She popularized “fancy skating,” inspired generations of skaters, was selfish to the core, mercurial, reached new heights of ruthlessness, and ended up a millionaire. She changed skating forever. Sonja is credited with transforming a demure, predictable activity by recharging it with her determined energy and, yes, creativity. Producers saw her coquettish charm and were smitten.

Short skirts and program choreography were unknown in figure skating before she introduced them in the late 1920s. Henie is credited with being the first to wear white skating boots. While her jumps look very simplistic by today’s standard, they showed her innovative skating techniques and confirmed figure skating as a legitimate Winter Olympic sport. A look at the boots of the era in Sonja’s 1936 photo shows the only support was found in the ‘counter’ under the arch. They wouldn’t give much support for modern jumping but they did allow magnificent toe point.

During the years that Henie won her world championships, the five-member judging panel was dominated by three Norwegians. Complaints by the Austrian skaters resulted in new rules allowing only one judge per country for each event.

Performances at figure skating exhibitions in both Europe and North America were added to Henie’s training and competition travel. It is written that she became so popular with the public in these exhibitions that police were needed for crowd control. It was an open secret that, in spite of a ban on paid performances under amateur regulations, Sonja’s father demanded “expense money” for his daughter’s appearances. Sonja’s popularity suffered briefly when a photograph was published showing her shaking hands with Adolf Hitler at the 1936 Olympic Winter Games in Berlin.

Earl Reflow chaired the organizing committee responsible for bringing Sonja Henie from the closing day of the 1936 Olympics in Bavaria to St. Louis Missouri just 6 weeks later for an International Skating Carnival. Reflow, a former professional boxer, was a visionary when it came to the future popularity of ice sports. He leased the Winter Garden in 1928 and started professional hockey in St. Louis. He later expanded his talents to promoting figure skating and producing ice shows. What bigger magnet to publicize his rink than to present the current Olympic Skating Champion in an international skating exhibition April 7.

Sonja performed several times during her visit to St. Louis, including the routine that won her the Gold Medal at Garmisch-Partenkirchen several weeks earlier. It was truly an international event with the added appearance of Jack Dunn, English champion and silver medalist in the Olympics. Earl Reflow’s two daughters, Shirley and Elizabeth, along with many of their fellow members of the St. Louis Skating Club, were excited to skate in the Carnival as amateurs. In the photo to the left from St. Louis in April, 1936 is (L to R) Dorothy Lewis, Josephene Fogassey, Sonja Henie, Len Fogassey, Sam Lewis (father of barrel jumper Buddy) and Shirley Reflow.

Shirley Sherman (nee Reflow) is still involved in skating today as a national judge and has clear memories of the event. “I just happened to be the daughter of a St. Louis sports and entertainment promoter who put on shows in the 1930s featuring local skaters from St. Louis Skating Club and special professional show skaters. I was included because it was unusual for a very young child to be skating at that time.”

Knowing my own experience with the famous temper of Ms Henie, I asked Shirley what is was like as a young girl to work with the famous champion.

“Sonja was not friendly as I am certain you know. She came to the US with Jackie Dunn, then Champion of England. He was very friendly and nice and very handsome. He said to a little girl in the show (me) ‘Next to Sonja you were the best in the show.’ Not true — but he was being nice to a little girl!”

Dunn was Sonja’s lover at the time but was later discarded for Tyrone Power. Dunn followed her to Hollywood where he was ignored. He was eventually discovered and scheduled to play the lead in a movie about the life of Rudoph Valentino but was first cast in the “Duke of Westpoint” to give him some experience. He died of Tularmia (Rabbit Fever) just three days into filming.

While still a girl, Sonja planned to move to Hollywood and become a movie star when her competitive days were over. She never gave a thought to the fact that her thick accent might hinder her acting ambitions. Ultimately she was signed by 20th Century Fox studio head, Darryl F. Zanuck; however, it took a little “marketing” to get his attention. According to Look Magazine, February 1, 1938 issue, Sonja, meeting a cool reception in Hollywood, outsmarted the movie capital at its own game. She bought a big white car. Then she rented a rink and put on a show such as Hollywood had never seen. It brought producers to her door, and another star was born.

“Happy Landing” was filmed in 1938 with costars Don Amechi, Jean Hersholt, Ethel Merman, and Cesar Romero. The working titles for this film were Bread, Butter and Rhythm, Hot and Happy and Happy Ending.

The following is a 1938 gossip item by Jimmy Starr, Motion Picture Editor of the Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express:

• They couldn’t pull a sit-down strike, but Sonja Henie’s chorus of 80 ice skaters (40 boys and 40 girls) did refuse to don the ice skates they had used previously for rehearsals on 20th Century-Fox’s new frosty musical, “Bread, Butter, and Rhythm.” When instructor Bert Clark called the ensemble together a spokesman politely informed him that no member of the chorus would rehearse until new skates – like those worn by Miss Henie – had been provided. Stumped because it is rather difficult to replace 80 trained skaters, the studio promptly agreed to supply the chorus with skates costing $45 per pair. One hundred pairs of skates arrived early Friday morning, long before the rink had been frozen. The 80 girls and boys are now skimming along in a very happy mind.

