Airborne: A Timeline Of Canadian Jumping History

There's a reason why Canadian skaters have dominated international figure skating competitions for decades. It's not just raw talent - it's the will to succeed, the dedication to practice and the drive to pursue excellence that has propelled so many skaters from Canada to the top of podiums over the years.

 Not only can we lay claim to brilliant artists like Toller Cranston, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. We can also boast being home to the skaters who landed the first triple Lutz, triple Axel and quadruple jumps in competition... but that's just the tip of the Iced Cap.

If you nerd out over rotation and ratification, you're going to really love this airborne timeline. A big thanks to Donald Jackson, Debbi Wilkes, Kerry Leitch, Doug Haw, Meagan Duhamel, Doug Ladret, Mary Petrie McGillvray, John McKilligan, Doug Leigh, Mark Rowsom, Jean Westwood, Jay Humphry, Linda Carbonetto Villella, Valerie (Jones) Bartlett, Tina Tyan and Gordon Forbes for their help and input behind the scenes with this!

A note regarding this timeline: Jumping has obviously evolved over the years, both in the techniques skaters are taught and the way they are judged. In the twenties and thirties, skaters often turned a three out of their jumps because that was the technique that was taught at time. Until instant replay and the IJS system were introduced, there wasn't the same scrutiny we have today about the cleanliness of jump landings. This timeline may include jumps that were slightly cheated or had landings we'd consider iffy today, but far be it for us (in 2021) to nitpick the accomplishments of skaters from decades past who were breaking new ground. This is a 'living document' and if you have any suggestions or corrections, I'd love to hear from you and update it.

A TIMELINE OF CANADIAN JUMPING HISTORY

1895: George Meagher's book "Figure And Fancy Skating" is the first Canadian skating textbook to discuss jumping. Of the 'flying three' or waltz jump, he wrote, "This is a showy and particularly dashing figure when done properly, whether skated individually or done in combination."

Constance Wilson. Photo courtesy City of Toronto Archives.

1929: Constance Wilson includes an Axel jump in her winning program at the North American Championships in Boston. Her coach Gustave Lussi 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.

1929: Montgomery 'Bud' Wilson lands the double loop at the 1929 North American Championships in Boston. He is one of the first Canadian skaters to attempt the jump in competition. 

Montgomery 'Bud' Wilson. Photo courtesy City of Toronto Archives.

1937: Montgomery 'Bud' Wilson is one of the first skaters in the world to attempt a double flip. Gustave Lussi claimed to have invented the flip with Wilson in the roaring twenties.

1940: Barbara Ann Scott wins the Canadian junior women's title in Ottawa with a free skating performance that included a double Salchow jump. That same year, she also landed the double loop at a Red Cross Carnival and Masquerade at the first Canadian summer skating school in Kitchener. She was only twelve years old at the time. 

Barbara Ann Scott. Photo courtesy Hamilton Public Library.

1942: Barbara Ann Scott is the first woman to land a double Lutz in competition, at the Canadian Championships in Winnipeg.

1948: Suzanne Morrow and Wally Distelmeyer up the bar by attempting side-by-side double jumps in competition.

1949: Twelve year old Barbara Gratton is the only woman to include a double Lutz and double toe-Walley in her free skating program at the Canadian Championships in Ottawa.

Frances Dafoe and Norris Bowden

1953: Frances Dafoe and Norris Bowden popularized release jumps at a time when several judges claimed these innovations were illegal. Dafoe and Bowden performed the flying three jump and invented the leap of faith. Frances even performed an Axel into Norris' arms. In the years that followed, Dafoe and Bowden's successors Barbara Wagner and Bob Paul and their coach Sheldon Galbraith furthered the development of novel and unique pair moves that served as precursors to modern throws and twist lifts. Jean Westwood recalls Wagner and Paul performing a throw Axel as professionals.

1956: Ann Johnston is the first woman to do a double Axel at the Canadian Championships in Cambridge.

1958: In Ottawa, Donald Jackson is the first skater to land a triple jump - the Salchow - at the Canadian Championships. Charles Snelling had practiced the triple Salchow as well, but never attempted it in competition.

Donald Jackson at the 1962 World Championships. Video courtesy Frazer Ormondroyd.

1962: Donald Jackson is the first skater to land a triple Lutz in international competition, at the World Championships in Prague. His performance, which earned seven perfect 6.0's, was the highest score recorded for a singles skater and was recorded as one of the first Guinness World Records for figure skating. At the time, a rumour was floating around about Sheldon Galbraith and Donald having a signal between them about the jump. He explained, "That happened in Prague in 1962 because Mr. Galbraith said I didn't have to do the triple Lutz if the warm up didn't feel right. During the warm up I checked the ice conditions where I would be doing my triple Lutz. I wanted to make sure the ice was thick enough so my toe wouldn't slip. I tried one in the warm up to get the feeling of the audience and the ice however I just did it close to where I was going to do it, not right where it would be in the competition. I didn't want to get caught in my own rut. I didn't land it cleanly but I wasn't really trying to land it, just get the feeling. I spotted Mr. Galbraith in the audience, he had gone back to his seat I guess, and I saw him and gave him the thumbs up signal because I felt good and was going to try it. He gave me the thumbs up back. This didn't ever happen as a regular thing though."

1962: Donald Jackson is the first skater in the world to work on a quadruple jump practice. He recalled, "I was working on a quad Salchow in in my last amateur year with Mr. Galbraith. It was part of my plan if I had stayed in. I was able to try it because I used a forward spin in the air and didn't have to bring my free leg out because it was already there. I could do three triple Salchows in a row that way too. It was easy. That I did in some shows. But I ended up turning professional so I didn't work on the quad any more."

Maria and Otto Jelinek. Photo courtesy "Ice Skate" magazine.

1962: Maria and Otto Jelinek are the first pair in the world to land simultaneous double Axels at the World Championships in Prague. The jumps are performed in opposite directions.

1962: Petra Burka is the first woman to land a triple Salchow at the Canadian Championships. Attempts by women at triple jumps are rare in subsequent years. Linda Carbonetto lands one at the 1967 Canadians in Toronto and Mary Petrie executes one at the 1972 Canadians in London. 

