Bon Appétit: A Journey Through Skating's Culinary History

Guy Buffet dinner plate featuring 'Jacques the skating chef'. 

"Performers are like chefs. Their role is to bake fantastic, exotic desserts to present to the public, but they must never, never save even the smallest piece for themselves." - Toller Cranston

Skating's connection to food likely dates back to the late neolithic period, when migrating lake-dwellers in Scandinavia would attach flat pieces of wood or bone to their feet to travel across snow and ice and hunt for food. In Holland in the eighteenth century, seeing women skating along frozen rivers and canals carrying baskets of eggs was a common occurrence. As skating developed as a sport and art and was regarded less as a means of transportation and survival as the centuries passed, its unique culinary history came to be largely overlooked. In today's blog, we'll look at the fascinating role that food has played in skating's history:

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Menu for 1879 Edinburgh Skating Club dinner at the Windsor Hotel. Photo courtesy The National Library Of Scotland.

In the early nineteenth century, skaters at one of London's Frost Fairs were treated to roast ox, mutton slices, mince pies, tea, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, Purl - a mix of gin and wormwood wine - and hot apples... all served up right on the ice. In Holland, skaters were lured into riverside stalls to bolster their spirits and stomachs during long journeys on frozen canals and rivers.

A twentieth century recipe for Slemp, the Dutch after-skating drink referenced by C.G. Tebbutt in 1885

In an 1885 account, C.G. Tebbutt described the fare served to Dutch skaters: "A big copper kettle, containing boiling milk or coffee, or milk alone, rests on the table... while the eatables are represented by heavy biscuits or gingerbread cakes. Some 'swell' booths provide Schiedam schnapps, warm wine, bread and cheese, and ham; some only the inevitable kettle which is filled with aniseed milk." At the Halifax Skating Rink in Nova Scotia, fancy skaters were treated to tea and light refreshments including strawberries and ice cream.

THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY

At The Bear in Grindelwald, Switzerland, refreshments were an important part of the popular
skating Gymkhanas of the period. Piping hot tea and large baskets of cakes were served after huge skating parties. Swiss skating fare was modest in comparison to luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City around the time a skating rink was open on the hotel's rooftop. A 1907 menu boasted Quail, English Snipe, Leg Of Mutton, Bretonne, Rhode Island Turkey, Smelts, St. Germain, Émincé, St. Hubert. Tansan, Japanese Mineral Water; Lemon Ice, Alligator Pears, Indian Pudding, Edam Cheese, claret and tea. A lobster cocktail was a mere sixty cents; a serving of cotuit oysters was thirty.

1902 ad for Van Camp's soup

Olympic and World Medallist Edgar Syers was one of the first to weigh in about what skaters should and shouldn't be eating: In his "Book Of Winter Sports", he wrote, "A considerable amount of food is probably necessary, as skating reduces weight rapidly, but speaking from experience we find that abstention from all flesh food, save fish, has a most beneficial effect in every way. Smoking and drinking in moderation are admissible; some red wine or light beer may be taken at meals, early hours and plenty of sleep are most important factors in training."

1921 recipe from "The Delineator"

THE THIRTIES

With the rise to power of Sonja Henie came the inevitable trend of reporters questioning of female skaters what they ate 'to keep their trim figures'. On June 20, 1939, "The Age" reported on two time World Champion Megan Taylor's diet thusly: "During her training period strengthening foods are carefully substituted for all starchy foods. She has been careful of her diet for so long that now Miss Taylor would prefer a cup of Bovril to the most tempting of cream cakes for afternoon tea."

Sonja Henie chowing down in 1938. Photo courtesy Boston Public Library.

Chef Phillip Velez of the London Chop House's veal stock so impressed Sonja Henie - reported "The Toledo Blade" on October 28, 1980 - that "he was asked to make three gallons of it for her to take on a European tour." Maribel Vinson Owen, who penned an article on diet for figure skaters in "American Cookery" magazine in 1935, wrote in one of her books, "All year round Sonja had to watch her diet. In the competitive months she was careful to eat the foods that would give her the most energy, and in her three-month summer vacation she was careful not to put on the weight to which superb Norwegian cooking and inherited tendencies would make her prone. Wheat bread, steaks, lots of fruit, and practically no sweets made up her competitive menu, while during the actual skating, she drank quantities of tea and sugar for energy."

Left: Sonja Henie's (cook's) recipe for Custard Tarts. Right: Advertisement for the Salinas Growers Exchange.

While filming "Happy Landing" as a professional, reported the January 2, 1938 issue of "The Chicago Sunday Tribune", Sonja got by on "a breakfast of orange juice, cereal and fresh fruit. At luncheon, she had a bowl of beef bouillon in which two raw eggs had been beaten. For dinner, two lamb chops, three slices of pineapple, and a fresh, green vegetable... She drinks just milk and water. If she feels she needs extra nourishment while skating, she eats about two tablespoonsful of seedless raisins." Henie's mother Selma Lochmann-Nielsen was famous for making a very rich, heavy fish pudding that was often served at Sonja's lavish parties.

THE FORTIES

Menu from Dorothy Lewis' show at the Hotel Nicolett in 1942. Photo courtesy Hennepin County Library.

