Ice Capades

[Ice Princess]

Mathman,

In your comedystars.com ad, it did also list Freddie Trenkler, & he was in the Ice Capades show in 1971, that my grandparents went to!

 

[Mathman]

Hey Princess, back in the day (I graduated from high school in 1962), the Ice Capades was the big romantic date to take your girlfriend to. In my home town it came around every Christmas. So if you wanted to be gallant, you would get tickets to the Ice Capades (they weren't cheap, to a small town high school kid back then!), then you could make fun of your friends who merely took their girlfriends bowling (Dutch), LOL.

Mathman

 

[Ice Princess]

Hey Princess, back in the day (I graduated from high school in 1962), the Ice Capades was the big romantic date to take your girlfriend to. In my home town it came around every Christmas. So if you wanted to be gallant, you would get tickets to the Ice Capades (they weren't cheap, to a small town high school kid back then!), then you could make fun of your friends who merely took their girlfriends bowling (Dutch), LOL.

Mathman

That is so neat!!

 

[dlkksk8fan]

Sonia died from Leukemia which was no secret.

She did die of Leukemia, but it was kept a secret form Sonja. She was told she was suffering from anemia.

 

[SkateFan4Life]

I remember attending a performance of Ice Capades in the old, run-down Washington DC Coliseum in the early 1970s. Tim Wood, who had won two World titles (69, 70) and the 1968 Olympic silver medal, was one of the featured
skaters. He was great, although, if I remember this correctly, he nearly fell, right
in front of us. Oh, well.

Some of the posters in this thread commented on the lack of technical content in the star skater's programs. This is absolutely true, relatively speaking. You had to skate x-number of double and/or triple jumps to win Olympic and World medals, but when you turned professional and joined a touring show like Ice Capades, there simply wasn't the time to train to maintain that level of skating. The start skaters always included several of their jumps, but instead of having, say six triples, they skated two or three. The emphasis was on performance and relating to the audience rather than unleashing an arsenal of jumps.

I attended a performance of Ice Capades in Philadelphia on a Sunday afternoon
in February 1980 - the day the US hockey team won the Olympic gold medal. We were settling into our seats when a huge screen televised the pandemonium that erupted at Lake Placid, as the US men won the title. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, in the Spectrum rose to their feet, cheering and applauding. A spontaneous chorus of the National Anthem was sung by many of us.

While we were walking into the arena, we overheard a conversation between several skating fans who lamented Linda Fratianne's loss to Annet Poetszh.
One man said, "Poetszh won", and he shook his head.

We also attended a performance of Ice Capades during the 1988 Winter Olympics. Torvill and Dean were the stars of the show, and were they ever fantastic. I remember one number they performed - it began with both of them sitting rinkside, playing an imaginary game of chess. They then took to the ice and skated one of their imaginative numbers around cast members who were dressed like chess figures.

 

[Kathleenie]

Mr. Frick's real name was Werner Groebli. According to this article, he took his stage name "Mr. Frick" from his home town of Frick, Switzerland.

Is Mr. Frick still alive, and if so how old would he be now? In all the times I had seen Ice Capades, he is the one act that I find so unforgettable.

 

[IDLERACER]

Is Mr. Frick still alive, and if so how old would he be now? In all the times I had seen Ice Capades, he is the one act that I find so unforgettable.

He is indeed still alive and well, and enjoying his retirement in Palm Springs. Huell Howser interviewed him a couple of years ago. He's in his 80s, and for what it's worth, attributes his good health and longevity to enjoying a shot of Brandy after dinner each evening.

 

[SkateFan4Life]

Sonia died from Leukemia which was no secret. The actual death occured on a flight to her beloved Norway where she wanted to spend her final days.

Joe

I remember the television news report of Sonia Henie's death from leukemia. The story showed footage of her Olympic gold-medal winning programs, as well as clips from her professional skating shows and movies. Sonia was truly a special lady and was the trail blazer for the wonderful champion women skaters who followed her. She always was and will remain a champion in our hearts and memories.

 

[SkateFan4Life]

I must be the grump in the bunch. I so wanted to see Ice Follies and Ice Capades when I was little, because I thought the show would be like the skating competitions I saw on TV. I was not a happy girl waiting through all of the chorus lines and animal costumes, etc...

You're not a grump at all! I attended those many Ice Capades performances just to see the likes of Dorothy Hamill, Scott Hamilton, Torvil and Dean, etc. in person. I got a kick out of many of the variety acts, but some of them really were little more than show fillers, in my opinion. I distinctly remember an act that featured a couple of guys racing around the rink and then jumping over flaming barrels. Give me a break.

