The 1926 World Figure Skating Championships

In early 1926, the Rhine River overflowed, causing fifty thousand residents of Cologne, Germany to be evacuated by the military and the airline Deutsche Luft Hansa (a forerunner of Lufthansa) was founded in Berlin. On February 13 and 14 of that year, the German city also played host to the 1926 World Figure Skating Championships in men's and pairs skating. The competitions were held at the Berliner Eispalast in conjunction with the Berlin Eisfest, which also included contests in speed skating and a grand hockey tournament which pitted teams from the Wiener Eislaufverein in Vienna and the Berliner Schlittschuhclub. The women's competition was held separately on February 7 and 8 on outdoor ice in Stockholm, Sweden and marked the twenty year anniversary the first ISU women's championship in 1906, won by Great Britain's Madge Syers. 

Photo courtesy Národní muzeum

One of the most interesting footnotes about the 1926 World Championships is the fact the ISU requested proposals for a possible ice dance competition to be held in conjunction with the Berlin event. Dr. Hugo Wintzer, an ISU judge from Dresden, proposed a waltzing contest and "prescribed set dance skated by each couple separately" judged on "a) novelty and originality (to be rated first), variety and difficulty (to be rated second) - in sum, the technical worth. b) Grace, appearance and carriage - the execution (ie. how beautiful?) and c. Unity of execution, rhythm, sureness - the execution - ie. how well?" Dr. Wintzer's proposal was translated and appeared in the February 1926 issue of "Skating" magazine but primary source materials offer few clues as to whether or not an unofficial ice dancing competition actually occurred. If it did, it was obviously unofficial, but it would have marked one of the earliest instances of any sort of waltzing or ice dancing competition being held in conjunction with the World Championships.

Herma Szabo and Ludwig Wrede. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland.

Without a doubt, the women's competition in Stockholm was the most dramatic. Four time and reigning World Champion Herma Szabo arrived in Sweden with her engineer husband Paul Jarosz only to find that Papa Henie had been busy politicking for his young daughter Sonja, who had placed fifth in her first trip to the World Championships two years prior and not participated the year prior. She had originally expected her chief competition to come from Elisabeth Böckel, who had placed third at 1925 World Championships and the sudden publicity 'push' for Henie came as something of a revelation to the Viennese skater. In the school figures, Szabo, Henie and Great Britain's Kathleen Shaw were unanimously first, second and third on every judge's scorecard. In the free skate, the Austrian judge placed Szabo first, the Norwegian judge placed Henie first and the judges from Germany, Sweden and Finland tied the two. Overall, Szabo and Henie were unanimously first and second on every judge's scorecard. With four third place ordinals, Shaw took the bronze. The only judge not to place her third was Hugo Metzner of Germany, who gave that distinction to Elisabeth Böckel. Even though the Swedish newspaper "Dagens Nyheter" raved that Szabo was "in a class by herself", the fact that she was able to retain her title that year was a miracle in itself.  The February 13, 1926 issue of the "Illustriertes (Österreichisches) Sportblatt" noted, "Overnight from Sunday to Monday Herma's skates were in the cloakroom of the sports field. They were damaged by an unknown hand in an act of obvious malicious intent and rendered useless. The hope that Herma would leave the competition was not fulfilled for the perpetrator, for the four-time World Champion procured new skates and won her fifth, and certainly not last, World Championship." A January 28, 1994 article from "The New York Times" later recalled the hoopla thusly: "At the world championships in Stockholm, someone apparently tried to sabotage [Szabo's] performance by deliberately slicing her skating boots, 'She was putting on her skates and she noticed that someone had cut around the boot; the sole was nearly coming off,' [Fritzi Burger-]Russell said Planck-Szabo told her. 'They postponed the beginning of compulsory figures until the boot could be repaired. Planck-Szabo had her suspicions - she thought she saw a member of the Norwegian delegation in the corridor as she returned to her hotel room the night before the competition - but nothing was ever proved..."

The Brunet's in Berlin. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland.

Though Herma Szabo had managed to pull off a miracle in Stockholm, her luck ran out in Berlin. With Ludwig Wrede, she had won the World pairs title the year prior in front of a hometown audience in Vienna. In 1926, Szabo and Wrede dropped to third behind Andreé (Joly) and Pierre Brunet of France and Lilly Scholz and Otto Kaiser.

Lilly Scholz and Otto Kaiser. Photo courtesy Bildarchiv Austria.

