Million Dollar Mermaid - Official Trailer (1952) - YouTube Million Dollar Mermaid - Official Trailer (1952) Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on May 13, 2011 Million Dollar Mermaid (also known as The One Piece Bathing Suit - UK) is a 1952 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer biographical musical film of the life of Australian swimming star Annette Kellerman. George J. Folsey received a 1953 Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography. "Million Dollar Mermaid" not only became Esther Williams' nickname around Hollywood, but it became the title of her autobiography (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999), co-written with Digby Diehl. Williams has often called this her favorite film.

Category Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) - IMDb IMDb 17 January 2017 4:34 PM, UTC NEWS There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error Biopic of Australian swimming champ and entertainer Annette Kellerman. After overcoming polio, Kellerman achieves fame and creates a scandal when her one-piece bathing suit is considered indecent. Director: Famous Directors: From Sundance to Prominence From Christopher Nolan to Quentin Tarantino and every Coen brother in between, many of today's most popular directors got their start at the Sundance Film Festival . Here's a list of some of the biggest names to go from Sundance to Hollywood prominence.

a list of 35 titles created 07 Aug 2012 a list of 42 titles created 14 Feb 2014 a list of 46 titles created 02 Jun 2014 a list of 31 titles created 11 months ago a list of 43 titles created 4 months ago Title: Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) 6.6/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 nomination. See more awards » Photos A swimsuit fashion designer is determined to protect her scatterbrained sister from a South American heart-breaker, but a case of mistaken identity complicates matters. Director: Edward Buzzell A contrived misunderstanding leads to the breakup of a songwriter and his fiancée. She returns to work as a gym teacher at an all-girls school, but a legal loophole allows the man to enroll as one of her students. Director: George Sidney A swim teacher and a wealthy businessman are married after a brief courtship.

A charming war hero falls in love with this newly-married woman, after her husband abandons her on their honeymoon for the sake of a business meeting. Director: Richard Thorpe An Aquatic performer tries to attract the man she loves. Director: Charles Walters While shooting on location in the South Pacific, a movie star is pursued by a handsome Naval officer who is convinced she is the girl for him. Director: Richard Thorpe A young woman enters a contest to be the first to swim the English Channel. Director: Charles Walters A man from Ohio inherits a coconut plantation and falls in love with a half-American, half-Tahitian beauty. Song-and-swim musical ensues in the tropical paradise. Director: Robert Alton The Wolves baseball team gets steamed when they find they've been inherited by one K.C. Higgins, a suspected "fathead" who intends to take an active interest in running the team. But K.C. ... See full summary » Director: Busby Berkeley When a matador leaves town to focus on his music, his twin sister takes on his identity in the bullfighting ring.

Director: Richard Thorpe A Scottish knight in France to facilitate a marriage between a rich and beautiful countess and his aging uncle becomes involved in court intrigue. Director: Richard Thorpe A multimillionaire decides to boycott "filthy" forms of entertainment such as Broadway shows. Directors: Ray Enright, Busby Berkeley Stars: Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler Screwball comedy has wealthy mystery writer Paula Bradford using her doctor ex-husband's non-payment of alimony to coerce him into a reconciliation. Director: Stephen Roberts Edit Storyline Million Dollar Mermaid tells the story of Australian swimming sensation Annette Kellerman, who overcame childhood polio to go on and achieve fame as a professional swimmer and film star in the early decades of the 20th century. At the same time, she scandalized the world by wearing a one-piece bathing suit on public beaches long before the style was accepted in polite company, and made waves in other ways as well. The story was a perfect vehicle decades later to showcase the star quality of Esther Williams in the 1950s, and Kellerman's moniker was picked up by Life Magazine when it named Ms. Williams the "Million Dollar Mermaid" herself.

Written by Tedosan Inspired by the true story of bathing beauties! (Million Dollar Mermaid) See more » Genres: 13 March 1953 (Australia) See more » Also Known As: A Rainha do Mar See more » Filming Locations: Considered by many to be one of the best examples of Technicolor cinematography. See more » Goofs Annette Kellerman (Esther Williams) tells the judge that her swimsuit "will cover the entire body except the *forearms* and the head." However, the swimsuit she exhibits in court and which she wears in the following scenes does not cover *any part of her arms*. See more » Connections (United States) – See all my reviews as has been stated, this movie definitely is not a good biography, but this is Hollywood. in truth Annette really was put on trial for her scandalous suit, though i wouldn't say she did it to be sexy. she did to be practical. and can you blame her?

still, the water ballets are lovely, and they are especially special since the actress was a real synchronized swimmer who did it all herself, like how johnny Weissmuller does all of Tarzan's's water stuff(and everything else). parts are humorous, others not, but if you are looking for a classic this is a classic that most people don't know about. it is worth it to see a new classic, with that old charm. and, as has been said, the swimming scenes were fabulous. and the beginning, when Annette is a little girl, can just make you practically cry. when you come across stories such as these, it can be rather hard to pass them by. 8 of 12 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) – The Blonde at the Film • ( 21 Comments ) Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) This is my contribution to the Classic Movie Blog Association’s Fabulous Films of the 50s Blogathon which runs May 22-26. I’m thrilled to be participating, and it’s been great to read all the wonderful entries! Check them out here .

My fabulous film of the 50s is Million Dollar Mermaid starring Esther Williams as real-life Australian swimming star Annette Kellerman. Million Dollar Mermaid has a very interesting production history and some of the most spectacular swimming numbers you’ll see in any of Williams’ films. It’s extra-fascinating because it’s a biopic of a woman who essentially paved the way for the existence of “Esther Williams’ movies.” via: Unless otherwise noted, all images are my own. As an added bonus, Williams’ daughter, Susan, was kind enough to talk to me about this movie. She gave me great insights into Dangerous When Wet , so it was a pleasure to get her take on this film, too! Be sure to check out the official Esther Williams website ! Now for a bit of background. Annette Kellerman was born in 1886 to musician parents. Little Annette had a weakness in her legs which necessitated the use of metal braces. Her mom and dad made the fateful decision to enroll Annette in swimming classes to help strengthen her legs; this exercise helped so much that her limbs were “normal” by age thirteen. But swimming became more than just physical therapy.

