The 1931 European Figure Skating Championships

Sonja Henie and Karl Schäfer. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland.

In the first weeks of 1931, Ulrich Salchow was celebrating his sixth year as President of the International Skating Union, Albert Einstein began his work at the California Institute Of Technology at the same time Thomas Edison submitted his lastest patent application. 

Everyone was tapping their toes to George and Ira Gershwin's new tune "I Got Rhythm"... and over the course of seven days, a handful of Europe's best figure skaters convened on two of the continent's most influential 'skating cities' for the 1931 European Figure Skating Championships. 

It was only the second year that women's and pairs competitions were included in the annual international competition, though they were not held at the same time as the men's event. The men competed on January 24 and 25, 1931 at the Kunsteisbahn Engelmann in Vienna, Austria, while the pairs and women had their turn on January 29 and 30 at the Kulm Rink in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Top: Karl Schäfer in Vienna. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine. Bottom: Photo courtesy Národní muzeum.

To generate interest in the men's competition, Vienna's Selenophone Society hosted a screening of film recordings of Sonja Henie and Karl Schäfer that included sound. The novelty worked like a charm, with tickets for the men's free skate selling out days prior. In a class by himself, Schäfer won his third consecutive European title in a most convincing fashion, earning first place ordinals across the board in both the figures and free skate. If Germany's Ernst Baier only narrowly edged Dr. Hugo Distler of Austria in the school figures, he convincingly defeated his Austrian rival and won the silver medal with a far superior free skating effort. Hungary's Marcel Vadas finished fourth, ahead of another pair of Austrians, Otto Hartmann and Rudolf Zettelmann. Following the event, Schäfer, Distler, Baier, Vadas and others boarded a train for St. Moritz to train for the upcoming World Figure Skating Championships in Berlin.

Olga Orgonista and Sándor Szalay. Photo courtesy National Archives of Poland.

With Andrée and Pierre Brunet opting not to participate for the second year in a row, only three teams were left in the running for the 1931 European pairs title. In a repeat of the results from the 1930 European Championships in Vienna, Olga Orgonista and Sándor Szalay again decisively came out on top of their Hungarian compatriots Emília Rotter and László Szollás. Austrians Lilly (Scholz) Gaillard and Willy Petter took the bronze.

Silver medal from the pairs event 

Yvonne de Ligne, Hilde Holovsky, Sonja Henie, Ilse Hornung, Lilly Weiler, Else Flebbe, Reneé Volpato, Fritzi Burger and Vivi-Anne Hultén

After skipping the previous year's European Championships in Vienna and allowing Fritzi Burger to make history as the first European women's champion, Sonja Henie emerged in St. Moritz to defeat her Austrian rival in what was perhaps one of the most clear cut victories of her career on paper.

Fritzi Burger. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Sonja Henie and Fritzi Burger were first and second on every single judge's scorecard in Switzerland that year, but Maribel Vinson, who was in attendance, stated, "Sonja won, of course, but Fritzi Burger was terribly close to her; better on several of the figures and did beautiful free skating." The Austrian and Hungarian judges actually placed Burger's young teammate, Hilde Holovsky, second in the free skate... adding insult to injury for the elder Austrian star. 

Hilde Holovsky. Photo courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France.

An uncharacteristically shaky free skate kept Sweden's Vivi-Anne Hultén off the podium in fourth, ahead of Yvonne de Ligne and four other skaters. The February 10, 1931 issue of the "Wiener Sporttagblatt" noted that Hultén appeared "overtrained, overstrained and maybe not quite well at the start." Rumours swirled that there were financial issues between her mother and her trainer, and when they made the papers, that certainly would have added further duress to an already stressful situation.

Roger Turner, Maribel Vinson and Geddy Hill in St. Moritz. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Reporting on the event for "Skating" magazine, Maribel Vinson shared, "The free skating was extremely colourful. Sonja wore baby blue panne velvet and was extremely well groomed as usual. Holovsky was in a deeper turquoise blue; Vivi-Anne in red; Fritzi in bright fuchsia, very striking; and Madame de Ligne wore an orange dress that was perfect with her blonde colouring and beige boots... [de Ligne] is tall and has a statuesque style all her own, she completely won the crowd by her attractive personality. She is very charming; blonde, brown eyes, a ready smile, and is a perfect sport. Everyone is very fond of her here."