Petra Burka

1963: Debbi Wilkes and Guy Revell are the first Canadian pair to execute a double Lutz twist at the Canadian Championships in Regina. Though not a jump, Wilkes and Revell's twist is an important precursor to the throws that would follow.

1963: In Edmonton, Donald McPherson is the first skater to land a triple loop at the Canadian Championships.

David McGillvray. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

1966: A pair of sixteen year olds, David McGillvray and Doug Leigh, make a whole lot of jumping history in the junior men's event at the Canadian Championships in Peterborough. Doug is the first Canadian skater to land the triple flip and the first Canadian to do the triple flip and triple loop in a free skating program. David is the first Canadian to land a triple toe-loop and the first to do both a triple toe-loop and triple Salchow in a free skating program.

1967: In Montreal, Jay Humphry is the first Canadian to land a triple toe-Walley at North American Championships.

Jay Humphry. Photo courtesy Toronto Public Library.

1968: British Columbia siblings Betty and John McKilligan are one of the first pairs to attempt the new throw Axel or 'Killer' at the Canadian Championships in Vancouver. Their attempt is unfortunately unsuccessful. Mary Petrie and Bob McAvoy land the throw the following year at the Grand Prix International de Patinage in St. Gervais, France. John McKilligan recalled, "Once upon a time throws and other 'acrobatic' moves were banned. I have no idea who was the first in Canada to complete a throw Axel in competition, but I believe that several of us probably did it shortly after it became a 'legal' move. My sister and I, with coach Jean Westwood, invented a few moves. The Cat Swing was a lift/throw where my sister did an Axel over my head after I boosted her into the air. We also did a 'jump camel spin' where I did a jump camel over my sister."

1973: Fourteen year old Vern Taylor is the first skater to land the triple Lutz at the Canadian Championships, in the novice men's event. He is also the first skater to perform the jump in the junior men's event at Canadians three years later.

1974: Ron Shaver is one of, if not the first, Canadian skaters to include three different triples (toe-loop, Salchow and loop) in his free skating program. Shaver later pushes the technical boundaries of the sport by opening his free skating program with a jump sequence of three triple toe-loop's.

1976: Lynne Begin and Marc Gignac are the first Canadian pair to do the throw double Axel, in their winning free skate in the junior pairs event at the Canadian Championships in London, Ontario. The next year in Calgary, fourteen year-old's Lorri Baier and Lloyd Eisler are the first novice pairs team to do a throw double Axel at the Canadian Championships.

Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini. Photo courtesy Library And Archives Canada.

1978: Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini up the ante for Canadian pairs, landing a throw triple Salchow in the junior pairs event at the Canadian Championships in Victoria, British Columbia. They performed the throw successfully for the second time in their winning free skate at the Nebelhorn Trophy in West Germany.

1978: Vern Taylor is the first person to land a triple Axel in competition, at the World Championships in Ottawa. Both he and Donald Jackson (the first man to do the triple Lutz) were students of Sheldon Galbraith.

Vern Taylor's triple Axel at the 1978 World Championships

1979: Brian Orser is the first Canadian skater to land the triple Axel at the Canadian Championships, in the junior men's event in Thunder Bay.

1979: Vern Taylor lands one of the first triple flip jumps in the senior men's event at the Canadian Championships in Thunder Bay. Gary Beacom also attempts the jump, but puts his hand down. Both Gary and Gordon Forbes land the jump the following year at the Canadian Championships in Kitchener.

1979: Brian Pockar makes history at the World Championships in Vienna as the first skater to land the unusual one-foot triple Salchow/double flip combination in international competition. All of the other skaters in the event performed the required double flip as the first jump in their combination in the short program. He told reporters, "I'm happy I chose that combination because I feel it made an impact here at the Worlds. It's an attention-getting device and I think people will remember me because of that."

Brian Pockar. Photo courtesy Library and Archives Canada.

1979: Heather Kemkaran is one of the first Canadian women to attempt the triple toe-loop in competition, at the Ennia Challenge Cup in The Hague. Over the next few years, Elizabeth Manley, Diane Mae Obigowski and Cynthia Coull are among a small group of Canadian women to land the jump in competition. Linda Carbonetto had done the triple toe-loop in practice back in the sixties, but didn't include it in her program. She recalled, "In those days, doing a double Axel was a big deal so it was felt that it was unnecessary."

1981: In February, Tracey Wainman is one of the first Canadian women to land a triple loop in practice... on Friday the thirteenth.

1982: Manotick, Ontario's Campbell Sinclair is the first Canadian skater to work on the triple toe-loop/triple loop combination and quadruple loop jump. He attempted the combination at the 1982 Eastern Canadian Championships in Oshawa and the 1983 Prague Skate competition in Czechoslovakia, but was unsuccessful in both attempts. In an interview in "The Ottawa Citizen" in October of 1983, he explained, "The triple-triple is more consistent and maybe I'll have more guts this year than last year. I kicked myself last year for not doing it. In warmups and practice last year, I'd land it, but if I fell [in competition] I was afraid I wouldn't have enough time to get into the triple flip. I decided to go for a consistent program."

1983: At the Canadian Championships in Montreal, Kay Thomson is the first woman to land two triple Lutzes in one competition and the first woman to land a triple Lutz combination in the short program. That same year, she is the first Canadian woman to land a triple Lutz at the World Championships.

1984: Brian Orser is the first skater to land the triple Axel in an Olympic medal winning performance.

Brian Orser at the 1984 Winter Olympic Games. Photo courtesy Library and Archives Canada.

1984: Cynthia Coull and Mark Rowsom are one of the first pairs in the world to attempt two different throw triple jumps in one program - the Salchow and loop. Coull and Rowsom were also the first pair in Canada to attempt side-by-side triple toe-loop's and Salchows. Coull and Rowsom and Katherina Matousek and Lloyd Eisler were the first Canadian pairs to do the throw triple loop. Both pairs trained at the Preston Figure Skating Club with Kerry Leitch and were working on the throw at the same time.

