Skating In Charlotte's Shadow: The Hilda Rückert Story

The daughter of Luise (Schucht) and Fritz Karl Rückert, Hildegard 'Hilda' Charlotte Elisabeth Rückert was born April 8, 1897 in the affluent borough of Charlottenburg in Berlin, Germany. Her father passed away at the age of thirty nine in 1903, when she was only six years old.

After studying ballet in hopes of joining the Imperial Russian Ballet, Hilda got her start as a teenage skater performing in a steady stream of Leo Bartuschek's Eisballets at the Admiralspalast. In August 1916, at the age of eighteen, she boarded the Kristianiafjord, sailing from Bergen, Norway to New York City with twenty six other skaters. Employed by Charles Dillingham to perform in the famous ice shows at the Hippodrome which starred her friend Charlotte Oelschlägel, she received a salary of twenty five dollars a month.

Top: Hilda Rückert, Ellen Dallerup and Katie Schmidt. Bottom: Hilda Rückert.

Only months after her arrival in America, Hilda gave a pairs skating exhibition with Irving Brokaw at the Hippodrome Challenge Cup, which fell somewhat flat. The February 19, 1916 issue of "The Daily Standard Union" recalled, "While the judges were counting up the points Irving Brokaw and Miss Hilda Rückert of the Hippodrome company skated an exhibition and indulged in the most spectacular fall of the week. Miss Ruckert attempted one of the high jumps which she does so well and Mr. Brokaw's hands slipped just as she left the ice. He landed in a heap and she went flying through the air and fell full length on the ice. She buried her face in her arms and never moved a muscle for a moment, and just as the spectators began to think she was badly hurt, jumped up with a laugh and joining Mr. Brokaw skated off at top speed again."

That spectacular fall would prove to be one of the few missteps of Hilda's skating career. Though Charlotte was billed as the star of the Hippodrome ice shows, Hilda, Ellen Dallerup and Katie Schmidt all received considerable attention from New York audiences. After only a year in the city, Hilda had made such an impression that she told a reporter from "The Evening World" that "hereafter she is to be known as just plain Hilda." Though she didn't quite achieve enough fame to be a mononymous skater like Charlotte or later, Belita, her exploits after her stint in the Eisballets and Hippodrome shows certainly played an important role in the development of professional figure skating.

Left: Ellen Dallerup and Hilda Rückert. Right: Advertising card for Healy's Golden Glades.

In the summer of 1917, Hilda was hired by Thomas Healy to appear in the rooftop ice shows at the Golden Glades restaurant on the northeast corner of Columbus Avenue and West 66th Street in New York City. She was billed in Healy's shows as 'The Skating Gazel' and pre-prohibition audiences at the restaurant were astonished by the novelty of the young German skater's spins as they downed stiff cocktails. 

Photo courtesy Library Of Congress

Hilda's stint with Healy led to gigs skating in the Plantation Grill at the Muehlebach Hotel in Kansas City, the Henshaw Hotel in Omaha and the Terrace Garden at the Morrison Hotel in Chicago, but as the temperance movement resulted in prohibition, employment opportunities for skaters in hotel ice shows dried up and Hilda was forced to return to lakes, ponds and outdoor rinks to make a living as a professional skater.

In 1922, Hilda gave exhibitions in Indianola Park in Columbus, Ohio and took on a starring role in an ice revue at the Ice Palace at 45th and Market Streets in Philadelphia alongside Gladys Lamb and Norval Baptie, Katie Schmidt and Howard Nicholson.

Hilda Rückert and Howard Nicholson

The following year, Hilda toured the state of New York giving exhibitions in conjunction with professional speed skating races. The January 14, 1923 issue of "The New York Times" noted that she thrilled an audience of five thousand with her spinning in one such exhibition. That same year, she appeared in "The Masque Of Pandora", an operatic interpretation of Longfellow's poem of the same name staged at Humboldt Lodge in Columbus by Edna Fox Zirkel. With a cast of six hundred, the "New York Clipper" raved it was "the largest outdoor musical and dramatic offering ever presented in Columbus and almost entered the field of pageantry in its massiveness."

 Hilda Rückert and Eugene Mikeler

After a plan to revive the now failing Hippodrome with an ice show starring Hilda, Elsie Donegan and Earl Reynolds fell through, Hilda was struggling financially. She made the difficult decision to cut her losses and abandon her American dream in the late twenties around the time of the Stock Market Crash. 

Hilda Rückert and Howard Nicholson

Hilda sailed to Europe and skated gave a series of exhibitions in Chamonix, France before forming her own 'all-girl' troupe, the Eisballet Rückert, and touring Spain. The troupe performed on hastily set-up rinks in fields, theatres and bullrings.

Hilda with members of the Eisballet Rückert. Photo courtesy National Library Of Spain.

Hilda then headed to the skating resorts of St. Moritz, Switzerland. Wowing crowds with a series of exhibitions at the Grand Hotel ice rink alongside Ellen Brockhöft and Paul Kreckow, she reunited with Howard Nicholson, whom she starred with in the ice revue in Philadelphia almost ten years earlier. 

Hilda and Howard formed a professional partnership and introduced Swiss audiences to many of the acrobatic tricks popularized in the American hotel and restaurant shows of the twenties.

