PRESS COVERAGE BY DATE WITH LINKS AND TEXT for The Fabulous Ice Age by Keri Pickett
April 16, 2013 StarTribune, Short reviews: MSPIFF first-week highlights.
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/movies/202001101.html
THE FABULOUS ICE AGE
7 p.m. Sun. (U.S.)
Three Minnesota rink rats launched an entertainment revolution in the 1930s when they created the Ice Follies – essentially Ziegfeld on skates. Vintage clips give Keri Pickett’s
documentary a dreamlike quality as she lovingly presents a host of characters, from ice-show icons Richard Dwyer and Gloria Nord to Olympians Dick Button and Scott Hamilton. Pickett
doesn’t construct a compelling story but she does have a bona fide star: her bubbly uncle, Roy Blakey, who grew up in Enid, Okla., with an obsession to skate (but no ice) and whose
Minneapolis memorabilia collection inspired the film. (72 min.)
TIM CAMPBELL
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Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival link to Official Selection description.
Showtime 1: Sun, 04/14/2013 - 7:00pm
Directed By: Keri Pickett
Country: USA
Language: English
Year: 2012
Run Time: 72 min
Venue: St. Anthony Main Theatre
Trailer: from Keri Pickett
vimeo
SOLD OUT
Filmmakers Attending!
The journey begins in 1915 when a young German skater ignites America’s love with dancing on ice. The Fabulous Ice Age chronicles a century of theatrical skating, from
Berlin’s Charlotte, to America’s Ice Follies, Ice Capades, Holiday on Ice, and the Sonja Henie shows, illustrating how they dominated live entertainment for decades, while
also depicting one skater’s quest to share this history. Never before seen footage, photos and memorabilia introduce us to a handful of skaters, producers and
entrepreneurs who helped change their world.
Presented by: Minnesota Made
MINNESOTA-Made Documentary
USA
English
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April 12, 2013 All Things Considered – National Public Radio show features ‘Fabulous Ice Age’ celebrates history of ice shows by Steven John, Minnesota Public Radio.
Roy Blakey with some of his archive items. His life as a skater was the inspiration for a new documentary, "The Fabulous Ice Age," directed by his niece Keri Pickett. It will premiere this weekend at
the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival. (Photo by Keri Pickett)
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'Fabulous Ice Age' celebrates history of ice shows (feature audio)
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'Fabulous Ice Age' celebrates history of ice shows
by Steven John, Minnesota Public Radio
April 12, 2013
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ST. PAUL, Minn. — "The Fabulous Ice Age," a documentary that chronicles the heyday of touring ice skating shows like the Ice Follies and Ice Capades, is premiering this weekend at the
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival.
The film highlights the history of this frozen form of entertainment -- which led to the World Champion and Disney-driven events we see today -- which took off in the U.S. and
internationally from origins in the Twin Cities.
Roy Blakey is a man who was there almost at the start. Blakey skated professionally for 15 years, in the Holiday on Ice shows that toured internationally. He was the inspiration for "The
Fabulous Ice Age," which was directed by his niece, Keri Pickett.
Blakey, now 82, has also amassed the largest collection of theatrical ice skating memorabilia in the world. The collection is housed in Minneapolis at The Icestage Archive, and is also
featured in the film.
The film premieres Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival.
Blakey spoke with MPR's Steven John about the film and about his experiences in the ice shows.
Recommend
134 people recommend this. Be the first of your friends.
Broadcast Dates
All Things Considered, 04/12/2013, 5:55 p.m.
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April 12, 2013 CBS/WCCO Radio, Minn. Filmmaker Debuts Ice Show Documentary At Int’l Film Fest by Susie Jones.
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Filmmaker Keri Pickett produced and directed “The Fabulous Ice Age” – a film about the history of theatrical ice shows which dates back 100
years.
Pickett says people know about shows like “Disney on Ice,” but they may be unaware that it all began here in the Twin Cities.
NewsRadio 830 WCCO’s Susie Jones Reports
play
•
Keri Pickett
•
Susie Jones
00:00
•
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•
Download
“It started in St. Paul with the Shipstads and Johnson, and they really built a brand new industry that affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, including my
uncle Roy Blakey,” Pickett said
Over his lifetime, Blakey amassed the largest collection of theatrical ice skating memorabilia anywhere in the world.
“People need to follow their bliss and their passion. And that’s what this handful of people did,” she said. “They followed their bliss, and they created something that
enriched and added beauty and excitement and entertainment to the lives of skaters and audiences alike for decades.”
Pickett has written books before that feature her own photographs, but she’s never made a film until now.
“I’m feeling a little emotional. I just hope that when I face that premiere audience Sunday that I can keep my wits about me and not cry,” she said.