Evelyn Chandler peddled Sperry Drifted Snow Flour, Carol Lynne Dextrose Food-Energy Sugar, Sonja Henie Royal Crown Cola. Supper and skating went together like two birds of a feather in the second heyday of hotel ice shows.

At the Terrace Room at the Hotel New Yorker in 1945, three course 'deluxe dinners' were offered in addition to an a la carte menu. The October 27, 1945 menu featured broiled fresh Lake Erie trout maitre d'hotel, Cali's Sweetbread with Ham and Mustard Eugene, a cold dinner of Prague Style Ham, Mustard Pickle and Sliced Tomato as well as oysters, clams, lobster salad, homemade burnt almond cream pie and fig puddings with brandy sauce. Coffee was twenty five cents a pot; a three course meal between $2.10 and $3.00.

Left: Barbara Ann Scott. Right: skaters appearing in an advertisement for an unusual drink - tomato juice and yeast

In her 1952 book "Skate With Me", Olympic Gold Medallist Barbara Ann Scott wrote, "I've never smoked or taken a drink - though my father let me sip his cocktail once when I was curious - and I don't pay attention to diet because I don't even like pastry or cakes. I am very fond of spinach. When I was growing I ate oatmeal, with brown sugar and cream, and bacon and orange juice for breakfast. Now I take orange juice and nothing more. Lunch is soup and salad and perhaps fruit. Dinner is steak or chicken and green vegetables. It is a peculiar fact that skating has never made me hungry."

World War II rationing in England and food shortages in post-War Europe deprived many skaters of much needed protein. World Champion Jacqueline du Bief, in her book "Thin Ice" recalled that as a young skater during the War, "despite my parents' efforts, the food shortages... weakened me as was the case with all the children of my age." She clearly needed more du Bief in her diet!

THE FIFTIES

Nineteen year old New South Wales Champion Valerie Cullen advocated a diet of raw eggs and raw steak. In contrast, World Champion Gundi Busch of Germany recommended a mainly vegetarian diet supplemented by fruit juice and milk. World Champion Carol Heiss shared her recipes for glazed ham and macaroni vegetable salad in an issue of "Seventeen" magazine.

Menu from the International Ball at the 1957 World Championships in Colorado Springs. Courtesy "Skating" magazine.

It was in the early fifties that advertisements for Simpkins Vitaglucose Tablets started appearing in "Skating World" magazine. Promising "energy and endurance". In his "Girls' Book Of Skating", Captain T.D. Richardson wrote, "As far as diet is concerned, there is little need for slimming; the hard physical exercise sees to that, and 'puppy fat' quickly disappears; but starchy foods are avoided and plenty of protein - fruit and vegetables are taken, no alcohol and no smoking, and bed on most nights at 8:30 or 9 o'clock. All these are the self-imposed rules of an aspiring champion."

Left: Sonja Henie and her birthday cake in Vancouver, British Columbia. Right: Sonja Henie appearing in an advertisement for Ayds,a  popular candy that promised to work as an appetite suppressant

For touring skaters, it all came down to what was cheap and readily available. In 1955, the first McDonald's restaurant opened in Chicago, Illinois. By the end of the decade, over one hundred of the burger joints had opened across America. Though far from healthy fare, take-out joints offered a cheap alternative to hot plate cookery for skaters touring with professional ice revues like Ice Capades, Ice Follies and Holiday On Ice.

THE SIXTIES

By the late sixties, every young skater in America wanted to be just like Peggy Fleming, so much so that they even believed mimicking her diet would be their meal ticket to a medal. In the May 16, 1968 edition of "The Evening Independent", Peggy's mother boasted of her daughter's prowess in the kitchen. She apparently made a mean banana bread and chocolate and cream cheese fudge but her speciality was meat loaf. Peggy explained, "You get some rice going. Meanwhile roll out some hamburger on a sheet of waxed paper. The trick is to roll it up after spreading the inside with rice and tomato sauce. It looks pretty messy while you work with it." Peggy believed in the importance of a well-balanced diet. She explained, "While I don't have a special diet, I do eat three meals a day and my meats are high in protein." For breakfast, it was bacon, eggs, toast and orange juice, a salad or sandwich for lunch and broiled meat, green vegetables and salad for dinner, fruit for dessert. She noted, "Most of the kids ate fruit of some kind. Some of the kids drank some of those food supplement things. But I'd rather eat a meal."

Article from January 1967 "Skating" magazine showing Alain Calmat's diet for French figure skaters at the 1968 Winter Olympic Games. Courtesy Sandra Bezic.

The sixties also marked perhaps the first time that a skating association took charge of its skater's diets at the Winter Olympic Games. World Champion Alain Calmat, who lit the Olympic cauldron at the Grenoble Games in 1968, doubled as the French team's nutritionist.

Photo courtesy Ingrid Hunnewell

A fun anecdote from the sixties was Skippy peanut butter's sponsorship of the Ice Follies tour. A campy advertisement that appeared in the production's 1965 program read, "Smooth Free-Style Performer stars in sandwich routine. America's largest-selling peanut butter glides gracefully over bread, crackers, etc., tracing Figure 8's and other delicious patterns."

Left: An Ice Follies weigh-in session. Photo courtesy Ingrid Hunnewell. Right: 1964 advertisement for Dextrosol glucose tablets. Photo courtesy "Winter Sports" magazine.