   

Hilda Rückert and Howard Nicholson

Though they likely weren't the first team to perform acrobatic tricks like the neck spin and 'airplane' spin which is reminiscent of the headbanger, Hilda and Howard Nicholson were without a doubt pioneers of adagio skating and audiences couldn't get enough of them.

Howard Nicholson, Hilda Rückert and Paul Kreckow in St. Moritz

However, after appearing in Herbert Selpin's 1934 comedic film "Der Springer von Pontresina" skating with 'Baron' von Petersdorff, Hilda's time in the spotlight all but came to an end. She returned to Germany, survived World War II and much like Charlotte, lived out the rest of her days in relative obscurity. She passed away on November 14, 1960 in Nuremberg at the age of sixty three.

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

Switzerland, New Zealand And Egbert The Educated Horse

With its ice capped mountains and beautiful outdoor rinks, Switzerland was once the foremost destination for skating enthusiasts around the world. Over the years, the country has been the fictional setting of three Sonja Henie films ("Everything Happens At Night", "One In A Million" and "Thin Ice"), Claude Langdon's popular ice pantomime "White Horse Inn On Ice" starring Belita, and countless ice shows around the world. One such Swiss-inspired ice show, in the absolute unlikeliest of places, turned out to be a massive hit that the world has all but forgotten.

In the summer of 1939, just weeks before World War II broke out, Australian born businessman Sir John Robert Hugh McKenzie had a brain wave. McKenzie ran the J.C. Williamson Theatre Company which often brought in overseas entertainment for Australian and New Zealand markets and was well aware of ice skating's international popularity. Determined to bring a lavish ice show to Kiwi audiences but without a venue equipped to house such a production, he set to work transforming the stage at His Majesty's Theatre in Auckland into an ice rink.

Megan Taylor

The Williamson Theatre Company's ice show was to be called "Switzerland" and would star two time World Champion Megan Taylor and her father and coach Phil, an accomplished stilt skater and barrel jumper. The production, which had already toured to packed houses in South Africa and Australia, was originally slated to open in New Zealand in September of 1939 but several challenges delayed the production. Seats had to be removed and the stage built up and made perfectly level so that the view from the theatre's front stalls was unobstructed. Then, of course, there was that nasty business of making ice. On December 17, 1939, the Taylor's arrived in Auckland with just six days to rework a Swiss fantasy on ice with their travelling cast of sixty skaters, including Australians, Britons and Canadians.

"Switzerland" opened two days before Christmas on 1939 to a sold out crowd. People from as far north as Whangarei and as far south as Taihape flocked to the New Zealand capital to see what all the fuss was about. They were treated by Leo Packer and his Orchestra performing Merry Tyrolean folk dance music when they sat on their seats. When the curtain opened, they laid eyes upon a glistening stage set with painted mountains, a Swiss chalet and a picture perfect ice rink. In the next day's issue of "The Auckland Star", an enthusiastic reviewer described the show as a "rushing ballet of skaters and skaterinas weaving and inter weaving in the glorious swing of the ballroom waltz. Ere the curtain fell this ballet in winged, steel-shod shoes had not only compelled admiration for the beauty of Tyrol folk dances, Can-Can, dainty minuet and 'Floradora' flourish; enhanced by the swift mobility of dancing on ice, but had aroused unrestrained enthusiasm by flashing into a military parade of kettledrum, flag and general drill with faultless swing, steadiness and precision - spectacle after colourful spectacle of the grace, beauty and exhiliration of skilful skating. Yet the ballet was but the pale halo round the central stars. Megan Taylor was dazzling in the highlights of classic precision and purity of form which had gained her world champion honours in the recognised competitive tests of the mistress. In lighter mood she displayed the expressive fire and colour of a Gypsy dance, and the dash of a champion unleashed in free skating. Phil Taylor champion in his own right both before and after his lovely daughter won her honours, lifted the pitch of the skate-song up to speedway recklessness in stilt stunts, daring jumps, and with Elsie Heathcote as partner, the hazardous refinements of adagio dancing on skates. The MacKinnon sisters [Patricia and Joy], of Canada, included also the thrilling adagio dance, whirling in their specialties, which ran to many beautiful variations possible only to skaterinas of superlative skill. Diana Grafton, Doreen Parr, Rita Bramley and Ronald Priestley concentrated on the expression of humour on skates with comedy dancing, the 'Boomps-a-Daisy' Polka by Miss Parr and Priestley, and Diana's dashing acrobatic numbers being especially appreciated. Scintillating personalities all these, yet none was more brilliant than that merry jester of the rink, Eddie Marcel, to whom the house owed, and gladly paid in laughing tribute, a deep debt of gratitude for full enjoyment and understanding of the show. The artistic blend of character comedy and compering made him a lifelong friend of all patrons. In a cabaret interlude featuring diversified comedy, Connie Graham, with Hal Scott in support, amusingly burlesqued prima donnas and client film actresses, and brought the house down with her dramatic realism in the Tom-cat's 'Midnight Love Song.' Tommy Russell fiddled to nonsensical piano-accordion accompaniments by Ernie Marconi in spasms of original musical comedy. It was a memorable night of fun and glamorous skating highlights, enhanced by capable and inspiring orchestration."

