Fun Finds: 1970 Ice Follies Program

Hello there, my loves. No, I haven't been kidnapped by a UFO nor placed in suspended animation. Just can't get that time together to post at ol' P.U. the way I wish I could. Recently, on one of my weekend scavenges, I stumbled upon today's Fun Find. This program from a 1970 edition of the touring Ice Follies had been carefully tucked away someplace for 56 years (!) until being set out for sale at an antique show for the kingly sum of $1.00...! It was a no-brainer. I know this is not going to appeal to every single one of my readers, but it's campy enough to warrant a glance. As the program was all in full-color and not terribly long, I've scanned the whole dang thing. Now lace up and "Let's go!"

On the inside cover, we find the founders of Ice Follies. The Shipstad Brothers and their pal Oscar Johnson began performing stunts on ice during hockey game half-times before establishing the more elaborate tour in 1936.

The trio as they appeared back in the day. 

One of the most famous key acts of the early days of Ice Follies was the comic/stunt duo known as Frick & Frack. The term "Frick & Frack" entered the lexicon as a nickname for any two pals who seem inseparable. It lives on to this day! If you are, like me, unfortunately drawn to watching The Real Housewives of Atlanta, you'll recall two of them, Porsha and Phaedra, being repeatedly referred to as "Frick & Frack."

The cover is a three-part fold-out... I was already stunned to see that the gal on the end, in a primo spot, looks bored as hell while most of her buddies are attempting a smile, even if frozen or forced...! 

...still going....

...and the end! Presenting, The Cockettes, er, I mean The Ice Folliettes! There are 32 of them in all. 

Knowing how much you wanted to see them in all their glory, I snapped a pic of the fold-out folded-out. And now to the other participants.

The show has a variety of segments, performers and interludes. The first big segment was called "Showtime 70" and was a blend of yesterday and tomorrow and a lot in-between. I don't know if I would have mentioned the word "rim" when discussing Clementine the Donkey, which contained two men hunkered together inside, with one behind the other! LOLOL  

"Showtime 70," where there's a lot going on! You have to admire the extraordinary costuming and all the incredible workmanship which went into it. 

Prior to the omnipresent (and often suspect!) online encyclopedia, we had to go to a set of books, find the one with the subject we prayed was in there and read up on what we wanted to know. 

Next segment is "Sea-World of the Sub-Metropolis." Gee, for a kid-oriented presentation, that's quite a mouthful! Ricky is kinda cute, though! You can imagine, in the days prior to digital photography, what it was like to try to capture these skaters in mid-air and hope that you "got the shot" without blur, closed eyes, etc... before moving on!

Apparently, two "lucky" kids from the audience got to wander around in a sled-like contraption during this segment. The one furthest left looks either bored or scared shitless. But you know neither one was going to be able to head to school after this and remember, "Hey, y'all! I was picked to be in the 'Sea-World of the Sub-Metropolis' show!"  

By now, another generation had come along, so Jill Shipstad, daughter of one of the Shipstad brothers, had found a place to land. 

The "Brasillia" segment. At first glance, I was getting more Irish St. Patrick's Day than Rio out of this. But, wow, those clothes! 

These skaters had their own little moments in the show, apart from the theme-oriented segments depicted here and there in the program. Ron and Cindy Kauffman were a brother and sister team who were US Pairs champs four times between 1966 and 1969 and who also competed in two Olympics. 

In the programs middle, we find a detailed listing of the whole Follies' run-down. 

Shoot! Now you've caught a sneak-preview of all that's still to come....!

That index of the show's contents is book-ended by the pics shown up above and here, making that almost detachable as it's own mini pamphlet.  

I found it truly remarkable that in 1970, one half of Frick and Frack was still taking part in the Ice Follies! Werner "Frick" Groebli stayed on after Frack was forced (due to bone inflammation) to retire in 1953; Hans "Frack" Mauch passing away in 1979 at age 60. Frick kept skating in the show until an accident caused him to depart in 1980. And he lived until 2008 when he passed away at 92! He was about 55 at this time.  

So far as I can tell, someone's been padding Susan Berens' resume. No "captured" two national championships. She was part of a pairs team which took silver twice... Her partner switched to a new one (who he later married!), but still never placed above second. Said ex-partner was Roy Wagelein. He and his wife joined Ice Capades themselves for several years after their competitive years were over. 

