A Lifelong Devotion: The Suzanne Morrow And Wally Distelmeyer Story

Photo courtesy Toronto Public Library, from Toronto Star Photographic Archive. Reproduced for educational purposes under license permission.

"Figure skating has given me an opportunity for over 50 years to work as a volunteer involved with our young and older skaters, and to be at the center of building programs that have led to the evolution of Canadian figure skating." - Suzanne Morrow-Francis, "The Legendary Night Of Figure Skating" program, 1999

Photo courtesy "Canadian Skater" magazine

Wallace 'Wally' William Distelmeyer was born July 14, 1926, in Kitchener; his partner Suzanne 'Suzy' Morrow on December 14, 1930, in Toronto. He was of German ancestry and born in a Lutheran household; she had Irish roots and her family attended the United Church. He started skating at the age of ten, encouraged by a neighbour. She took up the sport at the age of nine at a doctor's suggestion, to strengthen an injured leg.

Wally made his debut at the Canadian Figure Skating Championships in 1941, finishing second in the junior pairs competition with partner Floraine Ducharme. The following year, the promising young duo won the junior pairs competition and 'skated up', placing second in the senior pairs event. Floraine and Wally's partnership dissolved when he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II. Suzanne made her first big splash at the 1945 Canadian Championships, following in Wally's footsteps and winning the junior pairs event and finishing second in the Waltz... with Frances Dafoe's future partner Norris Bowden.

Suzanne Morrow. Photos courtesy Hamilton Public Library (left) and "Skating World" magazine (right).

Suzanne and Wally's paths converged when he was discharged from the Navy. He made his return to competition at the 1946 Canadian Championships in Schumacher. He finished second and third in the Waltz and Fourteenstep and won the junior men's event; she the junior women's. He won the senior pairs competition with Joyce Perkins; she finished second with Norris Bowden.

By the following year, Suzanne and Wally decided they made better partners than competitors. He finished second in the senior men's event at the 1947 Canadian Championships; her third in the senior women's behind training mates Marilyn Ruth Take and Nadine Phillips. Together, they won the senior pairs title on their first try, defeating a talented Winnipeg brother/sister team, Sheila and Ross Smith. They both made their international debuts at the 1947 North American Championships in Ottawa. She finished fourth in the women's competition; he third in the men's event, sandwiched between Americans Dick Button and Jimmy Grogan and Canadian teammate Norris Bowden. They won the pairs competition, defeating Yvonne Sherman and Robert Swenning, Karol and Peter Kennedy and the Smith siblings. Despite the fact they were a brand new team, their impressive win in Ottawa suggested to many that they had as good a chance as anyone at a medal the following year at the Winter Olympic Games in St. Moritz.

Left: Suzanne and Yvonne Sherman. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine. Right: Suzanne tying her skates.

Suzanne and Wally stepped up their game considerably in preparation for the 1948 Winter Olympics. They put in countless hours at the Winter Club of St. Catharine's with Australian coaches Sadie Cambridge and Albert Enders, focusing particularly on improving their unison. Wally even took ballet lessons to improve his 'manner of performance'. At the time, off-ice dance classes were practically unheard of for Canadian men's skaters. 

Suzanne and Wally's Aussie coaches even helped add a new trick to their arsenal: a one-handed variation of the two-handed death spiral which was a popular 'trick' among professional pairs skaters in the twenties and thirties, first popularized in the amateur ranks by Swiss pair Pierrette and Paul Du Bois. 

Photo courtesy "Canadian Skater" magazine

The pair toiled away on their secret weapon, eventually perfecting it to a degree that Suzanne reached a low, arched-back position while Wally pivoted her around him. They have been widely credited as the first team to perform this version of the death spiral in amateur competition, though Emília Rotter and László Szollás performed it before World War II and Joyce and Colin Bosley and Gladys Hogg and Edwin Edmonds performed it in the I.P.S.A. Professional Championships in England in 1946. If you're big on 'firsts', it can safely be said they were the first North American pair to master the death spiral and perform it at the Olympics and World Championships.

At the 1948 Canadian Championships in Toronto, Wally won the senior men's event and Suzanne finished last in the senior women's event. Together, they claimed first in no less than four events: the senior pairs competition, Silver Dance, Waltz and Tenstep. At seventeen and twenty-one, they had both earned spots on the Canadian Olympic Team.

Suzanne signing the City Of Montreal's guestbook. Photo courtesy Archives of the City of Montreal.

Both Suzanne and Wally had dismal finishes in the singles event in St. Moritz - twelfth and fifteenth - but together, they gave what many considered the performance of the night in the pairs competition. In the middle of a blinding snowstorm, the Ontario duo put on a brilliant show - side-by-side double jumps, speed galore, death spiral and all - but were placed a disappointing third behind Belgians Micheline Lannoy and Pierre Baugniet and Hungarians Andrea Kékesy and Ede Király. The official story was that they were penalized for starting their program with an illegal lift, but there were grumblings that the Belgian and Austrian judges had done some wheeling and dealing.

Dick Button, Suzanne and Hellmut Seibt. Photo courtesy Bildarchiv Austria.

