
Frick and Frack were a comedic ice skating duo of
Swiss
Swiss most commonly refers to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Swiss may also refer to: Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
* Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
* Swiss Café, an old café located ...
skaters who went to the United States in 1937 and joined the original
Ice Follies
The Ice Follies, formerly known as the Shipstads & Johnson Ice Follies, is a touring ice show featuring elaborate production numbers, similar in concept to Ice Capades. It was founded in 1936 by Eddie and Roy Shipstad and Oscar Johnson. In later ...
show. "Frick" was Werner Groebli (21 April 1915 – 14 April 2008), born in
Basel
Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
. "Frack" was Hans Rudolf "Hansruedi" Mauch (2 May 1919 – 4 June 1979), also born in Basel. Frick and Frack were known for often skating in Alpine ''
Lederhosen
The term Lederhosen (; , singular in German usage: ''Lederhose'', ; lit. "Leather Pants") is used in English to refer specifically to the traditional leather breeches worn by men in Southern Germany (specifically in Bavaria and Swabia), Austr ...
'' while performing 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.
Michael Mauch, the son of Hans, described the origin of their names: "Frick took his name from
a small village in Switzerland;
''Frack'' is a
Swiss-German word for a
frock coat
A frock coat is a formal wear, formal men's coat (clothing), coat characterised by a knee-length skirt cut all around the base just above the knee, popular during the Victorian era, Victorian and Edwardian era, Edwardian periods (1830s–1910s). ...
, which my father used to wear in the early days of their skating act. They put the words together as a typical Swiss joke."
History
Frick and Frack found fame with the
Ice Follies
The Ice Follies, formerly known as the Shipstads & Johnson Ice Follies, is a touring ice show featuring elaborate production numbers, similar in concept to Ice Capades. It was founded in 1936 by Eddie and Roy Shipstad and Oscar Johnson. In later ...
, a revue promoted by Eddie Shipstad and his brother Roy, which began in 1936 and ran for almost 50 years. They also reached a worldwide audience when they began appearing in films, including the
Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios i ...
production ''
Lady, Let's Dance
''Lady, Let's Dance'' is a 1944 black-and-white film directed by Frank Woodruff that was nominated for two Oscars. Produced by Monogram Studios, the film is unique as an ice skating musical.
''Lady, Let's Dance'' stars ice skater Belita as hers ...
'' in
1944
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 2 – WWII:
** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...
. Their association lasted so long, and they were at one time so well known, that their names became a household term in many languages.
Frick and Frack skated in the Ice Follies for many years until Hans Mauch (Frack) contracted
osteomyelitis
Osteomyelitis (OM) is the infectious inflammation of bone marrow. Symptoms may include pain in a specific bone with overlying redness, fever, and weakness. The feet, spine, and hips are the most commonly involved bones in adults.
The cause is ...
. He retired in 1953, and died on 4 June 1979 in
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...
, at the age of 60. He had been married to Mary M. Elchlepp of
Minneapolis
Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
, one of the original Ice Folliettes.
Performing well into his late years, Werner Groebli continued on as "Mr. Frick" until an accident forced him to retire in 1980. He appeared as a contestant on TV's
original ''Match Game'' on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
in the 1960s. Groebli lived in the
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...
, area for over 10 years until the death of his wife, the former Yvonne Baumgartner, in 2002. He was featured on a PBS TV special in 1999.
Groebli died on 14 April 2008 in
Zürich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
at the age of 92. David Thomas, one of his skating partners after Mauch retired, announced his death from complications after breaking a leg at a nursing home outside of Zürich.
[Werner Groebli, Ice Skating's Frick, Dies at 92]
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', April 23, 2008. Accessed April 23, 2008.
In popular culture
"Frick and Frack" has become an English
slang
A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...
term used to refer to two people so closely associated as to be indistinguishable.
[World Wide Words: Frick and Frack](_blank)
/ref> Comic radio mechanics Tom and Ray Magliozzi
Thomas Louis Magliozzi (June 28, 1937 – November 3, 2014) and his brother Raymond Francis Magliozzi (born March 30, 1949) were the co-hosts of NPR's weekly radio show ''Car Talk'', where they were known as "Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothe ...
performed for years under the name Click and Clack
''Car Talk'' is a metonym for the humorous work of "Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers", Tom and Ray Magliozzi, on automobile repair. Originally, ''Car Talk'' was a radio show that ran on National Public Radio (NPR) from 1977 until Octobe ...
.
In the TV Series ''Blue Bloods,'' Detective Danny Reagan, when interrogating pairs of male suspects who were easily caught, intimidates them by calling them Frick and Frack, implying that they are fools to be caught and there is plenty of evidence of their crimes due to their stupidity.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1595859/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_7_nm_1_in_0_q_blue%2520bl]
References
External links
*
Werner Groebli Interview (“Mr. Frick”)
* {{YouTube, qJZ20-3WJD4, Frick and Frack
Swiss comedy duos
Theatre characters introduced in 1936
Comedy theatre characters
Comedy film characters
Fictional Swiss people
People from Basel-Stadt
Swiss figure skaters