How Dance Tests Got Their Start

Prior to World War I, the Prince's Skating Club at Knightsbridge in London, England as well as the International Skating Club of Davos in Switzerland offered members tests in waltzing on ice, but it wasn't until the thirties and forties that ice dance tests were widely introduced and standardized.

Great Britain inaugurated its first dance test, the NSA Third Class (Bronze) Dance Test, in November 1934. Daphne Wallis and Reginald Wilkie not only worked toward this milestone, but were the first to take the test and pass. After passing, Wilkie sat on the panel to judge the next candidates. In March 1936, the Second Class (Silver) Dance Test was added. Again, Wallis and Wilkie were the first to pass. In 1939, the First Class (Gold) Test was added to the schedule. The first to pass in this instance was Walter Gregory, whose newly invented Rhumba had been included in the test.

By 1940, the NSA's Gold Dance Test had turned into a marathon. Candidates had to perform the Argentine Tango, Rhumba, Paso Doble, Westminster Waltz, Quickstep, Viennese Waltz and Rocker Foxtrot to standards, then skate a one and a half minute 'exhibition dance' that was "marked for originality and arrangement [with] no spirals or breaks except for changing position". If couples received a minimum mark of 4.2 out of 6.0 from all three judges, they then had to perform a four-minute PAIRS program! If they received at least 3.5 for Contents and 4.2 for Manner Of Performance for their pairs program, they passed the Gold Dance test. If they failed even one component, they had to take the entire Gold Dance test again. To make matters even worse, the entire test was taken on the same day!

Under the direction of Harold Hartshorne, the USFSA adopted rules for its first ice dance test at its Annual Governing Council Meeting in April 1938. In order to take the test, skaters had to be USFSA members in good standing. Three judges marked each team on a scale of one to ten, with a passing mark of six. Dances were broken into two judging categories: Accurate Timing Of Steps To Music and Performance. In the book  "The First Twenty-Five Years: USFSA 1921-1946", Hartshorne recalled, "Skaters were required to attain a certain standard in the Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot and Fourteenstep not only satisfy their curiosity as to their respective terpsichorean ability, but also to qualify for Sectional and National Competition. When the Bronze and Gold were instituted, the original test was called the Silver. I was aided in the preliminary work on the Gold Test by Joe Savage and Perry Rawson who helped me weed out four English and an Austrian dance for the consideration of the Dance Committee, whose members were not very familiar with any of them. Interest in these dances was, however, rapidly inspired by our Pair Champions, Joan Tozzer and Bernard Fox, who gave excellent renditions of the Rocker Foxtrot and Killian as then skated in England; also the Angolas who interpreted the Viennese; and the MacLennans of Australia who demonstrated the Blues."

The first USFSA tests were taken the summer that followed in Lake Placid during the club's Dance Week. By 1939, Silver and Bronze tests were added to the USFSA dance testing format. As of that year, the Bronze test consisted of the Continental Waltz and Fourteenstep, the Silver the Continental Waltz, Reverse Waltz, Three-Lobed-Eight Waltz, Fourteenstep, Foxtrot and Tango and the Gold the Blues, Killian, Viennese Waltz, Rocker Foxtrot and Three-Lobed-Eight Waltz. Among the first USFSA dance judges were Theresa Weld Blanchard, Joseph K. Savage and Eugene Turner.

In 1939, the Figure Skating Department of the Amateur Skating Association of Canada - precursor to the CFSA and Skate Canada - adopted the National Skating Association's third, second and first class dance tests. During the forties, the CFSA formalized its own three-tier dance test structure based on the NSA model, minus the 'exhibition dance' and pairs program. However, the dance tests were slow to catch on. At the 1946 Annual General Meeting of the CFSA, it was reported that only one hundred and fifty eight dance tests were taken... versus five hundred and sixteen figure tests. One of the main reasons for this was Canada's involvement in World War II, which meant there were fewer male partners around.

During the War, many countries that still had rinks open dabbled with their own variations of the NSA testing model. In 1950, the ISU Dance Committee met to try to standardize dance testing on an international level. A proposed dance three-tier model consisted of three Bronze dances (European Waltz, Fourteenstep and Foxtrot), four Silver dances (American Waltz, Blues, Killian, Tango) and five Gold dances (Argentine Tango, Paso Doble, Quickstep, Viennese Waltz and Westminster Waltz). The cost of taking these ISU tests was higher than that of USFSA, CFSA and NSA tests and as international judges were required, many of the first skaters to take the tests did so while attending European or World Championships.

Dance tests from the 1980 CFSA Rulebook

Much has obviously changed over the years, but today in most countries dance tests play an incredibly important part in figure skating programs from the ground up. If you haven't heard the Dutch Waltz music thousands of times... you haven't been to a test day!

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.

Ice Flower: The Constance Wilson Slatkin Story

Photo courtesy City Of Toronto Archives

"Swanlike in thy realms of pearl,
Tossed by silver clouds of snow;
Like some dainty elfin girl
Dancing in Auroral-glow!
Sway and leap in utmost bliss,
Till thy brittle senses swoon,
And the sun-god's ardent kiss
Ends thy happy, fragile bloom."

