The Floating Ice Rink At Charing Cross

"The moors! Bah! Give me the Arctic delights of Professor Gamgee's Glaciarium, where eternal winter reigns, and skating may be really enjoyed even in the hottest summer! Here's to the health of Ice-King Gamgee!" - "The Penny Illustrated Paper", August 19, 1876

At the foot of Northumberland Avenue, just above the Charing Cross Railway Bridge, a striking iron and glass structure moored in The Thames couldn't help but capture the imagination of Londoners, as they strolled by with their parasols, fans, top-hats and canes. 

Opened in 1875, The Floating Baths were the Victorian answer to the swimming pool. At that point in time, The Thames was an absolutely disgusting cesspool of mud and sewage that really wasn't fit for swimming or bathing. The owners hoped to draw in swimmers in the summer by offering filtered water instead of disease-ridden muck. 

Approximately seven hundred people a day visited The Floating Baths in its second summer, but the cost of admission (one shilling) and concerns about hygiene and the water's smell prevented the venture from really taking off. Far more visitors were expected, and in order to recoup his losses Edward Perrett, the engineer of The Floating Swimming Bath Company, came up with a radical idea. Rather than let The Floating Baths sit unused in the winter months, he would convert them into a skating rink to pull in profits year round. He hired Robert G. Austin, a roller skater visiting from America performing in music-hall shows with The Austin And Hess Troupe Of Skaters, to manage things.

In May of 1876, a Glaciarium had opened at the Old Clock House in Chelsea, using the artificial ice-making method of Professor John Gamgee. There, the Glaciarium Club was formed - among its enthusiastic members the Marquis of Clanricarde. 

Edward Perrett hired Emmerson, Murgatroyd, and Co., the contractors that installed Gamgee's system in Chelsea. He was given the go-ahead by the Metropolitan Board of Works on October 20, 1876. In two months, "two complete sets of machinery, all with the accessories for a Glaciarium" were installed. The ice was artificially frozen using metal tubes containing glycerine and water. The water of the Thames, pumped through the machine's condenser, maintained the pressure. The ice surface of Edward Perrett's 'Real Ice Skating Rink' was one hundred and thirty five by thirty five feet.

The Real Ice Skating Rink at The Floating Baths was supposed to open in early December of 1876, but this was delayed until December 21, as the machinery was accidentally damaged. Curious Victorians who could afford the two shilling admission spent their Christmases merrily gliding along the ice. The first two skaters on the ice, before the rink even officially opened, were two unidentified women. On January 1877, "The Country" reported, "As the surface of the ice necessarily gets cut up - though from being good hard ice it is less cut up than one would be led to suppose - the lessee limits the periods for skating to two hours at a time, in order, as we were informed, that in the interval the ice may be resurfaced, so that those who go in the afternoon or evening may have as good a piece of ice to skate upon as those who go in the morning; but we are disposed to think the getting a second crop of visitors has something to do with the arrangement. Be this as it may, the plan seems to work well, as the most enthusiastic skater finds that two hours' skating 'straight on end' quite sufficient, especially as he feels that the ice will not all be gone by next morning. Those, however, who come from the country, and may wish to have a long day's skating before they go back, can, by making a day of it, get eight hours' skating, as the Glaciarium is open from 9 am to 11 am, 11:30 am to 1:30 pm, 2 pm to 4 pm, and 5 pm and 7 pm; and on each readmission they will find the ice like new."

The Real Ice Skating Rink at The Floating Baths didn't prove a financial success and only lasted one winter. It failed to draw in members of The Skating Club, who solemnly practiced their English Style combined figures on the grounds of the Royal Toxophilite Society in Regent's Park. Olympic Gold Medallist Edgar Syers was of the belief that this was because "the area was too small to accommodate more than a few skaters." 

For a time, the venue continued to operate as The Floating Baths in the summers and remained empty in the winter. The Floating Baths closed in the 1880's and sat unused in the Surrey Commercial Docks for seven years before being given a makeover and reopening as the Cleopatra Swimming Pool in the early 1890's. That venture didn't last long either. Authorities decided the project was "undesirous" and the locals felt the filtered water wasn't clean enough to swim in. 

Though this rink was largely viewed as a failure, it was a fascinating footnote in British figure skating history... and a precursor to the much grander rinks that would soon come - the National Skating Palace, ice rink at Niagara Hall and Prince's Skating Club... which we'll learn all about in "Figure Skating In The Edwardian Era".

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 Southport Glaciarium

In the late Victorian era, Lord Street in the seaside resort town of Southport, England, according to "The Illustrated London News", resembled "a Paris Boulevard, combining an avenue of trees, and frequent small gardens, with shops, hotels, public edifices and private houses, with broad-foot pavements, and tramways." Horses trotted up and down the street pulling carriages; women with plumed hats and elegant dresses visited milliner's shops. Children rolled hoops past the floral conservatory, grand theatre and aquarium. Men checked the time on their pocket watches as they rushed past the concert hall, haberdashery and covered promenade. Everyone couldn't help but stop and marvel at the most novel notion on the street - the Southport Glaciarium, with its 'real ice' skating rink.

The Southport Glaciarium's architects were the Manchester firm of Bell and Roper. The building was the property of a group of promoters, chaired by Edward Holden, calling themselves the Universal Glaciarium and Ice Manufacturing Company. The group aimed to expand upon the ideas of England's earliest artificial ice rinks or 'Glaciariums', using the methods of Professor John Gamgee and build on the popularity of a roller rink which had been established in the area a few years prior. 

