAIRS COMPETITION

Lilly Scholz and Otto Kaiser in Budapest. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland.

Seven teams representing four nations vied for the 1929 World pairs title in Budapest. After settling for silver or bronze at the last four World Championships, Austrians Lilly Scholz and Otto Kaiser finally managed to snatch the gold in the absence of France's Andrée (Joly) and Pierre Brunet, who were busy raising their infant son Jean-Pierre. They did so with a strong performance that earned first place ordinals from four of the five judges.

Lilly Scholz and Otto Kaiser in Budapest

Only the Norwegian judge placed silver medallists Melitta Brunner and Ludwig Wrede ahead of their compatriots. Brunner and Wrede's medal win was particularly impressive as both skaters would go on to win medals in their respective singles disciplines. The bronze went to Hungarians Olga Orgonista and Sándor Szalay, to the delight of the large Hungarian crowd.

Olga Orgonista and Sándor Szalay. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION

Sonja Henie in Budapest. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland.

According to Ulrich Salchow, the Viennese contingent had talked up Fritzi Burger's chances of dethroning Sonja Henie ad nauseum. One Austrian reporter even went so far as to suggest the Norwegian ice queen might not show up for fear of losing her title. Not only did twenty one year old Sonja Henie show up in Budapest, she won the school figures with first place ordinals from four of five judges. British judge Herbert J. Clarke daringly placing Fritzi Burger ahead of her in that phase of the event. In reality, a significant lead in the first phase of the competition made the title a lock for the Norwegian before she even stepped on the ice to perform her free skating routine.

Fritzi Burger at the 1929 World Championships. Photo courtesy Bildarchiv Austria.

Three judges gave Henie first place ordinals for her free skating effort, with Finnish judge Walter Jakobsson preferring Melitta Brunner's free skating performance and Austrian judge Eduard Engelmann Jr. giving the nod to Burger. When the results were tallied, Sonja won the overall event with overall firsts from every judge and Burger edged Brunner by only one ordinal placing for the silver.

Ilse Hornung in Budapest. Photo courtesy Bildarchiv Austria.

Austrians Ilse Hornung and Grete Kubitschek placed fourth and fifth and merry murderess Yvonne de Ligne placed last in her debut at the World Championships. According to the Hungarian newspaper "Sport Híradó" the weather during the women's competition was "sparklingly sunny" and above zero, meaning the ice would have been soupy at best.

   

 Sticking it to Fritzi Burger and the Austrians was a sentimental victory for Henie, but in her book "Wings On My Feet" she recalled, "Very young, healthy, and finely trained as I was during that season of my third world championship, I came to realize that performances can be tiring because of the pace of living a champion is forced to keep up day and night despite the greatest desire to live sensibly. Everywhere I went, parties were arranged for me, all with such kind intent and flattering purpose that I could hardly refuse to attend. People wanted me to have a good time... So did I. But I wanted even more to feel fit and fresh for my performances. My hosts and hostesses didn't realize, I'm sure, that the sequence of skating engagements went on continuously for me from October to April, and that if I had all the fun possible in each city, by Christmas I wouldn't have the stamina for a figure eight."

The Henie family in 1929

THE MEN'S COMPETITION

Gillis Grafström in 1929. Photo courtesy Bildarchiv Austria.

Belgium's Robert van Zeebroeck, the surprise bronze medallist at the 1928 Winter Olympic Games, did not arrive to compete despite being registered. With Willy Böckl also out of the picture, all eyes in London were on Karl Schäfer, the newly crowned European Champion and Gillis Grafström, the three time Olympic Gold Medallist and perennial favourite. Thirty five year old Grafström and nineteen year old Schäfer established a wide lead ahead of the other five men in the school figures, with Austrian judge Eduard Engelmann, Jr. standing alone in placing his student - yes, student - first ahead of the famous Swede.

International open competitions for women and pairs were held in London in conjunction with the World Championships for men. The women's senior open competition was won by Fritzi Burger, with Melitta Brunner second and Kathleen Shaw third. Brunner also won the pairs title with partner Ludwig Wrede.

For an account of how the men skated in London, we can turn to the writings of Ulrich Salchow, who was then the ISU President and actually served as the Swedish judge on the panel in London: "[John] Page did not include a single pirouette in his program, but skated well. Karl Schäfer, [Ludwig] Wrede and [Hugo] Distler, all from Vienna, were capable competitors, but they all went quickly, without expression, and [were] sloppy... Ludwig Wrede skated with momentum and performed many difficult jumps and pirouettes, but did not captivate the audience. Despite his skill, his program was dull and dry. The Finn [Marcus] Nikkanen I liked. He possesses softness, glide and good entertainment... Schäfer started as No. 2. He skated well. Admittedly, during the first minute a little nervous, but then absolutely superb, with regard to a lot of jumps and pirouettes. In between, he swept the ice with trivial dance steps, came out and took off for the next 'nonsense' - Paulsen jump, three or four other jumps. He went full speed. He was in a hurry to fit all of his figures in the fore written five minutes. He literally chased his music. [Gillis] Grafström gave flashes of great skill. His [Axel] Paulsen was failed but his double pirouette very good. His combined figures were also very beautiful... His great turnaround in a spiral, for example, snatched the spectators attention with its verve. [He had an] artistic touch."