“The Fabulous Ice Age” will debuts Sunday night at the Minnesota St. Paul International Film Festival at 7 p.m. at St Anthony Main Theater.Click here for more information.
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April 10, 2013 MotionArtsPro, MAP Spotlight: Keri Pickett’s “Ice Age” at Minneapolis Film Fest, by David Schonauer.
“After 7 years of learning how to become a filmmaker: I have a premiere!" exults photographer—and, yes, filmmaker—Keri Pickett.Her documentary The Fabulous Ice Age—which
chronicles a century of theatrical ice skating while telling the story of her own Uncle Roy, an “exotic gypsy” who traveled the globe as a skater in ice shows. The film, which Pickett largely
funded herself with $100,000 of her own savings, debuts this Sunday, April 14, at the Minneapolis International Film Festival. Brilliant! And congratulations.
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April 9, 2013 Twin Cities Pioneer Press, Film festival opens with conspiracy, whiskey and Alexander Skarsgard, by Chris Hewitt.
Minneapolis filmmaker Keri Pickett's documentary sometimes seems like it's about the ebbs and flows of figure skating popularity and sometimes
seems like it's about whatever happened to defunct shows such as the Ice Capades and Holiday on Ice. But when it sticks with Pickett's uncle, former
skater/fellow photographer Ray Blakey, and his astonishing archive of skating memorabilia, it feels just right. 7 p.m., Sunday, April 14
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April 8, 2013 Minnesota State University Moorhead News, “Keri Pickett’s Film To Premiere at Film Festival”.
The Fabulous Ice Age, a film about the history of figure skating by MSUM Art & Design alum Keri Pickett, ’82, is set to premiere at the Minneapolis
International Film Festival Sunday, April 14, at the St. Anthony Main Theater in Minneapolis. Pickett is the director, producer and director of photography of the film, and says she learned
to become a filmmaker in order to make this film.
Pickett’s film chronicles a century of theatrical skating, from Berlin’s Charlotte, to America’s Ice Follies, Ice Capades, Holiday on Ice, and the Sonja Henie shows, illustrating how those
programs dominated live entertainment for decades. The film features never-before-seen footage, photos and rare archival material of a handful of skaters, producers and entrepreneurs.
Starting in America with the Hippodrome and hotel shows and big arenas, the film also portrays how Holiday on Ice brought skating to Europe, behind the Iron Curtain, to Asia, Africa and
South America, places where ice had never been seen before. The film also depicts the work of skater Roy Blakely to keep the history of theatrical skating alive.
Pickett is an award-winning photographer based in Minneapolis whose work has been exhibited and published nationally and internationally. Her journalistic work focuses primarily on
human-interest feature stories and environmental portraits. Her photography has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers, including People, Time, Life, Geo, Parenting,
Christianity Today, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe,Der Spiegel, and numerous others. She is the author of three books of photography, including Saving Body & Soul: The
Mission of Mary Jo Copeland; FAERIE: Visions, Voices & Pretty Dresses; and Love in the 90s: BB and Jo, The Story of a Lifelong Love: A Granddaughterʼs Portrait.
She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts photography fellowship, a Minnesota State Arts Board grant, three Jerome Foundation grants, and three McKnight Foundation
photography fellowships.
The Fabulous Ice Age is featured in April issues of Skating Magazine and Minnesota Monthly. Reviews of the movie, articles and interviews with Pickett are accessible from the film’s
website:
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April 12, 2013 Skating Magazine, “The Fabulous Ice Age” to premiere at Minnesota International Film Festival this weekend by By Troy Schwindt http://skatingmagazineblog.com/?
s=fabulous+ice+age
The Fabulous Ice Age, a documentary film depicting the era of great American touring ice shows, is set to make its world premiere at the Minnesota International Film Festival at 7 p.m.
on Sunday, April 14, at the St. Anthony Main Theater in Minneapolis, Minn.
Produced and directed by Keri Pickett, The Fabulous Ice Age chronicles American touring ice shows as they dominated live entertainment and one skater’s quest to preserve the history
of these shows for generations to come. A project seven years in the making, Pickett’s film represents an era of figure skating in which pomp and flair took center ice, delighting
audiences across the nation for decades.
The film features never-before-seen footage, photographs and rare archival material that introduces its viewers to a handful of performers, producers and entrepreneurs who helped turn ice
skating shows into prime family theatre.
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April 1, 2013 Minnesota Monthly, Frozen in Time by Tim Gihring.