The Southport Glaciarium's foundation stone was laid on a rainy day in April of 1877, and the facility opened less than two years later on January 10, 1879. The cost was an exorbitant sum of thirty thousand pounds - over three million pounds in today's money with inflation, and with admission set at only sixpence, the goal was clearly to draw people in rather than charge them an arm and a leg.

Photo courtesy Special Collections, Bradford University

The Southport Glaciarium was designed with both tourism and practicality in mind. It housed an ice surface of one hundred and fifty by fifty four feet, as well as a cold store for meat and an area where block ice was sold to local households and businesses. The facility had large cloakrooms, refreshment rooms and indoor lavatories. On one side of the rink, there was an ample gallery for spectators; on the other a 'fern-grotto promenade'. There was also a separate building on the property that housed a photographic studio and dining, drawing and billiards rooms. Also on the property was a large garden.

Though the Southport Glaciarium was advertised as "The Only Real Ice Skating Hall In The World! The Figure Skaters' Paradise! Open In All Seasons! Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter", it was another sport - curling - that quickly took the rink over. Just ten days after the Glaciarium opened iits doors, the first curling match was played. Soon, Edward Holden began putting up lavish prizes for tournaments. The Holden Challenge Shield, which drew in curlers from clubs as far away as Manchester and Liverpool, came with a prize of fifty guineas.

Though most accounts from those who skated at the Southport Glaciarium praised the good ice, the rink had its drawbacks. It was dimly lit, cold, damp and the noxious chemicals used to make the ice would cause a sort of dense fog to fill the air. A ventilation system, then newly-patented, was installed, but at least once the rink management came to blows with local officials, who complained about thick black smoke emitting from the chimneys. That wasn't the only safety concern either. In 1885, an engine driver named Richard Turner was tragically killed. His scarf got caught in the revolving shaft of his engine and hung him.

Though best remembered for its curling tournaments, the Southport Glaciarium drew a small circle of figure skating enthusiasts from other parts of England would travel to Southport specifically to skate there - some for a few days; others for three or four months at a time. Continental Skating wasn't yet a thing in England, and many of the elements that made Edwardian indoor rinks such an attraction - such as elaborate carnivals, instructors and music - were completely missing. Hand-in-hand figures in the English Style were popular and a handful of  visiting Londoners spent considerable time in Southport experimenting on new figures. Perhaps most significantly, it was at this rink that Montagu Sneade Monier-Williams, through experimentation, came up with the rocker turn. 

Some of the earliest tests of the newly-formed National Skating Association were held at the Southport Glaciarium, and it was at the rink that a small circle of women began making inroads into the men's world of figure skating. A school-teacher named Lilly Cheetham made history as the first woman to pass one of the National Skating Association's tests. She also figured out how to crudely carve her name on the ice and travelled to London in 1887 to demonstrate her talent to the top-hatted members of The Skating Club at the Royal Toxophilite Society's grounds in Regent's Park. Lilly's niece Mabel Ross Shorrock, who was a student at her school, passed the National Skating Association's second-class test at the Southport Glaciarium in 1889. Lilly was one of the three judges - an unheard-of distinction at a time when skating judges were, almost without exception, men.

Unfortunately, the Southport Glaciarium really struggled to bring in the number of patrons it hoped to. Skating enthusiasts from London believed a skating club might save it. In 1882, someone using the initials 'L.B.W.' wrote to the editor of "The Field": "I have lately had two or three days' skating at the Southport Glaciarium, and I cannot help thinking that if it were better known it would be better supported. The ice is perfect, and there is room for two or three sets of the club figures. As a member of the original 'Ice Club' at Chelsea, when I remember the poor little place we had, and the number of men who were willing to pay a considerable sum for the use of it, it is astonishing to me that such a club is not formed in the neighborhood of Southport. Arrangements might no doubt be made for the exclusive use of the ice on certain days, and ladies would be able to learn with far more comfort than they can usually do out of doors, with snow under foot and the wind blowing them round the wrong way. We are accustomed to pride ourselves on the love of Englishman for every kind of bodily exercise... [but] hardly anyone cared to go on this beautiful sheet of ice and practice the charming art of figure skating. I feel confident that if such a place existed in my own neighbourhood, or indeed in any country district where I have ever lived, there would be no difficulty in finding plenty of people who would gladly pay a handsome subscription for the privilege of having perfect ice at their command whenever they felt inclined to use it. If something of this kind is not done for the Southport Glaciarium, I fear it will soon be extinct, and many will regret it when too late."

 

Lemonade bottle. Photo courtesy Colin Gould.

That anonymous writer's concerns weren't unfounded. The Southport Glaciarium closed its doors in May of 1889, after years of dwindling support and a significant financial loss in its final year. Olympic Bronze Medallist Edgar Syers later recalled, "Local interest was lacking, and London skaters found the distance too great for other than infrequent visits. Its passing was deplored chiefly by the enthusiasts of the old school and by a few ardent curlers." After its closure, the venue was used as a roller rink for a time before being converted into offices and a warehouse for the Electricity Department.