Photo courtesy Bibliothèque nationale de France

Held in conjunction with the women's event in St. Moritz was a senior men's competition as well as junior championships for both men and women. In the women's event, Austria's Liselotte Landbeck defeated two young British skaters who would go on to become World Champions... Megan Taylor and Cecilia Colledge.

A young Megan Taylor

In the senior men's event, Hugo Distler took the gold, with Ernst Baier finishing only third. Mr. Grafström is here and has been most nice to me. He has been skating at the Palace rink a lot, and yesterday Fritzi [Burger] and I had great fun, during lunch at the rink, trying to get around on his special figures he patterned out for us. It really was awfully funny to see us, with a bun in one hand and a chicken bone in the other, struggling to get around a double loop change double loop backwards, or a change bracket, change outer back three, change outer bracket figure, continuous! He gave an exhibition Saturday of dance steps to music. He is wonderful, but I don't know whether I can say I think he is more wonderful than Schäfer. They are so utterly different and Schäfer skates with such joy and freedom. Fritzi is very nice, she was down skating with us all afternoon and I do like her so much!"

Vivi-Anne Hultén, Fritzi Burger and Piri Levitzky. Photo courtesy Bildarchiv Austria.

Following the women's and pairs events in St. Moritz, the medallists from both the Viennese and Swiss events were celebrated at a lavish banquet at the Kulm Hotel attended by Francis Curzon, 5th Earl Howe. The February 10, 1931 issue of the "Wiener Sporttagblatt" reported that at this reception, "Mrs. Hultén made a protest and [Ulrich Salchow] the Swedish President of the IEV ripped it up and threw the shreds under the table."

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.

Black History Month 2024

  

February is Black History Month in Canada! Skate Guard celebrates key milestones of black and brown people in figure skating with extensive timelines from Canada and around the world and a required reading list of past stories featured on the blog. 

You can find all of the Black History Month content by tapping on the top menu bar of the blog or clicking here. For an extensive timeline of American firsts not listed here, head on over to your bookshelf and pull out your copy of the February 2022 issue of "Skating" magazine.

You can also check out Skate Guard's Black Lives Matter Pinterest board, for photographs, newspaper clippings, videos and more. 

To nominate black and brown skaters to the Skate Canada Hall Of Fame, click here. 

A Skating Surgeon: The Arthur Gaetano Keane Story

"The... modern skating figures are all interesting in conception, daring in performance, and beautiful in successful accomplishment. To gain proficiency in them one must be strong of ankle, fairly muscular, with a well developed sense of balance. Without constant practice over a prolonged period, no man may hope to enter the championship class in skating. To excel, one's physical tone must be perfect as a juggler's." - Arthur Gaetano Keane, "Munsey's Magazine", 1902

Arthur Gaetano Keane was born March 16, 1876 in New York City. He grew up in a brownstone on East 142nd Street in the Bronx. His mother Josephine passed away when he was quite young, and his three siblings (Paul, Edwin and Adele) helped raise him while his father John, an enterprising Irish immigrant, brought in the bacon. John - or M.J.A. - Keane manufactured scrubbing and blacking brushes and actually patented a brush and mop holder and combined soap-holder and cleaning brush. Through John's sales of brushes and brush holders to the city, the Keane's lived quite comfortably.

As a teenager, Arthur joined the New York Athletic Club. His brother Edwin, an oarsman for the club's unbeaten 'chippy' crew, was at the time one of the club's most popular members. 'Fancy' skating was a popular winter pastime of many of the New York Athletic Club's members, and soon Arthur found his way to the St. Nicholas Rink.

Arthur started skating 'for his health' in February 1895 at the age of eighteen, finding it "as natural to skate as it was... to walk". After two weeks of practice, he entered the Championships Of America, organized by National Amateur Skating Association of America and Amateur Skating Association Of Canada, on a whim... and placed third. He earned the most points for the grapevine twist, a figure that he didn't even know how to perform. He just watched his competitors, gave it a go, and came out on top. It was clear to the throngs of avid skating fans in attendance that he had something special.