1984: Kay Thomson is the first Canadian woman to attempt the triple flip in international competition, at the World Championships in Ottawa. The jump is rarely attempted by Canadian women in subsequent years. 

1986: Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini are the first Canadian pair to successfully perform a throw triple jump in a professional competition, at the World Professional Championships in Landover, Maryland.

1987: In Cincinnati, Christine Hough and Doug Ladret are the first Canadian pair to land the throw triple toe-loop at the World Championships.

Quote from Brian Orser from the 1987 World Championships

1987: Brian Orser makes history as the first skater to land two triple Axels in one program and three triple Axels in one competition at both the Canadian Championships in Ottawa and World Championships in Cincinnati.

1988: In Calgary, Elizabeth Manley is the first Canadian woman to land a triple loop in the Winter Olympic Games.

1988: Kurt Browning's quadruple toe-loop at the World Championships in Budapest is ratified as the first in performed in an ISU Championships. He also becomes the first Canadian skater to perform both a quadruple jump and a triple Axel in a free skating program. After the event, the Royal Glenora Club presented Kurt with a personalized license plate that said '1STQUAD'.

Kurt Browning

1988: Michael Slipchuk is the first Canadian skater to land triple/triple combinations in both the short and long programs, at the 1988 Trophée Lalique in Paris.

1989: In Chicoutimi, Kurt Browning is the first skater to land a quadruple jump at the Canadian Championships. That same year, he is the first skater to land two triple triple Axels in the original program at the World Championships in Paris.

1990: Donald Jackson, the first Canadian skater to land a triple jump in competition in 1958, celebrates his fiftieth birthday by landing a beautiful triple Salchow at the Minto Skating Club.

Quote from Lisa Sargeant on the triple Axel from "The Edmonton Journal"

1990: Lisa Sargeant is the first Canadian woman to attempt a triple Axel in competition, at Skate Electric in London, England. She lands the jump on two feet. 

1990: Kurt Browning is the first skater to land a triple Salchow/triple loop combination in competition, at the Nations Cup in Gelsenkirchen. He also landed a triple flip/triple toe-loop in his free skating program.

1991: Kurt Browning is the first skater to land three different triple/triple combinations in one program, at the World Championships in Munich. He does the triple Axel/triple toe-loop, triple flip/triple toe-loop and triple Salchow/triple loop.

Elvis Stojko. Photo courtesy Library and Archives Canada.

1991: Elvis Stojko is the first skater to land a quadruple jump in combination at an ISU Championship, at the World Championships in Munich.

1991: One of the first Canadian women to land a triple flip in international competition is Karen Preston at Skate Canada in London in 1991. In Oakland the following year, Karen is the first Canadian woman to land the triple flip at the World Championships.

Sherry Ball and Kris Wirtz. Photo courtesy Library and Archives Canada.

1992: In Albertville, Sherry Ball and Kris Wirtz are the first Canadian pair to land back-to-back side-by-side triple toe-loop's at the Winter Olympic Games.

1994: Three of Canada's biggest jumping greats square off at the Canadian Championships in Edmonton. Elvis Stojko, the winner, was the first skater to land a quadruple jump in combination at an ISU Championship. Kurt Browning, the runner-up, was the first skater to land a ratified quad at an ISU Championship. Vern Taylor, who finished dead last but earned the respect of the crowd for his comeback, was the first skater to land a triple Axel at an ISU Championship... sixteen years prior.

1994: Josée Chouinard is the first Canadian woman to land a triple Lutz in professional competition at the Canadian Professional Championships in Hamilton.

1995: Kurt Browning is the first Canadian skater to land a triple Axel in a professional competition at the tenth annual Challenge Of Champions in Tokyo, Japan.

1996: Elvis Stojko lands a quadruple Salchow in one of the practice sessions at the Canadian Championships in Ottawa.

1997: Around the same time Éric Millot of France and Tara Lipinski of the United States make history as the first skaters to successfully land the rare triple loop/triple loop jump in competition, Yvan Desjardins is one of the first Canadian skaters to land it in practice. In the years that follow, Shawn Sawyer, Joannie Rochette, Meagan Duhamel and Nicole Watt are part of a small group of skaters that practice the combination.

1997: Elvis Stojko is the first skater in the world to land a quadruple/triple combination in an ISU Championship, at the Champions Series Final in Hamilton. That same year, he became the first to land the combination at the World Championships. He was also the first skater to land a quadruple jump in combination at the Canadian Championships that season.

2000: Brian Orser, the first skater to land the triple Axel at the Canadian Championships in 1979, performs the jump for the first time in twelve years at the 2000 Winter Goodwill Games in Lake Placid.

2001: In Winnipeg, Jayson Dénommée is the first skater to land the triple Axel/triple loop combination at the Canadian Championships.

Jayson Dénommée

2001: Emanuel Sandhu is the first skater to land a triple toe-loop/triple toe-loop/triple toe-loop combination in competition at the 2001 Sears Canadian Open in Ottawa. France's Surya Bonaly had landed the three triple combination in a practice session in the autumn of 1991 at an Olympic test event, the Trophée Lalique in Albertville.

2005: British Columbian pair Jessica Miller and Ian Moram are the first Canadian duo to attempt a throw quad Salchow in competition, at a summer event in Pierrefonds. They landed the throw in a practice at the 2007 Cup Of China and got credit for the rotation when they attempted it in the free skate at that event. One of the first pairs to attempt a throw quad in practice were Marie-Claude Savard Gagnon and Luc Bradet, in the early nineties.

Quote from Ian Moram on the throw quadruple Salchow at the 2007 Cup Of China

2005: Meagan Duhamel and Ryan Arnold are the first pair to land side-by-side triple Lutzes and a throw triple Lutz at the Canadian Championships in London. At that season's World Junior Championships in Ljubljana, Duhamel and Arnold became the first pair to land the throw triple Lutz in international competition. The technical specialist apparently didn't even have a button in their system for the throw triple Lutz because it was so rare, so they pressed the throw triple flip button instead.

2006: In Ljubljana, Kevin Reynolds is the first Canadian skater to land a quadruple Salchow at the World Junior Championships.

2007: In Halifax, Kevin Reynolds is the first skater to land two different quadruple jumps at the Canadian Championships.

