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.
36: Star Wars Episode X: Errol Flynn
35: Star Wars Episode IX: Olivia de Havilland and John Huston, with Special Guest Rian Johnson
34: Star Wars Episode VIII: How Norma Jeane Became Marilyn Monroe
33: Star Wars Episode VII: Lena Horne
32: Star Wars Episode VI: Marlene Dietrich
31: Star Wars Episode V: Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles
30: Star Wars Episode IV: Gene Tierney (Or: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, Chapter 5)
29: Star Wars Episode III: Hedy Lamarr
28: Star Wars Episode II: Carole Lombard and Clark Gable
27: Star Wars Episode I: Bette Davis and the Hollywood Canteen
26: Tales of Celebrity Drunkenness, 2014
25: The Short Lives of Bruce and Brandon Lee
24: Mia Farrow in the 1960s, Part Two: Mia & Dory
23: Mia Farrow in the 1960s, Part One: Mia & Frank
22: Audrey Hepburn: Sex, Style, and Sabrina
21: The Birth of Barbra Streisand’s A Star is Born
20: LIZ <3 MONTY
19: Raquel Welch, From Pin-up to Pariah
18: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, Chapter 4: Jane Russell
17: Theda Bara, Hollywood’s First Sex Symbol
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