Esther Williams - Easy To Love

[@christinedotson2600]

I 💕 love you Esther Williams you are truly amazing and the reason I fell in love with swimming ❤❤❤❤😂

[@phubblewubbphubblewubb]

No one does this now. What an incredible woman.

[@yvonneplant9434]

Few can.

[@christinedotson2600]

I can and don't worry darling stay tuned

[@christinedotson2600]

❤❤❤❤❤

[@StevoSharp]

She is legendary!

[@amandawhiteley6737]

A hell of a lot of rehearsals n preparation! Hard work thrown in! ❤❤❤❤❤ just wonderful at the end of it all!

[@amandawhiteley6737]

I'm a pisces lady...you know the rest ha ha ha ha❤❤❤❤❤❤ I'm like a big kid on the beach luv being in the sun near the waves!!! Esther we salute you ❤❤❤❤❤😊😊😊😊😊😊😊🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@amandawhiteley6737]

Oh my God this just gets better I'm ecstatic just watching this show on the water!! ❤❤❤❤❤ Simply amazing. 😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@survival_of_the_sickest4448]

OHHHHH MY GODDDD I've been strucketh. This is the most intense, beautiful, dramatic waterskiing I've ever seen 💃 I was literally screaming the whole video. Literally. I didn't even know this was possible. SHE WAS LIFTED UP OFF HER SKIS INTO THE AIR BY A HELICOPTER, WHO DOES THAT? ESTHER DOES. 👏🏻 unreal. Crazy talented, all of them. There was synchronization, there was weaving, she been ducking the other lines, there were jumps and formation changes, I could go on and on 🤯 I have never seen a show like this. 1000/10.

[@sandikaiser6842]

I know right! My Mom was one of the many skiers in the amazing production, chatting with Busby Berkeley, teaching Esther to ski and having a few little walk on parts.

[@miriamvelaubach2939]

Lot of work beneath the scenes. Gorgeous!

[@cloudshadow954]

Excellence! This came on my autoplay, I couldn’t stop watching.

[@rondajones7526]

Same!

[@pennycarroll9006]

Loved watching this beautiful Esther Williams movie tonight!

[@yvonneplant9434]

She stayed beautiful her whole life. She was over 90 when she died. Maybe being such a great swimmer was why. ❤

[@susananderson5683]

What a briliiant production this was. Leaves in awe!!

[@marvindanny436]

Hello Susan 😊

[@karenhill3970]

Oh my GOSH !yes!!!! My Mom loved Esther Williams!! We MUST of been watching Re- runs on Sun matinee on TV but All I can remember is Mom saying " oh love Esther Williams ' I was little girl ...Mom & my Daddy were divorced when I was 1 but She talked about their early marriage slot the first few years were Happy ....they were station in Winter Haven Florida!! Mom loved it !!& Cypress Gardens " they were there in 55 this move I think made in 53(1953). I have ole brochures of Cypress Gardens " of Mom's in her things I treasure.....now I found this move on KZbin !!! So happy to have thes great movies again Mom would love it too...& This clip!! Thank you🦋

[@juanmonge8]

The sport of holding on. They sure had a good grip. I would love to see people do this stuff again.

[@berylbattrick1246]

love it, more of her movies please, pleasing to the eyes, minds, and wonderfully entertaining, uplifting and enjoyable, and, and thank you.

[@kennixox262]

These are classic.

[@andrenewcomb3708]

The fish must be like . . . "What's going on up there?"

[@nancythibeau4677]

The swan with all her babies 😎

[@fanorama1]

That was just crazy.. and dangerous.

[@DonizeteMesapereira]

Amo os filme dela Esther Williams rainha das Piscina bela Sereia grande nadadora ótima atriz mulher mais Bela do mundo 👑👑👑❤️❤️💙💚💜💙❤️💜🤍💚💙🌸🌸🌺🌺💐💐💐🎸🎸🎷🎷

[@silviobritojunior.oliveira3022]

Beyond gorgeous !

[@christinedotson2600]

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤ I love you Esther Williams 😍😍😍😍😍😍❤️❤️❤️❤️😘💕💖💗😚

[@marie-neigevivesvives5209]

ces films porteurs de rêve , de beauté ! Jubilatoires , le rapport à l'eau est magique enfin pour moi....

