The Longest Running Publicity Stunt
 Barney met Sonja Henie for the first time in 1936 on the set of Thin Ice when he worked as a film reviewer. |
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What
has been called "the longest-running, open-ended, most enduring publicity
stunt of all time" was created by Barney Oldfield. In February 1941,
Barney was stationed at Fort Crook near Omaha. Olympic ice skater and
movie star Sonja Henie came to town with her ice show. The press agent
for the ice show called Barney to see if he could come up with some sort
of "stunt" to get Henie into the newspaper. Barney agreed,
provided that soldiers at Fort Crook be provided with two hundred free
tickets
to her show. |
Barney's
idea was simple enough. He carved a heart out of a block of ice which
would be presented to Sonja Henie. Barney rounded up a few soldiers from
Fort Crook who gave Henie the heart in her dressing room. |
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The heart,
which had been colored with a blue-green dye, started dripping all over
the floor. Henie tried in vain to autograph the heart with a heated nail.
In an attempt to make a graceful exit, Barney announced that they would
keep the heart for her until she returned to Omaha. Henie had a fight
with the Aksarben Arena Management and never did return. |
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An opportunity for yet another story arose in 2003 when Sonja Henie's valentine heart mysteriously disappeared from the Omaha Cold Storage Company. (Read the World Herald article.) |
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