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 Rise And Fall Of The Red Ball

"At last came a hard frost: up went the red ball, so did the price of skates." - "The Sunbury American", 1862

In the years leading up to the Civil War in the United States, figure skating (or 'fancy' skating as it was then commonly termed) acquired a unique symbol - the red ball. The origins of the red ball be traced back to the late 1850's, when horse cars ran from downtown New York City to Central Park. The horse car drivers were constantly asked if the ice was good on the Park's skating ponds. In those days, the park keeper would put up a white flag on a pole on a mound in the Park's north end. This flag was supposed to signal that the ice was good for skating, but it apparently couldn't be easily seen from downtown because it blended in with the snow. The President of the horse car company came up with the idea of putting white flags on the sides of his carts, to symbolize that 'the ice would bear' and entice patrons to use his services. The white flags quickly became filthy from all the muck and manure in the streets, so he replaced them with a flag with a big red ball in the middle. The park keepers copied the idea, and replaced their white flag with a two giant red cloth discs with a hole in the center that came together to form a red ball at the top of a pole by the bell tower near of the old reservoir on 79th Street.

"Central Park In Winter" by Thomas Nast, 1864. Photo courtesy Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College.

Back in those days, the task of raising the red ball in Central Park fell upon the park attendants. After spending hours removing snow with scrapers, shovels, brooms and horses and carts, they would measure the ice's thickness and put the red ball up. The symbol caught on like wildfire in cities and towns across America within less than a decade - its popularity spread through newspapers, word of mouth and even an appearance in one of Mary Mapes Dodge's books. 

In many cities and towns, the determination as to whether or not the red ball would be raised fell on the local coppers, who would make the call and then telegraph local station houses to inform them the symbol - or symbols in areas with more than one popular skating pond - could go up. 

In most areas, a flag with a red ball in the center was used instead of the red ball first devised in New York. In the 1946 "National Skating Guide", M.L. Gorby recalled, "'The Ball Is Up' was the cry all over Brooklyn whenever there was skating in Prospect Park. As a youngster, I well remember the boys borrowing their father's or uncle's telescopes so that might go out in the middle of Vanderbilt Avenue from which, miles away, the big red 'ball' could be seen - if they were lucky. The horse cars on Flatbush and Vanderbilt Avenues carried on their dashboards, both front and rear, big square pasteboard cards with a red ball printed on them. The Vanderbilt Avenue horse cars charged three cents fare and were entered from a step in the back end. Then you walked through to the driver's place and deposited your three cents. How many of us managed to get out to the skating pond without loss of the three cents I wouldn't dare to say! Three cents would also buy a 'Bolivar', an enormous hard gingerbread cookie about eight inches in diameter and an inch thick - sufficient to sustain a fellow for an all-day session if he remembered to haul off another notch in his belt. Ah, me, those were the happy days!" 

As is often the case whenever anyone has a good idea, people tried to make a buck off of it. Skate makers, sporting equipment and hardware stores and textile merchants started putting up signs with the red ball on them to try to grow their businesses. If the ice was good, they figured, a new pair of skates or a smart new skating dress, hat and gloves were in order. Others were less scrupulous. In 1865, the "New York Sportsman" stated, "It has been reported that sometimes the trolley car companies would put signs on the trolleys saying the red ball was up when the ice was still dangerous in order to sell more tickets."

The red ball took on a double meaning in figure skating circles. At the famous Swiss skating resorts, tourists were encouraged to go to bazaars and purchase a small red rubber ball to use as their 'marker' for combined figures. The orange commonly used for this purpose in England was, after all, an out of season luxury that was sometimes hard to come by.

In the late roaring twenties, the red ball slowly started to fall out of favour in some parts of the United States, when superintendents of county parks began putting up signs that said 'Skating Today' or 'No Skating Today' instead. A notice in the January 9, 1926 issue of the "Scarsdale Inquirer" noted, "Instead of the red ball... this method has been resorted to for safety and because it is impossible to keep guards and patrolmen at all the skating places." 

The red ball lived on in New York. In 1934, the old Iceland rink was renamed The Red Ball Rink. In New Jersey, where a young Dick Button patiently waited for the flag with the red ball to go up by Crystal Lake.

The red ball's death knell came in 1942, one month after the attack on Pearl Harbor when World War II anti-Japanese sentiments were fervent. The problem, as M.L. Gorby saw it, was that "a good many [resented] seeing the flag of Japan as the emblem of their pet sport." The January 9, 1942 issue of "The New York Times" reported, "A crisis developed with four inches of ice yesterday, when park officials automatically got the flag out of their lockers. They saw it in a new and patriotic light. In hurried telephone conversations in New York City, Westchester and New Jersey, it was recognized that 'that can't be hoisted here.' The New York City Park Department put the flags back into their lockers and decided to depend on radio and newspaper announcements and principally on what the department described as eye-and-mouth advertising." Other areas decided to get creative with the red ball problem. In Westchester County, a woman volunteered to dye the flag blue with ultramarine. The blue dye turned the red ball black. The local newspaper quipped, "New flags indicating that ice is safe for skating are not meant to indicate what may happen to the person of the skater - they are black and blue merely for the sake of patriotism and economy. The red ball on a white flag looked a little too much like a Japanese flag to the county park commission, but the flags were still perfectly good." In Mountain Lakes, New Jersey it was proposed that the red ball be replaced with a flag with a 'V' for Victory. Ultimately, a piece of blue flannel was sewn over the red ball. No one knew what the new flag meant and the local police were inundated with telephone calls.

