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.
91: Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: Bette Davis, "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?," and Crawford’s last years
90: Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: The Middle Years (Mildred Pierce to Johnny Guitar)
89: Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: Clark Gable, Franchot Tone and Barbara Payton
88: Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: Douglas Fairbanks Jr. / Our Dancing Daughters to Grand Hotel
87: Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: Douglas Fairbanks / Lucille LeSueur Goes to Hollywood
86: The Blacklist Part 16: Kirk Douglas, Dalton Trumbo, and Otto Preminger (Breaking the Blacklist, Part 2)
85: The Blacklist Part 15: Frank Sinatra and Albert Maltz (Breaking The Blacklist, Part 1)
Blacklist Flashback: Frank Sinatra through 1945
84: The Blacklist Part 14: After the Fall: Arthur Miller
83: The Blacklist Part 13: On the Waterfront: Elia Kazan
82: The Blacklist Part 12: Stormy Weather: Lena Horne + Paul Robeson
Blacklist Flashback: Lena Horne During WWII
81: The Blacklist Part 11: Born Yesterday: Judy Holliday
80: The Blacklist Part 10: Salt of the Earth: Howard Hughes + Paul Jarrico
Blacklist Flashback: Howard Hughes + Jane Russell
79: The Blacklist Part 9: She: Richard Nixon + Helen Gahagan Douglas
78: The Blacklist Part 8: Storm Warning: Ronald Reagan, the FBI and HUAC
77: The Blacklist Part 7: Monsieur Verdoux: Charlie Chaplin's Road to Hollywood Exile
Blacklist Flashback: Charlie Chaplin During World War II
76: The Blacklist Part 6: He Ran All The Way: John Garfield
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