Skate Guard Blog

The Tropical Ice Gardens

Photo courtesy Los Angeles Public Library

"Skating under real moonlight with soft ocean breezes is a delight hard to express in words!" - unnamed member of the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club, "Skating" magazine, 1939

Businessman A. Frank Ruppenthal made his fortune in St. Louis, serving as the President of the Minit-Rub Corporation, which sold a topical analgesic similar to Vick's VapoRub. In the mid-thirties, he made his first venture into the world of ice sports, taking over the franchise of the St. Louis Flyers hockey team. It was through hockey that he connected with George Humiston. Humiston was the President of the Associated Piping and Engineering Company. He and Herman Vetter had patented a new ice refrigeration process. They were so confident in their product that they were able to convince Ruppenthal to invest two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars to build an outdoor amphitheater-style rink in the blazing California sun.

Photo courtesy Los Angeles Public Library

The Tropical Ice Gardens were built in 1938 at Wilshire Boulevard and Gayley Avenue in Westwood Village, Los Angeles. A two-hundred and fifty-ton refrigeration plant was constructed to service two ice surfaces: the main rink (110 X 210 feet) and the children's rink (60 X 40). The main rink itself could accommodate up to two thousand skaters. A steep hill west of the rink was terraced to provide seating for up to ten thousand spectators.

Photo courtesy Los Angeles Public Library

The Tropical Ice Gardens had every modern convenience: a café, sportswear and skate shops, dressing and club rooms and showers. There were also projection rooms where lighting effects could be used to illuminate the ice. It was the first year-round artificial outdoor ice rink in North America, predating the famous rink in Sun Valley by six months.

Before the Tropical Ice Gardens even opened, it was the talk of the town. Two months before the grand opening, Irene Dare, the child star of the film "Everything's On Ice", was invited to test out the ice. A week before the grand opening, the Westwood Businessmen's Association hosted a dinner party and 'pre-show' at the rink. The one-thousand-person guest list included well-to-do philanthropists, businessmen and film stars. Just two days before the rink opened to the public, Mother Nature dealt the rink a considerable challenge. The November 26, 1938 issue of "The Los Angeles Times" noted, "The fires burning in the hills surrounding Westwood put the new Tropical Ice Gardens skating surface to its severest test yesterday, but despite an increase of 20 degrees in the temperature, the refrigerating plant withstood the test without the least difficulty. With this source of worry eliminated, everything is in readiness for the opening of the new institution."

Photo courtesy Los Angeles Public Library

The Tropical Ice Gardens opened to the public on November 28, 1938, with a performance of the ice revue "St. Moritz Express". The Swiss-produced show featured an international cast, including Frick and Frack, Adele Inge, Eric Waite, Lois Dworshak, Gloria Nord and Red McCarthy. During the production's one-month run, the temperature reached an "unprecedented winter peak of 92 degrees". A January 1939 article in "Gas" magazine recalled, "One day recently, when the beaches, customarily deserted at this season, were crowded with people escaping from the inland heat, Herman Vetter, refrigeration engineer who installed the plant, checked temperatures in and above the ice. The ice itself registered at 28 degrees... and at two feet the temperature was 124 degrees! He concluded, with apparent justification, that they would be able to hold the ice during the summer."

On March 8, 1939, three hundred people were on the ice when a fire broke out in the rink's wooden engine room building. Fortunately, no one was injured, but the fire caused approximately ten thousand dollars in damage to freezing apparatus and machinery. Incredibly, the rink only had to close for about a week.

Donna Atwood

In early 1942, a roof was added to the Tropical Ice Gardens because the rink was seen as something of a 'sitting target' in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Though the decision to cover the rink was a necessary safety precaution, U.S. Champion Theresa Weld Blanchard noted after it was added, the Tropical Ice Gardens "lost much of its charm". The All-Year, Mercury and Los Angeles Figure Skating Clubs all practiced at the rink and various women's gyms held skating classes. U.S. Champions Eugene Turner and Donna Atwood both practiced there.

Maribel (Vinson) and Guy Owen took the ice at the Tropical Ice Gardens in "Ice Frolics"; Belita Jepson-Turner wowed in "Ice Revels of 1943". A Columbia newsreel was shot there, featuring Tinsel Town A-listers like Mickey Rooney, Rita Hayworth and Ann Sheridan. MGM triple-threat Jane Powell met her husband Geary Steffen there when she was taking skating lessons. However, the big name that was most associated with the rink was none other than the queen of the ice herself, Sonja Henie.

Sonja Henie, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. Photo courtesy Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.

In November of 1945, Sonja Henie and Arthur M. Wirtz secured a long-term lease on the Tropical Ice Gardens under the name Sonja Henie Ice Palace Cooperation. Though a 2009 LAist article attempted to rebut the fact that Henie had a stake in the rink, this was something that was widely reported internationally in Associated Press articles and noted in Henie's biography "Queen Of Ice, Queen Of Shadows".

