The Magician From Mission Hill: The Paul McGrath Story

Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine

"Expression should not be held inside when skating." - Paul McGrath, "The Harvard Crimson", April 18, 1974

Boston, Massachusetts... home of Maribel Vinson Owen, the cream donut and Meagan Duhamel's new favourite place to scream in the air. It was also the home of the subject of today's blog, a skater whose contributions to the sport have never really been recognized to the extent they should have been.

Born August 21, 1946, Paul McGrath was the son of Catherine (Linehan) and Francis McGrath, a tool and die maker. The McGrath's were an Irish Catholic working class family that lived in the Boston neighbourhood of Mission Hill and figure skating was something that Paul discovered at the age of twelve in 1958. He bought his first pair of skates - three sizes too small - at a rummage sale for fifty cents. It wasn't long after he first took to the ice that people started recognizing that he had something special: a striking ability to interpret music. He joined the Commonwealth Figure Skating Club and supplemented his usual training with ice time at the Skating Club Of Boston. "I trained at the Skating Club [Of Boston] but I wasn't a member; I was only allowed on the ice during certain hours," Paul explained in an April 26, 1984 interview in The Boston Globe. "I was the proverbial weed poking through the sidewalk."

That 'weed' was the prize pupil of Olympic Silver Medallist, World and European Champion Cecilia Colledge. She guided him to a second place finish in the novice men's event at the 1962 U.S. Championships in front of a hometown audience at Boston's McHugh Forum in only his fourth year skating. Two years later in Cleveland, Paul placed fourth in the junior men's competition behind Tim Wood, Duane Maki and Richard Callaghan. In 1965 at the age of eighteen, he won the Eastern and U.S. junior men's titles and finished second at the Lake Placid Summer Competition right behind Canadian Champion Dr. Charles Snelling. He continued to skate through the 1966/1967 season then decided to call it quits. "My whole family sacrificed everything for my training until they just couldn't swing it anymore," Paul explained in 1984. "But I'd already been told by some powerful people in skating that I wouldn't make it to the Olympics in 1968, because the other contenders for the team had better connections. There's a lot of politics in skating."

Paul McGrath and Bobby Black at the 1965 U.S. Championships

After graduating from Newman Preparatory School and attending Emerson College, Paul became the Radcliffe figure skating instructor at the Donald C. Watson Rink just north of Harvard Stadium. He also coached at the Hayden Recreation Centre and the North Shore and Commonwealth Figure Skating Clubs. In 1969 and 1970, he finished second at the World Professional Championships in England. In 1974, he earned seven perfect scores and won the World Professional Championships in Jaca, Spain. Skating to "Carmina Burana", Paul was a pioneer in introducing vocal music to professional competition. In the April 18, 1974 issue of "The Harvard Crimson" he explained, "I used this music not for the words but for the sound of the voice, so that I could interpret the sounds... Any music is appropriate if you can express what you want to." His repertoire of programs was extremely eclectic for the period. He performed to everything from Mahler's "Symphony No. 10" to a drum solo by Ringo Starr.

It was at the World Professional Championships at Wembley that Paul first met Lorna Brown. "After my performance," she recalled, "This guy comes running up to me who I'd never really seen because I hadn't seen him skate at that point because [the men] were after us. He came up to me, hugging me, saying, 'You really came through!' and I could never forget that moment. I felt like I'd met someone who was on the same wavelength; the same artistic plane as me. We got together and we became lovers. We travelled back and forth for a while and then one day, I was in Boston at his apartment and one of his lovers came in and it was a really scary situation. Eventually, we broke up because it just wasn't right for him. But for a time we had an amazing relationship. It was very much based on the art. We had so much in common. We went to art galleries in New York together, he bought me a ring. It looked like we were going to get married at one point. When I went to the Boston Skating Club, there was a great big banner the whole length of the rink that had been put up at the back where the seating was: 'Welcome Lorna'. I was just blown away. He had me performing for his skaters and dancing in someone's house on a stage. It was just amazing, really. We loved each other and we continued to be friends but there was no connection in any way, shape or form at that point because I had totally accepted that he'd decided one hundred percent that he was gay and I could completely accept that."

Paul's artistic and musically sensitive performance style later caught the eye of Olympic Gold Medallist John Curry, who invited him to perform in his "Theatre Of Skating" at the Cambridge Theatre in London. After the show, John sent Paul packing. "There wasn't an obvious dislike going on that we could see," explained Lorna Brown. "Nobody ever spoke about John and Paul but I think they differed artistically. I think maybe John criticized Paul. He was an incredible jumper and John wasn't. Anything that would upstage John, especially from a man, he wouldn't have. Also, I think Paul was not as classical as John. He was very, very much a free spirit. He was an individual artist. He didn't follow anybody. He was a complete individual. He would stand on one of the openings going on to the ice and literally, he would step onto the ice and do a triple jump from nothing. He was an amazing jumper, incredible technician and a great artist. He wasn't copying anybody. He was his own person."

After winning a second World Professional title in Jaca in 1977, Paul focused his attention primarily on coaching and choreography and took a job at the Skating Club Of Boston. Among his students were Catherine Foulkes and Jill Frost. Jill was a promising American skater who won the U.S. novice and junior titles but like her coach, never won a medal in the senior ranks at the U.S. Championships. Like her coach, Catherine skated in John Curry's Company. Paul's work was highly praised by his peers. His choreography was a cut above much of the shtick of the period.

Paul was outspoken about how figure skating was presented to television audiences. He believed too much emphasis was placed on the technical elements and not enough attention was paid to educating audiences about the second mark. He bemoaned, "Television has built a huge audience for skating...  How would you like it if in the middle of Swan Lake,' the announcer came on and said, Now watch that arabesque!' TV skating is just not handled from an aesthetic viewpoint."

Catherine Foulkes and Paul McGrath performing at the Winchester Figure Skating Club's 1979 ice show

Sadly, Paul left this world far too soon. He passed away on December 3, 1990 at the age of forty four of liver cancer (a complication of HIV/AIDS) at the Youvill Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Lorna Brown learned about Paul's death when she went to John Curry's memorial in New York. "To hear about Paul's death, among so many others, when I was standing on stage was absolutely heartbreaking. I sobbed." The last time they had seen each other was in London in the seventies.

Since 1992, Paul has been honoured posthumously by the Professional Skaters Association with the Paul McGrath Choreographer Of The Year Award. Winners have included Sandra Bezic, Sarah Kawahara, Brian Wright, Lori Nichol, Tom Dickson and David Wilson. Lorna Brown recalled, "He was very funny. He was a person who loved to enjoy life. He loved performing and that was maybe what John crushed a little bit because he kept Paul back. He wouldn't allow Paul to do the things that he was really best at. We would laugh a lot. He was a very passionate person, very meaningful and compassionate as well. A beautiful person with a lot of love in his heart."

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 History Of Quadruple Jumps

Four revolution jumps... to skaters back in Ulrich Salchow and Gillis Grafström's days, they wouldn't have wouldn't have even been comprehensible. However, as we all know, under the current IJS system they're the name of the game. From Dick Button performing the first triple jump to Frances Dafoe and Norris Bowden's introduction of the first twist lift, overhead lasso lift and throw jump to the majestic video of David Jenkins doing a gorgeous triple Axel in 1957, figure skating history is of course full of technical innovations and the history of the evolution of quadruple jumps is really quite a fascinating story.