"Scene of Vienna"

Get ready to clutch those pearls...! I give you "The Legend of the Cherokee." In the next caption, I will relay the screaming text from above that is partially obscured.

"There's nary a buckboard nor a 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." Holy war paint, Batman!! 

This act looked to me like every drag queen's dream!

Tom Scallen was a Minneapolis mover and shaker who bought Ice Follies in the mid-1960s. He later owned the NHL Vancouver Canucks hockey team from 1970-1974, but was ousted from that organizaiton not long after being arrested and found guilty of securities fraud. The list of skaters at the bottom affords folks the ability to see if any of their own hometown offspring were in the show. 

This was not one of the more scintillating ads in the program, but Hertz (despite some serious rough patches in recent years) is still in business well over a hundred years later. A few years after this, O. J. Simpson became the face of their advertising and was so until the early-1990s when he was dropped following his alleged criminal behavior. 

I don't even want to think about how much work went into choreographing a show of this size and complexity. And the other areas would also not have been a breeze. If the name of the costumer Helen Colvig seems at all familiar, she, having gotten a start supervising clothes in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), went on to a career as a movie and TV costume designer. Her credits include The Night Walker (1964), Coogan's Bluff (1968), The Andromeda Strain (1971) and Play Misty for Me (1971) as well as many others. 

I included this dull page for two reasons. One, the fact that someone either decided or had it decided for them that Hertz' name be reprinted in their logo font (!) and, two, the list of cities so that you can see if this ever skidded into where you lived in 1970/71.

I had completely forgotten that peanut butter once came in glass jars with metal lids. But I can practically guarantee that Skippy, or any other brand, tasted better then than now! And I can actually hear the sound of those lids being screwed on after portioning some out. 

I wonder how many of you heard this phrase as a young'n. It was aimed at me plenty by my dad and step-father! LOL  "You don't know shit from Shinola!" Well, now you can see what Shinola was. (The aforementioned online encyclopedia has this polish being discontinued in 1960, but clearly someone was marketing it in 1970!)

:::: BONUS PICS ::::

 

Some of you might be a little more familiar with Ice Follies due to this lady... It's Miss Joan Crawford, strapped into skates, practicing for one of her upcoming movies.

Ice Follies of 1939 (1939) had JC and costars James Stewart and Lew Ayres figure-eighting their way across the rink along with members of the real Ice Follies of that time, including the founders Roy Shipstad, Eddie Shipstad and Oscar Johnson. 

There was even a story point which had Stewart and Ayres as the two halves of a horse on ice! Similar to the aforementioned donkey Clementine with the 1970 show. 

This was far from a feather in Miss Crawford's cap, but it was notable for one thing at least. It offered cinemagoers their very first glimpse of the popular MGM leading lady on the big screen in color. The finale was shown in Technicolor. (This was also the movie in which her character chose to wear her hair like Hedy Lamarr, a look that was not exactly stunning, inspiring a little poem that made the rounds at that time.)  

On the subject of Joan, this month is a monumental one for fans of the stellar movie queen. Following a one-hundred year (!) battle over copyright, infringement lawsuits, appeals and so forth, one of Miss Crawford's seminal films is being made available for viewing again at last! This movie, Letty Lynton (1932), is one which seemed to herald a new direction for the one-time jazz-baby. Her famed lipstick smear was introduced and the wildly creative designer Adrian concocted costumes, notably the one depicted above, which exaggerated her already wide shoulders to dynamic effect. This particular dress caused a nationwide sensation.

Notable as that gown is, it's not even my own favorite costume from the picture! This over-the-top one is positively jaw-dropping. It would've been far harder to replicate and/or knock off in 1932 department stores, however.

Lynton could be seen by desperate fans in a highly-blurry, faded bootleg, but finally the movie has been restored in 4K and was recently shown at the TCM Classic Film Festival (with over a hundred attendees being turned away for lack of room) and will be released on home video this month. I adore JC's hair this way, sleek and simple, versus some of the fluffier 'dos which she sported. It will be a joy to rediscover this movie in its original splendor. 