 

[NJSk8Fan]

I just dug out my old programs from the shows, to make sure I'd get the info correct. I saw the Ice Follies in 1964, 1969 and 1975. All I can remember of the 1964 show, I was only 7, was not being close enough to the ice to be picked to ride in the things they used to get kids out of the audience to sit in and be pushed around the ice. Looking in the 1964 program, which cost fifty-cents, I see that Frank Carroll was in this show--I had no idea who he was back then, but now I do. He looks a bit like Tim Goebel in the program! Mr. Frick was in this show.
The 1969 show starred Peggy Fleming. I was 12 and had a tooth pulled that day--I fell asleep in my seat and missed Peggy skating.
The 1975 show, I remember my Aunt's and cousins and my Mom all piling into my Uncle's pick-up, many of us piling into the back of it which had one of those cap covers, and driving somewhere to get on a bus to go to the show in Philadelphia. I remember how pretty the girls were and how beautiful the costumes were. I have some notations that I'd written in the program, one says "Janet Lynn did not appear because she had pnuemonia". Mr. Frick was in this show and I can remember him doing that signature move of his. I don't recognize the names of any of the other people in the program.
I'm definately glad that Scott started SOI. I guess the Follies and Capades would've changed with the times, but I don't think they'd be as "personable" as SOI is.

 

[SkateFan4Life]

The 1969 show starred Peggy Fleming. I was 12 and had a tooth pulled that day--I fell asleep in my seat and missed Peggy skating.

What a shame! I forgot to mention that Lisa-Marie Allen, the perpetual silver medalist at US Nationals behind Linda Fratianne, was a featured Ice Capades skater during the 1980s, and I enjoyed her performances. I also remember some outstanding Canadian skaters who I saw with this show, including Karen Magnussen (World Champion), Donald Knight (North American Champion), Lynn Nightingale (Candian Champion), and Ron Shaver (Canadian Champion).

I also distinctly remember a family who sat directly behind my group at one of the Ice Capades shows. This family talked and argued loudly throughout the performance. People kept giving them looks, but they continued with their disruptive behavior. When the show was over, I turned around and thanked the mother for ruining the show for my group. She gave me a dumb look and said, "What did we do?" I replied, "If you don't know, then I won't waste my time trying to tell you."

 

[Ice Princess]

I just dug out my old programs from the shows, to make sure I'd get the info correct. I saw the Ice Follies in 1964, 1969 and 1975. All I can remember of the 1964 show, I was only 7, was not being close enough to the ice to be picked to ride in the things they used to get kids out of the audience to sit in and be pushed around the ice. Looking in the 1964 program, which cost fifty-cents, I see that Frank Carroll was in this show--I had no idea who he was back then, but now I do. He looks a bit like Tim Goebel in the program! Mr. Frick was in this show.
The 1969 show starred Peggy Fleming. I was 12 and had a tooth pulled that day--I fell asleep in my seat and missed Peggy skating.
The 1975 show, I remember my Aunt's and cousins and my Mom all piling into my Uncle's pick-up, many of us piling into the back of it which had one of those cap covers, and driving somewhere to get on a bus to go to the show in Philadelphia. I remember how pretty the girls were and how beautiful the costumes were. I have some notations that I'd written in the program, one says "Janet Lynn did not appear because she had pnuemonia". Mr. Frick was in this show and I can remember him doing that signature move of his. I don't recognize the names of any of the other people in the program.
I'm definately glad that Scott started SOI. I guess the Follies and Capades would've changed with the times, but I don't think they'd be as "personable" as SOI is.

I didn't know about Frank Carroll's past either! He was a skater?! (of course!) That is so cool! 50 cents in 1964! Wow!!

 

[SkateFan4Life]

One more Ice Capades memory. 1984 (I think). We were settling into our seats for a performance at the then-Bryne Arena in East Rutherford, NJ, when the announcer said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Ice Capades regrets to inform you that, due to illness, Dorothy Hamill will not skate in this afternoon's show."

A chorus of groans reverberated throughout the arena. Many of us had purchased the tickets because Dorothy was scheduled to be in the show. However, everyone gets ill occasionally, and from what I've read and known about Dorothy Hamill, she has virtually never called out sick for any professional skating appearances.

As it happened, the rest of the cast was excellent, and the show was very, very enjoyable. The show went on, and it went on very well. If I remember this correctly, one of the featured skaters was Priscilla Hill, the 1981 US silver medalist and coach of Johnny Weir.