Belita in "Suspense" 1946 Part 2

Belita Jepson-Turner was a British ballerina, ice skater and actress. At the age of 12 she was selected to skate for Britain in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, and came 16th.
She was much admired by John Curry as being the first to incorporate classical ballet into skating - and had the same trouble as he did in getting the artistic style accepted in competitions. She was a rival to Sonia Henie, who was already an established star 11 years older, and was under the protection of a powerful film studio, 20th Century Fox. They used their considerable influence to further her career in films and competitions, whereas Belita had no such support.
There is no record that Belita and John Curry ever met, but it seems certain that they were in communication in some way. If they had formed a partnership, it would have been an exact parallel to Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn.

[@dickcor]

Belita didn't get the accolades she deserved as a skater, but what brilliant technique and balletic lines......breathtaking to behold. She was a true artist in every sense of the work.

[@Torontobears]

truly beautiful and an inspiration to many skaters from the golden age! Thanks for sharing this.

[@noirchild58]

I searched for ages to find this film. Belita was a beautiful and graceful skater and this little noir gem showcases her talent and her acting,too. No need for circus tricks and other 'enhancements'. She looked great jumping through that hoop of knives later in the film. The plot was engaging and presented many of my favorites -- Barry Sullivan, Albert Dekker, Eugene Pallette and Bonita Granville. Thanks for posting Suspense.

[@MatidaJane]

I loved Belita and have been asking people so they remember her but no one has ever heard of her. I saw her in movies when I was little.

[@belartful]

I was named after her! I never knew anyone else with that name!

[@rosemaryperez]

Lovely and graceful

[@Celluloidwatcher]

How glorious it is to witness the graceful finesse of a Belita. Sadly, film historians choose to remember the more technically inclined Sonja Henie, with her powerful spins and jumps, as the all-time figure skating queen of the movies. I'm captivated by Belita's beauty more than Henie's cuteness (which wasn't bad BTW). Also, Belita's acting surpassed Henie's by a country mile, so to speak. Thanks for posting.

[@McGravity1]

John Curry greatly admired her as the first to introduce classical ballet into ice skating.

[@McGravity1]

They both had difficulty being accepted by the crass public - and judges.

[@loopingonice]

She seems to be ahead of her time. Very avantgarde!

[@edwardjames50]

In addition to the magic of Belita, "Suspense" is a first-class, surreal film noir. It's availble on DVD, at long last, from the Warner Archive.

[@JohnCurry1]

Far better than those childish routines of Sonja Henie.

[@hdhdhhehe6709]

Makes Sonja look like the cheap trailer park trash that she is 😏

[@ВиллиКлаус]

Вот это да! Неожидал такого от 46 года!

[@curtisdalrymple42]

As much as I loved Sonja, I do not ever recall her doing jumps this difficult.

[@Ann12681]

Gorgeous

[@JohnCurry1]

John Curry said that even in his time, which was comparatively recent, judging in international competitions was very political. His teachers had to be very aware of this.

[@JohnCurry1]

What a pity that John Curry and Belita never got together, as she had retired when he won the Olympic gold medal. It would have been an exact parallel to Rudolph Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn.

[@Timzart7]