Modern North American accounts claim Suzanne and Wally were outright robbed; primary sources from Belgium - Lannoy and Baugniet's home country - praise the winner's performance effusively. In a February 11, 1992 interview in "The Ottawa Citizen", Wally recalled, "We thought we would do well... It was so political. We did more things than the first-place team. It hurt us greatly because everyone said we had won." Unfortunately, long before the days of Twitter and computerized scoring, that sort of thing went on more often than not and no one batted an icy eyelash. Suzanne took consolation in watching her good friend Dick Button win the men's title and Wally delighted in cheering on Barbara Ann Scott as she won Canada's first Olympic gold medal in figure skating.

Barbara Ann Scott, Marilyn Ruth Take and Suzanne Morrow at the 1948 Winter Olympic Games

If losing at the Olympics in St. Moritz was a disappointment, Suzanne and Wally's experiences at the World Championships that followed in Davis added insult to injury. After placing ninth and an unlucky thirteenth in the singles events, Suzanne and Wally again skated their program in a dreadful snowstorm - this time after midnight - but performed so well that they were called back on the ice for another bow after finishing their program. The conditions were so poor that as soon as they were done, nearly a dozen snow-scrapers set to work clearing the ice. As insurance against funny business from the judges, the father of the American pair Karol and Peter Kennedy brought his camera along to photograph the performances of the top pairs. He allegedly took a photograph of Lannoy and Baugniet falling, and according to Beverley Smith's fantastic book "Talking Figure Skating", his "camera disappeared from the room and was returned later, but with the film removed." Though they again skated the performance of the evening, Suzanne and Wally were again placed a decisive third, with ordinals ranging from second to fifth place.

Following their Olympic and World medal wins, Suzanne and Wally gave exhibitions in Paris, London, Bournemouth, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Ottawa and St. Catharines. Wally decided to retire from competition; Suzanne pressed on, determined to make a go of it as a singles skater.

Photo courtesy Joseph Butchko Collection, an acquisition of the Skate Guard Archive

As a soloist, Suzanne never quite was able to fill the shoes of Barbara Ann Scott, but it wasn't for a lack of trying. Studying under Gustave Lussi, she greatly improved both her school figures and jump technique and won three Canadian senior women's titles, the silver medal at the 1951 North American Championships in Calgary and finished in the top six at four consecutive World Championships and the 1952 Winter Olympic Games in Oslo. At the 1950 World Championships in London, England, one judge was so impressed by the fact that the fact she did three double loops in a row that he had her in first place in free skating. Incredible accomplishments all, considering that her career was almost sidelined by an automobile accident down in the States that was so serious she required stitches to her face.

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

Despite the fact she never won a medal at the World Championships as a singles skater, Suzanne remains to this day the only woman in post-War figure skating history to hold Canadian senior titles in singles, pairs and ice dance. By all accounts, she was also a very talented skier.

Photo courtesy "Canadian Skater" magazine

Although Wally earned degrees in Commerce and Finance at Western University and worked at a microfilm company, figure skating was his most important lifelong work. He taught at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club, Centre Ice, Scarborough Ice Galaxy and the Oakville, Port Credit, Niagara Falls and Burlington Figure Skating Clubs and ran his own summer school in Stamford. His many students included Donald Jackson, Karen Preston, Tracey Wainman, Stan Bohonek and Mary Petrie and Bob McAvoy. 

Bob McAvoy, Mary Petrie McGilllvray and Wally Distelmeyer in 1969. Photo courtesy Marie Petrie McGillvray.

Wally also served on the board of the Figure Skating Coaches Of Canada, was a member of the Ontario Sports Council and was on the committee for the CFSA's Bursary Fund. He married Bette Wrinch, the 1947 Canadian Champion in junior pairs, and had two children and four grandchildren. He skated until he was seventy-one, and was a passionate collector of figure skating memorabilia, including sixty pairs of antique skates dating back to the nineteenth century. In an interview with Lois Carson in the Spring-Summer 1979 issue of the "Canadian Skater" magazine, he likened his fascination with skating history to a "disease" that he hadn't "been able to get out of [his] system." Very sadly, Wally passed away on December 23, 1999, in Oakville, Ontario from two far crueler diseases - Parkinson's and Alzheimer's - at the age of seventy-three.

Suzanne excelled in so many different fields during her post-skating life that it is hard to even keep track of it all. After graduating from the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph and earning her doctorate, she became the proprietor of the Sainte Claire Veterinary Hospital. She divided her time between her veterinary practice and flipping heritage farmhouses in the area north of Toronto. Her first husband, James Pogue, was a professional horse trainer. She met her second husband, David Worthington Francis, while attending college. For several years, she ran a thoroughbred horse racing stable and showed horses internationally. In 1967, her horse won the prestigious Rothman Puissance Jumping Stake. She was also a German Shepherd and Doberman Pinscher breeder, a show judge for the Canadian Kennel Club and the first female veterinarian in Canada to receive a license to practice at race tracks. Her love of animals extended back to when she was competing when she bred blue Persian cats. 

Hayes Alan Jenkins and Suzanne Morrow

Suzanne was also a mother and an extremely accomplished international judge. Her first of four trips to the Winter Olympic Games as an official was a bit of a bust. The pro-German crowd at the 1964 Olympics in Austria already had a major hate on for her because she was a low marker. When she placed Marika Kilius and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler behind the Protopopovs and Debbi Wilkes and Guy Revell, they went certifiably berserk... and Kilius was furious. The European press dubbed her 'The Red Devil Of Innsbruck' because she wore a bright red coat while she judged. Things got so bad she was getting harassed when she walked down the streets, spat on and shoved. In one effort to avoid the angry throngs, she sent Marg Hyland out in her famous scarlet jacket as a decoy.

