page_title: Ice Capades
section_title: Early years
hierarchical_section_title: Ice Capades / History / Early years
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the original description provided by BAnQ has been retained. Additional descriptive text may be added by Wikimedians with the wiki description = parameter, but please do not modify the other fields. English: We see a part of the crowd came to the show of the Ice Capades presented skaters on the ice of the Montreal Forum. Français&#160;: Nous voyons une partie de la foule venue au spectacle des patineurs des Ice Capades présenté sur la glace du Forum de Montréal.
context_page_description: The Ice Capades were traveling entertainment shows featuring theatrical ice skating performances. Shows often featured former Olympic and US National Champion figure skaters who had retired from formal competition. Started in 1940, the Ice Capades grew rapidly and prospered for 50 years. A decline in popularity ensued in the 1980s, and the show went out of business around 1995. There have been several attempts to revive the show and its name.
  Similar traditional ice-skating entertainment shows included the Ice Follies and Holiday on Ice.
context_section_description: The group's first performance was four months after its founding, on June 16, 1940, at New Orleans Municipal Auditorium. The show closed there on June 29 and moved to Atlantic City Convention Hall, where it played nightly from July 19 through September 2. Famous skaters in the large cast included Belita, Vera Hruba, and Robin Lee. The group's first touring season under the Ice Capades name covered 24 cities between November 1940 and May 1941.
  The show's success spawned two films from Republic Pictures, Ice-Capades (1941), and Ice-Capades Revue (1942). The films featured actors and entertainers such as James Ellison, Ellen Drew, Jerry Colonna, and Phil Silvers, as well as the Ice Capades skaters. They were not considered to be films of quality, and the first one was panned by The New York Times.
  In 1942, the show featured world champion skater Megan Taylor, new talent Donna Atwood, and an acrobatic team from Boston called the Hub Trio featuring Leonard Mullen, Kenneth Mullen and Eddie Raiche. They were the first in the world to perform a back flip without the use of hands. The next year, U.S. figure skating champion Bobby Specht joined the show; he would be actively involved with Ice Capades for the next 31 years. 1943 also introduced the "Old Smoothies", Orrin Markhus, 51, and his partner Irma Thomas, 44, plus Trixie, the skating juggler. The production number "Toys for Sale" was the first story on ice with original words and music.
caption: Crowd came to the show of the Ice Capades at Montreal Forum, 1944.
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