By: Jennifer Tufano
It’s summer. Time for relaxing, connecting with friends and our outdoor decks. Summer is also time for a break from the schedules and responsibilities of the rest of the year. What I’ve come to understand from researching this piece is that summer is not a time for carnivals like those enjoyed in the winter. In the summer, there was always something to do and someplace to be; at times maybe too much. Now, our own Heritage Day community fundraiser has traditionally been held in July – this year on July 14th. As a rule, however, carnivals have not been a warm weather staple. On this hot June day, let’s take just a moment to remember Lake Placid’s own winter carnival and the coronation history of the King and Queen of Winter. The following is an excerpt from the “Coronation History’ booklet published in 1967 on the 40th anniversary.
“Winter carnivals began as an escape from the long, dark cold season and an excuse for celebration and companionship. The winter season in Lake Placid has been highlighted by the formal coronation of a King and Queen of winter since 1927. During this time, the winter sports program has grown from a humble beginning comprised almost solely of speed and figure skating to a many faceted one encompassing virtually every kind of cold weather sport earning for Lake Placid an international reputation as “King Winter’s Gay Capital.”
The initial coronation was held in February 1927 in an outdoor setting on Mirror Lake. The first King and Queen, chosen by popular vote, were Louis McCarthy, organist in the Palace Theatre, and Mrs. Connie Dixon, Lake Placid Beauty who is now the wife of Curtis Steves, local business man and member of the 1932 Olympic two-man Bobsled Championship Team. McCarthy and Mrs. Dixon and their successors for the next several years were selected either by popular vote or by a panel of judges, or by a combination of these methods.
The scene of the ceremonies was moved to the stage of the Palace Theatre in 1929 for the comfort of the coronation cast and spectators. Then, with the erection of the Olympic Arena for the III Winter Olympiad held here in February 1932, the coronation was moved from the Theatre to the Arena. The vastness of this new setting with its twenty thousand square feet of artificial ice and seating capacity for twenty-five hundred spectators, made it possible to stage more elaborate coronations and to integrate into the ceremonies ice shows previously held on Mirror Lake as separate events.
The first king and queen to be crowned in the arena were Jack Shea, young speed skating idol of Lake Placid who won the 500 and 1500-meter Olympic races that year before the coronation and Miss Lucille Hickey of Port Henry, N.Y. This was the second time that Shea ascended to the royal dais. He had first been chosen kind in 1930, and is the only person who has reigned as king or queen twice. The winter of 1932-33 saw another step taken in the evolution of the annual coronation from its original to its present form with the adoption of the current policy of special invitation in the selection of a king and queen. This policy has attracted a glittering array of interesting and glamorous celebrities to Lake Placid from the broad field of creation, entertainment and sports. Rockwell Kent led the parade, accepting the first invitation to be king. Kent was succeeded on the throne by the distinguished newscaster, Lowell Thomas, who subsequently returned for many years to portray the role of Archbishop of the Coronation.
In the winter of 1935-36, the coronation date was moved ahead from February to the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, and the coronation was made the official inaugural event of the Lake Placid Winter season which traditionally begins with these holidays. Since then the regal robes have graced the figures of such colorful couples as Otto Soglo and Jane Froman, Kay Kyser and Ginny Sims, Roy Rogers and Vera Hruba Ralston, Perry Como and Jo Stafford, figure skating champions Dick Button and Yvonne Shermon, Ski jumper Art Devlin and Eileen Seigh, skating star of Howdy, Mr. Ice, Skitch Henderson and Faye Emerson, Buster Crabbe and Kitty Kallen, Don Cornell and Gloria DeHaven, Hayes Jenkins and Barbara Gratton, Kirk Douglas and Tenley Albright, Johnny Padres and Miss Rheingold 1956, Ernie Stautner and Carmel Quinn, Maria and Otto Jelinek, Donald Jackson and Carol Heiss, Jack Lescouli and Sandra Vitvitsky, Alex Webster and Susan Talbert, Richard Hayes and Carroll Jo Towers, Jacques Charland and Dody Goodman, Sergio Zardini and Carolyn Press, Dorothyann Nelson and Ed MacMahon, Lee Kurty and Ed Ames, and last year Joanne and Don Jackson.
Lake Placid is pleased to add the names of Bud Harrelson and Uschi Keszler to this imposing list of honorary monarchs to the occasion of this forty-second anniversary of her first King and Queen of Winter. They, like their predecessors, exemplify the spirit and the quality of entertainment, recreation and warm hospitality for which Lake Placid stands and to which everyone is accorded a most cordial welcome always. “
Enough of winter. The long, warm days of summer are before us and there is no shortage of ways to spend our time. We do hope you will join us on Saturday, July 14th for our annual Heritage Day fundraiser, a family-friendly event for the entire community. Until next month, enjoy Lake Placid, the surrounding communities and all our area has to offer.