2008: Kevin Reynolds is the first Canadian skater to land a quadruple/triple/triple combination, at the Canadian Championships in Vancouver.

2010: Kevin Reynolds is the first skater in the world to land two different quadruple jumps in a short program at Skate Canada International in Kingston.

2012: After winning his first two World titles and turning the quadruple toe-loop into a masterclass, Patrick Chan works on quadruple Salchow and quadruple flip jumps in practice. Patrick lands his first quadruple Salchow at the 2016 ISU Grand Prix Final and his second at the 2017 Canadian Championships.

2013: Kevin Reynolds is the first skater to land five quadruple jumps in one competition, at the Four Continents Championships in Osaka. He did two in the short program and three in the free.

2014: In Sochi, Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford are the first pair in the world to land side-by-side triple Lutzes in the Winter Olympic Games.

2015: Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford are the first pair in the world to land the throw quadruple Lutz, the first to perform a back-to-back throw quad Salchow and throw quadruple Lutz in practice and the first to attempt back-to-back throw quads in competition at the Souvenir Georges-Éthier competition in Québec.

2016: Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford are the first Canadian pair to land a throw triple Axel in competition at Skate Canada International in Mississauga.

2017: Kevin Reynolds is the first skater to land six quadruple jumps in one competition, at the World Championships in Helsinki. He did two in the short and four in the free.

2017: In Ottawa, Nicolas Nadeau is the first skater to land the quadruple loop at the Canadian Championships.

2018: At age thirteen, Stephen Gogolev is the youngest skater to land a quadruple Lutz, quadruple Salchow and quadruple toe-loop in international competition, at the Junior Grand Prix event in Bratislava. Gogolev is also the first Canadian skater to land the quadruple Lutz in competition.

2018: In Pyeongchang, Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford are the first pair ever to execute a throw quadruple Salchow at the Winter Olympics.

2020: Figure skater Meagan Duhamel and hockey player Wojtek Wolski are the first hockey player/figure skater duo to land a throw triple Salchow on CBC's hit show "Battle Of The Blades".

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.

Exploring The Collections: The Joseph Butchko Collection

Every Skate Guard blog that is put together draws from a variety of different sources - everything from museum and library holdings and genealogical research to newspaper archives and dusty old printed materials I've amassed over the last ten years or so. This year, I thought it would be fun to give you a bit of a 'behind the scenes' look at the Skate Guard Collections, which include books, magazines, VHS tapes, show and competition programs, photographs and many other items. These Collections date back to the nineteenth century and chronicle figure skating's rich history from the days of quaint waltzes in coats and tails to quadruple toe-loop's. Whether you're doing your own research about a famous 'fancy' skater in your family tree or a long-lost ice rink in your community or just have a general skating history question you can't find the answer to online, I'm always happy to draw on these resources and try to help if I can.

Joseph Butchko posing with items from his Collection at a hobby and antiques show in 1965

This month, I'd like to highlight the Joseph Butchko Collection - a large collection of photographs that I was fortunate enough to have acquired back in 2019. Mr. Butchko was a prolific collector of skating memorabilia. He started skating at the age of eleven in the coal mining town of Orient, Pennsylvania in a pair of skates he bought from Sears Roebuck for seventy two cents and began collecting skates in 1932. His collection included photographs, books, clippings, postcards, autographs and over six hundred pairs of antique skates, from the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Czechoslovakia and Japan. He often exhibited his Collection at schools, churches, social organizations and museums. He passed away in 1987 and many of the boots and blades in his collection are currently available for private sale.

Left: Wayne Caldwell. Right: Jacqueline Harbord.

The photographs from the Joseph Butchko Collection that have made their way to the Skate Guard Collections really fall into three different categories. The smallest is a collection of press photos from international competitions in the late seventies and early eighties, including a handful of podium pictures from the European and World Championships. Then there's a gorgeous collection of photos taken at Lake Placid in the forties and fifties, everything from gorgeous outdoor shots to gorgeous publicity photos of American skaters like Dick Button and Eileen Seigh. There are some gorgeous autographed pictures of Yvonne Sherman, who won a pair of medals at the 1949 and 1950 World Championships. Mixed in with these is a pristine photo of Carol Heiss. The largest collection consists of over two hundred stunning publicity photos of skaters from the Holiday On Ice tour in the fifties and sixties. Most of these photos, minus duplicates, have now been scanned and are available to view on a Holiday On Ice board on Skate Guard's Pinterest. 

In addition to the photographs, there is also a file folder consisting of a 1961 typewritten questionnaire and signed letter from Mr. Butchko discussing his Collection, a 1977 article about his Collection from a publication at Kent State University, a 1965 clipping from the "Tribune Chronicle" and a 1977 photograph of Mr. Butchko, still skating every week at the age of seventy. 

For a list of the items in the Skate Guard Collections, click here. If you've got photographs collecting dust in your attic or basement that you'd like to donate, I'd love to hear from you!

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.

#Unearthed: I'm Just Going To Do My Best

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 'buried treasure' is an article called "I'm Just Going To Do My Best", which first appeared in the weekly "Canadian Magazine" on February 7, 1972. Penned by late journalist Douglas Sagi, the article chronicles the career of Karen Magnussen, who would win a silver medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Sapporo that year. Lots of interesting tidbits in this one!

"I'M JUST GOING TO DO MY BEST" (DOUGLAS SAGI)

The 16,750 seats in the Pacific Coliseum are empty. In the box where the visiting hockey team would sit, a girl's possum-skin coat is carelessly draped over the end of the bench. On the ice is the girl, Karen Magnussen, totally alone, chin down, tongue tight behind her teeth, willing her skates through the brackets, circles and loops of international figure skating.

She is an inch or so taller and much prettier than in 1968 when this magazine reported she was "short, moon-faced, cute but no knockout" in an article that also claimed she probably would become figure skating champion of the world. And 1972 is to be her year. First the Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, then, next month the world championships in Calgary. On April 4, Karen will be 20.

Dark blue eyes, blonde hair cut like a skull cap, a figure to draw double takes (and which she keeps formidable by skipping lunches despite a formidable daily expenditure of energy), muscular legs.

