Juliet Stanton Adee, A Skater I Can't Say Impressed Me

Juliet Stanton Adee and Dr. Raynham Townshend on their sloop Nutmeg. Photo courtesy Mystic Seaport, The Museum Of America And The Sea.

Most times I dive into researching the stories of skaters, I like what I find. However, in the case of today's subject, Juliet Stanton Adee, a couple of key things kind of left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Let's dive in, shall we?

Born January 3, 1881 in Westchester County, New York, Juliet Stanton Adee was one of four children of lawyer George Augustus Adee and his wife Adelaide Palmer Stanton. Juliet had one sister, Ellen, and two brothers, George and Charles. Raised in The Bronx in relative affluence, her family had three Irish servants, a cook named Rachael, a maid named Mary and a waitress named Bridget. Growing up as the daughter of a lawyer afforded Juliet a certain degree of social standing and the family had a constant presence in the New York newspaper society pages at the time. Whether it was a luncheon, a wedding or a country club tea, there was a Juliet Stanton Adee.

Early in the first decade of the twentieth century, Juliet won golfing titles for several years back to back while visiting at Profile House in Franconia Notch, New Hampshire and became quite the star as a double's lawn tennis player, winning a contest in 1905 with C. Frederick Watson, Jr. and another later on with partner Martha Coster. As a tennis player, she was described as "untiringly aggressive". Many of her lawn tennis matches were actually played during the summer at the St. Nicholas Rink, which was of course a skating rink in the winter. It was there that she seriously took up skating, hobnobbing with New York high society and mastering school figure after school figure. The "untiringly aggressive" Juliet also developed a rivalry at the St. Nicholas Rink with an actress who skated there regularly named Miss Clare Cassel. Remember that name. It'll pop up again shortly.

On June 4, 1908, Juliet married a Yale graduate and house surgeon who worked at Roosevelt Hospital named Dr. Raynham Townshend, the son of Charles H. Townshend, at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Westchester. The June 4, 1908 issue of "The Sun" described her dress as "of white satin with point lace tulle and orange blossoms." It was a posh affair, being the marriage of a doctor and the daughter of a lawyer, with a reception at the local country club. After the wedding, the newlyweds moved to Connecticut (where Juliet's mother was born) so that Dr. Townshend could open his own practice in New Haven. In June 1912, Juliet had her first child, a daughter.

You'll remember that the first recognized U.S. Championships were held in New Haven. That's where Raynham and Juliet come in. In early 1914, the New Haven Skating Club was founded with Dr. Raynham Townshend as its President. With New York high hatter Irving Brokaw promoting and recruiting entries for the competition that March, of course Juliet, who he'd skated with at the St. Nicholas Rink and was the wife of the club's president, was asked to enter. Enter she did, but things didn't go so well. The young mother was a bit out of her league and finished a distant third behind winner Theresa Weld Blanchard and silver medallist Edith Rotch. And so her competitive figure skating career began and ended with a fizzle.

Clare Cassel

Juliet remained active in the New Haven skating community for many years as the wife of the club's first President. She had a second child, a son. However, two years after losing the U.S. title, her past seemed to resurface in a most interesting way. Juliet's older brother George was President of the United States National Lawn Tennis Association. In 1906, he found himself embroiled in controversy when he barred none other than Miss Clare Cassel, Juliet's old rival from the St. Nicholas Rink, from competing in the U.S. Lawn Tennis Championships because she had given figure skating lessons for money. Quoted in the December 3, 1916 issue of "The Pittsburgh Press", George stated, "Section 4 of Article 2 [of our by-laws] reads: 'An amateur is one who has not played, instructed, pursued or assisted in the pursuit of tennis or other athletic exercise as a means of livelihood or for gain or any emolument.' Under this rule a person who gives skating lessons for pay automatically forfeits his or her amateur standing." Cassel, who also gave skating exhibitions and was a former New York Skating Champion, was obviously not too pleased with his decision.

If that didn't rub you the wrong way, there's this... If you think back to Lottie Dod and other women of that era who excelled at not only skating but several other sports, you would kind of assume that they would be in favour of women's rights. In the case of Juliet, it was quite the opposite. She was an ardent, vocal and frequent anti-suffragist. Not only did she serve as treasurer for the Connecticut Association Opposed To Woman's Suffrage, she also regularly gave speeches in opposition to women having the right to vote at functions attended by many visiting guests. She fit the bill of most female anti-suffragists to a tee: a well-to-do, white, privileged doctor's wife from old money who wanted to cling on to an arcane system and way of life that was to her benefit.

Later in life, she served as Vice-President of the Woman's Auxiliary of the American Legion Of Connecticut and was commissioner of New Haven's chapter of The Girl Guides, where she regularly organized skating parties for the girls involved. To her credit, she was also actively involved in the American Red Cross blood bank for over sixty years. Her husband passed away on January 31, 1940 and she followed twenty two years later on July 21, 1962 at the age of eighty one. She's buried in the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven.

Was her legacy that of a well-to-do woman who pursued athletics at a time when women participating was frowned upon by many? A vocal detractor of the women's suffrage movement? That of someone who quite likely had a hand in the end of the career of one of her former sporting rivals? When you add those pieces together, it doesn't paint a very pretty picture. We do have to remember that what we truly know of this skater's story is shaped by what is on public record. She may have been a wonderful mother, a kind person and a fabulous skater. We don't and probably will never know her whole story, just as we will never know the whole story of any skater competing today. We can paint people with whatever brush we choose to, but we have to accept that in many cases these perceptions are - let's face it - sometimes unfair.

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 1948 European Figure Skating Championships

From January 13 to 15, 1948, Prague played host to many of the world's top figure skaters at the 1948 European Figure Skating Championships. The event was of historical interest for several reasons. It was held in an Olympic year, marked the final time that non-European skaters were permitted to compete at the European Championships and was by all accounts held in absolutely dreadful weather conditions.

Skaters were up and on the ice as early as four in the morning and tracing figures in the pouring rain. In the days preceding the competition, the stadium where the event was held was rented to the public during the day and so figure skating practices took second fiddle. As for the weather, an eleven degree thaw left the ice under more than an inch of water. An emergency meeting of judges and officials was held to determine whether to carry on with the competition and it was agreed to go forward. On January 14, 1948, "The Ottawa Citizen" reported, "A small section at one end of the rink was roped off for the figure judging and motor driven scrapers went over the rest of the rink, trying to level it off."  Many felt the ridged ice created by the motor scrapers only made ice conditions worse but the competition started on time and to make matters worse, high winds whipped across the ice, making the execution of school figures particularly treacherous. It was all a bit of a soupy, hot mess. Nevertheless, the skaters suffered through and took to the ice.

