Holiday on Ice is an ice show currently owned by Medusa Music Group GmbH, a subsidiary of CTS EVENTIM, Europe's largest ticket distributor, with its headquarters in Bremen, Germany.
Holiday on Ice is an ice show currently owned by Medusa Music Group GmbH, a subsidiary of CTS EVENTIM, Europe's largest ticket distributor, with its headquarters in Bremen, Germany.
Holiday on Ice originated in the United States in December 1942. It was the brainchild of Emery Gilbert of Toledo, Ohio, an engineer and builder who created a portable ice rink. He took his idea of a traveling show to Morris Chalfen, a Minneapolis executive, who supplied the financing, and George Tyson, who used his theatrical background to create the show. [1]
The touring show made its first international trip to Mexico in 1947. In 1946, the company expanded with another ice show and secondary unit, "Ice Vogues", which took over the Holiday's last season's production and extended it for another year making stops in Cuba and Hawaii. Then the Vogues toured in Central and South America while Holiday remained in North America. After 1956, the Ice Vogues became a second unit of Holiday on Ice. [2]
After her touring company was shut down, Sonja Henie joined Holiday on Ice in 1953, remaining part of the show until 1956. Her first performance with the company was in Paris while her final show was in South America. [3]
In Asia, Holiday on Ice first performed at the Philippine International Fair of 1953 in Manila; followed by a return visit in 1955. Starting in 1961, the company performed almost annually at the newly opened Araneta Coliseum under impresario J. Amado Araneta's auspices. HOI returned to the Araneta Coliseum in 1962, 1963 and 1965. The HOI company that performed in Manila was assembled in Europe and recruited cast members from Japan.
US was represented by Holiday on Ice at Brussels World Fair in 1958. While in 1959, the new Cultural Exchange Program allowed the company to travel to Russia. [3] A Holiday on Ice show on October 31, 1963, was the scene of a gas leak and subsequent explosion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum that killed 74 people. [4]
All owners except Morris Chalfen sold their shares of the North America Holiday on Ice to Madison Square Garden Corporation in 1964, while Chalfen retained ownership of the international Holiday on Ice tour and remained as executive producer of the North America company. [2] [5]
By August 1971, General Ice Shows, Inc., a subsidiary of Thomas Scallen's Medical Investment Corporation (Medicor) and parent company of Ice Follies, had purchased Holiday on Ice (North America) from Chalfen and Madison Square Garden Company. At that time, Chalfen had purchased $2.2 million in Medicor convertible subordinated notes, which when converted to stock would have made Chalfen the largest shareholder of Medicor. Scallen had Medicor stall registering the notes and he sold 400,000 Medicor shares to Arthur Wirtz. After lawsuits by HoI's Chalfen [5] and Wirtz in 1976, [6] Wirtz gained ownership of both shows. [7]
Mattel's Irvin & Kenneth Feld Productions purchased the Ice Follies and the Holiday on Ice (USA) from Chicago-based Wirtz for $12 million in 1979. [7] [8] Ice Follies merged with Holiday on Ice in 1980 operating as a combined show in 1980 and 1981. The first Disney's World on Ice began touring in 1981. [8] [9]
In 1964, Chalfen retained ownership of the international Holiday on Ice tour separating ownership from the North America-based company. [2] [5]
After several changes of ownership, today it primarily tours with only two productions in Europe. In 1996, the company was purchased by Endemol Entertainment. [3]
On October 2, 2014, the German Medusa Music Group GmbH, a subsidiary of CTS EVENTIM, Europe's largest ticket distributor, acquired 50% of Stage Entertainment Touring Productions and Holiday on Ice; the company would acquire the remaining 50% two years later, on July 8, 2016. Hence, Holiday on Ice has become a German company with Stage Entertainment no longer involved in it.
During the 1960s Holiday on Ice was introduced to the Philippines. Araneta Coliseum always was the venue until Disney on Ice came to Araneta Coliseum.
Holiday on Ice was established as a family-oriented show by its founders but it has retained little of the traditional ice revue format. The actual shows focus more on a theatrical/musical aspect rather than on the glamorous revue style with clouds of feathers and millions of sequins and rhinestones to attract a new, younger audience. The once large "Corps de Ballet" of skaters has been reduced from 24 girls + 12 boys to 20 girls + 10 boys (between 1998 and 2008), and 14 girls + 10 boys (from 2009) and elaborate costuming has been replaced in favour of small modern stylings. Also the music choice from mainly Broadway show scores has been changed and adapted to the contemporary taste of actual pop music and even rock. Novelty acts such as acrobats have been added regularly to the main production numbers in recent years.