According to published reports at the time of the movie’s filming, Miss Henie received $80,000 for “Happy Landing” and was contracted to be paid $125,000 for each of her next 3 films, but in the January 31st, 1938 issue of Time Magazine, it was thought that maybe those extra films might be poor judgment on Zanuck’s part. Still early in her career, by 1938 Henie was ranked by Motion Picture Herald poll of exhibitors as the third biggest money-making star of the year.

Her hip-length stockings cost $35 a pair. She wore out a minimum of two pairs a day while skating. Her hosiery bill

during the making of “Happy Landing” totaled $2,100. Sonja often bought new skates, but soon discarded them for a pair several years old.

Henie became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1941. In the mid-40s her movie career tapered off, but she continued skating until her retirement in 1960. An astute businesswoman, Sonja was one of the ten wealthiest women in the world when she died of leukemia in 1969.

Sonja says: “The world never puts a price on you higher than the one you put on yourself” and “jewelry takes people’s minds off your wrinkles.”

That’s our girl!

Over the coming months there will be more articles from the wealth of historical information in the Earl Reflow collection used by courtesy of Shirley Sherman.

– Written by Janet Wright

She was born Gladys Lyne Jepson-Turner on October 25, 1923 in Nether Wallop, Hampshire, England. She was given the name “Belita” after a railroad stop that her great grandfather had built in Argentina.

Her professional skating career took her on tour with Ice Capades (1940), Rhapsody on Ice, London productions at Empress Hall; “Babes in the Woods,” “London Melody,” “Jack and the Beanstalk” and “White Horse Inn On Ice,” then her own show, “Champagne on Ice.”

She then parlayed her talents into an acting career in the movies. She starred in several highly profitable productions made by Monogram Studios. Her appearances included Silver Skates (1943), Lady, Let’s Dance (1944) and Suspense (1946). Suspense, with its novel mixture of ice skating and film noir, proved enormously popular at the box office and more than repaid the studio’s investment. She also appeared with Clark Gable in Never Let Me Go (1953) and played opposite Charles Laughton in The Cherry Orchard. She would often both dance and skate in her movies. She once said, “When I skate I want to dance, and when I dance I want to skate.”

In 1946, Belita married Joel McGinnis Riordan (marriage dissolved in 1956) then married second husband James Berwick.

During the 1950’s she juggled all her talents and went between ice shows, movies and plays. She worked Off-Broadway in New York in “Ulysses In Nightown” and her other theater shows included “The Cherry Orchard”, “Damn Yankees” and “Sight Unseen.”

The PFSC Historical Foundation has been able to acquire a 45-minute audio tape of her talking where she is reflecting on her life. We are proud to tell her story and invite you to look at the photographs we have collected of her and brief remembrances by some who worked with her and were her friends.

Belita passed away December 18, 2005 at her home in the south of France.

QUOTES:

HEATHER BELBIN

When I was eight or nine years old, I was at Queens Ice Rink when a lady with very blue eye shadow came to the rink and sat at the edge of the ice – that was “Queenie”, Belita’s mother.

I had only heard of Belita, the wonderful skater, and when she stepped onto the ice, I stepped back and watched this very balletic skater and was enthralled. We shared the same coach, Jacques Gershweiler. I swam at the same club, passed all my ballet tests, just as Belita had done at age 12. Little did I know that I would be called “Baby Belita.”

In the show, “Babes in the Woods,” at Empress Hall, I was cast as Girl Babe to Belita’s Robin Hood. During rehearsals, Gersh taught me a new spin that was so different. I practiced that spin until I had it so good! Then put it in my solo.

I did not know that Belita had a lesson with Gersh, and he taught her the same spin. Uh Oh! While Belita was watching the dress rehearsal of the show and saw that spin in my solo, she jumped out of her chair, came onto the ice and slapped my face. She said, “How dare you copy any of my tricks!” After a time, it was sorted out with management and she apologized in front of the whole cast.

Many years later I was invited to a party at the house in Hamersmith that was on Grabtree Gardens. I was worried she would be nasty to me. Instead, she latched onto me and stayed with me the evening. Seems she did not put together that I was the little girl skater from years back that “copied” her spin!

I was always very happy anytime someone said that I reminded them of Belita. Her skating would still stand up today as very special.

BOB TURK

When I first saw Belita, it was in Ice Capades in about 1944 more or less. Also in the show were Megan Taylor and Vera Hruba. These ladies always skated to classical music and tended to present themselves in a very dramatic routine. Belita was one of these ladies.

While her skating was spectacular, she had very little personality — very serious and almost defiant when she completed a series of axels or whatever.