Based on Ulrich Salchow's commentary we can correctly surmise how he voted, but Karl Schäfer actually won the free skate in London in a three-two split. However, Grafström's strong lead in the figures allowed him to hang on to narrowly defeat the teenage Austrian overall by a mere 6.65 points and four ordinal placings. Though not a single judge had him in the top three in the school figures, Austria's Ludwig Wrede moved up to claim the bronze when other skaters faltered in the free skate. Only one ordinal separated placings fourth through sixth, filled by John Ferguson Page, Dr. Hugo Distler and Markus Nikkanen. Ian Home Bowhill of Scotland, who would go on to be a distinguished international judge in the thirties, placed last. After the event, Ulrich Salchow wrote, "Yes, we shall be pleased with Grafström's victory, for it was well deserved if not so eminently superior. To win a World Cup is no small matter, whether in the old days or now... We Swedes have special reasons to be proud of Grafström's achievement, for we are not having a youthful crowd of skaters [ready to] step in and defend the colours. After Grafström, it will probably not be Swedish for a long time, Therefore let us rejoice as long as he manages to achieve victory at the Swedish name." Though one has to admire Salchow's patriotism, his concurrent roles as ISU President, judge and journalist certainly wreak of conflict of interest in hindsight. The ten time World Champion was right though... after Grafström's win in 1929, no Swedish man has ever reclaimed the World title in men's figure 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.

American Waltzes At The Ardmore: The Edith Whetstone And Al Richards Story

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

Alfred 'Al' Newton Richards Jr. was born October 3, 1909 in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up on Rugby Road in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. He was the only child of Lillian (Woody) and Dr. Alfred Newton Richards Sr., who served as the chairman of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine's department of pharmacology and the University's Vice-President of Medical Affairs.

Alfred Richards, Sr.

Edith Blabon Whetstone was born September 18, 1923 in Philadelphia. She grew up on Monument Road in Overbrook, the daughter of Blanche (Durham) and Samuel Whetstone. Samuel Whetstone was a real estate assessor. Edith and her older brother grew up comfortably, their needs attended to by a live-in servant.

Talented skaters both, Edith and Al were members of the Philadelphia Skating Club and Humane Society. Edith passed her first test in 1936, and competed in singles at the Middle Atlantic and Eastern Championships, with little success. In 1940, Edith and Al competed against each other in the pairs event at the club's annual Championships. Edith and her partner Harry Mayer placed second; Al and his partner Laura Wilhelm placed fourth. Nancy Follett, one of the club's coaches, thought they'd both be better suited to ice dance and decided to pair them up.

Despite their fifteen year age gap, Edith and Al proved to be a match made in heaven. Though they had been skating together for less than a year, they entered the senior (Silver) dance competition at the 1941 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Boston and placed an incredible third out of fourteen couples. The following year, they won the ice dance title at the Eastern States Championships and headed to Chicago to compete in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. They pulled off an incredible upset at that event, becoming the 1942 U.S. dance champions... and besting three time and defending champions Sandy MacDonald and Harold Hartshorne in the process.

Al Richards and Edith Whetstone, Walter Noffke and Doris Schubach, Jane Vaughn Sullivan, Walter Sahlin, Bobby Specht, Dorothy Goos, Dick More and Mabel MacPherson at the 1942 U.S. Championships. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Edith and Al's future in skating couldn't have looked brighter. However, shortly after their victory in Chicago, Al received his commission as a Lieutenant and was sent down to Miami for Active Duty in the U.S. Naval Reserve. During the War, he served as a seaman for the Marine Transport Lines on the S.S. Ponca City and a Lieutenant Commander with the U.S. Navy. Edith took a job on the assembly line at the Bendix Aviation Corporation.

Edith and Al got married on February 19, 1944 in Philadelphia. After Al finished his bachelor's degree at Haverford College and masters in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, the couple lived in New York and Texas before settling in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, where Al got a job at the Baader, Young and Schultze Architectural Firm. The couple had four children. They continued to skate together socially at the Philadelphia Skating Club and Humane Society well into the fifties.

Al Richards, Jr.

On November 22, 1962, the exploded wreckage of a private plane which had been missing for two days was found on the side of a mountain near Rockville, Pennsylvania. The plane, which was flying from Ogdensburg, New York to Philadelphia, had encountered inclement weather enroute. Among the five victims (four Howell Shay employees and the pilot) was Al. He was only fifty three. The tragedy occurred just over a year after the Sabena Crash which claimed the lives of the entire U.S. Figure Skating team. Ironically, two of the Sabena victims had Pennsylvania connections. Eddie LeMaire had trained under Gustave Lussi at the Philadelphia Skating Club and Humane Society. Bill Kipp later took over Lussi's students at the club. Edith passed away fifty years later and both were inducted into the Philadelphia Skating Club and Humane Society's Hall Of Fame as Honorary Life Members.