'The Red Devil Of Innsbruck' served her first of two ISU suspensions in 1967 when she rated an American skater over Austria's Emmerich Danzer and gave higher marks than any other judge to Canadian Donald Knight. Her second suspension was served up after the 1976 Winter Olympic Games (again in Innsbruck) where she placed Toller Cranston ahead of John Curry in the free skating. She defended her judging to the 'powers that be' on both occasions. She called things as she saw them and wasn't afraid to go against the grain, even if her opinions were unpopular with some. She defended herself as a judge in an interview in the March 7, 1978 issue of "The Ottawa Citizen" thusly: "I'm not sure it's national bias. We're used to seeing a certain style of skating because we live with it and appreciate it more than styles unfamiliar to us. Some judges are purists - purely technical. Others lean to artistic performance. In most cases, the champion is the right person. One judge out of line doesn't make much difference. The opinion should be accepted without fear of ostracism... You must judge what you see that day." 

After judging at the 1980 Olympic Games and several other major international competitions, Suzanne became the first woman in history to give the Judge's Oath in the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics at the Calgary Games in 1988, where she judged the pairs event. Later that same year she was inducted into the Canadian Amateur Sports Hall Of Fame alongside fellow Olympic Medallist Brian Orser. 

Suzanne put away her clipboard and pencil in the summer of 1993, disillusioned after a referee wrote what she felt was an unfair report about her judging of the dance event at the 1992 Skate Canada competition in Victoria, British Columbia. She went on to survive breast cancer and quadruple bypass surgery before suffering a stroke in 2005 and passing away from respiratory and heart problems in Brantford, Ontario at the age of seventy-five on June 11, 2006. Debbi Wilkes recalled, "Suzy was a wonderful girl... just wonderful. Very clever woman. She was a great ambassador and so knowledgeable and confident in her judging skills. Because she had been a top-notch pair skater herself, she really knew what quality was. Not trickery, but real skating quality, and rewarded it appropriately. She was very generous in explaining to me what she felt true quality was... To have that kind of insight and be able to understand from a judge's perspective, 'Here's what we're looking for', was amazing. I think I had some sort of response one time like, 'Well, you don't understand what we're doing.' She said, 'It's your job to make me understand!' Such a piece of wonderful wisdom."

Suzanne and Wally were inducted into the CFSA (Skate Canada) Hall Of Fame in 1992 and were featured on a Canada Post souvenir envelope in 1998. However different their journeys might have been, I think you would be hard-pressed to find many other people who exemplified lifelong devotion to the sport more than these two shining stars from skating history past.

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

Beyond Ice Castles: Fascinating Tales Of Visually Impaired Skaters

"We forgot about the flowers." That memorable line is one that is often repeated by long-time fans of figure skating when reminiscing about the 1978 film "Ice Castles", which told the story of a inspiring young visually impaired skater. 

Did you know that the real-life history of visually impaired skaters dates back over a hundred years before the concept for "Ice Castles" was even developed? If you want to learn about the fascinating history of visually impaired skaters, look no further than this general timeline of highlights.

1838 - One of the earliest accounts of a visually impaired skater appeared in the January 21, 1838 issue of the "London Dispatch": "On Tuesday evening last, a youth residing at Bennethorpe, near [Doncaster], and who has been blind from infancy, astonished a number of persons in Spring-gardens, by using a pair of skates on the ice with tolerable dexterity; at all events, with safety, as regarded his movements. The only guide he had was his stick, and we question whether he is not the first blind skater who has introduced himself to public notice."

Henry Fawcett, M.P.

1870 - Reverend W.J. Bain of Wellingborough recalled that British Member of Parliament Henry Fawcett skated "with such swiftness and energy that few could keep up with him." The "Cambridge Chronicle and Journal" noted, "Owing to the frost happening during the Christmas holidays, large numbers have been able to indulge of the enjoyment of skating, to say nothing of sliding and walking on the Cam, or watching the fun from the banks. The spectacle of a blind man skating is necessarily a rare one, but Prof. Fawcett might be seen disporting himself on the outside edge, guided by a man holding the other end of a stick which he grasped in one hand."

Marvin R. Clark

1888 - Marvin R. Clark, one of the first American journalists to write prolifically about figure skating, lost his sight. With the help of a sighted boy, he continued to write articles about the sport.

1890's-1900's - Though turn of the century accounts from journals dedicated to the education of the visually impaired note that students in Stockholm often skated on ice, many schools in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century included roller - not ice - skating as part of their recreational therapy programs. In the early 1890's, the Royal Normal College for the Blind in Hereford began teaching students how to roller skate in its Fawcett Memorial Gymnasium. In 1895, sixteen year old Nellie Adams, a student at the school, made history by becoming the first woman (visually impaired or otherwise) to pass the Second Class test of the National Skating Association in roller skating. Ten years later, the Western Pennsylvanian Institution For The Blind installed a roller skating rink in their gymnasium as well. In 1911, a roller rink specifically for the visually impaired open in Berlin.