Van Johnson and Sonja Henie

Not long after Arthur M. Wirtz and Sonja Henie took over the lease, the Tropical Ice Gardens were renamed the Sonja Henie Ice Palace and renovated to enlarge the seating capacity. The big grand re-opening was on February 15, 1946, and featured seven performances by Henie herself, including her famous hula dance. Actor Van Johnson filled her dressing room with orchids that night. The February 16, 1946 issue of the "Los Angeles Evening Citizen News" reported, "Once again the 'darling of the rinks' won the hearts of an appreciative audience of 8500 at a premiere opening of the Sonja Henie Hollywood Ice Revue of 1946 at her Westwood arena. Before a typical Hollywood first-nighter of filmland stars, Sonja gracefully demonstrated her silver-bladed skill... combining intricate spins and whirls of ballet." The "National Ice Skating Guide" confirms that the manager of the rink under Henie and Wirtz's management was none other than Bert Clark, a former manager of the Polar Palace who was employed by Henie to act as her stand-in during rehearsals with choruses when lighting and camera angles were tested.

Photos courtesy "National Ice Skating Guide"

The good folks at UCLA can be thanked for the demise of the Sonja Henie Ice Palace. The land that the rink was constructed on had previously belonged to the government but fell under the jurisdiction of UCLA's Board of Regents. Though the government had made upwards of ten thousand dollars a year from the rink during the forties, they decided to give the land to UCLA so that they could build a medical research center. The Sonja Henie Ice Palace closed unceremoniously in 1949 but the rink's ultimate demise was to be a dramatic and unexpected one.

On May 4, 1950, Southern California was inundated with brush fires, dust storms, gales and rain. Workers were in the process of tearing down the Sonja Henie Ice Palace when a big windstorm hit Westwood Village. An article in the "Los Angeles Mirror" noted, "Bob Sims... was on the skeleton of the roof when the trusses and wall frames began to sway and crack in the wind. He tight-roped along a truss to a ladder, 75 feet away, and got down safely just as the structure fell."

Today in Westwood, where they once did layback spins and loops, you can find places to park your car and restaurants that sell soups. Though it looks like any other quiet little neighborhood you might stroll through without really noticing, Westwood was once home to an ice rink worth remembering.

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, Bluesky, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering one of six fascinating books highlighting the history of figure skating: https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

The 1970 World Figure Skating Championships

Held from March 2 to 8, 1970 in the the historic Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, the 1970 World Figure Skating Championships marked the first and only time in history that Yugoslavia would play host to the World Championships. The organizers in Ljubljana - known as 'Little Switzerland' because of its rugged beauty and great mountain climbing and skiing - pulled out all the stops to ensure the event was a great success.

The 1970 Canadian World team. Photos courtesy Mary Petrie McGillvray.

An opening ceremony at the three-hundred-year-old Ljubljana Town Hall hosted by ISU Vice-President John Shoemaker was well-attended, and skaters raved about the service at the illustrious host Hotel Lev at Vosnjakova 1.

Photo courtesy Judy Sladky

The hotel staff extended their hours to serve meals well into the wee hours of the morning to accommodate the schedules of the skaters and officials and adapted their menu to suit varied international tastes. Each country's team was provided an interpreter to make communication a breeze.

Sandra and Val Bezic with their parents at the airport in Toronto before leaving for Yugoslavia. Photo courtesy Toronto Public Library, from Toronto Star Photographic Archive. Reproduced for educational purposes under license permission.

Transportation wasn't an issue either - Ljubljana's six-year-old Sportna Hala, the Sports Hall in the Tivoli Gardens, was only a short fifteen-minute walk from the hotel. American figure skating fans who had shelled out six hundred and sixty dollars for a two-week package tour to the event sponsored by the Central California Inter Club Association appreciated the fact that Ljubljana's lightly falling snow matched the picture on the brochure perfectly. They also appreciated the fact that the competition itself was one of the most exciting they had seen in years! How did it all play out? Let's take a look back!

THE ICE DANCE COMPETITION

Ice dance medallists. Photo courtesy Judy Sladky.

The retirement of Diane Towler and Bernard Ford paved the way for a classic East/West showdown between Soviets Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov, Americans Judy Schwomeyer and James Sladky and West Germans Angelika and Erich Buck. After eighteen teams had weaved their way through three compulsory dances - the Westminster Waltz, Rocker Foxtrot and Silver Samba - the Soviets and Americans were in a virtual tie. Pakhomova and Gorshkov had 150.1 points to Schwomeyer and Sladky's 149.8. Judy Sladky recalled, "Computers were a new thing for scoring and so we went back to the hotel thinking we were second. At that point, I was in bed, I had washed my hair and put it into the rollers. I didn't have a hair dryer or anything. I heard, 'All ice dancers please report to the arena after this event' so I had to get dressed, somehow get my hair done, get make-up on and everything else and go over the rink and that's when we found out we were first. There was something with the ordinals that hadn't been done in the computer. We thought we were second!"

Judy Schwomeyer and James Sladky performed a Paso Doble for their OSP and managed to overtake Pakhomova and Gorshkov by the slimmest of margins. Things looked good for the talented young American couple who managed to fit their practices around Jim's military duties at West Point.