The show ran nightly with matinee shows on Wednesdays and Saturdays with a twist no one was expecting. Although Megan and Phil Taylor were the headliners of "Switzerland", they were nearly upstaged by Egbert The Educated Horse, played by Ronald Priestley and Eddie Marcel. The crowd just went berserk over the two-man skating horse, cheering him loudly and even yelling for encores. The next day, the newspaper raved, "Egbert is a 'property' horse who has to be seen to believed; he rolls his eyes, blows smoke through his nostrils, and in moments of emotion weeps copiously." 

Megan Taylor

So well received was the show at Her Majesty's Theatre that The Williamson Theatre Company decided to take "Switzerland" on the road. The Taylor's, Elsie Heathcote and of course, Egbert The Educated Horse, received nightly standing ovations for over a month at the The Grand Opera House in Wellington, where 'house full' cards had to be displayed outside the theatre before both matinee and evening performances. 

From there, the cast went to Christchurch, where Megan Taylor was honoured by the New Zealand Roller Skating Association at a special reception in her honour. After shows at the Theatre Royal in Hamilton, "Switzerland" returned to His Majesty's Theatre in Auckland for an encore performance. On April 29, 1940, "The Auckland Star" raved that "applause and laughter such as has rarely been heard in His Majesty's Theatre rocked the venerable building to its foundations... Of the capacity house, at least half must have seen the show when it was here at Christmas - it is known that one patron had seen it no fewer than nine times - and so members of the company were welcomed back as old friends... Where would they all have been if it had not been for Marcel? Marcel, valiantly coming to the footlights to announce each turn with inimitable patter, although his feet showed a marked disposition to tie themselves in knots, and his 'educated' horse Egbert, who seemed to forget its training or leave the ground altogether."

With a portion of the proceeds donated to the Sick And Wounded War Fund, this unexpected hit inspired a series of popular wartime ice shows in New Zealand that distracted the fine folks of the country from the tumult and horror of the Pacific theater of war. Through the imagination of McKenzie and the J.C. Williamson Company, Kiwis could go to the theatre every night and be transported to neutral Switzerland, a safe place where skating reigned supreme and everyone was happy... especially Egbert The Educated Horse.

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 Hobbs Trophy

Just two years after The Great War ended, a group of winter sports enthusiasts in Lake Placid, New York formed an organization called the Sno Birds. The Sno Birds aimed to organize and promote figure and speed skating, skiing, tobogganing, curling and other popular winter sports in the area, and were affiliated with the various national governing bodies of winter sports at the time, including the U.S. Figure Skating Association. A man named Ernst des Baillets, who had served on the executive of similar Winter Sports Clubs in Caux, Les Avats and Chamonix as well as the Tuxedo Club in New York, served as the organization's director in its infancy.

Charles Buxton Hobbs

One of the more important goals of the Sno Birds was to organize winter sports festivals... which included figure skating competitions. The first of these festivals took place in 1920, the year the club was formed. That same year, Charles Buxton Hobbs, a well-to-do Virginia born Yale and Columbia grad who worked as a lawyer at the New York City firm Gifford, Stearns, Hobbs & Beard, donated The Hobbs Trophy to the group.

Much like the Hippodrome Challenge Cup which had been much sought after during wartime, the figure skating competitions for The Hobbs Trophy drew a veritable who's who of American figure skating to Lake Placid. Skaters from as far away as Boston, New Haven and Philadelphia - many of the same skaters who vied for top honours at the U.S. Championships during the roaring twenties - made the trek to the village to vie for the prize. Though they competed in separate classes, both men and women were eligible for The Hobbs Trophy. In order to earn permanent possession of the Trophy, all they had to do was win their class of competition at the annual Lake Placid figure skating competition on three separate occasions.

Ethel Bijur, Bedell H. Harned, Mrs. and Mr. Henry Wainwright Howe, Virginia Slattery and Ferrier T. Martin skating in Lake Placid in 1925. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

In 1925, Beatrix Loughran won the senior women's competition for the third consecutive year and became the first person to be able to take to take the Hobbs Trophy home and rest it on her mantle. Her ownership of the Trophy was short-lived. In 1926, George Braakman defeated Ferrier T. Martin and Heaton Ridgway Robertson to win his third consecutive men's title and earned his right to the coveted prize. That same year, Cecil Smith of Toronto defeated Ada Bauman of New York to become the first Canadian skater to win the women's contest. Over fifty skaters from Canada and the U.S. competed in the event that year. Writing in "Skating" magazine, M.L. Wright recalled, "Stars And Stripes, Union Jacks and Canadian flags floated in the snowy air above the glistening ice as the skaters glided about, their dark formal costumes outlined against the high banks of snow around the rink. Low temperature prevailed and a considerable snowfall added to the picture... Miss Smith gave a more remarkable exhibition than heretofore seen on the Club rink." She defended her title the following year.

The figure skating competitions in Lake Placid during the twenties and thirties also featured competitions for pairs, junior men and women and contests in Waltzing, the Tenstep and the Fourteenstep. Many skaters who medalled at the U.S. Championships during the era, including Roger Turner, James B. Greene, Rosalie Dunn, Gail Borden II, Dr. Hulda Berger and the Weigel Sisters all struck gold in Lake Placid. By the thirties, Mrs. R.W. Allen (who had competed against Beatrix Loughran for the Hobbs Trophy in 1925) had donated a platter for skaters who won their class twice as opposed to thrice. Bedell H. Harned and Henry Wainwright Howe, who both won dancing titles in Lake Placid during the roaring twenties, also donated cups as prizes. 