THE PAIRS COMPETITION

In the pairs competition, Hungarians Andrea Kékesy and Ede Király were the unanimous choice of the judges, who included future ISU President Ernest Labin, World and European Medallist Elemér Terták and Canadian and North American Champion Melville Rogers. The victory of the Hungarians was particularly impressive in that it was their very first trip to the European Championships... or any international competition for that matter. Finishing second in front of a home audience were Czechs Blažena Knittlová and Karel Vosátka. In third were Austrian siblings Herta and Emil Ratzenhofer. Two British teams - Joan Thompson and Robert Ogilvie and Jennifer and John Nicks - finished in fourth and fifth, each earning one second place ordinal apiece.

THE MEN'S COMPETITION

Englewood, New Jersey's Dick Button had his reservations about entering his first and only European Championships in the weeks leading up to the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz. His success or failure, he believed, had the power to affect both his own confidence and the judge's opinion of his skating. Ultimately, he decided to give the judges a sneak peak of his Olympic program and sailed to Europe aboard the Queen Mary in December 1947 with his mother, training in Switzerland before heading to Prague to compete. In his book "Dick Button On Skates", Uncle Dick provides a detailed account of his experience competing in Prague in 1948: "Conditions were miserable as we began the school figure competition. The wind was capricious. Often it would slow down a skater in one direction on his figure, and then shift so that he had no help back to the center of the eight. At times the abrupt gusts stopped a skater, and left him stranded, embarrassingly, on an incomplete figure. With the unpredictable 'pushing' and “bucking” of the breeze, it was very difficult to put down one's best figure. A warm, slow drizzle and the wind played even more tricks on the skaters assembled in the Czech skating rink. The stadium was built on a small island at the fork of a river flowing through the city. The winds swept down upon the fork and across the ice of the rink. Together the wind and rain warmed the surface so much that the freezing pipes were ineffective for the top inch of ice and a rippling pool of water soon covered the rink. With such conditions it was impossible to see the tracing of a school figure and often impossible even to complete an edge. The competition became a test of skaters and the elements; it was clear the contender who made fewest mistakes would win. Luck played against me at first. In a [counter], I was left stranded on my closing edge, as I lost a gamble to outwit the breeze. I had hoped that even if the wind did slow me down at the wrong moment, my finishing edge would be with my back to the wind and I would speed home. The only difficulty was that the wind failed to continue blowing and I could only force the last edge hoping for a high mark on style if nothing else. Then Dame Fortune smiled. Just before the fifth figure, I seized a squeegee from rinkside and pushed as much water as I could downwind, leaving myself a small patch of ice on which the tracings could be seen. The figure to be skated was a loop-change- loop backward, which, with the soft knee action I was using, was exactly suited to soft ice. That cleaning may have saved my competitive career, because I won the figure, a very important one due to its difficulty. With the help of the squeegee, I led [Hans Gerschwiler] in points. My total was 749 points to 747.8 for the Swiss, but he led in placings by 14 to 15 for me. The conditions of the day had been so unsatisfactory that a true estimation of any skater's ability was impossible. But it did indicate that I could lead in points despite the difficulty of judging, and the weather which was so trying to 'hot-house' indoor skaters." Button and Gerschwiler weren't without their challengers. Labin had Austria's Edi Rada first on the first figure whereas Hungarian judge favoured pairs champion Ede Király on the fifth.

In the free skating that followed, Uncle Dick made history as the first and only non-European skater to claim the European title, narrowly defeating Gerschwiler with first place votes from all but the Czechoslovakian judge. Captain T.D. Richardson felt that a factor in Gerschwiler's loss may have been attributed to stress and malnutrition from British rationing: He wrote that Gerschwiler was a "first-rate free skater, but when it came to competitions, so early after the war, when all young British athletes as well as those who had elected to stay here, were still suffering from nervous strain - especially those who had remained in London as Hans had done - as well as from the malnutrition inevitable amongst those who did not come into the category of 'workers,' he was not able to reproduce his true form under the tense excitement of a European or World Championship." In contrast, Uncle Dick recalled his victory thusly: "I felt satisfied with my performance except on one point. In my program, I had included a double Axel, a jump which up to that time had not been performed in European or world competition. I had been unable to perform it perfectly by revolving two and one-half complete turns to make a full 'clean' landing... On the whole I was able to skate well under the pressure and knew as soon as the judges raised their cards that I was European Champion. Hans [Gerschwiler] came over to me immediately, and in his pleasant way offered congratulations. The placings were 11 for me and 18 for Hans. Rada was third and Király fourth...The Lord Mayor of Prague was host at a ceremonial banquet and ball following the finals, and the skaters broke all the weeks of training at the enthusiastic supper dance." Unfortunately, before the competitors enjoyed their fancy banquet, they had to contend with overzealous photographers. On January 17, 1948, "The Montreal Gazette" reported, "Standing at the rinkside watching the performance of Button, Miss [Barbara Ann] Scott said 'that was nice' as the New Jersey youngster came off the ice and he returned the compliment with a kiss on the Canadian's forehead. Photographers immediately demanded a 'redo' and the pair obliged... [Button] then put his arm around Barbara Ann's waist, kissed her on the lips, and the crowd went frantic. 'More! More!' they cried and the principals obliged again."

THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION

Barbara Ann Scott and Eva Pawlik

Barbara Ann Scott left for Europe in December 1947, part of her expenses of travelling to Czechslovakia and Switzerland for the European Championships, Winter Olympics and World Championships defrayed by Ottawa mayor Stanley Lewis' 'Mayor Of Ottawa Fund'. After days of rainy early morning practices, she took to the ice to skate her school figures in a pale yellow doeskin dress with white angora mitts, a single strand of pearls, an armlet with her starting position and her signature bonnet. On her shoulder, she wore a navy Canadian flash embroidered with gold. She described the blustery conditions as "troublesome" and the ice ended up being so bad that after the first two figures, the women were given a half-hour break while sweepers tried to make the ice somewhat usable. In her book "Skate With Me", Scott recalled, "The water had melted the ice down and it was all bumpy, but not covered with water now - now it was slush. That same wind was blowing, harsh and mean and strong. I felt quite happy, for I had the Number 11 armband - I think eleven is as lucky as seven... The newspapers had been speaking a good deal of Jeanette Altwegg, of England, and Eva Pawlik, of Austria. I never have spent much time listening to dressing-room gossip, to people saying, 'Oh, she's skating divinely,' or 'She never got over that fall and is simply frightful,' or things like that. I think it is better to stay away from all that. People may think you are a little aloof not to join in, but it is my experience that you are better off in the long run if you don't. I knew that these two girls were very good but they had the same conditions to face that I had, so I just went to work and made the best of it." After taking off her skates and warming up with a cup of tea and a chocolate bar, Scott returned to skate her final four figures. She took a decisive four point lead ahead of her Czechoslovakian training mate Jiřína Nekolová. Alena Vrzáňová, Eva Pawlik, Jeannette Altwegg, Bridget Shirley Adams and Dagmar Lerchová followed in places third through seventh.