Video courtesy Frazer Ormondroyd

With an unconventional free dance set to a modern piano arrangement of the music of Grieg, Moniuszko and Beethoven, Pakhomova and Gorshkov won the free dance - and the gold medal - in one of the closest ice dance events at the World Championships in history to that point. The judging panel was split five-four and only one-tenth of a point (511.4 to 511.3) separated the top two couples. Had it not been for low marks from British judge Mollie Phillips, Schwomeyer and Sladky would have made history as the first American couple to win a World title in ice dance. Phillips had told Sandra Stevenson that she placed Schwomeyer and Sladky lower because "his bottom stuck out". She told Benjamin T. Wright she gave them lower marks "because they weren't the North American Champions". Donna Taylor and Bruce Lennie, the Canadians who had won the title in 1969, had since retired. Instead, Pakhomova and Gorshkov made history as the first Soviet couple to win the title. Not long after, they returned to the Soviet Union and got married.

Video courtesy Frazer Ormondroyd

The Bucks took the bronze in Ljubljana, some ten points back of the leaders and fifteen points ahead of the European Bronze Medallists, Tatiana Voituk and Viacheslav Zhigalin. However, Voituk and Zhigalin's fourth place finish was quite remarkable as they had only been fourteenth at Worlds the year prior, and had stood in sixth after compulsories. Canada's only entry, Mary Church and David Sutton, placed a disappointing fourteenth after David missed a considerable amount of practice time leading up to the event due to illness.

Left: Judy Schwomeyer and Jim Sladky. Photo courtesy Judy Sladky. Right: Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov. Photos courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Peter Bojanczyk of Poland finished thirteenth with his partner Teresa Weyna. He recalled, "It was my first Worlds and it was very interesting to see and watch many skaters from the U.S. and Canada, and other countries (outside Europe). I was very impressed with Judy Schwomeyer and Jim Sladky. They presented a slightly different dance style than we were used to. Different than British and different than Russian styles. My mother arranged a trip to Ljubljana so she could watch us competing (it was unusual at that time in Poland). I still remember a tour to the famous Postojna Cave, the world's biggest underground cave complex."

Not everyone was thrilled with Pakhomova and Gorshkov's victory. Their free dance was widely criticized for its excessive side-by-side skating, toe work and posing. In fact, Ann Udell, who reviewed the event for "Skating" magazine remarked, "On the whole, the free dance was a let-down. Few couples held dance positions for any length of time, and most of the free dances can be best described as 'liftless, spinless pairs.' A notable lack of unison and the inability of the dancers to skate to the beat or in reasonable time with the selected music generally characterized the dances. Some programs contained so many changes in the music that it became distracting, abrupt transitions destroying the flow and continuity of the program as a complete, unified dance."

Judy Sladky recalled, "Pakhomova and Gorshkov used classical music, which was absolutely outlawed but Lawrence Demmy said 'Oh no, we didn't want to bother them at the competition.' They didn't tell the judges. I think at that time the judges couldn't watch the skaters in practice, so I don't think they heard their music 'til the day of... There was a Czechoslovakian judge [Miroslav Hansenöhrl] there that we'd met when we won the St. Gervais competition in '68. He was there when the Russian tanks had come into Czechoslovakia. He and a bunch of us sat down and talked about what his choices were - he couldn't go back or he could but he didn't know what to do. At the end of that conversation in '68 he said, 'Boy, I hope I get to judge you when you're World Champions'. Well, he was on the panel in '70 and he didn't put us first - he was East Bloc. He actually came up to me afterward and sided up and said, 'Well, I couldn't help it. They wouldn't let me out of the country if I [voted for you]. That was the time."

THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION

Julie Lynn Holmes, Gaby Seyfert and Trixi Schuba. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Before heading to Ljubljana, Janet Lynn spent some time training in Switzerland. In her book "Peace And Love", she recalled, "It snowed every day. Every morning [Slavka Kohout] and my mom would be out there shoveling up to a foot of snow off the rink themselves. They worked as hard as i did. Mom would have to keep shovelling patches throughout the day while I spent fix to six hours on figures. When it came to practicing my program, there was simply no way to shovel the entire rink. So I just had to go plowing through drifts. [Slavka would] keep making me do it, skating right behind me until, out of sheer desperation, I landed every jump."

In the women's school figures, defending World Champion Gaby Seyfert had a serious case of déjà vu. She found herself in exactly the same position as she'd been the year prior at the World Championships in Colorado Springs, over twenty points behind eighteen-year-old Trixi Schuba of Austria. Hungary's Zsuzsa Almássy was third after the first two figures, but an uncharacteristic error on the paragraph loop dropped her to fifth, behind America's Julie Lynn Holmes and Great Britain's Patricia Dodd. Janet Lynn placed as high as fifth on one figure but placed a disappointing eighth after the final figure, the paragraph bracket, one spot behind Canada's Karen Magnussen, who was skating in her first World Championships.

As was so often the case during that era, the stars of the free skate were Janet Lynn and Karen Magnussen. Though they finished second and third in that phase of the event, the audience at the Sportna Hala gave them both ovations that surpassed the eventual unanimous winner, Gaby Seyfert.
Seyfert's free skate was set to gypsy music. Seven judges gave her 5.9s for technical merit; the other two gave her 5.8s. On the second mark, she received one 6.0, six 5.9s and two 5.8s.

