Sonja Henie

Sonja Henie
Sonja Henie, 1931
nation	Norway
birthday	April 8, 1912
place of birth	Oslo
size	155 cm
Weight	45 kg
date of death	October 12, 1969
Place of death	on the flight to Oslo
Career
discipline	Single run
society	Oslo SK
Trainer	Howard Nicholson
Medal table
Olympic medals 3 × 0 × 0 × World Cup medals 10 × 1 × 0 × EM medals 6 × 0 × 0 ×
winter Olympics gold St. Moritz 1928 Ladies gold Lake Placid 1932 Ladies gold Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 Ladies  World figure skating championships silver Stockholm 1926 Ladies gold Oslo 1927 Ladies gold London 1928 Ladies gold Budapest 1929 Ladies gold New York City 1930 Ladies gold Berlin 1931 Ladies gold Montréal 1932 Ladies gold Stockholm 1933 Ladies gold Oslo 1934 Ladies gold Vienna 1935 Ladies gold Paris 1936 Ladies  European figure skating championships gold Vienna 1931 Ladies gold Paris 1932 Ladies gold London 1933 Ladies gold Seefeld 1934 Ladies gold St. Moritz 1935 Ladies gold Berlin 1936 Ladies

Sonja Henie (born April 8, 1912 in Kristiania ; † October 12, 1969 during a flight from Paris to Oslo) was a Norwegian figure skater who started in a single run . With three Olympic victories , ten world championship titles and six European championship titles between 1927 and 1936, she is by far the most successful individual skater in figure skating history . Henie began a successful career in Hollywood in 1936.

Early years

Sonja Henie was the only daughter of the fur trader Wilhelm Henie and his wife Selma Lochmann-Nielsen (1888–1961). Her father was cycling world champion in Antwerp in 1894 . He also took part in European championships in speed skating . The children were encouraged to try out different sports at an early age. Henie showed talent for skiing , but then followed her older brother Leif to figure skating. As a child, Henie was also a nationally listed tennis player and a talented swimmer and rider . When Henie started figure skating training in earnest, her state school education ended. She was then looked after by private tutors, and her father hired experts to train his daughter to become a great sportsperson. Among them was the Russian ballerina Tamara Karsavina .

Amateur career

At the age of eleven, Sonja Henie took part in the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix and finished eighth and last. During these games she fell on her bottom and shouted "Oops", which earned her the nickname "Miss Oops". During her freestyle routine, she had to run to her trainer several times to ask what to do next. But already at the next Olympic Games in St. Moritz in 1928 she no longer needed this help. She won Olympic gold, well ahead of Fritzi Burger . At the Olympic Games in Lake Placid in 1932 , she defended her Olympic title again clearly before Burger. Four years later, she triumphed in Garmisch-Partenkirchen for the third time in a row at the Olympic Games and is still the only figure skater to have celebrated three Olympic victories in the women's competition . Their last title, however, was more controversial than the two before. After the compulsory figures, Henie and the British Cecilia Colledge were only a few points apart. Sandra Stevenson reported in her April 21, 2008 article in The Independent : “The scarcity angered Henie who, when the result for this section was posted on the panel wall, took the piece of paper and tore it into small pieces. The draw for the freestyle came under suspicion, as Henie had the best position as the last starter, while Colledge had to start second of 26 starters. This early start was seen as a disadvantage, as the audience was not yet in the rhythm of a storm of applause and the judges were known to be more generous in giving higher ratings the longer the competition lasted. Years later, a fairer, staggered draw was introduced to counter this fact. "

In her first world championship in 1924 in Oslo , Henie was fifth when Herma Szabó , the dominant figure skater of the twenties, won. She played her next World Cup two years later in Stockholm . There she won the silver medal behind Szabó. In 1927 , the women's world championship was again held in Henie's hometown of Oslo. Henie won her first gold medal at world championships in a controversial manner. Even after the compulsory figures, Herma Szabó was clearly ahead of Henie, but was defeated by the majority of the Norwegian judges in the end. Three of the five judges came from Norway, one from Germany and one from Austria. The three Norwegians put Henie in first place, the other two judges Szabó. After this defeat, Szabó ended her career. Henie later offered her a new version of the duel, but she declined. This cleared the way for Henie and she never lost another world championship. Nine world championship titles followed by 1936. Nobody could seriously endanger her, she mostly won with a unanimous judge's verdict. Her challengers were Fritzi Burger, who was runner-up behind her in Budapest in 1929 and in Montréal in 1932 , Maribel Vinson , runner-up in 1928 , Cecil Smith , runner-up in 1930 , Hilde Holovsky , runner-up in 1931 , Vivi -Anne Hultén , Vice-World Champion from 1933 , Megan Taylor , Vice-World Champion from 1934 and 1936 and Cecilia Colledge , Vice-World Champion from 1935 . With a total of ten world championship titles, Henie is also by far the most successful figure skater in women's singles at world championships .