Belita was 11 years younger than Sonja Henie, and probably benefited from the transformation Sonja made in skating dress and athleticism, and the general popularity of skating. As a HUGE Sonja Henie fan, and looking at several clips of Belita, I can say Belita had a much better axel jump, a better Charlotte position, and was much more sophisticated in her artistry, ahead of her time, considering the years her films were made. Sonja's skating was very entertaining though, and not without athleticism and amazing feats for its time. She had a great cross foot spin, and a very fast sit spin and reverse sit spin. She did a couple double jumps later on in her pro career, I believe. But I never saw this on film. It was funny how Sonja kept doing a lot of her Sonja-isms for decades, like the toe runs which were so coquettish, but part of her shtick. When you think about it though, a lot of skaters have to keep doing their trademarks, like Denise Biellmann couldn't stop doing her Biellmann spin, even after she had some back problems as she got older. As a fan of figure skating who admired the style and abilities of Janet Lynn, it took me some time to adjust to Sonja's skating in movies to grasp the old style, attitude leg, and the rest, but I ended up loving Sonja's skating also. One attribute of her skating which made her different than other ladies and even some of the men, besides doing an axel jump at a time the salchow was considered daring for a woman, I think she was fast. I grew up in the 50s and 60s loving her movies. They could be a little kitsch, but Sonja's charm, and her sunny warmth shone throughout. Skaters told me she even entered the ice doing toe runs in practice. I had an older friend who did adagio pairs in Sonja's show, and skated with Sonja for about three years I think. And my first teacher in Europe competed against Sonja in the 1935 World Championships, where Sonja was first, and she was eighth, in a field of eight. She was thrilled to be in the same World Championships as Sonja. The friend, El, who had been in Sonja's show, showed me albums with photos and programs of all the shows she was in with Sonja, the blades that Sonja gave her (Sonja's worn out blades), the pieces of Sonja's costumes. I asked dozens of questions about Sonja, and my friend answered them all but I forget most of the answers. The first question I asked was did Sonja do double jumps. I forgot El's answer. Although it was clear Sonja was the star of the show, she was kind and generous to the skaters in her show, giving them other gifts too. I wanted to know if she was a mega-diva. She wasn't, to her friends. In business, Sonja was legendary as smart, shrewd, a shark, although she had such a sweet, innocent appearance. In person, she had a charisma that was famous in Hollywood. She radiated a genuine warmth and charm, and it made parties at her home famous. Hollywood was kind of fake then, too, but Sonja was not that way. In her first year of movie-making, when her first movie came out in 1936 (One in a Million), she negotiated a $500,000 one-year contract, and made millions in the next few years. As the years wore on, movie career over, her ice show had trouble financially at times. But born wealthy, and then marrying a multi-millionaire art collector, Sonja was always very wealthy. It has been decades since I read a biography of Sonja, but one bio in particular was known as the most comprehensive, complete with unflattering details. But I know Belita was mentioned in it and how Sonja wanted to shut her down, fearing that Belita would hurt her legacy, or in the beginning, become too popular. In another clip on KZbin, Belita (54 years old and looking back) mentions in an interview how Sonja's studio (Fox) offered her (Belita) a movie contract with the proviso that she not do any skating. Belita says something about being able to name her own figure for the contract, which is not really credible. Belita refused, because she wanted to continue skating, even if it was with a British movie company that had a tiny fraction of the power of 20th Century Fox. The box office of Sonja's movies was tremendous, and Sonja was second to Shirley Temple one year as the highest earner in Hollywood. It wasn't just about her skating in the movies, which was a novelty but delightful, and her acting wasn't even that great, I thought. But she had a very special quality. She was photogenic, looked radiant on film, projected a shyness and innocence, but underneath there was a "smouldering sensuality." I remember reading that phrase from her her bio and that was definitely it. That was the combination that made Sonja so good in film, in spite of her limited acting skills. Sonja was the opposite of Belita in many ways, usually sunny on screen and off, whereas Belita projected a haughty, cold image, and her budget B noir pictures were weird but intriguing, small cult films done by a tiny studio. Sonja's films were escapist, romantic fantasies at a time people wanted to escape. There was no symbolism to figure out. The ice sequences were fun and dazzling, if a bit corny as seen decades later. Again, for their time, they weren't. They were fresh and fun then. Her movies made you want to skate, or see skating. Watching them some 40 years after they were made, I enjoyed them thoroughly. Sonja didn't check her axel jump, but instead spun or turned out of it. She did things that were kind of cool and creative. She could stand up and sink into a sit spin, stand up, and go down again, over and over. She was strong and had a great spin center. According to a film magazine article on Belita, immediately following her retirement from skating in 1956, Belita declared: "I hated the ice. I hated the cold, the smell, everything about it. I only did it for the money." Belita also got $300 a crack for skating at the half-time of hockey games. She did ice theater, which was not unlike the style of show Curry later did, or Torvill and Dean. Belita did one film where she sang, even though she couldn't sing. John Curry was a great artist on the ice, and he and Cranston caused a revolution in men's skating. In a magazine article during Curry's time, he mentioned something after he won the Olympics and Worlds, about not wanting to join a show like Holiday on Ice, because he didn't want to follow an animal act, or be a part of a tawdry circus on ice. He had very high standards and principles in regard to what constituted art and what was cheap, flashy garbage. Well, starting skating lessons when I did, as an adult, it wasn't an option for me to compete, or join some high-art skating ensemble, even though I had some dance training, along with natural skating ability. I was just not nearly good enough. The show I ended up joining (HOI International) was a wonderful mixture of art, great music, and we even had dogs that played soccer with balloons. It was full of feathers, rhinestones, beautiful costumes, and was just entertaining for people, some glamour and fun in their everyday lives. The adagio pair in our show was beautiful. I grew up loving ballet and dance, reading literature, and I was a classical musician who went to Europe to study. I know beauty when I see it. But skating in the line of a show, damn, the money was terrible, and I was not even middle class, let alone rich. I was doing it for the international travel, the experience, and to keep skating. The idea that Curry rejected what I guess could have been a million dollar or half million dollar one-year contract to skate with Holiday on Ice International always struck me as outrageously snobby. He could have financed his whole arty ice show with a lot less trouble if he'd just done maybe 6 months with Holiday on Ice, and maybe even met a nice boyfriend that way too, although few of his lovers could tolerate him for long, because he was so mentally tortured. Holiday on Ice could have accommodated his desire to skate balletic numbers. It could have been a case of him not being offered a show contract though. But after the next Olympics, in 1980, Robin Cousins got a great contract with Holiday on Ice. And then he had enough money to do whatever he wanted, and he did more high-art things. A journalist friend got assigned to do an interview with Curry about his ensemble skating show, because she had done some sports writing for major publications, and she herself was a skater. She said John's way of speaking was so odd, she couldn't make an article about his disjointed ramblings.

