Kellerman, who was around 26 years old at the time, was compared to Venus de Milo – 'the most perfectly formed woman of ancient times' – by Sargent. She substitutes harmonious curves and symmetry for exaggeration of the distinctly feminine characteristics.' Sargent concluded that ‘the American woman of today is becoming more like the Greek ideal of the beautiful. He concluded that while women's proportions had changed in the previous 20 years, it was, in fact, for the better. Sargent's study was a response to concerns that women were becoming more masculine with their increasing levels of physical exercise. Kellerman's strength and skill as a diver and performer is apparent in the footage. This silent Warwick Bioscope Chronicle newsreel shows Kellerman in her famous one-piece swimming costume performing dives for an audience of men in suits and hats.
‘After making examinations of ten thousand girls, Annette Kellerman is the closest to physical perfection of any’ declared Dr Dudley Sargent, director of the Harvard University Gymnasium in 1912.
#Artful yarn vaudeville movie
By 1911 the term ‘Annette Kellermann suit’ was American terminology for a one-piece swimsuit and she lent her name to a range of swimsuits from 1914 to the 1930s, incidentally becoming a prototype for movie stars marketing their own clothing lines. The UK title was The One-Piece Suit, honouring Kellerman's pivotal role in popularising the modern one-piece bathing suit. The title of the film refers to Kellerman's nickname 'The Million Dollar Mermaid', which she gained after the financial success of Neptune's Daughter (Herbert Brenon, USA, 1914). She was also an author and fitness entrepreneur. She was particularly disappointed that they left out a sequence where she danced the Diving Swan ballet with Arturo Toscanini, a highlight of her career. I sang, danced, and played the accordion.' She said, 'It may not sound modest, but I did many more things in show business than my swimming act. Kellerman was not a fan of Million Dollar Mermaid, calling it a 'silly little yarn' and a 'namby-pamby attempt' at her life story. Esther Williams injured herself while they were shooting a high-diving scene in the film, and spent six months in a body cast as a result. Olympic diver Helen Crlenkovich likely performs the high dive from a trapeze that is seen in the trailer, while Edith Motridge was Williams' swimming double. Kellerman performed all of her stunts, unlike Williams who required two stunt doubles.
Berkeley was the prominent Hollywood choreographer of his generation, creating large-scale dazzling dance spectacles in films like 42nd Street (1933), Footlight Parade (1933) and Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933). It is given the 'Busby Berkeley treatment'.
The clip features examples of synchronised swimming, a sport which Kellerman pioneered. What it does effectively advertise is that this is a big-budget film and cinema audiences can expect a visual treat. Nonetheless, the technicolour is sumptuous and the superimposing of moving footage adds an attractive dreamlike quality, almost mimicking the translucent nature of the water. The film is based on the life story of Annette Kellerman and stars then relative newcomer Esther Williams.Īs far as biopic trailers go, this is something of an oddity, focusing almost exclusively on grandiose choreographed swimming and diving routines rather than other aspects of Kellerman's life. This is an excerpt from a mute trailer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Million Dollar Mermaid (Mervyn LeRoy, USA, 1952).
#Artful yarn vaudeville plus
We pay homage to the fearless Annette Kellerman in this curated collection which includes glimpses of her surviving film roles, rare footage of her performing underwater ballet, plus photographs, newsreels and an oral history interview. Her physical prowess meant she performed all of her own stunt dives and underwater tricks. She moved to New York and starred in blockbuster silent films. Ahead of her time, Kellerman even included a drag act. Her vaudeville shows became legendary and showcased her skills in underwater ballet, wire walking, dance and music. Moving to England in 1905, she embarked on a vaudeville career and defied convention by wearing a one-piece swimming costume, starting a worldwide trend. The list of Annette Kellerman's achievements is extraordinary: champion swimmer and diver, vaudeville performer, international silent film star, stunt performer and entrepreneur.īorn in Sydney in 1886, she started out as a champion swimmer and diver – holding all the world records for women's swimming at just 16 years old and performing marathon swims.
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