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 Looping Lawyer: The Philip Harvey Chrysler Story

Photo courtesy Library and Archives Canada

The son of Francis and Margaret (Grant) Chrysler, Philip Harvey Chrysler was born September 5, 1883 in Ottawa, Ontario. His father was a school teacher, the headmaster of the Grammar School in Hamilton, a King's Council lawyer and author. His great grandfather Colonel John Chrysler, Jr.,a noted United Empire loyalist, was an elected member of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada who fought in the War of 1812. The Chrysler family were extremely staunch Presbyterians and Philip, his brother Geoffrey and sisters Margaret and Constance would have had a childhood largely informed by their father's deep religious beliefs. 

From 1893 to 1901, Philip was educated at Ashbury College. He went on to follow in his father's footsteps, studying law at Queen's College in Kingston and McGill University and devoting much of his time to his work as a lawyer. Nevertheless, as a young man he did find time to have a little fun. Joining the Minto Skating Club in its early days, he skated at Government House, the Rideau Rink and Dey's Arena on Laurier Avenue, learning the finer points of 'fancy' figure skating from Arthur Held, the club's first professional. At the age of twenty eight in 1911, he appeared in the Minto Skating Club's annual carnival, performing a duet with Eleanor Kingsford dressed as a Pierrot and Pierrette. That same year, he made his first appearance at the Canadian Figure Skating Championships, finishing second with Kingsford in the pairs competition behind Lady Evelyn Grey and Ormonde B. Haycock. Though competitors, the quartet of skaters also performed as a fours team together.

Ormonde B. Haycock, Lady Evelyn Grey, Eleanor Kingsford and Philip Chrysler. Photo courtesy National Archives of Canada.

Two years later, five foot four, one hundred and thirty pound Philip entered the men's competition at the Canadian Figure Skating Championships and won on his first try, defeating Norman Mackie Scott. The following year, the two men reversed positions. What very well could have been a decade long rivalry was ended by the Great War.

Philip served in the 3rd Canadian Division of the Canadian Army and the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the War, reaching the rank of Lieutenant. However, he spent almost as much time in European hospitals as he did in service due to trench fever and chronic ear problems and was discharged in 1917. A medical board inquiry on his service record noted, "Since coming to England [his] condition has become worse owing to unfavourable climatic conditions. He has lost considerable weight and is very much run down."

Upon his return to Canada, Philip married Elizabeth Masson, took up residence on Elgin Street in downtown Ottawa and entered in a business partnership with his father. As Chrysler & Chrysler, the father/son duo became the solicitors for the Canadian Bank Of Commerce. In 1921, Philip and Elizabeth had a daughter named Philippa... but the former Canadian Champion wasn't quite done with skating yet.

In 1922, Philip returned to competitive skating after an almost ten year absence to win the Canadian fours title with Elizabeth Blair, Cecil Rhodes Morphy and Florence Wilson. The following year, the four won both the Canadian and North American titles. Not long after, Philip (then forty) opted to retire from competitive skating and devote himself to bettering the sport from the sidelines.

Charlie Rotch, Philip Chrysler, Douglas H. Nelles, Theresa Weld Blanchard, Mr. Lean, Mr. Steeves, Norman Gregory and Joseph K. Savage judging at the 1931 North American Championships. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

In the period from 1921 to 1926, Philip acted as Vice-President Secretary and Treasurer of the Figure Skating Department of the Amateur Skating Association Of Canada. Working closely with Louis Rubenstein, his involvement with skating continued well into the thirties through his service as a Gold level test judge. He remarried to skater Dolly Goodeve and passed away suddenly on August 14, 1948 in Ottawa at the age of sixty four, having left Canadian figure skating better than he found it.

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 Evolution Of Technical Merit And Artistic Impression

Photo courtesy Simon Fraser University Library Editorial Cartoons Collection. Used for educational purposes under license permissions.

"It's that presentation mark that is always the nebulous one. Whatever you like can have a basic impression. For example, if two things are well-done, then you sort of go with what you are most familiar with and knowledgeable about. Some people like opera, others don't.'' - Rosemary Marks, "Edmonton Journal", March 17, 1996

As compared to today's points-based system, many tend to think of the 6.0 judging system, where skaters received two sets of marks from a panel of judges, as pretty cut and dry... vague even. Skaters received one mark for the technical content of their performance and one for the way the performance was presented. However, the history of how those two marks developed and evolved over time is nothing short of complicated, convoluted and quite fascinating.

Free skating rules from the 1910 Minto Challenge Cup 

In the early years of the International Skating Union, skaters received one mark for their figures and were judged on 'contents of the programme' and 'manner of performance' in free skating, with the scores added and multiplied by a factor to achieve a total number of points and a final result. Section ninety one of the ISU Regulations noted that in marking 'contents of the programme', judges were to consider difficulty, variety, harmonious composition and utilization of space. When considering 'manner of performance', judges were to take into account harmonious composition, carriage, sureness, easy movement, rhythm of movement and in the case of pairs skating and ice dancing, unison and variety of movement.

