I was a backstage brat

Ice Capades, Boston Garden, Massachusetts, New Year's Day 1976.

 "Gary, see the lights!" (direct quote)

*Sigh*...That's little me being the "New Year's Baby"...while my mom crossed her fingers backstage praying that I wouldn't flip out and skate at 25 mph backstage (where I belonged) when I saw all those PEOPLE!  

 

But I did it, and surprised my parents for sure. (Word on the street is they think I was blinded by the brilliant lights and didn't SEE the people...I like to think it was merely my 15 minutes of fame a la Andy Warhol!)

 

Although this was the first, it wasn't the last time I was my mom's doll. Or clown! 

 

They're looking at me.

I can only imagine what she whispered to quell my fears! Even though I knew everyone in the room.  Still, they're not supposed to LOOK at me all at once!

 Okkaaaay, I've just got to get through this Golden Girl number so I can get to that snack table and stick olives on my fingers!

Don't I look thrilled?! I was never one for the limelight, always preferring the dark, backstage inner workings of the theater as opposed to the lit parts. (PS I still have that costume!)  Despite that, something stuck.  As a young lady in art school, I was never able to attend a party without a headdress.  True story.

Now that you've met me, I will say that this blog is not actually going to be about me, but this is where I'm from. This is why I'll be posting SO many pictures of the Ice Capades.  It's also *partially* why I've never fit in with the non-traveling-circus world.

 

The elevator pitch goes like this: My parents were Ice Capades skaters both joining the company in the 60's, and I entered the picture in the 70's.  We traveled with the show for 7+ years and returned to the family home in the early 80's.

 

After a few years of grade school, they had to send me to the school psychologist when I realized we weren't packing up and driving to Bakersfield that fall to start the tour! STUCK. Gypsies don't like to stay in one place for too long.

Now it's 2023, and this modern world really makes a girl wish she was four years old and wearing a golden gem two-piece and ice skates!

I've started this blog as a way to share images and stories with those who were a part of my Ice Capades family, as well as those who have only heard of it as lore, and also with those who never knew. 

 

TTFN