The postcard above shows an ice skater performing at the Terrace Garden Restaurant at the Morrison Hotel in Chicago. It is the only postcard I have of the ice skating show there, but there are others including the two shown below (source: Roy Blakey's IceStage Archive). The postcards below show an ice-skating carnival (left) and a skating act (right).
The Terrace Garden Restaurant had a tiered dining area curved around a large area that could be used as a dance floor or stage. The dance floor could be converted to an ice rink for performances by professional skaters. The small portable ice stages were called "tanks." The first permanent ice tank was installed in the College Inn of Chicago's Hotel Sherman in 1914. This type of show became popular and was copied by other hotels, including the Morrison. My postcard was mailed in 1922. Hotel ice shows seem to have died out during prohibition, but were revived later.
The following is an except from a 1917 description of a show at the Terrace Garden (source):
The first part of the programme was devoted to a high-class cabaret programme in which the entire Terrace Garden company took part . . . When this was over the rugs and sylvan scenery disappeared, giving place to a surface of glittering ice and a background of wintry scenery, which was the setting for a wonderfully graceful and fascinating skating show. The stars [a man and woman] . . . were backed by a duo of feminine skaters hardly less agile and attractive, and a whole skating ballet of pretty girls who coasted down onto the ice on sleds and performed numberless figures in the ice carnival . . . It was a Mardi Gras Carnival on ice . . .
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Looks like it would be a real occasion to dine at the Morrison.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up, ice skaters such as Sonja Henie, were my idols. I thought I had never seen anything as beautiful as movie pictures of her ice skating. Your post cards reminded me of her.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of ice-rinks in hotels. Could be entertaining though. And thanks to Joan for mentioning Sonja Henie. I had forgotten all about her.
ReplyDeleteSkating,either ice or roller, were quite a popular entertainment at the start of the last century. I can see how restaurants and hotels would want to make money on the fad. I bet there were skating waiters to deliver your order too.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... gorgeous postcards as always...I'm interested in the phrase Mardi Carnival. I must look it up. We have a Mardi Gras Festival in Sydney but I suspect it is different in meaning.
ReplyDeleteThat was a typing error--it should say Mardi Gras...
DeleteThese days we only see Ice Dancing on television when the Winter Olympics are on, and then the competitions seem to be go on for ever!
ReplyDeleteStrange the way these fads come and go. Around here, ice skating rinks appeared at shopping centers for a while, some of them are still around. In Dubai we enjoyed seeing the ski runs in the middle of the mall in the desert.
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of ice skating competitions as sporting events on TV around here, not just at Olympic times every 4 years. But I no longer watch TV, instead watch programming that I choose to stream on computer. These cards do show a use of ice skating as live entertainment which is new to me. The rinks of today with large audiences seem more popular now. But what an intimate way to be entertained for dinner!
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard of these, but what an interesting way to entertain your guests!
ReplyDeleteOne wonders why restaurants incorporating ice skating never quite took off - at least there would be no problem in getting some ice for ones' Dry Martini.
ReplyDeleteMy visits to the local ice rink never looked like this!
ReplyDeleteI never knew ice rinks could be in a hotel or part of a dining experience. What fun!
ReplyDeleteI went on a cruise boat that had an ice rink! It was an amazing show!
DeleteWOW! You must have a room of postcards! You seem to have one for every occasion!
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