Finally, we cannot let the moment pass, when touching upon famous Joans and statement gowns, without mentioning another Joan (one named after Crawford as it happens) who just created an international sensation. Dame Joan Collins, one of the patron saints of Poseidon's Underworld, recently took the Cannes Film Festival red carpet by storm. 

A dream project of Miss Collins, which was initially promoted as "The Bitter End," concerned the reclusive final period in the life of Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor.

Since renamed My Duchess (2026) and costarring Isabella Rossellini, Miranda Richardson, Charles Dance and Laurent Lafitte, the movie was promoted by several of its stars at the 2026 festival. A London premiere is forthcoming. In these days of "stars" popping up at events with their dresses held on by nipple rings and their questionable assets hanging out of various and sundry openings in whatever it is they may be wearing, our Joan stepped onto the red carpet in a haute couture gown by French designer Stéphane Rolland.

The orchid-inspired creation caused an immediate reaction which soon went viral worldwide. It was a "moment;" one of countless others in the legendary life and career of a show business and glamour institution. 

Until next time, darlings!

Fun Finds: Starlog Magazine, July 1979

In the Underworld, we recently celebrated our 15th anniversary as a site, so it's only fitting that today's Fun Find is a magazine that was celebrating an anniversary of its own. (Only three years at that point!) Hitting newsstands in the spring of 1979, Starlog offered up a "Spectacular," filled with photos and stories about the popular science-fiction movies and TV shows of the day. This was a time when that genre was experiencing a vast burst of popularity. Star Wars (1977) had changed the game. There'd only been one Superman movie and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), which would spawn numerous sequels itself, had yet to be released! A lot of the projects featured in this edition of Starlog have been focused on here over the years. I will link many of them in the captions section of the scans.

Though somehow I never read Starlog as a kid (or thereafter either!), this was "my" era. I was 12 and these shows and movies were a significant part of my entertainment life. Some still are. Read on for more on this period in which special effects and otherworldly stories were becoming big business. (Occasionally, I have dotted this post with pics from outside the magazine.)

I can only marvel at the way several readers who sent in letters of congrats, correction or complaint have their entire names and addresses published! Simpler times.

There are several conflicting opinions found on this page about this project or that. Just goes to show that it's impossible to please everyone. For the record, I thought Superman (1978) was wondrous. I had to look up The Late Great Planet Earth (1979) to see what it was as it completely escaped me as a kid. (Oh, and even though I know it was a nod to kiddie viewers, I thought Mel Blanc's vocals as Twiki were weird and out of place for the diminutive robot character.)

Just as information, this magazine (which I found for the grand sum of $1.00!) has residue in the lower left corner from a subscription sticker...! So in this case, there was no brown paper wraparound.

A lot of Superman II (1980) was filmed alongside the first film. In fact, Richard Donner had practically filmed the whole thing when he and the producers had a disagreement which ultimately led to Richard Lester being hired to finish up. From there, Lester re-shot many portions of the movie, made various changes and wound up as the credited director of the film. To add to the confusion, a Richard Donner version later appeared in 2006 (which itself included some of Lester's work!)

The kiddie show with Bob Burns as a gorilla was actually The Ghost Busters, which was popular enough to earn a second season, but Filmation opted to focus more money on The Shazam!/Isis Hour. Maren Jenson's movie saw release instead as Beyond the Reef (1979) and starred Dayton Ka'ne of Hurricane (1979.) The Star Trek pinball machine intrigued me. I could see from the thumbnail that the characters looked unusual to a degree. See below...

My first thought was that this had been intended to display the new characters of Decker and Ilia, but then nixed because no one knew them yet. Certainly Uhura (who barely appears on screen in the movie!) had no such moment as this. But...

...it turns out that the whole thing was basically a re-paint of an earlier machine (with a sexualized Uhura) that had been updated for the movie's upcoming release.

I thought that Clash of the Titans (1981) was marvelous. Loved that cast of names portraying the Greek gods and thought one of the best special effects to be found in it was a scantily-clad Harry Hamlin. Ha ha! Also, the first time I ever saw Jason and the Argonauts (1963), which was during movie day in grade school, that shot of Poseidon coming up out of the water to wreak havoc caught my eye.

The image of an almost naked man popping out of the sea... Well, let's just say it had an impact on me!

