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Hollywood legend Tyrone Power married Linda Christian in Rome, just two days after the first Emmy Awards were held. France's de facto recognition of the State of Israel was international news. Italian-American singer Frankie Laine had an international hit with 'Shine", and Luigi Einaudi was Italy's Prime Minister.
The year was 1949, and from January 28 to 30, Milan played host to the European Figure Skating Championships. The event was a historic first - never before had Italy played host to a major ISU Championship event. The competition was held under the auspices of the Federazione Italiana di Pattinaggio su Ghiaccio.
Three key figures in the event's organization were the Federation's President Remo Vigorelli, its Secretary Nino Fresia and Dr. Gianni Fustinoni, a respected banker and businessman who was affiliated with the Gondrand Mangili Societa del Magazzini Refrigeranti e del Ghiaccio Artificiale and served as the director of the venue, the Palazzo del Ghiaccio. Many raved about the facility's modern facilities, but it had actually been around since the roaring twenties and was celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary. A considerable amount of money had been put into renovating the rink after it had been badly damaged in air raids during World War II.
In "Skating World" magazine, Swiss sportswriter Nigel Brown remarked, "The European Championships taking place in the Lombard capital... was a great sporting occasion. Since the end of the War, Italy was one of the first countries to offer hospitality to foreign sportsmen, and in spite of almost insurmountable financial difficulties, has in the three years since the Armistice staged a number of international sporting events, of which these current international championships are the latest expression. Warm Italian hearts and proverbial hospitality were outstretched full-length to embrace and make all of the skaters who came feel so much at home, and so welcome in a foreign land."
The 1949 European Championships were the first to be held under a new ISU rule, which restricted entries to skaters from European countries. This rule had been put into place in response to the successes of North American skaters Barbara Ann Scott, Dick Button and Gretchen Van Zandt Merrill at the Europeans in 1947 and 1948. Scott had won the event in both 1947 and 1948, and since she'd since turned professional, would not have been returning to defend her title anyway. Those who watched the event at the Palazzo del Ghiaccio were excited to see the title be awarded to a European woman for the first time since before the War.
How did things play out in Milan? Let's hop in the trusty old time machine and take a trip down memory lane!
THE PAIRS COMPETITION
There were twelve entries from eleven countries in the pairs event. As the reigning Olympic Gold Medallists and World and European Champions Micheline Lannoy and Pierre Baugniet had retired, there was considerable discussion about which team would succeed them in Milan. The favourites, Hungarians Andrea Kékesy and Ede Király, did not disappoint, turning in an equally difficult but more refined performance than the won that earned them the silver medal at the previous year's World Championships in Davos. They received first-place marks from all but the Belgian judge, who placed his own pair first. All of the other judges had them between fourth and sixth. A very narrow margin separated the two sibling pairs in second and third, Hungary's Marianna and László Nagy and Austria's Herta and Emil Ratzenhofer. Great Britain's two entries, Jennifer and John Nicks and Pamela Davis and Peter Scholes, placed sixth and eleventh. In ninth were Grazia Barcellona and Carlo Fassi, Italy's representatives, who both also competed in the singles events.
A report in "The Skater" magazine noted, "No one will dispute the pair skating superiority of the much improved Hungarian combination... whose speedy, coordinated artistry, incorporating some very impressive lifts left little to be desired. Their compatriots, László and Marianna Nagy, who skated last, were less spectacular but proficient enough in a quieter way to secure second place. One of the most pleasing performances, so far as the crowd were concerned, was that of the stylish Belgians, Susanne Gheldorf and Jacques Renard, finishing in fifth position to just beat the British Champions, Jennifer and John Nicks, who skated well in spite of their final placing."
THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION
The women's school figures were held on the first day of the competition. Fog permeated into the rink from outside, and this, coupled with chilly temperatures that got worse through the day, made for unpleasant conditions for the skaters. Austria's Eva Pawlik took the lead on the first figure and managed to narrowly maintain it by six points through the other five. She earned first-place marks from five of the seven judges, with the British and Czechoslovakian judges patriotically giving first-place marks to their own skaters, Jeannette Altwegg and Ája Zanová. Czechoslovakia's Jiřína Nekolová and Great Britain's Bridget Shirley Adams rounded out the top five.