She has been skating in front of crowds since she was 7 and played a snowflake in a Vancouver winter carnival. Her father's parents are Norwegian and she remembers them telling her she was just like Sonja Henie, the Olympic skating and movie star. Karen never saw the late Miss Henie skate. She hasn't seen Barbara Ann Scott either. (Miss Scott won her Olympic title in 1948, four years before Karen was born.)

"I never looked at anyone and said, 'I wish I could skate like her'," says Karen. 'I've just gone out and skated my way."

Her mother Gloria, and coach Linda Brauckmann, have guided her, but never forced her. Mrs. Magnussen herself trained as a figure skating judge in the years Karen was becoming a world-class skater, but she has tried deliberately to avoid becoming a pushy skating mother. "So many of the mothers practically blow the kids' noses for them," says Karen. "Mine never has."

Gloria Magnussen has insisted that Karen, the eldest of three daughters, be something more than the family superstar. In the Magnussen house, this means Karen does practically all the cooking - pineapple chicken, homemade bread and exotic meatballs are specialities - and most of the grocery shopping. Mrs. Magnussen has also encouraged Karen to stay in school, and she has completed one term at Simon Fraser University. The university goal is a general arts degree, then a job in public relations.

An athlete needs something besides sport to provide balance in living, Karen says. Her housework and studies are a relief from the pressures and occasional boredom of the 30 hours a week she spends on the ice and additional time in jogging and physical training. A balanced athlete doesn't need to feel that the only goal is winning, she says.

"I believe it's wrong to go into a competition thinking you will win. The greatest ones who think they are the greatest don't win. I'm not expecting anything in the Olympics. I'm just going to do my best."

If skating were like other sports, Karen's best should be enough. But skating is a screwy complexity of athletics, art and human judgment. If skaters were judged simply on how well they skate, Karen might have been world champion in the Sixties. There were judges who thought she could outskate Petra Burka, the 1966 world champion. But skaters in international competition must also demonstrate that they can do the basic figure exercises that enable them to become expert skaters. Half the marks are given for free skating, the other half for doing compulsory figure movements - tracing repetitive patterns on ice with their skates. It's like insisting that pianists submit to judgment not only on how well they play, but also on how expertly they run through their scales and do their finger exercises.

In the world championships last year, the U.S. champion Janet Lynn and Karen both won more points for free skating that Austria's Beatrix Schuba and another American, Julie Holmes. Yet Miss Schuba won the title and Miss Holmes was second because they scored more heavily in the compulsory figures part of the judging.

The international judges have also been criticized for cliquishly ignoring skaters they haven't seen before - in order words, being prejudiced against newcomers, reasoning that experience at the world level is necessary to produce a true champion.

The judges may be right, but Karen was competing against her fellow Canadian, world champion Petra Burka in 1966 and showing well. Only 14, Karen placed fourth in Canada that year and came close to upsetting Miss Burka in free skating. But in the 1967 world championships in Vienna, she was just a kid from North Vancouver, somewhere in Canada. She placed twelfth.

Jim Proudfoot, sports columnist for the Toronto Daily Star, was not surprised: "Karen's due for disappointment, of course," Proudfoot had written before she competed internationally. "She's unknown at the international level and that means that the judges won't be taking her seriously. What she's got to do in these... competitions is not to win or even come close but to establish herself as one of the world's finest female skaters."

Proudfoot worried that Karen would find the international competitions unpleasant or discouraging. He needn't have. When Miss Schuba won at [Lyon], France last year, Karen went to the Austrian team's victory party, took Miss Schuba across the hall to where the rest of the Canadian skating contingent was grumbling about the judging, and declared: "Now, you are going to applaud the world champion."

Miss Schuba had been booed by skating fans at the [Lyon] Palais des Sports when the victory medal was presented to her. The fans thought that Karen or Miss Lynn, clearly the better free skaters, should have won.

"When they started booing I almost died," Karen says. "It was terrible sportsmanship. Trixi Schuba deserved to win. She'd done her best and won by the rules."

The rules were change in favour of free skaters like Karen, but not until the world championships of 1973. Then the classical figure exercises will be worth only 20 per cent of a skater's total marks instead of the present 50 per cent. Basic free skating exercises - some of the elementary jumps and spins - will be worth another 20 per cent. The remaining 60 per cent will be based on free skating - what people who watch skating go to see, and what skaters like to do best.

The changes will make it easier for Karen, but she wants to win this year, to prove that even under the old rules a skating artist is better than a technician.

At 9 a.m., an hour after her workout begins in the Pacific Coliseum, Karen has covered half the hockey rink with the classical figures. She pauses from time to time, head down, hands on hips, gliding backwards, searching for the flaws that judges might spot.

The figures must be done on one edge of one skate blade. The judges will get down on their hands and knees in competitions and check each line to make sure that it is single (a double line means the skater has slipped on to the bottom of the skate blade). Each figure must be traced at least three times - some are traced six times - and perfection is only one line on the ice.

Linda Brauckmann, Karen's coach, appears for the second hour of the work-out. Mrs. Brauckmann sticks with her pupil, making her go over and over the figures. A slender autocrat who chain-smokes cigarettes, Mrs. Brauckmann has been concentrating on building up a sense of self-discipline in Karen.

Mrs. Brauckmann is regarded by some skating coaches as a revolutionary - a designer of unique skating programs for the four-minute period of free skating in competitions. She admits she tries to be less rigid than other coaches. "I like to get close to the purity of skating. A lot of edges simply means skating - no stunts and tricks, just lots of long flowy movements."

Each world skater brings along to competitions her own music on a specially cut four-minute recording. Over the years, the music has tended to be heavily classical with full orchestration. Mrs. Brauckmann was among the first to select piano music for her skaters. "I used piano music because I liked it," she says. This year Karen will skate to four minutes of Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F.

"I love it," she says. "It's really gutsy. I have to be turned on by music. When I'm skating I listen to the power in it, and it moves me."