The January 16, 1948 Czechoslovakian newspaper "Svobodne slovo", which Dr. Roman Seeliger graciously translated for me offered general recaps of the performances of the top women's performances:

"Scott: light green. A well organized free program for sure, but the audience was not so much fascinated by her as by Button. Highest marks: 5.9-5.9
Pawlik: black. Full of courage. She persuades the audience. Her Viennese tunes help her a lot. She feels the rhythm. Highest marks: 5.7-5.7
Vrzanova: violet. Performed her program well, but not more. Slowly, without temperament. Highest marks: 5.6-5.6
Nekolova: light blue. Great transitions, a good copy of Gerschwiler's Rhapsody in blue. But it was the vivacity/liveliness/brio she lacked. Highest marks: 5.6-5.6
Altwegg: light blue. Heavy and slow music, reminding of a funeral procession. Unclean jumps. She was rated too high. Highest marks: 5.5-5.5"

Scott's coach Sheldon Galbraith recalled, "the free skating portion of the program took place during the evening, and the place was packed to capacity. She started her routine and was about one minute and fifteen seconds into it when the record-playing needle slid off the record. The phonograph records of the period were 78rpm and the needle vibrated sideways in its track to create the sound. The groove had been worn too much to hold onto its track. These records were made with a thin layer of material poured onto a round aluminum platter. They were guaranteed for six plays and then only if you used a cactus needle! Barbara Ann's solo record was turned onto its reverse side where a backup copy was located. Barbara Ann returned to her starting place in due course and resumed her performance. It was a solid skate and she had successfully defended her title as European Champion! Amazingly due to the record problems, she had skated a total of five minutes and fifteen seconds!" Scott recalled that after landing three back-to-back Axels, "I got as far as the spin when all of a sudden there was a great squeak and the record stopped. I thought for a second: 'Now what shall I do? Shall I stop? Will that count against me? Shall I go on without the music?' But of course every step of my program is set to a certain part of the music, so if I kept going and the record was put on again the chances were that I wouldn't be able to synchronize with it. I had four minutes and no more... So I skated to the starting place and waited. Fortunately the referee agreed with me that that was the right thing to do. When the record went on again I started from the beginning. his is a kind of situation for which it is well to be mentally adjusted ahead of time. It is necessary to remain calm always and not let the errors of anyone else or any mechanical failure throw you off. I was not penalized. All seven judges placed me first, with Eva Pawlik coming in second. It was said that my score was the highest ever awarded in Prague, seven placings and 181.6 points." In a January 29, 1948 letter, Barbara's travelling mate Margaret McGuiness wrote, "I nearly swallowed my mitten when I heard the music fade out. Barbara Ann stopped pirouetting, looked at Sheldon, then skated back into her take-off position. She really skated with confidence and style. No wonder, with lucky #11 on the arm-band of her green costume. Green is one of her lucky colours."

The January 25, 1948 issue of the "Wochenzeitung der Österreichischen Jugend" offered a wonderful account of the event from Pawlik's perspective: "She felt some anger as she had seen the programs and the marks of her rivals. When she skated to the middle of the ice she said to herself: 'I shall show to all of them that I am able to skate well even if they don´t want to see it. I don´t skate to reach the fourth place. I am skating for my recognition in the world. I cannot lose, I can only win. I have to reach the second place.' Eva swayed to her Viennese music, showed her fast spins and high jumps. The audience was immediately thrilled by her performance. The applause was rising immensely, when Eva stopped her last spin exactly in the moment of the last note of her music. The audience´s enthusiasm was only interrupted by a hail of catcalls when the judges raised their marks that were lower than those for Scott. Facing the marks the audience was acclaiming Eva even more frenetically, because in the spectators´opinion Eva was the real Queen of Europe. In that very moment things changed: All of a sudden, the photographers were surrounding Eva and everyone was interested in her. Even though she could not win the Championships, the unmistakable sustained applause had shown her that her free program had called the world's attention... The joy was great. She had reached the goal to be Europe's best lady skater. For it was a bit strange that a Canadian had become European Champion. They say that next year the Europeans shall be restricted to European skaters. By the way, that should have always gone without saying." Dr. Roman Seeliger recalled, "My mother often told me the following story: With a smile on her face, Barbara Ann Scott applauded Eva Pawlik at the skating exhibition in Prague. Feeling that the audience was not in favour of her, the Canadian star behaved in a very diplomatic way."

Like Button in the men's event, Barbara Ann's victory would mark the final time a woman representing a non-European nation would claim gold at the European Championships. Although Canadians were justifiably overjoyed by her win, many of the European skaters participating felt perhaps justifiably frustrated. Uncle Dick noted that both Pawlik and Vrzáňová had skated with particular ease and given Barbara Ann a run for her money. Roman Seeliger, the son of Eva Pawlik, recalled that "It was hard for [Eva] to accept that the European crown was not awarded to her, but to a non-European skater. It goes without saying that Barbara Ann Scott from Canada was a wonderful and glamorous skater. But that did not change the fact that Eva Pawlik was the best-ranked European lady figure skater at the 1948 European Championship but was awarded only the silver medal."

At an exhibition following the competition, it was Pawlik's turn to encounter the same 'technical difficulties' that befell Scott in the competition. The January 17, 1948 issue of the "Svobodne slovo" reported, "It was Pawlik´s turn to show her dance on the ice. First there was no music at all. A disappointment for Europe's best lady skater. A bit later some music could be heard, but it was not Pawlik's music. Again they tried to play the right tune, but again it was not her music. The Austrian skater was terribly cold. She seemed to [pantomime a plea] for the right music. That did not help. They did not find the right music within 10 minutes. So Gerschwiler and Button showed their programs before Pawlik. But not even in the very end of the skating exhibition they could find Pawlik's gramophone record. So the silver medallist skated to some other music to conciliate to the furious audience that emphatically wanted to see her skating. A very big applause was in a certain sense also the audience´s excuse for the shame in the studio."

Benjamin T. Wright recalled, "Just as the Championships were ending the Communist takeover of the Czech government took place. Dick and Barbara Ann just made it out of Prague before the airport was closed." In a case of all's well that end's well, the three men who medalled in Prague all placed in the exact same order at the Olympic Games in St. Moritz, Barbara Ann Scott became the first Olympic Gold Medallist in figure skating from Canada... and Eva Pawlik won the European title the following year in Milan, Italy. 

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 Pro-Skate Tour

Shortly after Dick Button's company Candid Productions began presenting the annual World Professional Figure Skating Championships in Landover, Maryland, a grand prix style series of professional competitions was taking the world by storm. 

Pro-Skate was a very much a precursor to the kind of skating we'd see when Stars On Ice started operating - more focused on the merits of individual performances that the ensemble focused Ice Capades and Ice Follies tours. The cast in the touring series of competitions couldn't have been any more star studded, featuring skaters like John Curry, Robin Cousins, Janet Lynn, Toller Cranston, Dorothy Hamill, Peggy Fleming, David Santee, Brian Pockar, Denise Biellmann, Angela Greenhow, Allen Schramm, Candy Jones and Don Fraser, Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner. Lynn Nightingale, Wendy Burge, Fumio Igarashi, JoJo Starbuck and Ken Shelley, Kim Krohn and Barry Hagan, Nancy Berghoff and Jim Bowser, Heather Kemkaran and Lillian Heming and Murray Carey. The events were marketed for television as International Professional Figure Skating Championships.