As figure skating moved indoors, the memory of the red ball faded... but its rise and fall and unique place in the sport's folklore remains a fascinating footnote. The fact that Japan became a figure skating 'super power' in the decades after the red ball was retired is an ironic coincidence.

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.

Skate Guard's Companion Pinterest And YouTube Pages

 

This week, I wanted to take a little pause from our 'regularly scheduled programming' to talk about two different aspects of Skate Guard's online presence that you might not be super familiar with if you're following the blog on Facebook or Twitter or subscribing via e-mail or RSS - the Pinterest and YouTube pages. What make both of these unique is that they share materials you won't find anywhere on the blog.

Skate Guard's Pinterest page currently consists of no less than thirty nine different boards, which include photographs, artwork, articles and videos on a wide range of different skating history related topics. There are seasonal sections like 'Tis The Season For Skating and Spooky Skating, as well as whole boards dedicated to stars like Barbara Ann Scott, Toller Cranston and John Curry. You can step back in time to explore Victorian skating fashions and trade cards, learn more about the 1961 Sabena Crash and other skating tragedies and marvel at over fifty diagrams of the Special Figures that were in vogue in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. One of my favourite boards to work on was/is Curiosities, an eclectic and head-scratching collection of truly unusual skating photographs and clippings.

There's also a Black Lives Matter board, along with one on LGBTQ+ Skating History. Both contain some fascinating clippings about skaters and events you might not be all that familiar with. If you're interested in checking out these goodies, you can subscribe at https://www.pinterest.ca/SkateGuard on your desktop or laptop or on your tablet or phone using the Pinterest app. A quick tip for navigating this page more easily: on the top you'll see 'created' and 'saved'. The 'saved' will give you a view sorted by board, whereas the 'created' is just a mishmash of all of the pins.

I'm also super excited to talk a little about Skate Guard's YouTube channel, which I've put a ton of time into over the last year, especially during the first wave of the COVID-19 lockdown in the spring. A small group of absolutely amazing people have been donating VHS tapes to the Collections, which I've been converting with Roxio on an old school VCR hooked up to my laptop, cutting on the Bandicut app and uploading to YouTube. For the sake of time and effort, I've tried for the most part to only upload things that aren't already readily available on YouTube. Like the Pinterest page, the YouTube channel is separated into sections - Sensational Seventies, Essential Eighties, Nostalgic Nineties, etc. 

 

The latest batch of videos that have been put up over the last few of weeks includes videos from several of the Evening Of Champions shows at Harvard, as well as some 'new to you' videos from the 1988 Bursary Fund Gala show, exhibition performances from the 1984 Pro-Skate event and more. There are still dozens of videos I haven't clicked 'publish' on yet, because they will accompany specific blogs that will be coming out in 2021, but I really encourage you to take a deep dive into what's already up. There are some real treasures up there if you have the patience to use the 'search' function and dig! If you'd like to subscribe, the address for the YouTube channel is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKbnPsxrR-VTbe50rpj1kaw.

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 Sonja Henie Junior Olympics Club

In between filming of the Twentieth-Century Fox picture "Happy Landing" and a ceremony in Washington, D.C. where Sonja Henie was made a member of the Order Of St. Olav at the Norwegian Legation, Norway's darling of the silver screen set out on the road with her first of many Hollywood Ice Revues. It was early on during this tour that the powers that be at Twentieth-Century Fox concocted The Sonja Henie Junior Olympics Club as a publicity stunt to tie into early promotional campaigns for her fourth major motion picture, "My Lucky Star".

Young attendees at the Hollywood Ice Revue were each handed a folder entitled "Sonja Henie's Advice To Boys And Girls About Skating". The folders contained descriptions of Pleasure, Figure and Speed Skating as well as Hockey, offered advice for beginners and shared a brief summary of Sonja's rise to stardom. The folders concluded with the note: "Sonja Henie invites you to join her Junior Olympics Club." Membership cost nothing. All the young would-be skaters had to do was mail off a postcard with their name, address and birth date to a post-office box in Hollywood in return for a membership button, a 'personal' birthday card from Sonja and folders about other sports. In her book "Wings On My Feet", Sonja remarked, "The members were, and are, all children, all of whom I hope will remain faithful to skating and grow to love it very much, as I have. What advice I have been able to give them has been very little compared to what I wish I might give, and I hope no one doubts the sincerity of my interest in this boost for the sport I have built my life on."

Photo courtesy Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection. Used with permission.

In reality, Sonja was perhaps far less enthusiastic about her Junior Olympics Club than she let on. The August 1938-January 1939 issue of "Motion Picture" magazine noted, "The idea was all right with Sonja until she got the printing bill. She frowned on a re-order. Then the mail started coming in to a Hollywood post-office box. It was phenomenal. An office might have been opened to handle it all; but an office wasn't. The buttons and cards and other folders were enough expense. In time all the post-cards were answered. But no more were encouraged. At the present moment, the Sonja Henie Junior Olympics Club - a great idea - seems to be slowly dying for lack of her getting behind it financially."

By the time Sonja had sold out Madison Square Garden in 1938, fifteen thousand young people had already signed up for the Junior Olympics Club and it quickly became apparent Sonja - and her secretary Dorothy Stevens - had signed up for more than they bargained for. Raymond Strait's book "Queen Of Ice, Queen Of Shadows" recalled, "Originally, Sonja had paid the postage for the mailings, but when she found out it was costing ten thousand dollars a year to maintain the club, she tried to get the studio to foot the bill. When they didn't, she abandoned the project... Sonja could have deducted from her taxable income through charitable gifts and publicity promotions many thousands of dollars that otherwise went to the government for income taxes, but she didn't. The government took. Charities politely asked. It was no contest."