1896 - A doctor from Glasgow claimed to have seen "dozens of blind men skating together and never coming into collision, which... is more than can be said for their sight-possessing brethren."

1909 - One of the first schools for the visually impaired in North America to teach its students to ice skate was the Perkins Institution For The Blind in Massachusetts, which coincidentally was one of the first schools to boast an impressive library of Dickens' books in braille. Discussions had been had amongst the trustees of the school as early as 1897 about creating a skating pond but the school didn't ultimately take on the project until around 1909. In 1913, teacher Mary Esther Sawyer recalled, "Our six pairs of skates were resurrected from a two years' sleep in the schoolhouse attic, four more pairs were purchased, letters were hurriedly sent home asking for skates, with the result that five fortunate girls now have pairs of their own... In the fall of 1911, we had six girls who could skate a little, besides two fairly good skaters - the entering class giving us four more... By February 1, thirty-two girls were willing and anxious to try skates, clinging with deep devotion to their willing helpers. About half of these girls could be persuaded to leave their companions and seek help from a chair - no box at the opera being more in demand than our relic which the attic produced; the next stage before going absolutely alone is the 'broom or brush stage' - equally popular. Besides the thirty-two mentioned, eleven more girls have given up any assistance and go alone... thirteen more skate fairly well and eight more are very good skaters. January 25, 1912, two of the teachers took twelve girls for Jamaica Pond for an afternoon of skating, returning just in time for tea, after having had a glorious time; in fact, the girls all begged to stay longer and go without any supper."

1919 - The Blinded Soldiers and Sailors Care Committee in London organized skating outings for British soldiers who lost their sight during The Great War.

Ian Fraser, Baron Fraser of Lonsdale, Member of Parliament 

1929 - British Member of Parliament Captain Sir Ian Fraser of Lonsdale took up skating at the Westminster Ice Club. In March of 1929, he led a skating parade of visually impaired skaters at Regent's Park in London. Mr. W. Tovell, the general sports instructor at St. Dunstan's, recalled, "Our muster was 70, including Capt. Ian Fraser, M.P. and we all had a most enjoyable time. A large number of the 70 skated like experts, and there were no casualties."

Rudolph Henning, a resident at Kitchener's Huronia Hall, skating at Victoria Park in 1954. Photo courtesy University Of Waterloo Library, Special Collections And Archives.

1940s - During World War II, there were several ice carnivals organized to raise funds for soldiers returning home who had lost their sight. One 1944 carnival in Australia - "Fantasy on Ice" - was organized by a blind man, Mr. John Murphy of St. Kilda, who worked with the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind. Mrs. Murray Fahnestock, a member of the Pittsburgh Figure Skating Club, organized a wartime skating program for a group of six visually impaired girl scouts who attended the Western Pennsylvania School for the Blind. Though five of the young skaters were aided by guides, one determined young woman, Hilma Hawk, preferred to go solo.

Andra McLaughlin Kelly and Paul Legare in 1975. Photo courtesy Toronto Public Library.

1950s-1970s - Andra McLaughlin Kelly started teaching visually impaired skaters in 1959. In 1975, Andra, her daughter Casey and Pat Soanes began donating their time to teach skaters as part of the North York Parks and Recreation Department's blind skating program, then the only program for visually impaired skaters in Canada. 1957 U.S. Bronze Medallist Claralynn (Lewis) Barnes ran a similar program at the St. Petersburg Figure Skating Club in Florida in the sixties.

Margaret (Mitchell) Deering worked with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind to organize a similar program for students at the Jericho Hill School for the Blind at the Kerrisdale, Connaught, Capilano and Burnaby Figure Skating Clubs in British Columbia. The December 1970 issue of "Skating" magazine noted, "The course was so popular that now the classes have been incorporated into the physical education program of the Jericho Hill School. The attendance has grown to eighty-five, with more learning each year. The South-West Vancouver Optimists Club, of which [Henry] Deering is a charter member, supplies most of the transportation, all of the skates, laces, sharpening and pays for the ice time as well at the University of British Columbia Thunderbird Arena." Margaret Deering noted, "I had to forget my former methods of teaching and conceive an original approach. I started by letting them feel the skates and the picks and by putting their hands on the ice. They could tell it was cold and slippery and the youngest ones shivered. Instead of saying 'Watch me', I used their hands and moved them on the ice the way their feet should go, at the same time telling them, 'Your right foot does this. Your left foot does this.' I skated with my eyes closed to get the feel of their problems and found it hard to do! I showed them how to sit down on the ice, to stand up and how to fall relaxed. They gradually lost their feel of falling." Unlike many early teachers, McLaughlin Kelly and Deering didn't skate close to their students or hold their hand. They gave visually impaired skaters space and allowed them to use their senses of balance and sound to help guide their ways.

Margaret Deering and two of her students. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

1968 - Visually impaired Stash Serafin took up figure skating in Pennsylvania. Working with coach Uschi Keszler during the 70s, Serafin developed into an excellent skater. For many years, he performed in The Vickie shows in Ontario produced by Andra McLaughlin Kelly. Vickie was an acronym for 'Visually Impaired Children's (Kids) Ice Extravaganza'.

