Does If Pay To G
amble? If Did For Sonja. H
erne
Norwegian Champion Skater
Wins Coveted Film Place
With Appealing Feminity,
Unparalleled Graceful
Rhythm, Willingness
To Take Chance
Achieve Desire
By Linda Lane
it A PPEALING feminity playa an extremely
f important part in winning chamnion
ahips," declared Sonja Henie, youthful blond
beauty who haa won three Olympic Games and
ten world ice-skating championships in her 23
years.
And now this winsome Norwegian miss haa
brought her pert, appealing personality with
her to Hollywood, where she is making her
starring screen debut in "One In A Million,"
ice-skating musical at 20th Century-Fox.
Her personality, beauty and unparalleled
graceful rhythm on the ice caused Darryl F.
Zanuck to give the picture the biggest casting
of any musical in recent Hollywood history.
The imposing cast selected to support Sonja
Includes Adolphe Menjou, Jean Hersholt, Ned
Sparks, Don Ameche, the three comical Rita
Brothers, Arline Judge, Borrah Minevitch and
his big company of harmonica players, Dixie
Dunbar, Leah Ray, Shirley Deane, Montagu
Love and a band of 12 beautiful girls.
"I wanted to be a champion ice-skater when
I was a little girl," this newest screen "find"
confessed. "I practiced skating with the best
in my native Oslo and learned to do all the
figures perfectly.
"But I knew I had to learn much more. I had
to please. I wanted to so much and I would
practice every day by trying to make myself
agreeable. I don't know whether this helped or
not, but I know I got a great deal of pleasure
out of trying to please people. It was selfishness
in a way, I guess."
Her amazing record in the world of sport is
answer to how successful her philosophy haa
been. She has won more amateur championships
in ice-skating than any other person, male or
female, has ever won in any sport in all history.
SONJA had all of Hollywood's famous produc
ers clamoring at her door with their best
manners polished up for the occasion after in
troducing herself in the manner that has liter
ally won for her the plaudits of the world.
She gave an exhibition.
Having Just won her third Olympic Games
figure-skating championship and the world's title
for the tenth time, the beautiful Norwegian
wept into the screen capital looking for new
laurels from the Thespian world this time.
She rented the Polar Ice Palace In the heart
of the motion picture city, announced through
the press her Intentions, and from the time a
single spotlight outlined her small, white figure
on the frown rink aa she floated out on the ice,
she had the audience in the palm of her well
shaped hand.
And that audience, composed of the film world
great aa well aa news-boys and just mister aver
age cititen, paid enthusiastic homage to Sonja
by shouting for encore after encore.
The day after her exhibition, which she gave
with the avowed Intention of trying for a motion
picture contract, she had won the coveted audi
ence with Zanuck.
Both knew how to talk business, what they
wanted and it did not take long for them to
come to an agreement. Accompanied by her
mother, Mrs. Selma Henie, Sonja, who admits
now that ahe waa almost frightened to death
ven more frightened than when, aa a very
little girl, she timidly pushed herself out on
the lea for the first time in her life went Into
Zannck'f office for the conference.
' - - Sonja Henie and Don
f 'JSt jC' - ' V V rS V . Ameche, leading man in
A , ' yjLZpJf - - . ' -y 1 ' V 1 "One In A Million", Miss
l '. " (j Henie's f irst morion
To
1 X
o
v
The world's champion figure skater is pic
tured in her skating costume. She does sev
eral graceful dances on ice in her
' new musical.
AVERY short time after she had entered the
office, an excited and thrilled Sonja came
out bearing a newly signed long-term contract,
calling for two big pictures a year. No salary
was announced officially, but it has been vari
ously reported she would get from $125,000 to
300.000 a Aim.
Zanuck ordered a story written especially for
this new artist, whom he placed in the same
star category with Simone Simon, the French
actress who has made auch a sensation by her '
outstanding performance in "Girls' Dormitory"
and "Ladies In Love."
Mark Kelly, former sports writer, and Leon
ard Hraskina, well-known scenario writer, were
assigned to write a story specially for Sonja.
Lew Pollack and Sidney D. Mitchell, noted
song writers, were selected to compose a num
ber of melodies for the picture.
But the introduction of this lovely lady, who
skated her way into the hearta of the screen
world in one brief two-hour exhibition waa
years in the making years of hard, daily work.
From the first day of her life, Sonja'a experi
ences have been spectacular. Even her birth
was heralded by most unusual weather.
Spring had descended upon Oslo, after a hard,
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gripping winter. The mild warm spring winds
had melted the snow that had covered the
rocky, mountainous country. The ice that had
locked the beautiful Christiania Fjord also had
melted and again Oslo had an unimpaired
watercourse to the ocean.
Green sprigs of grass, called forth by the
warm gentle winds and the spring sun, discov
ered too late they had made a serious mistake
when a cold, biting wind whistled down from
the land of the midnight sun, destroying all new
vegetation in its path.
In the midst of the storm, a daughter waa
born to Selma Nilsen Henie, the wife of Wil
helm Henie, prominent and wealthy fur mer
chant of the capital of Norway. She was named
Sonja Henie (pronounced as in penny), at the
suggestion of an artist friend, Carl Johansen,
who waa given to euphonious words.
At first it may appear strange that Sonja
ever wanted to become an actress, but she
turned to the screen deliberately and after care
ful thought you see she already had won all
the medala the world of sport had to offer her.