PHOTO BY TJ TURNER/SIDECAR
In his studio in northeast Minneapolis, Roy Blakey doesn’t look like he came from Oklahoma. In his 80s, slight, and somewhat dreamy behind the eyes, he doesn’t look like he came from
anywhere but here, sequestered as he is in this nondescript, near-windowless building, surrounded by his obsessions. “Enid, Oklahoma,” I say as we sit in the entryway, trying to conjure
his birthplace. “What’s that close to?” Blakey looks at me and smiles. “Nothing,” he says. “Nothing at all.”
Blakey was a kid in 1941 when he rode his bike to the Enid movie theater and sat in the dark, transfixed. Onscreen was Sonja Henie, the pixieish Norwegian Olympic skater turned
Hollywood darling, waltzing on ice in Sun Valley Serenade. The ice had been painted black so that the svelte skaters, dressed in white, appeared to be floating in space. “I said, ‘That’s
the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen!’ ” Blakey recalls. “‘I have to do that.’ ”
But there was no ice in Enid. It wasn’t until Blakey was drafted into the Army, during the Korean War, that he found his way onto a rink. He was stationed in Germany on an Army
recreation base in the mountains, a kind of Bavarian wonderland of alpine entertainment: golf, tennis, hiking, and ice skating. Theatrical ice skating, as opposed to Olympic-style
competition, was peaking in popularity, and every major hotel in every major city from New York to Japan had an ice show in its nightclub, while arenas hosted traveling troupes.
Germany, even in wartime, was no different.
“It was a magical, magical place,” Blakey says of the recreation center. He appeared in the ice shows there and became quite good. Good enough to join the Frosty Frills ice show at the
Conrad Hilton Hotel in Chicago upon his discharge from the Army. Publicity photos from the period show the troupe, which performed with a live orchestra, cycling through one genre after
another: baseball, Li’l Abner, Oriental. He skated for five years there, two shows a night, seven days a week. And then he hit the road.
He had met a man from Minneapolis who ran the Holiday on Ice tours, and he signed on, performing in Asia, South America, and Europe—40 countries in six years. It was a circus-like
affair, as the troupe took its own ice rink wherever it went, setting up in bullrings, Roman coliseums, wherever they could. Blakey, the kid from Enid, had the time of his life.
As Blakey regales me with these stories, his niece, the photographer Keri Pickett, sits nearby. Her best-known book, Love in the ʼ90s, documented Blakey’s parents near the end of their
70-year romance. She has heard her uncle’s stories so often that she’s looking at me, not him, to see if they evoke the same astonishment. She has maintained a studio in this building
since 1993, and her photographs—of Tibetan refugees, the Dalai Lama, Mikhail Gorbachev—cover the walls of the entryway. Blakey was the reason she got into photography, and now
he’s the reason she has taken up documentary filmmaking.
“I became a filmmaker just to tell this story,” Pickett says, nodding at her uncle. She has spent the past six years and a good deal of her savings making The Fabulous Ice Age, which
she was invited to submit to the Tribeca Film Festival, held this month in New York, and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film festival, also this month. The film opens with Blakey
talking about his childhood dream of skating. But Pickett found many more stories by knocking on doors that opened onto more doors, each with a former skating star in repose behind it.
Pickett eventually interviewed more than 50 former skaters and impresarios for the film, legends like Dick Button and Scott Hamilton and the kind of Sunset Boulevard dames who lounge
on wicker in robes and turbans. “Big, big, big!” a man tells Pickett on film, describing the old shows. Another, bursting with pride, tells her, “Everything was brilliant. We didn’t do anything
half-assed.”
Blakey lives in this building, in the back—a magical kingdom of Asian antiques: intricately carved dressers, an immense sitting platform, wall-size decorations. His living quarters were
profiled in the Star Tribuneʼs Homes section a few years back.
But in the basement, and spilling everywhere else, is his collection of ice-skating memorabilia, almost certainly the largest in the world. Blakey began collecting soon after seeing that
Sonja Henie movie in 1941. Now he has Henie’s costumes, white figure skates, and even her glittery bra, which he shows me with a mixture of awe and bemusement. There are enormous
feathered headdresses and huge posters for ice shows in Germany, Russia, Japan, America, and elsewhere. There are programs from hotel revues, tabletop advertisements, publicity
photos, promotional lunchboxes, toy figurines.
No museum has such a collection. “Jazz, vaudeville,” Blakey says. “Every other American art form has been documented. But no one has this history.”
Except him.
It’s a fact that has motivated Pickett. Aside from the narrative pleasures of her film, it also serves as an advertisement: Stable home needed for memories, posters, shimmery bra. No
skating experience required.
