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6 Part ll-Sat., Jan. 4,1969 ?·0$ %mtk# <Ettntg * Holiday on Ice' Opens at the Forum BY MARGARET HARFORD Times Staff Writer "Holiday On Ice," like the Ice Follies and the Ice Capades, is not a show that changes radically from year to year. It sticks to the proven formula: Glossy production numbers, some good comedy skaters, several graceful pair skaters and squads of skating chorus boys and girls, all rather self-consciously Show Biz. But the old magic worked again Thursday night when the big ice show which originates in New York's Madison Square Garden stopped off at Inglewood's Forum for a post-holiday visit through Jan. 12. Opening night, a benefit for the Boys' Clubs of Southern California, brought out the usual delegation of Hollywood celebrities. Among them: Gypsy Rose Lee, Glenn Ford, Ann Miller, Deborah Wal- ley, Paul Lynde, Jack Oakie and Jo Anne Wor- ley. The autograph hounds and the photographers went crazy. Human Top Ronnie Robertson, the human top, stars in this frozen caper, appearing, as befits a star, in the show's three most lavish numbers. There he is?╟÷Mr. Top Hat in "Astaire Time," the Prince of La Mancha in "The Gates of Granada" and Mr. Hollywood in the show's glittery tribute to "the marquee favorites of all time" that goes way back to Pearl White and the "Perils of Pauline." "Holiday on Ice" has other blessings, for one thing, no announcer to herald each number in stentorian tones and, for another, none of those coy kiddie numbers traditionally beloved by rink extravaganzas. To counteract the latter, "Holiday on Ice" has the Cook Family, Mama, Papa and Kim, Kris and Kelly, done up in emerald green as "Harrigan's Hooligans" and doing some pretty fair skating, especially tiny Miss Kim Cook. Another family lure, "Banana Brigade," features Werner Muller and his Chummy Chimps. Those chimps galumphing around on skates are the 'HOLIDAY ON ICE' This 24th edition presented by Morris Chalfen, created, staged and directed by Donn Arden, costumes by Freddy Wittop, scenery by Glenn Holse, lighting by Dorothy Morris with John Finlev, production director and Ben Stabler, musical director and arranger. Presented nightly with matinees at the Forum in Inglewood through Jan. 12. show's real clowns although Paul Andre and Johnny Leech generate fun in a Bonnie and Clyde turn called "Calling All Cars!" Andre and Leech turn up later sloshing each other with buckets of water in a nautical routine, the kind you've seen a hundred times but still gets laughs. Distaff Skaters Anna Galmarini, Grete Borgen, Marei Langenbein, Helga Valle and Alice Quessy are among the top distaff skaters; Alfredo Mendoza and Da- ' rolyn Prior make a stunning adagio pair in a routine that features a "p h o tographer" planted rinkside (audience plants are as standard as props in ice shows) and Tommy Allen and Juanita Percelly are another graceful skating duo. The real pro of the evening is Donn Arden who demonstrates once again that he is a creative showman. This season Arden is filled with nostalgia about New York in the bygone era of Lillian Russell, Diamond Jim Brady and Rector's and Hollywood from the silents to the glamorous '40s. It's all done up in Freddy Wit- top's beautiful costumes, a la the Lido shows in Las Vegas,and Paris.