1971 - The Blind Outdoor Leisure Development (BOLD) program in Aspen, Colorado organized a skating program. In conjunction with the Aspen Skating Club, visually impaired people of all ages learned the finer points of figure skating and ice dancing. Ron Barnett and Arthur Preusch Jr., the club's President, were among those who taught BOLD skaters.

Charles 'Lefty' Brinkman, John Eyemer and Arthur Preusch, Jr. at the Aspen Skating Club. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

1977 - Professional figure skater Elizabeth O'Donnell founded the Skating Association For The Blind And Handicapped/Spirited Athletes Bold At Heart (SABAH) in Buffalo, New York. Ten years later, the Hampshire Association of the Blind took to the ice during public sessions at England's new ice rink in Aldershot. Each skater was assigned their own seeing helper and a group of instructors were on hand to provide guidance. 

1978 - "Ice Castles" is released, drawing considerable attention to programs for visually impaired skaters.

1980s - Though many visually skaters managed to succeed despite the odds, one skating judge wasn't so lucky. In her 1984 book "The BBC Book Of Skating", British journalist Sandra Stevenson recalled, "One long-serving West German judge was discovered to be almost blind. The revelation came when he was turned down for a driving license after failing his eye-test even wearing glasses." In this case, the old saying "the judges must be blind" was in fact true.

1988 - Three-time West German Champion Ferdinand Becherer was perhaps the first visually impaired skater to compete in the Winter Olympic Games. He placed ninth in the dance event at the 1988 Games in Calgary with his sister Antonia. Becherer had a glass eye, after suffering a serious injury in a car accident.

2010 - A remake of "Ice Castles", filmed in Halifax, was released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, introducing the story to a new generation of figure skaters.

2014 - Zoltán Kelemen, the eight time Romanian Champion, competed at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. He lost sight in his right eye at the age of seven after an accident with an aerosol can. Doctors advised him against skating competitively as they were of the belief that it could endanger the sight in his left eye as well. He had to sign a waiver each season stating he was competing "on his own responsibility".

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

Marvin R. Clark, The First American Skating Journalist

"Let us hope that the art of skating may continue its progress in popular favour, and never sigh for new worlds to conquer." - Marvin R. Clark

Born in January of 1840, Marvin Richardson Clark was the only child of Benjamin and Margaret (Gorge) Clark. His father was a provision merchant and his mother was widely known as 'Mother' Clark for her religious work with female inmates in The Tombs and in the Five Points quarter, a dangerous and disease-ridden slum in lower Manhattan, and with the temperance movement. The Clark family shared a home with a grocer and his large family. Though well-known, they certainly weren't well-to-do.

Marvin attended the Mechanics' Institute school, where he edited a school newspaper that he wrote by hand called "Young America". When he graduated in 1856, he won first prize in composition among three hundred and fifty competitors, receiving his prize from William Cullen Bryant, the editor of the "New-York Evening Post". 

Marvin then began working for a newspaper, and by the age of twenty-three he was on the staff of the "New York Sunday Dispatch". He grew up to be well-known journalist and editor at several Brooklyn and New York papers, including "Truth", "The Morning Journal" and "The Commercial Advertiser". Though by no means a wealthy man, he was socially connected. Through his connections, he learned about Beekman Pond.

Though there's no evidence to suggest that Marvin was a great skater - or even an especially good one - he became enamoured with 'fancy skating'. He rubbed shoulders with the city's skating elite at the time - Jackson Haines, E.B. Cook, Callie C. Curtis, William H. Bishop (a.k.a. Frank Swift), and countless others. After thoroughly studying the art, he penned "The Skaters Textbook" with Bishop in 1868, which was one of the first true American textbooks on skating ever written. Clark and Bishop's book covered everything from the technical aspects of performing figures to style, skating poetry and history. They even devised a 'revitalizing tonic' specifically for skaters.

During Marvin's lifetime, the skating ponds of New York were a sea of humanity. A common issue was the fact that whenever a skater tried to practice figure skating, they were swarmed by throngs of looky-loos. The large groups caused a safety issue, as the ice could easily crack under their weight. They also crowded the figure skaters, making it difficult for them to practice their 'grapevines' in peace. The police would often intervene by telling the figure skaters to stop "making a spectacle of themselves", rather than dispersing the crowds. Marvin was extremely vocal on this injustice in his columns. He once remarked, "The question seems to resolve into this: Have good skaters any rights at all on the ponds? Certainly not, as they have been regulated this far. If they may have, in the future, it must be by the granting of such a simple favor as the reservation of a small portion of the ice where all good skaters, irrespective of organizations, may skate in peace, and where ladies may be protected from the insolence of men or the obscene epithets of ragamuffins."

Marvin was one of the first to term skating "the poetry of motion". He wrote affectionately of Jackson Haines, calling him "a celebrated... skater of note in his time" and raving about his spins. He later penned a companion volume of sorts to "The Skaters Textbook" for roller skaters, called "The Skaters' Companion". Eliza Archard Conner, in the November 30, 1894 issue of the "Cortland Evening Standard", noted that Marvin was "the first in the country to write about skating." As most newspaper articles of the time were unattributed and Marvin was a much sought-after journalist, it is impossible to even estimate the number of pieces he wrote about skating... but he was in essence the first American journalist to seriously cover figure skating.