By age fifteen, Annette was swimming competitively and giving diving exhibitions. At sixteen, Annette got serious. She set records in the 100 yard and mile swims, and turned her talents to entertainment. She started performing “mermaid” acts swimming in tanks, and wowed crowds with high diving displays. She continued her competitive swimming and became famous for long-distance feats. Soon she was an international star performing water ballets (and basically inventing synchronized swimming), at the New York Hippodrome with its huge glass tank, challenging swimsuit norms in her “one-piece suit” when women still wore bloomers and long-sleeve dresses, and appearing in films in the teens and twenties. Very few of her movies still exist, unfortunately, but you can watch clips here and here . Like most biopics from Hollywood’s Golden Age, Million Dollar Mermaid is, well, quite liberal with the facts of Kellerman’s life, but it gets the essentials right. Usually. Who could play Kellerman in a movie? No one but Esther Williams, of course! Williams was thrilled to make this movie.

She wrote in her autobiography The Million Dollar Mermaid that “For once, swimming was really part of the story and didn’t have to be shoehorned into the rest of the plot. I loved the idea of playing Annette Kellerman, a real person, rather than a superficial character created to give me an excuse to swim” (213). Fun fact: Annette Kellerman visited the set of this film and met with Esther Williams. Williams asked Kellerman what she thought about Williams playing her in the movie, and Kellerman’s only answer was that she wished that Williams was Australian. Williams answered, “I’m the only swimmer in the movies, Miss Kellerman. I’m all you’ve got.” (The Million Dollar Mermaid 214). And it was very true! Victor Mature (perhaps best known for his “loincloth” roles in Biblical epics of the 1950s) plays Kellerman’s manager, American Jimmy Sullivan, and Walter Pidgeon is Kellerman’s father. Mervyn LeRoy directs, and Busby Berkeley was in charge of the water ballets (he also directed the water extravaganzas in Easy to Love ).

To the film! We open with young Annette ( Donna Corcoran , who plays Williams’ youngest sister in Dangerous When Wet ) watching a ballet class on the grounds of her father’s conservatory in Sydney. (For some reason, this movie completely erases Annette’s mother from the story. Also, no one even attempts an Australian accent. Pidgeon and Williams sound exactly as they always do.) The camera pulls back to reveal stout steel braces on Annette’s legs, and her wistful gaze at the other little girls frolicking on the lawn becomes more poignant. But Annette has a secret: she’s taught herself to swim! Her father finds her at the pond. I suppose it is more exciting for Annette to learn to swim in secret and “accidentally” heal her legs rather than the truth, which is that her parents sent her to swimming class for that very reason…The lesson here is don’t watch this movie to get the real story about Annette Kellerman. Watch it to get MGM’s unapologetically altered version. Mr. Kellerman wants to forbid Annette from swimming, but she convinces him that she’s getting stronger, and that she loves being in the water.

So he relents. Little Annette gets very good and her legs get all the way better! Soon she is winning races in that cute red swimming cap. Through a brief montage, we see Annette grow up into Esther Williams. The trophies have gotten bigger, too, but that red cap is still in use! Here is Esther Williams in an uncharacteristically frumpy but accurate bathing suit between takes for this scene. via: Annette returns home from her big victory to learn that the Kellerman Conservatory is closing. There’s a financial crisis in Australia, so people have cut back on things like music and dance lessons. Her father tells her that his friend has offered him a job at a music school in London. Annette handles this momentous news pretty well. In fact, it’s almost amusing how quickly this scene goes from dismay to excitement! Exposition must move quickly; after all, we’ve got Busby Berkeley waiting with smoke cannons! Next thing we know, the Kellermans are sailing from Australia to England.

Their quiet stroll on deck is interrupted when a boxing kangaroo comes bouncing along, chased by his trainer, Doc (Jesse White, who was in just about every TV show ever, including Seinfeld!) and his owner/promoter Jimmy Sullivan ( Victor Mature ). The kangaroo’s name is Sydney, and Jimmy is hoping that he will take London by storm. Jimmy is always hoping that something will be his golden ticket. He meets the Kellermans, and he seems very intrigued when he learns how many thousands of people came to watch her swim… I’m intrigued by the blatant coordination between Williams’ and Mature’s costumes. Pops of red, anyone? Nice foreshadowing, Mr. Plunkett. It’s rather like what you see in Summer Stock and My Sister Eileen where costumes coordinate/clash and signal the couples before they are even formed. Walter Plunkett designed the costumes for this film, though Helen Rose designed Williams’ sparkly swimsuits. Plunkett was a prolific designer with special brilliance for historical films (he designed Gone with the Wind (1939)), and Rose worked with Williams on several of her films, including Easy to Love , Duchess of Idaho , and Dangerous When Wet.

Anyway, later on, Jimmy joins Annette on the moonlit deck. She is looking lovely in her white dress with pink bows and diaphanous wrap. She assumes he has come to romance her, when in fact he has another kind of proposal in mind. He wants to manage her. I like watching her face in this scene when Jimmy starts elaborating on her potential as a swimming attraction: Annette’s father steps in, assuring Jimmy that Annette is not a trained seal who will swim around for an audience’s amusement. She plans to study ballet and music in London, and that’s that! (This is another of MGM’s little twists. Remember that Annette Kellerman began performing as a teenager while still in Australia!) The Kellermans arrive in London only to find that the music school is closed–there is no job for Mr. Kellerman. Annette pawns her trophies, one by one, while her father gives music lessons, but it’s not going well. So when Jimmy and Doc show up at the Kellerman apartment one evening, Annette is very willing to hear their plan. They want to stage a five or six mile swim in the Thames to drum up publicity for Sydney, the kangaroo.

