Rating: 
Summary: A most unusual Hollywood career
Review: 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.
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Summary: A walk down memory lane w/ Esther
Review: 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.
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Summary: This mermaid is a contradiction
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: the million dollar phoney
Review: Esther Williams has a very high opinion of herself(undeserved).
Her films seem insipid now. In the telling of her life she was cruel to people who could not defend themelves,and she comes out smelling like a old fish.
Rating:
Summary: The Godmother of Baywatch
Review: Esther Williams is a largely forgotten figure today, except to film buffs, but in the 1940s and 1950s she was one of the world's most popular film stars. In her teens, she was one of America's female swimmers and, but for the outbreak of World War 2, would have competed in the 1940 Olympics. She was then persuaded to sign a contract with MGM by Louis B Mayer and over the next fifteen years she starred in a series of movies which centred around spectacular swimming-pool sequences. Her career, however, was damaged when in 1955 she walked out on her MGM contract rather than appear in The Opposite Sex as the studio wanted. She made a few more non-swimming pictures in the late 50s and early 60s, but these only confirmed Mayer's famous view that "Wet, she's a star; dry, she ain't". In 1961 she gave up her film career altogether. There can be few film stars who have written an autobiography nearly forty years after making their last film, and Miss Williams has set herself the difficult task of interesting her readers in events which took place so long ago. Largely, she succeeds. There are several reasons for this. The first is that although the book is ghostwritten, Miss Williams's ghostwriter, Digby Diehl, writes with greater style and wit than most ghostwriters. The second is that because the events took place so long ago, many of those concerned are now dead and she can therefore write with greater candour than the libel laws would otherwise allow her. The third is that she balances her account of her professional activities with a vivid portrait of her private life.
The contrast between public and private life is probably the book's greatest strength. In business affairs, she was a tough and determined young woman, ever ready to fight her corner against bullying or sexually predatory studio executives. In her private life, she seems to have had much greater difficulties. After a brief unsatisfactory first marriage, she married a musician named Ben Gage. Were this a work of fiction, the drunken, idle, dishonest, gambling-addicted, childish and irresponsible Gage would qualify as a great comic character; in real life, such a man must have been virtually impossible to live with. The wonder is not that the marriage ended in divorce, but rather that it lasted for fourteen years. Esther's third marriage was rather more successful, although it is difficult to understand why. Fernando Lamas, an Argentine film star. was conceited, vain and sex-obsessed. Worse still, he refused to have anything to do with the children of her marriage to Gage, with the result that they had to live with their feckless father. He also insisted on her giving up her film career, and there is nothing in her account of their marriage which really explains why she stayed with him for twenty years until his death. Despite the vivacity of Esther's narrative and the interesting light she sheds on the making of her films, some things in her book leave a bad impression, which is why I have not given it more than three stars. There is too much standard Hollywood gossip on the lines of "who-was sleeping-with-whom" and "who-had-what-vice", none of which is really enlightening. The revelations about Jeff Chandler's private life fall firmly into the category of things you never wanted to know about Hollywood but have been forced to find out. Esther certainly should not have repeated Lamas's insinuations that Lana Turner was responsible for the murder of her boyfriend now that Lana is no longer here to defend herself. Miss Williams also occasionally seems insufficiently critical of her own behaviour and that of those close to her. She can find little wrong in Lamas's blackmail of his previous wife Arlene Dahl, for example, or in her accepting the hospitality of General Franco, or in her sarcastic gesture in sending a deliberately cheap and tacky bouquet of flowers to Joan Crawford who was going through a severe crisis of self-confidence at the time. The book is also occasionally philistine in tone. Miss Williams is so keen to defend her own films from the charge of being mere "fluff" that she tends to undervalue films made with a serious purpose or on a small budget. The Red Badge of Courage, one of the finest war films ever made, is dismissed as a "grim little message film", although she probably disliked it because it was made by Dore Schary, a studio executive she loathed. The Opposite Sex is no cinematic masterpiece, but it does not fall so far beneath the artistic standards of the average Esther Williams movie as to make worthwhile the loss of the $3 million in deferred contract payments which she forfeited by refusing to do it. Esther points out that, in their day, her films did better at the box office than those starring MGM's other big female stars, Lana Turner, Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr. Unfortunately, the claim that there is no arguing with the box office loses force with the passage of time, and time has been kinder to those ladies than to her. Fifty years on, some at least of their movies are regarded as classics, while hers are little more than cheesy curiosities. Whatever else they may have been, however, there is no denying that her movies were unique. Even while she was at MGM, no other studio tried to imitate them, and since her retirement, although choreographed water ballet has made a curious move to the sporting arena (Esther claims the title of "godmother of synchronised swimming"), it has vanished from the cinema screen. Yet there is a modern parallel. Action largely taking place in the water, limited intellectual depth combined with glossy production values and tricksy camera work, family entertainment with plenty of shots of attractive girls in swimsuits? Could Esther also be the godmother of Baywatch?