After placing fourth and second at the 1896 and 1897 Championships Of America, Arthur was victorious at the 1898 event, with a score of one hundred and eleven out of a possible one hundred and fourteen points. In winning, he defeated Irving Brokaw - the man who would go on to popularize the Continental or International Style of skating in New York.

Arthur Keane and his competitors at the 1898 Championships Of America

Arthur also earned the praise of 1879 Champion James B. Story, who said his performance "was the finest exhibition of the kind [he] had ever seen" and offered him instruction. Perhaps most impressive about Arthur's 1898 win was the fact that "for some time prior to the competition, he had been confined to his home with an abscess on his face, and disregarding the orders of his physician, competed with his face bandaged."

Arthur retained his title as the Champion of America for the next four years. At the 1900 event, he won by over twenty points... in a blinding snowstorm. The January 26, 1901 issue of "The World" raved, "Keane's movements were as graceful as those of a swan, and the most difficult figures looked to be little more than child's play when executed by him. There was an ease and balance about everything he did that was somewhat lacking in the other contestants."

In 1902, the New York Athletic Club's journal noted, "Keane's performances conclusively proved that he has no peer on this side of the water... Keane's demonstration.. was marked by energy and accuracy, while his figures were considerably larger than those of his rivals. At the same time, his action was graceful, especially in managing his unemployed legs and hands."

The Championships Of America weren't held in 1902 or 1903, and the following year when they resumed, Arthur was in Arizona "for his health". However, he returned in 1905 to win the competition for a sixth time, again defeating Irving Brokaw. Arthur's 'specialities' as a 'fancy' skater were his toe-spins and pirouettes and his Achilles heel was the spread eagle, which he claimed he couldn't perform well because he "wasn't built right".

Arthur's successes as a figure skater weren't his only athletic accomplishments. In 1906, he won the New York Athletic Club's fall handicap tennis tournament on the club's courts on Travers Island as well as a four-man Quadruple Scull race in the club's annual regatta. The following year, he won two matches in the second round of the New York State Tennis Tournament, only to lose to a young man from the Kings County Lawn Tennis Club in the finals.

Perhaps most impressively, Arthur earned his medical degree from the University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College in 1900, interning at Bellevue Hospital while he was actively competing as a figure skater. He went on to serve as Chief of Clinic and Assistant in Operative Surgery at Bellevue Hospital before opening his own private practice on West 87th Street.

Arthur never married and lived with his brother Paul and sister Adele at the family home on East 142nd Street in the Bronx his entire life, passing away on November 25, 1949 at the age of seventy-three. At the time of his death, he was one of the New York Athletic Club's oldest surviving members.

Paul Armitage discussed Arthur's impact on the sport in "Skating" magazine in 1949, just months before both Arthur's death and his own: "I knew him well. Many a day I gazed, in speechless wonder, on his performances at St. Nicholas Rink in New York. To my untutored gaze that saw not "the vision of the world and all the wonder that would be" Keane's skating was the Ultima Thule. He was a pond skater, glorified in excelsis. Keane's great contribution to figure skating was precision, exactitude and complete control. He was an ice draughtsman. To him, the tracings on the surface were the ultimate index of efficiency and skill. Grace, beauty of attitude or form, rhythm, or harmony to him were naught. There was an absence of all spiritual, aesthetic, and ethereal elements. His favorite costume was a derby hat and tweed business suit; in competitions, he conceded knickerbockers. In iteration and reiteration of simple and compound figures lay his art. Among these were loops, cross-cuts, bell-stars, kicked one foot eights, forward and backward, with embellishments at the apex, trefoils, hatchments, escutcheons, arabesques, heel, toe and cross-foot spins and spread eagles in bewildering repetition. These original designs, by endless retracing, stood out in grooves on the ice. The spectre of this repetitious dexterity haunts skating today in the requirement of triple tracings of the school figures. On two feet Keane developed an end-less variety of grapevines, effortless, without pushes, stops or runs. It produced the mysterious illusion of perpetual motion. Keane's was a studied art, 'cabin'd, cribb'd, confined.' It lacked joy and spontaneity. It had too much cerebration. I don't recall he ever 'let go' in a long spiral or run. He was no pair or group skater, nor had he any interest in dancing - only the conventional waltz. In essence, he was ego-centric, an individualist, and concentrated on self-effectuation - essentially, a showman. Like his progenitor, the Pond Skater, he interred his knowledge in silence and darkness. He wrote no book, no articles, gave no discourses, had no disciples. He believed ignorance in the spectators was the mother of admiration. If a tyro like myself asked a question, he nonchalantly skated aside."