The next time I met her was at the old Polar Palace. She skated the public session almost daily and really didn’t speak to anyone. She, at times, would skate around with Eugene Mikeler. That changed later when Mikeler introduced her to me. We would get out in the center of the ice and do double camels together and jump lutz jumps and see how many axels we could do in a series. She usually won. Along with us was Chado. We really had a lot of fun. Her mother, Queenie, was always with her. We always smiled because Queenie had purple hair. This was back in the 40’s and that wasn’t seen on many ladies. She too was very British but nice. Belita told me about how her skates became beige. Her mother, when “B’ was young, had them done pink like toe shoes. Belita hated them and changed them to flesh color.

In 1945, she married a guy who used to hang around with skaters. He seemed to be working at becoming an actor. His name was Joel McGuinness.

Then in 1949, I staged and choreographed a large show that went to Havana Cuba. Belita was the star of the show along with Red McCarthy. Joel was signed to do a short dramatic number with B. I don’t remember the idea for the number, but at the end, Joel was supposed to shoot Belita. Very dramatic. One night Joel got a little too close to B and the residue from the gun burned her chest. It was all over the news the next day.

I’m skipping ahead to 1967. At that time I had been signed by Ice Capades to do their shows. One day my secretary, Bill Bain, came into my office to tell me there was an English speaking lady who wanted to speak to “Bobby.” It was Belita. That is what she had called me in those earlier years. She explained that she wanted to do a “tank” show on a 20 x 20 ice surface. She wanted the ice to be made in squares of 2×2 foot squares like a chess board. She explained that she would have a toe shoe on one foot and an ice skate on the other.

During the course of this conversation, she asked me if I had ever heard of Peggy Fleming. I explained to here that I had worked with her for 10 years creating her style and teaching her ballet. Belita remarked, “Of course, I can see that now that you mention it.”

It wasn’t until several years later that while traveling to Paris I stopped in London and found her phone number and called her. She insisted that I come over right then and there. I dropped my luggage and spent the whole day and evening with her. She had married for the second time, and the two of them had a lovely nursery. They would hire out-of-work actors in the nursery. It was wonderful seeing her after all those years when she had moved back to England. She showed me a solid gold set of flatware.

While performing in Paris, she couldn’t take money back to London so she bought this gold flatware. It was worth a ton of money! I suggested that I would love to take her to dinner. She declined saying that she never went out in public unless her hair was done and that she had something very chic to wear. That was part of her fantasy that she was still a star and that she owed that to her public.

MOVIE REVIEWS (by Susan Austin)

“Silver Skates” 1943

“Silver Skates”, Belita’s first movie, includes close to 45 minutes of skating. Belita and Eugene Turner are the featured skaters. Eugene is smooth and elegant with long sweeping edges, simple jumps and spins. Belita is truly a dancer on the ice with great extension, rhythm and execution. Her numbers stylistically range from ballet to modern to jazz. Some of her moves include the headless spin, battement rond de jambe, interesting moves that take her into the ice, chaines, split half lutz and a series of multiple axels. Together Belita & Eugene skate two duets that truly approach Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers on the ice.

Also included in the film is a complete act by Frick and Frack, a young boy and girl who solo and partner together, and large ensemble and precision numbers.

“Lady Let’s Dance” 1944

The first four movement scenes are dance, not skating. This movie gives us a chance to see Belita as dancer. She does some excellent partnering scenes with numerous lifts and dance rhythms. One number displays her classic vocabulary where she dances on pointe and is backed up by 12 dancers also on pointe.

Another number featuring Belita blends both off and on ice with men in top hats and tails. She moves between the two groups of men where she begins with a long black skirt that is removed as the music turns to jazz. As she skates she is backed up by 12 men.

The movie closes with Belita skating in front of the Statue of Liberty to Beethoven’s “Fifth Symphony”. It is very dramatic — performed in a modern/ballet style. All of her signature moves are in the number, and this time it has seven axels in the end.

Frick and Frack are featured in two numbers, and there are two skating scenes with couples skating in a pond scene.

“Suspense” 1945

Belita’s best known movie, “Suspense” has two great skating ensemble scenes featuring Belita that are jazzy, steamy and sexy. One number ends with an axel landed in a back split on the ice, wow! In the middle of the movie is a beautiful, dramatic modern/ballet solo with nymph-like quality. It shows a more serious side to Belita and her adagio qualities.

The famous scene of her lutz split jump through the swords is quite remarkable. Belita herself said she only did the scene one time. When the director asked to shoot it again, she told them that once was all they were going to get.

“The Hunted” 1948

“The Hunted” is the last of the films where Belita skated. There is only one dramatic solo in this movie that is dimly lit with a couple of spots.

CREDITS:

The Pro Skating Historical Foundation would like to thank the following for their contribution with their time, artifacts, and knowledge in helping us write this piece:

HEATHER BELBIN, BILL BLACKBURN, ROY BLAKEY, JOE MARSHALL, BOB TURK AND BILL UNWIN.

Roy Blakey, Chairman, Advisory Committee

At the end of my last show tour in 1967 I planned to head to California to begin a new career as a photographer. The cast was flown from Rio de Janeiro to New York City where I expecteded to visit friends for three days…. and stayed twenty-five years. For the first two of those I skated in a small exhibition four times a day at the Rockefeller Plaza ice rink. That financed the Manhattan studio for my “second life” photographing actors, dancers, musicians, and other entertainers – from great international stars to fresh-faced hopefuls. All the while I continued to gather memorabilia from the spectacular touring ice shows and those being created by ice champions who were becoming great skating artists and forming their own companies, and I documented the surge in popularity of skating on television.