Photo courtesy Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection. Used with permission.

Publicity stunt or not, The Sonja Henie Junior Olympics Club got thousands of young Americans on the ice just prior to World War II... and some of them no doubt went on to follow in her footsteps and join ice revues themselves in the years that followed.

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.

New York City Boy: The Gail Borden II Story

Photo courtesy University Of Southern California Digital Library; California Historical Society Collection at the University Of Southern California.

"Gail Borden I consider one of the most attractive show skaters on the ice today. He is such a man skating - of superb physique and immense controlled power, after [Gillis] Grafström I consider him the best pure stylist. His program however is not full enough to win a championship, nor are his advanced figures quite up to the standard required. What a pity his skating career has been so spasmodic." - T.D. Richardson, "Skating" magazine, 1934

Born February 19, 1907 in Manhattan, New York, Gail Borden II was the eldest son of of Marie Ann (Jaeckel) and Lewis Mercer Borden. Along with his sister Penelope and brothers Albert and Louis Jr., he grew up in a relatively well-off household with a nurse, cook and waitress at his beck and call. His father ran the Norwegian American family milk business, started back in the nineteenth century by Gail's great-grandfather and namesake, Gail Borden I, an American canning pioneer and the inventor of condensed milk. If Gail Borden I was the kind of relative you'd want to have in your family tree, another relation wasn't. The family claimed to be distantly related to Lizzie Borden, the purported murderess who "had an axe and gave her mother twenty whacks."

Gail Borden II and Maribel Vinson

Gail's skill with sharp objects wasn't with an axe like his long-lost relative Lizzie, but instead with the knives on his feet. Practicing at the Skating Club Of New York while working alongside his father and brother as an executive in the family milk business, he first rose to prominence in the latter half of the twenties, when he placed second behind Frederick Goodridge in the junior men's competition at the Midwest Athletic Club's annual skating tournament. In 1930, he claimed the 1930 U.S. junior men's title in Providence, Rhode Island. His win that year earned him a place on the American team at the 1930 World Championships in his home city, where he placed sixth of the eight men entered.

Gail Borden II, James Lester Madden, Walter Langer, William Nagle and Roger Turner at the 1931 U.S. Championships. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

The following year, Gail travelled to Ottawa to compete in the North American Championships, where he claimed the bronze medal in the men's event behind Bud Wilson and James Madden. A bronze medal at the U.S. Championships that served as Olympic trials in December of 1931 earned him a place on the 1932 Olympic team. At age twenty four, Gail placed eighth of the twelve men who entered the competition. 

After spending some time training in England, taking up membership with the National Skating Association, Gail finished in last place at the 1934 World Championships in Stockholm, Sweden as America's sole entry in the men's event. His trademarks included his ballet jump and his inside spread eagle, which Maribel Vinson described as "one of the most gravity-defying inner spreads in the world."

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

After that event, Gail retired from competitive skating, settled in East Hampton, Long Island and worked as a securities broker. He devoted much of his free time to playing tennis and golf, yachting and painting wildlife. With David Newell of "Field & Stream" magazine, he frequently appeared on the radio show "Hunting & Fishing Club of the Air" and was later a regular guest on the television program "The Sportsmans Club".

Though widely respected as a sportsman, Gail's personal life frequently found him on the society pages. In June 1930, while still active as a competitive skater, he married Peggy (Margaret) Rossiter Eprden, the daughter of a prominent physician. She obtained a divorce in the autumn of 1931, charging cruelty. The couple rekindled their romance while Gail was training overseas with Maribel Vinson, Geddy Hill and James Madden and remarried April 1933 in London, England, only to divorce a second time in November 1941. Gail remarried Elsa Marie Tvedt, a Norwegian immigrant, in September 1942. The couple had two daughters.

In 1950, Gail and his second wife moved to Winter Park, Florida, where he continued his interest in conservationism, joined the Winter Park Racquet Club and was a regular at the All Saints Episcopal Church. He passed away on September 11, 1991 in Winter Park, Florida, exactly ten years to the day before 9/11 rocked the city he grew up in and represented in international figure skating competitions. In his September 12, 1991 obituary in "The Orlando Sentinel", writer Charlie Wadsworth recalled, "He was a very personable man... He was the kind of man who made friends wherever he went."

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.

#Unearthed: Christmas At Sunberry Dale

When you dig through skating history, you never know what you will unearth. In the spirit of cataloguing fascinating tales from skating history, #Unearthed is a once a month 'special occasion' on Skate Guard where fascinating writings by others that are of interest to skating history buffs are excavated, dusted off and shared for your reading pleasure. From forgotten fiction to long lost interviews to tales that have never been shared publicly, each #Unearthed is a fascinating journey through time. This month's 'buried treasure' is an excerpt from the 1870 book "Christmas At Sunberry Dale". Given the story's religious undertones, it is no surprise it was penned by Wesleyan missionary Rev. William Birmington Boyce under his pseudonym 'W.B.B.' This piece, another 'falling through the ice' cautionary tale, well expressed the intense desire to 'skate while you had the chance' during the Victorian era in England.