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

The Daffy Duo: The Larry Jackson And Bernie Lynam Story

Photo courtesy "World Ice Skating Guide"

"The average skater does his skating from the knees down; the figure skater skates from the hips down; but the comic must do his skating in all sorts of off-balance, bent-over backwards and awkward positions. We have to do the unorthodox type of skating to get laughs and without laughs, well..." - Larry Jackson, "Lockport Union-Sun and Journal", November 5, 1953

Bernard 'Bernie' Franklin Lynam and Lawrence 'Larry' Alvin Lynam were both born in Seattle, Washington to working class families - Bernie on November 18, 1918 and Larry on October 30, 1916. 

As children, both spent time living outside of the Seattle area - Bernie in Tacoma and California and Larry in Portland, Oregon. Despite the fact they were born in the same city and had a lot in common, their paths never crossed until they were adults.

Both Bernie and Larry were athletic young men who achieved success in multiple sports. Bernie won the amateur featherweight title of Seattle in boxing and the U.S. junior four hundred and forty yard title in speed skating. He also excelled in swimming, diving and figure skating. Larry's first 'real' taste of athletics was at the age of ten, when he became a horse jockey. He went on to play baseball, hockey and box lacrosse and was the one hundred and five pound amateur champion of the Pacific Coast in boxing in 1931. He later recalled, "My four sisters babied me. I came home with black eyes too often. So one day my father took me to the YMCA and told them, 'Teach this kid to defend himself.' The next step was to the Washington Athletic Club, of Seattle... My coach there was Stanley Frey, who had been a good middleweight prospect. His career ended while he was training with the loggers. He had his upper leg caught in a 'choker' hook which is used to lift logs... Frey was an excellent coach. He impressed me with the fact that a good big man is taken for granted, but that a little man must prove himself. I still remember the bout in which I won the title. I got hit in the Adam's apple in the first round, and I couldn't close my mouth, so I was breathing like a guppy. But I managed to put my man away in the second." He got his start on the ice thanks to a hockey player. "One of the hockey players [at the local rink] gave me my first skates. The only trouble was that I wore a size three and the skates were size seven, so I wore them over my tennis shoes. But it saved me time, anyway. A bunch of us used to go down to the skating rink early in the morning before anyone else was up. We found out that a certain window was left open so we would boost one guy up there and he would let the rest of us in. Then we'd play hockey for an hour before going home to breakfast. The owner of the skating rink never did find out but he always wondered why his light bill was so high." Soon, Larry became the locker room and 'stick boy' for the Seattle Sea Hawks.

Larry got his start in the skating world performing in between hockey games and in club carnivals in Seattle in the mid-thirties. Encouraged by Evelyn Chandler, he headed to Hollywood, where he met Bernie. They were both cast in bit parts in the Sonja Henie film "My Lucky Star". The story of how they teamed up to form the famous 'Daffy Duo' is wild. Larry recalled, "We had just finished making a picture - 'My Lucky Star' - with Sonja Henie and we were sitting in the audience at an ice show in San Diego. It seems all three of the show's ice comedians were out. One had pneumonia, another was injured and the third one was sick. We were asked to fill in. We were rehearsing the music with the orchestra as the people were coming for the show that night." Bernie added, "There was only one costume shop and all we could find there was a pair of old-time straw hats. So we thought up the idea of a rube number and it's been part of the act ever since. We went to the Goodwill Industries and the Salvation Army and bought some old clothes, then stopped at a music store for a stock arrangement of 'Yankee Medley. At 7:30, while the audience was coming in, Larry and I were up on the orchestra platform pacing out the steps while the director scored the music." Their last-minute effort earned them a standing ovation and five encores.

Following their performance in San Diego, Larry appeared in a bit part in the RKO Pictures film "Everything's On Ice". John H. Harris was looking for a comedy act for his upcoming skating tour and gave Larry and Bernie the job. They appeared in the very first Ice Capades show in New Orleans in June of 1940 and two Republic Pictures films based on the tour in the years that followed.

