1953 · Williams
Silver Skates
Indoor ice hockey rink seen from above the boards, pale blue-white ice with red and blue face-off circles, dense multicoloured crowd rendered as small dots behind a black band, wooden dasher boards and wire goal net at the right and dark netting and stanchions at the bottom left corner.
- Year
- 1953
- Maker
- Williams
- Type
- Electro-mechanical
- Display
- Backglass lights
- Players
- 1
Made by
- Design
- Harry Williams
- Art
- George Molentin
Vision analysis
On the backglass
Written by a machine from the photos, so details may be off.
Backglass
- red
- blue
- white
- yellow
Fingerprint: Two female ice-hockey skaters lunging over puck, blonde in red top and white shorts, red-haired in lime-green leotard with black harness straps, "SILVER SKATES" arched title yellow-orange with red shadow, nine colored signal-flag pennants, score windows 100-900, circular lamps, red-blue face-off circles, flat cartoon style
The single most memorable element is the giant arched 'SILVER SKATES' logo in blazing yellow-orange with a heavy red drop shadow, sweeping across a black crowd band. A nine-flag signal-light pennant string in alternating red, yellow, green, orange and blue hangs directly above it. Second is the foreground pair of female ice-hockey skaters — one blonde in red with a white skirt, one redhead in a lime-green leotard with black straps — lunging over a loose puck on scratched white ice. Third, the rainbow row of coloured score boxes from 100 to 900 with tiny circular lamps beneath each number. Fourth, the cropped red-haired player head at the very bottom edge, as if the viewer is standing in the crowd behind the glass.
Setting
- Indoor ice hockey rink seen from above the boards
- Pale blue-white ice with red and blue face-off circles
- Dense multicoloured crowd rendered as small dots behind a black band
- Wooden dasher boards and wire goal net at the right
- Dark netting and stanchions at the bottom left corner
Symbols
- Nine vertical signal pennants in alternating colours
- Black hockey puck on the ice
- Four wooden hockey sticks with taped blades
- Red and blue painted face-off circles
- Wire goal net and posts
- Small round lamps beneath each score number
- Arched stadium crowd band
- Protective netting and red stanchion at the lower left
Lettering
- Large arched display serif capitals in yellow-orange with a deep red drop shadow and black outline for the title; the signature word at the left is a slanted yellow italic script with a black outline; score numbers are plain white block digits on coloured rectangles; small panel text is condensed uppercase sans serif in white, yellow and green.
Themes
- Ice hockey
- Women's team sport
- Winter sports
- Skating
- Score panel
- Crowd
Title on it
- Silver skates
Text on it
- Williams
- SILVER SKATES
- 100
- 200
- 300
- 400
- 500
- 600
- 700
- 800
- 900
- TEAM 1
- TEAM 2
- TIME OUT
- GOAL SCORE
- 0
| Kind | Description |
|---|---|
| Woman | Foreground right, tall blonde woman with short wavy hair, red long-sleeved top with white collar, white shorts, red tights and red skates; crouched forward, mouth open, both hands on a wooden hockey stick with red-taped blade. |
| Woman | Foreground left, red-haired woman in a lime-green leotard with black shoulder and waist harness straps, black elbow pads, red gloves, white socks and skates; standing with legs apart, holding a yellow stick blade-down. |
| Woman | Mid-background left of centre, smaller figure in a red top and red trousers with a white stripe, black hair in a bun, crouched and skating left with a stick extended. |
| Woman | Mid-background right of centre, smaller figure with blonde hair in a yellow-green and green uniform, dark shorts, gliding with a stick held across her body. |
| Woman | Far background right, small figure in a red top with dark hair standing upright beside the wire goal net at the rink edge. |
| Other | Bottom centre, cropped at the frame edge: the back of a player's head with orange-red swept hair and a green top, seen from behind. |
A wide ice-hockey backglass painted in flat, clean cartoon colour with heavy black outlines. The lower two-thirds show a pale blue-white rink with red and blue painted face-off circles, scuffed white skate scratches and a dark blue dasher board edge at the bottom left. Six female skaters are drawn on the ice: nearest the viewer a tall blonde woman in a red long-sleeved top, white shorts and red leggings, leaning forward gripping a wooden stick with a red blade; to her left a red-haired woman in a lime-green leotard with black harness straps, black elbow pads and red gloves, stick held low across the ice; a puck sits between the two. Behind them three smaller skaters in red and yellow-green kits crouch and stride, and one more red-suited figure stands by a wire goal net at the right edge. Along the bottom centre, cut off by the frame, is the back of another player's head with orange-red hair in a green top. Across the top runs a yellow beam hung with nine vertical signal flags in red, yellow, cream, green, orange, blue and green, above a black strip of crowd figures and a row of coloured score windows numbered 100 to 900. The title is a huge arched serif logo in yellow-orange letters with a red drop shadow.