The irony of a food company sponsoring a skating tour was not lost. Both the Ice Capades and Ice Follies were notorious for their 'weigh in' policies of skaters. Performers who gained or lost too much weight could be fined or sent packing.

THE SEVENTIES

Menu from a 1971 reception held at Perino's restaurant in Los Angeles in memory of Sonja Henie by her widower Niels Onstad. Used with permission of the Wisconsin Historical Society (Image ID 10279). 

As the world became entranced by the advent of frozen and convenience foods, skaters flocked to the steak and salad diet. They would eat nothing all day, drink a ton of water and have a steak and salad for dinner. A great many skaters fell prey to this seventies diet fad. It was simply what everyone was doing at the time.

Karen Magnussen and Emi Watanabe enjoying ice cream. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

When the Moscow Circus On Ice came to Chicago in 1970, the visiting Russian skaters were treated to a gala buffet dinner - and open bar -  after their opening night performance. The November 21, 1970 issue of The Chicago Tribune reported, "When the hungry ice skaters, each carrying to a table a plate heaped so high with groceries that it made the famed Dagwood sandwich look like a starvation diet, had abandoned the bar, we interviewed a bartender about what nectar had appealed to the athletic young comrades. 'Never poured so much vodka in my life,' he said. 'Practically nothing else, except a little orange juice'."

Recipe for Braised Duck With Grapes from World Champion Ája Zanová's restaurant The Duck Joint 

Olympic Gold Medallist Dr. Tenley Albright was one of the first doctors to speak quite publicly about skater's diets. She  recommended a balanced diet rich in carbohydrates and proteins, such as whole grains, fruits and juices, chicken and fish and not more than one thousand, two hundred to one thousand, five hundred calories a day. In the October 30, 1979 issue of "The Toledo Blade", she explained, "That kind of eating ensures adequate calories and nourishment without putting an additional load on the system. Athletes want the blood vessels to the muscles to dilate during exercise, not the blood vessels to the stomach."

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

By the late seventies, so much focus was placed on female skater's diet - and weight - that both of the gold medal favourites at the Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid placed a strong focus on slimming down in the belief that it would help their chances. In the May 20, 1979 issue of "The Chicago Tribune", Linda Fratianne lamented, "I've always been on a diet. I took off 10 pounds before the World Championships this year when my coach said to do that or forget about winning the title back. It was hard. I starved myself. I lived on strawberries. But it was something I had to do, or else." At the Olympics, Linda and her mother told reporters from "Sports Illustrated" that they would secretly order cheesecake from room service and put the empty trays in the hallway outside of someone else's door so that Frank Carroll wouldn't find out. "I've gained two [pounds]; Linda's down four... We sound like the daily Dow Jones report," laughed mother Virginia. "It's a battle, okay. I love desserts and I love spaghetti. Doesn't every Italian?", Linda quipped in the February 22, 1980 issue of "The St. Petersburg Times".

THE EIGHTIES

At a lavish banquet sponsored by Agriculture Canada at the 1984 World Championships in Ottawa, skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, Katarina Witt, Brian Orser and Scott Hamilton knoshed on chilled blueberry soup, fiddlehead pate, beef sirloin with pan-fried potatoes, maple parfait and domestic cheeses.

Campbell's Soup advertisement with Rosalynn Sumners. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

One year earlier, Campbell's Soup became the official sponsor of the U.S. Olympic Team. At that year's U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Pittsburgh, Judy and Jim Sladky dressed up as 'the Campbell kids' - complete with eight pound heads - to waltz around the rink extolling the virtues of Sodium-rich broth. That same year, both the U.S. and Canadian Figure Skating Associations began to bring in nutritionists to give seminars emphasizing the importance of nutrition to skaters. Not long after, senior women's competitor Jill Frost appeared in a commercial for one of the unhealthiest foods imaginable - Hostess Twinkies.

Photos courtesy "Canadian Skater" magazine

Although the power of education certainly helped many, a great number of skaters still struggled with poor nutrition throughout the eighties. The pressure for young female skaters to fit a certain mould - and dress size - was immense and ridiculous. Elaine Zayak, Rosalynn Sumners... they were both victims of that pressure. Some even developed serious eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. In 1986, Canadian Olympian Charlene Wong spoke candidly of her struggles, pleading to skaters in one newspaper article, "If you're going through it, don't think you have to fight it alone. Get help."

Brian Orser had a secret weapon up his sleeve that hoped would help him win the Battle Of The Brian's at the Calgary Olympics: a power breakfast shake concocted by nutritionist Anne Hall. Pat Inglis, reporting to the "Southam News" on February 11, 1988 noted, "Its recipe is a guarded secret. But Orser has been seen at competitions shaking up orange juice, yogurt, brewer's yeast, wheat germ, eggs and other ingredients in a jar." Shortly after the Calgary Olympics, Barbara Ann Scott opened up to reporters from "The Toronto Star" how her diet had and hadn't changed since her skating days: "I never thought about my diet when I was a skater. I never liked a lot of food. I eat more now than I did then. Lunch is a waste of time. If I eat lunch, I won't eat dinner."

