This page relates some experiences I had with chorus girls from the Holiday on Ice professional ice skating show during the summers of 1957 and 1958.
Holiday on Ice is a show that features professional ice skating and tours the world. Similar shows have included The Ice Follies and The Ice Capades. I understand that Holiday on Ice mostly tours Europe and other places outside of the United States, but in the 50's and 60's it did tour the United States extensively. People that know more about Holiday on Ice than I do and want to correct and/or add to what I'm saying, please feel free to e-mail me.
During the late 1950's and early 1960's, Holiday On Ice formed their show at the Auditorium in Sioux City, Iowa. They spent six weeks each summer creating the show before going on tour for the rest of the year. New routines were worked out and new performers were blended into the show. This web page focuses on the summers of 1957 and 1958.
In the evenings many of the cast had free time and were situated in many hotels and apartment buildings in Sioux City. Some of these cast members were chorus girls away from home for the first time. Other chorus girls were veterans of the show and knew their way around. As one who in 1957 and 1958 was taking summer school courses at the nearby University of South Dakota and working part time as a draftsman at Tower Construction company, I had the opportunity to meet several of these skaters.
In those days Iowa was a "dry" state. Other than beer and wine, all alcoholic beverages had to be purchased at state owned liquor stores, and serving of liquor by the drink in public places was prohibited by law. People got around it by forming private clubs. Some, such as the Sioux City Country Club and the Sioux City Boat Club, were legitimate private clubs and were well within the law. Each member's dues were in part to stock the bar.
Others existed on the edge of the law. They were called key clubs and had memberships. Anybody could get a membership card by asking. Then people with membership cards could patronize the place and purchase drinks just as if Iowa hadn't been a "dry" state. The Penthouse was one of these key clubs. It was situated on the second floor of a downtown building in which the first floor was a coffee shop. The Penthouse served excellent dinners and good drinks. It also had a dance floor with music provided by a juke box.
Even though it was a "private club", the Penthouse was required to adhere to the law regarding the age of those purchasing drinks, which was 21. They did a fair job of keeping underage people out of the club, but tended to look the other way with the Holiday on Ice chorus girls, some of whom hadn't quite reached that age. It was good business because these girls tended to attract a lot of young men to patronize the club. I would have patronized the club anyway because I loved their chicken fried steaks and veal cutlets. ;-)
Since this was over 40 years ago, I have forgotten the names of some of the girls that I met and have a fading memory of the sequence of events. But I'll try to relate events as good as I can. I do think of the Penthouse everytime I hear the song "Patricia", because it was played often and when I heard it on the radio, I called it the "Penthouse song".
I had occasion to go to the club one evening with Bob Hammerstrom and his wife. Bob and I were members of a car pool that commuted between Sioux City and the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota. The commute was about 30 miles each way. The carpool consisted mostly of military veterans, including myself, but Bob was a little older. He was 29 years old and had spent eight years in the army, finishing his tour as a master sergeant at the US Embassy in the Netherlands. He was married and had a young daughter.
Anyway, to get back on track, Bob and his wife and I had dinner at the Penthouse on this particular evening. After dinner, we stayed for drinking and dancing. I was dancing with Bob's wife and remarked that the girl on the floor near us was beautiful. She said "why don't you ask her to dance?" I said, "she probably won't dance with me". Both Bob and his wife kept urging me to ask her until I finally did. To my surprise, she said yes. We danced on and off for the next couple of hours. I still think of that whenever I hear the Debbie Reynolds rendition of "Tammy".
This girl turned out to be Janie Morris, a chorus girl with Holiday on Ice. I was to get to know her pretty well, but not romantically, over the summer. She was from Atlanta, Georgia and had been Miss Georgia and one of the top 16 finalists in the Miss America pageant in the mid 1950's. She was a chorus girl when I knew her but I later learned that due to her talent, looks, and desire to please,;-) she eventually became one of the lead skaters in the show.
I had a friend, John Locker, who was a student at Morningside College in Sioux City and a pitcher on their baseball team. His younger brother Bob later pitched in the major leagues. John was also a lifeguard at the Sioux City Country Club, to which my dad belonged. He began dating Janie quite regularly.
One day, there was to be a formal dance at the country club and I invited Janie. She accepted. In retrospect I think at that time I wanted to show off a beautiful woman as much as to be with her. As the dance date approached, she was always with John and I could never get her alone to finalize the plans. I began to think she had forgotten about it and felt it's just as well, she's always with John anyway. So the night of the dance, I just went to the Penthouse and had some drinks with some buddies.