Bernie and Larry came up new acts for the Ice Capades every year. They appeared as clowns, in drag, as Davy Crockett's, Keystone Kops, silent film stars and hockey players and were wildly popular with audiences. In one of their best-loved numbers, they attached skis to their skates. Their rough and tumble antics led to many bumps and bruises. Larry had huge scars on both of his knees and claimed the one on his left leg came from Bernie and the one of his right came from Sonja Henie. Bernie once fell and hit his head on the ice, knocking himself unconscious. Another time he broke his leg. In an interview with Jack Laing in 1958, Larry recalled, "I broke Bernie's leg one night when I threw him, and he landed off-balance. He said, 'My leg! My leg!' I tossed him over my shoulder and carried him off the ice. The fans never realized what happened. Thought that it was part of the act. He was out for eight weeks. 

One time one of Larry and Bernie's gags backfired. They were wearing the khaki 'doughboy' uniforms of Great War soldiers and each of them were to wander into the crowd and loudly complain to audience members about the scratchiness of the fabric. Bernie asked a man, "Don't you have the same trouble, buddy?" He responded, "I certainly do, son." The audience member was famous General George C. Marshall, who served as President Harry Truman's Secretary Of State and Secretary Of Defense.

Bernie was the Ice Capades' top bowler and both he and Larry were huge fans of boxing and football. They travelled with a small television set they'd set up in their dressing room so they wouldn't miss any of the sports. Larry recalled, "We see fights every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and occasionally on Saturday. The fights and the football games occupy our spare time in the arena, when we are not on the ice."

The War temporarily interrupted Larry and Bernie's stint with the Ice Capades. Both Bernie and Larry had flying licenses and were recruited as bomber pilots in the Army Air Corps. After flying several missions in Europe, Larry was wounded flying over Italy, discharged and returned to America and the Ice Capades. While waiting for Bernie to return home, he skated a pair act with Patti Phillippi and a comedy duo with Leo Loeb, who later starred in the Ice Cycles tour. Bernie was stuck in Europe longer and skated in the shows at the Casa Carioca nightclub in Garmisch-Partenkirchen for a time.

Photos courtesy "National Ice Skating Guide"

Near the end of the War, Bernie and Larry reunited and resumed skating together with the Ice Capades. They retired from the tour in 1956, after entertaining audiences off and on for sixteen years. Larry took a job as the tour's advance man, travelling ahead of the tour to handle the publicity for the next show date. He recalled putting Catherine Machado and Ronnie Robertson on a plane in Los Angeles to compete at the I.P.S.A. World Professional Championships in England and picking them up three days later so that they could rejoin the Ice Capades. In the fifties - still the early days of commercial air travel - this was a really big deal. After his days working as an 'advance man' ended, he managed the Skate N' Spur nitery in Los Angeles with baseball player Jerry Priddy and jockey Ray York for a time before taking up part ownership in an industrial printing company. He remarried to a fellow Ice Capades skater named Alyce, having divorced his first wife Virginia in 1947. He had two sons - one from each marriage.

Bernie settled in Wilton, Connecticut and bought The Flower Pot at Crossways. He coached several local baseball teams and later became the general manager of the Greens Farms Ice and Golf Center in Westport, where Gretchen Van Zandt Merrill taught for a time. Though he'd married an Ice Ca'pet' named Carol Brown, he had a son with Nate Walley's wife Edythe. When Bernie and Carol got divorced, Carol married Nate. Both passed away in Los Angeles - Bernie on April 6, 1968 and Larry on October 10, 1981. Though their skating may have lacked the finesse of their co-stars, The Daffy Duo were true pioneers in ice comedy whose important contributions to skating history deserve recognition.

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.

Happy Landing

Released on January 28, 1938, Twentieth Century-Fox's dramedy "Happy Landing" was reported as the eighth highest grossing film of that year; the relatively new studio's second highest. It was three-time Olympic Gold Medallist and ten time World Champion Sonja Henie's third major Hollywood film. Produced by Darryl Zanuck and David Hempstead, the film was directed by Roy Del Ruth, who had previously directed the Oscar nominated MGM film "Broadway Melody Of 1936".