By the late eighties, many skaters had recognized the power of a more structured, balanced diet. In the February 28, 1989 issue of "The Bulletin", Jill Trenary noted, "I eat lots of complex carbohydrates like fruits and vegetables and I often add chicken or fish at dinner. When I'm in a rush before practice, I grab a rice cake and a thermos of soup to snack on during a break. Soup is a staple in my diet. It's a great pick-up and helps give me extra strength. I also try to drink a lot of water during the day, and I stay away from caffeine. Instead of sodas, I'll have fruit juices like cranberry-apple."

THE NINETIES

Kicking off the nineties with a food analogy about figure skating... the late, great Toller Cranston had this to say about French and Russian ice dancers: "The Duchesnays are like the painting of Cezanne's oranges - a bowl of oranges, honest, truthful, meat and potatoes and real. Usova and Zhulin are like a Dutch still life by an unknown painter totally overdone and every cherry has a highlight. But when all is said and done, all you really wanted was an orange."

The nineties were perhaps one of the weirdest decades when it came to figure skating and food. Didier Gailhaguet admittedly fabricated a story about Surya Bonaly subsisting on a macrobiotic diet that pretty much amounted to birdseed. With an influx of corporate dollars, skaters competed in the saccharine sweet Hershey's Kisses Pro-Am Challenge and fizzy Diet Coke Skaters' Championships. Glossy magazine advertisements depicted skaters endorsing everything from frozen punch to fast food. The CFSA's sponsors included Werther's Original and Stouffer's Lean Cuisine. Sandra Bezic did a commercial for the latter, while Elvis Stojko appeared in advertisements for McCain's fruit punch. Kristi Yamaguchi appeared commercials for Smart Ones frozen pizza and the fast food chain Wendy's.

Professional skaters started to open up about subsisting on popcorn, raisins and muffins on the road... and the dark world of weigh-in's. The August 27, 1993 issue of "The Bangor Daily News" reported that on tour with the Ice Capades, "Food and weight control dominated talk among the skaters, both male and female, especially when it got close to the weekly weigh-in time. Each skater was assigned a designated weight - called a 'set'. Skaters who didn't make weight were docked money out of their paychecks and sometimes threatened with being sent home. Some skaters wouldn't eat for three days before the weigh-in. Others would pile on clothing to tip the scales. Many took laxatives to lose weight. Many thought the more alcohol they drank, the less weight they'd gain."

By the late nineties, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. With more and more education becoming readily available, a great majority of elite level skaters were recognizing the necessity of healthy, balanced diets that featured both protein and carbohydrates. Michelle Kwan's typical diet consisted largely of fish, chicken, pasta and vegetables.

BEYOND THE HISTORY

Between Brian Boitano's delightful cookbook and Food Network show and the boom in popularity of "Figure Skater Fitness" Magazine and Meagan Duhamel's wonderful "Lutz Of Greens" blog, more people are talking about figure skating and food than ever before this decade. After Meagan and Eric's performance at the 2016 World Figure Skating Championships in Boston, I think a lot of people are looking to Meagan and seeing what the power of clean eating can do for a skater. The future of figure skating's culinary history will most likely end up looking very different than its past!

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.

Twizzles And Tragedy: The Sandy MacDonald and Harold Hartshorne Story

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

When five time U.S. ice dance champion, Skating Club of New York founder and esteemed American skating judge Harold Hartshorne lost his life alongside his wife Louise in the 1961 Sabena crash, the skating community could only watch on in horror and disbelief. However, what many don't know is that his partner when he won three of his national titles, Sandy (Alexandra) MacDonald, also left this world far too soon.

Edward A. Hill, Howard Meredith, Audrey Peppe, Wilfred MacDonald and Harold Hartshorne in a Skating Club Of New York Carnival in 1936

The daughter of a doctor, Sandy MacDonald moved from Edmonton, Alberta to New York City to train at the Skating Club of New York under Katie Schmidt in the mid thirties. She quickly found a friend in a man over twenty years her senior, Harold Hartshorne. Hartshorne's role as a competitor was unusual in that not only was he contesting for ice dance titles, he was actively building the discipline in America as he did so. He served as chairman of the USFSA's Dance Committee, drew many regulation dance diagrams and with MacDonald, in essence schooled the judges on what they were to be looking for. In terms of choosing a partner with both clout and knowledge, Sandy MacDonald could not have done better. They quickly became not only respected competitors but regular stars of the Skating Club of New York's shows at Madison Square Garden.

Photo courtesy "Skating Through The Years"

After the team won the 1938 Middle Atlantic Championships, Nettie Prantel (who was Hartshorne's partner when he won his first two U.S. titles) teamed up with Joseph Savage, who had placed second with Katherine Durbrow behind Sandy MacDonald and Harold Hartshorne at the regional event. The rivalry between MacDonald and Hartshorne and Prantell and Savage quickly developed into a 'thing'. In 1939, Prantell and Savage won the Eastern Championships; MacDonald and Hartshorne the U.S. title in St. Paul. When both teams competed at the North American Championships at the Granite Club, one team won the Waltz and the other the Fourteenstep.