Like me, my family members had all wandered away from Oklahoma, most of them to Minnesota. One niece, Keri Pickett, became a terrific photographer in Minneapolis and in 1993 I moved from New York to share a studio with her there. At age 78 I’m now retired and have time to document my IceStage Archive collection into the computer while looking for the eventual home where this great history of international theatrical skating can be accessible to researchers and the public.

Marshall passed away on September 26, 2012. He was born in Hershey, PA on December 4, 1920 and at the age of 2 years became an orphan. Educated in Hershey’s Boys School, Marshall overcame many obstacles, and his perseverance and love of skating provided him with a passion and direction that changed his life.

Marshall enjoyed a remarkable skating career that spanned several decades. I first met Marshall in the summer of 1952 during rehearsals for the Sonja Henie Ice Revue in San Bernardino, CA. Over the next five years with Sonja we toured the States, Canada, Europe, and South America. On our first European tour with Sonja, Marshall and I both purchased Rolleiflex cameras in Berlin and we both had movie cameras and were out often together on photo expeditions. This was a dream tour playing Paris, London, Berlin, Stockholm, and Oslo. Our two month engagement in London coincided with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth and a sold-out, one-month engagement in Sonja’s hometown Oslo. For Marshall these were heady times, partnering Sonja, the Queen of the Ice, on her 1st tour of Europe in 1953. Later Marshall had the distinction of partnering Sonja on the last tour of her career in South America with a closing engagement in Rio de Janiero in 1956. In addition to the Sonja Henie Ice Revue, Marshall also performed over the years in Ice Vogues, Holiday On Ice, Ice Follies, Ice Capades, as well as in pantomimes in Empress Hall, London. He also performed in hotel night club ice shows at the New Yorker hotel in NYC and the Adolphus hotel in Dallas that were popular in the 40s and 50s. Marshall wrapped up his professional skating career with Ice Capades, performing a family act with his wife, Margaret and her two children, Kathy and Jaime, for several years. As far as show skating was concerned you could say that Marshall “did it all” and mostly at a time when the popularity of ice shows was at its peak. Now almost all of these ice shows have disappeared and are a part of ice show history.

Following his successful touring days, Marshall found further success for some 40 years as a realtor in Lake Arrowhead, CA. Marshall sold me the lot where I built a small cabin and spent summers there in between tours, enjoying many barbecues and get-togethers with Marshall and his wife Margaret and with visiting show skating friends.

Marshall lived life to the fullest with an ever present sense of humor. It was always fun and entertaining to be in his company. He will be missed. RIP

Posted by: Don Watson  October 9, 2012

Born in Bethany, Ontario on March 18, 1879, Norval Baptie’s family moved to Bathgate, USA Dakota Territory, at a the age of one. His adult career influenced the entire sport of skating as a world record speed skater, designer of blades, impresario, performer, figure skater, and coach. Before his death November 26, 1966, he saw himself inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1963.

The Pembina County Historical Society reports “He won his first race when he was only 10, on a patch of ice in Bathgate. He was Northwest senior champion at 13 and beat the world amateur speed skating champion at 16.” Somewhat out of context they continue, “In 1914 he organized the first ice show.”

Ever competitive, Baptie offered a 1917 challenge to race for “love, money, or charity.” It appears the few who accepted the challenge later withdrew. At the height of his speed skating career, Baptie would challenge skaters to a race in which he would allow his opponents to skate in their normal style and he skated backwards.

He shattered every amateur and pro speed speed skating record over his speed skating career, winning nearly 5000 races. Various records claim he lost just one race in his entire career; however, the December 28, 1920 New York Times calls him an “undefeated champion” when he performed (and won) a race two years after his racing retirement.

Expanding his scope to stunt and figure skating, he set new records for skating backwards, barrel jumping, and stilt skating. He is pictured in San Fransico in 1916 doing a 3 jump (waltz jump) over 10 barrels for a distance more than 20 feet. He is credited with originating the adagio airplane spin.

Baptie said “I always view with pride, … that in 1902 at Saranac Lake, NY, I managed to win the five mile race and win the world’s record of 14 minutes, 47 3/5 seconds, which still remains the established record for that distance.” These remarks are from a 1929 interview for the New York City Public Schools Athletic League Annual. He closed the interview with “… at this point I might say a good word for fancy skating. Few activities add so much to the grace and build of a man or a woman as does fancy skating for the benefit of those who might like to take it up. The gyrations, bending, twistings, and curves of fancy skating give one more healthful exercise than any number of daily dozens.”

Baptie gravitated from solo exhibitions when he paired with Gladys Lamb for fancy skating performances. Skating historian Roy Blakey tells us: “In 1915 they starred in the night club ice show atop the 44th St. Theatre in New York City. A newspaper article reported then that Gladys had been a dancer in Chicago where Norval was appearing in a tank show and he taught her how to skate. Colliers magazine writes he and Lamb were married in 1924.”

