The Million Dollar Mermaid: An Autobiography Review

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The Million Dollar Mermaid: An Autobiography ReviewEsther Williams, the aptly titled "Million Dollar Mermaid" of the movies of Hollywood's Golden Era, tells the story of her life in the vivid text of her outstanding autobiography. Williams writes the story of a real person, a sparkling icon/ survivor story, and paints a picture of Hollywood bursting with gossip juicy enough to make Hedda and Louella green. Yet, Williams tells her story without sounding malicious, wicked, or saintly. She writes with great candor and honesty about the hardships of her life: a difficult childhood, near-death incidents doing stunts for movie extravanganzas, nightmarish marriages, and her now-happy life with her husband Edward, and reunited with happy relationships with her children.
Williams began swimming as a teen, and eventually swam in the famous Aquacade with Johnny Weissmuller, who, in between shows, would tear his trunks off and chase her in the pool. She was picked up by MGM Studios, and the fun never stops as Williams recounts and remembers some of the most famous names of entertainment with hilarious and shocking stories. She remembers Lucille Ball (who unjustly accused her of trying to steal Desi Arnaz from her), Ricardo Montalban (a cheerful Latin whom she became fast friends with), Gene Kelly (who fumed trying to create dances for a leading lady a head taller than he was), Frank Sinatra (who became a life-long friend who always let her sit with her elbow onstage during his concerts) and Clark Gable (the greatest kisser she'd ever kissed). And the stories don't stop there: She remembers Joan Crawford, hysterically begging an imaginary audience not to forget her in an empty auditorium, reducing paper tiger Louis B. Mayer to kicking and screaming on the floor of his office, and inquisitively listening to Lana Turner's bedroom exploits through a glass pressed against the wall. She also remembers amusing exploits, like being the first person to break the color barrier at the Sahara (when she passed off her black maid and her maid's boyfriend as Indian royalty!).
Not that Williams was the goody-two-shoes virginal girl she so often portrayed onscreen: She had several affairs with leading men. She gives black belts in the bedroom arts to a few leading men: the powerful, hulkish Victor Mature ("the one man I never had to teach anything to, not even how to swim!"), and the masculine Jeff Chandler. (In the most hilarious and juciest story in the book, she remembers how her affair with Chandler ended when she found him in a flowered chiffon dress, wig, high heels, and makeup!)
There are engrossing stories about the makings of Williams's underwater spectacles, and how the inricate photography and choreography of these films were achieved with movie magic. Williams remembers "that crazy old Busby Berkeley" and how he nearly killed her with spectacular stunts involving her diving from fifty-foot platforms, water-skiing when she was pregnant, etc.
But Williams also endured three stormy marriages: Her first, to the nasty Leonard Kovner, whom she married without knowing very well. Her second marriage was to the buffonish Ben Gage (with whom she had her three beloved children, Ben, Kim, and Susie), who drank and caused her endless embarrassment (one night, she left him passed out cold in Bette Davis's bathtub!). But her third husband was probably the worst: selfish, tyrannical Latino Fernando Lamas, who proved to be a husband from hell, who made Williams work and work to please him, was completely self-absorbed, and refused to let William's children into their home, which upset her desperately. When Lamas died, she was admittedly relieved, and she finally found the right guy: Edward Bell, who helps her run her business of selling swimwear today.
Through it all, Williams kept her head, and triumphed. She's had a colorful, extraordinary life, and it's all set before you in one of the most delicious biographies ever written!The Million Dollar Mermaid: An Autobiography Overview

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