When he wasn't busy churning out articles about skating, he was busy serving as the Archivist of The Thirteen Club, a group formed to debunk the superstition that if thirteen people were seated together at a table, one would die within the year. Members of the club met on the thirteenth of every month for dinner... with thirteen people seated at each table. On the thirteenth birthday of the club, Clark's successor J.R. Abarbanell recalled, "Marvin R. Clark devoted himself with a tireless energy that knew neither relaxation nor intermission... It is safe to affirm that no single individual in this country, perhaps in the entire world, has delved and digged into the broad field of superstition with greater pertinacity and unending patience and industry than has Marvin R. Clark... It was due to this fact, perhaps, more than any other, that in his last annual report... he was able to state that the Club had reached its full complement of 1300 members - the limit of its membership."

Though Marvin's professional life was rewarding, his personal life was full of tragedy. His wife Lizzie passed away just four years after they married. In 1888, Marvin lost his eyesight. Eliza Archard Conner recalled, "It was working under the gaslight that did it, writing night after night, year after year, in the cruel, yellow, spluttering glare. His sight drew dim very gradually at first. Then he began to use glasses. But the light became dimmer and dimmer somehow... Then the light went out altogether. My friend was blind, stone blind. He couldn't even tell daylight from dark."

Marvin continued to write for a time, hiring a boy to read all of the newspapers to him so he could keep abreast of the daily news. He also learned how to use a typewriter by touch. During this time, he boarded with a German piano tuner, his wife and four children and even spent some time in Bermuda. He earned the moniker 'the blind journalist'. A lover of cats, he penned a book called "Pussy and Her Language" in 1895 which seeked "to prove that the cat has a language of her own" and gave "many cat words with their meanings".

Eliza Archard Conner offered this picture of Marvin during this period: "One familiar with the neighbourhood of Park row, in New York City, will see at times a fine looking, well-dressed man, accompanied by a bright eyed boy attendant, making his way cautiously across the crowded streets. There is an unutterable pathos in his face and the look of resignation that is born only of terrible suffering. Whether one knows the man or not, he will turn to look again at the haunting face with its dark, sightless eyes. But no melancholy appears in the manner or talk of the blind author. He is as cheerful as the golden throated canary that pours its music on the air of his sunny, south windowed room in Brooklyn. And when people ask him, as they often do, 'How can you always be so serene and hopeful always?' he answers: 'Oh well, one must be a philosopher, you know.'"

Sadly, by the autumn of 1893, "nervous disorders had incapacitated him" and Marvin was unable to continue writing to support himself. The "New York Athletic Club Journal" claimed that he suffered from locomotor ataxia, a progressive disease of the central nervous system caused by syphilis. He became an inmate at the Home For Incurables in the Bronx, known later as St. Barnabas Hospital, and relied on a fund collected from his friends at The Thirteen Club and money raised at a series of charity fundraisers to support his treatment. The "New York Athletic Club Journal" noted, "Mr. Clark is a marvel of cheerfulness and philosophy, and to those who know him is as much a wonder as the much talked of Helen Keller."

Marvin, 'the last survivor' of The Thirteen Club's first dinner on January 13, 1882, passed away in obscurity in the first decade of the twentieth century, his contributions to both the literary and skating worlds all but forgotten.

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.

Book Review - Toller Cranston: Ice, Paint, Passion

"Toller Cranston: Ice, Paint, Passion" is the most important figure skating book of the year. 

It not only pays tribute to an extraordinary figure skater, artist, and Canadian, but also serves as a powerful message to all creative individuals - with big dreams and hard work, a bold and successful life is within reach.

The book features a star-studded lineup of Canadian figure skating legends such as Kurt Browning, Sandra Bezic, Brian Orser, Tracy Wilson, and PJ Kwong. Not to mention the contributions from other notable Canadians like musicians Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, as well as fashion icon Jeanne Beker. Tales of a Mexican dinner party with Margaret Atwood and a handwritten letter from Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau are interspersed with magical art and stories that will move you to tears and have you howling with laughter.

Phillippa's stories truly shine in the book. The account of Toller's great escape at the tender age of three, clad only in a pair of pumps, had me in stitches. Her narrative of his sixty-sixth birthday celebration in Mexico, where waiters were moved to tears watching a video of his skating for the first time was touching. The late Mrs. Burka, Toller's devoted coach, shared a heartwarming tale of her first ten days with him, which turned into many years. 

Debbi Wilkes' story of meeting Toller before he became the legend he is today was particularly outstanding. She had the perfect words, as she always does. Chapter 8, which delves into the stories of Toller's employees, was equally poignant.

The book reveals many fascinating facts about Toller, like the fact he was a Sesquipedalian, which I had to look up. I wonder if he would approve of using the word "Eellogofusciouhipoppokunurious" to describe the book. Go ahead... look it up.

The judges who didn't award Toller 6.0's missed the point entirely and were unlikely to ever understand. Similarly, those who might give this book a one, two, or three-star rating would also belong in that same group.

At Toller's funeral, he was given a standing ovation. As readers of "Toller Cranston: Ice, Paint, Passion," the highest honor we can bestow upon this remarkable book is a resounding 5-star rating. However, it truly deserves nothing less than a perfect 6.0!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"Toller Cranston: Ice, Paint, Passion" can be ordered through Sutherland House Books or on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Chapters. 