In the early Roaring Twenties, the Austrian skating federation pushed to have a third marking category added to the evaluation of free skating: the overall impression for the performance. In "Skating" magazine, George H. Browne quoted 'the Austrians' as arguing, "Beauty, which should be an essential element of artistic skating, is not sufficiently taken into account in the present evaluation of our skating." The Austrians petitioned the IEV to add this third category - called 'aesthetic impression' to the fold in 1924, but were shot down. Instead, the IEV added 'rhythm' to the judging criteria for the 'manner of performance' criteria. An ISU subcommittee brought the 'aesthetic impression' proposal before the ISU Congress again in 1929 and it was again flatly denied, citing the fact that having three categories for marking free skating would only compound the pressure upon the already overwhelmed judges.

To further the confusion, the earliest ISU recommendations for Valsing competitions during the same period called for couples to be marked in not three but FOUR categories: Carriage, Grace, Unity and Time. Ice dancing, as we know, wasn't yet considered an official discipline at ISU Championships until the fifties but 'informal' contests were held at European and World Championships as early as the Edwardian era.

Judging criteria circa 1948

It took a second World War and some thirty years before the ISU finally decided to make a change, dumping 'contents of the programme' and 'manner of performance' in 1959 in favour of categories called 'sporting merit' and 'general impression'. In "Skating World" magazine, a clearly unimpressed Muriel Kay remarked that the term 'sporting merit" sounded "more applicable to horse trials or foxhunting".

These terms only lasted two years before being replaced in 1961 with 'technical merit' and 'artistic impression'. The USFSA adopted these new categories two years later, in 1963. ISU historian Benjamin T. Wright noted, "The intention of the change was to indicate that the judge must evaluate both the artistic planning of the program and the technical ability with which it is performed."

Judging criteria circa 1962

As a result of a decision at the 1975 ISU Congress in Munich, the marking categories changed yet again. Short, original or technical programs were scored on 'required elements' and 'presentation'; free skating programs on 'technical merit' and 'artistic impression'. In singles and pairs skating, the 'required elements' score in the short programs was based on quality, difficulty and execution and 'presentation' was marked on "the composition of the whole program and its conformity with the music, originality, the difficulty of the connecting steps, speed and how well the ice surface is covered." The 'technical merit' mark in the free skate considered the quality, difficulty and execution of jumps, spins, steps, 'other elements' and "the cleanness and sureness of the overall performance". The 'artistic impression' mark was based on "harmonious composition of the program as a whole and the conformity with the music chosen, utilization of the ice surface, easy movement and sureness in time to the music, carriage, originality." Compulsory dances continued to receive one set of marks in competition and 'composition' and 'presentation' were used internationally for the OSP with 'technical merit' and 'artistic impression' utilized as the free dancing categories.

Things became exceedingly confusing in the decades that followed as different federations employed their own rules and criteria to the categories used in national level competitions. To only compound the confusion, as television emerged as a medium, it wasn't uncommon for commentators to go back and forth between outdated and current ISU and national terminology for the categories from event to event, year to year.

To give you a sense of as to how a federation would employ their own rules to the marking categories, the 1984 CFSA rulebook explained that in free skating, pairs, fours and free dancing, skaters were marked on 'technical merit' and 'artistic impression'. However, in the OSP, Variation Dance and in precision skating, the marks were for 'Composition' and 'Presentation'. In compulsory dances, skaters only received one set of marks in competition, but in tests the categories were 'Dance Rhythm' and 'Execution'. The definitions of these categories varied wildly. The three criteria for 'technical merit' were outlined as Difficulty, Variety and Cleanness and Sureness. 'Artistic impression' criteria was Harmonious Composition and Conformity With The Music, Utilization Of Space, Easy Movement and Sureness With The Music and Carriage. In ice dancing, the criteria of 'Composition' and 'Presentation' for ice dancing were outlined thusly:

By 1998, the term 'artistic impression' - or even the word artistry - was nowhere to be found in any ISU rulebook. 'Technical merit' and 'presentation' became the new go-to terms as the ISU ditched the term 'artistic' in some effort to remove itself from the intangible quality of judging something 'artistic'. In modern times, countries still using the 6.0 system in lower level competition use the terms 'Technique' and 'Timing/Expression' for pattern dances, 'Composition'/'Required Elements' and 'Presentation' for Original/Short Dances and 'Technical Merit'/'Required Elements' and 'Presentation' for free skating, pairs and free dancing.

So why did the 'powers that be' insist on changing the names and marking criteria of the two categories under 6.0 so often over the years? The changes were no doubt made to try to improve upon and clarify a judging system that wasn't always perfect. Did it make that much of an impact? Probably not. Is it interesting history? Absolutely.

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.

Reader Mail Time!

It's once again time to unpack the mail bag, answer some of your questions and share some of the interesting e-mails and social media messages that have come my way over the last few months. I'm going to try to do this quarterly from now on so things don't pile up. As always, if you have a question you'd like me to tackle or feedback on a blog please reach out via e-mail.