The Norwegian and Austrian judges had Sonja Henie and Arne Lie, who placed fifth, in first... quite interesting considering what happened in Stockholm and the notorious politicking of the day. The judging of the pairs event in Berlin was somewhat all over the place. Henie and Lie's ordinals ranged from first through ninth and Gisela Hochhaltinger and Georg Pamperl of Austria, who placed fourth, had ordinals ranging from second through eighth. Four first place ordinals were enough for the Brunet's to take the gold... making them the first French skaters in history to win a World title.

Willy Böckl in 1926. Photo courtesy Bildarchiv Austria.

Prior to the men's event, rumours swirled that two time Olympic Gold Medallist Gillis Grafström and Olympic Bronze Medallist Georges Gautschi would participate. Neither ultimately surfaced, leaving nine men to compete for the title. Four out of five judges had defending World Champion Willy Böckl first in the figures, though the German judge somewhat scandalously had Werner Rittberger first on his scorecard. No other judge had Rittberger higher than fourth. In the free skate, Böckl received first place ordinals from the British and French judges but Finnish judge Walter Jakobsson had him as low as sixth. Jakobsson voted for young Robert van Zeebroeck of Belgium. Austrian judge Fritz Kachler had Dr. Otto Preißecker first and the German judge again voted for Rittberger. Overall, Böckl had three first place ordinals, Otto Preißecker one and Rittberger one.

Otto Preißecker

By three ordinal placings, Willy Böckl won, with Otto Preißecker second, John 'Jack' Ferguson Page third and Werner Rittberger fourth. Robert van Zeebroeck remained in seventh, exactly where he'd finished in the school figures. Though the numbers show that Böckl's win was far from unanimous, the February 20, 1926 issue of the "Illustriertes (Österreichisches) Sportblatt" claimed that he "won [so] convincingly that the proclamation of the result [caused] no sensation." It seems 'fake news' was even a thing back in the roaring twenties.

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 Rise Of The Ice Skating Studio

Photo courtesy "World Figure Skating Guide"

"The ice studio that is well organized and situated in the proper locality will be a great success. The need for proper instruction space for figure skating is one of the big problems for amateur clubs as the average club does not have sufficient ice time available when skaters can use it... an ice studio can serve a real good purpose in offering ice time and instruction to skaters outside of club time [and] render a great service [by increasing] interest in skating." - Gladys Rankin, "Skating" magazine, February 1955

They've now become an increasingly rare, novel holdover from another time like drive-in theaters and ice cream parlours, but small ice skating studios were once incredibly popular. They were a dime a dozen in the sixties - a clever concept which allowed entrepreneurial skating coaches the means of branching out from the big skating clubs. The coaches simply needed to rent a modest commercial space, lay a small ice floor and start offering lessons to beginners. The overhead was often low and many owners of these rinks appreciated the flexibility, privacy and small class sizes.

One of the first studio rinks in the world was a thirty-six square foot private rink in Pembroke Gardens, Kensington, London. Operational for a short period in the mid to late thirties, this rink was run by professional skater Freda Whitaker. The January 25, 1936 issue of "The Evening News" noted that at this rink, "The walls of the hall are orange, and the instructresses where orange jumpers and berets with yellow skirts and long golden colored skating boots. Dancers slip through orange curtains to glide over the ice to haunting tunes of a waltz, fox trot or one-step." Freda Whitaker's rink paved the way for the smaller Arosa rink at the Richmond Sports-Drome in London. The Arosa was constructed by Claude Langdon in 1938 on top of a former saltwater swimming pool that sprung a leak as a 'supplement' to the main rink and was used both for practices and private parties. Young skaters wanting to escape the throngs could pay an extra sixpence for some peace and quiet... and room to practice their spins. The Arosa was where Jeannette Altwegg did much of her training in the years preceding her Olympic gold win in 1952. A similar studio rink, the Glebe in Chelsea, operated in London in the fifties.

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

In 1941, the Icelandia rink in Toronto opened its doors. Located at 1941 Yonge Street, the tiny rink offered "strictly supervised" private ice at the cost of fifteen dollars an hour - no paltry sum in the days of wartime scrimping and saving. Bedford Allen managed the rink and for a time, Canadian Champion and socialite Cecil Smith Gooderham taught there and took the reigns of the Icelandia Skating Club. Paul von Gassner also gave lessons there for a time and skaters from the Toronto Skating Club would often scoot over to work with the club's pros on less-crowded ice. Olympic Gold Medallist Bob Paul got his start there and was one of a group of skaters from the rink who travelled by bus, staging carnivals in towns and villages that didn't have the resources to start their own. Peter Firstbrook and Vevi Smith also trained at Icelandia. The club folded in 1950 after receiving heat from the city for holding Toronto Hockey League games on Sundays and backlash from the community for a 'gentleman's agreement' which barred Jewish people and people of colour from skating there.

