The things that stick in your mind. "Love Letters." It was such a tiny part of the routine but I've never heard that melody in the years since without remembering Wagner and Paul. Thanks for the memories.
I worked at Squaw Valley for years. I used to go into Blythe Arena all alone and stand on the ice with no one in the building. It always gave me goosebumps thinking of the history. Was heartbreaking to see it torn down, I loved that building.
An amazing piece of footage (for many reasons aside from skating) from the early years of videotape. Thankfully this was preserved when so much was erased. Walter Cronkite (pre CBS Evening news) standing in for a recovering Jim McKay. The intriguing open sided Blyth Arena was constructed because the IOC at the time stipulated competitions not be held under an enclosed roof. How much have times changed? Bob Paul at 5:33 says "We've never seen ourselves perform before" Today the video would be cued and ready by the time they skated to the boards.
Yes, it's really something to recall that back in the days when even videotaping skaters was not an option for a coach--much less camcording them or recording their performance on a phone--very few coaches used movie cameras and film to show skaters what they looked like on the ice. Even those who did had to get the film developed before it could be viewed. There was no immediate viewing and feedback. Most skaters had no idea how they looked to someone watching them unless they were lucky enough to have one of their performances televised.
Unreal! Walter Cronkite doing a sporting event. Bud Palmer, interviewing the Canadian pairs champions, largely forgotten today who did much CBS coverage back then.
What does any commentary on "political correctness" have to do with this video or the broadcasters? Do you just go through all of the old videos on RU-vid posting about how wonderful it is that they are from "the days when we didn't think about political correctness"? Do you think the past was better because you could say any stupid racist, sexist, offensive thing that came into your head? Because it wasn't. As for me, I just came here to see a classic skating performance I never had the chance to see before. Delightful.
