Two months after she turned professional, Miss Henie had earned $150,000. Since that time she has become probably the highest paid woman entertainer in the world. She has received $125,000 for each of three pictures.

Mae West, the curvatured "come 'n up 'n see me sometime" girl, is reputed to be earning $480,000 in 1937. Miss Henie is far above that figure with her picture contracts, personal appearances and royalties.

Surely, this little Norwegian, who weighs 110 pounds and stands five feet three inches tall, is literally worth her weight in gold - to herself, because she is not married.

"One in a Million" was Miss Henie's first film success. It packed theaters all over the country, even without the aid of "Bank Night." It gave her a "Four-Star" rating and an assured future in pictures.

"Thin Ice" was the next film. That topped even "One in a Million." Now, Miss Henie soars to even greater celluloid success in "Happy Landing," which is just being released by Fox Films.

Miss Henie's success in pictures has been most remarkable. That her matchless skating would be a sensation to the millions of Americans who had never seen her on steel blades was not doubted by anyone connected with skating or the picture industry. But that the Norwegian girl should handle the English language so skillfully and would prove such a capable little actress was more than Twentieth Century-Fox Films even had anticipated.

"We knew that she was a great athlete and had achieved world fame in her specialty," said one executive of the film corporation, "and we knew that those two features would put over her first picture. But in our original plans Sonja Henie was no more than a 'one-time' skating novelty."

"One in a Million" was completely filmed and executives of the company assembled for a preview. Before the evening was over Miss Henie had signed a contract for her second picture, "Thin Ice."

There have been other great figure skating champions in past history - fine athletes in the competitive field - who have turned professional and after a few appearances passed completely out of the limelight. Miss Henie is different.

[Miss Henie] made the transition from amateur competitive skating to professional exhibition skating in one great Paulsean leap and her fame and value as an athlete, entertainer and artist continue to mount.

The reason is simple. Sonja Henie is more than merely a finished skater who can do all the rockers, edges, spins, leaps, whirls and figures of competition. She has the matchless grace of a Pavlova. In grace, rhythm, poise, youth, personality and color, she combines all of the requirements of perfect showmanship and she blends them into the perfectly coordinated talents of a great artist.


This article, entitled "World Has Produced Only One Sonja Henie," is reproduced here in its entirety. It appeared in the 1938 Hollywood Ice Revue program with no credit for authorship.