Vienna Ice Revue

The Vienna Ice Revue (Wiener Eisrevue) was an internationally highly successful ice show based upon Austria's great figure-skating tradition, presenting a large number of world-class figure skaters mainly from Vienna from 1945 to 1971. Representing a Viennese style, the Vienna Ice Revue was different from the competitor enterprise Holiday On Ice. In 1971 the Vienna Ice Revue was sold to Holiday On Ice and put on the back burner two years later.

The Wiener Eisrevue (Vienna Ice Revue) had its roots in the success story of Austrian figure skaters before World War II.Karl Schäfer, winner of eight European titles, seven World titles and two Olympic gold medals, was the most successful of these skaters. He had a show that was named after him, the Karl Schäfer-Eisrevue, which also played a major role in the movie “Der weiße Traum” (“The White Dream”) in 1943. From an artistic point of view, this show was the forerunner of the Vienna Ice Revue.

In 1945, some months after the ending of World War II, the Wiener Eisrevue was founded. Will Petter, the “creator” of the Vienna Ice Revue, and his wife Edith who evolved into the revue's choreographer, carried out their idea of replacing “cold spots” with a story line. In 1952, Robert Stolz began to transpose this concept into music. He was destined to compose 19 “ice operettas” for the Vienna Ice Revue. Music by other composers was also integrated into the program. Most notably, the Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauß was played at the end of most productions. In one of the first New Year's Concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra to be broadcast on TV, the Vienna Ice revue danced one of the waltzes.

The Vienna Ice Revue toured through most European countries including Switzerland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, France and Spain. In 1953, the show made its first appearance in North Africa (Algier and Oran). Adolf Eder was the commercial director. In the middle of the 1950s, the Vienna Ice Revue was one of the first “Western” institutions to appear in Moscow, Kiev and Leningrad following World War II. In Berlin, Antwerp and Moscow, the program was shown annually about 50 times in each city with an audience of about 10,000 people watching each performance. Later, the Vienna Ice Revue also toured Israel and the United States.

Many world-famous figure skaters from Austria starred in the Vienna Ice Revue such as Olympic runner-up Eva Pawlik (as a single skater and together with Rudi Seeliger as a couple), Olympic runner-up Helmut Seibt, European-, World- and Olympic Champions Sissy Schwarz and Kurt Oppelt, Olympic bronze medalist Ingrid Wendl, World runner-up Champion Hanna Eigel, Olympic runner-up Regine Heitzer and World Champion Emmerich Danzer. World-class figure skaters from Germany that starred in the Vienna Ice Revue were World Champions Marika Kilius and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler and Olympic Champion Manfred Schnelldorfer.

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