Sonja was reunited with Don Ameche and Jean Hersholt, whom she'd worked with in her first film "One In A Million". Cesar Romero, then better known for more serious roles, and singer extraordinaire Ethel Merman also headlined the cast. wo drums called "War Dance For The Wooden Indians".

Milton Sperling and Boris Ingster wrote "Happy Landing". The script went through at least three working titles including "Happy Ending", "Hot and Happy" and perhaps most amusingly, "Bread, Butter and Rhythm". The plot of the film involved an orchestra leader named Duke Sargent (played by Romero) and his manager Jimmy Hall (played by Ameche) accidentally landing their plane in Norway and meeting Trudy Ericksen (Henie's character).

Cesar Romero

The trio end up in America, where Trudy's figure skating talent is discovered and Jimmy becomes her manager. Trudy, the two men and Flo Kelly (Ethel Merman's character) become entangled in a series of romantic mishaps and misunderstandings and a double marriage ultimately occurs. As was the case in many of Henie's films, musical, dance, skating and specialty numbers often overshadowed the plot.

Don Ameche, Sonja Henie and Cesar Romero. Photo courtesy National Archives Of Poland.

The bulk of the filming for "Happy Landing" was done on stage fifteen of the Twentieth-Century Fox lot in Hollywood. "Silver Screen" magazine reported, "A section of a Norwegian street [on the lot] was covered by a huge black tent for shooting a night sequence in 'Happy Landing'. A man with a red flag kept all unauthorized persons away whenever shooting started. Inside this nocturnal tent was a bit of recreated Norway in midwinter. Snow - of the Hollywood variety, a mixture of gypsum and salt - lay deep on the ground. A bevy of comely blonde lassies in bright Norwegian costumes were dancing with the young bloods of the village to the spirited music of a native orchestra. The dancing platform was festooned around with swinging Japanese lamps."

Photo courtesy National Archives Of Poland.

Sonja worked hard to develop a new 'trick' for the film, a cannonball position sit spin where she held her leg as she pulled up into the upright position. In rehearsals, she tripped over a piece of cotton on the ice and flew backwards and hit her head, suffering a slight concussion and reportedly knocking herself unconscious for several minutes. Dr. William Branch told reporters "the injury was not serious and she would return to work within a day or two." 

Sonja Henie, Don Ameche, Ethel Merman and Cesar Romero

A number of rumours (many cooked up by Twentieth Century-Fox) helped fuel the 'publicity machine' until filming wrapped up on December 11, 1937. First and foremost of course was the tabloid's field day over a Sonja/Janet Gaynor/Tyrone Power love triangle. Sonja's appearances with Romero, Richard Greene and Jimmy Stewart gave gossip columnists cause to speculate over who the lucky man in Sonja's life really was. There was even a rumour about Sonja having a man back in Norway by the rather unimaginative name of 'Carl Carlson'. The mystery man likely never even existed.

A second rumour was that Sonja wore a beaded cap, bodice and a three hundred year old embroidered skirt in the film that had been passed down as a dowry in the Henie family. Sonja laughed this one off by saying, "How could I wear a dress three hundred years old? The silk would be all torn, wouldn't it?" A third  rumour suggested that Sonja was being 'difficult' on set. In her column, Louella Parsons wrote, "I've heard everything. Sonja Henie is asking for her release from Twentieth Century-Fox. The little ice skater had never made a picture and could barely speak English when Darryl Zanuck signed her and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars building her to stardom and now Sonja, who was the sweetest thing I ever met when she first came to Hollywood, is going temperamental on us. Her grievance is the long working hours at the studio and her annoyance at being asked to close her highly successful personal appearance tour."

Ethel Merman and Cesar Romero

Perhaps most amusing was the rumour that Ethel Merman sent herself a corsage on set... and the bill for said corsage to Cesar Romero.

Don Ameche and Sonja Henie on set

At one point, Sonja was visited on the set by Viggo Christensen, the mayor of Copenhagen, who requested her autograph. After polishing off a slice of pineapple with shredded carrot and fruit compote for lunch, she agreed to speak to a reporter from "Silver Screen" magazine. She told them, "Figure skating for the screen is the hardest of all because you have to hit certain marks and always be within range of the camera. You don't have the freedom you enjoy on skating rinks elsewhere... I make up all my dance numbers. Figure skating is nothing but dancing on ice. I have a wonderful dance director to work with, Harry Losée. I first outline on paper what I want to do, and then talk it over with him. He knows everything about camera angles."