(I’m not sure how Annette swimming the Thames would make people care about a boxing kangaroo, but they seem to think it’s a grand idea!) Annette’s only qualm is that Doc and Jimmy aren’t thinking big enough: The real Annette Kellerman was a long-distance champion, so this idea is less farfetched than it sounds. Fun fact: Kellerman did actually swim the Thames as a publicity stunt. She also attempted to swim the English Channel three times, each unsuccessful, and she swam in races and other free swims in the Seine and Danube, among many others. So, without telling Mr. Kellerman, Annette, Jimmy, and Doc embark on the Thames swim. The plan is to swim down the river to Greenwich, where Sydney is performing in a carnival. It’s a lot like Dangerous When Wet ‘s Channel swim sequences. (I’m glad that Annette’s red swim cap made the journey to England.) Jimmy is dismayed when the press doesn’t show up as they begin the swim, but eventually they attract attention. These boatmen are stunned to meet a young woman swimming to Greenwich!

Soon the news spreads and Annette’s father finds out: He rushes to the Thames in time to see his daughter swim by Parliament. The current is with them and Annette is feeling good, just hungry. They don’t have the cool wire food baskets we see in Dangerous When Wet , though. Then the current shifts, and it’s been hours and hours, and miles and miles… Jimmy is about to pull Annette into the boat when Greenwich appears through the fog. She makes it! The swim is a success, but not for Sydney. As anyone might have guessed, the reporters are far more interested in the pretty young swimmer than in the random boxing kangaroo. The next morning, Jimmy fields several job offers for Miss Kellerman, everything from stunt swims to lectures and personal appearances. But he has an idea for an show! Now that he invented synchronized swimming, Jimmy suggests they go to New York and try to get Annette booked at the Hippodrome. He sells Sydney and off to America they go! The Hippodrome producer Alfred Harper (David Brian) likes the idea but turns them down. The Hippodrome was currently staging massive dramas, as you can see from the marquee.

Harper doesn’t want to risk staging a “water ballet” with an unknown star and no story. He doesn’t mention Annette’s Easter-on-steroids bonnet, but it’s hard for me to see anything else. Jimmy and Annette are disappointed, but they quickly (as in just a few steps outside of the Hippodrome) come up with another idea. Why not stage another stunt swim and use the publicity to start their own show? Jimmy has a friend at Revere Beach in Boston, so they decide to start the swim there. No one tells Annette that her one-piece bathing suit is not appropriate in proper old Boston! She steps on the beach and it’s mayhem. Scandalized ladies and creepy gentlemen stare at her exposed limbs in shock! Annette just wants to start her swim and get away from the gasps and horrified gazes. Her bathing suit certainly is a departure from those old-fashioned bathing costumes with their petticoats, stockings, long sleeves, and drawers! But before Annette can dive into the surf, a policeman arrests for indecent exposure! The shame! Backed by Jimmy and her father, Annette decides to fight the charge. The case becomes a nationwide phenomenon and a feminist cause.

Annette gets her day in court and doesn’t back down in the face of an obnoxious prosecutor. She even presents a modified suit, her trusty one-piece with stockings sewn on to cover her legs, and asks if it would be allowed under the current law. The judge sides with Annette and drops the charges! Fun fact: Most of this did happen to the real Annette Kellerman. She was arrested at Revere Beach in 1908, acquitted on all charges, and became famous as the “One-Piece Suit Girl.” Riding Annette’s notoriety, Jimmy, Doc, and Annette open their own water show. (Mr. Kellerman provides the music.) The show is a popular attraction with diving, swimming, and of course the infamous bathing suit: Here’s the real Annette Kellerman in the suit she made famous: via: #!O5625 Although it seems so silly now, the one-piece bathing suit was very controversial at the time, and Kellerman paved the way for bathing suits as we know them.

As Esther Williams’ daughter pointed out, when you watch Williams doing her thing in a gorgeous suit, remember to give credit to the original One-Piece Bathing Suit Girl! Susan found this great photo of her mother and Annette Kellerman on the set. Without Kellerman, Williams might not have been able to wear suits like that! Annette draws in the audiences with swimming and diving displays: Jimmy watches, thrilled with the box office and with Annette. Who can blame him? She’s pretty thrilled with him, too. They are in love! And it’s not just acting. In Esther Williams’ autobiography, she confesses to enjoying an affair with her handsome leading man during the making of this film. She’d never fallen for a leading man before, and both she and Mature were married to other people, but they went for it anyway. She wrote : “Fictional desire and real desire blended during the making of Million Dollar Mermaid, and it’s obvious, to me at least, in every scene of that film…we were shameless and happy” (213). Their affair didn’t last past the making of this movie, and she didn’t think it would, but she claimed not to regret even a moment.

“Romances with beautiful leading men don’t last forever, but don’t knock it until you’ve had one,” she wrote (222). Back to the fictional world. Jimmy is sure that Annette is the girl for him. He even buys an engagement ring! But just as he’s about to propose, Annette drops by the carnival with a classy lecture promoter who wants her to give a series of talks about health and the body with perhaps some tasteful ballet thrown in. Jimmy can hardly contain his laughter. He’s clearly threatened at the idea of Annette moving on to bigger and classier things without him, so he cuts her down to size by reminding her that she’s just a pretty swimmer doing a tank act. Both Annette and the man are offended, naturally. The man insults Jimmy’s current show: So Jimmy almost throws him into the tank. But Annette stops him. Later, Jimmy comes back to Annette’s dressing room, ostensibly to apologize. But when she brings up the lecture idea again, he just makes things worse with this gem: Annette heads home, quite upset.

But a happy telegram awaits her: She hurries back to the carnival to tell Jimmy the wonderful news, but he’s already moved on with a new act, a flyer in a rickety plane. He has left for Florida without a word to Annette. He works quickly, that Jimmy! Annette is devastated, but fortunately she has a fantastic job waiting for her at the Hippodrome. She might be billed last, but she’s with Pavlova, Marceline the clown, and Sousa, in the world’s largest theater! Ready for some Busby Berkeley madness, executed as only Esther Williams and MGM could? This first number proved to be one of the most notable in Williams’ career. We start with a view of the Hippodrome before a spotlight picks out Annette in a sparkling gold bodysuit and crown atop the hydraulic lift. (MGM got its money’s worth out of its giant tank with its 50 foot hydraulic lift, geysers, pyrotechnics, and other special effects on this film.

