Swanee Snow Bird

Ice skating is one of the few sports at which Negroes have not already equaled or surpassed white athletes. But this year a 19-year-old Harlem girl has turned up to skate figure eights around all but the top white performers.

Mabel Fairbanks is no carbon copy of Sonja Henie or Maribel Vinson. But experts rate her superior to most white amateurs and unquestionably the best skater of her race. Shy, timid and coal-black, she tried on her first pair of skates less than four years ago. Within six months she was mastering spirals, sit-down spins and stops —figures that spill many a veteran. A manager took Mabel in tow, dubbed her "The Swanee Snow Bird" because she was born in Florida, booked her at a scattering of Manhattan rinks. She learned how to dance on ice, how to skate, spin and jump on a rink six feet square.

Producers who might be impressed draw the color line. Most of Mabel's public performances have been before astonished passers-by who line Rockefeller Center's outdoor rink, where she occasionally practices. Negro audiences, however, will soon see her in full feather. Mabel Fairbanks last week signed up to skate and star in a full-length, Harlem-financed movie with an all-Negro cast, Sepia Cinderella.