Ice Capades
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Formerly called
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| Fate | closed down |
| Founded | February 1940 in Hershey, Pennsylvania |
| Founders | Arena Managers Association |
| Defunct | August 15, 1997 |
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The Ice Capades were traveling entertainment shows featuring theatrical performances involving ice skating. Shows often featured former Olympic and US National Champion figure skaters who had retired from amateur 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.
Ice Capades was founded in February 1940 in Hershey, Pennsylvania, by nine men who called themselves the Arena Managers Association. They met to discuss forming an ice show to play in their arenas during the 1940-1941 entertainment season. The arenas represented were all well-known venues of the day:
In 1936, Harris had hired the legendary skater Sonja Henie to perform between periods of ice hockey games. She created a sensation among Pittsburghers, confirming his faith in ice skating's potential as a spectator amusement. The other arena managers agreed with this assessment, chose the name "Ice Capades", and formed a group of skaters.
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.
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