Trixi Schuba, Gaby Seyfert and Julie Lynn Holmes

Trixi Schuba placed a disappointing seventh but still managed to win the silver medal, some fifteen points ahead of the bronze medallist, Julie Lynn Holmes. Karen Magnussen ended up fourth and Janet Lynn sixth, but both skaters received a second-place ordinal overall. Magnussen's was from the British judge; Lynn's was from the Swiss. Canada's second entry, Cathy Lee Irwin, delivered an outstanding free skate of her own to move up from an unlucky thirteenth after figures to tenth place overall.

THE MEN'S COMPETITION

Ondrej Nepela, Tim Wood and Günter Zöller

Winning five of the six school figures, nineteen-year-old Ondrej Nepela of Czechoslovakia took an early lead over defending World Champion Tim Wood of the United States. East German auto mechanic Günter Zöller placed a strong third, ahead of the winner of the final figure, France's Patrick Péra. Harvard student John 'Misha' Petkevich and Kenneth Shelley (the only skater to compete in both singles and pairs) sat in fifth and eighth places, and Canadians David McGillivray and Toller Cranston were twelfth and fifteenth.

Though Nepela was a master at figures and had made great strides in his free skating, not even a triple Salchow would allow him to overtake Tim Wood in the free skate. Though Wood overrotated his triple Salchow attempt, he landed a fine triple toe-loop and received two 6.0's for technical merit and one for artistic impression for his free skating performance.

John 'Misha' Petkevich stole the show with his performance to "On The Waterfront" and finished second in the free skate... but remained fifth overall behind Nepela, Zöller and Péra. The same fans who expressed frustration with the fact that Janet Lynn and Karen Magnussen hadn't won medals in the women's event were positively outraged by Petkevich's result in the men's event. Toller Cranston finished an unlucky thirteenth in his debut at Worlds, two spots back of David McGillvray, and Didier Gailhaguet of France placed second to last. One of the most interesting tidbits about the judging in the men's event was the fact that both North American judges - Yvonne Sherman McGowan and Ralph McCreath - placed Tim Wood behind Ondrej Nepela.

THE PAIRS COMPETITION

Lyudmila Smirnova and Andrei Suraikin, Irina Rodnina and Alexei Ulanov and Heidemarie Steiner and Heinz-Ulrich Walther

The absence of two-time Olympic Gold Medallists Ludmila and Oleg Protopopov was certainly felt in Ljubljana. The talented pair had fallen out of favour with the 'powers that be' in the Soviet Union and placed only fourth at the Soviet Championships, missing a spot on the World team. This paved the way for a two-way battle between two other Soviet pairs, Irina Rodnina and Alexei Ulanov and Lyudmila Smirnova and Andrei Suraikin.

Photo courtesy German Federal Archive

With a confident performance, Rodnina and Ulanov took a strong lead over Smirnova and Suraikin and East Germans Heidemarie Steiner and Heinz-Ulrich Walther in the compulsory short program. In the warm-up before the first phase of the event, America's Melissa Militano collided with East Germany's Annette Kansy. Annette was so badly cut that she was taken directly to the hospital, given stitches and admitted for the duration of the competition. Then, in a practice session before the free skate, Melissa fell from a lift and suffered a concussion. She skated the free skate with her brother Mark sporting a huge bruise on her forehead... and actually managed to move up two places from tenth to eighth. In her "BBC Book Of Skating", Sandra Stevenson recalled, "Melissa and Mark Militano were executing a death spiral at the same time as an East German couple were practicing flying camels. The East German girl jumped into Melissa's path and had an artery in her leg slashed. Melissa said later that she could find no blood on her skates, although it covered the ice, and she felt that the injury might have been inflicted by the German boy's blade, colliding with his partner as he lost unison in the jump. In any case, the German girl never skated again."

Protocols for pairs short program. Photo courtesy Mary Petrie McGillvray.

Rodnina and Ulanov managed to defend their World title, but it wasn't exactly smooth sailing. Ulanov fell on the pair's first side-by-side jump - the double Salchow - and two-footed the landing of a double toe-loop. Though the judges from East and West Germany had Smirnova and Suraikin first, the rest of the panel still favoured the dynamic Rodnina and Ulanov. Steiner and Walther were unanimously third, over ten points ahead of the third Soviet team, Galina Karelina and Georgi Proskurin.

Galina Karelina and Georgi Proskurin

Canadian Champions Sandra and Val Bezic - who had Yugoslavian roots - were the clear audience favourites in Ljubljana. In her review in "Skating" magazine, Ann Udell remarked, "A colourful highlight were Canadians Sandra and Val Bezic who were skating in their first World Championships. Appearing in embroidered costumes with Sandra's hair in pigtails, this up-and-coming team of Yugoslavian descent did a charming routine to a Slovenian folk dance drawing wild cheers not reflected in their marks which placed them fourteenth." Sandra reflected on the event in her book "The Passion To Skate" thusly: "Because I was only thirteen years old, I required special permission from the International Skating Union to compete in the World Championships... For my father, who had left Croatia as a refugee during the war and was now returning home for the first time, it was an emotional event. He was pleased that his children had won a national title and were representing his adopted country on the world's stage. On the tiny island of Šolta, where many of our relatives still lived, the entire village gathered around the only TV to watch us. Even though we were just a couple of kids competing against the best... we proudly placed fourteenth."