"THE SKATING PARTY" (REV. WILLIAM BIRMINGTON BOYCE)

The Hadfields had been at the Dale nearly three weeks, and still the snow remained on the ground, frozen into a hard, crisp mass. The trees looked as though they were hung with jewels, and the icicles on the eaves of the house glistened like crystal pendants. The sparrows that chirped on the lime trees
looked thin and listless, and the red-breast grew bold enough to sit on the window-sill until a supply of crumbs had satisfied his wants.

The great pond in Leyoak Park had been frozen over nearly a fortnight, and many persons had been skating upon it for the last two days. The boys at the Dale had begged very hard to be allowed to go on the ice on the Tuesday after the party, but Mrs. Melville had been so opposed to it that all thought of it had been abandoned. On the Thursday the petition was renewed with greater vigour.

" It's quite safe, mamma!' said Charlie.

"How do you know that?" said Mrs. Melville.

"The keeper told me yesterday it was safe," replied he.

" What do you say about it, Mark?" said his mother.

"Well, I think it is alright," said he. "The Hardings were on the ice almost all day yesterday."

"Are you sure they were there?" said Mrs. Melville.

"Yes, mamma. I met Alfred Harding last night in the town, and he told me they had all been during the day."

" Very well then," said she. "I suppose you had better go, only be sure and take care of yourselves; and be back by two o'clock."

A loud " hurra" and a somersault turned by Charlie, were sufficient proof of the pleasure the permission gave them. There was a general rush after hats, caps, coats, and skates, and in less than ten minutes the whole group, with the exception of Kate, were eagerly walking towards the pond.

The fish-pond was a large piece of water covering many acres, and was pleasantly situated in a hollow near to one of the entrances to the park. Great beeches stood thickly clustered near the pond and stretched out their branches over the water, whilst sloping banks of green sward stretched down
to the water's edge. The banks were now all covered with snow trodden into dirty, irregular paths, by the tramping of many feet. On the west side the pond was bounded by a wide gravelled walk, in the centre of which stood a picturesque thatched building called the "boat-house." This building was
without doors or windows, and was simply a roof resting on ornamental pillars, with the side away from the water enclosed down to the ground. In this boat-house stood two or three old chairs and stools for the use of those who wished to put on skates.

The young people from the Dale soon reached the pond, and although early, a large number of persons were already engaged in sliding or skating upon its frozen surface. Mark was told by one of the keepers that the ice was quite safe except in one part near to the boat-house, where it had been
broken by the keepers a day or two previously, to supply the swans with water, and was now frozen over again. Mark pointed out this dangerous place to his brother and cousins, and desired them to keep away from it.

Two hours passed pleasantly by; the boys were expert skaters, and they thoroughly entered into the pleasure and excitement of the sport. Edith and Nellie had crossed the pond twice under the escort of Mark, and were standing near the boat-house laughing at the awkwardness and frequent falls of
those who were inexperienced in the use of skates. The Chesterton church clock struck twelve,
as Mark, meeting with one of the Glossops, stopped to ask him some questions about a Latin lesson. He had not been talking many minutes when, turning to look for his companions, he saw George racing with another boy near the spot he had been told to avoid. Mark at once turned towards the place, shouting to George to return.

The two boys were skating very swiftly, and George, who was in advance of his companion, tried to stop suddenly. It was too late, the velocity of his pace brought him on the thin ice. There was a loud crash, a fearful scream, and George slipped through into the water. He rose again almost immediately, and as he came to the surface, he caught at the edge of the ice, and grasping it firmly, was able to hold his head above the water.

The skaters came from all parts of the pond at the sound of the crash, whilst Nellie and Edith stood on the shore with hands clasped convulsively and faces almost as white as the snow around them. Mark immediately fastened a rope, which was lying near, around his waist, and telling the bystanders to hold it securely, crept softly towards his cousin, and kneeling as near as he could, stretched out his hand to him. George grasped it tightly and raised himself out of the water on to the ice. It was a time of intense anxiety; the ice was so frail that large pieces broke off several times as George succeeded in putting his knee upon it. Mark held him fast, however, and in a few minutes he had gained a firm foot-hold, and they were drawn to the shore amidst the ringing cheers of the excited crowd.

The strain and the fright proved almost too much for both the boys. George fainted and Mark seemed quite exhausted. As soon as they recovered a little, Rupert and Charlie threw off their skates and ran to the Bale for the carriage to convey them home.

Kate and Mrs. Melville were standing at the west window of Kate's room talking, when they caught sight of two lads running rapidly towards the house.

"Why, aunt, that boy without a cap is Rupert!"

" Surely not, my dear," said Mrs. Melville, looking earnestly at them for a few moments.

"It is, aunt; and the other is Charlie!"

"So it is dear, but why should they be running in that way?"

" I don't know, aunt; I hope there is nothing the matter."

" I hope not, Kate. Let us go down into the hall and meet them."

In a few minutes the lads had rushed breathlessly into the hall, Charlie saying, "Don't be frightened, mamma; but we want the carriage for Mark and George."

" The carriage! What for, dear?" said Mrs. Melville.

"George fell through the ice, mamma, and Mark got him out," said Charlie, as well as hurry and excitement would allow him.

Kate clung to her aunt in terror.

"Don't be alarmed, aunt," said Rupert, "They are not drowned; only very exhausted."

Mrs. Melville breathed a sigh of relief, and at once gave orders for the carriage to go speedily to the pond, and for a fire to be lighted in the boys' room, and the beds to be made warm.