- "Ice Flower", poem composed in honour of Constance Wilson after the 1928 World Championships in London, England

On January 8, 1908 in a Toronto hospital, vinegar manufacturer William DeLeigh Wilson celebrated as his wife Jessie (Cumyn) gave birth to their daughter Constance Montgomery Wilson. Constance - or 'Connie' to friends - grew up in relative affluence at the family's home on Walmer Road with her parents, younger brother Bud (Montgomery), older sisters Edith and Florence and two maids. As a girl, she attended the exclusive Bryn Mawr school.

Florence (Lila), who was fifteen years older was Constance, was a very proficient 'fancy' skater so skating really ran in the Wilson family. Constance and Montgomery both started skating at the Toronto Skating Club when Constance was six. It wasn't long before she was one the young darlings of the city's skating scene, zooming around the Toronto Skating Club's indoor rink on Dupont Street with efficiency and speed and wowing members with her dizzying spins. She was just as appreciated at Bishop Strachan School, where she was named all-around sportswoman for three years in a row. In addition to skating, she excelled at running and tennis.

Photo courtesy City Of Toronto Archives

Five foot five with blonde hair and blue eyes, Constance had quite a presence on the ice. At the age of fifteen in 1923, she finished third in her first trip to the Canadian Championships behind Dorothy Jenkins and Cecil Smith, beginning nearly a nearly decade long rivalry with Smith, whom she trained with at the Toronto Skating Club. Constance and Cecil traded titles like youngsters traded Pogs in the nineties, with Cecil often having the edge in school figures and Constance the advantage in free skating. Cecil, who was coached by Paul Wilson, later recalled how Constance's coach Gustave Lussi would conveniently drop in on her practice sessions and "it wouldn't be long before Constance had put some of the elements into her program." In 1924, Constance won her first Canadian women's title. The following year, she defended it and added a gold in pairs with Errol Morson to her résumé... and she was just getting started!

Constance Wilson and Gustave Lussi. Photo courtesy City Of Toronto Archives.

After winning her pair of gold medals at the Canadian Championships in 1926, Gustave Lussi paired Constance with her brother Montgomery. The following year, she claimed medals in both singles and pairs at the North American Championships and reclaimed the Canadian women's title, which she held consecutively until 1935, with the exception of 1928, when she instead entered the British Championships and won that too, bringing the famous Martineau Cup back to her Club that year.

Constance Wilson in London in 1928

Though it wasn't uncommon for members of Commonwealth countries to compete at the British Championships, Constance was the first woman who didn't reside in the British Isles to claim the honour. One spectator claimed that Wilson was like "Pavlova in her prime, but Pavlova with winged feet and light as a fawn." In 1927, she was one of the first four skaters in Canada to pass the First-Class Test.

Photo courtesy City Of Toronto Archives.

Constance finished a disappointing sixth at the 1928 Winter Olympic Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland, where Mr. Lussi claimed the judges "criticized Connie for closing her figures to round them out. Up to that time they left the figures open - you never came back to your start - even in 1947 they were doing this. But in 1928 Connie was marked down for closing her figures." Mr. Lussi also claimed, "Constance Wilson was the first female to perform the first real Axel…but she still turned a three afterwards. And, after teaching it to her awhile, I was called down to the Committee room. They told me that I couldn't teach a jump like that to a lady. It was unladylike, likely to hurt her." 

Photo courtesy City Of Toronto Archives

In 1929, Constance won her first of five Canadian pairs titles with Montgomery. Unlike Beatrix Loughran from the United States, who achieved monumental success first as a singles skater and later in pairs during the same era, Constance regularly competed in and won titles in both singles and pairs at the same time. At the 1929, 1931 and 1933 North American Championships, Constance and Montgomery made a clean sweep of the singles and pairs titles. In 1933 in New York City, they finished second in fours as well.

Constance and Montgomery Wilson

Constance and Montgomery almost pulled off a fourth medal sweep in singles and pairs in Montreal at the 1935 North American Championships, but after winning the singles events lost the pairs title to Maribel Vinson and George E.B. Hill. Only three years prior, Constance and Montgomery had appeared alongside the American pair in the first club-sponsored summer figure skating carnival in history.

Top: Constance and Montgomery Wilson. Photo courtesy City Of Toronto Archives. Bottom left: Constance and Montgomery Wilson. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine. Right: Constance Wilson.