The first ice skating studio in America was opened in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1950 by Dorothy Lewis, who had appeared in the 1941 film "Ice-Capades", and her husband James Lamdin. Lewis was a veteran of the St. Regis Hotel and Hotel Nicolett's ice shows during World War II and was accustomed to performing on small ice surfaces. Her studio was located at 2929 Emerson Avenue S. in a former greenhouse and conservatory. There was a six hundred and forty square foot rink on the ground floor, with an office and apartment upstairs. Mirrors were installed so that skaters could have a visual reference and an overhead harness for practicing jumps was even installed. For the fifties, it was groundbreaking stuff. In 1955, she remarked, "I would like it eventually to be worked out that studio owners will be able to give an annual recital which will give their pupils an opportunity to show what they have accomplished... The arenas have their ice carnivals. I hope we can have a Kiddie Revue Recital on ice."

Dorothy Lewis' Ice Skating Studio

The success of Dorothy Lewis' ice skating studio in Minneapolis led to the development of several similar schools. By 1955, there were seventeen skating studios in America, including Ruth Noland's Dance and Ice Skating Studio in Bellflower, California, Eleanor and Lewis Elkin's Ice Flair in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, Marlyn Thomsen's school in Melrose, Massachusetts, Gladys Rankin's school in New Haven, Connecticut, Ray and Nadine Schramm's Raydine Marin school in San Anselmo, California, April Schramm's school in Burbank and Jerry Page's studio in West Los Angeles, where 1961 U.S. Champion Diane Sherbloom first learned to skate. The 'Raydine' school in Mill Valley (a play on Ray and Nadine's names) had a twenty one by forty two foot rink and offered eight week group courses for skaters three and up and semi-private lessons for groups of four. The studio also offered evening classes that adults could attend after work, a course so that Girl Scouts could earn a skating badge and party rentals. Gladys Rankin's school in California had a ballet barre, a one thousand, one hundred square foot rink enclosed by glass and offered off-ice exercise and dance classes. The two Essi Davis schools in California also had ballet barres.

Late to the game was a man who would turn his chain of ice skating studios into a very successful franchise - former Canadian Champion Michael Kirby. He opened his first studio in a former garage in River Forest, Illinois. Within a few years, there were about half a dozen such schools, mostly in the greater Chicago area. In 1955, he remarked, "Because of the community response to our first school, I feel that is a community venture. It has brought skating, and the simplest way of learning skating, right to the people... The school provides low cost instruction and uses advertising and publicity to promote skating... I think [the schools] will greatly develop the latent interest in skating."

By the mid sixties, more than fifty ice skating studios popped up in American shopping centers, former dance schools and storefronts everywhere from New Jersey to New Mexico. Mabel Fairbanks taught at Harlan and Margaret Parker's tiny Culver City studio rink for a time. For whatever reason, the studio craze caught on to the same degree in Canada, even though the Icelandia would have been one of the first such rinks in North America. There was, however, the Michael Kirby school in Toronto, where a young Sandra and Val Bezic got their start in the sport before going to Mrs. Ellen Burka.

Photo courtesy "World Ice Skating Guide"

Several elite American figure skaters got their start at an ice skating studio. In 2014, Ken Shelley recalled, "For my sixth birthday I was given ice lessons at a studio rink in an old house. The ice was 'L' shaped. I actually started skating in a living room and dining room - twenty by twenty - really a tiny piece of ice. They built another studio behind it and that was called The Big Rink and was about thirty by forty. They only taught show biz skating, no figures or anything like that... and that's how I came to skating. We'd do a little show once every six months or so. In one of these shows, they put JoJo [Starbuck] and I together as a pair in a quartet."

By the seventies, when JoJo Starbuck and Ken Shelley were standing atop podiums, most of America's ice skating studios had gone the way of the dodo. The rise in popularity of the Ice Capades chalet enterprise which operated about a dozen rinks in California and the Southern states (also ran by Michael Kirby) played a role in their demise. Perhaps the biggest factor in the end of skating studios was their 'ceiling'. Once a skater improved beyond the beginner stages, they really needed to move on to a bigger rink if they wanted to get involved in the competitive side of the sport. Studio owners required a new influx of students every year in order to stay afloat and the competition between them and the skating clubs based in big rinks was often fierce. As is so often the case in business, the 'little guy' sometimes had a hard time making a go of 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.