As all of these contests were held outside, skaters of course had to contend with Mother Nature. Hothouse skaters and seasoned pond skaters alike struggled in 1924. The dance events had to be postponed when temperatures dipped as low as minus twenty nine Celsius. They were back on when the temperatures rose to a not so balmy minus twenty three. In 1936, Boston's Polly Blodgett struck gold in the women's event, her dress caked with snow from an ensuing blizzard.

Though the 1932 Winter Olympic Games have (rightfully) garnered much more attention than these early contests in Lake Placid, it's important to consider that with the cast of characters present, these events were every bit as important historically as the early U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

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.

Small But Mighty: The Chuckie Stein Story

Photo courtesy "The National Ice Skating Guide"

Charles Philip 'Chuckie' Stein was born on January 11, 1921 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His mother Elizabeth (Keck) Stein passed away when he was only a toddler and he was raised by his father Philip and stepmother Josephine (Gropp), a German immigrant to America. His father worked for a department store as an upholsterer before starting his own business.

The second oldest of four siblings, Chuckie was raised on Pittsburgh's North Side. He graduated from high school in Perrysville, just outside of the city. His first job was at the Perry Theater, where he worked as an usher. The movie house was owned by John H. Harris, who also owned the Pittsburgh Hornets hockey team. Harris offered Chuckie a job as the hockey team's mascot. He wore a hockey uniform with the number '1/2' on it, because of his height. At only four feet tall and sixty two pounds, he was a little person. At the time, he was more often than not referred to by another word that is considered highly offensive today.

Chuckie had zero experience as a skater when he began working for John H. Harris, riling up the crowd during hockey game intermissions. The only lessons, if you'd call them that, he received were from home team's players. Despite this, Harris took a chance on Chuckie, offering him a job in his most famous venture - the Ice Capades.

Chuckie Stein and Nate Walley

Nate Walley took Chuckie under his wing and soon the two men were performing comedic duets together. These numbers, which played on their extreme height difference, had names like "One And A Half". In their most famous act together, Chuckie played a ventriloquist's dummy. In other acts, he appeared as a panda bear, a mouse, Santa Claus, one of the seven dwarfs and even in drag in an ode to Shirley Temple's famous "On The Good Ship Lollipop" number. Chester Hale, the famous Ice Capades choreographer, was responsible for putting together most of his programs.

Despite the fact that Chuckie lacked the skating skills or experience of most of his fellow cast members, for over a decade "the tiny funnyman" consistently stole the limelight from his peers, endearing himself to crowds at Ice Capades and Ice Cycles shows from coast to coast. Was there an underlying element of exploitation of Chuckie's height and size? You bet. It was the forties... and to ice show producers and audiences alike, he was in many ways 'a gimmick' and treated as such.

Photo courtesy "The National Ice Skating Guide"

In the height of Chuckie's fame as a skater, "The Knickerbocker News" claimed that he was attempting to get his pilot's license with help from a novel invention devised by an Atlantic City mechanic. The reporter wrote, "The mechanic-friend rigged up a pair of metal tubes about 24 inches long with the ends curved into 'U' shapes. Strapped to Stein's feet much the same as roller skates, the tubes enable him to reach the rudder-pedals which otherwise would be inaccessible." 

Left photo courtesy "International Ice Skating Directory"

Weary from over a decade of constant traveling, Chuckie handed in his notice to the Ice Capades management in the early fifties. He took a job as the head skate guard at Pittsburgh's new North Park rink, where he met his future wife Donna May. He later worked for many years as a property appraiser for Allegheny County and served on the West View Borough Council. He passed away at the age of eighty two on October 30, 2003 in his home city, suffering from complications of kidney disease.

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 Murder Of Frances Radecop

In 1944, West Seattle Junction was a lively middle-class neighborhood, bustling with workers employed in nearby airplane factories and shipyards. 40th Avenue S.W. was home to a police patrolman, public school teacher and private detective. Parents felt safe when children played in the streets unsupervised until dusk. People didn't lock their doors. Though World War II served as a grim backdrop, suburban life in the Washington city was more or less peaceful.

In the last house on the block lived Cora Radecop and her husband Adry, a pharmacist at the Save-More drug store. They had two daughters - Eudora and Frances. Frances 'Franny' Radecop was an outgoing young woman who excelled at music and acting. She was the President of the Junior Epworth League of the SeaView Methodist Church and served as editor of her high school yearbook. 

Both Frances and her sister were enthuasistic members of the Seattle Skating Club, appearing in club carnivals alongside guest stars like Vivi-Anne Hultén and Gene Theslof. They spent hours training alongside Karol and Peter Kennedy, who went on to be Olympic Medallists and World Champions. Frances made it as far as competing at the Washington State and Pacific Coast Championships and passed her Silver Dance test. When she was offered a music scholarship to Washington State University in her final year of high school, figure skating took the back burner. Many felt that she really could have made something of herself as a skater had she not have made music her number one priority.

Frances Radecop with representatives of West Seattle High School's honors society and cast members of her school play, 1944

Just two months after Frances graduated from high school, her family's world was turned upside down. At six in the evening on August 25, 1944, Cora returned home from a shopping trip and discovered Frances' blood-splattered body in the living room, surrounded by scattered sheet music and an overturned music stand. She had been strangled and beaten on the head with a blunt instrument. The coroner's report found no evidence of rape and police expressed the view that Frances had been murdered by "someone she knew well". Neighbours reported seeing a young man enter the home several hours before Frances' body was discovered.