Two of Constance's most impressive moments were her performances at the 1928 World Championships in London and the 1930 World Championships in New York City. In 1928, no less an authority than Olympic Gold Medallist and ten time World Champion Ulrich Salchow placed her first in the free skate ahead of Sonja Henie. Salchow proclaimed that Constance's program was "the best ever seen in Europe" and congratulated her immediately afterwards. Despite the vote of confidence from one of the skating community's most influential members, she settled for fourth place overall behind Sonja Henie, Maribel Vinson and Fritzi Burger. In New York City, Constance was labelled as "vigorous and determined" but finished a disappointing fourth in singles and pairs, again receiving a first place ordinal in both disciplines and wowing the crowd. One reporter remarked, "Displaying fine balance in every one of her feats, she seemed to place chief dependence upon swirls and spins. Her back swirl spins were done with much brilliance. She was well-received by the crowd, and gave a sparkling performance." Eminent British judge, author and historian T.D. Richardson recalled that her speed rivalled Sonja Henie's. Sonja recalled that the fact Constance even competed was a feat in itself: "Her skates had been sharpened wrongly, causing her an accident in the final training period and taking her out of the running."

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Cecil Smith wasn't the only skater that Constance butted heads with during her time at the top. Joseph Chapman recalled, "In the many times I have acted as 'Ice-contact Man' in carnival performances - and more particularly in the exacting rehearsals preceding these performances, I have come perhaps into closer spiritual touch with our star skating performers than most other people. Long ago I realized that there are many instinctive requirements necessary to a champion, or near-champion, exhibitor or competitor, in order that an inner, personal goal may be closely approached - actually reached. Some while ago I began to suspect that these inner goals might be individual 'subjective idealisms' inherent in each of these skaters. At once I began to take a much more lenient and sympathetic view of certain manifestations that have come within my ken. Thus I could evaluate the urge which drove fascinating Vivi-Anne Hultén into absorbing fifty valuable minutes for her rehearsal at Atlantic City... when she was practicing her artistically exacting, interpretive-dance exhibitions. I could even understand the probable annoyance of flashing Connie Wilson, singles champion of North America (to mention only one of her titles) because Vivi was taking so solid an amount of time, when we were so pressed for time and there were so many other champions desirous of rehearsing. It was quite understandable to me that Connie whirled into her practice as soon as possible after Vivi - taking only some two minutes in order to demonstrate, no doubt, that there were other high-magnitude stars who could execute brilliant performances without elaborate preparation. This may have been merely another demonstration of a personal 'subjective idealism.'"

Constance Wilson and Louise Bertram selling Sergeant Ken Gibb tags for the blind. Photo courtesy City Of Toronto Archives.

Though her successes at the Canadian and North American Championships were unprecedented, Constance consistently seemed to be plagued by bad luck at the most inopportune moments. At the 1932 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, she faltered on one jump in her free skating performance, marring a performance described by Associated Press writers as otherwise "highly impressive". That one mistake narrowly cost her the bronze medal in the women's event. The positive takeaway from the Olympics for Constance was the fact that she and Mary Littlejohn both got to represent Canada. They were next-door neighbours growing up on Walmer Road.

At the World Championships in Montreal, Constance and Montgomery only managed to place sixth in the pairs event. Though she won the bronze medal in the women's event - becoming only the second Canadian woman in history to medal at the World Championships and the first to do so in her home country - the sting of losing the silver so narrowly to Fritzi Burger was palpable.

Most crushing of all was what happened at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Considered a bona fide medal contender in both singles and pairs after training up a storm with Walter Arian, Constance collapsed during practice while suffering the effects of a bad case of the flu and was forced to withdraw from both events. Aside from a trio of medals in the Waltz and fours events at the Canadian Championships with Montgomery in the late thirties and the Toronto Skating Club's Waltz title in 1941 with Gordon Jeffery, her competitive figure skating career was all but over.  After retiring from competition, Constance remained active in the sport as a judge for a time.

Left photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

Late in her competitive career, Constance had married a "tall, dark and handsome" engineer named Norman Mandelshon Samuel. Norman, the son of a Conservative candidate for the British House Of Commons, was the only Jewish person to gain admittance to the Toronto Skating Club at that time. The couple later moved down to the States, had a son named Sigmund (after Norman's father) and later divorced. Ron Vincent recalled the couple making a rare visit back home to Toronto: "On a dance session, Constance, whom I had not until then met, grabbed me for a very vigorous dance. My God, she was strong - and she led the whole way. It was a thrill!"

Photo courtesy City Of Toronto Archives

Constance remarried to another engineer, Alfred Daniel Slatkin of Montreal. When he was offered a position as the President of the Allied Automotive Corporation, they moved to Birmingham, Michigan. Constance became a mother of two more sons during World War II.

Constance's family relocated to Kansas City, Missouri in January of 1952, when her husband took a position as the superintendent of the final assembly at the Ford aircraft plant in Claycomo. She sadly passed away of cancer in Kansas City on February 28, 1953 at the age of forty-five. She was inducted posthumously into the CFSA (Skate Canada) Hall Of Fame in 1990, and to this day still holds the record for the most Canadian titles won by any man or woman in multiple disciplines! 