For more on the tank, read my post on Esther Williams .) Annette executes a lovely, shallow dive and off she goes, diving like a dolphin and paddling gracefully amidst fountains: After swimming around for a while, she emerges from the churning water and rises on the hydraulic lift. Up, up, up! She was supposed to do a swan dive into the tank below. She writes in The Million Dollar Mermaid that when the lift shuddered to a stop, she felt a sudden onslaught of vertigo. Her ear drums had been ruptured so many times from all of her underwater exploits that her equilibrium was gone. Fifty feet in the air, perched on a tiny Lucite disk attached to the lift, she suddenly couldn’t tell if she was leaning or straight. She froze. Berkeley yelled: “We’re waiting, Esther! Jump!” (219). She “forced a smile for the camera” (219) and dove. On her way down, she realized that something horrible was about to happen. The crown on top of her head was made of aluminum–no big deal when doing shallow dives and frolicking in the water, but incredibly dangerous on a stunt like this.

When her head hit the water, the crown snapped her head back, she heard something pop in her neck, and she knew she was in bad shape. But they’d gotten the shot, so the director called for the lunch break and the crew skedaddled. No one thought to check on Williams–why would they? She was practically SuperWoman! So Williams was left in the pool, in tremendous pain and unable to move her upper body , frantically treading water with her legs to keep from sinking. She remembers imagining the headline: “Esther Williams Drowns in MGM Studio Pool,” and crying for her wardrobe lady, Flossie, the only crew member left on set (The Million Dollar Mermaid 220). At first, Flossie thought that Williams was joking when she said that she couldn’t get out of the pool, but she finally believed that Williams was in trouble. She ran to get help. Some men lifted a crying Williams out of the pool and called for an ambulance. While they waited, Flossie carefully removed the gold-sequined bodysuit. Williams wrote later that the 50,000 gold sequins being rolled off her body felt like tiny knives.

Since it was Flossie’s job to keep the costumes in good repair, it never even occurred to her to just cut the damn thing off! (220) Turns out that Williams broke three vertebrae in her neck, getting about as close to “snapping [her] spinal cord and becoming a paraplegic as you could without actually succeeding” (220). She was encased in a body cast from her neck to her knees, for SIX MONTHS. Williams eventually recovered, but according to her daughter, she suffered from neck pain, headaches and a smaller range of motion for the rest of her life. But she also knew how fortunate she was to escape with those relatively minor issues, especially after Christopher Reeve’s accident (221). Filming stopped on Million Dollar Mermaid until Williams healed. They’d already shot too much of the movie to call it off, or to replace Williams; besides, there was no one who could replace her! It was pretty common practice to shuffle actors around if they were sick, pregnant, troublesome, whatever, but there was no replacement for Esther Williams.

Williams wrote: “The fact that they had to wait for me was, in its way, quite a compliment as well as a comfort” (221). What’s odd is to watch the fateful dive, knowing that she broke her neck, and then see Williams rise from the water a moment later as part of a shimmering tableau for the finale…Movie magic! But it gives me the creeps. Williams saw this experience as an incredibly awful reminder that she couldn’t count on anyone else to look out for her. She didn’t blame Plunkett and Rose for the metal crown–how would they know it was so dangerous? Her director, Berkeley, and the rest of the crew also would not have known the danger, either. Williams was the only one who might have caught it, but she didn’t think about it until it was too late. She took this lesson into her next films, especially Easy to Love with its Berkeley-directed water-skiing insanities. As I mention in my review of that movie, everyone just assumed that Williams could do anything, and her safety seemed very far down the list of priorities. Susan, Williams’ daughter, says that her mom used to joke about how the filmmakers were always trying to kill her!

Williams had to look out for herself, because no one else was. via: #tcmarcp-140842-140833 Anyway, Annette becomes a star at the Hippodrome. There’s a beautiful ballet interlude featuring Maria Tallchief as Pavlova performing Swan Lake. Annette watches from the wings, utterly entranced, and meets the ballerina backstage. She tells Pavlova how she’s always wanted to dance like that, but Pavlova tells her that what Kellerman does is just as special! It’s a pleasing high-art validation of the new water ballet phenomenon, and it’s lovely to see Tallchief dance, too. She was one of the first major American ballerinas, plus the first Native American prima ballerina. She danced in Europe before Balanchine invited her to be his prima ballerina in his newly founded company, New York City Ballet, in 1946. We get to see her dance “The Dying Swan” solo. It’s a fun bonus in this film. Next, we get a montage showing just how famous and fabulous Annette Kellerman has become.

In an intertextual twist, alternating with images of Kellerman’s increasing billing at the Hippodrome are moments from Esther Williams’ previous films’ water ballets, including Bathing Beauty (1944) and This Time for Keeps (1947). You can watch the original Bathing Beauty clip here . I suppose it was a lot cheaper and easier to raid MGM’s library of water spectaculars than to film new ones! But we do get some new ones, too, like this next ballet inspired number with garishly colored borders. Annette dances in front of a mirror in her pearly tutu while her father, who was hired as maestro of the orchestra, conducts. Fortunately, we get some shots without the bright red crystal border: Then Annette loses the tutu and shoots over to a giant clamshell. It’s all gorgeous pearls and underwater frolics until we get a shot of Mr. Kellerman collapsing as he conducts. He dies, but Annette doesn’t know so she keeps swimming. It rather puts a damper on the rest of the water ballet, though. The red border turns green, and the shell closes with Annette inside.

It’s enough to give you claustrophobia and make you gratefully suck in oxygen as you watch. Fun fact: It was during this shell sequence that Williams almost died, again! Here is what happened: Each underwater shot was carefully storyboarded and timed. During the actual shot, someone would hold up cards showing Williams how long she needed to stay underwater. Most shots were about 45 seconds long, but that was 45 seconds of actual filming, so it didn’t count the time it took Williams to get underwater, hit her mark, and wait for “Action!” She was therefore underwater for much longer than 45 seconds at a time. Williams’ lungs would expand as she worked, so “whatever I could do at 9:00 in the morning, I could do double that by 4:00 in the afternoon” ( The Million Dollar Mermaid 216). She would string two 45-second shots together to save production time and avoid the necessity of a cut, which is why sometimes it seems as though she has grown gills!