To take the collection out of Minnesota would be to pluck it from its native habitat. Theatrical ice skating may have taken root in Russia, a cousin to ballet, but it flowered in Minnesota. In
the depths of the Great Depression, a St. Paul rink rat named Roy Shipstad began staging impromptu ice shows on local ponds—cheap entertainment—with his older brother, Eddie, and
their friend, Oscar Johnson. Johnson played the clown; Eddie was a slick Fred Astaire type, complete with top hat. They were a hit and took the act on the road in 1936. They were
booked at a Chicago hotel as a “tank show,” and eventually became the best-known act in the biz: the Ice Follies. In 1945, another Minnesotan, Morris Chalfen, bought the rival Holiday on
Ice enterprise and headquartered it on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis, just south of downtown. (He’s also known for buying the Detroit Gems basketball team and relocating them to
Minneapolis as the Lakers.) It was with Chalfen’s troupe that Blakey toured the world.
PHOTO BY TJ TURNER/SIDECARE
Pickett tracked down dozens of people like this from skating’s golden age who had melted into obscurity. Some have died since Pickett interviewed them. Her window of opportunity was
closing as fast she could open it. “This may be the Ballet Russes of ice skating,” she says, comparing her film to the 2005 documentary about the Russian dancers who birthed modern
ballet. Hardly anyone in either film is younger than 70 years old; most are over 80.
When skaters die, Blakey generally hears about it. He has come into a lot of artifacts this way, though he admits feeling uncomfortable approaching survivors: “You can’t just say, ‘I’m
sorry he died, can I have his stuff?’” Generally, he doesn’t have to. Word of his collection has gotten out, and every so often he’ll take delivery of box after box of costumes and programs
and photos, and his space closes in on him a little bit more.
Last year, Blakey appeared on PBS’s Antiques Roadshow with his Sonja Henie costumes, and one of the show’s appraisers is visiting this spring to assess his entire collection. She may
not know what she’s in for. Blakey once tried to catalog his collection, typing with two fingers. But for the past year, he has paid a college student, more versed in technology than he is,
to come in a few days a week and take stock.
Blakey didn’t always spend his time like this, living in the past. For most of his life, he was an active participant in the zeitgeist, first in skating and then in photography, retiring his
cameras just a couple of years ago. In his studio, his previous life is manifested mostly in the framed photos on the walls of Broadway dancers and actors, and a wallet-size image,
tucked into shelving on Pickett’s side of the building, of a hirsute naked man covering his privates. After retiring from the skating circuit in the 1960s, Blakey opened a studio in New York
and became known for his pioneering artistic images of male nudes, compiled in a 1972 book, HE. “His studio was up a steep stairwell in Chelsea,” recalls one of his subjects, marveling
at Blakey’s athleticism, “and he would virtually run down the stairs to let you in and then dash back up the hill like a little leprechaun.” Even with his skates off, Blakey moved as though
on ice.
By then, the ice age was melting. Competitive ice skating was heating up, narrated on television so that anyone could thrill to the pursuit of perfection. Flipping through a scrapbook from
his Hilton days, Blakey recalls how spectacle was displaced by the dry drama of points, theatrical skating by its prim alter ego—“technical skating,” he says dismissively, not looking up
from his memories. “Eventually, people cared more about the Olympic champions than some random Ice Capades girl.” The only touring theatrical troupes now are Scott Hamilton’s Stars
on Ice and, in a kind of subgenre, Disney on Ice.
“It’s heartbreaking to me,” Blakey says. He pauses to look at a postcard from a 1915 performance by a German skating troupe. It was at the Hippodome in New York, the largest theater in
the world. “There were dancing horses and comedians,” he recounts. “For the third act, an ice-skating ballet. Snow was falling. The scenery was snow-clad mountains. America had never
seen such a show.” _____________________________________________________________________
February 9, 2013 TELEVISION Kare Saturday, Kare11 with Belinda Jenson, http://www.kare11.com/news/saturday/article/1010196/21/The-Fabulous-Ice-Age Interview with Keri Pickett
and Roy Blakey regarding raising finishing funds for the film.
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February 1, 2013 Icenetwork http://www.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130201&content_id=41327140&vkey=ice_news
'Ice Age' to showcase era of traveling ice shows
Donations sought to complete documentary
Traveling ice shows like Holiday on Ice were all
the rage back in the day. (courtesy of Keri
Pickett)
Tools
By Troy Schwindt, special to icenetwork.com
(02/01/2013) - When skating legends Richard Dwyer and Tom Collins reminisce about the glory days of the traveling ice show, they paint a picture of a magical time that is never coming
back.
The glamorous skaters, the elaborate production sets and costumes, the intricately orchestrated routines -- all melded together to entertain families across the nation for much of the 20th
century.
"We used to fill Madison Square Garden, Boston Garden, Chicago and many other of the country's major arenas, and every show was sold out," said Dwyer, who played the iconic Mr.