A week later, Seattle cops grappled with another murder mystery. Twenty two year old Wyona Saikley, a War worker at the Boeing Aircraft Plant, and her husband were viciously attacked with a knife. The woman died of her wounds. Shortly thereafter, fourteen year old George Anderson found his mother Marguerite lying dead in her bed. In what was deemed as 'the pop bottle murder', Marguerite Anderson had been attacked viciously with a glass soda bottle. The violent attacks, which all occurred in the span of less than a week, led fear-mongering reporters to write of a "murder wave" in Seattle, even though police steadfastly believed none of the murders were connected.

Police interviewed a number of people in connection to Frances' case, but they were all released. The case went cold. Eight years later, a twenty three year old motor-lorry driver named Carl Jones confessed to killing Frances when he was undergoing a lie detector test in connection with the theft of an outboard motor. In a statement to Police Chief J.E. Lawrence, Carl Jones claimed that when we was fifteen, Frances had happened upon him ransacking a bedroom in her home. She recognized him as a neighbour and threatened to "tell on him". He choked her and bludgeoned her with a baseball bat, while she pleaded for her life. Carl Jones was required by detectives to re-enact how the killing happened by revisiting the Radecop family home. Before he entered, Frances' father approached him and said, "Carl, I'm sorry." Jones replied, "I'll do anything I can to make it up to you in any way that I can."

Just a year before Frances Radecop's murder was solved, the city of Seattle played host to the U.S. Figure Skating Championships for the very first time. If fate had taken her in a different direction, she may well have been one of the competitors that year. We'll never know.

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.

If I Only Had A (Hope) Braine Blog

Born January 30, 1915 in the port town of Folkestone in Dover, England, Hope Braine was the son of Horace and Evelyn Braine. His father, who worked as a boiler attendant at a brewery, served with the Army Service Corps in Great War, achieving the rank of Major. Hope learned to skate when he was a young student, and dabbled in hockey for a time before dedicating himself seriously to figure skating. He achieved the gold medal of the National Skating Association but never competed as an amateur, later recalling that he would have been far too nervous at the time to do so.

Though he earned a motor engineer's degree, Hope decided there was more money in teaching skating. He accepted a position as an instructor at the Queen's Ice Club, Bayswater, where he hobnobbed with some of the top professionals of his day. Following in the footsteps of Sidney Charlton and Phil Taylor, he learned how to perform on twenty inch stilt skates. He also picked up barrel and hoop jumping, eventually becoming so proficient at the novelty that he could jump over a table.

 At five foot nine and one hundred and fifty five pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes, Hope had a striking presence on the ice... and he certainly turned some heads at the 1935 Open Professional Championships of Great Britain in the International Style in Richmond, where he finished second to America's Nate Walley. He won the event the following two years, defeating no less a coaching legend than Arnold Gerschwiler in the 1936 event. These events included both school figures and free skating, and even though they were professional competitions, there was no prize money in those days as the events were organized by the National Skating Association. Hope later told reporters, "While training for the championship I started at 8:15 each morning and practiced for about two hours, then worked for another hour about midday... I try to keep myself fit by neither drinking nor smoking, and making an effort to get into bed before midnight every night - rather difficult at times."

In the late thirties, Hope was something of a globetrotter. He performed in ice ballets in South Africa and taught in St. Moritz. He also spent some time in America teaching at the Ice Club of Baltimore and performing in carnivals. At an Ice Gymkhana in Philadelphia in 1937, he faced off with Kit Klein in a speed skating race. While summering in Australia, he taught skaters at the Sydney Glaciarium. In 1939, he accepted a position as the chief instructor at the newly opened Ice Palais in Sydney and toured Australia and New Zealand with Megan and Phil Taylor's "Switzerland" ice revue. His goal, he told reporters, was to make enough money to buy a farm.

On October 9, 1939 at St. John's Church, Darlinghurst, Hope married Sylvia Law, a South African skater he'd met back in London, when she was secretary at Queen's Ice Rink. Sylvia told Australian reporters, "The only way I could join him in Australia was to sign up with the Switzerland Ice Show, which was coming here. Girl skaters were rather rare, so it was not hard to get a job with the company. I skated professionally for the last time on Saturday night at the Theatre Royal. I shall be content now to watch Hope. Our wedding will be a quiet affair, because of the War." Sylvia's bridesmaid, Hazel McCulloch, left the wedding in time for the "Switzerland" ice revue's 8 PM curtain call. Hope joked to Australian reporters, "We're so keen on skating  that we should like to have a drawing-room fitted up as a rink. But an ice-box is about all we can afford at present." While honeymooning in Canada, Hope performed in a carnival in Winnipeg. He and Sylvia liked the Prairies so much they stayed, and Hope spent a winter teaching at the Glencoe Club in Calgary.

Photo courtesy National Archives Of Australia

After his Canadian adventure, Hope returned to Australia, settling in Pott's Point and resuming his position at the Ice Palais. He and Sylvia staged an Empire Ice Carnival in support of the Red Cross Society. In January of 1941, he enlisted in Royal Australian Air Force at the age of twenty six. He served as a Flying Officer in missions in Shandur and Shellufa, Egypt but was reported missing, then killed, in a battle off the coast of Sardinia on February 7, 1943. He was only twenty eight years old.