[@JohnCurry1]

Henie's routines were childish and tasteless, with none of the balletic grace of Belita.

[@Mannock]

(Fox) used their considerable influence to further her career in films and competitions, whereas Belita had no such support. Belita also was with a poverty row studio, Monogram, who couldn't afford to support her too much. Plus, and it is a sad thing to say, Henie got everything she needed by "putting out". She was aggressive and was not above sleeping with anyone to get ahead. It seems that it was not the case with Belita.

[@belartful]

Today's skating "Tricksters" could learn something about the true beauty of figure skating..it's not all about the triples and Quads..

[@songbirdy]

Wow, with these comments about Henie, which was long ago, makes you wonder what is it about the competition of ice skating? Has it always been so cut throat? These remarks were made during the Harding-Kerrigan episode, how vicious it could get. Sounds like it always has been. I like Belita's style. She was like a ballet dancer, Henie was like a tap dancer. First time viewing them today. Just my observation. Plz don't attack! Haven't seen much yet!

[@Timzart7]

I agree with what you wrote. Ironically, Sonja took quite a lot of ballet for a youngster, and at one point even took some lessons with a famous Russian ballerina, Karsavina. For her time, Sonja was known for wanting to do all the athletic tricks the guys did on ice, and at the same time being balletic on ice. She was revolutionary in both respects. However, I agree, Belita was a lot more sophisticated in bringing ballet to the ice, because she had more extension and it just looks more like a good ballet dancer on ice. Belita was 11 years younger than Sonja, so literally took advantage of the pathway that Sonja Henie forged, such as creating the modern ice show, changing skating dress, and being a skater who appeared in movies. Belita did ice theater shows, which might have been a difficult thing to do at all, had it not been for Sonja setting the world on fire with a desire to skate and see skating, because of her popularity in the Olympics and her superstardom in movies. As wonderful as Belita's skating was, and she skated a long time just as Sonja did, Belita is a footnote in skating history. She was the film noir B-picture Sonja, who did not set the world on fire with her austere haughtiness, no matter how high-art it was compared to most of what Sonja did.

[@jjtruth3507]

Henie was world famous BEFORE she made any movies. Audiences broke through barricades & police lines to see her & they packed the stadiums where she skated. 10 world champ & 3 time Olympic champ Henie was box office magic & a complete artist. Belita got what she deserved the market place is right. Little girls wanted to skate like Sonja---not Belita the poor man's Henie. Greater skaters Cecelia Colledge & Vivi Ann Hulten were not given film careers though they were better skaters.

[@JohnCurry1]

Her routines were childish and appealed to the lowest level of intelligence

[@fredbloggs6080]

@@JohnCurry1 To paraphrase, no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the paying public.

[@annehancock6734]

Sorry I completely disagree JJ. In fact, when I compare the two skaters. I think Belita’s skating was much more graceful and beautiful than Sonjas.