The tour was put on by the Pro-Skate Company, headquartered in New York City, which was formed in 1981. It was owned jointly by Concert Productions International of Toronto (run by Michael Cohl and Bill Ballard) and Leber/Krebs and Pro-Skate International (run by Elva Oglanby), based in New York City. The Canadian events were sponsored by the Labatt Brewing Company Ltd during their first year. Concert Productions International (CPI) had certain connections that made a tour like Pro-Skate viable to them. For instance, Maple Leaf Gardens (a stop on the tour) was owned by Bill Ballard's controversial father Howard, a former hockey coach who owned the Toronto Maple Leafs. Other stops on the tour included Calgary Montreal, Edmonton, Vancouver and New York City. The New York event, held annually at Madison Square Garden, was advertised as the International Professional Figure Skating Championships.

In her 1994 book "Ice Time", Debbi Wilkes recalled, "When Michael Cohl called Canadian skaters to compete, they all said, 'You'll have to talk to my agent. That was the beginning of a fascinating roller coaster ride. We'd come in all full of bluster and pretend we knew what we were doing. Mel and Gord would stay quiet and make me talk. I'd pull 'girl' and stomp up and down, absolutely refusing whatever they were demanding. I used to think they were standing in the shower in the morning laughing their heads off at us, but we had a good time, learned a lot and made a few bucks. In the end, our skaters weren't the only ones who got paid.'"

Each event offered tens of thousands of dollars in prize money and any skater not placing in the top three earned one thousand just for participating. Although many of the skaters praised the opportunity to compete in a non-traditional atmosphere, the general consensus amongst many of the skaters was that the money was the reason they participated. Janet Lynn remarked, "Money certainly has to be considered, especially with three boys to send to college one day." Candy Fraser said, "It's pleasant to get some return for all the money your parents put into it over the years." Toller Cranston added, "It's like jumping into a swimming pool of sharks - but I'm one of the biggest sharks in there. Everyone is really in it for the money - none of us really likes competing."

The judging panels for the tour consisted of comprised of eight 'regular judges' (everyone from skating folks to members of the artistic community) and a 'public judge' mark, the average of the marks of ten local celebrities (athletes, university professors, radio hosts, etc.). Each was responsible for marking one category of the performance, ie. jumps, spins, footwork, choreography, etc. on a scale of 10.0. The high and the low marks were thrown out. One of the biggest criticisms of the series was the fact that a technical or compulsory short program was included. In "Canadian Skater" magazine, Carole Stafford noted, "The short programs posed problems for the non-skating judges who were not familiar with compulsory elements and skaters who completed this were not always given the credit they deserved while missing elements were not always penalized as they would be in an amateur competition." As always in professional competition, there were also cries of reputation judging. Debbi Wilkes recalled, "They treated the event like a rock concert. There was respectable prize money, but it got out of hand. It seemed that the winner was whoever had the highest guarantee. That didn't last long because the public wouldn't accept it. Then the skaters started to demand such high fees they priced themselves right out of the market. The competitions didn't make much financial sense. The whole effort was premature."

Bill Jones recalled John Curry's experience participating in the tour in his book "Alone: The Triumph And Tragedy Of John Curry" thusly: "The fledgling professional tour played in five Canadian cities. Against all the odds, Curry appeared happy. Not even the vulgarity of a sponsor (something his contracts usually forbade) seemed to wobble him. Unlike Cranston and Cousins, he had stayed out of the men's 'competition', and appeared only as an exhibitor; skating ethereally to Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' in Vancouver, the city where they'd once pelted him with drink cans."

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

The prize money, appearance fees and operating costs of such a mammoth effort proved overwhelming and in 1984, the tour and competitions concluded. The success of Button's annual Landover event, however, proved so overwhelming that he devised a second competition - The Challenge Of Champions - that would be held annually in Paris, France in its first three efforts before being held in different cities around the world each year including Moscow, Barcelona, London and Tokyo. The days of professional competitions based in Canada wouldn't be over though. The North American Men's Professional Skating Championships (Jeep Main Event of Figure Skating) and World Cup competitions would be held in Canada later in the eighties and briefly enjoy their respective moments in the spotlight. In the nineties, Button's Challenge Of Champions and The Gold Championships would visit Canada and the Canadian Professional Figure Skating Championships would be established in 1994. Although we traditionally think of the explosion of professional figure skating competitions in the nineties as a mainly American phenomenon, its early roots in the Canadian figure skating culture are not merely ephemera. They play a huge role in the popularity of professional and show skating in this country that thrives to this day.

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

The Birth Of The Blues

The Blues dance originated in England, the creation of British pairs skater and ice dancer Robert Dench. With partner Lesley Turner, Dench first showed off the long, deep edges of this dance at the Streatham rink in 1934. Set to twelve bar blues music played on a piano or organ, the dance was meant to be skated to a tempo of twenty two or two four bars per minute, or eighty eight or ninety six by the time of a metronome. However, Dench noted, "The Dench Blues, however, can be skated as fast as 26 bars per minute, but then it is difficult to execute the steps correctly. We often do the dance to fox trot time, but only if the music is slow enough so that the graceful effect of the dance is not lost."

In his book "Pair Skating And Dancing On Ice", Dench described the original steps of his Dench Blues dance thusly: "This dance is started hand in hand, with the lady on the man’s right side and holding his right hand with her left. First of all, strike onto right-forward-inside edges, after which the lady turns a forward-outside-three on her left foot and drops onto the right- backward-outside edge, while the man holds a left-forward-outside edge for four beats of the music, which brings him face to face with his partner. Now come the first steps of the dance itself. The lady takes a left-backward-outside edge followed by a right-backward-inside, crossing it over the left. She then takes a left-backward-outside, uncrossing her feet. (This is a crossed chasse.) The man, on his first step of the dance, brings the lady to his right side and strikes onto the right-forward-outside edge. This is followed by a left- forward-inside crossed over the right, then a right-forward-outside. (This is a progressive chasse or run.) Now the lady strikes onto her right-backward-outside, then a left-backward-inside crossed over the right, and finishes on the right-backward-outside. (This is also a crossed chasse.) The man, having finished his first chasse or run, now crosses his left leg over the right and turns a three, coming onto his right- backward-outside edge. The three is turned at the lady’s left side, so that after the turn his right hip is just behind the lady’s left hip. Both skaters are now on right-backward-outside edges and skating close together, with the man slightly ahead of the lady ('ahead' meaning further along in the direction of travel). During this backward edge, each partner slowly swings the free leg back past the skating foot. From here on, both skaters face the same way and their steps are identical. Strike together onto the left-forward-outside edge, which should be short and held fairly straight so as to simplify the cross-roll (crossing one foot over the other, from an outside edge to an outside) which follows. Place the right-forward-outside over the left and hold it for four beats, increasing the bend of the skating knee on the third beat of the music and straightening it on the fourth. This applies to all the four-beat edges. The free leg passes the skating leg as the knee is straightened. The next step is a left-forward-outside placed in front of the right foot and held for two beats. (This is a walking step.) Now comes a quick little running step that is very fascinating if done correctly. Start on the right-forward-inside (one beat), then place the left-forward-outside ahead of the right (also for one beat), and again place the right-forward-inside ahead of the left and hold it for two beats. Now comes the difficult part of the dance, which is a Choctaw - the change from an edge on one foot to the opposite edge on the other foot. Stroke onto your left-forward-inside, directing the edge almost straight down center ice and not towards the boards or center of the rink; next bring the right foot close to the heel of the left (right instep to left heel); then turn the hips, dropping onto the right-outside-backward edge. These edges are held for two beats of the music. After the Choctaw, cross behind the right foot with a left-backward-outside. Hold it for four beats; then step forward onto the right-forward-inside edge, ready to recommence the dance. For the Choctaw, the man should strike just ahead of the lady - forward of her left hip. This enables her to make the turn more easily and to drop into position for the right-backward-outside edge of the Choctaw."