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 1935 European Figure Skating Championships

"Although [Sonja Henie] is only twenty-two it is held that she has ceased to improve, while each year the opposition is stronger." - "Yorkshire Post And Leeds Intelligencer", February 11, 1935

Held from January 23 to 26 at the Suvretta House rink in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the 1935 European Figure Skating Championships proved to be somewhat of a nightmare for ISU officials and the Swiss organizers. For starters, there were far more entries than initially anticipated. Nineteen women, fourteen men and ten pairs registered to compete in the senior events as well as a couple dozen more in international junior men's and women's competitions included in conjunction with the event. Despite a few withdrawals, organizers still had to start the competition a day earlier than originally planned in order to accommodate the higher than expected number of entries. Then there was the weather. When the competition began, the weather was cool. Then it became warmer, hot (by Swiss standards) and cooled off again. The ice became mirror smooth but very brittle, far from ideal conditions for both the competitors and the judges, who struggled to see the figures traced on the ice.

Austria's Herbert Alward was the unanimous choice of the judges in the junior men's competition. Eight young girls and one married woman, Italy's Anna Cattaneo Dubini, vied for the junior women's crown. The victor was Austria's Maria Schweinburg, with a young Daphne Walker and Belita Jepson-Turner placing an impressive second and fifth.

After one withdrawal, nine couples took to the ice to compete in the pairs competition. Germany's Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier, who had arrived in St. Moritz well in advance to train at the Kulm Rink, showed off their combined strength as singles skaters with a program that included shadow skating, side-by-side jumps, lifts and dance steps. Seven judges had them first, but British judge Kenneth Macdonald Beaumont had them fourth, not appreciating their athletic approach. One judge apiece had silver medallists Idi Papez and Karl Zwack of Austria second and bronze medallists Lucy Gallo and Rezső Dillinger of Hungary first. Of the top teams, Gallo and Dillinger's marks were the most all over the place. They received one first place, a second, two thirds, a sixth, a seventh and a ninth (last) place!

Top: Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier. Bottom: Karl Schäfer. Photos courtesy National Archives of Poland.

To the surprise of literally no one, six time and defending European Champion Karl Schäfer was first on every single judge's scorecard in the men's school figures. The January 24, 1935 issue of the "Wiener Sporttagblatt" noted that he skated "without any nervousness... calm, but still attentive in almost every figure, especially those with higher difficulty." All but German judge Artur Vieregg - who preferred his countryman Ernst Baier - had Schäfer first in the free skate as well. The marks in the men's event were quite all over the place, but silver and bronze medallist Felix Kaspar and Ernst Baier were extremely close in the free skate. Four of seven judges actually actually had Great Britain's Jackie Dunn in the top three, but he settled for fourth on account of his score in the figures, ahead of Finland's Marcus Nikkanen, Austria's Erich Erdös and Hungary's Elemér Terták.

Ill in Zürich, Austria's Bianca Schenk withdrew prior to the start of the women's competition. France's Jacqueline Vaudecrane and Great Britain's Mia Macklin also pulled out, dropping the number of entries from nineteen to sixteen. Notably absent were Sweden's Vivi-Anne Hultén and Great Britain's Megan Taylor. To the surprise of few, Sonja Henie amassed a fifteen point lead over Cecilia Colledge in the school figures, earning first place ordinals from every single judge. The women performed the exact same figures as the men that year, and despite poor conditions, many thought the women fared just as well as the men - if not better - in the compulsories.