Before we get started, I'd like to talk to you about a couple of new things you'll find on Skate Guard. Firstly - over the past few months, I've been sharing dozens upon dozens of 'new to you' videos on YouTube. They are organized into playlists - Essential Eighties, Nostalgic Nineties and others. If you're looking for videos of a particular skater, just pop their name in the search bar and see what you can find. Secondly - if you go to the top bar on the blog's main page, you'll find the new Collections page. This is a catalogue of all of the books, magazines, photographs, etc. in my personal collection. The reason I've chosen to share this is so that you have an idea of what kind of tools I have at my disposal. If you're looking for articles about a certain skater for a paper you're writing or are doing genealogical work and trying to learn more about that famous skater in your family tree, I'm always happy to help. I'd finally like to sincerely thank the many, many readers who have donated to these collections - without your generosity this blog wouldn't even be possible!

READER QUESTIONS

From Amber (via e-mail): "I have a question I'm hoping you can answer. When did they start giving out the pewter medal at U.S. Nationals and why don't they give it out at Olympics and Worlds?"

A: Really great question, Amber! As far as I know, the U.S. is the only country that has ever given out a pewter medal or included the fourth place finisher in its medal ceremonies. Back in the day (we're talking the thirties) it wasn't uncommon for skaters to be given small participation medals at international competitions by the event's organizers and even small gifts sometimes... but nothing like the pewter medal. I couldn't pinpoint exactly when the USFSA started doing this so I reached out to Karen Cover at the U.S. Figure Skating Hall Of Fame. She knew it was at least as far back as 1990 when Nicole Bobek finished fourth in the junior women's event. I traced it back a little farther though. If you watch ABC's coverage of the medal ceremony at the 1988 U.S. Championships in Denver, you see Jeri Campbell standing just off the podium with a medal around her neck... presumably the pewter. Pictures of the medal podiums from 1985 and 1986 Nationals don't show a fourth skater so it's possible (?) that this tradition started in 1987 or 1988.

From Shannon (via e-mail): "Thank you for everything that you do! I really enjoy reading about skaters from the 1970's and 80's in particular. I was always upset that Brian Orser didn't win the Olympic gold medal because of the compulsory figures. Were there other skaters who missed out on gold because of the figures?"

A: Thanks for the excellent question, Shannon and I'm glad you're enjoying the blog! The short answer is yes... and quite a few. The most obvious answer is Janet Lynn in Sapporo in 1972, but there are a ton of others. That same year, Sergei Chetverukhin would have won the gold in the men's event and become the first Russian man to win an Olympic gold since Nikolay Panin-Kolomenkin back in 1908. The free skate winners in the women's events at the 1980 and 1988 Olympics were Denise Biellmann and Liz Manley. Emmerich Danzer would have won the men's in 1968 and Ronnie Robertson would have won in 1956. Ginny Baxter would have won the women's in 1952. The men's champion in 1924 would have been Willy Böckl and the women's champion in 1920 would have been Theresa Weld Blanchard. Finally, at the first Olympic figure skating event in 1908, Richard Johansson would have defeated Ulrich Salchow. Speaking of Salchow, what's perhaps most interesting is the fact that he would have only won four World titles instead of ten had it not been for the figures. Gilbert Fuchs, Max Bohatsch and Werner Rittberger would have each beaten him not once, but twice.

JAMES DRAKE DIGBY

From Janet (via e-mail): "I have just read your article on James. I am taking advantage of the increased time at home these days to get on with straightening out my family history.  I have grown up always being aware of the Drake Digbys in Cambridge, and just randomly found your article via Facebook. I know about Uncle Sam, and William (my great grandfather) but James was previously just a name on the tree... My mother (James great niece) was born in 1915 and brought up in London. From her early teenage years she was a frequenter of the Queen's Ice Skating rink in London.  I had assumed it was just something everyone did, like ballet classes and learning the piano. Perhaps not, and now I shall never know. She retained lumps on her head from falls on the ice throughout her life, but the falls didn't put her off!... Thank you for the article, it has been excellent for me to see parallels with his brothers and to find out so much more."

THE 1986 WORLD JUNIOR FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS

From Kristi Yamaguchi (via Twitter):

THE AEROS AND BEROLINA EISREVUES

From Margaret (via Facebook): "This is really interesting to me as my husband and I and about six English skaters toured East Germany with the Circus Aeros in 1957. It was a small ice show with the circus. We toured with the circus for about nine months. What an experience that was. One place we played was near Buchenwald and we visited that terrible place, the circus people laid a wreath as it was, I think, the anniversary of the end of the war and the release of the survivors. One experience among many."

THE SKINNY ON TIGHTS

From Kalonji (via e-mail): "I have came across an early photo of Anna Galmarini in the 1958 European Championships. One thing I have noticed in the photo that I have been searching for in the longest time was she was wearing over-the-boot tights in that particular photo. That could mean she was the first official figure skater to don opaque over-the-boot tights in the sport. And I believe the second figure skater to wear that style was Jinx Clark in 1959 when she did a stint on Holiday On Ice. She wore it in a form of a fishnet."

THE I.P.S.A. WORLD PROFESSIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

From Doug Chapman (via e-mail): "1955 Professional competition is incorrect. The competition was actually held in Nottingham, England.

Men’s results were:

1. Douglas Chapman (me) of Great Britain
2. Jackie Lee Australia
3. Bill Hinchy (Australia)

Not sure why complete results are unavailable? It was an Open Competition for free skating. I was coached by Megan Taylor 2 time World Champion."