In less than an hour Mark and George were comfortable in bed; Mark explaining to his mother how it had occurred.

Many grateful tears fell that night at family worship, as Mr. Melville thanked God for his preserving care and for his goodness in averting from them so great a sorrow. Kate's little Bible lay open on the table as she entered her room at night, and looking down on its open page she saw these words:

"The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore."

The words touched her heart and called forth her grateful feeling, and she went to sleep comforted by the loving promise.

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 1966 European Figure Skating Championships

The Luna 9 spacecraft made history as the first object to make a controlled landing on the moon. The deaths of gossip columnist Hedda Hopper and silent film star Buster Keaton and the deadly crash of Lufthansa Flight 005 in West Germany were front page news. A pint of milk delivered to your door in England cost 4p and everyone was mesmerized by Simon & Garfunkel's hit "The Sound Of Silence". 

The year was 1966, and from February 1 to 6, the eleven thousand seat Zimný Štadión in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia played host to the European Figure Skating Championships. It marked the second time in history the picturesque city played host to the European Championships, the first time being in 1956. Three of the defending European champions managed to defend their titles that year.

Skaters from fifteen countries competed in Bratislava and the ISU celebrated an important milestone - the thirtieth women's event at the European Championships. History was also made on the technological front. Helmut Strohmayer's report of the event for "Skating World" magazine noted, "Results were issued from the computer centre of the Research Institute of Economics and Organization of Building Industry very promptly - the evaluation of each category was processed by the computer in less than one minute. This was the first time a computer had been used in connection with a sports event in Czechoslovakia. Printed and bound copies of the protocol were available less than fourteen hours after the completion of the competitions."

Photo courtesy Elaine Hooper, BIS Archive

Eurosport provided coverage of the event to millions of viewers in twenty two countries. The BBC broadcasts commentated by Alan Weeks totalled about three and a half hours of coverage, including a repeat of the dance event. British viewers chuckled at the fact 'Towlerová' and 'Sawbridgeová' flashed up on their screens.

The competition was extremely well skated and full of fascinating stories and familiar names. Let's hop in the time machine and see how it all played out!

THE MEN'S COMPETITION

In the school figures, Wolfgang Schwarz pulled off quite the upset in defeating reigning European Champion Emmerich Danzer quite soundly, five judges to three. Danzer had led after the first three figures, but bumbled a counter and lost concentration. Czechoslovakia's Ondrej Nepela sat in third after the figures, followed by France's Robert Dureville and Patrick Péra.

Twenty two year old Emmerich Danzer rebounded with one of his stronger free skating performances, landing a triple Salchow and a novel double Lutz with arms folded. He earned two 6.0's for artistic impression. Wolfgang Schwarz landed a triple toe-loop, double Axel and double Lutz and received good marks, but lost the free skate to Danzer by exactly twenty points.

Overall, Emmerich Danzer bested Wolfgang Schwarz by a margin of just over six points and five ordinal placings. Fifteen year old Ondrej Nepela won the bronze - his first European medal - in his home city. In "Skating World" magazine, Howard Bass wrote, "Every time he skates, this slim Czech youngster looks better and tonight was no exception. Hardly marred by just one rough landing, double jumps of every kind abounded from his light frame and his cross-foot spin finale brought a well-deserved ovation from his delighted home rink crowd."

Emmerich Danzer, Wolfgang Schwarz and Ondrej Nepela with their medals

France's Patrick Péra and Robert Dureville followed in fourth and fifth, though they were both defeated by East Germany's Ralph Borghardt in the free skate. Future Olympic Medallist Sergei Chetverukhin of the Soviet Union placed twelfth in his second trip to the European Championships and Great Britain's representative, twenty one year old Malcolm Cannon, placed a discouraging fifteenth with two falls in the free skate.

The men's podium. Photo courtesy Elaine Hooper, BIS Archive.

Enroute to Vienna following the event, Dick Button - who was there covering the event for American television - told sportswriter Howard Bass that he thought Emmerich Danzer would be the next World Champion. He was right.

THE ICE DANCE COMPETITION

With Eva Romanová and Pavel Roman having turned professional, the field of sixteen ice dance teams in Bratislava was wide open. Diane Towler and Bernard Ford, teenage students of Miss Gladys Hogg at the Queen's Ice Club in London, took a decisive lead in the compulsory dances over fellow Britons Yvonne Suddick and Roger Kennerson but the teams nipping at their heels couldn't have been closer. Brigitte Martin and Francis Gamichon, Jitka Babická and Jaromír Holan, Gabriele and Rudi Matysik and Janet Sawbridge and Jon Lane all received third place ordinals in the compulsories. The dances performed were the Foxtrot, American Waltz, Kilian and Tango.

Dance medallists. Photo courtesy "Skate" magazine.

To the delight of British fans, Towler and Ford's fancy feet won them their first European title. Seven judges had them first, the Hungarian judge tied them with their training mates Suddick and Kennerson. The West German judge placed twenty year old Suddick and twenty one year old Kennerson first. Summarizing the event in "Skating World" magazine, Dennis Bird remarked, "As soon as Bernard Ford and Diane Towler started it was evident that we were about to see skating of a noticeably higher standard. Their carriage, precision, and harmony of line were impeccable."