A traditional element in each Holiday on Ice show is the precision number with its famous spinning wheel, in which the skaters link arms with each other, one by one, lengthening the two spokes which spin around a center point. For many years, the traditional kickline, the light finale with illuminated costumes and fireworks fountains, ended shows.
Since 1988 each show has been given an official name to expose its unique identity resulting from its main production theme that weaves the various numbers into a unitary presentation. Beginning in 2005, Holiday on Ice has added several family-oriented touring shows to their schedule, including Peter Pan, Bugs Bunny on Ice and Ali Baba in "1001 Nights on Ice" in their new branch kids Ice shows ("KISS").
In contrast to the North American skating tours Stars on Ice and Champions on Ice, which feature primarily World and Olympic champion figure skaters, most of the skaters who tour with Holiday on Ice are not famous, and the focus is on production quality rather than the skaters' competitive credentials.
In 2011, Stage Entertainment announced the foundation of another subsidiary company which combines all its touring live productions, one of which is Holiday on Ice. This new division, Stage Entertainment Touring productions, is chaired by Caspar Gerwe.
For the first time in its 69 years, Holiday on Ice did not stage a new show production under its own brand in 2012. In 2013 a new show choreographed by Mark Naylor was produced with the name "Platinum".
Robin Cousins has choreographed several of Holiday on Ice's recent shows. Former choreographers have included: Stephanie Andros, Willi Bietak, Marie Carr, Kevin J. Cottam, Francis Demarteau, Sarah Kawahara, Karen Kresge, Jérôme Savary, Ted Shuffle, Anthony Van Laast, Robin Cousins, Frank Wentink, Mark Naylor, Bart Doerfler, Christopher Dean, Kim Gavin and Francisco Negrin.
Sonja Henie was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. She was a three-time Olympic champion in women's singles, a ten-time World champion (1927–1936) and a six-time European champion (1931–1936). Henie has won more Olympic and World titles than any other ladies' figure skater. She is one of only two skaters to defend a ladies' singles Olympic title, the other being Katarina Witt, and her six European titles have only been matched by Witt.
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling, is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth. It and its predecessor have run shows from 1871, with a hiatus from 2017 to 2023. They operate as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. The circus started in 1919 when the Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth, a circus created by P. T. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey, was merged with the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows. The Ringling brothers purchased Barnum & Bailey Ltd. in 1907 following Bailey's death in 1906, but ran the circuses separately until they were merged in 1919.
VStar Entertainment Group is a family entertainment production company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It produced Sesame Street Live, a live touring stage show based on the television series. It has also produced stage shows based on Dragon Tales, The Muppets and Muppet Babies, Bear in the Big Blue House, Curious George, Barney & Friends and PAW Patrol.
The Ice Capades were traveling entertainment shows featuring theatrical ice skating performances. Shows often featured former Olympic and US National Champion figure skaters who had retired from formal 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.
William Wadsworth Wirtz was the chief executive officer and controlling shareholder of the family-owned Wirtz Corporation. He was best known as the owner of the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League, who are part of Wirtz Corp's holdings. Wirtz also served as the Blackhawks' team president for over four decades.
The Araneta Coliseum, also currently known by naming rights sponsorship as Smart Araneta Coliseum, is an indoor multi-purpose sports arena that is part of the Araneta City in the Cubao area of Quezon City, Philippines. Nicknamed as "the Big Dome", it is one of the largest indoor arenas in Asia, and one of the largest clear span domes in the world. The dome measures approximately 108.0 meters (354.3 ft) making it the largest dome in Asia from its opening in 1960 until 2001 when it was surpassed by the Ōita Stadium in Japan with a dome measuring 274.0 meters (899.0 ft).
Disney on Ice, originally Walt Disney's World on Ice, is a series of touring ice shows produced by Feld Entertainment's Ice Follies And Holiday on Ice, Inc. under agreement with The Walt Disney Company. Aimed primarily at children, the shows feature figure skaters portraying the roles of Disney characters in performances derived from various Disney films. Feld Entertainment licensed the rights to Disney material for ice shows and includes shared merchandising revenue between Disney and Ice Follies.