Back in the late seventies and early eighties, a small circle of American skaters took the plunge at attempting quadruple jumps. Robert Wagenhoffer was landing them in practice and Mark Cockerell was attempting them in competition, but the first quad attempts in major international competitions didn't come until 1983, when the Soviet Union's Alexandr Fadeev went for the gusto at the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

Around the time that quadruple jumps were first being attempted, not everyone was sold on the push for technical progress. In an interview in the December-January 1979 issue of the "Canadian Skater" magazine, 1976 Olympic Bronze Medallist Toller Cranston lamented, "I know that the trend today is that a male competitive skater has to do in the neighbourhood of four... five... six to eight triples, which makes no sense to me at all... It becomes a big, fat bore. You forget those performances. The performances you really remember are the emotional ones... I agree that in some ways it is a very authentic progression. But it's not the only progression. It's only one kind. For example, I always remember going to the Moscow Circus where I saw people do things that defy the ability of the human body - they practically turned themselves inside out, they stood on one finger, and so on. But after about three-quarters of an hour, I left in the middle of the performance. Yes, it was phenomenal and unbelievable, and I had never seen anything like it before. But then suddenly I became aware that, gee, these seats are uncomfortable, I have no room for my feet. The point is that when I left, I had forgotten everything. I had not been impressed emotionally. But to my dying day I'll remember some of the performances I saw of the Bolshoi Ballet. I can't tell you what they did, but I have visions, and my body sort of surges up with emotions because I FELT something." Despite Toller's reservations about the jump race, his successors persevered at going for the technical gusto.

Controversy persists to this day as to when the first quad jump was actually landed in international competition. Officially, the ISU recognizes Kurt Browning's quadruple toe-loop at the 1988 World Championships as the first. However, the March 26, 1988 edition of The Bangor Daily News notes that "[Jozef] Sabovcik was believed to have landed one at the 1986 European Championships. But a review of the tapes revealed that he grazed the ice on his free leg and the jump was disallowed." In a December 2008 interview on The Manleywoman SkateCast, Sabovcik explained, "I know what I did, and Kurt and I, people thought we were at each other's throats about this, but Kurt’s a really good friend of mine. I respect him as a skater and I think he respects me as a skater. I did what I did, and mine wasn’t by any means perfect, but neither was his. The ISU makes their decisions and that's how it is. They usually don't go back on anything they rule. Scott Hamilton told me, he was there, they made a video that showed the landing from a certain angle, and when he heard the ruling, he offered them the tape from, I think it was, ABC, and [the ISU] simply refused it because they had made their ruling." In his 1991 book "Kurt: Forcing The Edge", Kurt Browning talked with candor about his own historic accomplishment: "I'd been landing quads in practice for a couple of years. I'd landed them in Cincinnati and tried them here and there, whenever I felt the chance existed. Other people were landing them too. But there are two important distinctions that put my name into skating history. I was the first to land a quad perfectly and cleanly - landing on one foot, not two - at a recognized, sanctioned skating event. Not fooling around in practice, not on springy ice, not on a pond in the middle of nowhere without a battery of judges around. That is why my name is in the Guinness Book Of World Records. I was the first to do it. I won't be the last. Let's be clear about this. Skating folklore is rich with jumps that never happened, real fish stories. According to legend, there have been quad Salchows and fantastic combination leaps. Perhaps people were landing quads in some manner in the 1940s, because that's when the rumors began to circulate. [Sabovcik]'s one of the most exciting jumpers I've ever seen. Boitano did a perfect quad in practice in St. Gervais. I've seen Orser do them. But I was the first to hit one when it counted."

The first quadruple attempt from a woman came in 1990, when exuberant French skater Surya Bonaly went for the gusto and tried both a quad toe-loop and quad Salchow at the European Championships. She ultimately continued to tackle the jump sporadically until 1996 before abandoning it entirely. That same year, Alexei Urmanov became the first Soviet skater to land a quad in competition at the Soviet Championships.

The first attempt of a quad jump in combination came in 1991, when Michael Chack tackled a one-foot Axel/quad Salchow combination at the U.S. Championships, two footing the landing of the second jump. In his 2014 Skate Guard interview, Chack said "as far as my quad, I just loved jumping and trying different things and pushing skating limits." Weeks later, Elvis Stojko landed the first quad combination at the 1991 World Championships - a clean quad toe/double toe. The following year at the Albertville Olympics, Petr Barna landed the first quad jump, a toe-loop, in Olympic competition.

For much of the mid nineties, Elvis Stojko was quad king, ruling the roost when it came to his consistency in landing quad after quad in both national and international competition. At the 1996 Champions Series Final, he again made history by landing the first quad/triple combination in competition. At that event alone, three different skaters (Stojko, Urmanov and Ilia Kulik) all landed quads. The quad race was on. By the 1997 World Championships, Chinese phenom Zhengxin Guo was landing both a quad toe on its own and a quad toe/double toe combination. This gave him the distinction of being both the first skater to land two quads in one program and the first to put a quad and a quad combination successfully in one free skate. Stojko, of course, repeated his quad/triple event at those same World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland.

In 1998, American skaters starting reclaiming their place in the quad race (see what I did there?) when Michael Weiss made the first quad Lutz attempts at the 1998 U.S. Championships and 1998 Winter Olympics. That same year, Timothy Goebel became the first person to land a quad Salchow, the first to land a quad Salchow in combination and the first American skater to land a quad combination when he pulled off a clean quad Salchow/double toe combination at the Junior Champions Series Final. The feat was so unexpected in the junior ranks that it took the ISU nearly a month to ratify Goebel's effort. Ilia Kulik, in his 1998 Nagano free skate, also became the first Olympic Gold Medallist to include a quad in his winning free skate.

At the ISU's Biennial Congress in June 1998, a rule change was made permitting (male) skaters to attempt quads in their short programs. Canadian Derek Schmidt was the first to go for it - in two summer competitions in Canada - but didn't he land them cleanly. Elvis Stojko went for it at that year's Skate America but he too was unsuccessful. The first clean quad in a short program came from China's Min Zhang, who landed a quad toe in the short program at the 1999 Four Continents Championships. However, the most significant milestone of that season in terms of the quad race was the first program to include three quadruple jumps, an incredible accomplishment Timothy Goebel achieved at Skate America in October 1998. During the 2001/2002 season, Min Zhang again made history as the first skater to land three quadruple jumps in his Olympic free skate and Evgeni Plushenko landed the first quad/triple/triple (toe/toe/loop) at the Cup Of Russia. He would repeat that feat in his winning 2006 Olympic free skate in Torino.

The first woman to land a ratified quad was Miki Ando of Japan at the 2001 Junior Grand Prix Final and first to land three clean quads in competition under the "new" judging system was France's Brian Joubert, who pulled off a quad toe/double toe, quad toe and quad Salchow at the 2006 Cup Of Russia. In 2010, Kevin Reynolds became the first skater to land two different quads in one short program at Skate Canada International.

The race to include even more difficult quadruple jumps has been nothing short of compelling. Jumping aficionados worldwide - particularly in Russia and Asia - leave us constantly questioning both the laws of physics and reason. Here's the reality. Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford are landing throw quad Salchows and Lutzes; skaters are attempting quad Axels in harnesses... and while it leaves our jaws on the floors to watch, the pounding that these skaters bodies are taking is just insanity. That said, the pounding ALL skaters bodies take is insanity. I should know; I don't skate anymore and my back and feet are still a mess... and believe me, I wasn't trying quads sweetie.

The real question as we look back on the history of quads in figure skating isn't the past but the future. In February 2014, "Scientific American" published a fantastic article about the possibility of quintuple jumps. In the piece, University Of Delaware biomechanist James Richards is quoted as saying that "the quad is the physical limit. To do a quint, we would have to have somebody built like a pencil, and they can't get much smaller than they already are." Scientists say a lot of things. I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to discount quints just yet. Figure skating is really 'figure jumping' these days and with the progress that's being made on the technical side every day and new coaching technology, I choose to just sit back, be amazed and sincerely hope nobody gets hurt.

