How This Started

A brief glimpse of a mention of an iceboat movie, shared by a University of Wisconsin–affiliated Facebook account, sent me down the rabbit hole again. The link vanished almost immediately, but the fragment was enough to send me looking.

The Varsity Movie

The program belonged to a University of Wisconsin student silent film titled The Varsity Movie: “Not Responsible.” It was produced by the Edward Booth Dramatic Club and screened publicly in Madison theaters. It was shot on location around Madison, involved dozens of students and faculty, and was promoted at the time as something new. Link to program.

An Iceboat at the Center of the Story

What caught my attention was the plot.

YELLOW KID

According to multiple 1921 newspaper articles and the program text itself, a central element of the story is an iceboat race. When the male lead is unable to compete, the female lead takes his place, sails the race, and wins.

They did not have to search far for iceboats. William Bernard’s Lake Mendota iceboat rentals were a short walk from campus. The program indicates that filming used two Bernard stern steerers, PROM QUEEN and the better-known YELLOW KID.

Looking through the iceboat.org archives, YELLOW KID appears repeatedly, including in accounts of a race against an automobile. I have not been able to find an independent record of PROM QUEEN. It may have been renamed for the film, or it may have been a lesser-documented Bernard yacht.

What Survives and What Does Not

At that point, the question stopped being whether this was a serious production and became something else. Where does this sit in the history of iceboats on film?

Only paper appears to survive from the UW film. The program, cast lists, production credits, reviews, and newspaper coverage all exist. So far, no film elements have surfaced. I have contacted the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research to determine whether anything survives off catalog.

Even if the film itself is lost, the documentation is clear enough to establish that iceboat racing was used as a narrative device in a motion picture by 1921.

Looking for the Earliest Iceboat on Film

That discovery led to a larger question. What is the earliest filmed iceboating we can actually identify?

Rather than start from scratch, I reached out to iceboat historian and sailmaker Henry Bossett. He pointed me to an Edison actuality titled Ice-Boat Racing at Redbank, N.J., filmed in 1904.

This makes historical sense. By 1904, the Edison Manufacturing Company was actively producing short actuality films, with operations based in West Orange, New Jersey. Red Bank was nearby, and the region was a well-established center of ice yachting.

That Edison film now appears to be the earliest documented motion picture depiction of ice yachting that we can identify with confidence, at least in North America. Link to video.

Narrative Versus Actuality

Seen in that context, the UW film occupies a different and still important place because it may represent the earliest known narrative use of iceboat racing in a motion picture.

Henry also reminded me of a later silent feature, Fascinating Youth from 1926, which is sometimes mentioned in discussions of early youth or collegiate films. Fascinating Youth is a full Hollywood studio production, filled with established stars and directed by Sam Wood. There is no personnel or production connection to the UW film.

Thematically, it belongs to a popular 1920s genre of college stories, not to the experimental, institutionally supported student filmmaking seen at UW in 1921.

Why the UW Film Still Matters

The UW film appears to have been exactly what it looks like. A serious student production, endorsed by faculty, ambitious in scope, and willing to put people and equipment out on winter ice to get the shots.

One participant was Carl Russell Fish, a nationally known historian and senior faculty member. His involvement underscores that this was not treated as a joke or a stunt.

So Far, the Picture Looks Like This

In 1904, iceboat racing is filmed as actuality by Edison. By 1921, iceboat racing is embedded in a narrative student film in Madison. By the mid 1930s, Wisconsin ice regattas are being filmed for international newsreels with clear terminology and context.

The UW film tells us that iceboating was visually compelling, culturally familiar, and narratively useful far earlier than most people assume.