“Critics established a snobbery toward me.” — Esther Williams
My formal introduction to aquatic-mermaid-star Esther Williams wasn’t through her movies. Oh, I may have seen some of the numbers on the various afternoon movies shown on local TV, where I first saw the old movies that made me a movie fan. But no, not for Esther. I learned about Esther Williams through Judy Blume.
When I was a kid, 9 or 10 years old, my favorite book of hers was Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself. It tells the story of a young Jewish girl whose family moves to Miami Beach from New York City in 1947. Sally lives a rich world of fantasy. She dreams of being a detective, or the star of some sweeping romance. During her first months in Florida, she becomes convinced that their next-door neighbor is Hitler, in disguise. Judy Blume has said that Sally J. Freedman was her most autobiographical book, dealing with a post-WWII childhood, the lingering spectre of Nazism over American Jews, and the domination of Hollywood over the dreams of kids. Movies are an escape for Sally from frightening reality.
Sally is obsessed with Esther Williams.
Here is an excerpt from Blume’s book:
Esther Williams was her favorite movie actress. Some day she was going to swim just like her, with her hair in a coronet and a flower behind her ear. Swimming along underwater, always smiling, with beautiful straight white teeth and shiny red lipstick. Esther Williams never got water up her nose or had to spit while she swam, like Sally, who didn’t like to get her face wet in the first place. Not even when she dove off the high board. You’d never know you had to kick to stay afloat from watching Esther Williams. And when she swam in the movies there was always beautiful music in the background and handsome men standing around, waiting. It would be great fun to be Esther Williams!
Check out this wonderful homage to Williams:
I was a kid who loved watching old movies whenever they showed up on channel 56. That’s how I first saw James Dean, Marlon Brando, Joan Fontaine, Vincent Price, Cary Grant, and all the rest of them. On a staticky little black and white TV on Saturday afternoons.
When I first saw an Esther Williams movie, I remember feeling a thrill, feeling so SMART because I already knew the name, and I already knew how important she was, because hadn’t Sally J. Freedman introduced me to her so well?
Thanks, Judy Blume.
Fanny Brice, the original Funny Girl, supposedly once wisecracked, “Esther Williams? Wet, she’s a star. Dry, she ain’t.”
When Esther Williams heard that remark, she laughed. She didn’t take herself too seriously. She didn’t have pretensions about who or what she was. She was a star. More “serious” actors would kill to have her charisma. You look at her and you feel happy. How many people can you say that about? She was an amazing athlete, the undulating movements of her body showing off her power, but also her grace, her legs curling around underneath her, her back arched like a swan’s neck, silky, elongated, beautiful. Through all of this … her smile seems – IS – real, and that’s what I think of when I think of Esther Williams. Well, I think of her body, its beauty, its fluidity, how she moved, the long strength of her legs. But mostly I think of her smile.
Here’s a clip from Easy to Love, 1953.
An apt title. It describes Esther Williams in 3 small words.
“It appeared as if I had invited the audience into the water with me, and it conveyed the sensation that being in there was absolutely delicious.” — Esther Williams
Gen. MacArthur once said, “Old Soldiers Never Die, They just fade away!” in the case of Esther Williams, someone like may die, but they never fade away. There has been pro and anti supporters of Esther Williams & there is one thing she did in 1993, On September 15, 1993, on the 30th Anniversary of The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama she was in the back row honoring the 4 school girls who were killed in the blast in 1963. She did have a legitimate reason of being there. She had a stillborn daughter in her #2 Marriage with Ben Gage before she had three children from him, one died of brain tumor & 2 still survive. She also met the relatives of the dead school girls & addressed them as sir or ma’am & addressed when as Mr., Mrs. or Miss & told them how she cheated death & suffered various setbacks, but told them in a bold message, “I do not destroy easily, It’s the least what I worry about!” If you did read her 1999 autobiography book you will find out she did not destroy easily and her passing was on the 69th Anniversary of D-Day. My mother passed away on May 4, 2011 the 41st Anniversary of The Kent State Incident. On the 50th Anniversary of “Birmingham Sunday”, Esther’s husband, Ed Bell and some people who represented Esther was there to honor the fallen school girls. Esther is gone, but there are at least 32 African-American women & girls who also bear the name of Esther Williams. Marcus Brainard
Safe to say there’s a whole bunch of us 70s and 80s kids from the Greater Boston area whose interest in pop-culture was sparked and shaped by Channel 56 in one way or another.
Earlier this week I showed my kids a youtube of WLVI ‘signing-off’ for the day (among some other bits of Boston-style TV nostalgia) and they were fascinated by the notion of TV simply stopping for the night.
Stay safe down there!
// whose interest in pop-culture was sparked and shaped by Channel 56 in one way or another. //
so true! I am so grateful we had that!
you stay safe too!!