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 1973 Canadian Figure Skating Championships

Held from January 15 to 21, 1973 at the Vancouver Forum in beautiful British Columbia, the 1973 Canadian Figure Skating Championships were chock full of fascinating history. For starters, the event marked the third year in a row that Toller Cranston, Karen Magnussen, Sandra and Val Bezic and Louise and Barry Soper all reigned supreme together as Canadian Champions at the same time. The event also marked the first time that compulsory short programs for singles skaters were introduced at the Canadian Championships as well as the first year the 'Parade Of Champions' was included following the competitive events. The ISU was to thank for the former; B.C. Section chair Billie Mitchell for the latter. The event was chaired by the late Dave Moir, and hosting duties were shared by the Vancouver Skating Club and nineteen other B.C. Clubs. The event drew in a huge roster of competitors and over ten thousand spectators. The event also net an eight thousand dollar profit, which was substantial in comparison to the Canadians that preceded it. Much of this money filtered back to the clubs who helped host the event and the CFSA's Skater Development Fund. Let's take a look back at the stories and skaters that made this event so memorable!

Louise and Barry Soper, Karen Magnussen, Toller Cranston and Sandra and Val Bezic. Photo courtesy Sandra Bezic.

THE NOVICE AND JUNIOR EVENTS

Skaters from Ontario and British Columbia dominated the novice and junior events in Vancouver in 1973. To the delight of the home team, Susan McDonald and Christine McBeth and Rob Dick won the novice women's and pairs events. Ted Barton of the Capilano Winter Club was victorious in the junior men's competition, whereas the novice men's title went to Vern Taylor of Toronto. In the novice and junior ice dance events, two Deborah's - Deborah Young and Deborah Dowding - each defeated thirteen either teams to claim gold with their brothers, Gregory and John. Kerry Leitch students Kathy Hutchinson and Jamie McGrigor won the junior pairs event and Toronto's Patty Welsh took top honours among the junior women, besting future Olympian Kim Alletson of the Minto Skating Club, who was coached by Marilyn Thompson but worked on artistry and style with the great Osborne Colson.

THE PAIRS AND ICE DANCE COMPETITIONS

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

It's all fun and games until someone gets dropped and in Vancouver, the unfortunate victim also happened to be the three time and defending Canadian Champion. With an injured hip, Sandra Bezic soldiered on with her brother Val to win the compulsory short program but in the free skate, things couldn't have been closer. The Bezic's tied with Marian Murray and Glenn Moore, a pair of eighteen year olds from North Vancouver who lived and trained in California under John Nicks. Overall, the Bezic's - with 315.7 points and ten ordinals - edged Murray and Moore, who had 314.2 points and eleven ordinals. Finishing third were Toronto's Linda Tasker and Allen Carson.

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

Asked whether her injury affected her performance in Vancouver, Sandra Bezic told a "Prince George Citizen" reporter, "Yes, it did affect me, but I don't like to use it as an excuse for our performance." I spoke with Sandra about the event and she recalled, "Not a great week for us! Our fourth defence and we didn't have local support because our competitors, Murray and Moore, were from Vancouver. So the momentum wasn't in our corner. I don't remember the injury at all. I just remember the pressure getting in my head and fighting through it… we squeaked by to win."

 Ice dancers Barry Soper, Louise Soper and David Porter. Photo courtesy Toronto Public Library, from Toronto Star Photographic Archive. Reproduced for educational purposes under license permission.

Two time and defending Canadian Champions Louise and Barry Soper trained in England the summer previous to the 1973 Canadian Championships, determined to again defend their national title. Breezing through their Viennese Waltz, Kilian, Quickstep and Waltz OSP with polish, speed and finesse, they commanded a strong lead entering the free dance. In her book "Figure Skating History: The Evolution Of Dance On Ice", Lynn Copley-Graves recalled, "Technically, any of the top free dances could have won. The new polish in the Sopers' skating stood out above the better music used by Barbara Berezowski and David Porter. [Ron Ludington] ensured that Barbara and David's music had continuity, and they ended second. Linda Roe and Michael Bradley skated briskly and assuredly, opening to a Ted Heath arrangement of 'America', for third place." In fourth through eighth places were Shelley MacLeod and Bob Knapp, Joan Nuttall and Kevin Cottam, Judy Currah and Keith Caughell, Debra Robertson and Greg Ladret and Cathy Cusher and Eric Gillies.

THE MEN'S COMPETITION

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

After taking a solid lead in the school figures, two time and defending Canadian Champion Toller Cranston wowed a crowd of three thousand, two hundred and the judges with a dazzling compulsory short program to only expand his lead over twenty one year old Ron Shaver of Hamilton and North Vancouver's Paul Bonenfant. His free skate win assured him the gold medal over Shaver and Toronto's Robert Rubens.

Robert Rubens. Photo courtesy Sandra Bezic.

Toller Cranston earned standing ovations for both his compulsory short program and free skate and the only perfect 6.0's of the entire event in Vancouver - four in the short and two in the long. CFSA President John McKay speculated that at the 1973 World Championships in Bratislava "Cranston's chances were excellent providing international judges accept the artistic manner of skating."

THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION

Twenty year old Karen Magnussen of North Vancouver amassed an impressive lead over fifteen other women in the school figures, earning first place ordinals from all seven judges and 103.5 points. Toronto's Cathy Lee Irwin sat second; Vancouver's Ruth Hutchinson third. Before a crowd of three thousand, Magnussen botched a jump in her compulsory short program, earning one mark as low as 5.2. The previous year's junior champion, sixteen year old Lynn Nightingale of the Minto Skating Club, pulled off a massive upset, defeating Magnussen - the reigning Olympic Silver Medallist - and earning a 5.9 from one judge. Magnussen, Irwin and Hutchinson remained the top three skaters overall entering the free skate. Nightingale, who had been eighth in figures, moved up to sixth behind London's Julie Black and Toronto's Daria Prychun. Magnussen felt the judges had been unduly hard on her in both the figures and compulsory short program. She told reporters, "It would be nice to think that I didn't have to keep proving myself." Cranston backed her up, calling the 5.2 she received "an insult".

Video courtesy Frazer Ormonroyd's collection

In the free skate, Lynn Nightingale earned a standing ovation, tying with Karen Magnussen in that phase of the event and moving up to claim the bronze behind the hometown favourite and Irwin overall. Julie Black finished fourth; Ruth Hutchinson fifth.

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

Interestingly, the overall scores weren't even that close. Karen Magnussen ended the event with first place ordinals from all seven judges and 103.50 points. Cathy Lee Irwin had 96.80 and seventeen ordinals; Nightingale 83.60 points and twenty ordinals. Magnussen recalled the win as one of her fondest memories: "I was sitting in the kiss and cry with Linda. I put my head down on her shoulder and realized what I had achieved... job done, goal accomplished. It was a very special moment."

Photo courtesy Skate Canada Archives

Referring to Magnussen in "The Vancouver Province", Clancy Loranger proclaimed, "In a way it's a shame that come next month we're going to have to share this jewel with the rest of the world. Karen is scheduled to take her Canadian crown to Bratislava at the end of February, and anybody who says she won't trade it in for the world title is begging for a punch in the mouth." As it turned out, no one 'had to get' punched in the mouth. In Bratislava, Karen Magnussen became the third Canadian woman in history to win a World title in singles skating.

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

Canada's First Great Pair: The Jeanne Chevalier And Norman Mackie Scott Story

Born March 19, 1892 in Ottawa, Ontario, Norman Mackie Scott was the son of William and Mary (McNeil) Mackie. His mother hailed from Montreal; his father was a miller who descended from the famed Scotch author and playwright Sir Walter Scott, the author of "Ivanhoe", "Rob Roy" and "The Bride Of Lammermoor". Young Norman and his siblings were raised in a devout Presbyterian household in Montreal, Quebec. In the summers, he could be found swinging clubs on the golf course and as a nineteen year old civil engineering student, he even played hockey with the McGill University Hockey Club. However, his true haunts were the Winter Club Of Montreal and the Earl Grey Skating Club, where he carved out figure eights alongside a young woman named Jeanne Chevalier.

Jeanne Chevalier was born November 27, 1891 in Montreal, Quebec. She was the daughter of French born banker Martial Chevalier and Charlotte Peters, a descendant of Irish immigrants. Her grandfather was the manager of the Crédit Foncier Franco-Canadien and French Consul in Quebec and the Chevalier family were devout Catholics. Her grandfather's diplomatic post meant frequent transatlantic voyages by steam ship but Jeanne, athletically disposed from a young age, found time to pursue horseback riding, skiing, golf, tennis and swimming. However, it was clear her greatest talent lied on the ice.

Skating alone or together, there was no stopping Norman and Jeanne. In 1910, Jeanne made her debut at the Canadian Championships, claiming the fours title with E.V. Hall, Iris Mudge and Allan Richardson. In 1913, Norman and Jeanne each finished second in their respective singles events as well as second in the pairs and fours competitions. Later that winter, the talented twosome attended a skating party at Rideau Skating Club where a team of 'society belles' played hockey against a team of suffragists. The event got their competitive juices flowing. At the first meeting of the Figure Skating Department of the Amateur Skating Association of Canada on September 27, 1913, Norman was appointed as one of the Association's first nine judges.

Jeanne Chevalier's skates. Photo courtesy Henri Rousseau article for "Au fil du temps".

Motivated by their losses in 1913, Norman and Jeanne returned to the Canadian Championships the following year in full force. Norman took the men's title, Jeanne placed second in the women's event and together, they claimed the pairs title. At the international competition that winter in New Haven, Connecticut that was later recognized as the first U.S. Championships, the duo won the pairs competition and Norman won the men's event. That summer, World War I broke out. Making use of his training in the Canadian Officers' Training Corps at McGill, Norman enlisted in the War effort and headed overseas to serve with the Royal Canadian Engineers, the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Air Force. While he was in Europe fighting the good fight, Jeanne served as a nurse at a military hospital near Montreal with the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem and pondered the fate of her three brothers and skating partner fighting on the front lines overseas.