Sandra and Val Bezic's teammates Mary Petrie and Bob McAvoy had an equally memorable experience in Ljubljana. Before the event, the Canadian team trained at an army base in Lehr, West Germany. Unfortunately, Bob McAvoy fell ill on the plane and was admitted to the army hospital before even making it to Lehr. Even though he was extremely sick, Toller Cranston encouraged him to fly with the rest of the Canadian team to Ljubljana. Petrie and McAvoy made it through the short program - but the free skate was a different matter entirely. In his book "Zero Tollerance", Cranston recalled, "Everything appeared to be fine in Bob and Mary's warm-up and at the beginning of the performance. They did a number of difficult manoeuvres: double flips, throw Axels, and whatever else one did then. But right in the middle of the program, during an extended overhead lift, the fact that Bob had no strength hit him like a bolt of lightning. He was paralyzed. He just stopped. His face turned green, and his arms buckled like spaghetti. Mary dropped flat on her face and lay there on her stomach, her legs splayed. Bob also fell on his stomach and lay where he landed. The music kept going, which added a macabre touch. The referee [Karl Enderlin] - the person who was supposed to do something - did nothing. The audience was flabbergasted... They must have lain on their faces for at least thirty seconds. Bob then raised himself up a bit. His face was scraped, and he had blood on his cheeks. On his hands and knees, he made his way to his semi-conscious partner, put his arm around her, and pulled her up. Somehow they managed to stand. Her face was severely scraped. The audience remained in a state of shock. No one knew what to do, and the music played on." Then, Bob gestured to Mary asking if she'd like to continue. She nodded yes, and within seconds of them re-starting their program, the roar of the audience in support of them was so loud that the music was drowned out. They went on to skate the performance of their lives, received a massive standing ovation... and were rewarded with dismal marks despite their bravery - finishing fifteenth of the seventeen pairs entered.

It is hard to believe that over fifty years have passed since this star-studded competition took place. Looking back at fascinating figure skating competitions like this one is a wonderful reminder that every decade of the sport's history is peppered with interesting anecdotes worth learning more about. The stories of past champions and cherished performances will remain relevant for generations to come.

Pride Season

Happy Pride Season!

Check out Skate Guard's Pride Season page for a timeline of LGBTQ+ figure skating history, a required reading list and a Pinterest board highlighting how the history on the figure skating has intersected with LGBTQ+ history.

To nominate LGBTQ+ skaters to the Skate Canada Hall Of Fame, click here.

National Indigenous History Month

Photo courtesy Government of Canada

June is National Indigenous History Month! It's the perfect time to celebrate the significant contributions of skaters from First Nations, Inuit, and Métis backgrounds. To explore the special content dedicated to National Indigenous History Month, simply click on the top menu bar of the blog or head over to the following page:

National Indigenous History Month

To nominate skaters of Indigenous heritage to the Skate Canada Hall Of Fame, click here.

Emperor Of Skating Science: The E.T. Goodrich Story

The son of Margaret Elizabeth (Clark) and Erastus Hickman Goodrich, Erastus Timothy 'E.T. Goodrich was born July 25, 1846, in Buffalo, New York. He was the youngest of four children, having two older brothers (Edson and Ezra) and an older sister (Louisa). His father was a respected jeweler and watchmaker.

The Goodrich family moved to Chicago during The Civil War and E.T. became involved in the family business. At the time, Chicago was host to a burgeoning skating community, with skating clubs formed at the Ogden and North Side rinks and two more rinks on Wabash Avenue and the West Side. It was in The Windy City that E.T. cultivated his skill in his favourite winter pursuit: 'fancy' skating. At five foot eleven, with dark hair and piercing blue eyes, he was a striking figure on the ice.

At the time E.T. was impressing Chicagoans with his skating prowess, 'fancy' skating competitions were fraught with serious drama. Skating rinks and promoters throughout Canada, the Eastern Seaboard and the Midwest organized many competitions billed as the Championships of America, Canada or North America, offering medals, trophies or cash prizes. Newspapers of the era were resplendent with advertisements where a top skater would 'challenge' another skater to compete against them. In January of 1867, E.T. travelled to Pittsburgh to compete in one such skating 'fancy' skating contest. He won first prize, taking home a gold medal and a four hundred dollar cash prize - a princely sum in those days. In winning, he defeated many of the top skaters of his day, including Callie Curtis, William H. Bishop, Captain John Miner and J.J. Engler.