Sally Berens, his Great Granddaughter from Baptie’s first marriage to Lillian, reveals Baptie had contracts for tank shows in the 1920s for over $1200 per night to perform.

The United States Census for the years 1910 and 1920 show Baptie married to Lillian E.M. Baptie who was living in the state of Washington. Obviously a divorce took place before his 1924 marriage to Gladys Lamb but the exact date cannot be determined.

At the end of World War I Baptie launched one of the world’s first touring ice shows, nearly two decades before the 1937 birth of Ice Follies. According to Roy Blakey, Baptie and Lamb did many shows including a 1935 Hotel Sherman show in Chicago with Eddie & Roy Shipstad, Oscar Johnson, and Bess Ehrhardt. Perhaps the idea for Ice Follies began here.

One of his professional friendships was with Earl Reflow, manager of the St. Louis Winter Garden. Reflow had a serendipitous route to the world of ice skating. A former prize fighter, vaudeville actor, politician, and hotelier before taking over the Winter Garden in 1922, Reflow successfully promoted all types of ice shows, midget auto racing, boxing, rodeos, and brought professional hockey to St. Louis. Baptie and Reflow appear to be men much alike in seeing public interest in figure skating exhibitions.

Not only did Baptie and his wife Gladys Lamb skate in Reflow’s shows, he also taught for a time at the St. Louis rink. Shirley Sherman (née Reflow) remembers “Back in those days Norval was the only coach in the Winter Garden. [It was] open in September until sometime in the spring. He looked grumpy but was very gentle with me. In the earlier 30’s there weren’t many little kids figure skating. I think he felt sorry for a little girl struggling around school figures!” She remembers he taught her the first figure test. Obviously equally impressed by Baptie’s partner, she continues, “Gladys Lamb was a very glamorous blonde and I thought she was a beautiful lady.” I asked Shirley about the relationship between two impresarios like Baptie and Reflow. She replied, “I only remember Daddy having complete faith in him.”

Baptie retired from performing in 1938 and devoted full time to coaching skating. A trunk full of Baptie memorabilia such as show programs, contracts, and items he had saved were donated by his great grandchildren to the USFS.

Great Granddaughter, Sally Berens, writes: “We really don’t know very much about Norval in a personal way. He left my Great Grandmother (Lillian) with lots of kids to raise, and I assume that they were divorced, but in those days I’m not quite sure if that was accepted. My Grandmother didn’t really talk about him very much because of this.”

Sally’s Grandmother may not have talked about him, but the Baptie talent could not be silenced and was followed by his descendants from that first marriage. Sally continued, “He gave my Mom figure skates at the age of 15 to learn to skate so when she became old enough she could join one of his shows. My Grandmother frowned upon this though, as none of his children skated. My Mom did learn and became very proficient at it, qualifying for Nationls in ice dancing and later she became a World and Olympic coach. There is an award in her name, the Betty Berens Award that the PSA hands out every year.”

The family went on to accumulate glory. Sally skated at the national level before joining Ice Follies. Another Great Granddaughter, Susan Berens, was a World Team member in the 1960s before joining Ice Follies. Grandson Dick Hunt was an Olympic speed skater competing in both the 1960 and 1968 games. Great Granddaughter Vicky Swanson was a speed skating national champion.

Baptie was also influential in the design of skates. He helped design the tubular racing skate and eliminated the curled figure skating blade. It is unfortunate he is not given the credit deserved for these innovations.

Baptie continued to coach after losing both legs from complications from diabetes. After this double amputation, a nurse was always with him to drive him to the rinks and give him physical assistance. Skating video collector Carl Moseley remembers “About 1957 or so, when I was at the Philadelphia Skating Club, an old gentleman without legs was wheeled into the club rink to teach by the ice. When I asked who he was, I was told that his name was Norval Baptie!”

After several years of care in a nursing home, Norval Baptie died at the age of 87 and was laid to rest in a Bathgate ND cemetery.

Written by Janet Wright

In later years, Mr. Dwyer continued to perform in numerous shows around the world and did guest coaching in places like Hong Kong and Dubai. This ever-so-friendly gentleman has entertained us all for years and it is no wonder that he had fans like singer Tony Bennett and Sonja Henie:

Randy: When did you start with Susan Berens?

Richard: In 1967. She didn’t skate the 1968 Olympics. Bob and Helen Maxim, the Ice Follies choreographers, brought her in both as a soloist and to skate pairs.

Dorothy Ann Nelson, my partner before Susie, had been there 5 years and she got married and decided to retire. They were scouting and on the way home they brought Susie into Minneapolis. Her mother, Betty, competed when I did. I had known her forever. She came in and we skated that night. We had skated about a half hour and she said. “Let’s try a double twist.” Well, I had never done a double twist; “What do you mean?” And she said, “well, there is nothing to it.” And then boom, she almost did it by herself. She had skated pairs and she and her partner were 3rd or 4th in the world.