The dance caught on extremely quickly both in Europe and overseas and enjoyed (like almost all compulsory dances) countless alterations and adaptations. By November 1939, it earned a coveted spot amongst the Kilian, Viennese Waltz, Rocker Foxtrot and Three-Lobed Eight Waltz in the USFSA's Gold Dance Test. However, in England during the same era, the National Skating Association only considered the Blues a Silver Test dance. By the fifties, it was considered a Pre-Gold Dance in the United States, a Second Class (Gold) Dance in France and a Silver Dance with the International Skating Union. Ironically, Robert Dench passed away in 1975, the same year the Blues was introduced as a prescribed rhythm for the OSP in international competition.

Whenever someone comes up with a great idea, it always seems to spawn others. In the years that followed, countless Blues dances cropped up in both North America and England. Many, like The Buckingham Blues, Koala Blues, Manhattan Blues and Border Blues, fell into obscurity. Others, like the perennial Preliminary Dance Baby Blues and Roy, Sue and Mark Bradshaw and Julie MacDonald's Midnight Blues (which debuted in Vancouver in 2001) caught on like wildfire. Though we don't have the pleasure of enjoying compulsory dances in international competitions these days, the influence of the original Blues dance still resonates in the performances of ice dancers from Streatham to South Africa today.

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.

Les Premières Femmes De Paris: Roots Of Women's Figure Skating In France

The Palais de Glace, 1912

Back in May of 2015 in "A Woman's Right To Skate" we explored a broader view of how women got their foot in the man's, man's, man's world of figure skating. Interestingly, the names of two women from France came up: the famously beheaded queen Marie Antoinette who was celebrated for skating in France's Royal Court in 1776 and Maria Weigel, a German woman living in Colmar who was stoned by her own neighbours for skating with her male counterparts in 1851. These two extremes really speak to the ever-present roles of class that pepper figure skating's early history constantly, particularly with regard to how women were treated.

However, today on the blog we're going to take a step forward and appreciate how far ahead of the game France was compared to many other countries in terms of developing women's figure skating. In 1892, the Pôle du Nord rink opened in Paris and two years later came the second covered rink, the austere Palais de Glace. In the Belle Époque style, the rink was surrounded by a promenade, bandstand for a live orchestra and a café where skaters enjoyed chocolate and strong coffee. The Skating Club of Paris, formed two years later in 1896 by Lucien Tignol, encouraged membership from both men and women. In fact, he targeted magazine and newspaper advertisements specifically towards women. Tignol's main concerns didn't revolve around the gender of membership whatsoever; they were growing the club's membership and adhering to strict rules of amateurism. The Skating Club of Paris welcomed women with open arms and encouraged their growth as skaters.

In her 1968 book "Patinage Sur Glace Historique", figure skating historian Jeanine Hagenauer wrote that during that developmental era when women were coming to the Palais de Glace in droves, when the banks closed at five, "the women met there at night. The children [were] sent from two to four hours with their tutor, their governess... at the Époque they enjoyed graceful skating, light and gay... falling into the arms of their [children] upon their return." Women wore ermine, twisted braids and velvet dresses with silk shoulders. They were decked out in fur caps, petticoats and had perfumed handkerchiefs. Noted Hagenauer, the women "who shone the most received the public homage. What applause!"

Demonstration of French Valsing by Louis Magnus and his partner

Although a few of the women who became members of the club had skated with the exclusive Cercle des Patineurs on the frozen Bois de Bolougne, many were newcomers and sought instruction in the foundations of skating technique. However, while other countries were busying themselves with school and special figures and the development of international competitions, the main interest of men and women skating at the Palais de Glace was ice dancing. In her book "Figure Skating History: The Evolution Of Dance On Ice", Lynn Copley-Graves notes that "Monsieur Jean Richard, a skating instructor at the Palais de Glace in Paris, gave the first official public performance of valsing on ice, and the audience loved it. Skaters in France immediately adopted the Valse, which closely resembled the European Waltz we do today. To fit within the shorter, more circular rinks of the time, the Valse had only one set of three turns to the barrier... From that beginning, upper crust Parisian society valsed on ice at the Palais de Glace until World War I." French skating pioneer Louis Magnus wrote that "to know how to waltz, that's what the young girls dream of, even before doing an outside edge."

French figure skating champion Yvonne Lacroix in a speed skating race

When the Skating Club of Paris' President Albert Michel instituted early rules for the French Figure Skating Championships and created trials to classify skaters in 1901, women were introduced to the formal testing and competitive environment in France at the same time as men. Speed skating and hockey were also quickly developing at the same time in the country and it's no surprise that with Magnus' influence on all three sports at the time, women were taking to all three sports in Chamonix by the late 1910's, around the same time Yvonne Lacroix won the first recorded French women's figure skating title in that city.

Women's figure skating really grew in France during that period but the male membership of the Skating Club of Paris was largely decimated by World War I. When the rink re-opened in 1921, the heyday of the Palais de Glace was over and it closed shortly thereafter. Although The Club Of Winter Sports formed as a merger of two Parisian skating clubs and The Brunet's were hugely dominant on the international scene in the twenties, it was not until Jean Potin founded the Elysee Skating Club that the grassroots re-organization of skating in France really took off at the Molitor rink. One has to wonder if those pioneering Parisian women ever dreamed of a day when French women like Jacqueline du Bief, Surya Bonaly, Laetitia Hubert and Vanessa Gusmeroli would enjoy such success on the World's biggest stages. They were, by all accounts, probably far more interested in their ice dancing and who can blame them? Ice dancing's pretty cool stuff!

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.

