Vienna Ice Revue
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The Vienna Ice Revue (Wiener Eisrevue) was an internationally highly successful ice show based upon Austria's great figure-skating tradition, presenting a large number of world-class figure skaters mainly from Vienna from 1945 to 1971. Representing a Viennese style, the Vienna Ice Revue was different from the competitor enterprise Holiday On Ice. In 1971 the Vienna Ice Revue was sold to Holiday On Ice and put on the back burner two years later.
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[edit] The roots
The Wiener Eisrevue (Vienna Ice Revue) had its roots in the outstanding success story of Austrian figure skaters before World War II. Karl Schäfer, winner of eight European titles, seven World titles and two Olympic gold medals, was the most successful of these skaters. He had a show that was named after him, the Karl Schäfer-Eisrevue, which also played a major role in the movie “Der weiße Traum” (“The White Dream”) in 1943. From an artistic point of view, this show was the forerunner of the Vienna Ice Revue.
[edit] The show's creator Will Petter and composer Robert Stolz
In 1945, some months after the ending of World War II, the Wiener Eisrevue was founded. Will Petter, the “creator” of the Vienna Ice Revue, and his wife Edith who was an excellent choreographer, carried out their idea of replacing “cold spots” with a story line. In 1952, Robert Stolz began to transpose this concept into music. He was destined to compose 19 “ice operettas” for the Vienna Ice Revue. Music by other composers was also integrated into the program. Most notably, the Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauß, Austria's unofficial anthem, was played at the end of most productions. In one of the first New Year's Concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra to be broadcast on TV, the Vienna Ice revue danced one of the waltzes.
[edit] Touring through Europe
The Vienna Ice Revue toured through most European countries including Switzerland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, France and Spain. In 1953, the show made its first appearance in North Africa (Algier and Oran). Adolf Eder was the commercial talent behind this success story. In the middle of the 1950s, the Vienna Ice Revue and the New York City Ballet were the first “Western” institutions to appear in Moscow, Kiev and Leningrad following World War II.[citation needed] In the Soviet Union the Ice Revue had to call itself “ice ballet” because the term “revue” was negatively associated with Western "decadence". In Berlin, Antwerp and Moscow, the program was shown annually about 50 times in each city with an audience of about 10,000 people watching each performance. Later, the Vienna Ice Revue also toured Israel and the United States.
[edit] World-famous figure skaters mainly from Austria
Many world-famous figure skaters from Austria starred in the Vienna Ice Revue such as Olympic runner-up Eva Pawlik, Olympic runner-up Helmut Seibt, European-, World- and Olympic Champions Sissy Schwarz and Kurt Oppelt, Olympic bronze medalist Ingrid Wendl, World runner-up Champion Hanna Eigel, Olympic runner-up Regine Heitzer and World Champion Emmerich Danzer. World-class figure skaters from Germany that starred in the Vienna Ice Revue were World Champions Marika Kilius and Hans Jürgen Bäumler and Olympic Champion Manfred Schnelldorfer.
[edit] Three European Champions from Austria in one show
From the fall of 1958 to the spring of 1960, the Vienna Ice Revue was fortunate to present three World runner-up champions and European champions from Austria in one show: Eva Pawlik, the experienced “grande dame” on the ice; the athletic Hanna Eigel, and the sweet Vienna girl, Ingrid Wendl, who made her successful debut as a professional skater in 1958. Each of them could have been the main star of an ice revue. The audience of the Vienna Ice Revue was lucky to enjoy them all together. The competitor enterprise Holiday On Ice could not engage a similar top-class ensemble at the time[1].
[edit] Movies featuring the Vienna Ice Revue
Spring On The Ice ("Frühling auf dem Eis"), produced in 1950, was the first movie presenting the Vienna Ice Revue. The leading lady Eva Pawlik played the main role not only on the ice but also in the frame story together with famous Austrian actors such as Hans Holt, Harry Fuß, Oskar Sima, Heinz Conrads and Albin Skoda. Further figure-skating stars presented in this movie: Emmy Puzinger, Hellmut May, Rudi Seeliger, Erni Zlam, Edith Petter and ice clown Bertl Capek. This movie is said to have inspired the later Olympic double Champion Ludmilla Belousova to take up skating[2].
Symphony in Gold ("Symphonie in Gold"), produced in 1956, presented the European bronze medalist Emmy Puzinger together with Fernand Leemans from Belgium and Jirina Nekolova from Czechoslovakia who had finished fourth at the 1948 Olympics.
The movie Revue of Dreams ("Traumrevue"), produced in 1959, is a historical figure-skating document showing three European champions on the ice, with two of them performing in the frame story. Eva Pawlik played the role of a fictitious Hungarian figure-skating star. Besides, she was actress Waltraut Haas´ double on the ice. Ingrid Wendl was the second ice star who also played a role in the frame-story. The third European Champion of the Vienna Ice Revue ensemble presented in this movie was Hanna Eigel. Further figure-skating stars presented in this movie: Emmy Puzinger, Fernand Leemans, Rudi Seeliger, Inge and Willi Schilling, Charlotte Michiels and the ice clowns Herbert Bobek and Pieter van Gils.
In the movies Buy A Colorful Balloon ("Kauf dir einen bunten Luftballon"), produced in 1960, and A Star Is Falling From The Sky ("Ein Stern fällt vom Himmel"), produced in 1961, German Champion Ina Bauer played the main role on the ice and in the frame story together with Austrian thrice Olympic skiing Champion Toni Sailer.
In the movies The Great Free Programme ("Die große Kür"), produced in 1964, and The Big Luck ("Das große Glück"), produced in 1967, twice World Champions and Olympic runner-ups Marika Kilius and Hans Jürgen Bäumler were the main stars on the ice and in the frame story. Further figure-skating stars presented in these movies: Emmy Puzinger and Fernand Leemans, Ingrid Wendl, Helmut Löfke and Norbert Felsinger.
[edit] The show's expiration
In the early 1970s, the Vienna Ice Revue slid into a dangerous financial crisis. Morris Chalfen, the boss of Holiday On Ice, bought the enterprise that had been a rival for decades. It was at any rate a matter of taste which one a spectator prefered. As a Swiss journalist took it[3], the Vienna Ice Revue was the "most charming" and Holiday On Ice was the "most fantastic" revue in the fifties. In 1970, the Vienna Ice Revue went on dancing under American leadership for only two years before the show was finally put on the back burner.
On the one hand, it was a great pity for Austria that there were no Austrian investors able to buy the Vienna Ice Revue and make sure that the Viennese productions were carried on. On the other hand, one should not deny reality. Austria's figure skaters once belonged to the world's elite but they are hardly noticed internationally nowadays. So if the Vienna Ice Revue still existed, Austria's triumphant ambassador of the past would have lost its credibility attempting to represent a small country's great but faded figure skating tradition.
[edit] Sources
Roman Seeliger, Die Wiener Eisrevue. Ein verklungener Traum (Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1993)
Roman Seeliger, Die Wiener Eisrevue. Einst Botschafterin Österreichs - heute Legende (Bezirksmuseum Wien Meidling, 2008)
Ingrid Wendl, Eis mit Stil (Jugend und Volk, 1979)
Ingrid Wendl, Mein großer Bogen (Böhlau, 2002)