[@marvindanny436]

Hello Marie 😊

[@LeoraWeinglass]

According to the "That's Entertainment, part 2" Documentary on PBS - she did ALL her own with no stunt-doubles and no special effects! This is so amazing- nowadays we don't ever get this kind of cinematography without "effects" and other techno-gimmickery that (to me) is so unimpressive, compared to just watching the real THING.... - what an incredible woman she was! Esther, you go, Girl !!

[@syhooverman5418]

+Leora W Agree wholeheartedly. Apparently she was an olympic swimmer!!

[@dannybex]

+Leora W Don't believe all the publicity. Clearly she's in front of fake backdrops in some shots here, and in fact a double was used for her dive from the helicopter...

[@HunterMann]

I saw this on the big screen at a drive-in Cannes as a kid. Yes, true that Esther did most of her stunts, freeze-frame at 7:21 time mark, a stunt man in woman's bathing suit...

[@jessicavictoriacarrillo7254]

I think she noted it in her autobiography that she was pregnant and she didn't want to lose her baby so she demanded from Busby (who they got in) that they use her friend from their days as competitive swimmers and her friend be paid $1,000 per drop.

[@esmeephillips5888]

@@HunterMann The listed stunt WOMAN was Helen Crlenkovich Morgan, who had already been Esther's 'swim-in' on 'Neptune's Daughter' and 'Million Dollar Mermaid'. Morgan died only two years after 'Easy to Love' was made, aged 34.

[@yelloworangered]

Incredible! So dangerous! I am even in more awe now that I've read her autobiography.

[@toltschin]

Now I know why I was water skiing by the age of Four! Esther - RIP.

[@Scjadelitasantos148]

SHE-STILL WILLIAMS

[@davewall2184]

I'm not a fan of the color red but I could learn WOW what a beautiful young lady, granted, my dad was roughly 16 when she asked him to go swimming with her

[@ktin75bumaggiolo90]

MEMO¡¡RIES¡¡ thankyou¡¡

[@beryelle]

she was a bad ass!

[@esmeephillips5888]

Fun fact: there is a nightclub scene in 'Easy to Love' where director Chuck Walters dances with Cyd Charisse- both uncredited despite Cyd's recent success in 'Singin' in the Rain'. Esther admitted that she had two left feet when it came to hoofing on shore.

[@andreasmoll_0924]

That was the time when we had the chance to keep everything as good as it was, but the government did nothing to preserve it. You can tell by the change of music from then to now exactly how it has gone from good to bad

[@susantraversy9813]

There was a government that restricted music. Nazi Germany didn't allow Swing or Jazz music. It's the music industry that pushes the various types of music along with the public who accepts it.

[@leonagraca2239]

The music was great too

[@richardlee8495]

spectacular number, Esther's best.

[@jesseb.8171]

No, they don't. There are no water ski shows like at Cypress Gardens where this was filmed. It is now just another Lego Land. What a waste of gorgeous land like it was when it was the Gardens.

[@Ельвира-2628]

Смотреть на улыбку Естер и ее прекрасное исполнение- одно удовольивие

[@esmeephillips5888]

Cross 'Flying Down to Rio' with 'Million Dollar Mermaid' and you get this. A glorious example of Hollywood's higher lunacy, accompanied by the impeccable playing of MGM's house orchestra under Lennie Hayton and Georgie Stoll. The spectacle defies rational analysis; one just wallows in it. At Metro Esther was a continuation of Eleanor Powell by other means: the specialty act growing into stardom. Both were gals who knew what they were good at, stamping their distinctiveness on a series of formula pictures. Both largely choreographed themselves and schooled their supporting performers- Esther had to do more of it, b/c swimming in sync was a new art. (More than anyone's, her example convinced the Olympics bigwigs to make it a competitive sport, a just closing of the circle that had begun with her frustrated hope of racing for America at the 1940 games.) Appropriately Eleanor Powell was a guest in one of the Williams-Van Johnson musicals, 'Duchess of Idaho': her last film. 'Easy to Love', the title song of this one, was originally written by Cole Porter for Ellie's 'Born to Dance', and had been used in a previous Williams pic. Both ladies were underestimated as actresses b/c they had to learn on the job; each became proficient at comedy. Their sense of fun and their pleasure in being so good at what they did keeps their movies fresh; whereas Big Important Pictures which everyone involved took very, very seriously often date fast when their subject matter ceases to be topical. The joy of athleticism is enduring. Apart from Rita Hayworth in the early 1940s, no female star looked more bursting with health than Esther. Her broad-shouldered, powerfully streamlined physique looked forward to the 'stacked' body shape of the 1950s: Monroe, Ekberg, Mansfield etc. But nobody mistook her for a man, and she moved with a disconcerting grace under water.

