Eva Pawlik

Eva Pawlik (4 October 1927 – 31 July 1983) was an Austrian figure skater, show star, actress and commentator. She was the 1948 Olympic silver medalist, the 1948 World silver medalist, and the 1949 European champion.

Eva Pawlik
Eva Pawlik starring in the Vienna Ice Revue
Born(1927-10-04)4 October 1927
Vienna, Austria
Died31 July 1983(1983-07-31) (aged 55)
Vienna, Austria
Figure skating career
Country Austria
Skating clubVienna Skating Club
Retired1949
Medal record
Representing  Austria
Ladies' Figure skating
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place1948 St. MoritzLadies' singles
World Championships
Silver medal – second place1948 DavosLadies' singles
European Championships
Gold medal – first place1949 MilanLadies' singles
Silver medal – second place1948 PragueLadies' singles

Early life

Born in 1927, Pawlik was regarded as a child prodigy, able to jump a single Axel and do a large number of spins at the age of four. Before World War II, she was considered an "exceptionally promising 9-year-old Viennese" figure skater in the United States.[1] In Europe, she starred in "The Fairy Tale Of The Steady Tin Soldier" together with World champion Felix Kaspar. This legendary vaudeville number was internationally highly successful, being performed in Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Munich, Bern, Amsterdam, Brussels, Lyon, Paris and London. Pawlik was called the "Shirley Temple on ice".[2] In her teens she would get up at 4 a.m. daily to run to the Vienna ice rink (Wiener Eislaufverein), for practice before going to school. Austrian skaters were impeded in the 1930s and 40s by the fact that there were no indoor skating halls and they were restricted to practicing in winter.

Nazi Germany's absorption of Austria in 1938 and World War II destroyed sportsmen's lives and careers. Pawlik, for example, was due to compete (aged 12) in the singles in the 1940 Winter Olympics, and in the pairs with her later husband Rudi Seeliger. However, they could only take part in domestic competitions, becoming German youth champions, both individually and as a pair team. In addition to that, they became the 1942 Austrian pairs champions (called Ostmark champions at that time due to the fact that Austria did not exist from 1938 to 1945). Drafted into the German Army, Rudi Seeliger was captured by the Red Army and returned to Austria in 1949.

Competitive career

Pawlik´s coaches included the 1914 World silver medalist Angela Hanka, World champion Gustav Hügel, Rudolf Kutzer and Edi Scholdan.

1948 season

In 1947, Pawlik was rated best European skater and second in the world. However, Austrian skaters were barred from entering European and World competitions at that time. In 1948 she won three silver medals; at the Europeans, at the Olympics and at Worlds. Pawlik entered the 1948 European Championships as the favorite. Nevertheless, she finished second to non-European Barbara Ann Scott from Canada. At the time, skaters from non-European countries could compete at the European Championships. In Sandra Stevenson's opinion, it was "not surprising that North Americans, whose skating activities had not been interrupted" during World War II, "should do well when the sport resumed in 1947. When Eva Pawlik of Austria unsuccessfully challenged Barbara Ann Scott in 1948 one reason given for her failure was that she skated with dirty boots and holes in her tights. The boots were so old that they no longer responded to cleaning and the holes were darned. It was the best she could manage with all the shortages in her country."[3]

In 1948, Pawlik performed in exhibition skating in the United States. She appeared together with U.S. Champion Gretchen Merrill in the Broadmoor Ice Revue, produced by Edi Scholdan in Colorado Springs. She was also asked to appear in a movie starring Gene Kelly.[4] He wanted to combine his dancing with her skating.[5] She declined, as turning professional would have excluded her from the 1949 championships.