Dot McCusker, Queen Of The Ice Comics

A family that skates together stays together. At least that was the case with the McCusker family of Hollywood, California. Mother Gladys (Daniels) and father Charlie McCusker - a Canadian hockey star in his heyday - had three children and all three ended up enjoying success as professional figure skaters!

Before we get to the 'star' of today's blog, ice comic Dot McCusker, I want to briefly talk about the rest of the family's skating accomplishments. Jimmy, the youngest, appeared in both hotel shows and the Icelandia shows (which we'll get to later) but it was Buff (Buford), the oldest of the three McCusker siblings who achieved fame as three time Olympic Gold Medallist Sonja Henie's partner in the 1943 film "Wintertime". Buff recalled that Henie had seen him "perform in the Ice Follies and asked if I'd like to be her partner in the movie 'Wintertime'. I was in the Army Air Corps at the time but was given leave to do the picture. Some of you may recall the scene from the movie where we skated together on a rink of black ice. The ice was actually coated with a thin layer of black ink that made a stunning reflection as we glided around the rink. Working with Sonja was wonderful. I had to watch her closely because our movements needed to match perfectly. I had a tendency to lift my legs higher than hers, so I had to watch that. And when we did the jumps called Axels, I had a tendency to spin a little more, so I had to tone that down a bit, too. Still, it was a great experience." He and wife Joanne (Ruppe) - also a professional skater - later appeared in Sonja's film "It's A Pleasure" after World War II. Not to be outdone, father Charlie and uncle Mac at one time owned the Polar Palace ice rink and operated affiliated skate shops. Despite Buff's success as a pairs skater and impressive career as a touring professional, it was the middle child Dot (Dorothy) who made perhaps the biggest impression on American audiences.

Born in Nebraska in the early twenties, Dot McCusker was a tall brunette whose shtick was (according to the April 10, 1948 edition of The Billboard) "a novice comedy bit" that she "weak-ankled her way" through. Descriptions of her performances allude to Dot's act being eerily similar to the "Wanda Beazel" program that Debi Thomas popularized in the eighties, where she parodied a young skater performing her first solo.

Graduating from Bel-Mar High School, Dot joined the ensemble cast in a hotel skating show at the Book-Cadillac in Detroit, Michigan, skating to the music of Manny Prager's orchestra. After getting both skates in the door, she joined the Ice Capades cast in 1944 as an Ice-Ca'pet' and later, the cast of Holiday On Ice. It was on the latter tour that she was given an opportunity to move up from the chorus to the spotlight and audiences loved what they saw from the comedic skater. An article from the San Jose Evening News on January 21, 1944 notes that "he most outstanding act as judged by applause last night was a comedy skit by Dorothy McCusker. She stopped the show."

Dot balanced touring with Holiday On Ice for three years with appearances in club carnivals. In 1945, she performed a duet comedy act with Marie Purviance at the 15th Annual Shrine Ice Carnival at the Civic Ice Arena in Seattle alongside Barbara Ann Scott King, Dorothy and Hazel Caley and Skippy Baxter. In September of 1947, she skated for two weeks at a circus in Honolulu, Hawaii. An article from "The Spokesman-Review" on September 19, 1947 mused, "the trail from a model student and teacher's pet to queen of the ice comics is a rough one full of bumps and bruises - just ask Dot McCusker. A member of the 'skating McCusker family' and little sister of Buff the strong man... Dot makes her comic antics a studied, artistic performance. She takes her bumps like a man and never lets her audience rest. When she takes her last bow she's 'well done in'. To give her audience, the gal hands herself a rugged time."

By the next April, Dot was performing in the hotel show held in the Boulevard Room at the Hotel Stevens in Chicago to rave reviews alongside Rudy Richards, Manuel del Torro, Jerry Rehfield and Paul and Mickee Preston. She remained at the Hotel Stevens as an audience favourite with her 'novice skater' act for two years before teaming up with her brother Buff and Samuel H. Scripps to produce a short-lived touring stage show called Icelandia. The March 13, 1951 "Rome News-Tribune" described Dot's performance in the Icelandia shows at the City Auditorium in Rome thusly: "The big scene-stealer is Dot McCusker, who combines superb skating skill with a talent for comedy that brought down the opening night and drew her three curtain calls." They went on to say that she provided "laughs galore as she attempts to follow in the steps of lovely Mae Edwards."

My favourite quote from this long forgotten scene stealer has got to be "doing shows is fun, but I could find it just as easy playing quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams". Many of the comedic roles in ice shows and tours in those days may have gone to men, but Dot McCusker deserves a great deal of credit for helping to slowly break down gender barriers for females, proving to tour promoters that women could easily be every bit as comedic on the ice as their male counterparts.

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.

Dreams On Ice

"There was one little girl whose wish it was to meet Isabelle and me... I was immensely moved by this child's bravery. We talked and ate lunch together, and she attended the show as our special guest, where her smile little up the night's sky. A few weeks later, I was saddened to learn that she had died... Sometimes, when I am overwrought at a competition, where I don't think the judges have treated us fairly, I will stop and find myself thinking about that little girl. Everything else will pale in comparison, and instantly, the judges' marks won't seem so important after all." - Lloyd Eisler, "Brasseur And Eisler: The Professional Years", 1999

During the nineties, the amount of professional figure skating shows, tours and competitions that cropped up in a short amount of time was nothing short of prolific. Audiences wanted figure skating and event producers and networks delivered. What made one of these shows in particular so unique was that it was a fundraiser for The Children's Wish Foundation Of Canada and no small one at that. From 1992 to 1997, Dreams On Ice raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the charity, which has been making dreams come true for children living with life threatening illnesses since 1984. The show, packaged for Canadian television, was ranked the highest watched Canadian produced televised program in 1993 and was nominated for a Gemini Award in 1995. But how did it all get started?

In 1991, Isabelle Brasseur, Lloyd Eisler and Lou-Anne Brosseau teamed up with the idea of doing a show to benefit the children's charity. In a June 17, 1992 article in "The Windsor Star", Brosseau said, "I spoke with Lloyd after he and Isabelle had been contacted about becoming involved at the provincial level and he suggested staging a skating show. Once it became known where some of the proceeds would be going, it wasn't difficult to put together a strong cast." A logo was designed - a skate blade with shooting stars - and Lloyd took on an important role in drumming up support among skaters. At the 1992 World Figure Skating Championships in Oakland, California, then Vice-President of CTV Sports Peter Sisam got on board. He put the organizers in touch with Canadian Airlines to help with sponsorship and arranged to have the production aired on television. Eisler told reporter Dave Hall from "The Windsor Star" that "there never seems to be enough time to do all the things we want to do but putting on an ice show is something we know a little about and helping children fulfil their dreams is an easy charity to get behind.'' 