Not all skaters are good athletes, but Mrs. Brauckmann thinks they should be. A four-minute free skating routine does not require the exceptional endurance of an Olympic long-distance runner, and the compulsory figures part of skating requires little physical effort once the skills are mastered. But Linda Brauckmann thinks skaters owuld be much better equipped for the intense concentration that is necessary for both skating and figure routines if they were in better condition. "It's only a four-minute skate in competition, but there's no reason why it shouldn't be an all-out run like a four-minute mile. Karen should be in the same shape as a four-minute miler."

Quick to agree is Tom Walker, Simon Fraser football coach and a specialist in physical training. He's been helping Karen - specifically helping her to learn how to breathe more efficiently.

Endurance athletes can use more oxygen than sprinters. They can keep going longer than the others because they have trained their hearts and lungs to get more oxygen out of each breath of air. This training involves regularly stressing the heart and lungs to the limits of endurance, virtually to the point of exhaustion, recovering, and then repeating the stress.

It is not good enough if an athlete simply gets his heart beating fast and then stops, as sprinters do. Walker says the heart must be kept going hard - say 150 beats a minute - for several minutes before the heart musicle gets any value from the training. So, instead of her daily training program with a four-minute run-through of her free-skating program, Karen rests for a moment, then goes back on the ice for at least half an hour of hard endurance skating.

She goes to a laboratory at Simon Fraser four times a week for endurance runs on an Ergometer, which is a contraption something like an exercise bicycle with attachments to measure heart beat and breathing rate. She breathes into a mouthpiece connected to a box so researchers can measure the amount of oxygen she consumes with each breath. In figures, it is 47.6 millilitres of oxygen per minute for each kilogram of body weight, about 12 millilitres more than an average girl.

"That's not bad," says Walker. "An average Olympic athlete is in that range. A long-distance runner could be as high as 70 to 74 millilitres, maybe more. We're shooting for 60 millitres for Karen. That's about the same as a cross-country skier. She'll be up there in time for the Olympics, if she keeps following her program."

Karen's present physical condition is already quite pleasing to most observers, including, late in the morning, Babe Pratt, assistant to the vice-president of the National Hockey League Vancouver Canucks. He has emerged from the Canuck offices officially to check the ice before a team practice, but actually to watch Karen end her workout with a few minutes of free skating.

"Hi, Mr. Pratt. I'll be done in a minute."

"Take all the time you need - we're gonna be late getting on the ice anyway," says Pratt. "And the way this team's been going they should give up all their ice time for you." (That day, the Canucks were in the cellar.)

The Magnussen house on a crescent cut into a mountain on the north shore of Burrard Inlet is a happy place headed by a balding real estate agent named Alf. He is a man surrounded by women, and he enjoys it.

Gloria Magnussen admits she is more of a secretary to Karen than a mother, but her idea of raising daughters is to have them learn housework by doing it. Mrs. Magnussen therefore looks after Karen's mail - as many as 20 letters a day during skating season - Karen cooks; and her sisters, Lori, 16 and Judy, 14, do the other chores.

The younger girls both figure skated, much like Karen, says their mother, but they gave up competing and training. Lori and Judy were both as talented as Karen, Mrs. Magnussen says, but they lacked the determination to concentrate on the compulsory figures. She says Karen's drive, a combination of a desire to win and please her coaches and parents, is what sets her apart on the ice.

Alf Magnussen is a quiet man, successful in real estate, happy that he has been able to afford the maintenance of an international ice skater. (Most of the expense is in coaching lessons and travel expenses for Karen and Mrs. Brauckmann, and it has totalled thousands of dollars since 1967, the year Karen started international competitions.) He is concerned that there are girls of talent in less fortunate homes who will not get the chance that Karen has unless governments increase financial aid to amateur sports.

Karen is receiving some help. At the urging of the National Fitness and Amateur Spoirts Council in Ottawa, the Pacific National Exhibition has donated the use of the Coliseum - it means the cost of lighting the place for a couple of hours and flooding the ice when she's finished - but her training conditions are still not ideal.

"Hockey ice is hard - it's kept at a temperature lower than good figure skating ice," she says. "I can tell the difference. It's like being on concrete instead of a trampoline. It really is."

Apart from the bills, Karen's parents have been affected in other ways, particularly in 1969 when doctors discovered that severe pain in both of Karen's legs was caused by stress fractures - tiny hairline breaks - in the bones below her knees, the result of too much strain on bones that were too young to take it. Had the Magnussen's pushed Karen too hard? They concluded that they hadn't. Karen was skating because Karen wanted to skate. She sat out three months of competition in a wheel chair, both legs in casts. The decision to resume skating was hers and there was no doubt in her mind that she would be back.

Karen Magnussen at the 1970 World Championships

"There were rumours that I was giving up, that I couldn't take it any more, but I was skating again a few months later." And in 1970, a year after the mishap, she recaptured the Canadian championship she had first won in 1968.

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.

Jamboree On Ice

Photo courtesy "World Ice Skating Guide"

There were really three categories of ice shows in North America in the fifties and sixties - big tours (like the Ice Follies, Ice Capades and Holiday On Ice), long-running hotel shows and small-scale 'for hire' outfits that staged ice shows here, there and everywhere. These smaller companies usually consisted of anywhere between four to twenty skaters and a small portable 'tank' ice rink. They'd set up shop in some of the most unlikely places - nightclubs and taverns, fairs, auto and industrial trade shows, sporting events and shopping centers - sometimes for one night only; sometimes for months at a time. The pay usually wasn't great, the work wasn't always consistent and often the skaters had to help with set-up and tear-down, postering and ticket-taking. If life in 'the big shows' was indeed glamorous, touring with a smaller outfit was often anything but.

There were over a dozen of these smaller-scale shows operating in North America in the fifties and sixties. Pioneers in this field like Ruth McGowan and Everett Mack faced stiff competition from California's George Arnold Productions, Georg von Birgelen's "Symphony On Ice", Wilma and Ed Leary's Leary Ice Productions, Blonda and Paul LeDuc's "Frosty Follies", Jo Barnum and Jane Broadhurst's "Almanac On Ice", Jack Kelly's "Ice Frolics", the "John Flanagan Ice Show", Earl Dunn's "Ice Royals", John Melendez' "Ice-A-Rama", Harry Hirsch's "Icetime"  and Chicago and New York based units "Ice Varieties" and "International Ice Capers", which specialized in fairs and amusement parks.