By the following season, Joseph Savage had moved to the judges stand. Prantel continued her game of musical partners by joining forces with George Boltres. After winning both the Waltz and Fourteenstep at the Eastern Championships, MacDonald and Hartshorne coasted to a resounding victory with a strong performance that drew loud applause at the 1940 U.S. Championships in Cleveland, Ohio. Their victory was punctuated by impressively high scores from the judges... including Savage who was judging not only his former rivals but his partner from the previous season as well.

Despite a strong challenge from Elizabeth Kennedy and Eugene Turner, Sandy MacDonald and Harold Hartshorne held on to win their third and final U.S. title in a field of fourteen teams at the 1941 U.S. Championships in Boston, Massachusetts. Despite their role in setting the gold standard for ice dancers in the era and Hartshorne's behind the scenes influence, Sandy MacDonald and Harold Hartshorne were unseated as champions in 1942, settling for silver behind Edith Whetstone and Alfred Richards, Jr. MacDonald retired from competition in her early twenties... and the next season Hartshorne returned to the U.S. Championships with Nettie Prantel.

Giving an example of the cross pollination that often went on between ice and roller skating during that era, MacDonald and Hartshorne both found themselves behind the judges stand - along with Theresa Weld Blanchard - at the 1942 United States Amateur Roller Skating Championships in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Like Hartshorne, MacDonald's life ended tragically. Recording the events of the 1949/1950 skating season in her wonderful book "The Evolution Of Dance On Ice", Lynn Copley-Graves wrote that "three time U.S. Dance Champion and first USFSA Gold Dance Medallist Sandy MacDonald was stricken in June with an unknown virus that took her life within three days. She had grown up skating at the Glenora Club in Edmonton but spent most of her short adult life in the United States. After moving to New York in 1935 she graduated from the Traphagen School of Fashion and Design. In 1946 Sandy moved back to Edmonton. During a six-month trip to Europe, she developed severe headaches. After recovering at her parents' home from a subsequent brain operation, the virus struck." According to medical journals, prior to her death on June 9, 1949, MacDonald actually spent two months in the University Hospital. 

MacDonald and Hartshorne deserve both our memory and respect. Their building work as American ice dancers was of great historical import and you can only bet they've been honing their skills for decades in that great skating rink in the sky, readying themselves for the next Fourteenstep.

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.

Landover's Ancestors: The 1964 And 1973 World Professional Championships

Not to be confused with the popular World Professional Championships held in Jaca, Spain, two-time Olympic Gold Medallist Dick Button's beloved World Professional Figure Skating Championships were referred to by many simply as 'Landover' because of the event's long time home in Landover, Maryland. Today on the blog, we'll take a brief look back in time at two forgotten 'ancestors' of the Landover competition.

The first North American precursor to the World Professional Championships was held on December 19, 1964 at the Olympic Auditorium in Lake Placid, New York. The World's Professional Invitational Figure Skating Championships, as it was called, was organized by Howard Nicholson. All four disciplines including ice dancing were contested at the event. Pieter Kollen played double duty, competing for the men's title and finishing second with partner Susan Sebo in the ice dance competition behind Marilyn Meeker and Ron Ludington. Canada's Maria and Otto Jelinek made their professional debut in the pairs event and Donald Jackson took home the men's title. The event was televised on ABC's Wide World Of The Sports and the total purse of prize money was just over five thousand dollars.

In 1973, Dick Button would revive the idea of a professional competition with a higher stakes competition held in - of all places - Tokyo, Japan. Billed overseas not as the World Professional Figure Skating Championships but as the $100,000 International Professional Figure Skating Festival, the 1973 competition was a two day event offering - you guessed it - a total purse of one hundred thousand dollars in prize money to the skaters participating. On the Saturday of the event, skaters in three disciplines (men, women and pairs) performed a 'compulsory free program' similar to the short program that had recently been introduced to amateur competition. On the following day, they returned to showcase their artistic programs in the finals with no rules or restrictions as to their jump or spin content. The pairs event was won by two time Olympic Gold Medallists Ludmila and Oleg Protopopov, who Button invited via Soviet Union officials. Building on their lead of 76.64 in the compulsory free program, they earned 77.80 points in the free skate to coast to a resounding victory with a total score of 154.44, over fifteen points ahead of second place finishers Almut Lehmann and Herbert Wiesinger of West Germany. In third were three time World Medallists Cynthia and Ron Kauffman with 136.99 and in fourth, U.S. Medallist Richard Dwyer and partner Susie Berens with 134.96. As in the pairs event, Olympic and World Medallist Janet Lynn was able to sustain her lead in both phases of the competition, her 76.00 score in the artistic program giving her an event total of 149.98 and the fifteen thousand dollar purse in the ladies event. Fresh off a media manufactured rivalry with Karen Magnussen, Lynn's biggest competition in Tokyo came from another British Columbian: four time Canadian Medallist Cathy Lee Irwin of Vancouver. Irwin placed second with a score of 141.88. 1969 World Bronze Medallist Zsuzsa Almássy of Hungary ended up in third with 135.26 points followed by Susie Berens, who was skating double duty in both singles and pairs at the event. Six time U.S. Medallist Tina Noyes was fifth with a score of 120.72.