Sonja Henie

The January 28, 1935 issue of the "Wiener Sporttagblatt" offered a wonderful summary of many of the women's free skating performances in St. Moritz: "Mme. de Ligne started off in a green velour shipyard dress with rainbow tulle volants. The elegant appearance of the Belgian woman had strong effect, even after she twice touched hands on the ice after jumps. Hungary's young champion Nadine Szilassy appeared in a white velvet dress. Her attitude is very much too decorative, and she skates without tempo and momentum. Mme. Gaby Clericetti, French champion, skated to the song 'Im Salzkammergut, da kann man gut lustig sein', but in French. She wore a beautiful velvet dres with white ermine trim. Her skating was elegant and powerful, but without the least difficulty. Nanna Egedius can be very good, but she slid once after a pirouette out of fatigue. Grete Lainer skated in a white dress and again showed her well-known spin combinations and jumped the Axel Paulsen beautifully. It was the first success of the afternoon. Gweneth Butler is considered an excellent compulsory skater but a weak free skater. She skated very softly, with swing, had her highlights in the standing pirouettes. There were moments when it appeared she would do something [but she didn't]. The English cheered after the final whistle of the referee. She wore a dark velbet dress. The small, graceful Mollie Phillips skated to 'Dein ist mein ganzes Herz' in English. One noticed her courage in training, but her program contained no particular difficulties. Diana Fane-Gladwin wore a white dress with silver trim and was much weaker than her predecessor. She fell once and, as the Viennese say, was very much hearty. The Viennese Hertha Drexler appeared in a black dress with a rose. One clearly noted the contrast between the Viennese and the English school. She skated very lightly, performed an Axel half-way, and so got strong and deserved applause. Cecilia Colledge, well developed for her 14 years, skated one of the most difficult programs of all. She included the Axel, Rittberger and Lutz jumps, and pirouettes, ballet jumps and combinations. Everything with this 'little one' is done with complete security. There was no idle moment in her performance, but her performance speaks not to our taste but to that of the Englishman. She wore a blue woollen dress. Our master Liselotte Landbeck was next. She was enthusiastic about the elegance and attitude of her movements. She turned both slow and fast pirouettes, one better than the other, jumped Axels three at at a time and performed everything in the modern skating repertoire. It was a masterly performance and our master skated in a fraise, feathered dress. The German Lindpaintner skated next. She skated a lot of pirouettes, which had some effect in her waltz to 'Wiener Praterleben' in a lime green dress. 13 year old Emmy Puzinger, who ended the European championships in thirteenth, skated as naturally as poor Hilde Holovsky. She had a wonderful feeling for her music, lots off momentum and a soft bounce after her jumps. The little one wore a white crepe-de-chine dress. 'Hello, hello. Miss Sonja Henie, Oslo Skating Club' said the announcer, and thunderous applause passed through the arena. Everyone was eager for the Queen Of The Ice. Sonja began in a fabulous posture and she looked as beautiful as no other. Sonja jumped an Axel Paulsen, but her balance could not hold and she came down on the ice. For a fraction of a second, Sonja sat on the ice, but then she rose smiling and skated on. But it was no longer the real Sonja. She had become uncertain, she had no more time to dare to do risky jumps. She went on to do a pirouette and ended with a wonderful Lutz, but it was not the great performance that one had expected of her. She appeared in a blue-green shipyard dress and a uniform hat. Hedy Stenuf had the audience [behind her] within seconds. Her program was overloaded with the most beautiful and difficult things ice skating has to offer. She jumped six Axels, three of them in the last minute. Yet she skated at a pace that could almost be described as insane. Had she included more ballet and made less of a sporty impact, her performance would have had a greater impact. Still the people in the stands cheered and wanted an encore, which of course was not possible. So the little one went in her white silk-dress to the dressing room. Germany's young champion Maxi Herber skated last. She skated well and showed original figures, jumped the Rittberger and Axel jumps, although they were, of course, both on two feet. Her pirouettes, because of her long legs, were not always beautiful. She wore a light green simple silk dress."

Grete Lainer in 1935. Photo courtesy Bildarchiv Austria.

As a result of her uncharacteristic tumble and the fact she ended her program before the regulation four minute time, only three judges had Sonja Henie first in the free skate. The Hungarian, German and Austrian judges actually had her in fifth, sixth and seventh! Several judges may have had the balls to mark the Norwegian ice queen down for her uncharacteristically poor free skating performance, but journalists from Zürich and Davos took French judge Charles Sabouret to task, questioning how he could have given her such high marks when she clearly didn't have the performance of the night. In the February 4, 1935 issue of "L'Express", one Swiss journalist wrote, "One would have liked to be able to eliminate the judges who consider the competitors not according to their real value, but rather by serving certain particular interests and showing an obvious bias, thus influencing the judges who wish to classify competitors objectively on their merits alone." Once the math was all done and the school figures taken into account, Sonja Henie was actually first on every judge's scorecard ahead of Landbeck, Colledge, Herber, Butler, Lainer, Stenuf and Phillips. Though Papa Henie celebrated yet another victory for his prize pony, the Swiss audience was less than enthusiastic about the final result. The "Svenska Dagbladet" noted that after the results were announced, Colledge's coach Jacques Gerschwiler "threw his arms up in a fit of anger". Sonja, annoyed by the whole incident and rumours she was washed up', allegedly remarked privately, "My fall resulted in my finding out just how cruel and bitchy people can be, if they wish you no good."

Ilse and Erik Pausin, Hedy Stenuf, Karl Schäfer and Emmy Puzinger in 1935. Photo courtesy Bildarchiv Austria.

Following the competition, a large banquet was held at the Kulm Hotel, attended by skaters, ISU officials, the representatives of ten national skating associations and many Swiss political figures. Competitors were presented with awards, the kirschwasser flowed and a good time was had by most. The Austrian medal winners were congratulated via telegram by Vice-Chancellor Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg and Ulrich Salchow raised a glass to toast the unbeatable Sonja Henie.

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.

Pierrette Paquin Devine, A Canadian Figure Skating Pioneer

Photo courtesy New York Heritage Digital Collections

"We're probably just as nervous as [skaters] are going into a competition. We have to be in the right frame of mind just as they do. The adrenalin runs for us just like it does for the skaters. Evidently we aren't supposed to show it... Believe me, it takes guts." - Pierrette Paquin Devine, "The Montreal Gazette", January 30, 1975

Born in 1930, Pierrette Cécilia Paquin was the daughter of Donat and Elsie (Lapointe) Paquin. She and her sisters Paulina and Paulette grew up in Hull, Quebec in a Roman Catholic family. Her father was a very prominent businessman who owned many cinemas in the area, including the Odéon and French Theaters in Hull, Victoria Theater in Ottawa, Pix in Aylmer and the Régent Theater in Gatineau.