I was a big-time comic book collector from about ages 7 to 17. While John Buscema isn't necessarily a favorite artist of mine (that would fall more to Neal Adams, George Perez or Mike Grell), the renditions of the heroes shown here are the ones I am most familiar with and recall fondly. 

Interesting to see a pic of Veronica Cartwright and William Tuttle at the ASFFH Awards (which I cannot ever recall seeing aired on TV anywhere near me.) I can only laugh at the costume award for Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) in which I hated nearly everything placed on Faye Dunaway's back!

I remember ROM coming out (and not wanting one.) It tickles me that they mention one of his effects as "an eerily realistic breathing sound." Eeek!

Anticipation of the long-awaited Star Trek movie was feverish among fans. When it finally arrived, it was a hit, but mostly due to curiosity and nostalgia more than for its satisfaction level. The beautifully designed film plodded along and lacked the necessary level of original cast interaction, along with their established chemistry, in the final script.

Not referencing this particular photo, I always thought that Shatner looked about as good as ever in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He was tan and trim and attractive in it.

If it isn't the best Shat ever looked, then I'd venture to say that it's about the best that his Captain Kirk ever looked.

As the feature film had initially been developed as a TV series (to be called "Star Trek: Phase II"), all the costs ($18 million!) from the abandoned TV version had to be absorbed into the budget. So while the film made substantial money, its overall profit margin was hampered by all sorts of pre-, during- and post-production expenses.

Now comes a magazine within the magazine, a review of some of the most popular topics in Starlog's history, featuring this terrific reproduction of the first issue's cover.

You aren't going to find many men of my vintage whose boyhood minds weren't blown with the introduction of Star Wars. The movie was just IT... and the toys... well, their success is legendary. (A shout out, too, to the tremendous contributions made by James Earl Jones, who provided the voice of key villain Darth Vader. Jones passed away on September 9th from diabetes at age 93.)

I recall seeing this movie in the theater and probably also saw it on home video, but it's not been a movie that resonated with me long-term.

My big takeaway from this article is how much one of the early prototypes of the Close Encounters aliens resembles Steven Spielberg's later E.T the Extra-Terrestrial (1982!)

I've already mentioned how I feel about Superman (and for me, no one ever equaled Christopher Reeve as that character.) As for Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), the remake was so creepy and gave me a residual fear (I'm not making this up) of too much plant life around me. LOL And who could ever forget that scream at the end?!

Interesting pre-production representation of Twiki (and Buck!) Memories of Starcrash (1978), which counted among its cast Christopher Plummer (!) are hazy at best. I can't be sure I ever saw it.

I watched and enjoyed several of the films depicted here, though I had trouble getting into The Last Wave (1977) and have never even heard of Dark Star (1974) - had to look that one up. I always adored Logan's Run (1976), however.

I realize I'm a broken record, but I will always prefer the sort of effects found in movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) over the type that are prevalent today.

Likewise, I enjoy the filmed look of many of these older sci-fi films. Needless to say, some of the cheapest or cheesiest ones wind up being the most fun to sit through, however. (Like 1958's Queen of Outer Space, for example, starring that acting legend Zsa Zsa Gabor!)

Makeup used for Planet of the Apes (1968) was revolutionary for it's time and was an endurance test for the marvelous actors who underwent transformation.

It's fun to see some of these models in real scale with their creators/operators.

The caption fails to mention it (!), but the lady next to the model creator for the King Kong commercial is none other than the wonderful Fay Wray! How neat to see that the set from
was only that far off the ground when, in the movie, it appears almost bottomless.

I loved Star Trek from an early age. I do have to say, though, that "A Piece of the Action" was certainly never one of my own "best-liked" episodes...!

The concept drawings for the new rendition of the series actually have a degree of similarity to what later appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation (a show I only ever watched sporadically.)

I faithfully watched Battlestar: Galactica. When you're a kid, you don't always get why a show is suddenly gone or retooled (as this one later was as Galactica 1980.)

I thought there was almost no one as beautiful as Maren Jensen (though it seemed as if she was barely on and had so little to do!) Naturally, Dirk Benedict and Richard Hatch possessed their own set of charms, which quickly grew on me as well...