The first show was held in Windsor, Ontario on September 19, 1992. The cast that first year included Brasseur and Eisler, Brian Orser, Elvis Stojko, Jill Trenary, Mark Mitchell, Karen Preston, Christine Hough and Doug Ladret, Michelle McDonald and Martin Smith and Jacqueline Petr and Mark Janoschak. Mitchell was a last minute replacement for Canadian Champion Michael Slipchuk, who injured his ankle just two days before the show was set to start. The show did have its challenges. Recurring issues with clearing synchronization rights for music over the years meant 'muzak' was sometimes used on the television broadcasts. In 1993, Isabelle Brasseur actually contacted Eric Clapton's agent directly for permission to use "Tears In Heaven". She got the go ahead. 

However, financially and in terms of production, Dreams On Ice (sponsored over the year alternately by Kraft and Chrysler) was a huge hit with Canadian audiences and I'm sure most of you living here in the country will remember the show fondly. Over the six years the show was held, a who's who of Canadian figure skating got on board to perform and support the event, including Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini, Josée Chouinard, Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz, Jennifer Robinson and
Sébastien Britten.

Support also came in from skaters from around the world. Among the many skaters from abroad who came to Ontario to participate were Michelle Kwan, Kristi Yamaguchi, Paul Wylie, Nancy Kerrigan, Elena Bechke and Denis Petrov, Todd Eldredge, Susanna Rahkamo and Petri Kokko, Yuka Sato, Caryn Kadavy and Jozef Sabovcik. Original music for the show's opening and closing sequences was especially composed by Montreal pianist Karl Hugo and the show even sparked spin-off's in Brampton and London called "Winter Dreams On Ice" in the late nineties.

The stories of the children whose dreams came true choke you up even reading about them now. In 1993, a nine year old Windsor girl with a rare form of leukemia was sponsored. An account from the show's organizers noted that "due to the constant hospital visits and treatment, Sarah's parents thought that an event like Dreams On Ice might be too much for Sarah and the child was crushed to find that her parents had not purchased tickets for the event. Sarah's family had heard of the Children's Wish Foundation of Canada through the Cancer treatment center at the hospital and contacted them one day prior to the show hoping they could help with tickets for the family. B.B.E. Productions were contacted that morning and immediately went to work to grant the favourite wish of the Windsor child. Sarah arrived at the Windsor Arena just on time to enjoy watching the skaters rehearse and join in for a pizza party. Many of the skaters stopped to have their picture taken with Sarah and sign a few autographs for her! Tickets for front row seats were provided for the whole family as they attended the show as special guests." 

Three years later it was Jocelyn, a fifteen year old with a life threatening illness living in Kitchener: 

"[She] had a wish to meet Elvis Stojko in person and to attend the World Figure Skating Championships in Edmonton, Alberta Canada. The Children's Wish Foundation of Canada granted Jocelyn's wish by providing her and her family with all-event tickets to the World Championships and contacted B.B.E. Productions directly to see if it would be possible for Jocelyn to attend Dreams On Ice to watch Elvis skate and to give Jocelyn the opportunity to meet Elvis in person. On Friday, September 8, 1995, B.B.E. Productions Inc. held a media reception to introduce the cast of the 1995 event. The media from radio, television and newspaper were on hand to witness the surprise of Jocelyn's life! During the media reception, the founder of the Children's Wish Foundation of Canada, Ms. Laura Cole, announced to the audience that Jocelyn had a wish and that she had no idea what she was about to encounter. Jocelyn came into the room a short time later with her parents and Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler greeted her at the door. She immediately recognized Isabelle and hugged her! Lloyd took Jocelyn by the hand and led her to the front of the room where the other skaters and Elvis were seated. Upon seeing Elvis Stojko, Jocelyn collapsed to the floor in tears stating "Oh.... that's Elvis Stojko!" The moment was very touching as Elvis helped her up and gave her a hug. Tears were streaming down the faces of everyone in attendance including the skaters! It was a moment that will never be forgotten for many years to come."

Figure skating brings so much joy to so many people and it's always touching to see skaters recognize its power to heal and help others. Dreams On Ice serves as a wonderful memory of that, its place in skating history a beautiful one.

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.

From Yasnaya Polyana To The Zoological Gardens: Tolstoy's Skating Legacy

In the village Yasnaya Polyana in Tula Oblast, Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy penned "War And Peace", regarded widely by scholars and book lovers alike as one of the greatest novels of all time. It was published in 1869, six years after the formation of the Neva Skating Association in St. Petersburg. Owing to the newfound interest the noble class of Russians were paying to figure skating at the time, many Russian writers of note took to the ice to see what all the fuss was about. Years after Alexander Pushkin wrote of skating in his novel in verse "Eugene Onegin", writers like Vladimir Gilyarovsky were often found at the Patriarch's Ponds rink in Moscow passing the long, frosty winters by carving out eights on the ice in the company of the most influential Muscovites.

Tolstoy, a firm believer in the virtues of physical activity, also skated at the Patriarch's Pond rink with his family and quite often on a pond on his property in Yasnaya Polyana, the winters a time when he often took a break from writing. It was no surprise that this famous skating aficionado found room for his winter sport of choice in his 1877 book "Anna Karenina". The famous 'skating scene' from Tolstoy's acclaimed novel offers a backdrop to the chilly burgeoning romance subplot of Konstantin Dmitrievich Lëvin and Princess Ekaterina Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya:

"At four o’clock, conscious of his throbbing heart, Levin stepped out of a hired sledge at the Zoological Gardens, and turned along the path to the frozen mounds and the skating-ground, knowing that he would certainly find her there, as he had seen the Shtcherbatskys' carriage at the entrance.

It was a bright, frosty day. Rows of carriages, sledges, drivers, and policemen were standing in the approach. Crowds of well-dressed people, with hats bright in the sun, swarmed about the entrance and along the well-swept little paths between the little houses adorned with carving in the Russian style. The old curly birches of the gardens, all their twigs laden with snow, looked as though freshly decked in sacred vestments.

He walked along the path towards the skating-ground, and kept saying to himself—'You mustn't be excited, you must be calm. What's the matter with you? What do you want? Be quiet, stupid,' he conjured his heart. And the more he tried to compose himself, the more breathless he found himself. An acquaintance met him and called him by name, but Levin did not even recognise him. He went towards the mounds, whence came the clank of the chains of sledges as they slipped down or were dragged up, the rumble of the sliding sledges, and the sounds of merry voices. He walked on a few steps, and the skating-ground lay open before his eyes, and at once, amidst all the skaters, he knew her.

He knew she was there by the rapture and the terror that seized on his heart. She was standing talking to a lady at the opposite end of the ground. There was apparently nothing striking either in her dress or her attitude. But for Levin she was as easy to find in that crowd, as a rose among nettles.

Everything was made bright by her. She was the smile that shed light on all around her. 'Is it possible I can go over there on the ice, go up to her?' he thought. The place where she stood seemed to him a holy shrine, unapproachable, and there was one moment when he was almost retreating, so overwhelmed was he with terror. He had to make an effort to master himself, and to remind himself that people of all sorts were moving about her, and that he too might come there to skate. He walked down, for a long while avoiding looking at her as at the sun, but seeing her, as one does the sun, without looking.