Debonair in the Ice Follies and Ice Capades. "Every city loved the ice shows."
While those wonderful times hold fond memories for Dwyer and Collins, they hope an almost-completed documentary film can preserve this golden age of the traveling ice show for
everyone to see and enjoy.
Filmmaker Keri Pickett is in the final stages of completing her movie, titled The Fabulous Ice Age. She started on the film nearly seven years ago in an effort to help tell the story of her
uncle, Roy Blakey, who became a show skater after seeing the famous Sonja Henie perform on the silver screen. During his time as a performer, Blakey collected thousands of pieces of
ice show memorabilia. He hopes to find a permanent home for his vast collection in conjunction with the film's release.
"Roy is the viewer's backstage pass to this unique history," Pickett said. "The movie covers the history and Roy's passion for the ice shows, his skating career and the fact that he wants
this history to be remembered for all the glamour, but also because the shows offered a skater an opportunity -- a way to make a living."
Pickett has traveled the country interviewing skaters and others associated with the traveling ice shows. Her film, which she hopes to enter in various film festivals this year, has the
financial support and backing of many of the sport's greats, such as Dwyer, Collins, singles and pairs star Ken Shelley, and two-time Olympic champion and show skater Dick Button.
"It takes people back to when the ice show industry was started, where it all came from," Dwyer said. "It has the great entrepreneurs like the Shipstads (Roy and Eddie) and (Oscar)
Johnson, Morris Chalfen and John Harris, all of those people who created those shows."
With the project 90 percent finished, Pickett is turning to the public to help her complete the film. She has spent more than $100,000 of her own money and needs help raising the final
$77,000. Learn more about the film at www.fabulousiceage.com and about Blakey's ice show memorabilia collection at www.icestagearchive.com.
"My bills will be coming in over time, because after post-production there is the cost of the festival entry, attendance and public relations," Pickett said.
Collins, who skated in the shows and launched Champions on Ice in 1969, said many young people don't know anything about the traveling ice show era. This film, he said, will "be an
education for them."
It was typical, Collins said, to have 100 performers in a show, and for them to travel city to city by train.
"You had the large casts, you had the unbelievable costumes, you had the beautiful girls," Dwyer said. "It was an extravaganza."
"The show itself was the star," Collins added. "People came to see Ice Follies or Holiday on Ice or the Ice Capades. They bought tickets just for the name of the show."
These shows used to sell out famous venues such as Madison Square Garden for two weeks (24 shows) at a time.
"People loved it, and they had their favorites, and they would applaud when certain people came out, such as Frick and Frack, Freddie Trenkler and Hans Leiter," Dwyer said.
"People would actually wait from year to year for the ice show to come back," Collins added. "It was the event of the year."
When one of the ice shows came to town, the local newspaper would often put it on the front page or the sports page.
"We have to admit, it was before television," Dwyer said. "So we were the great family entertainment, and it lasted for many years after that."
Collins is looking forward to seeing the film upon completion and believes that everyone will be in for a treat.
"When they see it, it's going to be a thrill for them," Collins said.
Those interested in helping Pickett fund the rest of the film can go here to make a donation. Donations can also be made to the Independent Film Maker Project by going here.
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January 28, 2013 AI-AP Presents MotionArtsPro Daily, title: Spotlight: Keri Pickett’s “Ice Age” Indiegogo Project, by David Schonauer.
“After 7 years of learning how to become a filmmaker: I have a premiere!" exults photographer—and, yes, filmmaker—Keri Pickett.Her documentary The Fabulous Ice Age—which
chronicles a century of theatrical ice skating while telling the story of her own Uncle Roy, an “exotic gypsy” who traveled the globe as a skater in ice shows. The film, which Pickett largely
funded herself with $100,000 of her own savings, debuts this Sunday, April 14, at the Minneapolis International Film Festival. Brilliant! And congratulations.
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January 28, 2013 Minnesota State University Moorhead, Title: Art & Design alum launches film fundraiser.
Keri Pickett's Film to premiere at film festival.
The Fabulous Ice Age, a film about the history of figure skating by MSUM Art & Design alum Keri Pickett, ’82, is set to premiere at the Minneapolis International Film Festival Sunday,
April 14, at the St. Anthony Main Theater in Minneapolis. Pickett is the director, producer and director of photography of the film, and says she learned to become a filmmaker in order to
make this film.
Pickett’s film chronicles a century of theatrical skating, from Berlin’s Charlotte, to America’s Ice Follies, Ice Capades, Holiday on Ice, and the Sonja Henie shows, illustrating how those
programs dominated live entertainment for decades. The film features never-before-seen footage, photos and rare archival material of a handful of skaters, producers and entrepreneurs.