The next morning, I went swimming at the country club, where John was on duty as a lifeguard. John asked me "How was your date with Janie?" I responded that I hadn't gone out with her, that I thought she had forgotten about it. He said that he had asked her out and she declined telling him "I've got a date with Ryal tonight". So I had inadvertently stood her up. I really felt stupid. I continued to run into Janie at the Penthouse, and neither of us ever mentioned the missed date.
Another incident with Janie happened a year later and involved a guy named Dick Bertell. Bertell had been a student at Iowa State when I was there and was an All American catcher on their baseball team. He eventually became the catcher for the Chicago Cubs. I had met him once at Iowa State when we were on a panel to decide the merit of a protest against a referee's decision in an intramural touch football game.
On this particular night, Bertell was playing for Des Moines against Sioux City in a minor league baseball game. After the game he and a teammate came to the Penthouse. I was sitting at a table with Janie and a couple of other people, when Dick and his friend came in. I recognized him and asked them to join us. I reminded him of where we had met at Iowa State. As the evening wore on, Janie got up to go to the ladies room and Dick asked me "Who is that in the red dress?", which Janie was wearing. I replied that she was with Holiday on Ice and a former Miss Georgia. He said "I don't care about that, does she f**k?". No one said anything, and the drinking and socializing continued. Before long, Dick and Janie left together. His teammate, who was left behind, said "that's Dick".
I never saw Bertell again, except on TV when he was with the Cubs. I only saw Janie once since then, about two years later. I had graduated from college and moved to Los Angeles. I had come to Sioux City on vacation to see my dad and other relatives as well as old friends. I went to the Penthouse and Janie was sitting in a booth with a guy named Tom Collins. She introduced him as her husband. We talked about her ongoing career with Holiday on Ice and my life in Los Angeles. I remember her saying "why on earth would you ever come back to Sioux City from LA?" I never got a chance to ask her about her evening with Dick Bertell.
I recently found out that Tom Collins for many years has been a producer of ice skating shows and as of now (August, 2001) his show is called Champions on Ice. Click on his name to see a brief thumbnail sketch of his career and achievments. A paragraph in this web site indicates that they had three sons. Of course, Janie is now known as Jane. I'm happy to have learned that they've done well over the years.
In February, 2008 I learned of the passing of Janie. My she rest in peace.
Jane Collins Obituary (nee Morris)
Rosalie Jane Collins passed away peacefully on December 28, 2007 at the Jones Harrison Residence. Janie, as she was affectionately called, was born on March 24, 1938 in Atlanta, Georgia to Maxine Elliot and James W. Morris. She was preceded in death by her parents and her stepfather, James T. Lawlor. Janie will be dearly missed by her devoted husband Tom, and sons: Michael, Mark (Melissa) and Marty. She also leaves behind granddaughters Lauren and Dylan.
Having been raised in Atlanta, Janie began her life as a true Southern Belle. She was accomplished in ballet and the gentler arts of conversation and etiquette and from this foundation succeeded in becoming Miss Georgia, thus representing her state in the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City in 1956. This led to one of her great adventures in life, that of skating for the touring show, Holiday on Ice. She and her skating partner, Alfredo Mendoza, were the Adagio Stars of the show. Janie and Alfredo also worked with the artistic staff at Cypress Gardens in Florida, creating balletic routines that could be possible on water skis.
Her skating career with Holiday on Ice took her around the United States, Mexico and Cuba, and led her to the next phase of her life, that of wife and mother. During this exciting time, she met, was courted by, and married the man who became her life partner, her husband, Tom; and together they had three children. There was very little that Janie would not do for her children, or for that matter, any other child or person. She was an attentive and tenderhearted mother who had an endless capacity for love, and was not afraid to show it. Janie had the ability to make anyone feel special, whatever their standing in life. And this, combined with her great sense of humor and fairness, endeared her to everyone that she met.
Although in her heart, she knew that she was truly a Georgia Peach, in 1971 Jane did move to the North with her husband Tom, and their family to the city of Minneapolis. She became a member of Our Lady of Grace Church, and was a devout Christian. Some of her greatest comforts were the conversations that she had with friends from the clergy, and she lived her life according to her convictions.