When Norman returned to Canada in 1919, he was injured but had earned the rank of Captain. He took a job in civil engineering and quickly resumed the skating career that had been postponed for five years. In 1920, he won the Canadian fours title with Jeanne, J. Cecil McDougall and Winnifred Tait and Jeanne finally claimed the Canadian women's title that had eluded her. The following year, Norman became the first skater to pass the Amateur Skating Association of Canada's silver class test and bested Duncan McIntyre Hodgson and Melville Rogers to reclaim his Canadian men's title after an almost ten year absence from the competitive ranks. Jeanne repeated as the Canadian women's champion and won another fours title, this time with Allan Howard, Winnifred Tait and Norman Gregory.

Georges-Auguste-Elie Lavergne portrait of Jeanne Chevalier

After those 1921 Canadian Championships, both Jeanne and Norman retired from competitive skating. After serving as the Secretary and Treasurer of the Figure Skating Department of the Amateur Skating Association of Canada during the final years of his competitive career, Norman served for another ten plus years on that organization's board, working closely alongside Louis Rubenstein to help develop Canadian figure skating in the roaring twenties. He and wife Margery travelled extensively with his new line of work... investment banking with the Bank Of Montreal.

Norman's wife Margery

Jeanne's parents decided to move back to France, the country of her father's birth, and she followed suit. Not long after arriving, she began seeing a French architect and painter named Louis Esgonniere de Thibeuf. The couple married in June of 1923, moved to his castle and soon welcomed three daughters to the world. Her daughter Renée once said, "We saw her skate twice. During the winters of 1936 and 1940, on a frozen pond below the estate. We were amazed. What elegance! She held us by the hand. An unforgettable memory."

The Thibeuf castle in Bournezeau, France where Jeanne Chevalier lived and passed away

In 1932, Norman became the first Canadian to judge at an ISU championship (the World Championships in Montreal) where Canadian skaters found themselves on the podium in multiple disciplines for the very first time. So respected was Norman that his likeness appeared on the ASA and CFSA's championship medals for several decades! Sadly, Norman died in September of 1981 at the age of eighty-nine in Georgeville, Quebec. He was finally given recognition for his incredible contributions to Canadian figure skating in 2012 with an induction to Skate Canada's Hall Of Fame. Jeanne died peacefully on December 8, 1984 at the the castle of Thibeuf in the Bournezeau commune in Vendée, France at age of ninety-three.

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.

Blotted Out: Four Tireless Behind The Scenes Builders

All too often, the stories of those tireless builders who have worked from 'the sidelines' to leave the figure skating world better than they found it go untold. In today's blog, we will take a look at the contributions to the sport of four such men who devoted their lives to the betterment of skating.

HENRY WAINWRIGHT HOWE

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

An affluent member of the Skating Club Of New York, Henry Wainwright Howe was one of the first Americans to devote considerable time and effort to the study of judging figure skating. As a skater, he was no slouch. With his wife, he won the U.S. Waltzing Championship in 1923 at the Iceland Rink in New York. Heaton R. Robertson described the couple's performance as "harmonious and exact." The following year in Philadelphia, the couple claimed the U.S. junior pairs title.

When Henry began his four year term as the second President of the United States Figure Skating Association in 1925, one of his first orders of business was forming the organization's Judging Committee. Although closed marking was still the name of the game back then, he was steadfast in his belief that education was crucial for judges of all backgrounds. His committee vocally opposed 'acrobatics' in free skating: "Acrobatics in free skating should be left to the professionals... A free skating program which oversteps in this regard shall be accordingly depreciated."

When Henry and his wife attended the 1928 Winter Olympic Games in St. Moritz, they were only there to observe the efforts of the six member American team. A thaw occurred that effected the scheduling of the figure skating events and he was called upon to judge the women's event where America's Beatrix Loughran won the bronze medal.

Sadly, Henry passed away in 1931, only two years after his term as USFSA President ended. His obituary in "Skating" magazine described him as "broad-minded, patient and impartial in his decisions... a fearless and honest executive and judge. Loved and admired by all, his name had come to be known both here and abroad as the synonym for a true sportsman." In a letter penned at the time of his death, Ulrich Salchow wrote, "Henry Howe we considered one of the pillars in American Figure Skating; his work, his initiative and last but not least his brilliant and generous personality brought about that the United States in 1930 arranged the World Championships... Henry Howe was a strong man behind his duty and his privileges; yet he overcame many obstacles by means of his smile."

DICK MCLAUGHLIN

Born February 13, 1926 in Oshawa, Ontario, E.R.S. (Dick) McLaughlin was the son of Clarence Ewart McLaughlin and Margaret Luke and the grandson of Robert McLaughlin, the founder of the McLaughlin Carriage Car Company and the McLaughlin Motor Car Company... which became General Motors Of Canada. Dick and his sister Mary had the great fortune to grow up in one of Canada's wealthiest families, one of few who escaped Great Depression unscathed. His parents owned an estate called Greenbriar in Oshawa, a cottage at Muskoka, a family farm at Tyrone and an estate in Bermuda as well as a 1925 Cadillac Cabriolet and brand new Cadillac and Buick sedans. The family had sailboats, horses, a greenhouse, you name it... and spent their leisure time skiing, travelling and yes, skating.

