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DAILY NEWS, EsRIDAY,_jAJTOXJST_801_1968_ |ce Show Slick At the Garden . (Reprinted from yesterday's late editions) The biggest show around I last night could be seen on j television coming from Chicago. The second biggest was at Madison Square Gar- I den, where Morris Chalfen's i "Holiday on Ice" began its | accustomed, late summer, I 19-day run. It was the first ice skating revue in the arena at Pennsylvania Plaza, and Chalfen and his pro- I duction staff should be pleased with their new surroundings. Everything in the show looks brighter and more cheerful here than in the drab, cold, vacated barn 16 blocks up Eighth Ave., and each number seems to play better. The general setup is more like a theater and less like a teni- porarily decorated hockey rink, and director Donn Arden made all the production numbers and specialty acts look as attractive and move with the fluency of the lavish Las Vegas and Latin Quarter revues for which he has become famous. His cast is beautifully costumed by Freddy Wittop. The scenery by Glenn Holse provides an appropriately ornate backdrop to the proceedings. Heading the cast once ag*|in is Ronnie Robertson, the Fred Astaire of the hard wateir stage. With him are a number of beauties who carry out their athletic balletics with feminine grace and I charm, some great clowns, a great family act (including three little kids) and a wonderful chimpanzee act. Among the beauties are Helga Valle (partnered with Jorge Valle), Alice Quessy, Grete Borgen, Anna Galmarini and Marei Langenbein. The clowns are Paul Andre, Johnny Leech and Little Lito; the family act is Cal, Dori, i Kim, Kris and Kelly Cook, and j the three chimps are handled by Werner Muller. ?╟÷Lee Silver f\J i?· CO J& PC THE RECORD, THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 1S6S s; One On The Aisle ?╟÷ ?√ß>_> u ^nie.ctacu IT NEW YORK ?╟÷ You've been told that once you've seen an ice show you've seen them all. Maybe so. But I'll give odds you've never seen one as spectacular as the latest edition of "Holiday on Ice" which premiered at Madison Square Garden last night. What costumes! Five (or are there more?) production numbers leave you stunned. Spectacular is a mild word to describe the glitter and shining gold of the 5-scene finale titled "Star Time" and which brings in all the screen stars, from the Mack Sennett bathing beauties and dome-capped cops, through the glamour gals of silent and talkie days, right up to the present Hollywood. Stunning as this one is, you can't forget the earlier first- half "Jungalcro" nor the "Hello New York," "Gates of Granada" or "Astaire Time." As many as 40 skaters take to the ice simultaneously in these flashy productions, the costuming, settings, and choreographic arrangement as breath-taking as their titles suggest. a Of course, with all this plendor, something has to ;vc ?╟÷ and unfortunately, it ms to this reviewer that oproach was too stylized, old and impersonal. There's something about ice . shows you've seen before that are unlike other entertainment and that something, when you spend a moment to think of it, is the friendly warmth that projects from the cold ice. And that's what is missing here. Oh, the skating is there ?╟÷ perhaps not quite like previous years, but the stars leave you breathless with their daring and skill. Who can top these spins of ice star Ronnie Robertson? And two new fern- . inine stars will win the hhearts of New York with their premiere performances here. They are little Anna Galmarini, the Italian champion, making her first ice show in a stunning debut, and lovely Marei Langenbein, the shapely German skating champ and motion picture starlet. The dimunitive Italian ' skater shines in that Jungle spectacular and as a lovely little clown while Miss Langcrbein gets her opportunity to stun as a ballet star in "Astaire Time," dancing with.Robertson, and as a Spanish beauty in that unbelievable Granada number. In addition to these stars, there's Alice Quessy, Grete Borgen, the Beckstrom twins, and many other lovelies, while Little Lito, Argentinian panto- rnimist, debuts among the male stars. Helga and Jorge Valle and Tommy Allen and Juanita Percelly are but a couple of the skating-dancing pairs, and the astounding Cook family grab big applause with an acrobatic turn that's hard to believe. "Hit The Deck" gives Paul Andre a chance to splash in a rusty comis bit ?╟÷and he's also in SKATING STARS ?╟÷ Lona and Bona Beckstrom, sisters from Minneapolis, have one of the featured acts in Holiday On Ice of 1969, which opened last night in New York. a really new and funny routine featuring Connie and Glyde and their fall-apart auto. One of the finer bits of comedy is the adagio that's broken up by a would-be photographer getting into the act. You'll love the Werner Muller chimpanzees. These amazing -little fellers (three of ?╟≤ them) actually go through a. hockey routine, jump, fences, and do all manner of acrobatics ?╟÷ all without being chained. The crowd was good?╟÷one of the largest at an. ice show opening in years. Maybe it was the fact that it was in the new Garden for the first time, ?╟≤but in any event a turnout of 12,000 was estimated. One gal fell in the opening production number of the second half but suffered only minor cuts and bruises when she tumbled on a spotlight on the ice-wall barrier. . Morris Chalfen produced this "Holiday on Ice", the 24th edition and fourth. under the Madison Square Garden wing. It was created, staged and directed by Donn Arden. Freddy Wittop, who did the costumes for "Hello Dolly", among other shows, designed the costumes for this, too. Ben Stabler directs and arranged the music; production is by John Finley. . " There should ?╟÷ and probably will be ?╟÷ better spotlighting, particularly when the stars do their solo bits. "HohV day on Ice" remains at the Garden through Sept. 15.