Randy: Had you done pairs?

Richard: Yes in 1951. I had 13 partners while in Ice Follies. At one point, I got to skate with Barbara Wagner. That was great fun, delightful.

Susan: What inspired you to start skating initially?

Richard: My Dad was from Nebraska and my mother was from Illinois. My father skated as a kid in the back yard. His dad was with the railroad and he had 5 children. They flooded the yard and skated. That was his memory. His father died when he was 8 and left a family of 5 kids. My grandmother eventually moved the family to Oregon. They came to California in 1913, to Petaluma and then to here to Los Angeles.

We went to Follies in 1943, the whole family, and that’s when dad decided he would take his kids skating. We went skating for the first time at Christmas at the Pan Pacific. He took my brother, Ronald, more often than he did Delores, my sister, and me. But we kept bugging him until we used to go every Friday night to the Pan Pacific.

Delores and Ronald gave up skating almost immediately. My mother even skated about 4 or 5 times, but took one spill and that was it.

Susan: What made you to decide to turn professional?

Richard: I skated in a lot of shows in Chicago, the Rotary club in Seattle, in Vancouver. I was best friends with the Shipstad kids. We all skated in Westwood, California at the Sonja Henie Rink in the summer of 1945 and it was a big thrill!

Shipstads and Johnson made me an offer immediately after the 1950 Nationals in Washington. I was 14 years old! “We want Richard to come in and be Roy Shipstad’s heir apparent because he had quit.” He was the original Mr. Debonair. But, my reaction was “no,” I didn’t want to go, I was all into the amateur. But it was a different area. And you know Ozzie and Harriet Nelson? Their kids skated at Polar Palace and they said “Oh, you should go pro” and different people said, “Go and become a performer.” So, I took their advice. Ice shows were big then. Amateur skating was big, but it wasn’t getting the coverage. So, that’s how it happened.

Randy: Did you know Sonja?

Richard: Yes, I first met her out at the ice rink in Westwood when I was just a little guy. I just shook her hand and that was it. We all watched her and talked to her. Over the years I saw her from time to time and she would always say, “Richard, you know you learned to skate at my rink” at the Westwood Ice Gardens.

One of the funny incidents was when I skated with Dorothy Ann, which would have been in the 60’s, Sonja came to the show and sat in the front row. Well, do you remember the Swing Waltz with all the couples? It was eight couples and when they went around the audience would applaud for the couple they liked the most. When we went skating by Sonja she would clap and clap and say, ‘Bravo, Bravo!’ I got so excited that I stubbed my toe and fell!

Through the years, I saw her in restaurants a couple of times in NY like the El Morocco and again in Beverly Hills where one of her dinner guests was Jack Warner of Warner Bros. Studios. She waved hello.

Susan: Did you have a stint in the U.S. Army?

Richard: Yes, 1958. I was 23 yrs. old. I signed up in the Valley for the army reserve. I had to do 6 months active duty, so I went to Fort Rod for six months. It’s now a college, but then it was a big army camp. I was there 6 months; I was a private, an unglamorous lifestyle. Then they assigned me to the control group which meant that you had to go to summer camp for 2 weeks. I didn’t skate for the 6 months. I went right back to Follies and made that season’s opening.

When the Berlin Wall went up, under Kennedy in 1961, I was called up again from the reserves. Anybody in the control groups got called first. So, we were in Detroit when my mother called and said you just got papers. To confirm it, I called the headquarters to check. The woman on the phone said, ”Private Dwyer” yes, you are going back. I had no choice.

So, I left again in December of ’61. Actually I got called in October, and Oscar Johnson immediately wrote this letter to the west coast and said that we can’t replace him in 2 weeks, but we will have him ready in a month. They were trying to figure out who to put in, and they went with Jill Shipstad. They made Jill a ‘Debonair’ as a tribute to her dad.

It worked, but it was not easy for her because they had her in tails, with a short skirt. Here is this glamorous girl coming out with a bow tie. It was cute. I helped her as much as I could and they wanted to keep the other girls because they had all that money in the costumes — thousands of dollars. It wasn’t as natural for a girl, but they worked on it and changed it around a little bit and it worked out. After my 10 months I came back to the show. That’s when they signed up Dorothy Ann Nelson.

Randy: What was your schooling like?

Richard: You know, I went to 26 high schools. That was most unique. I went to the Jesuit High Schools and where there wasn’t one in a particular city, I went to the Christian Brother. My mother just didn’t get into skating. She got me to the rink and was nervous when I performed. She wanted to make sure that I went to school, so she traveled with me. I went to Loyola High here (in Los Angeles) every morning, and would go do the show at night. At that time we would do two on Saturday and two on Sunday until the 3rd year and then we started doing the threes. I went to Regis in Denver, then another school in Omaha the next week, then another in Chicago, so on and so on.

Loyola High School set it all up. That’s why I owe the Jesuits a lot! I attended each school two to three (sometimes four) weeks at a time. In those days they played longer runs in the shows.