As a tween, I was intrigued, but also slightly out of sync with the tone of Space:1999, but later grew to enjoy it quite a bit as an adult. Opinions are still divided on which of the two very different seasons is best. I lean towards the first while acknowledging that the addition of Catherine Schell the second year was neat.

That first season had a large, two story set and a sizeable contingent of command center crew. The second season had this area replaced by a far smaller playing area.

I watched Spider-Man, tuned in occasionally to The Incredible Hulk, but never saw The Fantastic Journey until a while back.

I was all about Wonder Woman, finding an obscure spot behind a hedge during recess and spinning away! Ha ha ha! I also enjoyed Shazam! But it took until recently before I saw Man from Atlantis. And I'd never even heard of Spectre till now.

Never saw much of UFO, but I know it had some interesting costumes here and there...! That shot of Chewbacca's grandfather comes from the infamous (and in some parts disowned!) The Star Wars Holiday Special. I was loyal to Logan's Run, but could never warm up to The Prisoner, even now.

Lost in Space (represented solely by that grainy saucer pic) is the only one of these programs I ever saw. Sometime I really need to check out Dr. Strange, though, especially seeing Miss Jessica Walter here.

Somehow I wasn't aware that Leonard Nimoy had performed on Broadway in Equus. He famously wrote a book called "I am Not Spock" and then years afterwards wrote a follow-up called "I am Spock!"

This pic actually preceded the start of the interview, but I decided to put it second instead of first.

"Mirror, Mirror," in which the Enterprise comes upon an alternate universe in which everyone is menacing and cutthroat, is my all-time favorite episode of the show. And I loved not only the rare chance to see Spock with a beard, but also the even rarer chance to see Uhura in a very curve-hugging two-piece uniform.

Hidden in this article about a sci-fi themed Los Angeles radio program is an anecdote about the hosts interviewing two of the leads from Star Wars shortly before it opened.

I thought some of you might enjoy this array of personalities who offered up congratulations to Starlog on its third year.

It likely occurred even earlier, but Moonraker (1979) is often cited as the moment when the James Bond franchise "jumped the shark." Still, in the wake of Star Wars, who could blame the producers for wanting to jettison into space with everyone else? While there was an Ian Fleming novel with this title, it concerned missiles rather than outer space travel, etc... and only a smidge of the plot was used for the film.

Although I loved Lois Chiles' sophisticated looks, and enjoyed several movies which featured her, I always thought she had a very flat speaking voice that doomed any chance of her becoming a leading star in the movies.

Don't worry if this movie doesn't sound familiar to you...

Despite all the anticipation, apparent interest and financing and a similar promotional article in Fangoria magazine, "The Cry of Cthulhu" was never made. (The confusingly spelled moniker is apparently pronounced "Thoo-loo.")

Especially since the demise of the big Hollywood studio era, with its armies of departments, technicians and creative staff, it can be a Herculean task to see a movie come to fruition. This one eventually fell apart due to its creators becoming tired of the battle to see it through and due to financial concerns.

I had never in my life heard of The Further Adventures of Major Mars (1976.)

Glancing at the pics, I thought this was a photo of Lech Walesa! Bob Burns (who is still with us today at 89) is a much-loved movie-prop archivist and longtime actor, specializing in playing apes (as in the aforementioned The Ghost Busters.)

Having finally looked up and found this project, I discovered that it is, in fact, an 8-minute long short film. Not a full-length feature.

Although none of them look alike (or even do much of the same thing), I am forever confusing Walter Hill, Arthur Hill and Arthur Hiller...!

See the caption at lower-right. Dang, I always hate to see nudity cut from a film...!

I found it interesting that the article refers to Alien (1979) employing an "Agatha Christie style" method of pumping off characters one at a time. How true! I just never made the connection. That was a very common conceit in sci-fi and horror movies. (Still is, I guess, especially in horror.)

As an impressionable kid of about 12 at this time, I found Alien petrifying (and did not see it in theaters. It was later on cable TV for me.)

I might not have bothered to include this "Part II" of an ongoing article, but the accompanying full-page artwork was rather eye-popping, so I wanted to include it. I had never seen this particular pre-production rendering. (I know it was pre-production due to the way the leads are depicted near the bottom.)

King Kong (1976) - And, at last, that's all for this one, folks!