Without fail, William H. Bishop (who went by the 'stage name' Frank Swift) issued a challenge to E.T. in the "New York Clipper". A letter published in November of 1867 read, "From Mr. E.T. Goodrich's non-acceptance of my challenge issued October 12th, I would infer that he is afraid to meet me. I do not claim to be a swifter skater than he is and do not wish to have the meaning of my challenge misconstrued. I am a 'fancy skater' and as such would have Mr. Goodrich understand that I wish to skate against him. I would also say that I do not consider him the Champion of America, as the match in which he won his medal took place in a part of the country where skating is in its infancy, and the judges, men who did not understand the first principles of skating, in fact had to have most of the movements explained to them. I hereby re-challenge Mr. Goodrich to skate at a match at 'fancy skating' on ice for $300 a side, to take place at New York, Philadelphia or Boston, between the 15th and 31st of Dec. 1867. Each to choose two judges and they select a referee. The match to be skated according to N.Y. Club Rules, Mr. G. to be allowed to wear 'ankle supporters'... If he is not afraid to skate with me he will certainly accept."

E.T. ultimately did accept William H. Bishop's challenge, competing in a three-day 'fancy' skating contest for 'best three in five' in Albany, New York in December of that year for a two thousand dollar prize. A report in the December 28, 1867 issue of the "New York Clipper" noted, "Half of the movements on the programme were executed when one of Goodrich's skates broke. Mr. Swift being willing, the judges decided to postpone the match till the following day. On Saturday, at 3 PM, the match was resumed. The remainder of the programme was gone through with, both doing their utmost to excel. The crowd was divided in the opinion as to their merits of the men, but it was generally conceded that the accident to Goodrich's skates lost him the match." In a rematch on Union Pond, E.T. defeated William forty-two points to forty. The two men had to perform no less than twenty-five figures and specialties.

E.T.'s prize winnings from these 'fancy' skating contests, coupled with his earnings from the family jewelry business, no doubt made him realize there was money to be made in skating. Skating alone and in a pair, he made the rounds in Vaudeville-style theatre shows in New York, skating alongside minstrel acts. In 1869, he dazzled audiences in Cleveland and Chicago productions of "Humpty Dumpty", performing a duet with 'skatorial queen' Carrie Augusta Moore. In a March 3, 1889 interview published in "The Sunday Leader", E.T. recalled, "Tony [Denier] in connection with a man named Ellsler, had purchased the sole right of that wonderfully successful pantomime show of Fox. Tony was the clown, Joseph M. Sloan took the part of Pantaloon; Harry Leslie, the celebrated tightrope walker, was Harlequin; Mlle. Auriole, Columbine, and Louisa Sylvester made a very lovely burlesque. Clara Morris was in the cast. She was a ballet dancer in those days and played the part of Romance, one of the leading characters. She looked very pretty in tights and tinsel and made quite a hit... I had been performing in 'Humpty Dumpty', imitating the ludicrous evolutions of a novice on the ice, when I had the misfortune to fall and break my arm. [Frank] Swift took my place and did remarkably well. I was with George L. Fox, the clown and original Humpty Dumpty, at the old Olympic theatre in New York, for over two years. Quite an attachment sprang up between us. When the [Christy minstrel show] company went on the road I accompanied them. This was the beginning of my famous tour around the world."

E.T. arrived in England in the fall of 1869. He recalled, "I had formed a partnership with [Alfred] Moe. He was a magnificent skater and a splendid fellow. We did the carnival act [from 'Humpty Dumpty'] and made a big bit. The English people had never seen roller skating before. It was a good company from top to bottom. Archie Hughes was bones, Walter Howard tambourine and Arthur Fitzgerald interlocutor. We were at St. James' Hall in Liverpool for several weeks and did a famous business. It was during my connection with the show that I skated in the presence of the Queen [Victoria] and the rest of the royal family. I never saw a woman laugh so heartily as she did over my imitation of the adventures incidental to the skating tyro. The papers [the] next day gave us a great send-off. We were made lions of and nothing would do when we got to London but Moe and myself must give an exhibition on the ice. So on Sunday afternoon, we gave the exhibition, skating in Victoria Park between 12 and 1 o'clock, in St. James' Park between 2 and 3 and Regent's Park during the next hour. I never saw such crowds at a skating performance before."

E.T. and Alfred Moe were billed in England as 'The Champion Skaters', though they had never entered a competition together. In his 1897 book "On The Outside Edge: Being Diversions In The History Of Skating", George Herbert Fowler claimed, "The Mohawk step was probably introduced to England on rollers by [Alfred] Moe and [E.T.] Goodrich in 1869-70. It seems to have then been transferred from rollers to ice, and christened at the London Skating Club about 1879." Edgar Syers shared Fowler's belief that the Mohawk was first performed on rollers. In the 1900 edition of "The Encyclopædia Of Sport", he remarked, "I believe that the Mohawk steps were first skated by the professionals Moe and Goodrich at the Crystal Palace Roller Rink in 1870, and afterwards skated and named at the... Skating Club."

E.T. found love in England, marrying Elise 'Lizzie' Marion Hutchins, the daughter of a Captain in the Merchant Service, in May of 1870. Alfred Moe and his wife Sarah were the attendants at their wedding and the marriage certificate listed E.T.'s occupation as Skater. That summer, instead of a typical honeymoon, the Goodrichs and Moes headed to Norway, where E.T. and Alfred wowed the people of Oslo with their roller skating talent. E.T. recalled, "While in London we contracted with the people who were running the 'Black Crook' at the Crystal Palace, and when Jarrett & Palmer bought this spectacular play we were brought back to New York. Jarrett spent $45,000 in putting the play on the boards in Niblo's Garden. We opened on the night of Monday, Dec. 12, 1870. Pauline Markham was cast as Stalacta, queen of the Golden Realm. She was a beautiful woman and soon had all Gotham at her feet. As soon as our contract expired, Moe and myself started for Europe again, refusing big salaries to continue our engagement with Jarrett & Palmer. There was too much money abroad. We started in Alexandra Hall, in Manchester, and made a complete tour of Europe and Asia. When in St. Petersburg, the Czar decorated us with gold medals. Most of the time we were with circus troupes."