The Memorial Service will be held at Our Lady of Grace Church, 5071 Eden Avenue, Edina, MN 55436, on Saturday, January 5th at 12:00 Noon. Visitation with the family one hour prior to the service. Interment at Lakewood Cemetery following a private family service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: the USFSA Memorial Fund, c/o U.S. Figure Skating Headquarters, 20 First Street, Colorado Springs, CO 80906.
I only actually "dated" two Holiday on Ice chorus girls, and they were the least attractive of the Holiday on Ice women I knew. They were both also a little bit older than the others I knew and had been around the block a couple of times. I don't remember either one's name. Sometimes I wonder why I took them out, if I was being a "groupie".
The first one I dated was actually pretty nice. We went to a movie, "An Affair to Remember" starring Cary Grant. I remember that she cried through the movie. Other than that I don't remember much about her.
The other one and I didn't hit it off at all. I remember being surprised when I picked her up at the old Warrior hotel, that both men and women in various stages of undress were running up and down the hall and into each others rooms. I don't even remember what we did when we went out, except that she wanted to go home early. After I took her back to her hotel, I went to the Penthouse and moments later she showed up there. So much for going home early.
I briefly remember going to the apartment of a couple of the younger girls. I remember the name of one. It was Gloria Moore, and she was the daughter of the pastor of the Hollywood Presbyterian Church. I didn't spend much time with these girls. They didn't hang out at the Penthouse, and I don't remember how I met them. They were nice girls and almost seemed out of place in the world of show business. When I moved to California, I tried to look up Gloria Moore. I met her brother, but never did connect with her. I do know she only spent one year with Holiday on Ice.
One of the nicest girls I met was also someone who didn't hang out at the Penthouse. Again, after all these years, I've forgotten her name. She was from Los Angeles. One day I showed her around Sioux City. One of the places I took her was to the local packing plant, which was one of Sioux City's main industries. Animals are slaughtered and meat is processed. Taking her to the packing plant was a mistake. I learned she was a vegetarian and very much opposed to slaughtering of animals for meat. We subsequently had several conversations about vegetarianism with my big concern being how one got adequate protein without meat.
By a strange coincidence I ran into this vegetarian from Holiday on Ice again after I had moved to Los Angeles. It was at a wedding. The bride was Georgiana Carter. I was dating her sister, Marlene Wulff, off and on, and a friend of mine from Sioux City had dated Georgiana before her husband to be. Georgiana was an actress who had taken the name Carter as her professional name. She had dated Jack Nicholson in the past. Others in attendance at that wedding that I had a conversation with at the reception were Martin Landau and his then wife, Barbara Bain.
The wedding was also attended by the Holiday on Ice gal, who turned out to be a friend of Georgiana's. We recognized each other, and after the reception I went to her apartment. She fixed a vegetarian dinner and showed me that a vegetarian meal can be tasty. We continued our two year old conversation about protein and amino acids. Peanuts were her main supply of those.
Probably the most fun I had was with a couple of gals who had been roomates of the first one I had dated at the Sioux Apartment Hotel. My dad eventually moved into the Sioux Apartment Hotel when he sold the family house. These two were both very attractive. One was named Freddy and she was probably the sexiest of those I met. She was from Las Vegas. I've forgotten the other one's name, but she was from New Hampshire. The two gals and a couple of my friends had some great parties in their apartment. The gals even supplied the beer.
One evening Freddy asked me to help her with her trunk which was stored in the basement of the building. When we finished moving things around, I was thinking about going back to their apartment and having another beer. It didn't dawn on me until later that Freddy had something else on her mind. She stood in the aisle and blocked me from going by with a nice smile on her face. I just pushed by and went upstairs. I was slow on the uptake in those days.
I think that it was the same evening that I had brought my old friend, Bob Kaiman, to meet the girls. Bob had recently graduated from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire and was to be inducted into the army for a two year stint the next day. He really hit it off with the gal from New Hampshire. They talked about New Hampshire, ski slopes, and everything about New England. He was almost in tears as I drove him home. It was partly the beer, partly going into the army, and partly "I meet the girl of my dreams and I have to leave".
Yes, I enjoyed the two summers I spent with the girls of Holiday on Ice. If you were expecting "kiss and tell" - sorry, I don't kiss and tell. Maybe even there's nothing to tell.;-) Also, I know I've referred to girls and gals quite a bit instead of women. Sorry, I'm not into political correctness.
This page was last updated on February 19, 2008