DÉNES PATAKY

From Anna Pataky (via e-mail): "You wrote a lovely tribute to my father, Ryan, and I am most grateful to you for sharing his story with such a wide audience of skating enthusiasts. My father would have been very moved and humbled. I wish also that my brother could have lived long enough to read it, but for the rest of the 'Pataky's' the article leaves a legacy of courage and accomplishment that we will always be proud of."

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.

#Unearthed: The Ice Show As An Attraction For Hotels And Night Clubs

When you dig through skating history, you never know what you will unearth. In the spirit of cataloguing fascinating tales from skating history, #Unearthed is a once a month 'special occasion' on Skate Guard where fascinating writings by others that are of interest to skating history buffs are excavated, dusted off and shared for your reading pleasure. From forgotten fiction to long lost interviews to tales that have never been shared publicly, each #Unearthed is a fascinating journey through time.

Today's gem is an article from the 1946 edition of "The National Ice Skating Guide", penned by Rube Yocum - husband and pairs partner of Gladys Lamb, who for many years skated with Norval Baptie.
In this piece, he shares a fascinating history and timeline of hotel and nightclub ice shows in America in the first half of the twentieth century.

"THE ICE SHOW AS AN ATTRACTION FOR HOTELS AND NIGHT CLUBS" (RUBE YOCUM)

"Let's go out for dinner, tonight dear." "Where would you like to go?" "Oh! Let's go to the hotel that has the ice show - they say its marvelous!"

So they went to the hotel that advertised the ice show. They had a fine dinner and saw a grand show - and they went again and again - and they told their friends about it. And business in the hotel continued to grow, with reservations at a premium.

Photo courtesy "National Ice Skating Guide"

Ice shows as an attraction for hotel dining rooms and night clubs are not a new idea - but the present interest in skating makes them increasingly popular.

In 1914 the first permanent ice rink was installed in the Sherman Hotel in Chicago and the laurel wreath should be given to Mr. Frank Bearing for having the foresight and vision to introduce the ice stage at his hotel - for it was so popular that it remained there for five solid year's as one of Chicago's famed attractions!

The managers of leading hotels and night clubs in other cities were not long in emulating Mr. Bearing's example. The next show blossomed forth on the roof of Shubert's famous 44th Street Theatre in New York; then Healey's Golden Glades, also in New York, installed a permanent rink. The Terrace Garden in the Morrison Hotel and the North American Restaurant, both in Chicago, followed suit to be followed by the Hotel Winton in Cleveland and the Biltmore in New York. Then the vogue swept west. The Hotel Muehlebach in Kansas City, the Cafe Bristol in Los Angeles and the Portalouvre in San Francisco, all installed permanent equipment.

In 1927 the great Norval Baptie built a portable ice rink that made real ice. The refrigerant used was dry ice or CO2 gas. Baptie was a leading factor in popularizing this type of attraction. He pioneered the field and should with Mr. Bearing be given credit for introducing and making the small rink shows the success they are today. Baptie, whose name is synonymous with skating, now manages the fashionable Chevy Chase Ice Rink in Washington, D.C.

Ice shows continued in popularity until the Prohibition era which ushered in the speakeasies with their small rooms in which the ice show hardly had a place. In 1935, shortly after repeal, Frank Bearing again booked an ice show in the Hotel Sherman and rekindled the present flaming interest in this form of entertainment.

The following year, Mr. Ralph Hitz of the New Yorker Hotel, New York, installed a permanent ice floor. Gladys Lamb starred and produced the shows for the first three years. This is the tenth anniversary for the Hotel New Yorker ice show - and interest is keener now than when it opened.

Photo courtesy "National Ice Skating Guide"

Gladys Lamb and I, in 1939, decided to invest in a portable rink with which we could tour the country, and after much research decided on the new miracle gas Freon, as the refrigerant. Our portable rink was constructed by Dick Baker, president of the Baker Ice Machine Company in Omaha, and we have operated it continuously for the past seven years. We opened at the Fontenelle Hotel in Omaha for Mr. Gene Eppley and the success of the engagement and rink equipment influenced the Nicolett Hotel in Minneapolis to install a permanent rink of the same type in 1940 and bring in the talented star, Dorothy Lewis, who has appeared there every year since.

We are proud of the fact that our travelling portable show was a real success. There were a lot of headaches but we took pride in pioneering the way. We were the first show to open up the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas, where they have had an ice show ever since. we also had the pleasure of opening the ice show in the Netherland Plaza in Cincinnati, the Copley-Plaza Hotel in Boston, the Hotel Schrader in Milwaukee the Hotel Peabody in Memphis and the Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia which has ran uninterrupted for the past three years. Mr. Joseph E. Mears, managing director of the Benjamin Franklin Hotel considers the ice show a permanent part of his organization.

We also had the pleasure of stimulating interest in ice shows when we introduced this form of attraction to night clubs in Boston, New York, Washington, Buffalo, Chicago and Hollywood and also played leading theatres with the unit from coast to coast.

When we started in 1939 the only other so-called travelling ice shows for hotel work were not skating on real ice but on imitation ice or 'muck' made of melted hypo spread on boards. Skating on the 'muck' proved so difficult that it has gradually dropped out of the picture.