[@ActionHorizonsStunts]

Apparently Esther Williams was doubled by Alfredo Mendoza in the water ski jumping scenes. I've been researching Alfredo, and have had several independent interviews mention this, tight down to the fact that he shaved his legs for the part! Alfredo Mendoza is the former world jump champ and world record holder, and star skier at Cypress Gardens in the 1950s.

[@jackanthony976]

According Esther's autobiography, Esther was pregnant at the time that this film was being shot and therefore she could not do the big dive from the air. That is why she needed a stunt double to do the dive. But I read it was a woman who did the dive for her not a man. At least that is what Esther wrote in her autobiography. Esther writes that she almost lost her life doing this sequence because Busby Berkley who directed this sequence was not concerned about safety. She chewed him out royally when she nearly had a fatal accident due to Busby's brilliant but dangerous choreography. However, Esther mentions nothing about Alfredo Mendoza in her book when she talks about this number. She also mentions that she needed a stunt double in "Jupiter's Darling" since the dive was from a very high cliff. The stunt diver lost his life in this dive despite the fact that he was a professional stunt diver. That is how dangerous some of her stunts were.

[@DDumbrille]

Williams was always prone to exaggeration. He didn't die: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter%27s_Darling

[@DDumbrille]

@@bmaitland902 I'm guessing you mean 'Who', not why. And I'm also guessing you didn't read Jack's post.

[@alib1969]

DouglassD e

[@alib1969]

DouglassD Esther Williams i

[@Enri45100]

She was extremely sporty.

[@9487087496]

Just superb.

[@ItsCJD]

So sad that she passed away! Cypress Gardens is basically gone too. The pool is still there though.

[@USAF-Medtech]

We just boated through there tonight. Most of the trees she skis through are still there. From the water it looks just the same.

[@esmeephillips5888]

Ralph Samuelson invented water skiing in the early 1920s. Dick Pope, the first person to jump a ramp, opened Cypress Gardens in 1936 and about five years later mounted shows which turned a minor sport into a major tourist spectacle. Many films publicized it, and after a sequence in the first Cinerama feature it was an obvious locale for an Esther Williams vehicle. A champion swimmer and diver, she was taught to ski by Cypress Gardens personnel. Some of her stunts were doubled, but the figure threading through those fiercely spurting columns is a pregnant Esther. Busby Berkeley devised the routine with his customary disregard for his performers' safety.

[@monicamestas7566]

Amazing! Does anyone still do flamboyant acts like this?

[@verasterbova7878]

Nádherné👏👏

[@genadigenua5057]

Bellissima la corografia scenografia stiamo parlando anni 40 grandi glia americani sempre sempre eccellente

[@mrchopsticks3]

Where the people are sitting is now Legoland.

[@OmayraPacheco-m7n]

Daddy and Mom. Coast Guard and Navy...Winter Haven. 1953. 🎉🎉🎉 WGNJMN ❤❤❤

[@marikavincenzi9163]

Che figata!!

[@milaiva]

Як майстерно,чудово!!!

[@jamesryan6008]

I loved this number until I found out that Esther Williams didn't make the jump from the helicopter. Apparently she was pregnant at the time and didn't want to take a risk. It is still one of her very best. Esther Williams and Busby Berkeley, a great team.

[@esmeephillips5888]

IIRC Busby Berkeley had never done a major water ski number (had anyone?). He had directed one of Esther's least aquatic films, 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game', before Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen conspired to get him fired; so Buzz was trying for a comeback at MGM, though here only as dance director. This was his Indian Summer: he also fashioned Ann Miller's 'I've Got to Hear That Beat' in 'Small Town Girl'. But he had become so despotic that he blew it. He seemed to pride himself on not caring how dangerous his stunts were to the performers.

[@ggeorge747]

Yes, the pool is still there. Hopefully to be restored and renamed The Esther Williams Florida Pool in her memory.