Anyway, she must have been pushing herself during this giant pearl sequence, because suddenly she started experiencing something like “the rapture,” that weird, trancelike state that scuba divers can get. It happens when there is too much carbon dioxide and not enough oxygen, and it can make you want to fall asleep even as you’re running out of air. Williams, in the grip of the rapture, sat on the shell and rested her head on the pearl…and stayed there. The director, Mervyn LeRoy, didn’t know about the rapture or that Williams was about to drown, but he knew that the storyboard did not include Annette Kellerman taking an underwater nap! He began yelling through the underwater speaker, “Get your head off that pearl! It’s just been painted and the paint may come off!” (217) Williams was confused but LeRoy’s nagging shouts brought her out of the trance and she managed to swim to the surface. Yet another life-threatening moment on the set of this movie! Poor Annette finishes the pearl number and finds out that her father passed away. But the movie can’t linger on this. It uses Mr.

Kellerman’s death to reunite us with Jimmy and Doc: Doc reads of Mr. Kellerman’s death as Jimmy works on his airplane. Jimmy is no longer managing flyers, now he is doing the flying himself! Cut back to the Hippodrome where LeRoy employs the same newspaper trick. Annette and the Hippodrome producer Alfred (they’re good pals) arrive at the theater and read about an airplane contest. It doesn’t mean much to Annette until she sees Doc waiting backstage. He has come to tell her that Jimmy is one of the twelve aviators attempting the almost absurdly dangerous flight. He begs her to stop him, somehow. She promises to try, but first she has a show to do. Smoke cannons, go! In Tony Thomas and Jim Terry’s The Busby Berkeley Book, Berkeley described this number : ” [I] used one hundred boy and girl swimmers and for the background I had nothing but red and yellow smoke streams shooting up fifty feet. The effect was made by four hundred electrically controlled smoke pots.

On each side of the pool, I had forty-foot-high ramps, from which the swimmers slid down at a terrific pace, standing up and carrying yellow lighted torches as they entered the water.” Are you ready? Girls slide face-first through the legs of red diaper-clad men and into the pool as yellow, hopefully not sulfurous, smoke chokes the air. Then, in a sequence that reminds me of the Neptune’s Daughter finale with its slipping swimmers and streamers, the flag toting men slide down this tilted slip-n-slide, somehow managing to keep their feet until they dive into the pool at the very last moment. Eventually, Annette emerges from thick smoke in a flame-suit and headdress. She pauses at the top of a blue chute before sliding down into the water. I’m pretty sure it’s not Williams doing the slide, though. It looks more like Williams’ double, diver Edith Motridge. But it’s definitely Williams who emerges from the deep and gets pulled forward by an underwater line. Soon Annette is joined by yellow-clad ladies and gentlemen, and everyone gets pulled along. A synchronized forward flip with lovely pointed toes: And it’s off to the air!

Berkeley remembered that for this sequence “I also had twelve long swings that swung down from high in the air through the smoke, and from which twelve girls and boys simultaneously dived into the water. Esther was also the center of attention in this number. I dropped her from fifty feet into the mass of swimmers below, which exploded into a Ferris wheel effect on the water.” This part actually makes me a little dizzy. Swimmers swing back and forth through opaque smoke on these huge trapeze swings before diving into the pool quite a ways below them. Yikes! Then it’s Annette’s turn. She swings forward out of impenetrable smoke, smiling broadly. Fun fact: In truth this was a very unpleasant stunt. The smoke was so thick that it was disorienting and difficult to see where one was; especially nasty conditions in which to swing and then dive! Williams actually broke a toe from clutching the swing so hard with her feet! To add extra tension, Berkeley shot a pistol to signal when each swing should be released and when each group should dive! Williams (or is it her double?) dives into the pool: But the number isn’t over yet!

Williams still has to rise from the water above Busby Berkeley’s favorite human kaleidoscope designs. And then she lets go, hoping she’ll fall right in that dark, deep circle and not land on one of the swimmers! Yikes! Fortunately, a broken toe was the most severe injury sustained during the filming of this water ballet. Just like the gold one before it, this one ends with a slowly rising tableau. But this one was played back in reverse so that the sparklers light as they rise from the water! It’s a neat effect. After some smiles and posing, the whole thing sinks back beneath the water, but not before Annette blows us a kiss. You can watch the whole water ballet here . Here’s the suit worn by Edith Motridge for this water ballet: via: Unfortunately, this is the last big spectacle in the movie. To me, this film’s trajectory slopes up to these crazy Busby Berkeley/Esther Williams extravaganzas, before swiftly sliding back down into pseudo-biopic territory. How can Jimmy and Annette’s seemingly doomed romance compete with floating kaleidoscopes, breathtaking dives, and 50,000 sequins? But we’ll continue, anyway.

Annette keeps her promise to Doc and goes to the airfield to try to stop Jimmy from flying off into almost certain death. He doesn’t listen, and even her legal attempt to stop him (something about missing money from the carnival days: he used it to buy the engagement ring, which he then hands to Annette unceremoniously) fails. She watches him fly off in a rickety plane. She looks very sophisticated and wealthy in that dark purple suit with attached capelet! Some time passes and Annette learns that Jimmy has crashed. She tries not to care too much, especially since she is engaged to Alfred! But she calls the hospital and learns that Jimmy will be fine. On their way to Hollywood to make a movie, Annette and Alfred run into Doc and Jimmy on the train. Jimmy is hawking Indian blankets, and Doc is his “brave.” It is embarrassing for everybody, for many reasons. Jimmy is also managing a dog named Rin Tin Tin…(a complete fabrication; the real Sullivan had nothing to do with Rin Tin Tin.) We get a fun look at MGM’s version of early Hollywood when Annette arrives to make Neptune’s Daughter.

