Skating Star Gloria Nord

Gloria Nord, who brought glamour to roller skating throughout the 1940s as star of the lavish touring show “Skating Vanities” and switched to blades in the 1950s to become queen of the ice in a series of spectacular skating productions at London’s Wembley Arena, died on December 30th in Mission Viejo, California. She was 87.

As a child in Los Angeles little Gloria Nordskog, daughter of opera singer and early recording industry pioneer Andrae Nordskog, trained to be a dancer and loved ice and roller skating. In her teens, and known as Gloria Nord, her blonde beauty and graceful star quality on a roller rink caught the eye of the publisher of Skating Review, a magazine for roller skaters. He signed Gloria and presented her in solo dance-style skating exhibition performances in rinks around the U.S. to promote his magazine. She later said she was criticised by other skaters at that time for expressively using her arms and incorporating ballet moves in her skating routines.

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- Tuesday, January 5, 2010

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