Irvin Feld was a business entrepreneur who built a chain of record stores, promoted rock groups, produced concerts involving some of the biggest names in popular music. Feld was the person responsible for creating the ill-fated 1959 Winter Dance Party Tour throughout the American Midwest that included Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson, aka The Big Bopper. The tour route was poorly planned, zig-zagging across the Midwest in arctic weather in an old school bus that kept breaking down, eventually prompting Buddy Holly to privately hire a small plane to transport him to his next gig. Feld was also the head of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and founder of Feld Entertainment. He was a music promoter who is credited with discovering Paul Anka.
The Ice Follies, formerly known as the Shipstads & Johnson Ice Follies, is a touring ice show featuring elaborate production numbers, similar in concept to Ice Capades. It was founded in 1936 by Eddie and Roy Shipstad, and Oscar Johnson. In later years, Olympic skaters such as Donald Jackson, Barbara Berezowski, Peggy Fleming, and Janet Lynn were in the cast. Ice Follies also featured novelty acts such as Frick and Frack and Richard Dwyer, who was billed as "Mr. Debonair".
The Center Theatre was a theater located at 1230 Sixth Avenue, the southeast corner of West 49th Street in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Seating 3,500, it was originally designed as a movie palace in 1932 and later achieved fame as a showcase for live musical ice-skating spectacles. It was demolished in 1954, the only building in the original Rockefeller Center complex to have been torn down.
Arthur Michael Wirtz was an American entrepreneur. He was the founder of Wirtz Corporation, a holding company that owned Chicago Stadium, the Bismarck Hotel in Chicago, the Chicago Black Hawks, and the Chicago Bulls. He was the father of the late Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz, as well as the grandfather of the late Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz, who died on July 25, 2023.
Howdy Mr. Ice was one of a series of ice shows at the Center Theatre in Rockefeller Center, New York City, that was produced by Sonja Henie and Arthur M. Wirtz in the 1940s.
Morris Chalfen was an international impresario and sports entertainment executive. He founded the Holiday On Ice show, and later purchased and relocated a near-extinct National Basketball League (NBL) franchise which became the Los Angeles Lakers.
Vivi-Anne Hultén was a Swedish figure skater who competed in ladies' singles. She was the 1936 Olympic bronze medalist, a four-time World medalist, a two-time European bronze medalist, and a ten-time Swedish national champion.
The Sells Floto Circus was a combination of the Floto Dog & Pony Show and the Sells Brothers Circus that toured with sideshow acts in the United States and Canada during the early 1900s.
Buena Vista Theatrical Group Ltd., doing business as the Disney Theatrical Group, is the live show, stageplay and musical production arm of The Walt Disney Company. The company is led by Thomas Schumacher, Anne Quart, and Andrew Flatt, and is a division of Walt Disney Studios, forming a part of Disney Entertainment, one of the three major business segments of The Walt Disney Company.
Thomas Kaine Scallen was the first owner of the NHL's Vancouver Canucks. He owned the team from 1970 to 1974, when Frank Griffiths, an owner of several Vancouver area radio and television stations, the next largest shareholder in the Canucks, took over after Scallen was arrested. He was found guilty of securities fraud in 1973, and a later appeal failed.
Feld Entertainment Inc. is an American live show production company which owns a number of traveling shows. The company began with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus then expanded into additional live events, including Disney on Ice, Monster Jam, Monster Energy AMA Supercross, and Sesame Street Live. The company is family owned.
Peter A. Tyrrell was an entertainment entrepreneur in Philadelphia, most prominently associated with the Philadelphia Arena. He was one of eleven founders of what eventually became the National Basketball Association, and was a founder and the first president of the Ice Capades.
The New Frontier Theater, known as the Kia Theatre between 2015 and 2018, is a multi-purpose event hall in Araneta City in Cubao, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. The theater has a 2,385 seating capacity, and is used for a variety of events, ranging from performing and visual arts, local and international concerts, and fan meet-up gatherings.
ice capades.
... a family that had owned the circus and has been in its management for 26 years. Two members of the family, Irvin Feld and his son, Kenneth, said that the deal included the circus, Ice Follies, Holiday on Ice and the new Walt Disney's World on Ice. ...
| Skating exhibitions |
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Musical & theme shows | |||||
| Solo shows |
| ||||
| Historical shows | |||||
