Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Million Dollar Mermaid: An Autobiography by Esther Williams ISBN: 0-15-601135-2 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 14 September, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.68 (56 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: More interesting than I expected
Comment: 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.
Rating: 3
Summary: This mermaid is a contradiction
Comment: 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: 1
Summary: the million dollar phoney
Comment: 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.
 |
Title:Bathing Beauty ASIN: 6302077818 Publisher: Turner Home Video Pub. Date: 22 May, 1991 List Price(USD): $19.99 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $19.99 |
 |
Title:This Time for Keeps ASIN: 6305562849 Publisher: Warner Home Video Pub. Date: 26 July, 1999 List Price(USD): $19.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $19.98 |
 |
Title: Hollywood Beauty: Linda Darnell and the American Dream by Ronald L. Davis ISBN: 0806133309 Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: Robert Mitchum : "Baby I Don't Care" by Lee Server ISBN: 0312285434 Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin Pub. Date: 06 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
 |
Title:For Me And My Gal ASIN: B00005JLU7 Publisher: Warner Home Video Pub. Date: 06 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $19.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $17.38 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