[@sandikaiser6842]

I wish. Sigh...1 word: Legoland

[@marahelenadepaula7787]

Escola de Seria um classico dos fimes lindo demais

[@robertwirth8459]

Wow she actually did all that! It’s so dangerous! The speed and number of skiers she’s weaving between and in front of and dodging under their ropes as well as snaking through those massive jets of water just bursting out of the sea! And she learn’t to ski for that film! A real Olympian!

[@jesseb.8171]

No! She did NOT do all the stunts. A skier by the name of Alfredo Mendoza was in this film and later a skater with Holiday on Ice where I met him. Since I was a long time Esther fan, I wanted to know exactly what she didn't do. He told me that she wasn't allowed by her studio to do such dangerous stunts as was shown in that film.

[@OmayraPacheco-m7n]

😂 My father is on the right of EW. My mother did the stunt dive. Esther was expecting a Gage baby. Joanie Noëldechen. Spaced out Britain. Knight to Bishop Sheen. 😮 Joanie Noëldechen.

[@SWSimpson]

That's so fcked up, they could have killed her! lol That was amazing, but I was scared for them skiing through Cypress trees and where are all the gators? Love her!

[@sandikaiser6842]

My Mom who skied there in the early days including in the film- says she never saw one

[@sandraguaranha299]

Diva🌟🧜‍♀️.

[@sunasisli8778]

Neden böyle güzel eski klasik filmleri full vermiyorsunuz .????..?? Anlamış değilim 🤔.

[@swingsc]

If you like this then watch the Cinerama film South Seas Adventure it has a long sequence like this one.

[@richardbrucemusic]

Anyone know if this was filmed at Cypress Gardens? My grandmother used to visit there on her Florida vacations.

[@CalangofCorona]

"Easy to Love" was filmed in Cypress Gardens, Winter Haven, Florida : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_to_Love_(1953_film)#:~:text=MGM%20announced%20the%20film%20in%20October%201952.%20It,Tony%20Martin%27s%20character%2C%20and%20jealous%20of%20Esther%20Williams.

[@sandikaiser6842]

Yes! In those days it was a premier attraction in the US and part of our culture. Now if you are less than 45 years old you probably don't know about it. This movie was a master of choreography, athleticism, talent with a little Pixie Dust thrown in!

[@spyrdol]

I love the music. Is there any way to find and buy it?

[@survival_of_the_sickest4448]

AND SHE DID IT ALL WHILE PREGNANT???? That's next level.

[@jimbryan3819]

She didn't do any of the hard skiing. That's not her jumping. They used Cypress Gardens Skiers for the more demanding skiing.

[@survival_of_the_sickest4448]

I did some research and amazingly enough "Williams was pregnant during shooting, but still performed all her own waterskiing stunts". A quote from the queen herself: " This would be the third picture I did for him when I was pregnant. Under the best of circumstances, making a movie and making a baby are a head-to-head race against time. When you have to consider the bathing suit factor and the daredevil stunts associated with Busby’s water extravaganzas, it gets even more difficult.” absolutely amazing ^.^

[@jimbryan3819]

She was a beginner skier. I grew up at Cypress Gardens.

[@juanmonge8]

water proof mascara ?

[@rondajones7526]

Yes we have Esther to thank for waterproof mascara

[@esmeephillips5888]

Esther's trusted makeup artist was William Tuttle, MGM's doyen of the craft. He devised special cosmetics for her grueling sessions in the tank, or under blazing sun. Her skin tones had to be carefully controlled for Technicolor and to avoid continuity mismatches. Sydney Guilaroff, the ace hairdresser, was another regular on 'aquamusicals'.

Voces poderiam comentar em Português também!

[@marvindanny436]

Hello Maria😊

[@themovietheatre]

They made this after someone saw "This is Cinerama"

[@georgegarabandic6567]

So much water and sprinklers, makes me want to go pee...

[@bretstanley8931]

Amazing films back then! Now all we get is stupid CGI superhero movies!

[@ginnylorenz5265]

One way to achieve firm thighs!!!

[@Shapulak]

❤❤❤‍🩹

[@brankakrzalic55]

Prevod na hrvatski

[@christinedotson2600]

Beautiful darling absolutely 😂❤❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉

[@pavelsudoplatov9596]

Слава Україні! Слава Героям!

[@katejean7899]

V F T L Le noir et C.i.n.e.a.mATIC!! Wanna FLEX? MxM ❤