Upon E.T.'s return to America, he took over his father's role in the family business. He and his wife Lizzie adopted a son, but a year later E.T.'s partner in the jewelry business retired, leading to the dissolution of the firm. He decided to refocus on skating, forming a new partnership with his former competitor Callie Curtis. If that name sounds familiar he was the one who dolled himself up in his best Victorian drag in an attempt to win the prize money in a 'ladies' fancy skating contest' in 1869. E.T. and Callie each had their own specialties. E.T. was known for his spread eagle jump and rocker steps; Callie for his flying corkscrew toe-spin and Curtis Star. In 1874, they appeared in productions at Fox's American Theatre in Philadelphia and The Howard Athenæum (Old Howard Theatre) in Boston.

E.T. and Callie's successes in Philadelphia and Boston led them to go on a European tour of their own. In England in May of 1874, they appeared in minstrel shows as 'Champion Skaters of the World', 'Knights of Icy Steel' and 'Emperors of Skating Science'. That summer, they appeared in a series of shows at a former equestrian theatre in Paris known as the Cirque des Champs-Elysées. Their performances were so novel to La Belle Époque spectators that author Frédéric Dillaye remarked, "I slipped away wondering if the sight of skaters in the middle of summer had not a harmful influence on some brains."

In the winter of 1874-75, E.T. and Callie travelled to Russia, where they crossed paths with Jackson Haines. In a 1911 letter that was later cited in Fritz Reuel's 1928 "Das Eissportbuch", E.T. remarked, "Curtis and I were in St. Petersburg and gave in a covered ice rink performances when [Haines] got there too and suggested that all three of us should go to Helsingfors in Finland, where he had been before, and give a series of performances. We were significantly better than he, both as far as demonstration and actual skill were concerned, that was not subject to comparison; and he saw that and left us the next week. Curtis and I stayed another week or two more. All he could do was about: figure eight on one foot, one vine, pirouette on both feet and a jump from forward to backward with a long run in a pose-like position and lots of dancing to the music." E.T. and Callie ultimately followed Jackson Haines to Finland. The trio gave a series of performances together in Kaisaniemi Park in Helsinki in February of 1875, just months before Haines' death.

E.T. and Callie Curtis proved tremendously popular in Russia and Scandinavia before they toured the Continent with a small American gymnastics troupe. They performed before a who's who of European royalty, including the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), Czar Alexander II of Russia and Emperor Wilhelm I of Prussia. They even skated hand-in-hand on the ice with King Alfonso XII of Spain. An account of one of their productions in Linz, Austria, published in the "Tages-Post" in February 5, 1878, highlights their audience appeal: "They first gave solo exhibitions in elegant costumes, with medals of honour adorned and then skated as a pair, with Curtis dressed as the girl of modern of times, charmingly dressed... They both appeared to be newbies to skating, behaving in the most comical way and awkward manner. The gentleman wanted to show himself gallant and lead the lady in the sleigh, which he succeeded to do so badly that the sled and its contents are tumbling all over and the lady finally gets stuck in the overturned sled. The way she gets out of this uncomfortable situation is the funniest thing you can think of."

After their successes in Austria, E.T. and Callie continued their European tour, appearing in Estonia on rollers (1878), at the Zoological Gardens in St. Petersburg, Russia on rollers (1878), in Christiana (Oslo) and Norway at the Tivoli Theatre on rollers (1878). They starred on ice in the Carnival sur la Glace at the Cirque d'Hiver (Cirque Napoléon) in Paris (March 1879) and appeared in shows on ice at the Palais de Glace and on rollers at The Folies Bergère (Autumn 1879). Not long after, E.T. and Callie parted ways. Curtis married 'Miss Niagara', an underwater artist at the Furst Theatre, and lived in Vienna for a time before settling in a suburb of Hamburg and opening a restaurant.

Callie Curtis and his understated moustache

E.T. remembered Callie Curtis fondly. In his 1889 interview with "The Sunday Leader", he remembered, "Callie Curtis joined me along about 1873. We made a tour of the States first and then started abroad. We had some very funny experiences together during the carnival scene. While we were with Chiarini's Royal Italian circus a brilliant special performance for the benefit of the King of Denmark was given. I will never forget how mystified he was at our evolutions and would not be satisfied until he had examined our skates to satisfy him that we were not governed by some mysterious influence. Curtis and myself were traveling until 1879. Then I formed my own company. This was a very successful combination. There were five of us in the company, including my wife, who was a skater, and our little boy Bert, who was known as the 'infant prodigy'. Besides our skating entertainment we had a novelty known as 'The Batterie de Cuisine'. Dressed as cooks we would by the aid of pots and pans produce some very excellent although eccentric music with finer graduations of expressions than might be thought possible. We could render airs from 'La Fille de Mme. Angot', 'Les Cloches of Corneville', 'Tout a la Joie', and other music that was popular so long abroad. The troupe was consolidated with Chiarini's circus afterward, and we continued together until shortly after the famous performance under the distinguished patronage of His Highness The Maharajah of Jahore, India, on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 1883. I have one of the programmes of the event still. It was printed on white satin with red border." After his performance in India, E.T. settled in England briefly before returning to America with his wife aboard the Anchoria in 1884.

