Esther Williams Collection Volume 1

FROM THE LINER NOTES

Bathing Beauty (1944): Esther Williams made a big splash as a Bathing Beauty. Suddenly a new star – and a new genre of moviemaking – was born. Rambunctious funnyman Red Skelton joins that new star in this buoyant (literally) comedy about a lovesick songwriter who enrolls in a women’s college to woo his estranged swimming-teacher wife.

Dangerous When Wet (1953): Esther Williams stars in Dangerous When Wet, a lighthearted mix of romance, music and comedy directed by Charles Walters (Easter Parade). Williams plays Katy, a farmgirl who finds romance (with Williams’ future real-life husband Fernando Lamas) while training for a swim across the English Channel.

Easy To Wed (1946): When The Morning Sun runs an untrue story claiming an heiress (Esther Williams) is a husband stealer, she calls in the legal eagles. So a Sun honcho (Keenan Wynn) devises a counter scheme: He’ll arrange a sham wedding between his tootsie fiancée (Lucille Ball) and a newsroom Romeo (Van Johnson), send the Romeo to woo the heiress, and make the phony story come true!

Neptune's Daughter (1949): Longing for a Latin lover, boy-crazy Betty mistakes girl-shy Jack Spratt (Red Skelton) for team captain José O’Rourke (Ricardo Montalban). Meanwhile, the real O’Rourke pursues Betty’s elegant sister Eve (Esther Williams). Soon mistaken identities and romantic complications spin into a dizzy mix of slapstick and flirtatious fun.

On an Island With You (1948): Esther Williams, Peter Lawford, Ricardo Montalban and Cyd Charisse get the swimming, swaying and sunsets and Jimmy Durante gets the cannibals in this tune-filled paradise for fans of musical comedy. Swimming movie star (Esther Williams) is being pursued by two handsome suitors on the set of her latest film. But the story is mostly a blithe excuse for songs, romance and Esther in a sizzling series of swimsuits and sarongs.