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

The Statue Is Done: The Jacqueline du Bief Story

"One does not take up skating; skating just takes up you." - Jacqueline du Bief, March 23, 1954

Back in the fourth installment of "The Other World Champions" series here on the blog, we oh so briefly explored the story of one of the most enigmatic skaters to capture the world's attention during her era. For a long time I have wanted to write at length about Jacqueline du Bief's important contribution to the skating world... but there have been a couple of roadblocks. There's not a wealth a video footage of her publicly available and much of the source material written about her career isn't in the English language. That said, with a translated copy of her 1956 autobiography in hand, a wealth of English sources and what French sources I could roughly translate, I put my nose to the grindstone and was able to come up with this biographical sketch which I hope will shed some new light on just how big a deal this French star really was.

Born December 4, 1930 in Paris, France, Jacqueline du Bief started skating at the age of four with her older sister Raymonde at the Molitor Rink and became immediately hooked. Both sisters actually studied ballet prior to receiving high level instruction in skating, which was a complete juxtaposition to how most skaters of the era would have approached the sport in their youths. When she started taking lessons with Lucien Lemercier, she was a quick learner and by nine years of age, she was already making quite an impression. One of the first mentions of Jacqueline wowing crowds was around this time. The August 21, 1939 issue of the French language newspaper "Le Figaro" cites her as a star of Lè bal des Petits Lits Blancs in Cannes, an opulent summer festival where she demonstrated her skating prowess alongside other performers such as soprano Lily Pons, ballet dancer Serge Lifar and le ballet de l'Opéra-Comique.

Photo courtesy Bill Unwin

After winning the French junior title - her first competition - Jacqueline moved into the senior ranks. In "Thin Ice", she explained that in her first senior competition, "The day began with a heavy air raid and I arrived at the rink with a strange feeling of discomfort and fatigue... When my turn came, I presented myself without enthusiasm and I executed a programme in which the greatest difficulties consisted of one 'Lutz', 3 consecutive loop jumps on the same foot, and a long spin of four turns. There were six of us and I got fourth place, but we had not left the dressing-room before the siren went, announcing another aid raid. We remained for two hours in the underground shelters of the building. There, stretched on a bench, and rolled in a blanket, I became feverish and red spots broke out over my face. When we at length got back home, my mother said to me: 'Tomorrow I will buy you a book and some crayons, and you'll have to stay in bed - you've got measles.'"

When Paris fell to the Nazis on June 14, 1940, the trajectory of Jacqueline's budding career was affected greatly. During the German occupation, power plants were taken over and ice rinks were closed. With no artificial ice to be heard of, Jacqueline returned to where she started, practicing wherever the nearest lake froze over once she recovered from her illness. After the Liberation Of Paris in August 1944, rinks reopened and Jacqueline returned, training at Boulogne Billancourt and the Molitor and Rue Nesnil ice rinks with coach Jacqueline Vaudecrane.

By 1947, Jacqueline had won her first of six consecutive French senior ladies titles. Appearing at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, she made an inauspicious start, finishing sixteenth of twenty five competitors, but by the time she made it to Davos for that year's World Championships, the young skater was already turning heads. Although she gave a disastrous showing in the school figures, her unique free skating style did not go unnoticed by the judges, who included Kenneth Macdonald Beaumont and Melville Rogers.

Photo courtesy Bill Unwin

That contrast between a weakness in school figures and a prodigious talent in free skating was a theme that went on throughout the five foot five skater's career. It didn't help that one of Jacqueline's main rivals was Jeannette Wirz (Altwegg) who was regarded by many as the finest school figure skater of her era and it also didn't help that her stance on the matter of school figures was that "they're so boring." When she appeared at the 1949 World Championships in front of a hometown crowd, she moved up from sixteenth out of seventeen skaters to ninth overall on the basis of her free skating alone; a kind of meteoric rise in the standings and juxtaposition that was rare back in those days. While Jacqueline was rising in prominence in the amateur ranks, her sister Raymonde was finding success as a professional skater. Raymonde's success motivated Jacqueline to see just how far she could push the envelope artistically as a free skater. She was fiercely determined to win on her own terms.

What made Jacqueline just so unique at the time? Susan D. Russell noted in a 2012 article in International Figure Skating magazine, "Throughout her career, du Bief experimented with new and innovative ideas and explored all avenues of artistic skating. Her vibrant personality and power of presentation accentuated her many brilliant and original moves, which at times both dazzled and shocked audiences. du Bief was renowned for her creative choreography. She once devised a program where she portrayed a statue that came to life while another performer pretended to be asleep in a chair on the ice. In another program, she wore a costume with red and white arm bands so that when she spun her arms resembled a barber’s pole." She was also credited by Dick Button with the invention of the illusion spin when she lost balance on entrance to a camel. She wore flame red dresses, insisted on doing her own choreography and by 1950, had decided to play the game and put in the time required to improve her school figures drastically so that she wasn't always having to come from behind. She also took up pairs skating, winning two national titles with partner Tony Font in 1950 and 1951. By 1950, her hard work and innovations were starting to pay off. In Oslo at the European Championships, she won her first international medal (a bronze) behind Ája Vrzáňová and Altwegg. The following year, she was both the European and World Silver Medallist, winning the free skate in both events.

The stage was set for 1952 to be Jacqueline's year and in her first two international outings - the European Championships in Vienna and the Winter Olympics in Oslo - she was unable to overcome her finishes in the school figures and overtake Jeannette Altwegg. The fact that she ultimately moved up to win the bronze medal at the 1952 Olympics was actually quite remarkable in the fact that she was skating at that event with a fever of 101.7. Willed on by her strong desire to finally win an international competition, she returned to Paris to skate in front of a home crowd at the World Championships at the Palais Des Sports. The whole event was rather surreal for the nineteen year old skater. In an Ice Network feature on her coach Vaudecrane, Jacqueline was quoted as saying,, "I was alone on the ice in that stadium. It was me and the audience and my skating under the stars." She landed the first double Lutz from a woman in international competition and earned a perfect mark of 6.0, taking home the World title. But it wasn't all roses. She fell twice (once quite badly) and her hometown crowd turned on her. Frank Orr's February 13, 2002 article from the Toronto Star noted that "the spectators pelted the judge [who gave her the 6.0] with bottles and anything else that wasn't nailed down" when they learned that she had beaten American Sonya Klopfer (Dunfield). In his book "Dick Button On Skates", Uncle Dick considered the politics behind the audience's outburst: "During the marking, the highly demonstrative audience was shouting its approval or disapproval as it saw fit. The German judge raised his card to mark the performance in free skating. Out of a possible perfect score of six, he gave a six. Despite the fact that this skater had fallen down, he had given her a perfect score. Had he given it to her in contents, the judge could have justified himself by approving her music, the layout of the program and so forth. But to give a perfect mark for a 'performance' in which the skater fell down was just incredible; had the judge merely wished to place her first, he could have done so with almost any other mark by judging the others consistently with the standard he placed on her performance. But the crowd was emotional, the judge was a German voting in Paris at a time when political tempers were flaring, and there was no adequate check on his action at that time. Whether or not there was a direct connection between these factors and that mark can be surmised by the reader as well as the writer, but it is interesting note that the resulting criticism, although directed against that particular judge, also reflected the general dissatisfaction with the system of marking that permitted such an incident."