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

A talented piano player in her youth, Pierrette was faced with the task of choosing between scales or school figures. The latter won out and soon she was training ten hours a day at the Minto Skating Club. Training conditions during World War II at the Club were far from glamorous. She would often arrive at the rink before six in the morning, more than an hour before the caretaker arrived, to get the furnace going. It was so cold that the skaters would have to break the ice in the toilet with a hanger and line their boots with newspapers. Despite the fact she shared a coach (Otto Gold) with Barbara Ann Scott, not all of the members of the Club welcomed her with open arms. The Minto Skating Club, like many skating clubs at the time, was very English. Pierrette and the Choquette sisters - Andrée, Connie and Denyse - were part of an extremely small circle of skaters at the club who came from French Canadian families. Despite the fact her mother headed the Club's costume committee and chaperoned the skaters when they went on bus trips to perform in Lake Placid and Montreal, there were some with anti-Catholic and anti-French sentiments who were less than kind.

Photo courtesy New York Heritage Digital Collections

Pierrette's talent on the ice led to starring roles in the Minto Follies and a third place finish in the junior women's event at the 1945 Canadian Championships. After a few years of competing against Barbara Ann Scott in the senior women's event at Canadians, she turned her attention to ice dance. Teaming up with Donald Tobin, she finished second in the Waltz and ice dance events at the 1949 Canadians and won the Tenstep. At that year's North Americans, they finished just off the podium in fourth. In 1950 and 1951, the duo just lost out on winning the Waltz and Tenstep at Canadians but won the overall Canadian title in dance. At the 1951 North Americans in Calgary, they made history as Canada's first medallists at the event in ice dance. Off the ice, Pierrette worked as a buyer for Morgan's Department Store in Ottawa. In her spare time, she enjoyed riding horses, swimming, collecting oriental curios, knitting and reading.

Pierrette Paquin and Donald Tobin. Left photo courtesy New York Heritage Digital Collections, right photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

During the height of her skating success, Pierrette would travel anywhere she could to find ice. In the summers, she teamed up with Bill Kipp to compete in the Lake Placid Summer Dance Competitions. During Easter and Christmas holidays, she'd train in British Columbia and Washington state. By this point, she was also regularly working with famed coach Osborne Colson.

Winners at the 1951 Canadian Championships. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

When Donald Tobin turned professional to skate in shows, Pierrette briefly teamed up with Roger Wickson's brother Malcolm. The duo finished third in the Waltz, Tenstep and dance events at the 1952 Canadian Championships. However, by this point Pierrette's attentions had really turned from skating to judging. In Toronto in April of 1950, she had made history as one of the first skaters in Canada to pass the CFSA's new Gold Dance tests... a testing session she'd both skated and judged at. Her valuable expertise (in dance in particular) was recognized in 1952 when she became Canada's first national level judge... at the age of twenty two. The first major competitions she judged were the 1953 Canadian and North American Championships.

Pierrette Paquin Devine and Louis Putrin, winners of the 1950 Veteran's Ice Dance Competition in Lake Placid in 1950. Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

In 1956, Pierrette married Francis Michael Devine at the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce church in Hull. The couple settled in Toronto and raised a daughter and three sons. Pierrette's marriage was a blow to fellow skater Don Laws. He recalled, "Pierrette was the love of my life, the girl I would have married. We had a great time and when, in winter, she would come to Washington to train with [Osborne] Colson, she and her mother stayed with a relative of mine. Pierrette and I went everywhere together and were close; she had a governess always present. It was the way of the times... When I went off to Korea, we wrote frequently and it was through a letter that I found out that I had lost her to a quarterback. Her wedding took place after I had returned from the war and I attended the church ceremony. I skipped the reception."

At the 1957 World Championships, Pierrette made history as the first Canadian woman to judge at an ISU Championship. At the age of twenty six, she was the youngest woman ever to be appointed a Olympic or World judge by the CFSA at the time... and the only French Canadian judge period. After judging the dance event at the 1959 Worlds, she made history again at the 1960 Worlds in Vancouver, when she made history as the first Canadian referee at an ISU Championship in ice dance.

Photo courtesy Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec

Though Pierrette had something of a reputation as a 'low marker', she was very well-respected among her peers for her honesty - she wasn't afraid to call it as she saw it and go against the grain nor did she have any qualms about standing up for Canadian skaters even if she was outnumbered. At the 1964 World Championships, she was the only judge to place Paulette Doan and Ken Ormsby ahead of the Czechoslovakian winners. At a different event, she dared to place Karen Magnussen ahead of Peggy Fleming. The event's referee praised her, saying, "Madame Devine, you judged that magnificently." Another time, she gave Karen low marks in free skating and afterwards approached her and explained, "I just didn't think you skated that well. Karen replied, "Yes, Mrs. Devine, I know and you were right." She saw the darker side of judging when she refereed the controversial ice dance event at the 1969 North American Championships, where Canadians Donna Taylor and Bruce Lennie defeated Americans Judy Schwomeyer and Jim Sladky in an alleged fix. When she came to the powers that be at the CFSA with her concerns, she was allegedly told to "shut up".

Pierrette's disillusionment with the judging world only grew stronger in the seventies. When she judged the men's event at the 1976 Canadian Championships, she was shocked when the judges on either side of her asked if Ron Shaver had just performed a series of doubles or triples. He had landed three triple loops in succession - a rare feat in those days. Not long after, she retired from judging, frustrated with the dishonesty and incompetence she too often saw around her.

Rather than walk away from the sport, Pierrette moved to Montreal reinvented herself as a coach. Several of her students competed at the national level and later toured in ice shows, including Jaimee Eggleton, who represented Canada at the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo. She retired from coaching in 1998 and moved to Luskville, Quebec. She sadly passed away on September 17, 2020 at the age of ninety.

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.