1949 season

In 1949, despite suffering acute appendicitis, Pawlik beat her rival Aja Zanova in Milan to become European champion. In the World Championships held in Paris,[6] Pawlik was lying a close second behind Zanova when one of the heels on her skates broke.[7] Sabotage was suspected, but never proven. The judges did not allow her to continue with borrowed skates and Zanova went on to win. Though having good chances to win the World title one year later, Pawlik decided to turn professional because her parents needed financial support.[8][9][10]

Professional career

Pawlik joined the Vienna Ice Revue and performed a program that was considered by some journalists and figure skating experts to be technically and artistically slightly superior to the free skating of World champion Vrzáňová. Pawlik also played major parts in the productions of two movies featuring the Revue, Spring On The Ice (Frühling auf dem Eis), 1950, and Revue Of Dreams (Traumrevue), 1959. The first is said to have inspired the later double Olympic champion, Ludmilla Belousova, to take up skating.

In 1952, Robert Stolz dedicated his first ice operetta, Eternal Eve (Die ewige Eva), to Eva Pawlik. Morris Chalfen, the boss of the competitor enterprise Holiday On Ice, considered Pawlik Europe's best show star on the ice since the thrice Olympic champion Sonja Henie.[11][12][13] Additionally, Pawlik and Seeliger had become one of the world's best professional pair teams.[14][15] They left the Vienna Ice Revue in 1954 and starred in Hanns Thelen's Scala Eisrevue for some years. In 1958, they returned to the Vienna Ice Revue.[16][17]

Later life

In 1961, Pawlik retired from skating and became the first European and first female figure skater to become a TV figure skating commentator.[18] She commentated all European and World Championships in figure skating and the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games for the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF).[19][20][21][22]

In 1973, she began her third profession as a teacher of German and English at a Viennese secondary school (pupils from 10 to 18). In 1954, she earned her doctorate in German and English at the University of Vienna.[23] In 1979, Pawlik became severely ill and died in 1983, four months after her husband.

Legacy

The exhibition "The Vienna Ice Revue. Austria's ambassador of the past" took place at the Bezirksmuseum Wien-Meidling from January to March 2008.

Results

Ladies' singles
International
Event 1946 1947 1948 1949
Winter Olympics2nd
World Championships2ndWD
European Championships2nd1st
National
Austrian Championships1st1st1st1st
WD = Withdrew

Pairs with Seeliger
National
Event 1942
Austrian Championships1st

Filmography
Year Title Role
1937 Sunny Youth (Sonnige Jugend) Herself (actress and skater)
1950 Spring on Ice (Frühling auf dem Eis) Eva (actress and skater)
1959 Revue Of Dreams (Traumrevue) Ilona Karoly (actress and skater)
1962 Three Love Letters From The Tyrol (Drei Liebesbriefe aus Tirol) Skater