At the present time some of the leading hotels - namely the New York, Netherland Plaza in Cincinnati, St. Regis in New York, the Adolphus in Texas, and the Benjamin Franklin Hotel, Philadelphia, have their own permanent rinks.

Besides our portable units, other skater-producers that have invested their own money in portable rinks, purchased their own equipment and costumes and produce their own shows ready for booking in as a complete unit are Everett McGowan and Ruth Mack and Maribel Vinson and Guy Owen. These people all have an extensive background of experience and are star skaters in their own right. They have helped immeasurably in keeping up the standards of the ice shows and in making the travelling small units an attractive proposition for hotels and good clubs. George Arnold is another skater who recently has invested in his own portable rink.

Photo courtesy "National Ice Skating Guide"

Ice shows as an attraction for hotels and night clubs haven't scratched the surface yet. They have proven themselves to be one of the most popular and high-class attractions in the amusement field.

The small travelling skating shows, like other new fields of endeavor, have not been handled or managed to best advantage. Agents booking skating shows must be made to realize that unlike other attractions the ice show builds up each week - each performance is different - they need a much longer engagement than ordinary stage entertainment. At the end of a six months booking an ice show will be drawing better than when it first started! And, anticipating the future, agents should make sure that they book a good ice show. The rink itself is merely the floor for the performers to work on - they should make sure that they are selling competent skaters - not just the ice itself.

This type of entertainment has more than a 'beach-head' on the public fancy. It is no longer an experiment or novelty. It is sound, basic entertainment. It is probably the greatest value in the amusement field today.

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 1926 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

Grace Munstock's silver medal from the junior women's event at the 1926 U.S. Championships

Held February 15 and 16, 1926 at the Boston Arena in Boston, Massachusetts, the 1926 U.S. Figure Skating Championships were perhaps the most unusual U.S. Championships to take place in the roaring twenties. For starters, the competition was held on a Monday and Tuesday (hardly prime ice time) with all but three rounds of school figures crammed into the second day. Two of the more important skating clubs in America at the time were poorly represented due to circumstances largely out of their control. The Philadelphia Skating Club And Humane Society's rink had closed for a time, forcing members to train outdoors on the Merion Golf Club Pond that season. The New Haven Skating Club's rink had burned down but was rebuilt not long before the competition in Boston.

In the days before records, tapes and CD's, the thirty six competitors were at the mercy of the organizers when it came to their free skating programs. The announcement for the event in "Skating" magazine noted, "If notified at time of entry the Committee will endeavor to provide any special piece of music selected by the contestants for the Free or Pairs Skating or Fours competitions, and have the same played at the desired tempo. This, if possible, should be indicated by the metronome speed number, or beats per second." So, to clarify, entries paid a two dollar entrance fee to compete at the National level... and the live band who accompanied their programs may or may not have performed the music they'd practiced to leading up to the event.

Two of the three junior titles were claimed by members of the Skating Club Of New York. Beatrix Loughran and Raymond Harvey took the junior pairs title, while Julia Honan fended off a challenge from Grace Munstock to win the junior women's title. Roger Turner of The Skating Club of Boston was the victor in the junior men's event. The Waltz and Fourteenstep competitions were only allotted twenty minutes each. In her book "Figure Skating History: The Evolution Of Dance On Ice", Lynn Copley-Graves recalled, "The judging in the Fourteenstep was very close. Sydney Goode and James Greene regained the title they had held in 1923 and 1924. The wide swing of their free legs may have influenced the judges in their favour, because the defending champions, Virginia Slattery and Ferrier Martin, again skated with remarkable precision. The top two couples in the Waltz, both from the New York SC, gave the host club in Boston its best display of the Waltz to date. Sydney Goode and James Greene could not quite close in on Rosaline Dunn and Joseph Savage, who waltzed with a 'subtle yet distinct superiority' that was evident to judges and spectators alike. Edna Gutterman and Frederick Gabel, also from the New York SC, displayed good dancing for third place in both events." Though a fours event had been held the two years previous, there was no competition in 1926 due to a rule that said the event couldn't be contested unless there were entries from two or more clubs. Theresa Weld and Nathaniel Niles won an unprecedented eighth consecutive U.S. pairs title, defeating Sydney Goode and James Burgess Greene and Grace Munstock and Joel B. Liberman. The senior pairs had to perform a five minute program, which was a whole two minutes longer than the program the junior pairs were required to do.

Beatrix Loughran and Theresa Weld Blanchard in 1926

Beatrix Loughran defended her U.S. title with ease, defeating former U.S. women's champion Theresa Weld Blanchard for the second straight year. Maribel Vinson finished third, winning her first senior medal at the U.S. Championships. Sherwin Badger's business interests didn't allow him to compete in Boston in 1926. His absence allowed fifty one year old Chris I. Christenson of St. Paul - one of the judges in the senior women's event - to defeat hometown favourite Nathaniel Niles and Ferrier T. Martin. Of Christenson, an unattributed newspaper 1926 article cited in a 1996 "New York Times" piece published around the time of Rudy Galindo's U.S. title win reportedly noted, "His figures were smooth and precisely correct. He looped and spread-eagled with an unhurried calm that must have piled point after point in his favor on the score-pads of the judges. But his was an exhibition of mathematical certainty. It was a typically masculine performance, devoid of teeming nervous energy and one of cold and accurate calculation." Not only did Christenson make history as the oldest man ever to win a U.S. senior men's title, but he was the first man from the Midwest to lay his stake on U.S. gold as well.

