[Anthony Durrant]

The comedian Terry Head and his wife Gisela performed a routine at the 1980 Ice Capades called "The Artist and the Alien."  I was seven years old at the time and completely mesmerized.  As far as I can remember, the routine goes something like this:

1. The Artist (Terry) enters carrying the alien (Gisela).

2.  He stands the Alien on her feet.

3.  Then he reaches into her mouth to turn her on (?).

4.  The Alien raises her left arm over her head, and the Artist jumps for joy.

5.  He lowers the hand, and she lifts her right arm to shoulder level and topples over on the Artist, who mugs for the crowd.

6.  The Artist stands the Alien on her feet again.

7.  At some point, the Artist kisses the Alien, and she performs a dazzling figure skating routine(?).

8.  The Artist and the Alien leave the stage waving to the crowd(?).

I don't actually remember much about the routine itself, but photos in the 1980 Ice Capades program show that Gisela Head was a slim, well built woman with the build of a ballet dancer and the muscular legs of a long-term ice skater who was the spitting image of the actress Ursula Andress (best known for her Dr. No role), whose dress for the routine was a sequinned bikini and bra and a high hat shaped rougly like a skeletal funnel, also sequinned.  At the time, she and Terry had over forty years of experience in show business, putting them in their forties or fifties at the time, depending on when they started ice skating and comedy, respectively.

[Anthony Durrant]

Terry and Gisela Head have entries at the IMDB because they appeared in 1971 on a program called "The Ice Dancers."  Look for it!  The "Artist and the Alien" skit, though, was created especially for the Ice Capades.

[Anthony Durrant]

After some thought, I should like to try again to describe what I saw Terry and Gisela Head perform that night back in 1980:  As I recall it, Terry entered holding Gisela in his arms and pushing her along on her skates.  He may have had some spoken lines, but if he did, I no longer remember.  They were both facing the audience; Gisela raised her right arm and fell into Terry's arms (as can be seen by the picture in the program), as he mugged for the audience by opening his mouth wide open.  After he set her on her feet, he turned to the audience, and she did a delightful series of pirhouettes before returning to her standing position, raising her left arm, and falling into his arms again.  He set her back up on her feet, and then – if I am recalling this correctly – kissed her.  The kiss was what finally set Gisela in motion in front of him for the first time,
and I believe their act climaxed with a brief figure skating duet; it was called "The Artist and the Alien."

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