Fun fact: Kellerman did make a movie of that name in 1914. You can watch a clip here (skip to the two-minute mark for diving.) And Esther Williams also made a movie called Neptune’s Daughter in 1949! via: There is only one more scene to shoot. The tank is all ready, the mermaid back-up swimmers are in position, and Annette is excited to finish the film and marry Alfred. She climbs up a really tall ladder and gets ready to dive. Action! And we’re off! There’s a clichéd director in riding boots with a megaphone, and “mood music” just out of frame! It’s going great, but we’re wary because a crew member mentioned that the tank is only built to hold a certain amount of water, and the glass won’t withstand much more… Just as we feared, the glass begins to crack. The alarm is sounded, and it’s very scary with screaming mermaids and panicking crew members. Annette isn’t sure what’s going on, but she sees everyone running around and screaming. By the time she realizes she needs to get out, it’s too late.

The tank shatters and she’s pushed out in a great wave. Fun fact: The tank did break during the filming of Kellerman’s Neptune’s Daughter. According to an eyewitness : “We saw them [Kellerman and Herbert Brenon] take a deep breath and once more go under the water. Hardly had they disappeared when there was a ‘Boom!’ like the echo of a firing cannon and immediately the canvas passage was swept away and tons of water rushed through the smashing glass. Their bodies lay motionless among the wreckage. They were shockingly cut and bleeding and we thought them surely dead.” They were badly cut, but fortunately both Kellerman and Brenon recovered and were able to finish the movie. Cut to the hospital. Jimmy and Alfred are there and talk with the doctor. We find out that the doctor is cautiously optimistic, but there is a chance that Annette won’t ever walk again. As I just mentioned regarding the Neptune’s Daughter accident, the real Kellerman did not suffer a spine injury, just bad cuts. I don’t know if that major change from real life to this movie plot was inspired by Williams’ injury during the making of this movie? I’d like to see some scripts.

What happens next is a given, even though I’ve always liked sweet Alfred and distrusted Jimmy. We don’t know if Annette will recover or not, but the movie ends on a positive note. Fun fact: Million Dollar Mermaid premiered in December 1952, and in January Esther Williams was voted the number one female movie star in fifty countries by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (the Golden Globe people.) Williams was the million dollar mermaid, a nickname that stuck with her and that she chose as the title of her autobiography. Williams was aware even as she was making this movie that she owed a lot to Annette Kellerman: “Here was a woman whose career foreshadowed my own, who started out as a champion swimmer but ended up in the movies…” ( The Million Dollar Mermaid 211). It was a thrill for Williams to get to bring Kellerman’s (altered) story to the screen, and to swim in the one-piece bathing suit of the legendary Australian mermaid! Esther Williams and Annette Kellerman on the set of Million Dollar Mermaid. Image scanned from The Million Dollar Mermaid Here’s the trailer –enjoy!

For more, visit my tumblr , pinterest , Twitter , Instagram , and Facebook ! Thank you to Esther Williams’s daughter Susan for talking with me about this film! You can buy this spectacular movie here . As always, thanks for reading! Film History Milestones - 1952 Event and Significance 1952 To avoid losing the battle with television, Hollywood counter-attacked with 3-D films. The first feature-length 3-D (stereoscopic) sound film (in color) released was the indie film Bwana Devil (1952) distributed by UA, inspiring a flood of other quickly (and often cheaply made), but sometimes successful 3-D features. Bwana Devil used the red-green "anaglyph" process first demonstrated as early as 1856. The 'golden age' of 3-D was ushered in from 1952-1955, with films such as Robot Monster (1953), It Came From Outer Space (1953), Columbia's Man in the Dark (1953), and House of Wax (1953).

[The first feature-length 3-D film was the silent film The Power of Love (1922), a lost film.] 1952 Paramount's wrap-around, big-screen Cinerama debuted - a break-through technique that required three cameras, three projectors, interlocking, semi-curved (at 146 degrees) screens, and four-track stereo sound. A travelogue of the world's vacation spots, with a thrilling roller-coaster ride was shown in This Is Cinerama - it premiered as the first Cinerama film shown to the public. Paramount's wrap-around, big-screen Cinerama was the first real widescreen feature film format. 1952 Universal International was sold to Decca Records. 1952 The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) negotiated the first contracts in 1952 that granted performers-actors (including singers, announcers, stunt men, and airplane pilots) residuals paid by studios for feature films sold to television. 1952 The TV show Dragnet debuted - it was one of the first TV series filmed in Hollywood (rather than NYC). It had originally been a popular radio show, and then began airing on NBC-TV's Thursday night schedule.

1952 For all of James Stewart's Universal Studios films, including director Anthony Mann's Bend of the River (1952) - their second film of five westerns they made together from 1950-1955, the actor negotiated a pioneering, precedent-setting deal (a free-lance contract). In exchange for no salary, he took instead a percentage of the box-office profits -- resulting in a lucrative, higher salary. 1952 Although generally considered the greatest screen musical of all time, Singin' in the Rain (1952) had only two Oscar nominations (without a win) -- Best Score and Best Supporting Actress (Jean Hagen). It featured Gene Kelly's heart-lifting, enchanting dance scene during a cloudburst, when he performed a glorious, almost five minute performance of the title song "Singin' In the Rain" - a spontaneous expression of his crazy-in-love, euphoric mood and happiness over his new-found love for Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds).

1952 MGM's swimming star Esther Williams appeared in her only biographical film role, as Australian swimming star Annette Kellerman in Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) - a title which became her popular nickname (and the title of her published autobiography in 1999). 1952 The first film to win a Golden Globe award for Best Motion Picture (comedy or musical) - a newly-created category - was An American in Paris (1951) , in the 1952 awards ceremony. 1952 Director Fred Zinnemann's western High Noon (1952) received numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards (and a second Best Actor Oscar for Gary Cooper as retired Marshal Kane facing outlaws in a deadly showdown), although director Howard Hawks and actor John Wayne both responded to the liberal preachiness of this 'un-American' film (and its cowardly townspeople) by creating a no-nonsense, right-wing rebuttal in Rio Bravo (1959). 1952 1952 was the last year that film comedian Charlie Chaplin produced a US film, Limelight (1952).