In the men's competition, 1967 North American Champion Donald Knight of Canada was actually the surprise leader in the compulsory free program but dropped to third overall after 1956 Olympic Silver Medallist Ronnie Robertson, known especially for his spectacular spins, rallied from behind with an artistic program score of 73.80 to earn an overall score of 144.70. Robertson earned fifteen thousand dollars for winning the men's event, narrowly defeating second place finisher Donald Jackson by 0.10. Another North American Champion, John Misha Petkevich, was fourth with a score of 139.96 and a third American entry, ice show star Atoy Wilson, was sixth with a score of 113.08.

Like the 1964 event, the 1973 competition was broadcast on ABC's Wide World Of Sports. Rather predictably, the ISU took issue with Button using the words 'World Championships' or offering a competitive opportunity that offered prize money to skaters. The event got put on the back burner until 1980. After the Lake Placid Olympics, Button brought the World Professional Championships to America as a team event with no individual scores. The 1980 event featured some of the biggest names in skating during that era including Robin Cousins, Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner, Peggy Fleming, Toller Cranston, Jojo Starbuck and Ken Shelley, Linda Fratianne and Charlie Tickner and was a surprise hit with audiences and skaters alike. The rest is history for another 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.

Marches And Mazurkas: Music's Role In Figure Skating History

"Skating to music is the most rhythmic of all exercises and far surpasses dancing in enjoyment and benefit." - Charlotte Oelschlägel

"The character of the accompaniment to a skater's movement must be harmonious with the character of the action - not dragging along legato when the skater is moving presto." - H. Van Buren Magonigle, "Skating" magazine, November 1932

Surprisingly, an often neglected detail when considering each and every story that pops up when researching skating history is the music that skaters performed to. American skating king Jackson Haines may have been one of the first to popularize the marriage of music and movement on ice but the early history of skating's relationship with music goes far beyond that.

Military bands often played at ice rinks in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and set the tone of classical music being widely accepted as appropriate music for free skating. Many prominent skating authors of the era such as George Browne and Madge and Edgar Syers advocated setting free skating programs to marches and waltzes. Irving Brokaw's 1910 book "The Art Of Skating" further proposed suitable music suggestions for free skating, including waltzes to Strauss, "L'Estudiantina" and "Dollar Princess", two-steps to "A Frangesa" and "Yankee Patrol", a Swedish mazurka to "La Czarina" and Russian polkas.

When the well-to-do Lili Kronberger of Hungary won her final of four World Championships in Vienna in 1911, she caused a stir and gained much admiration by bringing an entire military band with her to accompany her performance with a rousing rendition of "Pas De Patineurs". However in the decades that followed (in amateur competition at least) with the exception of musically attentive skaters like Gillis Grafström and Karl Schäfer, many skaters continued to treat music as background to their free skating and not the integral part of the performance it is considered in present day. In fact, some prominent coaches like 1906 World Bronze Medallist Bror Meyer perpetuated this ignorance towards music, instead suggesting that the focus of free skating should be on executing "edges, turns, jumps and two-foot whirls... in such a manner that the spectator gets a clear understanding of the design" and that these designs "do not necessarily have to be timed to music." Meyer wasn't technically wrong though because often times skaters didn't even have the choice of what music they even skated to. At the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid for instance, all twelve of the men's skaters competing were accompanied by a military band that played the same piece of music: Jacques Offenbach's "Orpheus At The Underworld". Think three or four "Phantom Of The Opera" programs is too much? Imagine twelve programs to the same music in a row!

The trend for skaters to arrive at competitions with their very own music specifically cut on gramophone records wasn't one that really began to take hold until the mid-thirties. It was started with skaters from the U.S. and Canada, with European skaters following suit shortly thereafter. Stories about mysterious musical mishaps in international competitions - like Sonja Henie's rival Cecilia Colledge having the wrong record played at the 1936 Olympics - started to crop up around this time too. In Barbara Ann Scott King's 2010 interview on The Manleywoman SkateCast, she similarly recalled "in Prague in 1948, I started out from a standstill, three Axels into a sit spin, and as the music went duhhh, the music went screech. And I thought, well, what do I do now? If I keep going, the music will all be off. Or do I stop? So I thought, well I'd better stop. And it was the right decision, because they let me start again. It was rather a shock, I can tell you. In those days, we had those big records on the gramophone or whatever it was called. And somehow the arm with the needle went screeching across, I don’t know what happened." Not to point fingers, but more often than not the victims of musical mishaps always seemed to be Britons, Americans and Canadians. Take that for what you will!

In Howard Bass' 1966 book "Winter Sports", we were offered a rare glimpse at the musical choices of several greats from the first half of the twentieth century: "For many enthusiasts, myself included, Cecilia Colledge initially drew much closer attention to the beautiful 'Dream of Olwen'. But for Bridget Shirley-Adams' charming interpretation, I should probably never have learned to like 'Clair de Lune' so much, while Graham Sharp and Daphne Walker in the same way commanded a similar respect for George Gershwin's 'Rhapsody In Blue'. 'Blithe Spirit' bore a new significance when used to accompany the truly artistic skating of America's Phil Romayne and his former partner, Terry Brent, just as the conscientious Jeannette Altwegg's meticulously timed exhibitions to a selection from 'Carissima' attracted fresh interest in that delightful disc. Those not already aware of it may be quite startled to realize that Barbara Ann Scott skated publicly to 'Ave Maria' long before Hans-Jürgen Bäumler and Marika Kilius did, and Tenley Albright performed to 'Old Man River'. For a light-hearted encore, Dick Button had many a packed audience clapping loudly to time while he skated to 'American Patrol'. Typical of suitable music in a more serious vein are the lovely Strauss 'Rosen-kavalier Waltz', popularized on skates by Hans Gerschwiler, and Liszt's 'Hungarian Rhapsody'."

