Friday Bonus: Hollywood Ice Revue
In 1943, my grandmother was paid $65 a week to skate with Sonja Henie in Chicago, where she met another skater who became my grandfather.
In September of 1943, my grandmother signed a contract with a producer named Arthur M. Wirtz, who hired her to perform as an an ice skater in the Hollywood Ice Revue starring Sonja Henie, a very accomplished figure skater who became a film star.
The contract, which was signed on my grandmother’s 28th birthday, states that she will be paid $65 a week, only $30 of which was actual salary. The other $35 was for “living expenses, including board and lodging, but excluding railroad or other transportation costs.”
The railroad costs were excluded because a separate page of the agreement is dedicated to the details of the train tickets:
“In connection with the Employment agreement… I agree to furnish your railroad transportation ticket and berth to the point of origin of the Hollywood Ice Revue, that is to say, Chicago, Illinois, from your place of residence, which you represent to be Los Angeles, and back to said residence… at the termination of said show. It is expressly understood that the railroad tickets and berth furnished herunder are purchased under a special rate arrangement with the railroad and are not transferable and are not subject to cash refund or credit in the event they are unused in whole or part, or unused within the time limit designated on said tickets.”
Another skater hired for the show was a man who became my grandfather, and just a couple of months after signing this contract, my grandmother became pregnant. The show was scheduled to run until June of 1944, but I have to imagine that my grandmother stopped skating long before that, since my mother was born in August of 1944!
Sadly, I could not find any photos of my grandparents skating, and only one photo of them together, which was taken by my mother in Los Angeles in 1962. My grandfather has cameras around his neck because he was taking photos of my mother, I believe in honor of her high school graduation.