Jacqueline's controversial win resulted in nicknames ranging from 'The Pride Of Paris' to 'The French Panther'. In her autobiography, she conceded that Sonya Dunfield should have won. That's not how any World Champion would want to have to look back on their winning performance, especially one so regarded for their ahead of their time free skating talent. Sadly, the controversy followed her to her final amateur competition - the French Championships - where she was plagued by consistent speculation as to whether or not she'd already turned professional. Although plans were in the works with John Harris, she hadn't signed anything. She took her final gold medal and hit the road with a sour taste in her mouth. In "Thin Ice", she recalled "my world of that time, a world of competition and classic rules, was to me the detestable and necessary world of the concrete and the real, but my world of tomorrow - the show world - I was quite sure was a world of dreams and imagination, a world of the ideal."

The story of how Jacqueline turned professional is one of the coolest I've ever encountered. The April 5, 1952 edition of "Billboard" magazine recounted, "The entire production staff of Ice Capades here, is eagerly awaiting the Tuesday arrival of Jacqueline du Bief, Parisian world figure-skating champ, at Idlewild Airport. Seems that [although] the French darling of ice, whom Ice Capades execs are gambling will be the hottest skate sensation since Sonja Henie, has already agreed to turn pro under their banner, she is holding on to her amateur status until a few moments before her overseas plane touches U.S. soil. The sentimental 19-year old is determined to sign her first pro contract at the exact moment her plane flies over the Statue of Liberty, an earlier French gift to America. Ice Capades contract inking will be legally witnessed at that moment by plane captain and co-pilot." She joined the show the next week in Chicago. On her decision to turn professional, Jacqueline spoke out in the December 17, 1953 issue of the "Chicago Tribune": "What could I do after being world champion but stay and be world champion again? So I decided you cannot be an amateur all your life, you have to work some day. I do not like the school figures necessary in amateur competition. I wished always to do dance and interpretive numbers. The judges used to say 'She is too theatrical, not classical enough.' In the show I can do what I want, what I feel, be more free."

Photo courtesy Bill Unwin

Freer she was. Jacqueline's self-choreography and music choices became even more avant garde. Her eclectic programs ranged from "Johnny Guitar" to a honky-tonk folk ballad bemoaning the fate of Tom Dooley to "When The Saints Go Marching In" to an underwater fantasy. She once remarked that "a fish on ice might sound funny but I represent the movements." After a brief stint with Ice Capades, in 1953 she performed in Paris in the star role of Sonja Henie's troupe while Sonja vacationed in Paris, then co-starred with of Arthur Wirtz' Hollywood Ice Revue in December alongside Barbara Ann Scott. She followed that up with performances in Holiday On Ice and the Scala Eisrevue. The young French diva was in demand.

A bit of a character Jacqueline was. She drove herself from place to place in her Simca sports car with a snow white, deaf cat named Totoche with blue eyes she acquired in Brighton at her side everywhere she went. In the summers, she drove a motorbike to the rink. She modelled with clay, had an eye for fashion and spent her time off the ice in theaters and at the ballet, listening to symphonic music and reading books. She also had a notorious sweet tooth and loved to bake. Peter Firstbrook interviewed her for "Skating" magazine in 1952, sharing this amusing story: "Once, just before the Olympics, she was returning from Halles, the market place, pushing her motorbike, laden down with skates, records and vegetables; after pushing for half an hour she gave up and in desperation parked the wretched thing in a courtyard, and with only her skates and records continued the rest of the way on foot."

In 1954, Jacqueline had a wonderful collection of waltzes especially composed for her by Alain Romans (here's the link from the BNF archives to listen!) and she started performing regularly as a star of Tom Arnold's Ice Pantomime's in Great Britain. Her televised appearance as "Aladdin" (in the starring masculine role) was reportedly the catalyst for another future World Champion - John Curry - to want to take up the sport. After watching a performance and interview with Jacqueline Curry was said to have announced to his mother, "I want to go skating".

Photo courtesy Bill Unwin

As much as she loved travel, Jacqueline frequently spoke of the loneliness of being on the road in interviews. She said, "When in a show you cannot have any life like everybody. If you have a skating boyfriend it is no fun. Always it is the same thing. You cannot speak of anything but skating. And if you meet a boy outside the show, before he can become a boyfriend you are gone."

After penning her autobiography in 1956, Jacqueline starred in the Tom Arnold productions "Babes In The Wood On Ice" and "Aladdin" at Wembley Pool and then toured with "Liverpool Empire", where she did a Royal Command Appearance. In 1958, she made the decision to stop touring and start freelancing. She starred in the first Lido de Paris show, flew from Paris to Ottawa to skate three numbers in the Minto Follies, gave exhibitions at winter carnivals in Switzerland and Germany and did a two month show in Johannesburg, South Africa. She loved skating in warm climes and noted in a March 11, 1958 Ottawa Citizen interview that it "will be lovely to visit a warm country. Skaters seldom get a chance, although I was in Spain, Majorca and Minorca last year."

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

In 1959, Jacqueline accepted a year long engagement in the Ice Cocktail show at the Las Vegas Stardust Hotel and the following year was a regular on the short-lived NBC variety programs "Music On Ice" and "Summer On Ice "alongside Johnny Desmond, Jill Corey, The Skip Jacks, The Dancing Blades and ice comedian Ben Dova. The shows got bad reviews for their poor use of colourization and awful music and Jacqueline's skating was generally regarded as the glue that held the productions together. That same year, the "Ottawa Citizen" noted in its March 19 edition that her accent "landed her in difficulties the other day in Rochester. Trying to buy a train ticket to Ithica a cantankerous agent mistook 'Eezica' for utica and to pacify him she said 'OK, however you say it - give me one ticket.' She wound up in Utica, 70 miles away and had to take a taxi to catch the beginning of her show."

In 1961, Jacqueline returned to Great Britain to take on the role of The Wicked Queen to Sue Park's Snow White in "Snow White On Ice" at the Empire Theatre in Glasgow. "The Glasgow Herald", on March 29, 1961, wrote that she "has a grace and charm that belie her sinister role." The following year, she again bucked convention when she took on the male role of Peter Pan in "Peter Pan On Ice" at Wembley Pool. In 1964, she headlined in a six-month tour with "Snow White On Ice" in South Africa. On her time as a professional skater, she once remarked, "When I work well, and the audience is good, I forget I am tired and everything else. I like to leap. I feel I fly through the air and I like that. My best pleasure is to jump so big and so fast as I can when I practice. Sometimes I fall very hard, but I like that." It was shortly after her stint with Tom Arnold in South Africa that Jacqueline retired from professional skating, returning to live in France.

Never afraid to speak her mind, Jacqueline had some very real opinions about what was and wasn't working with competitive skating... and decades later, her opinions on the future development of competitive skating turned out to be quite prophetic.

When touring with Ice Capades right after turning professional, Jacqueline told reporters that Olympic figure skating competitions were corrupt and the current judging system should be abolished. In addition, in "Winter Sports" in 1966, Howard Bass noted that "Jacqueline du Bief has suggested that school figures, the way they are being emphasized today, can actually hurt a skater's free skating performance and that some of the tedious hours devoted to figures could be spent more advantageously in free skating." Her opinion on school figures may not have been surprising, but her opinion on the role of dance to developing strong free skating very much was. The very skater who took ballet before she took formal skating lessons did not, according to Bass, advocate practical ballet training for skaters either but was supportive of the idea of skaters watching ballets be performed. By the 1992 Olympics, forty years after Jacqueline's Olympic medal win school figures were no longer part of Olympic competition and as for that judging system she felt she should be abolished? We all know what happened ten years later in Salt Lake City.

Left: An airborne Jacqueline. Right: Dick Button and Jacqueline.