Dick's mother Margaret, a talented skater in her own right, was one of the founders of the Oshawa Skating Club in 1938. She made no haste in getting her children on the ice to join in the fun. Prior to being signed up for skating lessons, Dick had spent many winters playing hockey until coach Vern Abbott showed him what could be accomplished in a proper pair of figure skates. In 1945, Dick won the club's Waltz and Fourteenstep competitions with partner Babs Lamon, earned the club's illustrious Bassett Trophy and won the bronze medal in the junior men's event at the Canadian Figure Skating Championships behind Frank Sellers of Winnipeg and Giles Trudeau of Montreal. After relocating to train at the Granite Club, the following year he returned to win the 1946 Canadian junior pairs title and Tenstep titles with Marnie Brereton. In 1947, he earned bronze medals with Brereton in the Waltz, Tenstep and Dance Championships, for a career total of two junior and four senior Canadian medals. He later teamed up to compete at the Canadian Championships in dance events with Geraldine Fenton, but the duo failed to place in the top three.

Retiring from competitive figure skating, Dick studied at Osgoode Hall at the University Of Toronto. He later devoted his time and efforts to giving back to the sport that had afforded him so much enjoyment. With Nigel Stephens, he donated the Stephens-McLaughlin Trophy to the CFSA, given to Canada's junior ice dance champions. He served on the CFSA Dance Committee and when the Oshawa rink burned down in 1953, he arranged for ice time in Bowmanville. From 1954 to 1960, he served as an international judge, among his assignments the 1958 World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo. Perhaps most importantly, he served as President of the CFSA from 1957 to 1959, the period which marked the rise of Donald Jackson, the glory years of Barbara Wagner and Bob Paul and the introduction of twenty new member clubs, bringing the grand total of CFSA member clubs to two hundred. He was also involved in bringing the 1960 World Championships to Vancouver.

For all of his incredible contributions to Canadian figure skating, it's interesting to note that Dick McLaughlin's 1991 induction to the Oshawa Sports Hall Of Fame was related to another sporting pursuit entirely: sailing. His father Clarence had been a boating enthusiast who had won many trophies with his boats Whippet and Cricket and for many years had reigned as speedboat champion at Muskoka. Following in his footsteps, Dick won the 1962 Canadian Albacore Skating Championship, the 1967 Mid-winter Albacore Sailing Championship and third place in North American Albacore Championships with his daughter Rosemary among his crew.

Photo from archives of "The Oshawa Times", courtesy Oshawa Public Libraries

After his father passed away on August 9, 1968 at the family's Greenbriar estate, Dick made a sizeable donation that helped fund the opening of Oshawa's first permanent art gallery, the Robert McLaughlin Gallery. He served as Director of Engineering and Director Of Manufacturing Engineering at General Motors in the seventies and as President of Oshawa Civic Auditorium Board Of Directors.  He also served as President of the Oshawa-Whitby United Appeal, President and Director of Macel Transportation Ltd. and Greenbriar Holdings Limited, as well as a Director of Algonquin Mercantile Corp. and Hardee Farms International. They say money can't buy happiness, but it can certainly buy life experience. I don't think there's any denying that Dick McLaughlin had plenty of the latter.

NORMAN V.S. GREGORY

For many years, three clubs dominated the Canadian figure skating scene: the Minto Skating Club in Ottawa, the Toronto Skating Club and the Montreal Winter Club. A member of the latter, Norman 'Norm' Victor Shearson Gregory was born July 9, 1893 in Bangor, North Wales and educated at the historic Ysgol Friars school in Bangor, North Wales and the Collegiate Institute in Ottawa. He started skating in Ottawa while pursuing his education and joined the Montreal Winter Club in 1919 while working as an auditor for the Canadian government.

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

In 1921, Norman joined with Jeanne Chevalier, Allan Howard and Winnifred Tait to claim the Connaught Cup - Canada's fours skating title. In the years that followed, he went on to medal in the senior men's, pairs and fours competitions at the Canadian Championships four more times. Though he continued to skate well into the thirties, passing his Second Class Class Test and winning the Chairman's Prize with Margot Barclay at the Montreal Winter Club's weekly waltzing competition, Norman's biggest accomplishments in the skating world were behind the scenes.

Charles Cumming, William de Nance, Norris Bowden, Donald B. Cruikshank, Nigel Stephens and Norman V.S. Gregory. Photo courtesy "Canadian Skater" magazine. 

Serving as President of the Montreal Winter Club for fifteen years, Norman penned articles for "Skating" magazine and served as an international judge in both figure skating and ice dance. A two-term Vice-President with the Figure Skating Department of the Amateur Skating Association of Canada and a two-term President with the CFSA, he was highly involved with the CFSA's application for ISU membership and the process in which the CFSA broke free from the Amateur Skating Association of Canada. As CFSA President, he established a scholarship program for young skaters, a forerunner to the Skaters' Development Fund.