Four thousand, five hundred spectators packed the Palazzo del Ghiaccio - a record capacity for the rink - to see which of the leaders would walk away as the new European Champion. Ája Zanová had an unfortunate fall on a double loop attempt. Jeannette Altwegg gave a speedy, confident effort, wowing the crowd with her trademark toeless 'Diesel' Lutz and Eva Pawlik gave a very fine performance with lovely spins. Four judges had Zanová first, two voted for Pawlik, and the British judge tied the two. Eva Pawlik's lead in the figures was more than enough for her to win by a comfortable margin overall. Zanová and Altwegg tied in ordinal placings, but the Czechoslovakian skater's win for the free skating helped secure her the silver. Jiřína Nekolová remained in fourth, and a third Czechoslovakian entry, Dagmar Lerchová, moved up to fifth.
In winning, Eva Pawlik was the first Austrian woman to claim the European title since Fritzi Burger in 1930... and the fact she skated at all, let alone so well, was very remarkable. Immediately after the event, it was reported that she was rushed to the hospital with a case of appendicitis. Her son Dr. Roman Seeliger recalled, "It was perhaps the most wonderful day of her amateur career. To be first despite the illness proved her to be Europe's best skater by far. As there was no dangerous competitor for her from outside Europe, that meant she was also the World's best skater by far in 1949."
One young skater who gained considerable attention in Milan was Jacqueline du Bief of France, who finished fourth in the free skating but only seventh overall due to low marks in the figures. In "Skating World" magazine, Nigel Brown raved, "Two years ago, Gretchen Merrill and Barbara Ann Scott introduced to Europe a theatrical element into championship programmes. The following winter, Marilyn [Ruth] Take, of Canada, took a bolder step in presenting a programme of ballet movements, and interpreting them to music, at the same time retaining all the classical athletic difficulties, such as jumps, double jumps and combination spins that represent the pure expression of skating. Jacqueline du Bief presented a musical interpretation of Rossini's 'Semiramus' and Offenbach's 'Orfeo all' inferno' and translated - this is the word - the difficulties of skating to the music, and so creating a complete harmony throughout the programme that embraced some of the most difficult and complicated combinations. Although she touched down slightly in the double Salchow and loop jumps, she was the only girl to do the double Lutz, and her spin in the centre of the rink that rises and descends four times to perfect timing was a delight to see. She possesses a light, springy take-off in jumping, and uses her free leg to the best advantage.. The crowd thundered their applause and the judges approved, for she jumped three places from her school figure position." In her book "Thin Ice", du Bief recalled, "About the rink they began to talk of the little French girl who was not good in figures but who did all the double jumps (on her good days) and whose skating was different from the others. It was even whispered that in a few years, she would have a chance of winning. So many words, so many hopes, and consequently so much more energy to resume the daily training on the following day."
THE MEN'S COMPETITION
The men's school figures were a close contest between the two Eastern European skaters who had placed third and fourth at the previous year's Europeans in Prague. Austria's Edi Rada, who placed third in 1948, came out on top in a three-two split of the judging panel, with the Czechoslovakian and Hungarian judges voting for pairs winner Ede Király.
Edi Rada won the free skate five judges to one, with the Norwegian judge placing Ede Király first, expanding upon his lead in the figures and winning the gold. The bronze went to Rada's young Austrian teammate Hellmut Seibt. Rada was criticized for lacking speed and pep but praised for his sureness and the variety of his contents. Király lost points when he fell on his opening jump, but delivered a fast, dynamic performance. Carlo Fassi placed fourth, ahead of Czechoslovakian skaters Ladislav Čáp and Zdeněk Fikar, who Nigel brown lamented gave "little thought to artistry, either in design of programme or in appeal to musical interpretation."
After the competition, skaters and officials were treated to apéritifs at a morning reception at Milan's city hall and a delicious meal and banquet at one of the city's finest restaurants, hosted by Mayor Antonio Greppi. ISU President Herbert J. Clarke said in his closing speech that the competition would go down in history as one of "the most successful events ever staged."
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