In 1959 in "Ice-Skating: A History", Nigel Brown recalled, "Jacqueline du Bief was an inspired artist seeking an outlet in skating. She performed feats of skill not only with her limbs. Her intensive spirit dominated. She showed by her brilliance and natural talent as an artist the wide possibilities of artistic skating, but more than anything she brought a much needed refreshing air to the framework of women's skating. She appeared at the right time." I couldn't agree more with Brown.

Left to right: Raymonde du Bief, Bill Unwin and Jacqueline du Bief backstage at the opening of Holiday On Ice at Wembley in 2006. Photo courtesy Bill Unwin.

I want to close with perhaps my favourite quote from Jacqueline, which sums up her thoughts on the creative process: "When it is in your brain you feel it is the best you ever did. Sometimes it is good and sometimes it is bad, but the best moment is when you have it in your brain. I try to do what a sculptor does with a statue - correct it all the time. At the end it is done, like the statue is done." I hope I've been able to, in patching together the pieces of her story like a quilt, do justice to that statue's story.

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

#Unearthed: The Mollie Phillips Edition

When you dig through skating history, you never know what you will unearth. In the spirit of cataloguing fascinating tales from skating history, #Unearthed is a once a month 'special occasion' on Skate Guard where fascinating writings by others that are of interest to skating history buffs are excavated, dusted off and shared for your reading pleasure. From forgotten fiction to long lost interviews to tales that have never been shared publicly, each #Unearthed is a fascinating journey through time. This month's #Unearthed is a wonderful article written some years ago by BIS  historian Elaine Hooper about judging pioneer Mollie Phillips.

"MOLLIE PHILLIPS" (ELAINE HOOPER)

The name Mollie Phillips does not immediately spring to the mind of most of today's skaters when considering those who have forged the way forward in our sport. However, to quote the "Skating World" of October 1957: "Mollie Phillips is one of the best known and popular personalities in the sphere of national and international competitive skating". Who, then, was Mollie Phillips and what made her so high profile in the 1950's and how is she relevant today?

Mollie was born in London on 27th July 1907 and was brought up between the family homes in London and Wales. She went on to study law at Lincoln's Inn and qualified as a barrister but although she did not practice, she always retained a flat in Lincoln's Inn. This affords us an insight of the tenacity of this special lady, that brought her into conflict with many in the early days. When her competitive skating career ended she achieved so much more.

It appears that Mollie liked to be innovative and was not afraid to take on the established protocols of British skating hierarchy. Women in all aspects of skating administration are commonplace today but when Mollie tried to make her way it was definitely a man's world.

A gutsy personality helped her in her task and she certainly needed it. Her friends describe her as dedicated, passionate and fervent. All these qualities helped her to a number of notable "firsts".

A significant event during the 1930's started the ball rolling. As a skater Mollie had risen through the ranks in the 1920’s and by the 1930's she was unmistakably noticed for attention to music and interpretation. But then she found a pairs partner in Rodney Murdoch, she trained with him at the Westminster Ice Club, Millbank, which, until the late 1930's was a private skating club rather than a public ice rink. Although mainly concentrating on pairs she had passed the NSA gold medal test and also reached silver in Ice Dance (There was no gold dance test in the early 1930's) and in 1932 she made her World Championship debut finishing 9th in the ladies event. Mollie and Rodney Murdoch quickly found success, placing 2nd in the 1932 British Championship and then taking the title the following year. Mollie and Rodney followed this up with the Bronze medal in the 1933 European Championships, where Mollie also came 7th in the Ladies event, won by the great Norwegian Sonja Henie. In singles she was runner up to Cecilia Colledge in the 1936 British Championship.

Mollie Phillips carrying The Union Jack at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid

This success resulted in selection for 2 successive Olympics Winter Games and with it that significant event, Mollie was selected to be the flag bearer, ensuring her a place in British Olympic history as the first lady to carry the British flag at an Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. Former British and
international judge, Joan Noble, recalls that she was immensely proud of this and mentioned it often.
By the late 1930's Mollie had retired from competitive skating and moved on to judging. This tenacious lady then really embarked on her mission to break into the man's world of British ice skating administration!

It would be fair to say that, at the time, most British judges were mature of age and the majority were male. Mollie, as she expected, proved capable and, at the time, was the youngest judge to be appointed by the NSA. Having this success under her belt she focused on the administrators and was determined that younger members should have some input into how the sport was run.

Having gathered some support, in 1938, she enraged the gentlemen of the National Skating Association by standing for election to the all male NSA Council! There followed a great debate as to the eligibility of ladies to be Council Members. It had not been envisaged that ladies would stand for election and so it was not deemed necessary include a rule regarding the gender of candidates. Her name was duly accepted but she did not achieve the required number of votes needed and was not elected. Undeterred, Mollie, supported by the younger generation, was proposed again and at the NSA AGM of July 1939, held at the Victoria Hotel in London, she was elected and it made headlines, for no woman had held a seat on the Council or served on one of the committees during the 60 years of the Association's existence.

The press of the time suggested that this was a revolt by the younger members who felt "the Council consists of old fogies who have been in power since the year dot and are not conversant with modern skating conditions."

If it was a revolt then Mollie was their champion. As she was qualified in singles, pairs and dance Mollie soon became a busy judge. Her quality was such that she could not be ignored by “the old fogies” on the council who had been forced to recognise the need for change. So much so that her name was put forward to the ISU, resulting in the distinction of being the first British lady to be appointed to the ISU international judging panel. From there she achieved some more very notable and important firsts.

Fittingly after having carried the British flag at an opening ceremony she was also the first British lady to judge at an Olympic Winter games and also the first British lady to act as assistant referee and subsequently referee at an international competition. However her most significant breakthrough came in 1953 when she was the first ever female to referee a World Championship event when she was appointed referee for the Ice Dance Championship.

In fact it was not just in the 1950's that Mollie remained high profile. It extended through to the 1960's and 1970's to the 1980's. Her judging career spanned all these decades. Her friend, Gordon Chamberlain remembered, that latterly, she gained a reputation for being a bit absent minded but was very popular with her fellow judges. They considered it part of her charm and remembered that Mollie had contributed so much to emancipate women in becoming acceptable as administrators and adjudicators in British skating. The Welsh ice Skating Association remembered this, in 1984, when they made her their first president.

You may think that with such a busy skating schedule that Mollie would have little time for anything else but nothing could be further from the truth. Her life was very fulfilling. Among other activities she was dedicated the Girl Guide movement and ultimately became a County Commissioner for the Girl Guides. She was also on the London Committee for the YMCA and dedicated much time to her responsibilities as a magistrate. In the late 1940's Mollie took over the large family dairy farm, near Lampeter, and later was known as a notable cattle breeder. Friends recall her driving around the farm in the snow, in her old Ford Zephyr, with bales of hay in the boot, dropping them at intervals for the cattle. More accolades were to come. In 1961 she was the first female High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire. Mollie even found time to be a member of her local police authority.

It would be hard to imagine our sport today without female judges, NISA board or sub group members but there had to be a pioneer to pave the way for them and that pioneer was Mollie Phillips.

n.b. Mollie Phillips died on 15th December 1994. ISU records do not support Wikipedia on the year of Mollie's World Championship Refereeing debut; however she was a judge at the event in the year they suggest.

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.

Serpentine Loop: Skating History Through Poetry

"Elee Krajili Gardiner's poetry bowled me over with its breadth of emotion and vision. Her writing has the movement of someone who understands skating." - Dick Button

From Margaret Atwood's poem "Woman Skating" to Alice Munro's short story "The Moon in the Orange Street Skating Rink", skating has long been a cherished subject of the writing of Canada's most gifted writers. With her 2016 book "Serpentine Loop", Vancouver based Elee Kraljii Gardiner adds her name to that incredible list.