During post-production, he traveled to Europe for premiere openings of the film in London and Paris. His INS application for re-entry into the US (since he was a resident alien) was revoked by Attorney General James McGranery (who called Chaplin an "unsavory character"), and he would have to submit to questions about his political and moral behavior before being allowed to return. Although Chaplin promised to return and answer charges, he broke ties with the US after his wife Oona returned to LA in early 1953 to get his assets out of the US. For the rest of his life, Chaplin set up permanent residence in Switzerland until his death in late 1977. 1952 "Curly" Howard (Jerome Lester Horwitz) of The Three Stooges' fame, the youngest of the brothers and considered the most manic of the trio (with his catchphrases: "nyuk-nyuk-nyuk!" and "woo-woo-woo!" and his familiar baby face), died at the age of 48. His final appearance as an official member of the threesome was in Half-Wits Holiday (1947), during which he suffered the first of two debilitating strokes.

1952 During the period of McCarthyism and the Red Scare, after appearing and testifying before the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee), when he was accused of being involved with the Communist Party and he refused to name names, actor John Garfield was blacklisted (banned or boycotted from future Hollywood studio film appearances). The 39 year-old actor, already suffering from long-term heart problems brought on by a childhood illness, died of a heart attack due to the resultant stress. His last film was the film-noirish crime drama He Ran All the Way (1951). He was best known for his work in the following: his first film Four Daughters (1938), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) opposite Lana Turner, Body and Soul (1947), Gentleman's Agreement (1947), and Force of Evil (1948).

1952 Producer/director Roberto Rossellini's 69 minute anthology film L'Amore (1948, It.) (aka Ways of Love) was exhibited at the 1948 Venice Film Festival, but was basically a flop in Italy after Catholic officials denounced it as "an abominable profanation." One of its two segments was a 43 minute short film entitled Il Miracolo (aka The Miracle) - it featured Anna Magnani as a dim-witted, unwed peasant woman who believed that she was the Virgin Mary after being seduced by a bearded wayfarer (the film's writer Federico Fellini) and became pregnant. The film was imported into the US in 1949 by Polish-Jewish immigrant Joseph Burstyn, and in late 1950 opened at the Paris Theater in Manhattan.

The short film was challenged by the New York Board of Regents in 1951, pressured by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese (and Francis Cardinal Spellman who attacked The Miracle as "a despicable affront to every Christian" and "a vicious insult to Italian womanhood") to revoke the film's license on the grounds that the work was blasphemous and "sacrilegious." The film was subsequently banned by the New York State Board of Regents under 30 year-old censorship regulations barring 'sacrilegious' films. The film lost its license and the film's distributor, Joseph Burstyn, appealed the decision. The New York Appeals Court backed the Board of Regents decision. In a remarkable 9-0 unanimous decision in 1952 in the case of Burstyn v. Wilson, the Supreme Court decided that the New York Board of Regents could not ban the film, declaring movies a form of free speech. The Court declared "sacrilege" too vague a censorship standard to be permitted under the First Amendment. In 1952, the US Supreme Court extended First Amendment protection to films ("It is not the business of government...

to suppress real or imagined attacks upon a religious doctrine, whether they appear in publications, speeches or motion pictures"). Film was finally freed from federal censorship, although local censorship boards could still ban a film deemed 'objectionable'. Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York If any kind of biographical film was to be made about Annette Kellerman, champion swimmer from the turn of the last century, MGM was the only studio to do it. They had the only star qualified and the only studio that gave said star her own set. If Annette Kellerman hadn't blazed the trail, Esther Williams could not have had a movie career. Kellerman first won many swimming medals in her native Australia and then went to the United Kingdom and then to America where she was the first international female swimming star. The Aquacade, the water ballet, I believe the Australian crawl swimming stroke were named in her honor, all these are due to her. She was crippled as a child and swimming did indeed make her legs grow stronger, as therapeutic to her as it was to a certain crippled president of the United States.

I'm really surprised that the Australians have not done any kind of big screen or small screen film about her, she was such an icon in a newly independent country. Leaving it to America and to MGM, Million Dollar Mermaid is a fine Esther Williams film, but no more than that. I get very little information about the trials and tribulations of the real Annette Kellerman and the people around her. She did in fact marry her manager James Sullivan played here by Victor Mature who did NOT bring Rin Tin Tin to the silver screen. They do in fact cover her notorious arrest in Boston for wearing a shocking newly designed one piece bathing suit. Boston had many silly laws back in the day, they were known for it. If you remember in John Ford's Donovan's Reef, a gag is used about Elizabeth Allen wearing the typical Gay Nineties bathing attire and then stripping down to what Kellerman popularized. Most of the plot of Million Dollar Mermaid is fictitious, her romance with Hippodrome impresario David Brian, her accident on the set of Neptune's Daughter. Annette did become an early silent film star as big in the silent days as her male successors Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe became in sound.

Kellerman and Sullivan lived to see Million Dollar Mermaid and it's unknown what they thought about it. The fact they were both still around I'm sure made MGM tread softly. One thing the film didn't answer was why Kellerman did not compete in the Olympics. In that she has something in common with Esther Williams. Esther didn't compete because the 1940 Olympics were called off as were the 1944. She had to turn professional and then became an actress and the rest is history. Why Kellerman didn't is something I'd like to know. Perhaps an Australian production might answer that question if one is made. Until then we'll have to be satisfied with the beautiful and expensive Million Dollar Mermaid. Was the above review useful to you? 1000+ images about ESTHER WILLIAMS on Pinterest | Million dollar mermaid, August 8 and Swimming champions 1950 Esther Williams 'Pagan Love Song' de Robert Alton. by SNAP Photo Library (CORDON PRESS) via cultura.elpais.com See More 24 Frames Per Second: Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) A meandering journey through the history of moving images.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) The recent release of The Esther Williams collection Vol. 2 showcases one of the 1940's - 50's most popular stars. The set contains 6 films from the swimming sensation including "Thrill of a Romance" (45), "Fiesta" (47), "This Time for Keeps" (47), "Pagan Love Song" (50), "Easy to Love" (53) and one of her last aquatic musicals, "Million Dollar Mermaid" (52). The biographical tale of turn of the century Australian swimming star Annette Kellerman. But this film is as much about Williams herself, being the perfect vehicle for Esther to dive and swim around a pool. Showing off her amazing talents in a story that no other actress could have accomplished without multiple edits or a stunt double. It is also an interesting marker to view how far woman's rights and the image of the female had come in the short span of 50 years The story centers around the real life Australian swimming star Annette Kellerman.

