Customer Reviews

The Million Dollar Mermaid: An Autobiography

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I eagerly anticipated the release of this biography as I am a longstanding fan of the Golden Era of MGM Musicals. For gossip fans, Ms. Williams' book has it all -- juicy tidbits about her sexual history and the habits and flaws of such Hollywood titans as Louis B. Mayer, Joan Crawford, Victor Mature, Johnny Weismuller, etc. Such discussion was particularly enlightening given Ms. Williams' utterly wholesome screen persona. Although the book has a wealth of such star "secrets," it is ultimately disappointing. While Ms. Williams describes her life, she fails to reveal the reasons for her choices. Ultimately, she comes across as a vapid doormat -- used and abused by her parents, her adopted brother, her first agent, her swimming coach, her alcoholic husband Ben Gage. Most amazingly, she provides almost no explanation for her 22 year marriage to Fernando Lamas -- a marriage during which she was a self-proclaimed second class citizen who was forbidden to make her three prior children a part of her life with Lamas. This 22 year marriage, which comes after chapters detailing Ms. Williams' "take-charge moxie" (she details, with glee, her "tough talk" with, among others, her first agent, Louis B. Mayer, Sam Katz, the head of the Navy, etc.), does not make sense and Ms. Williams' self-serving explanations fail to provide any real insight into her personality.

Esther 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!

I remember the MGM movies of the 50's and going to many Esther Williams films. I thought they were great fun and her autobiography is one of the best "tell all" bios I have read in a very long time.There are a few sketchy things about her life...particularly why she stayed with Fernando Lamas. Outside of that, she dishes up a veritable poutpourri of insight in the running of MGM. She tells of Mayer's tantrums, Joan Crawford's confrontation, Mickey Rooney, Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, Arlene Dahl.The book is written with wit and a wonderful sense of humor. It makes you want to meet her. Highly recommended!!!

After a much awaited arrival, I finally was able to get my hands on "The Million Dollar Mermaid", and read this very entertaining book! Ms. Willaims was able to explain in detail, a time in Hollywood that was at it's best. She gave you personal insight to her struggles with MGM, other actors and their srange quirks, along with tempermental directors, and swimming acomplishments. The stunts the studio (MGM) required her to do, should have been out-lawed. They never cared about her safety in any way. As for her husbands and lovers, one was a cheat, the second, a free loader that fathered her three children. Her third husband (Lamas), demanded she choose him over everyone, even her children. I did have a problem understanding her reasoning on that issue. I recommend this book, if you go into it with an open mind. Ms. Williams tells it like it was.

Since I was a child I have been a fan of Esther Williams; her beauty, her talent, and her swimming ability. Reading her book showed me everything wasn't all that glamourous for her. I like the refreshing way she recalls events in her life and the people she had to deal with. Along with her attitude and how she learned from her mistakes along the way. I felt like she was sitting right next to me telling all these things. It's funny too the way she describes the "macho" men in her life. Boy what egos! If half of this is true it still makes interesting reading. She has great recall too. It's a great book and I enjoyed it very much.

I found this to be just the best mixture of fun, fantasy and glamour, written by a star not known by the general public for her wit, but whose rib-tickling reminiscences hit just the right spot when you're looking for a fun read. Miss Williams's reference to Joe Pasternak and his penchant for eating spaghetti with his hands is a truly hilarious example of the strange people she often encountered in classic-era Hollywood. Good for you, Esther!

Esther Williams is one of the most successful of the handful of world-class athletes who made the transition to Hollywood star. She had the goods as a champion swimmer, though she never quite made it to the Olympics. This breezily written autobiography makes it all seem rather a lot of fun, making movie after movie that showcased her very particular talents. The descriptions of how the visually spectacular swimming sequences in her films were achieved, often with great physical danger to the star (this was long before the computer-generated effects that are commonplace today), are among the most interesting--and hair-raising--portions of the book.

