Eddie Shipstad; Co-Founder of the Ice Follies

Eddie Shipstad, who co-founded the legendary Ice Follies 62 years ago and transformed it from a small troupe that barnstormed the country on a bus into a multimillion-dollar entertainment business, has died. He was 91.

Shipstad died at home last week after a long illness, his brother, George Shipstad, said Monday.

Eddie Shipstad grew up in St. Paul, Minn., skating on the frozen lakes and ponds. He and a childhood friend, Oscar Johnson, practiced daring stunts that drew crowds so large that police worried they would break through the ice.

Shipstad, his brother Roy and Johnson soon began presenting halftime shows for St. Paul’s professional hockey team, the Saints. They spent five seasons in New York performing at Rangers games in Madison Square Garden.

In 1936, the three men created the Ice Follies, the world’s first traveling ice show, which started out with a group of young skaters and a bus. Eddie Shipstad performed as a skating clown. The first show, in Tulsa, Okla., drew fewer audience members than skaters.

Eddie Shipstad peeked through the curtains and quipped to his partners: “Don’t worry. We’ve got ‘em outnumbered.”

In the early days, a live orchestra played classical and show music from a platform above the ice as the skaters entertained the audience with a melange of humor, artistry and some of the hot-dog maneuvers of Shipstad’s youth. The Shipstads and Johnson Ice Follies soon grew into a successful entertainment business.

“My brother wanted it to be a good, clean family show,” recalled George Shipstad, 84, the youngest and only surviving of the nine Shipstad siblings.

Eddie Shipstad moved his family to Southern California in 1939, and with his partners established production offices for the Follies.

The show also held its premieres in Los Angeles and worked with movie studios to get stars to attend.

Shipstad co-owned the show for more than 30 years and the Ice Follies played to more than 57 million people.

In 1963, after 27 years, the partners sold their interest in the show to a Fresno-based media company, with Shipstad serving as a producer. Four years later, he retired at the age of 60.

Shipstad is survived by his three sons, Eddie, Bob and Don; his brother, George; nine grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

A Rosary and funeral Mass for Shipstad will be said at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Martin of Tours Church in Brentwood.