Esther Williams single-handedly helped popularize the pastime of swimming — first as the star swimmer of the San Francisco production of Billy Rose's Aquacade, and then as the star of Hollywood films like Bathing Beauties and Million Dollar Mermaid. Williams’s stardom — and the necessity to maintain her image as a grinning glamour girl, even while submerged underwater — led to the creation of several waterproof products and swimwear innovations, from waterproof foundation and eyeliner to bathing cap couture. Despite two decades of sustained celebrity and brand power, Williams eventually struggled to maintain the pristine bathing beauty facade. She lost her MGM contract in the 1960s and had to pay millions to the studio in damages. On her way down, she slapped her name on swimming pools and exercise videos, stumbled through four unhappy marriages and started to experiment with LSD for her depression. Drawing on previously untapped resources, Rachel Syme will tell the story of Williams' rise and fall, and the innovations in aqua-beauty she inspired, while also analyzing why we want to be waterproof, why we want to be so invulnerable to the elements and why putting swimming on-screen led to pressures for women to look put-together, even when sopping wet.
This episode was written and performed by Rachel Syme, a writer, reporter and cultural critic living in New York City. She writes a regular column for The New Yorker on fashion and beauty. She is also a regular contributor to The New York Times Magazine, GQ, Vanity Fair and Esquire. She often writes about the complex intersection between fame, glamour, beauty and feminism.
The Hard Hollywood Life of Kim Novak — 10th anniversary restoration
Introducing: Talking Pictures from TCM and Max
Eyes Wide Shut, Part 2, and the Sexiest Man Alive in 1999 (Erotic 90s, Part 21)
Eyes Wide Shut, Part 1 (Erotic 90’s, Part 20)
90s Lolitas Volume 3: Wild Things, Cruel Intentions and Britney Spears (Erotic 90’s, Part 19)
90’s Lolitas Volume 2: Adrian Lyne’s Lolita (Erotic 90’s, Part 18)
The Lynch Family: Boxing Helena & Lost Highway (Erotic 90’s, Part 17)
Crash and David Cronenberg (Erotic 90’s, Part 16)
“Lesbian Chic”: Bound and Anne Heche in Wild Side (Erotic 90’s, Part 15)
Introducing: Glitter & Might
Showgirls, Jade, and the fall of Joe Eszterhas. (Erotic 90’s, Part 14)
The Last Seduction, Disclosure, & Fear of the Female Boss (Erotic 90’s, Part 13)
Sliver and Sharon Stone as Superstar (Erotic 90’s, Part 12)
Indecent Proposal (Erotic 90’s, Part 11)
Sex, Erotica and Body of Evidence (Erotic 90’s, Part 10)
Red Shoe Diaries and sex on TV in the 90s. (Erotic 90’s, Part 9)
90s Lolitas, volume 1: Drew Barrymore, Amy Fisher and Alicia Silverstone (Erotic 90’s, Part 8)
Murphy Brown, Dan Quayle and Damage (Erotic 90’s, Part 7)
Basic Instinct (Erotic 90’s, Part 6)
The Blanks From Hell: Fatal Attraction’s Children (Erotic 90’s, Part 5)
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