Behold the over-the-top gaudy glitz of Ice Follies 1970. I recently came into a stack of of these programs and they are just too good to keep to myself. Let’s have a look at the first of many more to come…
It begins with a fold-out tri-page of “slender loveliness clad in rainbow hue”:
A kind of electric anticipation sweeps an audience when the music builds and the curtain swings back to discover the ICE FOLLIETTES. Slender loveliness clad in rainbow hue, heads high and eyes bright, the line is a paragon of precision whose hallmark is excellence.
Their excitement as entertainers — which blends the beauty of ballet, the timing of a drill team and the exuberance of speed on ice-springs from a remarkable esprit de corps. Behind their flawless formations lie hours of patient practice. Each one a skilled skater who is selected for her charm, grace, poise, and swift reflex precision which the ice demands.
They will be seen in 400 performances during the 48 weeks the Ice Follies travel the continent this season. Their world a merry blur of air line terminals, the big hotels, the shopping marts of the great cities, the accolade of applause that comes to greet them from enthusiastic arenas. For a youngster — their average age is 19 — this is a heady career indeed, rich with recollection, a golden recall to remember after marriage (which inevitably happens) when she may be raising an Ice Folliette of her own.
There’s so much to take in on each pages; so, with pages like this, I’ve cropped and added the corresponding text for easy reading. You’re welcome.
This is just magic. Feel free to use as avatar; too got not to spread around. The effervescent joy doth bubbleth over.
RICHARD DWYER – ever the dashing host to a passing Fair Lady — invites charming SUSAN BERENS to tea for two, and what happens then is a delightful highlight of “Showtime ’70.” Richard and Susan, now in their third season as skating partners, bring beguiling romantic flair to their sunny interpretations.
Sugar-and-spice KAREN KRESGE lifts a page from the Gershwin era to embellish “Showtime ’70” with the flashing rhythm of her silver skates. The winsome golden girl calls the Buckeye State home, and was Cleveland’s city champion.
Yeah, there’s a little double-image thing going on here; not my fault. It’s like that in the program. Still a scene to admire.
Fun on the rim of the Grand Canyon! And no adventure on the trail would be complete without the hee-haw antics of CLEMENTINE the Donkey.
Love those poodle girls.
SHOWTIME ’70
Blend the exciting beat of now, add a dash of Dixie, season with sophisticated syncopation of the ‘twenties, spice with the saucy swing of Paris and top with the lovely show girls of the Ice Follies, and Showtime ’70 sets the tempo for the future with an admiring eye on the past
A word from our sponsor. United will fly you to “where the lively switch on”. “Plus a credit card to charge everything”.
RICKY INGLESI comes on strong, as a bravura performer whose fiery style masters the ice with a reckless abandon. His admiring fans have grown accustomed to his pace, and will discover him this year in an intricate kaleidoscope as Ricky rocks with a novel trio of “Dancing Dolls.”
I must admit – my favorite pic of them all.
Meet HIS HONOR THE ROBOT, first citizen of Sea-World City. A marvel of electronic wizardry, a triumph engineered by Ice Follies’ lighting director DAVID COLMAN. Dave’s pretty wife, KELLY, is His Honor’s secretary.
Tucked inside INKY DINKY is smiling CATHY BROWNLEE, a brown-eyed beauty from Sault Ste. Marie, bravely resigned to concealing her charms beneath 80 pounds of furry costume.
SEA-WORLD OF THE SUB-METROPOLIS
Find the shadowy and surprising Sunken City of the Sea World, with Inky Dinky in his Yellow Submarine, where playful dolphins and waggish Whales vie with mermaids and sea-horses to enchant the young at heart.
JILL SHIPSTAD is “Sunny.” The slender blonde heiress to all her storied father’s skating skills catches the rock beat in a sunburst of spinning splendor, translating the tempo of today into a happy expression of what it is to be young, bright and joyful.
And here comes the nightmares…
Numbered among the great continental pantomimists, STEVE PEDLEY and GEORGE “GIGI” PERCELLY make their American premiere this year after acclaim on four continents. Their lugubrious clown characters-“BIDDY & BADDY” — tap the well-springs of laughter in their classic comedy tradition.
Brasillia
Ah! Rio. In a swirling reprise of Samba and Bossa Nova, the matchless Ice Follies Swing ensemble — eight flawless couples in magnificent precision —lend new lufetre to poetry in motion over the famed mosaics of Copacabana.
THE KAUFFMANS RON and CINDY
They sped straight from the slopes of the Cascades right into America’s heart. Not in a half-century had so engaging a couple won the U.S. Figure Skating Championships four years in succession. Now, recapturing the breathless daring of the brilliancy that brought them world fame, charming Cindy and tall brother Ron add new dimension to the star-spangled roll of great Ice Follies personalities. The captivating couple are just in their early twenties, and a dazzling career lies ahead.
THE BEATTYS
Urbane COLIN BEATTY and demure CONNIE McKINNON have delighted Ice Follies audiences coast-to-coast with one of the most sparkling acts in show business, ^.et it be said that their unruffled response to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune is a joy to behold.
THE FABULOUS MR. FRICK
A legend in his time, the great Swiss comedian has pursued hilarity on ice with an inventive genius that scales new heights of humor, year after year. Three decades with the Ice Follies has established his reputation as a satirist of boundless skill, and the steel-springed strength displayed in the famed back-bend cantilever evidences his discipline as an athlete.
Let your laughter follow Mr. Frick on his slap-happy sojourn to the frozen North in search for “black gold.” His dauntless arctic explorer set re-echos the comic piece created by Frick and Frack at the peak of their Ice Follies career.
There’s no mistaking the look of love as KEN and PAULETTE ORMSBY find their graceful way to San Jose. The brilliant husband-and-wife duo captured the North American and Canadian Ice Dance Championships, and the velvety symmetry of their moves to music, pay tribute to the discipline they bring to the romantic art of pairs skating.
SUSAN BERENS
Sparkling as the Rhine wine she serves the guests, saucy Susan coquettishly enlivens the Hunt Ball by flirting outrageously with other belles smitten beaux. A poised and polished performer at 22, the captivating California miss has captured two national championships, thus carrying on a family tradition of superlative skating.
The Baron and Baroness, LUCIEN and RIKA BOYER host the thrilling hunt and Viennese Ball. The renowned European champions bring a cool radiance to their perfection of the adagio
SCENE OF VIENNA
The hunter’s horn had sounded across crag and ravine, the stag had run his noble race, and now, in the candlelit elegance of the Hunt Ball that follows, the Viennese gallants gather with their ladies to sip champagne, toast the Emperor, and whirl to the gaiety of Strauss waltzes
Cherokee people. Cherokee pride. So proud you lived. So proud you….
The Indian Princess gloriously costumed as “Running Dear” is winningly portrayed by the charming KAREN KRESGE, adding new brilliance to the acclaim gained in her Ice Follies debut last year.
Freaking disturbing.
Take any calm, peaceful day and suddenly introduce the SCARECROWS to the blissful scene – and stand back for an explosion of the wildest slap-stick antics this side of Mack Sennett! The shambles take place in London’s Hyde Park and involve a Bobby, a Hobo and a bouncing baby. Famed international comics BILL JACK, BOB LEDUC and COLIN BEATTY have made laughter their business, and this year their stock couldn’t be higher!
And finally, some authentic Native American history…
THE LEGEND OF THE CHEROKEE
There’s nary a buckboard nor Conestoga wagon to be seen in this 20th century romp in the land of the purple sage. Pretty squaws prefer Thunderbirds to tepees, and so long as gushers keep popping on the reservation they get ’em
END
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