Susan: Did the curriculum link up?

Richard: Yes, the Jesuits were pretty good educators. They have 3 divisions in the US. They followed a syllabus. So, I would go in and talk to the principal and tell him where I left off in Latin, for example, and they would put me in a class that they thought that I could adapt to. I made a lot of friends in all those different cities.

Susan: In 1993, you were inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame. What was that like?

Richard: LA Figure Skating Club requested they do it here. They did a show. Gene Turner could come, and they knew he coached me. A lot of my friends were there. So, it was nice. I never got to go to the celebrity of the Nationals. But, the Pickwick Ice Arena was great. Even Eddie Shipstad came.

Randy: I remember when you were the manager at the Wollman Rink in Central Park.

Richard: Yes, that was fun. We did Monday night shows for NY Times Magazine, IBM, and just fun stuff. They would have a party and we would do a 20 minute show. I set up the parties as that was part of my duties. I had to meet all these people. It was interesting, the different personalities. Some were black tie, some were casual. It was an exciting time. I loved NY.

Susan: When were you in Hong Kong?

Richard: Ted Wilson invited me there. I think it was around 1985. We went over and did the show with Dorothy Hamill. Gerty and I and Dorothy’s corps boys along with Tim Murphy and Nathan Birch. Those were fun shows. We did them at that mall. Ted was theatrical and liked putting on those shows. He had me over there again two years ago to open a new rink.

Susan: What was teaching in Dubai like?

Richard: We went there when it was almost new, only four or five big hotels, They were quick-rich from the oil business. There was no drinking, it was strict, but some hotels did have bars. The women never got to come out from under their veils. It was a strictly man’s world. It was so obvious. But the expatriats, and that’s whose kids we were teaching, were from England, Switzerland, Germany, France. All the Dads were helping to develop new industries. I was there when they built that first golf course. The developer’s two daughters skated.

We did shows. That was the main thing. That one summer Ted Wilson, the rink manager, said, ‘You could make some money.’ “What do I have to do?”, I said. “Teach 12 hours a day?” Well, I almost did. My feet died after that summer.

Susan: Why do you think the big production shows come to an end?

Richard: I was there. I saw the audiences falling off. I just think when the prices went up and skating started getting exposed more and more, it just started falling off. We were still making a little money. I was company manager and we were doing okay. We weren’t losing money.

But, then Kenneth and Irving Feld came in and that was the end of our show. And, of course, Kenneth has made millions. But, I like the old theme of having stars and ensemble and people to be known for who they are — where you don’t wonder who played Cinderella. That’s hard for me, but they are making money.

Susan: What would be your dream ice show now?

Richard: Well, I’m stuck in the past, I’m embarrassed to say but I’d go see an all star show.

Randy: I remember when Tai and I did an Ice Capades engagement with you in Minneapolis. All the attention was on you. The audiences loved you and couldn’t get enough!

Richard: Well, I had a following of 30 years. I was the kid that grew up with them. I love the production. I love the glamour.

I just feel it could come back. I still go to musicals and get turned on and love it. It is just so expensive to troupe an ice show with the trucks and the amount of people.

You know, people say to me, “You have been here forever, how do you feel?” And, I would say that it’s just an honor to still be here and skate.

Richard Dwyer Competitve Record and Awards

• 1946 – Pacific Coast Juvenile Men Champion
• 1948 – US Novice Champion
• 1949 – US Junior Champion
• 1950 – Senior Nationals competitor (skated against Dick Button, was 2nd in Free Skate and 4th in Figures)
• 1979 – ISI Hall of Fame
• 1993 – U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame

Written by Susan Austin and Randy Gardner
Contributing writer Roy Blakey

Lisa is currently involved in the biggest production number of her life… raising six children. Gretchen, Tyler, Nicholas, Olivia, Abigail, and Carolyn are directed, choreographed, and produced by Lisa and her husband, Steve Baumann. She met her husband on a golf course while taking a few months off before starting a show in Australia. He literally swept her off the ice. They have been happily married for 21 years and are living just outside of Chicago.

“The friendships I have made during my time in the ice shows are irreplaceable, in fact they are priceless. We became a family. We all shared the same passion, the love of performing. That is the bond that has kept our friendships intact after all these years.” ~Lisa Lauten Baumann

Originally from Poland, Jola Iglikowska started her pro skating career in 1969 in South Africa with Producer Marjory Chase. She went on to skate with Holiday on Ice/Europe until 1976. From 1976-1981, she skated with Ice Capades, and in 1984 she performed in Fire ‘n Ice/Las Vegas at the Hacienda (Producer Jerry Jackson).

She then went to skate in Japan for Producer Rick Porter and later returned to Las Vegas to do “Nudes on Ice” at the Plaza Hotel in downtown Las Vegas. More recently, she appeared in Legends on Ice in 2004 and played with the show in Long Beach, California and Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.

Where is she now?  Jola is now married to Mike Bench and has remained in Las Vegas. Her Mom (“Momma”) has moved over from Poland to join her. Jola has a real estate license and is actively involved in the housing market. She also works at Neiman Marcus on the Las Vegas Strip. Jola says, “I am blessed!”