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 "Jackson Haines: The Skating King", "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://www.skateguardblog.com/p/buy-book.html.

The 1934 World Figure Skating Championships

Signed menu from the banquet at the 1934 World Championships. Photo courtesy Deutsches Sport and Olympia Museum.

In February 1934, North America was in the depths of The Great Depression, a new Conservative government was formed in France after riots broke out in the streets of Paris and all eyes were on Scandinavia as the world's best figure skaters convened in a trio of Northern capital cities for the World Figure Skating Championships in men's, women's and pairs skating. 

Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki were all accustomed to hosting major international competitions and huge crowds came out in subzero temperatures to watch the events unfold. The women's competition was held in Oslo on February 10 and 11, the men's from February 16 to 18 in Stockholm and the pairs on February 23 in Helsinki. 

Left photo courtesy "Skating" magazine. Right photo courtesy Julia C. Schulze, The Estate of Mollie Phillips

Today, we'll hop in the time machine and take a look back at the stories and scandals from these Scandinavian competitions of yesteryear!

OSLO

Left: Sonja Henie at the 1934 World Championships in Oslo. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland. Right: Megan and Phil Taylor.

Thirteen women vied for the 1934 World title. All eyes were on two-time Olympic Gold Medallist Sonja Henie as she went after her eighth consecutive World title in front of a hometown audience at the Frogner Stadion in Oslo. There were allegations that Papa Henie treated the referee to a lavish dinner and gave him a vehicle as a gift prior to the competition. Some speculated that either ISU President Ulrich Salchow or the Norwegian reporter who broke the story might have been in on the scandal as well. Maribel Vinson recalled, "Sonja's popularity at this competition was peculiar. The public had evidently got fed up with six weeks of Pop Henie's ballyhoo for Sonja and were praying for anyone to beat her... The Henie organization is unbelievable and has had as bad an effect on the internals of the sport as Sonja's real virtuousity has had a good effect in spreading the popularity of skating through the world."

In the compulsory figures, Sonja Henie took the lead as expected with first place marks from six of the seven judges. Sweden's Vivi-Anne Hultén blew her last figure and thirteen year old Megan Taylor capitalized on her mistake and moved up to second. German judge Artur Vieregg had her first, ahead of Henie. Many of the skaters complained about the poor ice conditions. Maribel Vinson recalled, "We skated the figures... on a sunny springlike morning [and] the ice melted before we came to the bracket-change-bracket backwards, so whether there were 'double runners' in our turns was more a matter of intuition with the judges than seeing!"

Photo courtesy Julia C. Schulze, The Estate of Mollie Phillips

King Haakon VII, Queen Maud of Wales, Crown Prince Olav and Crown Princess Martha were among the twenty-one thousand spectators in attendance for the women's free skate. Maribel Vinson missed her Lutz jump and had one of the most disappointing free skates of her career, while Austria's Liselotte Landbeck had one of her best. Every single judge had Landbeck second in the free skate behind Henie except Swedish judge Per Thorén, who had Landbeck and Taylor ahead of the Norwegian ice queen. Henie missed several spins and skated slowly, according to Maribel Vinson, but skated well enough to win her eighth World title. 

Based on the figures, Taylor (who missed an Axel in her free skate) defeated Landbeck by one ordinal placing for the silver. Hultén's artistry stood out during an era when women's skating was becoming more and more acrobatic. The ideal at the time was to dazzle the crowd and judges with technical highlights... not to waste time on the interpretation of music. Swedish skating historian Gunnar Bang noted how one reporter remarked, "Sure, Vivi-Anne's program was very musical, but if she left the music home on the piano, there is no point." French judge Charles Sabouret had her ninth in the free skate... which didn't go over well with the Swedish press whatsoever. She ended up fourth overall, ahead of Vinson, Austria's Grete Lainer, Germany's Maxi Herber and six others. 

In her book "Wings On My Feet", Henie recalled the win as "a sentimental victory... The crowd was enormous for Frogner Stadium. Fifteen thousand packed the grandstand, and another three thousand or so stood on the surrounding hills [with binoculars]. Throughout the competition I kept remembering my first World Championship eight years before on the same ice, and the first pink carnations the royal family of my country had ever given me."

In her book "Maribel Y. Vinson's Advanced Figure Skating", Maribel Vinson recalled, "In 1934 after the world championships at Oslo I had tea with Sonja at her town apartment. There I saw her prizes - and what a collection it was! At the time I wrote in my diary, 'sideboard with special fitted drawers full of a complete silver set, over a dozen of each, marked - a cocktail set, cream and sugar set, tremendous special bowls, myriads of huge cups and vases set in a specially lighted cabinet. Her world-Championship, Olympic, European, and Norwegian medals were all strung out in separate cases.' In addition there was the gift of an electric radio and repeating Victrola to which the tea party danced, and at the country house a Cord convertible coupe, given [to] her after earlier Chicago exhibitions and shipped to Norway... On the table in the living room was a lovely bouquet from King Haakon and the Crown Prince, sent after her victory, and in the billiard room were ten or twelve enormous scrapbooks which Sonja at that time used to put together in the summer. They contained clippings from her earliest skating years from newspapers all over the world and were most interesting."

An international men's event was held in conjunction with the World Championships for women in Oslo. The winner was Austria's Erich Erdös. British skater Jackie Dunn finished fourth.

