16-Year-Old Swimming Champion Esther Williams – 1938

It will not come as a surprise to anyone who has ever seen an Esther Williams film that she was a swimming star before a film star.

The caption from our news photo reads:

Time Out To Pose
Los Angeles, Calif. – Photo shows (left to right) Iris Cummings, National 220-yard breaststroke champion: Billie Steitz, Pacific coast backstroke titlist and Esther Williams, freestyle star, as they pose during a practice session. The trio will take place in the Southern California swimming and diving meet within a few days in the Los Angeles Athletic Club pool, as well as the National Championships next month. Credit Acme Photos; March 22, 1938

Williams first major film role was in “Andy Hardy’s Double Life” (1942). Did it really take four years from the time of this photograph to discover Esther Williams?

How did Esther Williams (b. August 8, 1921) get discovered? One story says an MGM talent scout saw her working in a Los Angeles department store. Another story is that MGM executives noticed her at the 1939- 40 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco, while swimming in Billy Rose’s Aquacade show.

Esther Williams won three time United States National Swimming Championships. With her photograph frequently seen in newspapers, you would think some Hollywood casting genius would have noticed Esther by 1938

Of course Esther’s swimming skills and (bathing suits) were highlights in many of the 30 films she would make.

Occasionally, Esther would be given an excellent non-swimming role. For proof see Esther’s films A Guy Named Joe (1943), The Hoodlum Saint (1946) and Take Me Out To The Ballgame (1949). But these were the exceptions. When the public went to an Esther Williams movie they expected to see elaborate choreographed swimming sequences. And that’s what the public generally got.

Esther Williams died at age 91 on June 6, 2013 in Los Angeles of natural causes.