Peggy Fleming skating to an old favourite, St-Saens' "Samson and Delilah"

The musical choices of skaters have gotten more diverse very gradually over the decades. Much like mainstream music, there have certainly been many distinct phases and trends. Like it or lump it, even now that skaters have been afforded the opportunity to use lyrical music in all four disciplines of ISU competition, we still hear Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody", Strauss waltzes and the ever dreaded "Carmen" by Bizet more often than not and with the conservative approach that permeates the work of many elite choreographers, I don't see that changing any time soon. Change doesn't happen overnight!

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

A Long Overdue Reader Mail Edition

There's nothing I enjoy more than rolling up my sleeves, digging deep in the archives and piecing together the puzzle pieces to share stories from ice skating history from all around the world. Well, maybe there's one thing I love more... and that is hearing how these stories speak to the people who are reading them. Over the last year, I have received countless e-mails, messages on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and comments. I have heard from descendants of skaters whose stories were featured including Henry Eugene Vandervell and George Meagher and even skaters who are competing today who are starting to fall in love with the sport's history as much as I am. In today's blog - which is so overdue it is not even fit - I want to once again answer some of your questions and share with you a small sampling of reader mail, many connected to several of the blogs in the archives and some relating to topics that haven't even been covered:

READER QUESTIONS

Q: From Margo (via e-mail): "What is the most challenging part of writing about ice skating history?"

A: Without a doubt, my favourite part - and the most challenging part at the same time - is sifting through primary source material. Depending on the topic and the length of whatever I am working on, I can be poring over books, magazine and newspaper archives, genealogy records, interviews, videos, pictures, writing and calling people... you name it. A lot of people will turn to things like Wikipedia because they are quick and convenient when they are curious about anything historical and the fact of the matter is, Wikipedia is more often than not just plain wrong. There are is a ton of misinformation out there and if you want to do history justice, you have to put the time in to get the story as right as you can. At times it can be fun, but I've scrapped entire blogs halfway through a couple of times or put them on the back burner over one missing puzzle piece. Working with foreign language material is always tricky as well.

Q: From @Colinsfansdotcom (on Twitter): "The most interesting person you have interviewed is?"

A: I don't think anyone I have had the good fortune to interview HASN'T been interesting in some way and I'd hate to pick favourites. I will say that as a rule, skaters who are completely removed from the competitive scene are a lot more candid and really tend to open up a lot more. Two really fascinating interviews that I have done recently aren't even on the blog! Bob Turk and Bill Unwin, who I interviewed for the biography of Belita I will be releasing later this year, were just fabulous in every sense of the word and I can't wait to share some of their stories with you.

Q: From Linda (on Facebook): "What is your favourite era of history to write about?"

A: That's a toughie. I would have to say the thirties and forties. Professional skating just exploded during that period. Between the Sonja Henie stories and the rise of touring productions, the hotel shows, skating on the silver screen and the effect of World War II on skater's careers, it's such a fascinating era to research and write about. It's a period that I'll be exploring in great depth in blogs to come!

THE IMPORTANCE OF SKATING HISTORY

Debbie (on Facebook): "Mr. Dunfield used to say that figure skaters had lost the connection to their roots and didn't know their skating history. He would have loved your blog."

BLAME IT ON THE BLUES

Trudi (via e-mail): "I published a monthly fan newsletter about Brian, The Lion Sleeps, between 1989 and 1996. Brian was great about keeping me updated with what was going on in his career, and also at giving me periodic interviews. He (and his family) were also greatly generous in allowing me, and everyone else who wrote for the newsletter, to be unstintingly honest in our writing and our reviews, something I really appreciated. I had a friend in the town I was living in at the time (Rochester, NY) who served as my circulation director and helped get every issue copied and in the mail. Also, a lot of great budding skating photographers (some of who ended up selling their photos to skating magazines) allowed me to use their photos for free. Brian's family subscribed and, for that matter, so did Kurt Browning's mom (what a sweetheart!). It was a great time in my skating-fan life!

I was only on the set of Blame It on the Blues for a day, but what a cool day! It was in the fall of 1994. Brian arranged for me to come into Varsity Arena on the University of Toronto campus and watch some of the shoot. The main thing I saw that afternoon was the shooting of action to part of the Murray McLauchlan song "Women Like That." Brian was shooting this sequence with the black ice synchro team. That shoot took the whole afternoon, and, in the end, it amounted to about 10 seconds' worth of video that made the show! It was a fascinating insight into the making of a TV skating special (which involved a LOT of ice maintenance because of all those takes!)."

THE OUTSTANDING OGILVIES

Nigel Ogilvie (via e-mail): "My father was working to the end. His last article appeared in the PSA magazine 2 weeks before he died at 97 & 4 months. He always had a restless drive to create. Warm regards and keep up the good work."