In 1930 there was a separate women's competition at the European Championships for the first time . Henie first took part in Vienna in 1931 and last in Berlin in 1936 . She won all the European championships in which she competed and won a total of six times in a row: in 1931 and 1932 before Fritzi Burger, in 1934 and 1935 before Liselotte Landbeck and in 1933 and 1936 before Cecilia Colledge. In the years 1925 to 1929 Henie was Norwegian champion in individual skating and from 1926 to 1928 together with Arne Lie also in pair skating . Henie had her only international appearance in pair skating alongside Lie at the 1926 World Cup . The couple took fifth place.

During her career, Henie traveled widely and worked with numerous coaches. At home in Oslo she trained at Frogner Stadium where she was coached by Hjordis Olsen and Oscar Holthe , among others . Later in her career, she mainly trained with the American Howard Nicholson in London . Henie was also extremely popular at shows in Europe as well as North America . It became so famous that wherever it appeared, a police force had to control the masses. It was an open secret that Henie's father Wilhelm, despite her amateur status, demanded large sums of money for his daughter's performances. Both Henie's father and mother gave up their businesses in Norway and left them to Sonja's brother Leif to travel the world with her and manage it.

Henie is considered to be the first figure skater to introduce short skirts as a costume, to wear white ice skates and to use choreographies .

Professional and film career

Sonja Henie (r.) With the French tennis player Suzanne Lenglen

After her retirement from amateur sport in 1936, Henie went on tour with generously equipped ice shows . As a child, she had made it into her head to go to Hollywood after completing her sports career and become a movie star, not thinking that her heavy accent might hamper her ambitions. During a performance in Los Angeles, in which her father played a key role, she made contact with the film industry and ultimately chose the offer from 20th Century Fox , which Darryl F. Zanuck , the studio's boss, had offered her. Henie insisted on being named as a star above the title in her first film and got a salary of $ 125,000. The long-term contract made her one of the highest paid actresses in the world. The studio subsequently developed a special camera that was able to capture the rapid movements on the ice accordingly. The ice rinks on which Henie did her laps in the studio were also special, custom-made products adapted to the requirements of the recording technology. The ice was not allowed to be transparent or reflect too much in order to ensure the best possible reproduction on the canvas.

After the success of her first film, One in a Million , Henie's status was confirmed and she became increasingly demanding in her business relationships with Zanuck. She insisted on having total control over the ice skating numbers she showed in the film.

Sonja Henie on the cover of Time Magazine in July 1939

Henie, who played predominantly Northern Europeans in her films who spoke English with a heavy accent, mostly appeared in lavishly produced musicals and alongside the studio's male stars, such as Tyrone Power , Don Ameche and later John Payne . She was voted one of the top ten box office stars in 1938, and for a while she was more popular than Alice Faye . Their success was so great that other studios tried to produce similar ice revues. But neither the audience accepted the films with the ice skater Vera Hruba Ralston , nor was Joan Crawford in The Ice Follies of 1939 a resounding success. Henie's best known film was Sun Valley Serenade , in which she appeared alongside Glenn Miller and his orchestra in 1941 .

In addition to her career at Fox, she had a business deal with Arthur Wirtz , who produced the ice cream shows she toured with under the name Hollywood Ice Revue . Wirtz also acted as Henie's financial advisor. At the time, figure skating and ice shows were not a well-established entertainment event in the United States. Henie's popularity as a film actress attracted many new fans and ice skating shows became a popular new form of entertainment. During the 1940s, Henie and Wirtz produced elaborate music-based ice skating spectacles at the Center Theater in Rockefeller Center , which drew millions of visitors. At the height of her fame, Henie made over two million dollars a year from her shows and tours. She also had lucrative advertising deals for ice skates, clothing, jewelry, dolls and other items that were sold under her name. These earnings made her one of the richest women in the world.

Henie terminated the agreement with Wirtz in 1950 and produced her own tours under the name Sonja Henie Ice Revue for the next three seasons . It wasn't a good decision to compete with Wirtz, whose shows now advertised with Olympic champion Barbara Ann Scott . With Wirtz controlling the big arenas and the best dates, Henie now had to perform at smaller venues and serve markets that were already saturated with other touring ice shows like Ice Capades. The collapse of a grandstand at a show in Baltimore then ultimately contributed to the decline.

In 1953, Henie partnered with Morris Chalfen to appear on his Holiday On Ice tour. It was a success. She produced her own show at New York's Roxy Theater in January 1956 . However, the subsequent tour of South America was a disaster. Henie drank too much and could no longer meet the requirements. This was the time to cease all ice skating activity.