Gabriele and Rudi Matysik. Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

In the battle between the rest, the Austrian, Czechoslovakian, Hungarian, Dutch, Polish judges all placed the Czechoslovakian team third; the French, British and Italian judges went with Martin and Gamichon and the West German judge opted for their entry, the Matysik's. The Czechoslovakians took the bronze, followed by the French and West German teams, Sawbridge and Lane, Lyudmila Pakhomova and Victor Ryzhkin and nine other teams. In her book "Figure Skating History: The Evolution Of Dance On Ice", Lynn Copley-Graves recalled, "Deftly timed tempo changes in [Towler and Ford's] free dance music accompanied traditional and original footwork and moves, such as Diane's head on Bernard's boot while lying parallel to the the ice... Jon [Lane] skated with a painfully infected foot. Gladys Hogg was able to attend, travelling over land, and the NSA officials, competitors, and Betty Callaway (there with the Matysiks) paid her tribute as the backroom star."

THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION

Gabriele Seyfert in Bratislava. Photo courtesy the German Federal Archive.

Twenty two year old Regine Heitzer, the daughter of a wealthy Austrian businessman, took a massive lead in the school figures with first place scores from every judge ahead of Diana Clifton-Peach, a talented twenty year old from Great Britain. Nicole Hassler of France, East Germany's Gaby Seyfert and Sally-Anne Stapleford of Great Britain rounded out the top five after the first phase of the competition.

Sally-Anne Stapleford. Photo courtesy "Winter Sports" magazine.

Eleven thousand spectators showed up to watch the women's free skate, which was decisively won by Seyfert, with Czechoslovakia's Hana Mašková second and Heitzer third. Seyfert's program included two double Axels, a double Lutz and a double loop. Dennis Bird reported that she was landing triple loops in practice. Mašková had suffered an injury in practice and skated with her left hand in a plaster cast. Heitzer had caught a virus so severe that she lost ten pounds, but her free skate in Bratislava was far from a disaster. She landed a double Axel and double Lutz.

The women's podium. Photo courtesy Elaine Hooper, BIS Archive.

Adding the free skating totals with the figures, Regine Heitzer received overall first place ordinals from every judge and a score of 2244.4 points to Seyfert's 2168.5 and Hassler's 2136.1. Mašková, Clifton-Peach and Hungary's Zsuzsa Almássy placed fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. Clifton-Peach earned ordinals ranging from tenth through nineteenth for her free skate, but her low marks were loudly booed by the Bratislava crowd. Howard Bass said he'd "seldom seen her free-skate so well." Sally-Anne Stapleford dropped to seventh - and it was a miracle that she skated at all! Just hours before the free skate, she cut her instep with her skate blade. She performed her free skate with a bandaged foot and fell twice.

THE PAIRS COMPETITION

Emmerich Danzer, Ludmila Belousova, Viennese mayor Bruno Marek, Oleg Protopopov and Gabriele Seyfert. Photo courtesy German Federal Archive.

It's extremely rare when an entire panel agrees on the result of a competition but in Bratislava in 1966, every single judge placed Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov and Tatiana Zhuk and Aleksandr Gorelik first and second in the compulsory short program, free skate and overall. The same couldn't have been said for the rest of the field. Margot Glockshuber and Wolfgang Danne, Tatiana Tarasova and Georgi Proskurin, Irene Müller and Hans-Georg Dallmer and Gudrun Hauss and Walter Häfner all received third place ordinals in the compulsory short program. The East German team of Heidemarie Steiner and Heinz Ulrich Walther received ordinals ranging from fifth through seventeenth! The seemingly erratic judging perhaps had something to do with the fact there were nineteen pairs - a number that officials in the sixties simply weren't used to.

In the free skate, sixteen year old Glockshuber and twenty four year old Danne separated themselves from the pack with a fine performance that earned them the bronze over Tarasova and Proskurin seven judges to two. It was a redeeming moment for the West Germans, who had finished only third at their Nationals three weeks earlier. Twenty one year old Sonja Pfersdorf and twenty five year old Günter Matzdorf delivered an outstanding free skate that earned high marks. They perhaps the most unusual off-ice jobs of the field. She worked as a secretary at a biscuit factory in Nuremberg; he was a sports car driver.

The pairs podium. Photo courtesy Elaine Hooper, BIS Archive.

After the event Rudi Marx, then President of the DEU, complained about the fact the judges chose to reward the balanced, artistic style of the Protopopov's and not the more rough and tumble West German pairs. "Where will it end? That's artistry without power," he bemoaned in the February 28, 1966 issue of "Der Spiegel". The article neglected to mention that the Protopopov's skated a clean and balanced free skate in Bratislava that received two perfect 6.0's. They also showed off their athletic side in an exhibition program to "Rock Around The Clock".

Sylvia Oundjian, Diana Clifton-Peach, Sally-Anne Stapleford, Malcolm Cannon, Diane Towler and Bernard Ford being serenaded at their Bratislava hotel. Photo courtesy "Winter Sports" magazine.

On February 6, 1966, a four hour gala was held that was attended by eleven thousand spectators. At the very end, the skaters lined up down the center of the rink, the lights went out and the audience lit up thousands of sparklers... Because that's safe, right? Alan Weeks wrote, "The building was a mass of flickering lights and the skaters lapped round the rink in this memorable fairyland. Unfortunately, our television transmission had ceased before this quite moving moment. Otherwise, it would have been as dramatic as the closing day of the 1960 Olympics in Rome." The good news is that the people of Bratislava didn't burn down their rink that 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.