On that day of the week and at that time of day people of one set, all acquainted with one another, used to meet on the ice. There were crack skaters there, showing off their skill, and learners clinging to chairs with timid, awkward movements, boys, and elderly people skating with hygienic motives. They seemed to Levin an elect band of blissful beings because they were here, near her. All the skaters, it seemed, with perfect self-possession, skated towards her, skated by her, even spoke to her, and were happy, quite apart from her, enjoying the capital ice and the fine weather.

Nikolay Shtcherbatsky, Kitty's cousin, in a short jacket and tight trousers, was sitting on a garden seat with his skates on. Seeing Levin, he shouted to him -

'Ah, the first skater in Russia! Been here long? First-rate ice - do put your skates on.'  

'I haven’t got my skates,' Levin answered, marvelling at this boldness and ease in her presence, and not for one second losing sight of her, though he did not look at her. He felt as though the sun were coming near him. She was in a corner, and turning out her slender feet in their high boots with obvious timidity, she skated towards him. A boy in Russian dress, desperately waving his arms and bowed down to the ground, overtook her. She skated a little uncertainly; taking her hands out of the little muff, that hung on a cord, she held them ready for emergency, and looking towards Levin, whom she had recognised, she smiled at him and at her own fears. When she had got round the turn, she gave herself a push off with one foot, and skated straight up to Shtcherbatsky. Clutching at his arm, she nodded smiling to Levin. She was more splendid than he had imagined her.

When he thought of her, he could call up a vivid picture of her to himself, especially the charm of that little fair head, so freely set on the shapely girlish shoulders, and so full of childish brightness and good-humour. The childishness of her expression, together with the delicate beauty of her figure, made up her special charm, and that he fully realised. But what always struck him in her as something unlooked for, was the expression of her eyes, soft, serene, and truthful, and above all, her smile, which always transported Levin to an enchanted world, where he felt himself softened and tender, as he remembered himself in some days of his early childhood.

'Have you been here long?' she said, giving him her hand. 'Thank you,' she added, as he picked up the handkerchief that had fallen out of her muff.

'I? I've not long … yesterday … I mean to-day … I arrived,' answered Levin, in his emotion not at once understanding her question. 'I was meaning to come and see you,' he said; and then, recollecting with what intention he was trying to see her, he was promptly overcome with confusion and blushed.

'I didn't know you could skate, and skate so well.'

She looked at him earnestly, as though wishing to make out the cause of his confusion.

'Your praise is worth having. The tradition is kept up here that you are the best of skaters,' she said, with her little black-gloved hand brushing a grain of hoar-frost off her muff.

'Yes, I used once to skate with passion; I wanted to reach perfection'

'You do everything with passion, I think,' she said, smiling. 'I should so like to see how you skate. Put on skates, and let us skate together.'

'Skate together! Can that be possible?' thought Levin, gazing at her.

'I'll put them on directly,' he said.

And he went off to get skates.

'It's a long while since we've seen you here, sir,' said the attendant, supporting his foot, and screwing on the heel of the skate. 'Except you, there’s none of the gentlemen first-rate skaters. Will that be all right?' said he, tightening the strap.

'Oh, yes, yes; make haste, please,' answered Levin, with difficulty restraining the smile of rapture which would overspread his face. 'Yes,' he thought, 'this now is life, this is happiness! Together, she said; let us skate together! Speak to her now? But that’s just why I'm afraid to speak - because I'm happy now, happy in hope, any way... And then?… But I must! I must! I must! Away with weakness!'

Levin rose to his feet, took off his overcoat, and scurrying over the rough ice round the hut, came out on the smooth ice and skated without effort, as it were by simple exercise of will increasing and slackening speed and turning his course. He approached with timidity, but again her smile reassured him.

She gave him her hand, and they set off side by side, going faster and faster, and the more rapidly they moved the more tightly she grasped his hand.

'With you I should soon learn; I somehow feel confidence in you,' she said to him.

'And I have confidence in myself when you are leaning on me,' he said."

Tolstoy passed away in 1910, fifty four years before The Protopopov's won the Soviet Union's first Olympic gold medal in pairs skating. However, his romantic depiction of strained romance on the ice decades before in "Anna Karenina" continues to have a lasting influence not only on Russian pairs and ice dance teams but those worldwide. Knowing now that the author himself had great affection for the sport only makes the legacy of his words all the more interesting from a historical perspective.

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 Great Lobster Boil Of 1989

It's no secret that many of the best stories from figure skating's history don't even take place on the ice. In the case of today's blog, the drama wasn't even unfolding in the stands, the judge's room or the dressing room. It was unfolding in the kitchen.

At the 1989 World Figure Skating Championships in Paris, France, the Canadian Figure Skating Association (in conjunction with the local organizing committee for the 1990 World Championships in Halifax) planned a reception for two hundred and fifty people to promote the 1990 World Championships here in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Guests came from from thirty four different countries and included ISU representatives, marketing representatives, major television network officials, skaters and sponsors. There were engraved pins with the logo for the 1990 World Championships; there was a video advertising how fabulous Halifax is. There was also a problem.

As for the menu, in the May 1989 issue of "The Dartmouth Monthly", Joanne Byrne explained that "we wanted something Nova Scotian and Europeans consider lobster a rare delicacy... a taste of the hospitality they can expect in Nova Scotia." Byrne, a Nova Scotian skating judge and longtime supporter of skating here in the province, had helped coordinated the shipment of three hundred and forty pounds of Nova Scotia lobster to Paris for the reception. It was supposed to have arrived ready to serve. Instead, she had to get a ridiculous amount of live lobsters through French Customs and figure out how to cook them. With her limited French, she manage to convince Paris chefs to help with the dilemma and cook the crustaceans. However, the French chefs weren't down with simply boiling the lobster. They insisted on laying it flat on the serving platters. To do this, Byrne said "they wrapped every last lobster tail mummy-style to keep the tails from curling during cooking."

As if this all wasn't enough to make someone want to jump into the pot with those delectable crustaceans, the Parisian chefs were taken aback at the suggestion of serving the lobsters with melted butter (as is of course customary) and instead opted to make two elaborate butter sculptures: a lion's head and a butter bust of Louis XIV to decorate the tables. Imagine! Lobster laments aside, the reception was a huge hit with everyone in attendance other than those who ended up boiling in a pot and getting smeared with a knife full of butter from the side of Louis XIV's head.

All event tickets were sold out well in advance of the 1990 World Championships and inspired by the Paris lobster boil, visitors to Halifax during the 1990 World Championships were treated to a Nova Scotia lobster dinner, Maritime music and hospitality throughout the 1990 World Championships at an event held at J.J. Rossy's called "Lobsters On Skates". Proceeds from the event, sponsored by Clearwater Lobster, supported the Halifax YMCA. As we all know, the Halifax Worlds proved to be one of the most exciting and fondly remembered World Championships in the nineties. All thanks to the Nova Scotia lobster? Clearly!

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.