Starting in America with the Hippodrome and hotel shows and big arenas, the film also portrays how Holiday on Ice brought skating to Europe, behind the Iron Curtain, to Asia, Africa and
South America, places where ice had never been seen before. The film also depicts the work of skater Roy Blakely to keep the history of theatrical skating alive.
Pickett is an award-winning photographer based in Minneapolis whose work has been exhibited and published nationally and internationally. Her journalistic work focuses primarily on
human-interest feature stories and environmental portraits. Her photography has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers, including People, Time, Life, Geo, Parenting,
Christianity Today, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe,Der Spiegel, and numerous others. She is the author of three books of photography, including Saving Body & Soul: The
Mission of Mary Jo Copeland; FAERIE: Visions, Voices & Pretty Dresses; and Love in the 90s: BB and Jo, The Story of a Lifelong Love: A Granddaughterʼs Portrait.
She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts photography fellowship, a Minnesota State Arts Board grant, three Jerome Foundation grants, and three McKnight Foundation
photography fellowships.
The Fabulous Ice Age is featured in April issues of Skating Magazine and Minnesota Monthly. Reviews of the movie, articles and interviews with Pickett are accessible from the film’s
website:
_____________________________________________________________________
January 22, 2013 Fox9 News TELEVISION, M.A. Rosko covers the “Ice Age”.
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January 21, 2013 WCCO RADIO Keri Pickett is guest on the John Hines show. "The Fabulous Ice Age, A Minnesota filmmaker is making a film about the history of theatrical ice show
which dates back 100 years.
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January 9, 2013, World Figure Skating, Your Skating World Is Here, The Fabulous Ice Age: A story that needs to be told, by Vladislav Luchianov.
______
_____
By Vladislav Luchianov
I am deeply convinced that without good knowledge of history is impossible to understand the present and confidently look ahead to the future. This applies to all aspects of our life.
It’s no secret that today’s figure skating is quite far from its past popularity. The reasons for this are different. Ignorance, disrespect and neglect of history are some of them. However,
there are people who in spite of all obstacles value the history of what they love with all the heart. Keri Pickett is one of such people. Already six years she’s creating a truly unique
project: The Fabulous Ice Age – A documentary film on a century of theatrical skating.
“The Fabulous Ice Age” chronicles the era of the great American touring ice shows revealing how, with their dazzling production numbers and variety acts, they dominated family
entertainment for decades. It also depicts one skater’s quest to keep this history from being forgotten.
The ice shows’ creation and success changed the lives of skaters and audiences alike – eventually exporting American culture around the world. Rare archival footage, candid interviews
with producers, skating legends and devoted chorus gypsies bring this never-before-told history of a uniquely American art form to life.
This project is near completion and I was surprised that the only reason it is still in the making is financial. The author and creators of the film had to ask help of ordinary people… It’s
strange and sad that no federation (including ISU) or sponsors, whose names we often see on the boards during skating competitions, were interested in this project.
However, I believe that with a sincere love and passion of the creators and with a help of skating community The Fabulous Ice Age will be finished and released soon.
_____________________________________________________________________
INDIEGOGO
January 7, 2013 The Fabulous Ice Age Producer announced her “Outrageously Optimistic Indiegogo Campaign for The Fabulous Ice Age”. This amount of money is what is really needed
to complete the project. It is our hope that people donate to Indiegogo or to myfiscal agent IFP MN.
http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Fabulous-Ice-Age/x/161922
_____________________________________________________________________
PROFESSIONAL SKATERS ASSOCIATION
October 1, 2012
http://www.skatepsa.com/In-The-Loop-Article-Keri-Pickett.htm
The Fabulous Ice Age (Keri Pickett movie)
By: Kent McDill
Growing up, Keri Pickett hardly knew her mother’s brother. Uncle Roy traveled extensively through the United States,
Europe, Asia, and South America during the middle part of the 20th century. She can remember seeing him only three
times as a youth.
Circumstances allowed Keri and Roy Blakey to become better acquainted in 1983, and now a majority of Keri’s life is
wrapped up in an attempt to tell the world just what Uncle Roy was doing on the road all those years.
“The Fabulous Ice Age” is a documentary film detailing the history of ice shows in America, dating back to the 1910s.
Roy Blakey was first a fan, then a participant, and now a historian, with thousands of pieces of memorabilia (which can
be seen atwww.icestagearchive.com) and a desire to find a permanent home for his collection.
In an effort to help Uncle Roy in his endeavor, Pickett is telling his story and the story of the nearly unimaginable,
glorious, and expansive age of traveling ice shows in her first film documentary.