Disabled at a young age by polio, her parents enrolled her in swimming lessons to help strengthen her legs. By the time she was a teenager, she not only had improved from her disability, but was becoming a national swimming and diving sensation. In 1905, at the age of 18, she became the first woman to attempt to swim the English channel and became a leading advocate for the right for women to wear a one-piece bathing suit. From there, she would go on to the vaudeville circuit being credited for helping to invent the sport of synchronized swimming after her 1907 performance of the first water ballet in a glass tank at the New York Hippodrome. She would finally arrive in Hollywood and become a film star. In 1916, Kellerman would become the first major actress to do a nude scene when she appeared fully nude in "A Daughter of the Gods". The film was the first million-dollar film production, but no copies are known to exist. The majority of her films had an aquatic theme to them highlighting her swimming talents. Annette performed her own stunts, including diving 60 feet into a pool of crocodiles, and designing her own mermaid costumes.

She also appeared in one of the last films made in Prizma Color, "Venus of the South Seas" from 1924. Restored by the Library of Congress in 2004, this 55-minute film, shot in color and underwater, is the only feature film starring Kellerman known to exist in its complete form. Unfortunately, "Million Dollar Mermaid" stays away from the more meaty elements of Annette's life, or glosses over them with more of a comedic slant, such as when she is arrested on a Boston beach for indecency for wearing one of her fitted one-piece bathing suits. But this is a 1950's Hollywood musical, starring one of America's sweethearts, Esther Williams, so you have to understand you will be getting a sugar-coated fantasy. Esther Williams, the actress who portrays Kellerman, would also has a successful swimming career at a young age. She would become a National swimming champion in the 100 freestyle and had planned to compete in the 1940 Olympics before it was canceled with the outbreak of World War II.

She would appear with Johnny Weismuller (of swimming and Tarzan fame) during the San Francisco World's Fair, where she was seen by MGM scouts. Her first appearance in film would be as a love interest opposite Mickey Rooney in "Andy Hardy's Double Life" in 1942. But it was the 1944 feature "Bathing Beauty", with it's water ballet finale that would establish her as a star. MGM would soon create a special sub-genre for her called "aqua-musicals" showcasing her swimming and diving talents. She would spend the next decade at MGM creating 18 such films along a similar light and musical style. "Million Dollar Mermaid" of 1952 would be one of her last aqua-musicals at MGM before moving on to Universal in 1956 to try her hand at more dramatic roles. Like Kellerman, Williams also performed many of her own stunts, resulting in her rupturing her eardrums numerous times and nearly drowning on several occasions.

During one of the elaborately musical numbers on "Million Dollar Mermaid", she would break her neck filming a 115 ft dive off of a tower which landed her in a body cast for several months. She would eventual recover, she claims to still have lingering complications from this accident. Although she was married at the time of filming, Esther would reveal in her autobiography that she had a passionate affair with her costar Victor Mature. Citing that at the time her marriage to "an alcoholic parasite" was in trouble and feeling lonely she turned to Mature for love and affection, and he gave her all she wanted. "Million Dollar Mermaid," also known as "One Piece Bathing Suit", was directed by Mervyn LeRoy (most famous for producing "The Wizard of Oz") and co-starring Victor Ma ture, Walter Pidgeon and Jesse White. The film begins with Kellerman as a young Australian girl longing to dance, but unable because her legs are in braces. She bravely wanders off to a swimming hole where she enters the water and "begins to swim." We soon see multiple edits of her winning swim race after race.

On a boat ride to Europe with her father, she meets Jimmy Sullivan, a vaudeville producer who will soon become her manager and love interest. The film follows her rise as a carnival act, headliner at New York's famous Hippodrome theater, and her eventual work in Hollywood. The whole story is the typical musical standard, girl meets boy, falls in love, loses boy and finally come together by the end of the picture. But since this is taken from a true story I wanted a little more. Maybe if it read "inspired by the life of Annette Kellerman" because it all seems a little too much like a tall tale to me. In fact most of the plot of the film is quite fictitious, including Kellerman's romance with Hippodrome producer David Brian and her accident on the set of "Neptune's Daughter." Although she would end up marrying her manager Jimmy Sullivan, he did not discover Rin Tin Tin. I guess I shouldn't look into "fiction" too much since it is just a vehicle for Esther Williams, and it is quite entertaining. Saying that this film is a musical might throw some people off since it's missing two of the elements you'd aspect from that genre, namely singing and dancing.

Many of Williams other films would have co-stars such as Jimmy Durante, Tommy Dorsey and opera stars to supply the musical numbers, but this particular film is without. But the aquatic sequences are staged and filmed like the most elaborate MGM musical numbers, even to the point of having the choreography done by Busby Berkeley (one of his last credited) and Audrene Brier. Berkeley's classic over the head shot showing the "chorus girls" making kaleidoscope moves below is only enhanced by th e fluid synchronized swimming moves, as Williams drops from trapeze into the circle below. It is these numbers that make the whole film something special. They are surreal in nature, with the "swimmers" flying in on trapeze through bright red, technicolor smoke or zipping down 3-story water slides. I can't imagine the time to practice these pieces and the amount of takes it took to get what's on film. The possibility of just 1 of the 100's of swimmers to accidentally slip during each lengthy shot almost adds a tension to the piece. The now famous, "fountain and smoke" sequence is included in many documentaries on film, including "That's Entertainment III" (1994).

The film would end up being one of the top money makers for MGM and would receive an Academy Award nomination in the Cinematography (Color) category. It would actually be quite interesting if Hollywood or the Australian film industry would produce a more true to life film around Kellerman. Her life from early disability, to sports star, woman's rights advocate, vaudeville and finally movie star is perfect for the screen. I can see someone like Kate Winslet, a native Australian, completely doing it justice. Posted by

Question: After a 1952 film, who became known as ‘the million-dollar mermaid’?
Answer: Esther WILLIAMS