Photo courtesy "World Ice Skating Guide"

One of the most successful and longest running smaller-scale ice shows of this period was "Jamboree On Ice". The show was the brainchild of Robin Nelson, a former Holiday On Ice skater from Chicago. Robin's first engagement was a production at a private Gaslite key club in Chicago run by Burton Browne. The show opened on April Fool's Day in 1955 and a two-week engagement turned into a year long run. The key club seated only eighty five people but its members loved the novelty of watching skating while drinking scotch and smoking cigars.

In the years that followed, "Jamboree On Ice" went on the road, appearing everywhere from the
Gregg Exposition and Livestock Show in Longview, Texas to Harrah's Lake Tahoe in Nevada to the Cocoa Beach in Cape Canaveral and Florida's first motel, the one-hundred room Starlite. The show only had four to six skaters, including Robin - who doubled as producer and star.

In 1957, Robin brought the show north to Canada for an engagement at the Rancho Don Carlos Cabaret-Restaurant in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In what would have been rare for the period, 'unaccompanied ladies' were permitted to attend the production. In 1961, the "World Ice Skating Guide" recalled one of the show's most unique gigs: "One of the most unusual experiences was an engagement at Chicago's 'Brass Rail'. You've heard of piano bars? Well, Robin at the Brass Rail placed his rink right on top of the bar! Using a tiny 7 1/2 ft. by 10 ft. rink the 'Jamboree' ice show was a success and became one of the most popular night spot shows. A Chicago reporter described it as 'ice skating in a phone booth'."

In addition to solo, comedy and adagio acts brought to life with flashy costumes and lighting effects, "Jamboree On Ice" set itself apart by including magic acts. In his book "The Magical Life of Marshall Brodien: Creator of TV Magic Cards and Wizzo the Wizard", John Moehring recalled, "When Robin had a ten-month run at the Gaslight Club on Rush Street [in Chicago], he had choreographed a sequence that centered on a classic illusion, the Temple of Benares. A tiny model of an East Indian temple glided onstage, and a skater crawled inside. A dozen sharp swords were thrust into all four sides and through the roof of the temple. Then, the front doors were opened, showing the girl had disappeared. The doors were closed and, as the tempo of 'Song of India' accelerated, the ice-chorines skated around the temple while Robin quickly removed the swords. A crescendo from the band, and the girl majestically popped through the roof doors of the temple." Robin had bought 'the temple' from a retired illusionist named Jack Gwynne.

"Jamboree On Ice" continued to operate what he billed as "The Largest Ice Cube In The World" until the late sixties, when the success of other productions began affecting Robin's bottom line. Though 'the big shows' are more historically remembered, shows like "Jamboree On Ice" have an important place in skating history.

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 Short History Of Skating Siblings

Kate Greenaway's illustration "Brother And Sister". Photo courtesy New York Public Library.

Throughout figure skating's rich history, the masses have loved a good romance. What could be more appealing to the general public's sensibilities than a couple whose feelings for one another transcended the ice?  It makes a great story, right?

Though many champion pairs and ice dance teams have had off-ice relationships, countless others were subjected to the endless speculations of "are they or aren't they?" In 'skating's early days', many on-ice couples who had no romantic interest in one another were creepily asked by photographers to "just give us a little kiss for the camera". Heaven forbid two people just enjoyed skating together and wanted to win some medals.

The tired argument that "a brother and sister dance team couldn't express romance on the ice, so their skating couldn't possibly be as beautiful to watch" has been peddled for decades. Sadly, these kinds of comments have long plagued skating siblings and influenced the perceptions of their abilities and potential.

The reality of the matter is that siblings have been skating together as long as there has been ice... and they've been doing a tremendous job of it despite the prejudices they've sometimes faced along the way. Today's blog looks back at some of the sport's most famous siblings... and the history they made.

Constance and Bud Wilson. Photo courtesy City Of Toronto Archives.

In 1905, Ottawa siblings Katherine and Ormonde Haycock won the first Canadian title in pairs skating. They defended their title in 1906 and in 1908, Ormonde and his other sister Aimée took the title. The Haycock's would pave the way for Toronto siblings Constance and Montgomery 'Bud' Wilson, who went on to win five Canadian pair titles from 1929 to 1934 and become the first sibling pair to win the North American title. Lindis and Jeffery Johnston became the first sibling pair to win a Canadian dance title in 1955, a feat they repeated the following year. The first time two Canadian sisters won a competition together was in 1939, when Hazel and Dorothy Caley were members of the top-placing Toronto four at the North American Championships. They never got to enjoy their victory though. The deed of gift for the Connaught Cup (awarded to the champions) required that all members of a four represented the same club. The Caley's were Granite Club members and their teammates were from the Cricket Club, so the Cup was awarded to the second place team.

Left: Grace and James Lester Madden. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine. Right: Maia and Alex Shibutani.

Boston's Grace and James Lester Madden became the first sibling pair to win a U.S. pairs title in New Haven in 1935. Incredibly, a sibling ice dance team didn't manage to top the U.S. senior dance podium until 2016, when Maia and Alex Shibutani finally claimed the title.

The first sibling pair to win a European title were Jennifer and John Nicks, who claimed gold in 1953. They subsequently became the second sibling pair to win a World title the following year. The first were Seattle siblings Karol and Peter Kennedy in 1950.

Karol and Peter Kennedy

In 1962, Czechoslovakian ice dancers Eva Romanová and Pavel Roman won their first of four consecutive World titles, cementing their place in history as the first sibling ice dance team to win gold at Worlds. Not all champion skating siblings in the fifties and sixties were pairs skaters or ice dancers. There were, of course, the famous Jenkins brothers - Hayes and David - who both won Olympic gold medals and dominated the World Championships for seven years straight. It was the first and only time two brothers both won the Olympic and World titles.