Left: E.T. Goodrich in later years. Right: Grave of E.T. Goodrich.

E.T. and his wife settled in Chicago, where they operated a large boarding house for a time and E.T. worked as a loan agent and bookkeeper. In 1907, when he was in his early sixties, he reunited with his old friend Alfred Moe to perform a comedy act on rollers in a series of shows presented by the Anna Held Company. Predeceased by his wife, he passed away in a Masonic Home on October 19, 1933, in East Nelson Township, Illinois at the age of eighty-seven.

Liverpudlian Luminaries: The Joyce Coates And Anthony Holles Story

Photo courtesy "Liverpool Echo" Archives

Born December 14 and February 8, 1939, in Liverpool, England, Joyce Pamela Coates and Anthony 'Tony' Frederick Holles grew up about a ten-minute drive from each other - he on Glen Road in the Liverpool suburb of Broadgreen and her on Oxford Street, near the Liverpool Maternity Hospital.

Tony started skating at the age of eleven when his family's car broke down on a day trip to Wirral, in front of the Liverpool Palace Ice Rink. He went in, rented a pair of skates and was hooked instantly. Joyce followed in her older sister's footsteps, taking up the sport around the same time as Tony, under coach Joan Lister. Their partnership was formed in 1950 quite naturally - they were on the ice practicing steps near each other and decided to try skating together on a whim.

Photo courtesy "Liverpool Echo" Archives

Inspired by the achievements of fellow Liverpudlian Jeannette Altwegg, Joyce and Tony practiced hard and won a succession of titles before they were fifteen - the Northern and Midland Counties pairs championship, Laughton Cup in Birmingham and the British junior pairs title. In his spare time, Tony doubled as the mascot for the Liverpool Leopards hockey team.

In 1955, Joyce and Tony competed in the first British junior dance championship for trophies presented by World Champions Jean Westwood and Lawrence Demmy. Coached in dance by John Slater, they were defeated by their friends and training mates Barbara Thompson and Gerard Rigby when their record got lost and they had to come up with a new free dance on the spot.

Norma Core, Marjorie Winstanley, Sheila Dace and Joyce Coates. Photo courtesy "Liverpool Echo" Archives

As teenagers, both Joyce and Tony took jobs in shops to help pay for their skating. They practiced in the evenings and on their one day off, managing to fit in night school classes for a time. Joyce once told a "Liverpool Echo" reporter, "We both left school at 15 to be able to devote all our time to skating practice and work. But we are continuing our studies partly to please our parents, who were reluctant to let us leave school, and partly to ensure that we have the necessary qualifications to get other jobs if the need arises. You never know when something like a broken leg will jeopardize your career."

Joyce and Tony's efforts paid off in dividends. They reigned as British pairs champions from 1956 to 1959, twice won the bronze medal at the European Championships and twice finished in the top five at the World Championships.

Photo courtesy BIS Archive

In Joyce and Tony's only trip to the Winter Olympic Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1956, they finished tenth. They were among the first British skaters to perform to rock and roll music, although only in exhibitions.

Unlike their training mates, Barbara Thompson and Gerard Rigby, who were taught by garage mechanic Fred Borrodaile, Joyce and Tony both received lessons in singles from Joan Lister but were largely self-sufficient as a pair, with the exception of some work with Len Liggett at Nottingham in the summers. They created their own programs and flew to Davos for two weeks before the major ISU Championships to polish them with Arnold Gerschwiler.

In 1962 Joyce lamented, "We started skating together when we were at school. By the time we were 20 or so, we had won hundreds of cups and medals. It became a problem knowing where to store them and how to keep them clean."

Joyce Coates and Anthony Holles atop the podium at the 1962 World's and British Open Professional Championships. Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

Joyce and Tony turned professional in 1960. After finishing third at the 1960 Open Professional Championships, they returned in May 1962 to win the British and World Professional titles in Nottingham. That same year, they appeared in a gala performance before the Queen Mother. The following year, they appeared in the "Hot Ice" show at Blackpool.

Photo courtesy "Ice Skate" magazine

Tony went on to marry Brenda Moss, have three children and coach a generation of Liverpool skaters including British Champions and Olympians Linda [Connolly] McCafferty and Colin Taylforth. Joyce taught for a time at the Silver Blades Ice Rink in Liverpool before marrying star football player and team manager Stan Harland and having two daughters. Sadly, Tony passed away at the age of sixty-nine on August 27, 2008.

Joyce and Tony are remembered as one of the most accomplished British pairs teams of the 1950s.