Book review of Toller Cranston's Ice Cream: Thirty of the most interesting skaters in history

I noticed Toller Cranston's new book "Ice Cream" is on sale at my local bookstore (and probably everywhere else in Canada, too!) The only photo of Kurt in the book is a black-and-white photo of him from 1989 Worlds (he's wearing a black t-shirt). I must admit I was a little nervous to read the chapter about Kurt, knowing Toller's had mixed feelings about Kurt and his skating in the past, but here's Toller's $0.02 for those of you who can't find the book in your area (or who, like me, can't afford to pay $35.99 Canadian to buy it right now!):

After giving a brief biography of Kurt (his small-town Alberta background, his skating accomplishments, etc.), Toller refers to Kurt as a "magic mushroom" and compares him to former U.S. president Bill Clinton because he was able to succeed despite growing up in an unusual environment for a figure skater.

Toller first saw Kurt skate at 1987 Worlds and had never heard of him before then (he says he didn't follow the Canadian amateur skating scene at the time). During his commentary for CBC, he said both Kurt and Michael Slipchuk had somewhat immature skating styles, but still had great future potential (although Toller later said he had reservations about making that statement--he said it mainly to placate his Canadian viewers who sometimes felt he didn't give "our" skaters enough support).

Fortunately, Toller was more impressed when he saw Kurt skate a year later at the 1988 Olympics--an IMG agent (can't remember his name, but it wasn't anyone well-known in the skating world) asked Toller which up-and-coming young skater had the most potential and Toller said Kurt. But for some reason, that agent never approached Kurt (hmm, maybe that's *why* he's an unknown in the skating world--LOL!)

After Kurt won his first world title in 1989, Toller remarked it was rare for a skater to rise to the top so quickly (and compared him to Brian Orser, who took years to win his world title).

Toller said although Kurt wasn't the most consistent or disciplined skater in the world (at least compared to his main rival, Viktor Petrenko or his teammate Kristi Yamaguchi), but he was able to succeed because he knew how to deliver his best performance when he needed it most (ie. Worlds)...even though Toller questioned the results of 1990 and 1991 Worlds. He didn't out-and-out suggest Viktor deserved to win those events; he just implied the results could have easily gone the other way.

Toller recalls Kurt having pillow fights and other "teenage activity" in his hotel room with "a Canadian female pairs skater" (he didn't name the skater, though) the night before skating his 1991 Trophee Lalique LP and didn't think that was appropriate behavior just before a competition.

Toller also harshly criticized certain Canadian judges (again, he doesn't name any of the judges) for severely overmarking Kurt at 1991 Trophee Lalique, 1992 Olympics (the Canadian judge at that event placed Kurt second after the SP, despite him falling on his 3-axel), and 1992 Worlds, but these criticisms were aimed only towards the judges and not Kurt himself. Toller didn't like Kurt's orange tie-dyed 1992 Olympics SP costume either (he compared it to "a version of Scherazade gone bad!")

When SOI came to Edmonton in 1992, Kurt invited Toller and the rest of the cast to his house in Edmonton, which Toller compared to a "fraternity room" and thought Kurt and his roommates lived a "moderately out-of-control lifestyle."

After Kurt moved to Toronto to work with Louis Stong and Sandra Bezic, Toller didn't hear anything about him even though his rink was less than 15 minutes away from Kurt's! But Toller was *very* impressed with Kurt's "metamorphosis" at 1993 Worlds and felt the commentators at that event should have put more emphasis on Kurt's transformation. Even though many skaters were now landing more triples than Kurt, Toller thought Kurt was in a class by himself artistically.

Kurt called Toller shortly before flying to Lillehammer for the 1994 Olympics and told him he wasn't sure he had what it took to win the gold medal. Toller reassured Kurt and said of course, he did, but Toller had a bad feeling after that phone call.

Toller was in a departure lounge at the Halifax airport when he watched Kurt's 1994 Olympics SP and he felt everyone's disappointment when Kurt fell. It was the only thing everyone could talk about. Toller later suggested Kurt should try for a fifth world title to redeem himself, but, of course, that's not what Kurt wanted to do.

Kurt and Toller toured together during 1994 Canadian SOI and Toller said he never realized just how beloved Kurt is in Canada until he heard how hard the fans cheered for him night after night.

Toller has nothing but good things to say about Kurt's pro career and said his amateur career was just a small step towards something even greater. Those weren't Toller's exact words (which I wish I could remember--it was a great quote!) Toller also credited Sonia with a lot of the improvement Kurt has shown since turning pro. There's also a quote somewhere in the chapter about Kurt being secure enough in his masculinity to feel comfortable interpreting the more feminine side of skating (or something like that).

Oh yeah, Toller also never watched any of Kurt's TV specials because he was upset Kurt never invited him to perform in any of them (LOL!), but he did catch a glimpse of "Singin' In The Rain" and said, "All other male skaters should retire right now." (Again, probably not an exact quote, but very close!)

The chapter ends with a description of the trip Kurt and Sonia took to Toller's Mexican home for the "Ice Legends" special last winter. There was some intial apprehention about the trip on both sides (this was the first time Kurt and Toller had seen each other in quite some time), but things worked out in the end. The last paragraph describes the three of them riding horses together and Toller said he was honored to stand there with the two of them at that moment.

Phew, hope the first few less-than-complimentary paragraphs didn't stop any of you from reading the rest of this novel. The book really is worth reading to check out Toller's own words about these skaters--no matter what you think personally about him, you have to admit he's always honest and never dull! :-)

BTW, for those of you worried about him "neglecting" the "younger generation," the entire epilogue is devoted to the 2002 Olympics. In short, he thought S&P deserved to win (and considered filing complaints about judging results at his own events when the whole scandal broke out--LOL!), was unimpressed with the ice dancers' programs and with the men's event except for the top three (he had especially nice words to say about Alexei) and was impressed with Sarah Hughes' LP. Toller also had nice things to say about Michelle. :-)