Photo courtesy Julia C. Schulze, The Estate of Mollie Phillips

After the competition, a special banquet was hosted by the Oslo Skøiteklub at the Hotel Bristol. Sonja Henie's picture was included in the invitation and a dessert called 'Bombe Sonja' was made in her honour.

STOCKHOLM

Karl Schäfer

The eight men who sought the 1934 World title in Stockholm ranged in age from fifteen to twenty-nine. Both Austria's Karl Schäfer and Germany's Ernst Baier performed uncharacteristically poorly in the figures but in a sea of mistakes, Schäfer was still able to earn first place marks from all but one of the judges in the first phase of the competition. Though Schäfer was some one hundred and fifty points ahead of his closest competitors, Baier, Finland's Marcus Nikkanen and Austria's Erich Erdös were separated by only forty points. Gunnar Bang recalled, "Ernst Baier was clearly better, but in the paragraph Nikkanen failed as well."

Karl Schäfer and Ulrich Salchow in Stockholm. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland.

Karl Schäfer earned first place marks from five of the seven judges in the free skate, with the Hungarian judge giving the nod to Hungary's Dénes Pataky and the Finnish judge placing Erich Erdös - who the Stockholm papers proclaimed to be "a better skater than Schäfer" - first. Although Schäfer easily defended his World title, Baier, Erdös and Nikkanen all tied in ordinals. Their point totals ultimately determined their second, third and fourth place results. Pataky, in fifth, was second overall on the scorecards of the Hungarian and Polish judges.

Ernst Baier's silver medal from the men's event at the 1934 World Championships

Maribel Vinson recalled the event thusly: "The men did their free skating perfectly marvellously. There were only eight in the competition and I have never seen eight such errorless performances. The only one to make any kind of mistake was the World's Champion himself! However, the men's school figures were not up to the standard set by the women; Gail [Borden] drew all the figures he likes least and they seemed to bother everyone a bit. Schäfer was of course best with Baier and Nikkanen close behind; all the others were mediocre. But the free skating made up for any figure delinquencies. Gail skated first, jumped faultlessly in beautiful form, lacked only speed, while Erdös, the second Austrian, had an absolutely inspired day and brought the audience to its feet cheering. There were auxiliary competitions for women and pairs as well as exhibitions by the whole troupe [of world level men, women and pairs in attendance] the next day. The Stockholm Stadium is a beautiful structure, justly famed as the handsomest of its kind in the world. It holds twenty thousand and has an ice surface equal to at least five of our standard hockey rinks. Many gay parties by the Stockholm club as well as Gail's birthday party, composed of all the choicest spirits and cosmopolitan as could be, featured the post-competition days. Mrs. [Ulrich] Salchow was our most charming hostess and guide on many occasions. Then, minus Sonja who had not come to Sweden, minus Karli Schäfer who had to go to America for the carnivals, minus Gail who was also returning to America, the rest of the troupe boarded ship to sail through a sea of ice - to Finland."

HELSINKI

The pairs in Helsinki in 1934. From left to right: Margit Josephson and Anders Palm, Idi Papez and Karl Zwack, Anna-Lisa Rydqvist and Einar Törsleff, Ms. Kothe and Gun Ericson, Zofia Bilorówna and Tadeusz Kowalski, Randi Bakke-Gjertsen and Christen Cristensen, Emília Rotter and László Szollás and Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland.

Held in subzero temperatures, the pairs competition in Helsinki curiously did not include a couple from Finland! The event was the first time that the ISU tested the use of open marking in an international competition. Of the pairs that entered, the top three were quite close. 

Three judges voted for Hungary's Emília Rotter and László Szollás, two for Austria's Idi Papez and Karl Zwack and two for Germany's Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier. When the marks were tallied, the Hungarians came out on top, with the Austrians second and Germans third. Gunnar Bang remarked that the Polish pair Zofia Bilorówna and Tadeusz Kowalski, who placed fourth, skated "a very difficult program [full of] acrobatics". 

Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier with Maxi's father in Helsinki. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland.

Maribel Vinson recalled the event thusly: "The Pair Championship of The World featured two of the best pair programs I have ever seen, ranking with the Brunets and Badger-Loughran of the 1932 Olympics in my mind. Rotter-Szollás, who won, skated their extremely 'pair' program with uncanny precision, while [Ernst] Baier and Maxi Herber, who are a new combination and had been a trifle ragged up till then, suddenly clicked and gave a daringly difficult program without a flaw. By some freak of judging, they came only third although the audience and all the skaters present agreed they should have been either first or second. Idi Papez and Karl Zwack, the Austrians who normally have the most spectacular program of all and do it beautifully, had an off night and made a good many serious mistakes. Although if they had skated their usual best, their final place (second) would have been justified, their compatriots were the first to say that they did not deserve to beat Baier and Maxi that evening. Another competition for men and women, plus two exhibitions, made a full weekend of skating for us. [Marcus] Nikkanen was a popular winner of the men's competition, as it was combined with a civic contest and he retired a huge cup which he had won twice before. Nikkanen and his friends 'showed us the town' and it was the sixtieth anniversary of the Helsingfors Skating Club, there were many festivities. It is impossible to describe in such a brief summary all that went on - suffice to say that the Finns know how to have a good time and certainly how to give one to their guests!"

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