SHAUN MCGILL AND SLEEPING BEAUTY ON ICE

Matthew (via e-mail): "When I was a child, one of my favorite fairytales was Sleeping Beauty and though Walt Disney’s animated classic stood as the best version, I was attracted to anything related to the story. Thus, in 1987, as PBS was gearing up for its annual holiday-season fundraising drive and they ran a commercial advertising the premiere of Sleeping Beauty on Ice, I grew very excited and yearned to see the show. I didn’t see the production’s initial airing because I was only six years old at the time and not allowed to stay up well into the evening. Fortunately, having witnessed my excitement, Mom and Dad promised to record the broadcast and let me watch it the next day. Up to this point, I had exhibited no interest in skating so they felt that I would enjoy the show for a while and then consent to taping over it. However, after viewing it once I was so taken by the actors’ performances, so impressed by the elaborate sets, so dazzled by the costumes and special effects and so moved by the recreation of the music, that it immediately became a defining feature of Christmas. From then on, December 1st always saw me retrieve the video from the back of my collection and watch the special continuously for the entire month. Of course, as a result of such faithful use, the tape slowly but surely began to deteriorate and for a time I was concerned that I would one day lose it completely. Happily though, a few years back I went on Amazon, purchased a brand new studio copy and transferred it directly to DVD along with some other memorable holiday programs. So, it is now preserved indefinitely and I can enjoy it without having to worry about quality loss. Through watching Sleeping Beauty on Ice, I grew to love Robin Cousins and Rosalynn Sumners in particular (that love culminated in me personally meeting both of them in 1999) but I nevertheless have an affection for everyone involved in the production and enjoy reading about selected members, especially when I find the information by accident. As a result, when I recently did an image search for Shaun McGill and the picture that fronts your post appeared, I clicked on it and was delighted to read such a long, detailed piece on him. I must tell you that his story brings me mixed feelings. In one sense I was warmed that, in spite of his “demonically intense” performances and rather fierce-looking appearance, Shaun seemed to be quite a caring person who handled difficult situations with aplomb. In another way, however, I was saddened to learn that he became a victim of AIDS so early in his life. Having a chronic, debilitating illness is bad enough but it’s even more painful when you think that, had Shaun remained healthy for just a little longer than he did—into the mid-1990’s—he would have benefitted from the medication that now keeps HIV dormant and thus still be here. My heart goes out to his friends and loved ones. Well, best wishes to you Ryan and thanks again for your hard work!"

SANDRA BEZIC ON ROMEO AND JULIET ON ICE

Sandra Bezic (via Facebook): "Romeo and Juliet On Ice was the first time I choreographed a full production for the camera. I'm forever grateful to Dorothy for the experience. I learned so much from Director/Choreographer Rob Iscove, who took me under his wing and was open to collaboration. Dorothy, Brian, Toller, - the entire cast - were fully committed to honouring Shakespeare, and Prokofiev’s score. Every step, every shot was rehearsed and blocked with nothing left to chance. On a shoot like this there’s always a sense that it is for ‘forever’. I have vivid memories of the long, intense days....and the laughter (we cast my brother, Val, as Paris - Juliet’s arranged husband-to-be - who kept Dorothy in stitches). Zandra Rhode's hand painted silk costumes were breathtakingly romantic, regal and inspiring. Dorothy and Brian worked their asses off without complaint. They were so very, very beautiful. Thanks, Ryan, for acknowledging this production, and for stirring treasured memories. Sandra xo"

DICK BUTTON AND THE EVOLUTION OF SKATES

Helen (via e-mail): "Dick Button called me this morning and I owe it all to you. On October 7, I sent you an e-mail asking why and when women's ice skates had gone from delicate to monstrous. You suggested that I consult Don Jackson's company. I looked at the website, but decided (perhaps mistakenly) that I would just get some boiler-plate response. Then I saw that Dick Button had come out with a book, so I thought I could reach him c/o his publisher. But "Push Dick's Button" is self-published, so that didn't help. However, I did learn that he is an avid gardener and frequent lecturer. Meanwhile, I have a gardener friend, who set out to find someone who had worked with Mr. Button. After making sure that I wasn't some nut case, that person gave me his address. So I sent Mr. Button a 3-page, handwritten letter on my best stationery. I also included two photos: one of Barbara Ann Scott looking ethereal and one of Carolina Kostner looking ethereal only from the ankles up - with the message "how did we get from these skates (Scott) to these (Kostner)?" (I also love the synchronicity of your February 21 piece on Barbara Ann Scott.) This morning my phone rang, and it was Dick Button himself !! He actually had no answer for me, either, and joined me in lamenting the ugliness of modern skating boots. He mentioned an early skater called Charlotte who skated in boots so delicate that they looked like silver ballet shoes, "but I've no idea how she skated in them." (I subsequently Googled "Charlotte ice skater"  and was directed to Wikipedia and to SkateGuard---big surprise!)  After we discussed how returning  to competition would work out for Virtue/Moir, the conversation wound down. So, although I still don't have an answer to my question, I found my experience tracking down and talking to Dick Button so much fun that I don't care. And the reason that I am grateful to you is that had you been able to solve the puzzle of the skates, I would never have embarked on this search. As I mentioned to Mr. Button in my thank-you note, I will be dining out on this for quite a while. With many thanks for your role in this delightful experience and for your excellent blog,"

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.