Esther Williams @ 100: Million Dollar Mermaid

Team Experience has been celebrating Esther Williams Centennial with a three part miniseries. Previously we featured Thrill of a Romance and Neptune's Daughter. 

by Cláudio Alves

In some ways, Million Dollar Mermaid is both the quintessential Esther Williams movie and a departure in the screen siren's career. During the 1940s, Williams achieved cinematic stardom through self-knowing exercises in romantic silliness and musical extravagance, lighthearted productions that wore their escapist possibilities as a badge of honor. One can often feel the screenwriter's strain, trying to shoe-horn swimming scenes in stories that could function just as well without them. Even the baseball comedy Take Me Out to the Ball Game had to be retrofitted into having an out-of-place pool number where Williams gets to lip-sync while swimming under the gaze of Busby Berkeley's camera. Consequentially, MGM never presented Williams as a great dramatic actress, preferring to exhalt her natural charms, radiant presence, and aquatic athleticism.

Loosely inspired in the life of Australian professional swimmer, vaudevillian, and early movie star Annette Kellerman, Million Dollar Mermaid is a lavish biopic with inspirational aspirations...

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Esther Williams @ 100: Neptune's Daughter

by Camila Henriques

As we continue with our celebration of Esther Williams's centennial, we're thrown into the story of "a girl, a guy and a swimsuit". All in all, that's an accurate summary of Neptune's Daughter, the 1949 film directed by Edward Buzell that paired the star with one of her frequent onscreen partners Ricardo Montalbán. Like other Williams efforts, the picture relies on her screen charisma to succeed, and, when it does it's pure magic.

It's a funny coincidence that her centennial comes as we're invaded by the Olympic spirit. Williams herself was never able to compete in the games. Her big shot came the year they were cancelled due to World War II, in 1940...

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Esther Williams @ 100: "Thrill of a Romance"

Team Experience is celebrating Esther Williams' Centennial.

by Nathaniel R

"Do you mind if I watch, too?" a businessman in a parked car shouts from outside a swimming pool -- a pretty swimming instructor, has asked her students to watch her do a swan dive. "Not at all," she says with a dulcet tone and flirty smile. Moments later the businessman is grilling the child to tell him everything he knows about his teacher including where she lives (!) This is the opening scene from 1945's Thrill of a Romance and courtship was, um, different. Who knows about this fictional swimming instructor but the actress playing her was already used to being gawked at, even before movie cameras arrived.

Esther Williams, the athlete turned movie star, was born on this day one hundred years ago in Inglewood, California. By the time she was 16 she was a national swimming champion with Olympic dreams. A couple of years later she was a star in the Aquacade (paired with another swimming champion, Johnny Weismuller, already a movie star). MGM signed her in 1941 and she became a popular WW II pin-up girl in her endless swimsuit photos. Meanwhile the movies back home were making her yet more famous. 

Which brings us to Thrill of a Romance (1945)...

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Cinema Swimwear: Far From Heaven

Close Out Last Weekend of Summer Sale! The Film Experience Swimwear Line! 

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The Classy Cathy
★★★★★ - 5 Reviews

Product Details
Oscar perennial Sandy Powell brought the 1950's to vibrant life and failed to receive an Oscar nomination for what might be some of her best work ever. But we had to have her Classy Cathy for our swimwear line. A girl has to be ready for summer in Miami or the beautifully welcoming Cuba.

Notice how comfortable, stylish and classy Mrs. Cathy Whitaker looks. The top seems inspired by Burberry and Betty Crocker, while the bottom suggests ladies (and men judging from the robes the guys wear) shouldn't forget to cover as much as they can. 

You can't be too vulgar with Mona Lauder around...

Size 
A lady never tells

Color 
Lavender (What else?)

Price
Your darling dreamboat husband will take care of that.  

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Cinema Swimwear: Legally Blonde

This summer The Film Experience is launching its own swimwear line! *not really

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The Legally Bikini
★★★★★ - 6 Reviews

Product Details
The perfect outfit for the up-and-coming go-getter who not only wants to dress to impress, but get a fabulous tan while doing it. Makes using legal jargon in everyday life an effortless, sexy breeze. This minimal design predominantly features bold sequins – all the better to hypnotize the man of your dreams, right ladies? – with thin straps and lines that accentuate the body. You’ll get the attention of wandering frat brothers and university admissions officers alike

Color 
Comes in a variety of colors. Featured here are some of our most popular, favored by sorority sisters and Harvard graduates: hot pink, baby pink and zesty lime green! Also comes in an assortment of candy colors for the discerning poolside mover and shaker. 

Size 
This is not a swimsuit for the boyish figure but designed to highlight any woman with a full bust and slim waistline.

Price:
From only $59.99, this is an affordable swimsuit for anybody sponging off of daddy’s wealth, a large inheritance, or even – are you paying attention, men? – a special gift for your beautiful lady. The attention you get, however, will be priceless. 

Detail & Care:
Deceptive in its power, the mix of sexy kitten and elegance has barely an ounce of mystery to its design. Accentuate it with a simple ponytail and Tiffany necklace and the world is your oyster!

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