Dealing with National Socialism

Among the spectators of the Olympic Winter Games 1936 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen also was Adolf Hitler . He invited the Norwegian and her parents to eat at the Berghof on Obersalzberg . There he handed her a photo with an autograph and a dedication. Contacts with high-ranking Nazis can be proven until the early 1940s. Henie met with Joseph Goebbels on the occasion of the film premiere of One in a Million in Germany. During the occupation of Norway , German soldiers saw the signed photo of Adolf Hitler in the Henie's house. As a result, none of the Henies' belongings were confiscated or even destroyed. Allegedly, Henie, who was in the USA at the time, had told the housekeeper by phone shortly beforehand that the picture should be clearly visible.

Henie became a US citizen in 1941 . Like many Hollywood stars, she supported the US troops through the United Service Organizations , but she avoided supporting the Norwegian resistance movement or making public statements against the National Socialists. For this she was criticized by many Norwegians and Norwegian immigrants in the USA as a quisling sympathizer. Henie was aware of this, but experienced a triumphant return home with her Holiday on Ice Tour in 1953 and 1955.

Personal

In 1938 Sonja Henie published her autobiography Mitt livs eventyr , which appeared in English in 1940 as Wings on My Feet .

When Henie ran in the Berlin Sports Palace at the age of 14 and wore a hare's paw around her neck as a lucky charm, the Berlin original called “ Krücke ”: “Kiek mal, det Häseken”. From then on she was nicknamed "Häseken" in Berlin, where she was a particular favorite with the public.

Her great love is said to have been the two-time Austrian Olympic champion in figure skating, Karl Schäfer , who, however, decided in favor of the daughter of his advocate Eduard Engelmann , whom he later married.

Sonja Henie was married three times. Her husbands were from 1940 to 1946 Daniel Topping (1912-1974), the co-owner and long-time president of the New York Yankees baseball club , from 1949 to 1956 Winthrop Gardiner Jr. (1912-1980) and from 1956 to 1969 Niels Onstad (1909-1978 ), a wealthy shipowner and art patron. Together they built up an important collection of modern art and founded a museum for modern art, the "Henie-Onstad kunstsenter" in Høvikodden , Bærum , near Oslo, which opened in 1968.

In addition to their marriages, Henie had numerous lovers, such as her figure skating partners Jack Dunn and Stewart Reburn , boxing legend Joe Louis , actor Tyrone Power and actor Van Johnson . According to the biography Queen of Ice, Queen of Shadows , written by Henie's brother Leif and Raymond Strait after her death, Henie was obsessed with money and sex, could become vile in anger, and shamelessly exploited her family and others for her goals to reach.

In September 1968 she was diagnosed with leukemia . Marked by the serious illness, she visited friends in Paris in October 1969 and died on the flight back to Oslo at the age of 57. She remained childless. Sonja Henie was buried above the Henie Onstad Art Center .

Results

Single run

Competition / year	1924	1925	1926	1927	1928	1929	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936
winter Olympics	8th.				1.				1.				1.
World championships	5.		2.	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.
European championships								1.	1.	1.	1.	1.	1.
Norwegian championships		1.	1.	1.	1.	1.

Pair skating

(with Arne Lie )

Competition / year	1926	1927	1928
World championships	5.
Norwegian championships	1.	1.	1.

Henie's skate prints at Grauman's Chinese Theater

Awards

Henie was inducted into the Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1976 . She has a star on the Walk of Fame and the prints of her skates have been decorating a cement board at Grauman's Chinese Theater since 1937 . In 1938, at the age of just 25, she became the youngest holder of the St. Olav Order, first class.

Filmography

The Henie Onstad Art Center in Høvikodden

• 1936: One in a Million
• 1937: Thin Ice
• 1938: Happy Landing
• 1938: My Lucky Star
• 1939: Second Fiddle
• 1939: Everything Happens at Night
• 1941: Adopted Happiness ( Sun Valley Serenade )
• 1942: Iceland
• 1943: Wintertime
• 1945: Rush of colors ( It's a Pleasure )
• 1948: The Countess of Monte Cristo

literature

• Wings on My Feet. 1940 (autobiography)

Web links

Commons : Sonja Henie  - Collection of Images

• Sonja Henie in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Sonja Henie in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Henie Onstad Art Center in Høvikodden
• Susanne Gretter: Sonja Henie. In: FemBio. Women's biography research (with references and citations). March 30, 2017.
• Pictures by Sonja Henie In: Virtual History
• Eduard Hoffmann : Died 50 years ago: Ice princess and Hollywood diva Sonja Henie. In: Deutschlandfunk broadcast “Calendar Sheet”. October 12, 2019 . 

Individual evidence

1. ^ Matthias Bertsch : Propaganda and ice revue: 100 years ago the Berlin Sports Palace was opened. In: Deutschlandfunk-Kultur broadcast “Calendar Sheet”. November 17, 2010, accessed October 12, 2019 . 
2. ^ Klaus Nerger: Sonja Henie. In: knerger.de. April 24, 2019, accessed on October 12, 2019 (as grave of Sonja Henie).