Ilse and Erik Pausin, a brother and sister from Vienna, made history as the first sibling pair to win an Olympic medal in 1936. Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay, Canadians skating for France, were the first sibling dance team to win an Olympic medal in 1992. Critics of the unique duo used the fact that they were brother and sister as a 'go-to' argument in their case that ice dancing wasn't ice dancing unless there was a suggestion of romance. In her book "Figure Skating History: The Evolution Of Dance On Ice", Lynn Copley-Graves argued, "Did dance have to be an interaction between two lovers? As sister and brother, Isabelle and Paul could not bring out this aspect of dance because of its potential incestual overtones. Other successful dance partners had been siblings: Eva Romanová and Pavel Roman, The Becherers, the Becks, and the Garossinos. Some cultures used dance to celebrate reaching manhood or as an offering to gods. Others used dance to celebrate the joy of life, as a catharsis in times of turmoil. Round dances and country folk dances needed no sexual overtones. In the broadest sense, dance could range between movement for lovers to movement for movement's sake. Dance could tell a story, paint pictures, or explore feeling from music."

The rest of the history of skating siblings is unwritten. There are still plenty of 'firsts' to achieve - an Olympic gold medal and World titles won by two sisters among those. Who are your favourite skating siblings? Share your thoughts on social media.

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 Harlem-On-Ice Tour

Less than a decade after Mabel Fairbanks had been turned away from the Gay Blades Ice Casino on Broadway and 52nd Street in New York and told "blacks didn't skate there", a small group of skaters of colour regularly practiced together at the ice rink at Rockefeller Center. 

Sterling Bough. Photo courtesy Lisa Fernandez.

The group included fifteen year old Armida Ambrose, Joseph Vanterpool, a former G.I. who had taken up skating after seeing an ice show while on a Tour of Duty in England, and Sterling Bough and Jimmy McMillan, dancers who later headlined a European tour of Larry Steele's Smart Affairs show in Europe. Sterling was the son of Juanita (Boisseau) Ramseur, a legendary Cotton Club performer who danced with Lena Horne in the early thirties. This group was largely self-taught, and none of them would have had the opportunity to join the big touring ice shows of the time because of the colour of their skin.

Top: Harlem-On-Ice group shot. Bottom: Jimmy McMillan. Photos courtesy Lisa Fernandez.

The idea of an ice show with an all-African American cast had first been floated by Elizabeth and Fritz Chandler in 1946. They'd reached out to Mabel Fairbanks, who had made a huge name for herself in California, but were unsuccessful in their efforts to convince her to return to New York to perform in the show. Mabel's reluctance to headline such a show proved extremely wise, for the idea was soon scrapped. Another skater, Venita Holquina 'Lucky' Berea Petersen, was instead cast in the Chandler's show "Derby On Ice". The September 7, 1946 issue of "The Greater Omaha Guide" recalled, "As a known inferior skater to Mabel, Lucky... skates nightly at Iceland in N.Y. to the tune of 'Shortening Bread' after being announced as 'our little Negro skater'. Mabel's music [in 'Hollywood On Ice' in California] will be international and her part will be as an American."

In the summer of 1947, John Brett (who had produced the ice shows at New York's Hotel St. Regis) and Stewart Seymour of the Musical Entertainment Agency put together a cast of the skaters of colour that practiced at the Rockefeller Center rink. 

"Harlem-On-Ice" was billed as the first skating tour to feature an "all-Negro cast". A seventeen year old skater named Dolores Jackson and Jimmy McMillan were cast as the headliners. They were supported by ensemble of 'Harlem Ice-Ballet Dears' and popular jazz musician Gene Sedric and his orchestra. The show was set on a four hundred square foot portable ice tank, and the organizer's plan was to hold auditions in each city the show was performed to grow the cast.

An article promoting the tour from the October 4, 1947 issue of "The Pittsburgh Courier" raved, "The extravaganza-on-ice, staged by John Brett, famed ice show producer, sets a new high mark for dazzling beauty, brilliant color and kaleidoscopic action. [There are] four thrilling acts, 'Panama', 'Katie Went To Haiti', 'Frankie and Johnnie' and the spectacular 'Harlem-On-Ice' grand finale. Each spotlights a series of striking modern ice skating ballet sequences featuring the Harlem Ice-Ballet Dears, the sensational Gay Blades quartet, Whirlwind Jimmy McMillan and the 17-year old Queen of the Ice, Dolores, whose incomparable beauty, grace and technique and almost incredible speed on the ice have won her stardom despite her youth."

Dolores Jackson and Jimmy McMillan

Dates in smaller centers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and Illinois had already been announced when the Harlem-On-Ice tour made its debut at Turner's Arena in Washington, D.C. on October 5, 1947 as part of a variety night of Vaudeville-style entertainment. 

The tour was abruptly cancelled after a short run for reasons we can only speculate on. Two vastly different reasons were provided in African American newspapers of the day. A clipping from a September 1947 issue of the Los Angeles based "California Eagle" reported that Mabel Fairbanks' manager Wally Hunter had threatened the organizers with a one hundred thousand dollar lawsuit. Mabel was to have been "featured as the star in the production and was merely waiting to begin work, but as yet she had not been called by Brett. As a result Miss Fairbanks has refused work on other jobs." Another account by Elmer Anderson Carter in the National Urban League's "Opportunity" journal claimed that in D.C. the tour's "manager decided their rare performance detracted from the major show. The members of the 'Harlem-On-Ice' cast returned to New York with a full determination to further the Negro in the world famous sport of ice skating."

Though the Harlem-On-Ice tour never made it off the ground after its debut in D.C., its role in skating history is an important one. It was the first skating production in history to feature an all-African American cast... during a time when that simply wasn't done because of racism. When the show went on tour, Jim Crow laws and constitutional provisions meant that public schools, transportation, restrooms, restaurants and drinking fountains in America's capital were segregated.

Sadly, the story of the Harlem-On-Ice tour isn't one that can really be fully told based on the little information that was published in newspapers and journals. So many mysteries remain. Was the motivation of the tour's organizers to genuinely showcase the talents of a pioneering group of New York skaters of colour or to exploit them? Why was the tour really cancelled? What were the skaters told when it was? Were they paid? How did they get back to New York? Sometimes history leaves us with more questions than answers.

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.