Inga Schilling, frustrated that her students did not have proper warm-up suits, began knitting them in 1970. The demand was so great that by 1971 she went into full time production.

“I started with one industrial sewing machine. It took me forever to thread that thing,” Schilling laughs. “I finally had to hire someone.”

Her determination to succeed started in Germany where her childhood and teenage years were spent in a dance studio training to be a classical ballerina. She was exposed to theatrical skating at age 19 when she followed an aunt who was performing in the Eisballett Baier starring Maxi and Ernst Baier, 1936 Olympic pair champions. Schilling joined the show as a spotlight operator. Her stumbling, yet graceful, attempts to skate were noticed by Willi Schilling, a performer in the show, who became not only her teacher but eventually her skating partner and husband.

Her first professional skating appearance was in the Olympia Ice Review. After a short partnership with Felix Kasper she was reunited with Willi Schilling.

“We started skating together at Casa Carioca in Garmisch with Terry Rudolph. We owe our career to her,” Schilling said. “The best advice I had about performing and skating came from her and from Willi.”

One skating experience left an indelible impression when the skaters went to Athens in 1954 to perform in the Olympic Stadium. Schilling remembers, “Our Ice Theatre was dwarfed by the huge stadium as we occupied just one end of it at the curve. We needed to start building up ice and the venue was outdoors with weather so hot that any small wind would melt the ice down to the pipes.”

She went on to recall, “Someone heard we could get ice from the fish market for a base; then water could be sprayed upon this foundation for skateable ice. Truck loads were brought in and it worked! However, half-way though the show there was a terrible smell. To our horror the top layers of ice had melted and we were skating on fish heads and bones. Each day a new layer of ice was built up and the smell eventually lessened.”

Before leaving Europe the Schillings had skated at the Casa Carioca, the Vienna Show, and made guest appearances in European movies. One of her outstanding memories was skating in Moscow with the Vienna Ice Show. Former Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev came to see the show. She recalled the enthusiastic cheers of the Moscow audience.

“I was back in my dressing room and they were still applauding,” she said. “I cried.”

The Schillings moved to the U.S. in 1962 and joined Shipstads & Johnson’s Ice Follies. When asked if life on the road with a U.S. show differed from her European experience, Schilling volunteered she found it much more organized but equally exciting. In Europe, she and Willi traveled in their own car. Skating with Ice Follies, they traveled by train.

“Very, very nice trains,” she added. “In fact, I still have my steamer trunk.”

A memory that remains is one of a costume problem.

“We were skating to ‘Love is a Many Splendored Thing’ and the bottom part of my costume was missing. I could only find the top. Willi was already backstage when he was told of the problem and that I couldn’t go on. We later discovered the bottom part of the costume was still in an office on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Someone was supposed to bring it to the show after a repair in the sewing room. They forgot and never stopped to think I was pantless without it. So, we missed our performance. This has haunted me for years, and to this day I can’t laugh about it.”

In 1968 she left Ice Follies and her husband for Los Angeles. Frank Carroll and Tom Lawler, friends from Ice Follies days, invited her to work with their students teaching grace and style at the Van Nuys Iceland. Schilling’s dance and ballet training was put to good use. One of Carroll’s students was future World Champion Linda Fratianne.

Schilling remembers “When I saw nine year old Linda, I said ‘she will be a world champion.’ I don’t know how I knew but there was just something there. After she did become a World Champion her mother said. ‘Why did you not predict an Olympic Championship?’”

An offer to skate in Sydney Australia was presented to Schilling in 1974. This was received with some consternation as she had no skating partner. She went through her options and set about finding a partner. She went to the rink where she found Lawler on a break and approached him with,

“Do you want to go to Australia with me?”

“As what?” he questioned.

“As my skating partner,” she replied.

Lawler agreed although adagio was not something he had done. However as a former student of Maribel Vinson Owen he had skated pairs with her daughter (and namesake) Maribel. With this as a foundation he rapidly learned the necessary adagio moves. In September 1974 both Schilling and Lawler left their students behind and went to Sydney for three months where they debuted as skating partners.

They were encouraged to enter the World Professional Championship in Jaca Spain in 1975. Schilling’s performance surpassed that of skaters twenty years her junior, and she and Lawler proudly won the Bronze Medal.

Schilling’s life was busy with teaching, designing, and manufacturing Inga Creations, and periodic performances with Lawler. Their 1977 guest appearance on the popular TV show Charlie’s Angels marked the end of their skating career.

A trip to Mexico introduced her to Bart Varelmann, the owner of the hotel where she was vacationing. They married in 1985 and continued to manage the hotel as well as a home in the U.S. The pressure of trying to run Inga Creations from Mexico led to Schilling’s decision to close the business. Now retired from the hotel business, they make their home in Florida.

In 2009, at the age of 76, the energetic Schilling is teaching Yoga, skis, travels, regularly works out at the gym, and has the posture, grace, and verve of a young woman.

Written by Janet Wright