Photo courtesy National Archives Of Poland.

One three-minute scene took ten working days, none shorter than ten hours, to film. The sequence was an ice ballet with Sonja and an ensemble of thirty skaters, inspired by Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Snow Maiden". The set was an artificial 'Norwegian lake' surrounded by pine trees and snow covered mountains, with two twenty five foot high Papier-mâché snow figures as props. Some of the reasons there were so many takes were lighting problems, noises made by lookers-on which made their way on the soundtrack and timing issues by skaters. During filming, Sonja reportedly wracked up a bill in excess of two thousand dollars on hosiery alone. She wore out at least two pairs of stockings a day, which cost thirty-five dollars each.

Bert Clark

Sonja's stand-in for "Happy Landing" was a forty-five year old veteran named Bert Clark. Clark hailed from Winnipeg, Manitoba and competed against Norval Baptie and Everett McGowan in speed skating races in the roaring twenties. Clark first came to Los Angeles in 1924 to manage an ice rink. Two years later, he already was instructing and doubling for film stars with no skating experience. "Motion Picture" magazine noted, "Bert has to don clothes like hers, and do her stuff... They couldn't find a gal for the job so they hired Bert as the only male stand-in for a female players - and while Sonja rests as lights and cameras are set up, Bert goes through the routine to assure that when Sonja steps out, they'll get the best angle on her. Sonja's legs are neater." Bert was the only one on set Sonja would trust with her 'good' seventy dollar blades. The "Los Angeles Herald And Express" reported, "When Bert Clark called the ensemble together a spokesman politely informed him that no member of the chorus would rehearse until new skates – like those worn by Miss Henie – had been provided. Stumped because it is rather difficult to replace 80 trained skaters, the studio promptly agreed to supply the chorus with skates costing $45 per pair. One hundred pairs of skates arrived early Friday morning, long before the rink had been frozen. The 80 girls and boys are now skimming along in a very happy mind."

Leif, Sonja and Selma Henie at the premiere of "Happy Landing"

When "Happy Landing" was released, Twentieth Century-Fox spared no expense in promoting the film, which faced stiff competition from Walt Disney's first full-length feature film, "Snow White And The Seven Dwarves". 

In Washington, an airplane towing a "Happy Landing" banner flew over the city. Ads appeared in every major newspaper and when the show premiered in New York City, the Roxy had one of its biggest ever showings - a fifty-two thousand dollar take in its first week.

The fact that Sonja was in town skating at Madison Square Garden at the same time with her Hollywood Ice Revue didn't hurt whatsoever. Publicists claimed, "So many telephone calls were received at the Garden for information on the show that one of the operators, Miss Sally Dunn, became 'temporarily deaf' and had to consult and ear specialist. It was estimated that 18,000 calls have been received by the Garden concerning the revue in the last 20 days."

The Westhampton Cinema in Richmond, Virginia. Photo courtesy Dementi Studio Archives.

The reception to "Happy Landing" was overwhelmingly positive, with many theatre managers remarking on how patrons all seemed to leave with a smiles on their faces and reviewers applauding the picture's catchy melodies, comedic touches and production value. "Picture Play" magazine raved, "Sonja Henie is a latter-day phenomenon, an ace attraction on the screen and in the rink. The public is ice-skating mad, or is for Miss Henie's particular brand of gliding. In her case it is rhythmic grace, technical precision and brilliance, and what counts perhaps more than anything, a winning, infectious personality. She is at her best in the new picture. The ice sequences are splendidly staged. They have verve, beauty and imagination. Never do they partake of a gaudily mounted stunt."

As is always the case, there were a handful of negative reviews of the film to balance things out. One "Motion Picture Daily" reviewer complained, "Believe that her next picture would please even more if there was not quite so much skating. Sonja doesn't need skates to put over her pictures." Others bemoaned the fact the film was too long and that Sonja's acting was rather 'one-note'.

Even back then, you could always count on the fact that when it came to skaters, everyone had an opinion... and even Sonja Henie herself was fair game.

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