ARTIST OF ICE BALLET

Southland Times, Issue 23335, 20 October 1937, Page 8

ARTIST OF ICE BALLET

Sonja Henie’s Talents

The matter of being acknowledged leader in the art of the ice ballet, although it made possible Sonja Henie’s startling rise to stardom, is not an unmixed blessing in the pretty Norse girl’s cinema career. Because she is without a peer in that graceful speciality, she has to work a lot harder than would another player called upon to perform a dramatic role which also involved a form of the dance. Whenever a screen drama requires that the star perform a difficult and strenuous task, such as a complicated dance, it is not infrequent that a double is substituted for long shots. Thus, the star, already charged with the burden of carrying a major dramatic role, is spared some of the hardship of the entertainment role. In Sonja’s case, however, that cannot be done, because her championship form, now so widely known to a huge film public, is beyond duplication by anyone else. Unavailability of a substitute to shoulder some of the work is not the only factor contributing to make Sonja Henie’s day a long and arduous one during production. She has brought Hollywood an art unique in motion picture entertainment and upon her falls much of the burden of directorial preparation. Sonja continually collaborated with Harry Losee the dance director of “Thin Ice” in planning the spectacular ice ballet numbers for that production and supervised the rehearsals of the troupe of dancers who supported her during their rendition. Previously she had performed the major task of training them to an art strange to inhabitants of sunny film-land. Sonja’s success in the dramatic phases of her role in “Thin Ice” is due in part to the fortunate circumstances of having as her co-star, Tyrone Power. The two players, both “discovered” by I films at the same time, have long been I

good friends, and Power was an invaluable coach to Sonja in preparing her for her role in their picture. The coaching was no one-way affair, however. For young Power was required to ski with Sonja in “Thin Ice” and the blonde actress, a champion in that sport, as she is in figure-skating, repaid Power for his acting suggestions by teaching him the difficult technique of remaining upright while careering down a steep slope on slippery runners.