Vest worn by Werner Groebli of the ice skating duo "Frick and "Frack": Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Red felt vest with white lining. There are fourteen, square metal decorations down the front of the vest along with two pockets. There is embroidery on the pockets, collar and the front button holes but there are no buttons present. The back of the vest has a house and a tree embroidered at the bottom. This is an original native costume design from Kanton Appenzell region where Groebli was originally from. This was worn by the donor, Werner Groebli, while performing as "Mr. Frick" in the Ice Follies, 1930-1960. He was one half of the famous duo "Frick and Frack" who skated in vaudeville shows during the 1930's and 1940's throughout America and Europe. They joined the original Ice Follies show in 1937 as comedy ice skaters. They skated in Alpine Lederhosen and performed eccentric tricks on ice, including the "cantilever spread-eagle", created by Groebli, and Mauch's "rubber legs", twisting and bending his legs while skating in a spread eagle position. Only a few skaters have successfully performed the duo's routines since.

Materials, dates and provenance

• user: Groebli, Werner
• Object Name: Vest
• Object Name: vest, ice skating
• Physical Description: fabric, felt (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall 3)
• Measurements: overall: 20 in x 21 in; 50.8 cm x 53.34 cm
• web subject: Sports
• web subject: Entertainment
• web subject: Vaudeville
• name of sport: Ice Skating
• level of sport: Professional
• ID Number: 2003.0302.02
• accession number: 2003.0302
• catalog number: 2003.0302.02
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.