In "Scribe", the very first poem in the collection, Gardiner establishes a firm connection to and respect for skating history: "I was on the ice before I could walk. // In the womb then in her arms." She refers to her mother, Olympic Gold Medallist, World, North American and U.S. Champion Tenley Albright. History lifts off almost every page. From an 1849 rescue of a drowning skater on the frozen Schuylkill River to the sombre meditation of school figures, Gardiner takes you along on a journey through time. If you close your eyes, you can almost smell the ice and hear the sound of a loop being patiently carved.

People, places and things from skating history jump out at every (three) turn: Charlotte, Maribel Vinson Owen, Henning Grenander, the Skating Club Of Boston, the Mercury Scud. From the quiet concentration of early morning practices to bringing humanity to lost skaters of yesteryear who have perished when they fell through ice, the stories in this gem of a book give skating history new life.

One of my favourite pieces in "Serpentine Loop" is called "Absurd Figures". Through allegory, Gardiner compares the exclusivity of the skating world and the pressure to live up to the expectations of coaches and judges to the need to 'fit in' in social circles we feel we are on the outskirts of. It's a beautiful piece, as is "Final Flight", a touching tribute to the victims of the 1961 Sabena Flight 548 Crash. Though some of the pieces do draw from Gardiner's own skating experiences, the majority capture skating's broader essence.

"Serpentine Loop" is currently available in paperback edition on both Amazon.com and Anvil Press. You can learn more about Elee Kraljii Gardiner and the book on her website at https://eleekg.com. If there's one figure skating book you buy this summer, please make this 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.

A Century Of Figure Skating Fashion, Part Three (1930-1960)

In the first two segments of this three-part look at a century of figure skating fashion, we learned from the writers who chronicled the sport's evolution of the various factors that dictated what people wore to skate; everything from etiquette and societal norms to dressing for the weather to ease of movement. In this final segment, we will  explore how fashion on the ice continued to change in the thirties, forties, fifties and sixties.. and what better way to start than by being taken to school by the late, great fifteen time U.S. Champion Maribel Vinson!

THE 1930'S

In her book, "Primer Of Figure Skating", Maribel spoke at length with regard to the need for female skaters to follow in her competitor Sonja Henie's footsteps, get with the times and show a little ankle. She wrote that "a long, narrowish skirt will make any woman stand out like a sore thumb on any ice surface, just as a long black skirt would make her an object of special attention on any tennis court... You know how you stare at the little old lady who still wears lavender, lace and a black velvet ribbon around her throat? Well, that is just how people will stare at you if you arrive at the rink or pond in long skirts and froufrou accessories... The accepted style for skating skirts and dresses has a full circular, gored or pleated skirt which flares from the hip line, and this skirt is NEVER below the kneecap. A longer skirt at once stamps you as a 'rabbit' who doesn't know any better. Storekeepers all over the country have complained bitterly for two years that they wished beginning skaters would stop asking for the incorrect skirt length and would take their word for the right costume, so that they in turn could keep only the right thing in stock! And if you happen to find a store that tries to sell you a skirt that is too long and tight and too binding at the hips, don't buy it! As for the rest of the costume, good sense and a certain amount of fashion should dictate. Sweaters with skirts are always good, but if you are going to an indoor rink don't make the mistake, as one of my friends did, of wearing a heavy sweater, stocking cap and fur-lined mitts. Most rinks are heated nowadays, so it is well to inquire first. On the other hand, the trim windbreakers, parkas, and turtle-neck sweaters of the past season were perfect for pond skating. Big hats are out of place on the ice. The closer fitting the cap or turban the trimmer the appearance. Streamlining is as suitable to the skating figure as it is to an automobile chassis... Remember, no skirt at any time should be longer than knee length, and if you are still quite young and have a  reasonably svelte figure your skirts will become shorter as your ability increases."

American skating legend Maribel Vinson also opined on men's skating fashion of the era, making it very clear that in competition, tights were an absolute requirement and noting the wider availability of off-the-rack fashions suitable for competitive male skaters: "For men there are now well-cut, tight-fitting special skating trousers on sale at several metropolitan stores and specially cut tight-fitting jackets. For the average male figure skater at an average practice session short knickers (never plus fours) are probably the easiest and best. For competition black or dark-blue tights are de rigueur. Some rinks make the wearing of coats compulsory, but outdoors sweaters are of course best. Almost every man looks far handsomer on the ice with a belt over his sweater and a scarf around his throat than he does sans belt and sans scarf. Gentlemen readers, take this lady skater's opinion for what you think it is worth!"

THE 1940'S

World War II resulted in a need for skaters to be costumed more economically and there are countless tales of many European skaters in this era sporting hand me down dresses and shabby tights. Yet, the influence of the glitz and glamour of show skating's boom in the thirties brought more skaters to the ice than ever before. Sonja Henie, in her short, showy costumes, became the poster child every young female skater wanted to be - and dress like. Noting this change, the Ottawa Citizen in a  March 7, 1941 review of a Minto Follies show recorded that "costumes had some sleeves or none at all, depending on the type of costume and not on the temperature. Nobody froze. Skirts descended as far as the ankles, the farthest they could go and still not trip up the skater. They also climbed higher, still modish and suited to the part until they reached sensible chorus-girl brevity."

THE 1950'S

Just as female skaters emulated Sonja Henie in the thirties and forties, in the early fifties everyone wanted to dress like Barbara Ann Scott. However, in reality, the majority of figure skaters during this period were remarkably conservative in their costume choices. A stock video called "Ice Skate Fashions" from this era describing appropriate skating wear at Rockefeller Skating Pond mentioned a "one-piece rayon skating dress as being just right for the occasion", a green cotton cordouroy jacket and skirt ensemble with a Dutch cap, jacket and pleated skirt sets and a cotton tweback velveteen vest and skirt with matching cap. Tights were by this era falling out of vogue among men and being replaced with jackets and trousers. Although clothes rationing ended in Great Britain in 1949, a shaky economy meant that many parents simply didn't have the funds to gussy up their young skaters in the latest fashions, although shops certainly kept ready made skating wear in stock.

McCall's skating skirt pattern, circa 1955

THE 1960'S

As a guide to our final decade of skating fashion, we will turn to Howard Bass, who wrote extensively on the subject in his wonderful 1968 book "Winter Sports". Remarking on appropriate wear for school figures specifically, Bass noted "whether in ordinary practice or competitions, it is best not to wear too full a skirt that might billow out enough to obstruct one's vision of the tracings. Barbara Ann Scott used to favour a plain and simple, free fitting tailored dress of a blue-grey doeskin material, with long sleeves and several large pleats in the skirt to hold it down, and sometimes a belt around the waist." With regard to free skating fashion for women, Bass stated that "if the weather is warm enough, bare legs look and feel better, but woollen stockings or tights should be worn in the colder weather, and at all times a pair of light ankle socks... Anything accentuating a general streamline effect and which at the same time allows full freedom of movement should be the guiding factor. Close-fitting beret-type headgear, if any, is best. The bodice should be close fitting, yet with enough allowance across the shoulders to allow for ease of arm movements. Bloomers should normally match the skirt and not be bulky. For colder winter wear, opera-length silk, nylon or wool skating stockings have now become the vogue... Crepe and other elastic materials are obviously ideal for retaining shape while allowing full freedom of movement. Chiffon and lame are much favoured materials, with sequins and other decorative trimmings used in many imaginative ways... Generally speaking, the simpler and brighter the colour of the costume the more pleasing the effect."