THE theatrical world regards her as the great
est single attraction since the late great
Anna Pavlova, the dancer. Turning professional
last February, she haa earned a higher income
than any other athlete in the world. At a recent
exhibition in Madison Square Garden in New
York she drew 90,000 persons to her four shows.
A catalogue of her winnings reads like a vol
uminous sports history. When she waa 14 she
won the Norwegian ice-skating championship.
She also finished second to Hclina Jaloss of
Hungary for the World's championship in 1926,
the same year. Since then she has never been
defeated.
Another element that has accounted for Son
Js's miraculous success is her sporting blood.
After winning the Olympics for the third time
this year, she went to Paris to compete in her
last amateur contest before turning professional.
After Sonja went through the school or set
figures, demanded by the judges. Jack Dunn,
famous ice-skater and good friend of the young
Norwegian, laughingly offered to bet a pound
Sonja wouldn't dare include the flangeroua
cross-foot spin in her free figure skating a
number she had not done or practiced in three
or four years.
Sonja's eyes flashed aa she accepted the chal
lengea challenge that might mean the crum
bling of all her hopes, for she needed the cham
pionship to shatter all sport records too, a de
feat would mean her first
A mere pound sterling against all her life's
work !
Wearing a smile of defiance, Sonja flashed on
the rink when her turn came. She did several
difficult figures of her own creation, each a
little more haiardous than the last. Then she
circled, performing all the preliminaries of the
dangeroua cross-foot spin. Seasoned spectators
knew what she planned then. A quiet gripped
the crowd.
Without wavering, Sonja sped through the
hasardous figure, gracefully bowed to the judges
and left the rink amid thunderous'cheers. There
waa no question in anyone's mind who won.
Miss Henie and Director Sidney Lanfield
pose between scenes on her starring
ice-skating musical extravaganza.
Critics hailed Sonja's skating as more spectac
ular and outstanding than her championship
performance several days before at the Olympic
Games.
BUT few knew Sonja had risked everything
against a pound wager and won!
So it is no wonder that this beautiful 25-year-old
girl haa turned to a new world, seeking new
honors.
"Ever since I wtfs a little girl," she said, 'I
have wanted to be on the stage. First, I wanted
to be a ballet dancer and I studied dancing until
I waa 20 years old. Ice-skating is not alone a
sport. It la an art, too."
To be a dramatic actress now, she confessed,
Is her fon-iest hope. She has studied the drama,
aa well aa dancing, but she haa never appeared
aa an actress on the stage or before the
cameras.
Quite a contrast to the average mental pic
ture one has of the "cool, reserved Norwegian,"
Sonja sparklea with laughter. She has a very
impulsive way of talking, accompanying her
words with expressive gestures. Her eyes
twinkle. Her face is very expressive.
She speaks English very distinctly, but her
words have the rich flavor of a foreign accent.
She also speaks fluently French, German and
her own Norwegian.
Every night Sonja gets her ten hours of sleep
to keep in top condition, and she never eats just
before a performance because the food would
upset her enough to cause her skating to be
slightly imperfect she must be completely alert
and in control of every muscle and nerve in her
perfectly formed body. The danger in skating,
of course, ia from falls. No skater ia immune
from these, even Sonja, who once suffered a
sprained ankle. Many skaters have broken bonea
and suffered even worse hurts.
It probably would make much better reading
if one could write a lengthy, intricate descrip
tion of Sonja's diet, since she is in auch excel
lent health. The simple truth, however, is that V
the ice queen follows no diet. She eata what she f
pleases, but she eata regularly. She ia particu
larly fond of ice cream, often eating aa many aa
three different kinds at one meal.
While she was skating she never gave up her
dancing. When she was 18 she went to London
to study ballet dancing under the famous Rus
sian, Madame Karsavina. It was from her she
learned the famous Dying Swan dance, which
she translated to the ice in auch a spectacular
fashion in London that she won a command per
formance before King George and Queen Mary.
The Prince of Wales, now King, also attended.
SHE has appeared before royalty in every im
portant country of Europe. King Haakon
VII and Queen Maude of Norway have enter
tained her on numerous occasions. Whenever
Sonja makes an appearance, they always send
her a congratulatory telegram or cable and a
large bunch of red carnations as a striking con
trast to her all-white costume.
"Many dancers are actresses," ahe declared.
"They prepare for their acting career by danc
ing. I have done the same. I do not wish to ever
give up skating. It means too much to me, and
I believe it is aa beautiful and entertaining to
people as dancing. But now I want new experi
ences, to carry my career another step forward
by acting before the camera."
. A trifle su-e:stitious, Sonja acquired the old
American custom of carrying a rabbit's foot for
luck w'.'rn she first visited the United States
during the Olympic Games in 1932. She has car
rid the luck charm aver since, insisting on hav
ing it with her when she made her first motion
picture scene for "One In a Million." She said
it kept her from fleeing from the stage, as she
wanted to do when she first faced the camera.
With entrance into Hollywood, Sonja has ex
perienced romance for the first time. And those
who profess to know about such matters de
clare it's serious.
She met Tyrone Power, who has the romantic
lead in the million dollar historical costume
spectacle, "Llo-tis of London," when she visited
the film set. They liked one another from the
start Every day they are together, always din
ing together on the studio lot and seeing one
another practically every evening.
Never before had Sonja found time for rom
ance, but now that she's busier than ever before
in her life, ahe seems to And time for Tyrone.