ESTHER WILLIAMS- MILLION DOLLAR ESTHER

“Wet she’s a star, dry she aint”. Many people have been attributed to have said this of musical swim star Esther Williams. It was in fact Fanny Bryce who quipped this of the great swim star.

Of course Esther Williams was perfection in the water, however she could do it all, and act, sing and dance a little, but it is for her 16 water ballet extravaganzas at MGM that she is and will be best remembered for.

Esther Williams has said of her life that she could not remember a time when she wasn't in a swimsuit.  There were hours and weeks and years of competitive swimming-and magic movie swimming.

As a teenager she broke swimming records and would have been destined for Olympic game fame but for the outbreak of war.  It was during the time she took on a role with Billy Rose’s Aquacade and working with Johnny Weissmuller himself that she was discovered by MGM and placed in a few small roles opposite some of the major stars of the day. MGM chose to separate her talent for swimming and to use this as a platform for Williams and introduce the world to a series of unforgettable aqua musicals of the 1940s and 50s.  

It should be said that no one has ever tried to do what Esther Williams has done on the screen. As a performer and as a genre, and never was there a challenge made.  Dancers would try to better each other, singers the same, no one tried to be a second Esther. And for thirteen years she did it well.  In fact for the years 1945 to 1949, Esther had at least one film listed among the 20 highest grossing films of the year.

Here is a one piece swimsuit made for Esther Williams and worn in the 1952 MGM film “Million Dollar Mermaid”.

The costume is constructed of a coral satin finish silk. The bodice has princess line neck with zigzag pattern extending over the bust. The suit is panelled to be tight fitting and has a short skirt made of diamond shaped panels. The shoulder straps are made of flesh coloured nylon net and elastic to create a strapless look. The bodice and skirt are heavily decorated with sewn on silver and purple sequins while the body of the suit is randomly scattered with silver and purple sequins. Low cut V at back and centre back zipper fastening and a small metal hook and eye. The whole costume is lined with light tan coloured nylon. The costumes for the film were designed by the incomparable Helen Rose.

Here is a photo of Esther in the costume as it appears towards the end of this amazing production number.

Here are more photos of the costume.

Esther appears in this costume out of the billowing colours of smoke Busby Berkely used as part of the production.

The costume also comes with a matching swim hat.

"Million Dollar Mermaid" was the biographical film role made by Willams. In it she played Australian swimming star Annette Kellerman an Australian swimming and diving star. Williams co-starred with Victor Mature, who played Kellerman's husband and manager, James Sullivan.  Esther Williams has often called this her favourite film, and even named her autobiography after it.

Busby Berkeley-choreographed the swim ballets for the film. They have been considered to be the most glamorous, inventive and surreally beautiful routines Williams ever performed on the screen.

The film was originally to be released under the title “One Piece Bathing Suit” to represent the part of the story where Kellerman is required to convince a court that the one piece swim suit was not indecent.

Here is Esther Williams in the swimsuit doing her thing.  The production number comes in at 2:24. The music you hear is not original to the film and was added by the YouTube user however is very effective with the visual:

Other major films made for MGM include "Bathing Beauty," 1944, "Thrill of a Romance," 1945, "Easy to Wed," 1946, "Fiesta," 1947, "This Time for Keeps," 1947, "On an Island with You," 1948, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," 1949, "Neptune's Daughter," 1949, "Duchess of Idaho," 1950, "Pagan Love Song," 1950, "Texas Carnival," 1951, "Skirts Ahoy," 1952, "Million Dollar Mermaid," 1952, "Dangerous When Wet," 1953, "Easy to Love," 1953 and "Jupiter's Darling," 1955.

Esther Williams retired from film in the 1960s and is now a businesswoman for her line of swimming pools and swimwear.

Esther Williams turns 92 later this year.

ANN RUTHERFORD THE MGM GIRL NEXT DOOR

This beautiful Green wool period gown was worn by Ann Rutherford in what is possibly the most loved adaption of “Pride and Prejudice” and made at MGM in 1940.

Ann Rutherford played "Lydia Bennet" in the film.

The costume is designed in a green wool crepe period style with velvet leaf decorations. The costume was designed by famed MGM designer Adrian. Adrian was responsible for costuming many great stars as part of his career at MGM including Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer and Judy Garland. He is best remembered for his costume designs in “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) as well as many other Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films of the 1930s and 1940s. My personal favourite is the gowns he designed for “The Women” also in 1939. He designed costumes for over 250 films.

Ann Rutherford as "Lydia Bennet" wears the costume when she arrives home a married woman. The costume carries a handwritten label "7498" and stamped MGM.  The skirt has handwritten label "Ann Rutherford 7498."  The costume is accentuated by a large velvet collar and lace.

Here is a detailed photo of the velvet leaf design.

This version of the film was very well received by the public and has remained as a much loved adaption of this popular novel and largely due to the two leads, Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier.

Here is the original trailer to the film:

Greer Garson as Elizabeth has been referred to as literally stepping right out of the book and that she was made to play the role.

I recently found that the hat, which accompanies this gown, still exists and is housed in the FIDM Museum and Gallery permanent collection in Los Angeles. You can see the same design velvetleaf used by Adrian to accentuate the hat. Good to know that the hat still exists.

Photo copyright FIDM Museum Library Inc.

Ann Rutherford was a much loved MGM star who is best remembered for playing Polly Benedict during the 1930s and 1940s in the Andy Hardy series. She was also Scarlett O'Hara's sister in “Gone With the Wind”(1939).

The gown was popular and striking enough as well to be used in a paper doll book on film costume.

Rutherford passed away only recently on June 11, 2012.

DAME MAY WHITTY CHARACTER ACTOR EXTRAORDINAIRE

Here is a period dress worn by much loved character actor Dame May Whitty  as she portrayed "Miss Thwaites" in the film Gaslight. (MGM, 1944)

This is a three-piece brown wool crepe period dress and jacket with black embroidery and beading finished with pompom fringe.  The costume has a typed label "1311-7178 D M Witty".  Irene designed the costumes for the film. Dame May Whitty as “Miss Thwaites” wears the costume in two scenes when she attempts to visit Ingrid Bergman with little luck.

Gaslight is a 1944 mystery-thriller adapted from a play. It was actually the second version to be filmed with the first being released in the United Kingdom four years before.

The following photos show better detail of the design to the lapel and jacket.

The design to the neckline is just beautiful as you can.  MGM paid great attention to detail and costumes is where they excelled when it came to detail.

This is a photo of the rear of the gown.

The 1944 version where this costume comes was made at MGM, directed by George Cukor and starred Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotten, and 18-year-old Angela Lansbury in her screen debut.

Dame May Whitty who also starred in the film was born in Liverpool, England and started theatre at a young age. It was not until 1935, at the age of seventy an following the success she had on stage in “Night Must Fall” that she took part in the film version in 1937 and received an Oscar nomination.  It was from here that she started a new career playing the “old lady” characters on the screen.

Some of these included “The Thirteenth Chair” (1937), “The Lady Vanishes”(1938), and “Mrs Miniver” (1942).

This is the original trailer for the film:

A wonderful period costume from an MGM film classic.

I recently found out (and a big thank you to James for finding it) that the costume was used again some years later by character actress Florence Auer in the 1949 MGM film "That Forsyte Woman" where she played Ann Forsyte Heyman. It actually gets more screen time in this film than it did in 'Gaslight". I believe that the costume appears in another film as well around that time. It is amazing to see how many times that costumes were reused! Here is are two pictures of Ms Auer in costume.

Thanks again James for your sharp eye in finding it for me!!