Bass also chronicled the evolution of men's fashion during the sixties: "Men normally begin to skate in long trousers and an ordinary jacket or sweater. I suppose it is still useless yet to advocate for a fashion for shorts in this sport as it used to be in tennis; yet in suitable temperatures shorts would prove the more practicable and comfortable wear, giving a greater ease of movement which girls have enjoyed for decades. Special tighter-fitting trousers and short, smartly cut jackets are favoured by many of the more seasoned male performers. In competitions a more enterprising demand for variation of colour is a welcome current trend away from the outmoded traditional black, and several leading skaters have been admired and respecting for sporting, for example, a white tuxedo with dark trousers. A club badge on the breast pocket adds a smart finishing touch."

However conservative the clothing worn by most skaters during this era, there were risk takers like Jacqueline du Bief, for instance. At the 1962 ISU Council meeting in Portofino, Italy, 'decisions' ('not rules') were made on dress, reminding skaters to wear dignified, conservative costumes and not "brief, flashy costumes better suited to a carnival or ice show". The Council also expressed disdain that male pairs skaters and ice dancers were "attempting to match the costume of their partners, even including sequins and similar decoration." These 'decisions' even asked female judges to refrain from wearing trousers, "if possible." This 'old school' mentality towards skating fashion pervaded and as skaters pushed, the ISU pushed back.

Like in some sort of a time warp, that's where we will abandon our adventure in skating fashion history. It's incredible to try to wrap one's head around just how much what people have worn over the years has made an impact on how they have skated, and vice versa. The bottom line as far as I'm concerned is that a VARIETY of clothing choices, even today, is what makes skating visually appealing and so unique. Fashion has allowed skaters not only the opportunity to express their individuality but like actors, to aid in telling a story. If we think about how important that is, A 2014 Washington Post article attempted to make the ludicrous argument that the best way to eliminate bias in figure skating judging would be do away with costumes altogether and require skaters to all wear the same thing. To me, this was a prime example of how a lack of education about skating's history can lead to ignorance about its present situation. Ever unique, figure skating is NOT gymnastics nor should it ever be viewed with that lens... and we have its unique fashion history largely to thank for that.

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 Century Of Figure Skating Fashion, Part Two (1890-1920)

In the first part of this three-parter on figure skating fashion, we hopped in the time machine and looked at how what people wore on the ice evolved in the 1860's, 1870's and 1880's. In part two, we're going to leave no stone unturned as we dredge through history and try to understand the unique role that the clothing people wore while skating in the 1890's, 1900's, 1910's and 1920's played in the sport's evolution:

THE 1890'S

As we explored in our look at 1880's skating fashion, a more streamlined look (with touches of grandeur) was starting to come into vogue, although attire was still very formal in nature. The mention of men wearing tights became more prevalent in 1890's skating literature, however safety and dressing for the weather continued to be concerns.

In the 1892 book "Skating", T. Maxwell Witham wrote of the evolution of skating fashions in England, "the members of the Skating Club affect, while skating, the costume of gentleman dressed for a Fête, namely, black coats and tall hats... There is no doubt that a short coat, knickerbockers, and a low hat form a very comfortable dress for skating in; and although it would look out of place on the club rink, it is the most natural attire for a country pond. Whatever costume be worn, skaters should remember that they are taking strong exercise in cold weather, and then after taking strong exercise in cold weather, and that after skating continuously for say twenty minutes and so getting hot... therefore the underclothing should be warm and thick, or severe chill may ensue. I feel a natural diffidence in making any observation of ladies' costume, but it is evident for safety's sake that the dress should be sufficiently short to avoid catching the skate when the skater is leaning over on an edge; and from an artistic point of view I think that the border or fur, or the heavy flounce sometimes worn at the bottom of the dress, detracts from the graceful swing which it assumes as the various curves are skated."

THE 1900'S

As we know, at the turn of the century there was a bona fide battle between proponents of the English and Continental (or International) Styles and one of the biggest advocates for England adopting the Continental Style was of course Edgar Syers.

Knowing this, it's really no surprise that in "The Book Of Winter Sports" (published in 1908), he called for an end to the top hats and tails of the rigid English Style: "The choice of a suitable costume is somewhat difficult; English plates from 1850 to 1898 show us skaters in silk hats and frock coats, which recall the remarkable pictures which were the wonder of our childhood and still delight us, where sportsmen are depicted with gigantic beaver hats (quizzically known as 'castors'), stiff duck trousers, and tight braces, playing cricket, rowing in 'wager boats' and 'funnys', or otherwise engaged in athletic pursuits. The frock coat and top hat must be dismissed; knickerbockers and stockings, particularly if the former are baggy, are deplorably ugly ; trousers are not much better, and the combination of riding breeches and puttees, beloved of the novice, is not to be thought of. Heavy and thick clothing should be avoided, warm, light, and windproof materials should be worn for out of-door skating." During the heyday of skating in Switzerland during that era, there would have been a great contrast in fashion between what the English and Continental skaters were wearing. The styles of skating and fashion both definitely would have set the male skaters apart; trousers and tights would have been a significant contrast.

Female skating fashions in the 1900's remained largely the same across the board. Women wore elegant long dresses and petticoats made of rough tweed, homespun, heavy ribbed serge, cheviot, camel's hair cloth, corduroy and accessorized with hats and turbans made of brown mink, fox or gray squirrel. Fine thread veils were not uncommon. At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, Olympic Gold Medallist Anna Hübler wore, according to Amanda Schweinbenz in her essay "Not Just Early Olympic Fashion Statements: Bathing Suits, Uniforms, and Sportswear", an ankle length wool skirt, high-collared white blouse and a say something hat.

THE 1910'S

By the second decade of the twentieth century, 'ladies pages' of newspapers from London to New York were filled with clever suggestions for women's skating costumes. Velveteen dresses with Godet flare collars and bell cuffed sleeves of fur, frocks of chiffon velvet with Hudson seal (dyed muskrat) pellerine, colored Georgette crepes with high funnel collars and borders of fur and Bouverie Capes in Scotch mole were all suggested as 'smart skating fashions' when accompanied by angora caps and heavy elderdown mittens. Making a grand impression at a skating rink was simply the thing to do, and many social climbers succeeded in stunning fashion.

However, it was also in the 1910's that a documented case began to made by some of the era's top female skaters for change in women's skating fashion. In George H. Browne's "The Handbook Of Skating For Use On The Ice", Olympic Gold Medallist Madge Syers wrote, "The important question of costume should be carefully considered. A skirt must always be an impediment, particularly when there is a wind; therefore, do not hamper yourself unnecessarily by a long or pleated skirt, but choose one short and rather narrow, of a fairly heavy material, cut to hang away from the figure, and weighted with a band of some close fur. [Although] many prefer the appearance of a full skirt, it should not be worn because it is so apt to get under the skate and cause an awkward fall; and it has a most tiresome habit of wrapping around the knees and binding them together. A loose warm blouse and fur toque should be preferred. Nothing should be worn which restricts the movements. No one will ever learn to skate who is tightly laced. This foolish habit is both dangerous to health and the cause of many bad falls. The waist must be free, so that the muscles have full play. Boots should be of soft calf, never of patent leather; they should be rather high and fit closely."