“My raison d’être for doing this film is to help him and help everybody know about this archive that he has,’’ Pickett
said. “Along the way, I realized why Roy has been so gaga over the story. It does feel to me like a diamond that has
been hidden in the ground.”
“Keri quickly grasped the enormous scope and importance of the terrific story of theatrical skating, a subject that no
filmmaker has tackled before,’’ Blakey said. “I’m extremely proud of her.”
The film is not yet completed, although Pickett is trying to get it submitted to the Sundance Film Festival in early
2013. All creative work includes a story, and Pickett’s film story begins more than 100 years ago.
THEATRICAL SKATING
Ice skating shows date back to the early part of the 20th century, but got a spark of attention when famed skater
wrapped up in an attempt to tell the world just what Uncle Roy was doing on the road all those years.
“The Fabulous Ice Age” is a documentary film detailing the history of ice shows in America, dating back to the 1910s.
Roy Blakey was first a fan, then a participant, and now a historian, with thousands of pieces of memorabilia (which can
be seen atwww.icestagearchive.com) and a desire to find a permanent home for his collection.
In an effort to help Uncle Roy in his endeavor, Pickett is telling his story and the story of the nearly unimaginable,
glorious, and expansive age of traveling ice shows in her first film documentary.
“My raison d’être for doing this film is to help him and help everybody know about this archive that he has,’’ Pickett
said. “Along the way, I realized why Roy has been so gaga over the story. It does feel to me like a diamond that has
been hidden in the ground.”
“Keri quickly grasped the enormous scope and importance of the terrific story of theatrical skating, a subject that no
filmmaker has tackled before,’’ Blakey said. “I’m extremely proud of her.”
The film is not yet completed, although Pickett is trying to get it submitted to the Sundance Film Festival in early
2013. All creative work includes a story, and Pickett’s film story begins more than 100 years ago.
THEATRICAL SKATING
Ice skating shows date back to the early part of the 20th century, but got a spark of attention when famed skater
Sonja Henie began appearing in movies that somehow managed to tie her ice skating abilities into the story, the way
swimming was worked into movies starring Esther Williams.
Across the country, theatrical skating shows appeared at all kinds of venues – stadiums and arenas, of course, but
also hotels and night clubs, where ice surfaces would be placed onto stages and behind screens. The phenomenon
reached beyond the borders of the United States; ice shows were very big in Austria, Germany and England, among
other locations in Europe. Eventually, South America jumped on board, and the bigger cities in that part of the
Southern Hemisphere sponsored ice shows. When travel to Asia became more popular, skaters traveled to the Far
East to do shows.
From the work of Minnesotan brothers Roy and Eddie Shipstad, who created the Ice Follies, to Henie’s work with the
Hollywood Ice Revue, and the eventual creation of perhaps the most well-known troupe, the Ice Capades, the lavish
shows wowed audiences both young and old and kept skaters busy once their competitive days were completed.
One of those skaters who were given a career in the artistic endeavor of theatrical skating was a young Oklahoman
named Roy Blakey.
THE BLAKEY STORY
Having fallen in love with Henie in the 1940s when he first saw the movie “Sun Valley Serenade”, Blakey decided he
wanted to become a show skater. A chance opportunity while serving in the U.S. military in Germany turned into a job,
and Blakey was on his way to a career that took him around the world (and kept him from getting to know his
precocious niece, Keri).
Throughout his travels around the world with the Holiday on Ice show, Blakey began a collection of ice show
memorabilia, mostly publicity posters, although the collection did begin to include some extremely unique items.
When it came time to settle down, Blakey did so in New York, where he pursued a new career in photography, which
he learned as part of an educational program from his military service. He ended up staying in New York for 25 years,
all the while building an entire museum’s worth of items that brought back pleasant memories of the traveling ice
shows the world had enjoyed for decades.
KERI MEETS ROY
Young Keri Pickett remembers the time Uncle Roy came to visit her family in Minnesota. Keri was about 14 years old,
and she remembers ice skating with Roy, who taught her how to do cutbacks on the frozen lake behind their home. “I
was just in awe of him because he could do spins that my body was not built to do,’’ Pickett said.
Pickett discovered photography in college, and when she graduated from Morehead State University, she moved in
with her Uncle Roy in New York for two weeks in 1983 while working an internship with the Village Voice.
Although they did not live together long (one phone line between two busy professionals proved to be problematic),
they developed a friendship that lasted for several years. During that time, Pickett became aware of Uncle Roy’s
obsession with ice shows, and saw the volume of memorabilia he had stored away in New York.
In the late 1980s, Pickett developed Birkitt’s lymphoma cancer, and moved back to Minnesota to be with family. After
a period of time, Roy moved to Minneapolis as well.