Norman served as chair of CFSA's Rules Committee and actually wrote the rulebook on the judging of ice dance which, through several revisions, was effective from 1948 to 1965. In 1950, he presented the CFSA with The Gregory Cups, which are awarded to this day to the senior ice dance champions of Canada. In 1952, he managed the Canadian Olympic team and served on the panel of judges that awarded Dick Button his second Olympic gold medal.

Mr. and Mrs. Norman Gregory. Photo courtesy the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec

Though unsuccessful in his efforts to get a Canadian elected to the ISU Council, Norman was actually one of the first representatives of the CFSA to attend an ISU Council meeting. He first attended the ISU Council in 1959, as the 1960 World Championships were being held in Vancouver. Two years later, he attended again and was nominated for spot on the Council, but lost in his bid to Ernest Labin of Austria and Per Cock-Clausen of Denmark. This loss marked the beginning of Norman's rocky relationship with the ISU. While under suspension as an ISU judge in 1963, he tried to get Nigel Stephens elected to the Council. However, Stephens lost in his bids for two positions... badly.

After living for some time in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Norman passed away on February 1, 1975 in Montreal. A tireless supporter of ice dance at a time when it was just starting to gain steam in Canada, Norman was posthumously inducted into CFSA (Skate Canada) Hall Of Fame in 1994.

GUSTAVUS WITT

Born April 8, 1892, Gustavus Frederikus Caesar Witt was the son of Hamburg merchant Gustav J.J. Witt and his wife Melina Adelaide Ottilie Barwasser. He was the second oldest of four children. Witt the elder - no relation to Katarina, by the way - was a highly successful businessman with offices in Rotterdam, Copenhagen and Berlin. Gustavus married Ella Maria Anna Stoffel in Zürich, Switzerland in 1917 and it was in his wife's country of birth that he became enchanted with the sport of figure skating, at the popular skating resorts in Davos and St. Moritz.

Settling in Holland, Gustavus became active as a skating judge. From 1938 to 1939, he served as Honorary Secretary of the ISU Council, a role he returned to for four years following World War II. He was the International Skating Union's Figure Skating Technical Committee Chairperson from 1946 to 1949 and from 1949 to 1953 was the organization's Vice President for figure skating. In 1953, he became the second person in history to be recognized as an Honorary Member of the ISU.

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

Gustavus refereed the women's and pairs events at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz and the pairs event at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo and judged and refereed at countless other events in the late forties and early fifties. In addition to having the coolest name ever, he had some really interesting views. In 1950, he penned an open letter to "Skating" magazine regarding a 'points system' for judging proposed by American judge Lyman Wakefield, Jr. which was an eerily similar precursor to the modern IJS system. He shot down Wakefield's proposal and defended the 6.0 system vehemently. He wrote, "To my mind judges should not be allowed at all to keep private protocols for compulsory figures or for free skating. Secret marking, making adjustments possible, is just the bad practice the ISU does not want... A judge should give marks for what he sees. [A] proposed mathematical system is in practice undesirable and impossible... The Figure Skating Committee of the ISU in conjuncture with the referees of the different international events carefully scrutinize the judges' marks at the end of each season. If it is found that a judge for whatever reasons was not up to the high standard demands, then such a judge will be scratched from the list of international judges. Since the [1948] Olympics, ten international judges from different countries have been disqualified for two years and to some of the judges letters of warning had to be sent. I think that on the whole the judging of all international events has improved greatly."

Gustavus also advocated abolishing nationalism in sport and actually played an instrumental role in implementing measures in the fifties to curtail national bias. In a 1960 letter published in the Olympic Review, he wrote: "After the last war, I introduced, that at international figure skating competitions, the European and World Championships, during the distribution of prizes on the ice and the banquet, no national flags were to be shown nor hoisted, and no national anthems were to be played (instead: the Ode of Joy of the IXth Symphony of Beethoven). Not even the nationality of the winners was mentioned, only their names, and this worked very well. Everybody was happy about this new style, which the International Skating Union introduced at least in the figure skating section. Boys and girls no longer carry the burden of starting in a competition as ambassadors of their country; the spirit amongst the international young crowd of figure skaters is now friendly and cheerful. Even most of the officials of the ISU started to regard themselves as ambassadors of the ISU. in their respective countries and not vice versa... It cannot be made clear enough that results in international sport events have nothing whatever to do with politics or nationalities. They are individual performances, and I do not see why nations should claim the honours of individual efforts, which they are doing in the majority of cases." He went on to suggest the Olympics adopt a similar policy. It didn't happen and despite his efforts, ultimately the national anthems and flags returned to ISU competitions.

Gustavus passed away in St. Gallen, Switzerland in 1975. Whether you agree with his views or not, there's no denying that he contributed more to the sport than most.

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.