Madge Syers and Charlotte Oelschlägel

Professional skater Charlotte Oelschlägel offered a much more visionary perspective on female skating fashion in the 1916 "Hippodrome Skating Book": "The costume for skating may now include practically all varieties of design and material, ranging from silk to leather, the latest fad. Nowhere can a woman look prettier and nowhere can she look less attractive than on the ice. Some items are essential, however. The material of the skating costume ought to be something which does not bulk up, something which falls into naturally graceful curves and straightens out quickly. An undergarment of silk or satin in the form of a petticoat, bloomers or knickerbockers is important in skating any difficult or spectacular figures, since it serves to keep the gown from bunching around the legs. The skirt should be comparatively snug around the hips and free, even slightly flaring, around the edge. Fur bands around the edge of the skirt give an air of appropriateness. The new unrestrained and somewhat bold way of skating necessitates skirts which permit freedom in the swinging and spread of the legs. A petticoat or short skirt of thin woven elastic goods, especially if of silk, makes an ideal undergarment for the skater, whether beginner or expert. The length of the skirt should be about to the tops of the skating shoes. Sensible costumes are now being adopted by the best skaters of all countries. One should as soon think of swimming in a long skirt as skating in one. The skirt which reaches to the middle of the calf will be found both comfortable and graceful. My skating costume at the Hippodrome is probably regarded as very daring, but I wish every woman who skates might test for herself how comfortable it is. There is a stimulus in suitable costumes which it is impossible to get any other way. Skating is worth a pretty and appropriate costume, and such a costume will last for years and be always in style." Madge and Charlotte's differing views on female skating fashion during this era also offer a rare glimpse at the contrast in the fashion of amateur and professional skaters during this pioneering period.

As men's skating fashion evolved in Europe with the growing acceptance of the Continental Style, we know that freedom of movement and tighter fitting wear continued to become the focus in North America as well. Frederick R. Toombs advised men not to wear garters or suspenders in contests and noted that "full length tights are always preferable." In his 1913 book "The Art Of Skating", Irving Brokaw suggested that "the skater must adopt the costume which experience and wisdom has taught to be the most serviceable for all-round use. For general skating almost any costume may be worn, providing that the coat or jacket is rather short and more or less tightfitting, so as not to impede the movements of the skater; but, of course, knickerbockers, which must be rather tight-fitting about the knee, are to be recommended for general practice, as they are far more comfortable to skate in than the long trousers, and give a feeling of freedom which is so desirable. For competitions or tests, where the skater wishes to make as good an impression as possible before critical judges, a costume consisting of a tightfitting coat or jacket, rather short, with the collar and front often trimmed with Astrakan fur, or sometimes the coat decorated with braid, after the military fashion. A neat felt hat, or cap made of fur or dark cloth. For the limbs, skating full tights or black, tight-fitting knickerbockers, with leather leggings fitting down over the ankles coming from just below the knee. For general exhibitions, the skater should study the style of costume which is most suitable for himself. The main thing is not to have the jacket too long or loose fitting, as this gives an awkward and ungainly appearance to even the most graceful of skaters."

THE 1920'S

Reflecting on 1920's skating fashion, the March 7, 1941 Ottawa Citizen noted that "fifteen years ago, costumes were different. Sateen was the favoured material for the costumes, good, dependable sateen. Sleeves were long, for one might have frozen to death in shorter ones. Dresses were long, too, for the same reason." Let's hear what many of the eminent authors of figure skating texts of this generation had to say on the subject!

Some offered a fairly traditional view for the time, turning their nose up at excess. In "Figure Skating Simplified For Beginners", Major G. Bailey wrote that "there is a wide difference in the choice which may be adopted. There is the skintight costume which makes the skater appear like a snake; or the wide bloomer costume of the 'plus four ' variety. For ladies the selection is infinite, which from their point of view should be satisfactory, but if a mere man may be allowed to give a word of advice, although knickers and jumper maybe all very well, and in fact the more suitable kits for skiing or bobbing, they do not look becoming for ladies on the ice rink. Of course you will frequently meet a certain class of people who seem to have a different costume for every hour of the day, and occasionally make their appearance on the rink as if they had mistaken it for a pantomime, but if they prefer this form of amusement rather than sport that is their affair, and as they afford 'copy' for the society magazines when recording winter sports events, it is all for the good of trade." In 1921, Bror Meyer wrote in his book "Skating With Bror Meyer" that for men, wearing "a light lounge jacket with tight-fitting knickers is very suitable, but the coat should not be very long. In any event, the costume should not be heavy and it is advisable to avoid long trousers as the skates may easily catch therein. For competitions, a short, well-fitting coat (black) with black tights give the best appearance. Ladies should under no circumstances wear a skirt which is either long or heavy, and very close-fitting articles of apparel should be avoided, as they necessarily curtail any free action."

Others had a more open mind. In 1921, James A. Cruickshank wrote of the evolution of women's skating fashion thusly: "In the manner of costume there is wide range of choice. A reasonably full skirt, comparatively short, is essential. Its length depends upon the height and figure of the wearer, but it should not be longer than the tops of the skating shoes nor shorter than the middle of the calf of the leg. The material may vary all the way from leather to sheer silk. Some of the costumes worn by the best women skaters of New York are simple and others elaborate... In general it is true that the same costume is not suited to both indoor and outdoor skating. The chief requirements in a skating costume are freedom from bulkiness in involved movements and flowing lines in the big curves. To aid in these results silk or satin bloomers are generally worn over some skirt material which is not too stiff to take graceful lines during athletic movements. Leather had some vogue in the fashion pages of the magazines, but very little among expert skaters; few materials could be more inappropriate. Silk sweaters, if not too long, lend themselves very well to good appearance on skates and women of good figure find one-piece costumes, of the Princess type, well suited to the sport. The latter design of skating costume is very popular among many of the best amateur women skaters of Europe. Sensible, suitable skating costumes are not subject to caprices of fashion and may be used for several seasons. Fur around the bottom of the skirt may be the correct style, but it does not add to the grace of a skating costume; in fact, the simpler the lines of the skirt the better they fit into a general impression of bodily grace. Of course, the costume for exhibition skating and ice ballets is a matter of individual taste and the requirements of the occasion." 

Sonja Henie

Although Sonja Henie often got the credit for the raising of the hemline in women's figure skating dresses, skaters like Herma Plank-Szabó and Andrée (Joly) Brunet were among a small group of competitive skaters who predated her in the introduction of shorter skirts. A handful of women in St. Moritz and Davos pushed boundaries, wearing knickerbockers or pants instead of skirts.

At the 1928 Olympics in St. Moritz, Sonja Henie wasn't alone by any means in the short skirt department. The February 9, 1928 edition of the Prescott Evening Courier noted that "the petite Norwegian, Sonja Henie, with yellow skirt two inches above the knee appears to be a favorite with Miss [Beatrix] Loughran's knee high dark blue second and the French girls [Andrée Brunet] extremely abbreviated red last... 'I just want to be comfortable,' Miss Loughran said, when queried as to the length of her skirt."

Andrée Joly and Pierre Brunet

Whoever did it first or best aside, Nigel Brown "Ice-Skating: A History" noted Sonja Henie's contribution to skating fashion history in the late twenties: "Apart from remodelling women's skating, she 'refashioned' it as well. The athletic element she introduced into skating could not be performed with ankle-length skirts and wide hats. Sonja Henie brought in the short skirt which enabled girl skaters to indulge in any movement unhampered." Sporting white skates and shorter dresses, all designed by her mother, Henie was the poster child in ushering in of a new era in skating fashion... and continued to push boundaries in this department throughout her professional career. She wasn't the only one though... France's Andrée (Joly) Brunet dared to wear black tights to match her partner's costume... which certainly would have shocked many during that period.

Andrée Joly posing for French fashion ads. Photo courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France.

In perhaps the most colourful (literally) of the three parts of this examination of a century of skating fashion history, we will look at the fashions of the 1930's, 1940's, 1950's and 1960's in the conclusion of this series. Don't miss it because one of the sport's most colourful characters, Maribel Vinson, will be returning to the blog to take us to school!

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.