While battling her illness, Pickett created her own photographic studio (visit www.pickettphoto.com). Eventually, the
studio became the permanent home and occasional showplace for Uncle Roy’s collection.
THE FILM
“Six years ago, I finally decided to try to do something on Roy and his collection as a film,’’ Pickett said. “I kept telling
people this would be a great story, but nobody picked up the thread on it.”
Through the years, and with the assistance of Roy’s connections and the Internet, Pickett interviewed 50 skaters who
had associations with the ice shows. The film is their story. Uncle Roy, it turns out, has become just a part of the
story.
“Right now, what the film is, is a 100-year look at dancing on ice and Roy’s quest to save history,’’ Pickett said. “The
amount of time Roy is on the screen has changed back and forth. Right now the film is 80 percent to the history and
20 percent to Roy’s story.”
To collect her interviews, Pickett began by attending ice show reunions. She came in contact with former skaters from
Holiday on Ice, and was even the keynote presenter for the 70th anniversary party for the Ice Capades. She developed
a friendship with Dick Button, who performed with both the Ice Capades and Holiday on Ice.
“Dick Button has become a real supporter for the film,’’ Pickett said. “I have really grown to care for him.”
Eventually, she brought the film to the present day when she interviewed Kenneth Feld, the creator of Disney on Ice.
“I have all the pioneers giving me their story,’’ she said. “The film ties all the eras together.”
By mid-September 2012, Pickett was preparing the application that would allow the film to be shown at the Sundance
Film Festival next winter. That would provide some legitimacy to the effort, although Pickett already knows what she
wants to have happen to the film eventually.
“My goal for the film has always been public television,’’ she said. “It is an educational documentary, and I want for
this history to be preserved. If it goes to public television it has the potential to be seen in every market in the
country.”
And why is that so important? It is because the film has a divine purpose.
“Everybody knows about this archive that Roy has, and it needs a home that is public,’’ Pickett said. “I’m hoping that
one of the side effects of this film is finding the right home for this collection.”
WHATʼS MISSING
The film does not have a conclusion, at least not a satisfactory one.
The ending Pickett is looking for is a permanent home for Blakey’s memorabilia collection. Blakey has had some
interest in the collection from the Smithsonian, and the University of Minnesota has shown some interest as well.
A couple of years ago, Blakey made an appearance on the PBS show Antique Road Show, displaying a dress Henie
wore in one of her movies. Show host and appraiser Leila Dunbar found out the extent of Blakey’s collection, and
requested the opportunity to appraise the entire trove. That appraisal is due to take place early in 2013 and Blakey,
who is in his early 80s, is rushing to build an archive for that moment.
Pickett plans to create a coffee table book of Blakey’s collection as soon as the film is completed and sold. But
completing the film and selling it is key to anything Pickett has planned for her future, because the work and the cost
“My goal for the film has always been public television,’’ she said. “It is an educational documentary, and I want for
this history to be preserved. If it goes to public television it has the potential to be seen in every market in the
country.”
And why is that so important? It is because the film has a divine purpose.
“Everybody knows about this archive that Roy has, and it needs a home that is public,’’ Pickett said. “I’m hoping that
one of the side effects of this film is finding the right home for this collection.”
WHATʼS MISSING
The film does not have a conclusion, at least not a satisfactory one.
The ending Pickett is looking for is a permanent home for Blakey’s memorabilia collection. Blakey has had some
interest in the collection from the Smithsonian, and the University of Minnesota has shown some interest as well.
A couple of years ago, Blakey made an appearance on the PBS show Antique Road Show, displaying a dress Henie
wore in one of her movies. Show host and appraiser Leila Dunbar found out the extent of Blakey’s collection, and
requested the opportunity to appraise the entire trove. That appraisal is due to take place early in 2013 and Blakey,
who is in his early 80s, is rushing to build an archive for that moment.
Pickett plans to create a coffee table book of Blakey’s collection as soon as the film is completed and sold. But
completing the film and selling it is key to anything Pickett has planned for her future, because the work and the cost
of producing it have taken a toll.
Still, she believes the reward will be worth the cost when the film finds a home.
“I’ve had everybody say ‘We have been waiting for this forever’,’’ Pickett said. “My core audience is the people who
are passionate about ice skating and would love to have ice skating as a central part of their life and livelihood. But I
do think young skaters are interested and will enjoy seeing how beautiful the production era was that is now gone; I
think young people will definitely be interested.”
“I'm no film critic and of course I'm totally biased, but Keri has managed to include the whole amazing story, complete
with knock-out scenes from the spectacular ice shows and informative interviews with iconic skating legends,’’ Blakey
said.