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 Forgotten Frau: The Ellen Brockhöft Story

"I adhere with body and soul to skating." - Ellen Brockhöft, 1926, "Die Dame auf Schlittschuhen"

Her name may be all but forgotten today but in the roaring twenties in Germany, Ella Gertrud Auguste 'Ellen' Brockhöft was the grand dame of German figure skating. Born April 29, 1893 in Berlin, she didn't begin skating until 1912 at the rather advanced age (by figure skating standards) of nineteen.

Photo courtesy Julia C. Schulze

Ellen was a member of the Berliner Schlittschuhclub and trained at the Berlin Sportpalast, which at the time was a brand new facility and the largest enclosed rink in the world.

Photos courtesy Julia C. Schulze

Though late to the game, Ellen very quickly became absolutely entranced with the sport and spent all of her free time on the ice tracing and retracing figures. However, during the Great War there were few trainers available. She looked to Gillis Grafström and Elli Winter as mentors and picked up what seeds of knowledge she could from them. Following the War, she went to Werner Rittberger and Andor Szende for advice and coaching.

Ellen made her debut at the German Figure Skating Championships in Berlin in 1920 and placed a strong second behind Elli Winter. The next year, she claimed her first of six German titles. Although Gaby Seyfert won ten East German titles and Katarina Witt eight, to this day no woman who has ever competed at either the West German or unified German Championships has since equalled or bettered her record of six national titles.

Left: Ellen Brockhöft and Paul Franke. Right: Illustration of Ellen Brockhöft spinning.

Ellen also made history in Oslo, Norway in 1924 as the first woman from her country to win a medal at the World Championships in singles skating, a feat she repeated the following year in Switzerland for good measure. Both years, she lost to Austria's Herma Szabo but received first place ordinals from the German judge in the school figures. Ironic in spite of the help she received from her own judge in her first two trips to the World Championships, nationalistic judging proved to be her downfall on her third go around in 1927.

Herma Szabo and Ellen Brockhöft. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland.

At those World Championships in Oslo, Herma Szabo controversially lost the gold medal to Norway's Sonja Henie. The fact that three of the five judges were Norwegian sparked a later rule change with the International Skating Union that only allowed one judge per country on a panel in international competitions. At that same event, Ellen lost the bronze medal in a three-two split to a second Norwegian skater, Karen Simensen. Neither woman ever competed at the World Championships again.

Ellen Brockhöft at the German Sports Press Ball in 1925. Photo courtesy Julia C. Schulze.

In 1925, Ellen attended the prestigious German Sports Press Ball in Frankfurt. An English account of the affair from the November 14, 1925 issue of "The Evening Independent" noted, "Germany's women athletic champions were brought together at a unique dinner party. Frau [Nelly] Neppach, holder of the woman's tennis title, who failed to wrest the world title from the great Suzanne Lengllen in the Vienna tournament recently, invited the following champions to dinner: Frau [Else] Samek, golf; Fraulein [Hertha] Aschenbacher, high jumping; Fraulein [Margarete] Rieve, javelin throwing; Frau [Ellen] Brockhoeft, ice skating; Frau [Any] Gordan, fencing; Fraulein [Cilly] Feindt, fancy riding. A record of this unusual gathering was made for posterity in the form of two contrasting, photographs, one showing the champions wearing highly fashionable dinner gowns, and the other depicting them in their athletic garb, each member of the party holding a symbol of her speciality, such as a tennis racquet, golf club or riding whip."

Although Ellen was not permitted to compete in either the 1920 Summer Olympics or 1924 Winter Olympics due to a ban on German athletes participating in the Olympics following the Great War, she finally make her one and only appearance at the Games in Switzerland in 1928 at the age of twenty nine.

Photo courtesy Nasjonalbiblioteket 

Ellen's skating at the 1928 Olympics was met with a mixed bag of reviews - her ordinals in both figures and free skating ranged from sixth through thirteenth - and she finished a disappointing ninth place overall. If it was any consolation, Karen Simensen - the Norwegian who had defeated her at the 1927 Worlds - finished a disastrous sixteenth.

Left: Elisabeth Böckl, Herma Szabo and Ellen Brockhöft. Right: Ellen Brockhöft

Ellen later married and taught skating for a time in St. Moritz, Switzerland. She applied to the ISU for reinstatement as an amateur in 1936 and her request was granted on April 7, 1937 but she never competed again. She passed away in Bonn, Germany at the age of seventy nine on December 19, 1977.

   

Although Ellen's story has been largely forgotten today, there is truly something quite unique about any skater who takes up their sport in their late teens and goes on to make history... twice. Her story serves as yet another reminder that not every skater's story fits the usual script.

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.