Szende In The Clowns: The Andor Szende Story

Born April 14, 1886 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, Andor Szende was the son of Josef Steigenberger and Regina Szende. His father, who sold cotton, wool, cloth and textile goods, was Jewish. He adopted his wife's last name and changed the spelling of his first name to József. Andor had a brother sister named Ilona and a brother named Dezso who went on to be a doctor.

As a young student, Andor excelled at a variety of sports, including tennis, shooting and speed skating. He won local championships in the high and long jump, hurdles and running. At the age of twenty in 1908, he was nominated to represent his country at 1908 Summer Olympic Games in athletics. The "Hudzadik Szadad" reported he even met a team of athletes that departed from the Nyugati Railway Station in Bratislava but "did not travel to London" to compete.

That same year, Andor won the Hungarian junior figure skating title and an international free skating competition in Davos. A regular at the Városligeti Műjégpálya, he was a member of the prestigious Budapesti Korcsolyázó Egylet (Pest Skating Club). Training under Viktor Seibert, the Bosnian coach of Lili Kronberger, his skill on the ice improved rapidly. At his first international competition, the junior men's event at the 1909 European Championships, he seemingly came out of nowhere to claim the gold medal. He made his senior international debut the following year at the World Championships in Davos. So impressive was his performance that the Swiss judge had him in first in the school figures ahead of both Ulrich Salchow and Werner Rittberger. The "Hudzadik Szadad" reported, "Who would have expected the Hungarian Szende to win the third place? No one. We thought that a serious athlete like Szende would not be named in a World Championship without any foundation, but he played a significant role there and we did not really expect it... Szende is one of our best skaters. He does not have born talent, but his will, ambition and especially serious training have made him a dangerous competitor anywhere."

In 1911, Andor claimed his first Hungarian senior title and placed fifth in his first trip to the European Championships. Though he finished fourth in the World Championships that followed in Berlin, the German and Swedish judges had him tied for first with Salchow in the free skating competition. Salchow commented, "Szende skated well [but] a bit brutally." A reporter from "Les Sports d'Hiver" remarked, "Szende made a very good impression. In his countenance, athletic power is associated with great beauty. "

Over the course of the next three years, Andor claimed another three Hungarian titles, a silver medal at the European Championships and another bronze medal at the World Championships, establishing himself as one of the world's top competitive skaters. Unfortunately, in his final trip to the World Championships in 1914, he placed a disappointing fifth. Swedish skating historian Gunnar Bang noted that he was "odd and nervous" at this particular competition.

The Great War effectively ended Andor's competitive figure skating career. He served as as a Lieutenant in a Bomber Squadron in Kaiserliche und Königliche Luftfahrtruppen (Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops). Though he returned to win a final Hungarian title in 1922 and was listed as as an entry in the 1924 Winter Olympic Games in the January 9, 1924 issue of "Paris-Soir Sportif", he ultimately didn't attend, missing his shot at Olympic glory for a second time. The reasons why he didn't attend either of the Olympic Games he was selected to compete at are unknown.

Off the ice, Andor was an architect of some renown. In 1927, the "Magyar Építőművészet" noted, "Andor Szende has been known [as] the powerful champion of the great masses, the master of monumental architectural drawings. His enormous, serious, brilliantly drawn out perspectives have become almost stylized over time and he knows far from those who are interested in building art in our country. The work of the modern, great German builders began in his works, since he worked for almost a decade in the studios of Möhring and Schmitz and learned the formation and distribution of these masters... Andor Szende is not the man of the exaggerated modern concept, he continues to develop his own custom design for traditions... The castles and interiors of Andor Szende meet the needs of the tastefully conserved people and we will appreciate them."

Andor Szende, Kathleen Shaw, John Ferguson Page, Ethel Muckelt, Dunbar Poole, an unidentified Swiss skater, Georges Gautschi, Werner Rittberger, Artur Vieregg, Zsófia Méray-Horváth and Gillis Grafström in Switzerland in 1925. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Though his work as an architect demanded much of his time, Andor made the time to remain active in the figure skating world as a judge. From 1925 to 1939, he sat rinkside and scrutinized the performances of many of the world's top skaters at the European and World Championships. As a judge, he called it as he saw it and often went against the grain. At the 1925 World Championships in Vienna, he placed his former competitor Fritz Kachler ahead of the winner, Willy Böckl. Nine years later at the 1934 European Championships, he was the only one of the seven judges to dare to place Sonja Henie second behind Liselotte Landbeck.

Little is known about Andor's later life. We do know that he married German skater Elli Winter, worked as a skating coach in Budapest for a time, survived World War II and passed away in his mid eighties in the year 1972.

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 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.