References
  1. The New York Times, December 13th, 1936 ("Women in Sports")
  2. Isabella Lechner, Wienerinnen, die lesen, sind gefährlich (Viennese women reading are dangerous"), Vienna 2012
  3. Sandra Stevenson, BBC book of skating, ISBN 0-563-20223-8, p. 43
  4. "Eva Pawlik and Rudi Seeliger" (detailed article by Susan D. Russel about Pawlik´s and Seeliger´s lives and careers), in: International Figure Skating Magazine, USA January/February 2009
  5. Rudolf Ulrich, Österreicher in Hollywood ("Austrians In Hollywood"). Zweite Auflage (2nd edition) 2004, page 605. ISBN 3-901932-29-1
  6. "EVA PAWLIK CHOICE FOR SKATING TITLE; Austrian Girl Is Expected to Take Honors Vacated by Barbara Ann Scott". The New York Times. 1949-01-21. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
  7. Figure skating: "Favored to win, Eva Pawlik was forced to withdraw", in: Life Magazine, 14.3.1949
  8. Kelli Lawrence, Skating On Air (2011) ISBN 978-0-7864-4608-7 pp. 22-23 Subchapter: Eva Pawlik - More Than An Overseas Footnote
  9. pirouette (Internationale Zeitschrift für Eissport und Rollsport) Ausgabe Juli/August 2007, Erinnerungen an Eva Pawlik (Memories of Eva Pawlik). pp. 37-38
  10. Eissport-Magazin Nr.7/2007, Eva Pawlik, eine der herausragendsten Eiskunstläuferinnen der Welt, würde am 4. Oktober 80 Jahre alt werden (Eva Pawlik, one of the world´s most outstanding figure skaters in the world, would celebrate her 80th birthday), pp 26 - 29
  11. "Eiskönigin erobert die Welt" ("Queen Of The Ice Takes The World"), in: Wiener Wochenausgabe, 29.1.1953
  12. "Im Spiegel des Tages" (A portrait of Eva Pawlik), in: Der Tagesspiegel 25.7.1961 (Berlin)
  13. "Die Revue der großen Eisläufer - Dr. Eva Pawlik: auch heute noch die beste Läuferin der Wiener Eisrevue" ("The Revue Of The Great Figure Skaters - Dr. Eva Pawlik: still the best skater of the Vienna Ice Revue"), in: Der Tag (Berlin), 10.11.1959
  14. "Olympic Champion Ernst Baier: Eva Pawlik are Rudi Seeliger are currently the best pair in the entire ice show business", in: Lübecker Nachrichten, 20.7.1956
  15. Bernhard Hachleitner/Isabella Lechner, "Dream Factory On The Ice. From the Vienna Ice Revue to Holiday on Ice". Subchapter Eva Pawlik and Rudi Seeliger, the Vienna Ice Revue´s dream team pp.148 ff. ISBN 978-3-99300-194-0
  16. "'Berliner Luft' und Wiener Eisrevue" ("Berlin´s Air And The Vienna Ice Revue"), in: Die Presse, 16.12.1958
  17. "Eva Pawlik wieder Sololäuferin" ("Eva Pawlik Performs As A Single Skater Again"), in: Neues Österreich, 10.8.1960
  18. The world´s first figure skater to be a figure skating commentator on TV was Dick Button. So Pawlik was Europe´s first figure skater to be a figure skater commentator on TV and the world´s first female figure skater to be a TV figure skating commentator.
  19. "Sie sagen Ihnen, wer siegt. Wir stellen TV- und Radiosprecher der Olympiade vor - Die einzige Frau unter zwölf Männern: Eva Pawlik, Europameisterin und Eisrevuestar" ("They tell you who is going to win. We introduce the sportscasters on TV and on the radio at the Olympic Games to you - The only woman among 12 men: Eva Pawlik, European Champion and ice revue star"), in: Das Kleine Blatt, January 1964
  20. Kelli Lawrence, Skating On Air, 2011, page 46, quoting Eva Pawlik´s commentary about Janet Lynn´s free program at the 1968 Olympics ("Her greatness is her style. Other young skaters may be technically brilliant as well. But it is the charisma they lack ...")
  21. "Sonderapplaus für Eva Pawlik" ("Special Clappings For Eva Pawlik"), in: Kronenzeitung, 5.2.1971
  22. "The Vienna Ice Revue and its greatest star Eva Pawlik" (article by Manuela Buyny), in: pirouette (Figure Skating Magazine of German speaking countries), issue July/August 2013
  23. "Degree No Barrier - Lady Doctor Skates To Fame - Dr. Eva Pawlik", in: New York World Telegram, 11.10.1960

Further reading
  • Eva Pawlik, Autobiographical article in: Als ich 19 war (When I was 19 years old). Jugend&Volk 1981
  • Roman Seeliger, Die Wiener Eisrevue. Ein verklungener Traum (The Vienna Ice Revue. A Dream That Has Faded Away). Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky 1993
  • Roman Seeliger, Die Wiener Eisrevue. Einst Botschafterin Österreichs - heute Legende (The Vienna Ice Revue. Austria´s Ambassador Of The Past - Today´s Legend). Bezirksmuseum Wien-Meidling, 2008
  • Ingrid Wendl, Eis mit Stil (Ice In A Proper Style). Jugend&Volk 1979
  • Ingrid Wendl, Mein großer Bogen (My Great Arch). Böhlau 2002
  • Isabella Lechner, Wienerinnen, die lesen, sind gefährlich (Viennese Women That Read Are Dangerous). Chapter "Eva Pawlik". Elisabeth Sandmann, Munich 2012
  • Isabella Lechner, Die Wiener Eisrevue (The Vienna Ice Revue). Diploma thesis, University of Vienna, 2008
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