Maribel Vinson Owen vs. Sonja Henie - The Fierce Rivalry (Part 2)
(For more info on Sonja Henie, see here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonja_Henie)
In December of 1937, as Maribel Vinson’s triumphant professional ice review Gay Blades was wowing skating fans around the USA and Canada, she observed that her longtime rival Sonja Henie, who had her own touring ice review in place, had a style that was “’too stiff and formalized.’” Maribel’s school “favors a looser-jointed style.”
This was the opposite to her father Thomas Vinson’s style, when he skated as a young man in Massachusetts, who “used to go in for the stiff kind of skating...The arms were held straight down, the legs were close together. Maribel referred to it as the ‘old American style.’ “She prefers the newer technique. ‘Easy does it,’ she says.”
“The smooth and easy kind of skating is considered an Austrian invention, among such Austrian skaters as Karl Schaefer, who co-stars with Maribel in the show. But she insists it’s the ‘International Style.’”
“’It was an American skater, Jackson Haines, who originated this style...around 1870. “ Not appreciated in America at that time, he relocated to Europe, “'where he created a sensation...A whole bevy of imitators sprang up in Vienna and Berlin, and they kept on developing this style. Then it was taken up here around 1910,’ she adds." (Windsor [Canada] Daily Star, 12/22/37).
It didn’t take Sonja Henie too long to fire back at Maribel. “'What is lilt and swing?’ asked Norway’s gift to Hollywood. ‘Miss Vinson was one of my competitors at the last Olympics. She placed eighth.’” But Maribel had actually placed fifth in the 1936 Olympics competition at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany.
Mrs. Norman Samuel, of Toronto, who placed fourth in the ‘32 Olympic Games at Lake Placid, and was forced out of ‘36 Olympic competition by bronchitis, opined that “’...Sonja’s skating certainly has lilt and swing. Otherwise she wouldn’t have won as she did. Figure skating demands rhythm and she has it.’” (Toronto Daily Star, January 6, 1938).
Next: The Fierce Rivalry Continues: Part 3)
(For more info on Sonja Henie, see here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonja_Henie)
In December of 1937, as Maribel Vinson’s triumphant professional ice review Gay Blades was wowing skating fans around the USA and Canada, she observed that her longtime rival Sonja Henie, who had her own touring ice review in place, had a style that was “’too stiff and formalized.’” Maribel’s school “favors a looser-jointed style.”
This was the opposite to her father Thomas Vinson’s style, when he skated as a young man in Massachusetts, who “used to go in for the stiff kind of skating...The arms were held straight down, the legs were close together. Maribel referred to it as the ‘old American style.’ “She prefers the newer technique. ‘Easy does it,’ she says.”
“The smooth and easy kind of skating is considered an Austrian invention, among such Austrian skaters as Karl Schaefer, who co-stars with Maribel in the show. But she insists it’s the ‘International Style.’”
“’It was an American skater, Jackson Haines, who originated this style...around 1870. “ Not appreciated in America at that time, he relocated to Europe, “'where he created a sensation...A whole bevy of imitators sprang up in Vienna and Berlin, and they kept on developing this style. Then it was taken up here around 1910,’ she adds." (Windsor [Canada] Daily Star, 12/22/37).
It didn’t take Sonja Henie too long to fire back at Maribel. “'What is lilt and swing?’ asked Norway’s gift to Hollywood. ‘Miss Vinson was one of my competitors at the last Olympics. She placed eighth.’” But Maribel had actually placed fifth in the 1936 Olympics competition at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany.
Mrs. Norman Samuel, of Toronto, who placed fourth in the ‘32 Olympic Games at Lake Placid, and was forced out of ‘36 Olympic competition by bronchitis, opined that “’...Sonja’s skating certainly has lilt and swing. Otherwise she wouldn’t have won as she did. Figure skating demands rhythm and she has it.’” (Toronto Daily Star, January 6, 1938).
Next: The Fierce Rivalry Continues: Part 3)