There was plenty of drama in Williams' personal life as well, and her travails with various alcoholic, abusive and swindling husbands and lovers make depressingly familiar reading. There are enough titillating revelations about the men in her life, Johnny Weismuller and Jeff Chandler among them, to keep a reader eagerly turning the pages, though one wonders as usual about the ethics of revealing intimate secrets about people who are no longer around to defend themselves. Still, such discomfort didn't stop _me_ from finishing the book, nor will it dissuade many others, I suspect. In short, "Million Dollar Mermaid" is a highly entertaining entry in the Hollywood tell-all sweepstakes.

As celebrity bios go, this one is, typically, one frenchfry short of a Happy Meal. You have to slog through a lot of goo to get to the good parts about Lana, Ava, Frank, and all the other Tinseltowners you wish you didn't find so fascinating that you would actually stoop to scrolling through bad books to read an anecdote or two...

Esther Williams, for all the vulgarity and downright bad choices and questionable values (cavorting with a Fascist dictator; revealing Jeff Chandler's couturier secrets; dragging us through her tedious marriage to a "difficult" man (read: boorish a-----e) remains, after all these years, a loveable icon. You have to admire a woman who swam for a living. Hey, it's my favorite sport, so I'm a little prejudiced.

Does anybody else agree that the most gorgeous picture of her is the one where she posed for anItalian fashion magazine? Frankly, I think she should have stayed in Italy and modeled. They like older women there, so she probably could have been doing it to this day.

Anyway, at least she made friends with her poor kids. They got the worst part of the deal - absentee mother, alcoholic father, little if nothing financially to compensate, thanks to their father's addictions and their mother's convenient naivete. But then, Esther admits all this. Actually, she really doesn't owe any of us an explanation, though she took the time to do it. She gave, as they say, at the office.

Esther Williams' autobiography Million Dollar Mermaid attracted my attention because of my interest in her films. As her book reveals, her private life was much less squeaky clean than her films. She details her beginnings as a champion swimmer and debut into screenwork with MGM. Her intimate memories of life on the set are probably the highlight of the book. One gets a very good feel for the way things operated when the studio system ruled an actor's image. Her dealings with Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis and Gene Kelly are worth reading. It's intersting to note that Williams seemed to get along with few of her directors.

It's when Williams delves into her private life that things get messy. She is a contrast in terms as she details her failed marriages and relationships with her children. Throughout the book, she prides herself on her ability as an astute businesswoman. But at the same time, she let third husband Ben Gage squander all her earnings in worthless deals and betting on the track, claiming she had no idea what was going on. Each husband possessed a variety of terrible qualities, and yet Williams married them anyway. She makes some regrettable decisions but always seems to blame them on others.

It is Williams' story of her fourth marriage to Agentinian actor Fernando Lamas that gets the most development and leaves the reader the most perplexed. Williams explains how she married Lamas to "save him" and entered into a 22-year martyr-like position in which she waited on him hand and foot. She claims to have deeply loved a man who refused to let her own children live with them, forcing her to shuffle them to off to alcoholic Ben Gage.

This reader had little pity for Williams' "woe is me" description of how she constantly went from her house to Gage's house to feed her children and supervise their homework. Her description of her last days with Lamas are a paradox, revealing a woman who was scarred by the experience but still loved her husband despite his horrible treatment of her and her children.

In the end, this book delivers an intriguing inside look at MGM during the 40s and 50s but also shows you a side of Esther Williams that may leave you unsettled.

This book really brought me into the world of hollywood and every detail of her life made me relize how many hard ships that an actor/ actress has to deal with. the book was filled with humor and sadness, making you pity Esther for her terrible expeirences with many minipulitve men surrounding her, especially Fernando Llamas and Ben Gage. The only thing disturbing about this book was how frustrated I felt reading about how she was completely oblivious about how she was neglecting her children and holding on by a thread to marriages that were chewing at her soul. i recomend this book to any reader, Hey! I'm only 13 and this book was fascinating to me! it's gotten me hooked on old Hollywood and I have decided to read the biographies of some other famous actors/actresses, like Lana Turner, because I have always been a old movie fan. Read this book and trust me you will love it and never put it down!