Rating: 
Summary: A LOTTA GOSSIP, A LOTTA LIFE, A LOTTA FUN!
Review: 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!
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Summary: Ms. Williams writes as well as she swims!
Review: More interesting than I expected April 1, 2002
Ms. Williams writes with surprising candor of her early Hollywood
days. There was a great deal I didn't know about Esther Williams prior to reading her book and was pleasantly surprised to find out what an interesting woman she is! She speaks openly about her co-workers (other movie "stars"), the education she received from making movies and the studio system and her family life. An astute businesswoman as well, Ms. Williams was also very involved in synchronized swimming including its induction into the Olympics. I was surprised to find that I had a hard time putting the book down.
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Summary: Wet A Star(Dry She's Not)
Review: That may sound harsh, "Wet a star, Dry she's not" but its true. But in the 1940s she stole America's heart with her beautiful smile and looks and great swimming. It was like she danced in water. She made everyone wanna jump in the water and swim, in the 40s its been said, the sales of swimming pools went up because of Esther Williams. Esther Williams and the studio of course she couldn't be a dramatic actress like Lana Turner or Ava Gardner, and they knew she wouldn't be a musical star like Judy Garland, Kathryn Grayson, and they knew she wasn't funny like June Allyson, so they had to use her swimming talent, which worked. But, she had an advantage over Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, Judy Garland, June Allyson, and others, she told the studio what to do, she was the only one who knew about swimming, so she taught them. WOW, A FIRST FOR MGM, A STAR TELLING THEM WHAT TO DO. She was basically a gimmick, every studio has a type of actress that's just around long enough till the public stops seeing that movies, she was the ultimate 40s girl, Pin-Up Girl. During, the 40s she was the top box office drawer, her beautiful swimming scenes were breathtaking. This book tells all the juicy gossip, she talks about every MGM star, good and bad, and other studio stars. Very good book, she holds nothing back, she explains her good and bad. the good and bad of others, etc. We all been waiting for Esther Williams to write a book, now we got it, it waas good. Now, we await for Kathryn Grayson's book. =)
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Summary: MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID IS A MILLION DOLLAR BIOGRAPHY!
Review: WOW! I'll say one thing for Esther Williams--she really knows how to get a guy's attention! Whether it's her million dollar legs on the cover of MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID, or her pages about Jeff Chandler's crossdressing, this Hollywood biography is the best I've ever seen! Esther Williams names names, places, and tells who did what when! MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID IS A MILLION DOLLAR BIOGRAPHY! Chari Krishnan RESEARCHKING
Rating:
Summary: More interesting than I expected
Review: Ms. Williams writes with surprising candor of her early Hollywood
days. There was a great deal I didn't know about Esther Williams prior to reading her book and was pleasantly surprised to find out what an interesting woman she is! She speaks openly about her co-workers (other movie "stars"), the education she received from making movies and the studio system and her family life. An astute businesswoman as well, Ms. Williams was also very involved in synchronized swimming including its induction into the Olympics. I was surprised to find that I had a hard time putting the book down.
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