1 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:06,320 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. A viral post has been floating around social 2 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:09,680 Speaker 1: media this summer on a net Kellerman and the first 3 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: women's swimwear. She has always been a favorite of mine, 4 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: although with some pretty big caveats that should become obvious 5 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:21,119 Speaker 1: over the course of this episode. In this episode, we 6 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:24,520 Speaker 1: mentioned that Kellerman donated all her costumes to the Sydney 7 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: Opera House, and then we'd put a link to where 8 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:29,960 Speaker 1: you can see them in our show notes. We don't 9 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: have show notes in quite the same way as we 10 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:34,360 Speaker 1: did when we first recorded this episode, but we will 11 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:37,479 Speaker 1: include that link as part of the description in today's 12 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: episode so folks can get it from our website or 13 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:44,560 Speaker 1: their podcast app. This episode originally came out June fifth, 14 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:51,400 Speaker 1: twenty seventeen. Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, 15 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 1: a production of iHeartRadio. 16 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:03,240 Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy B. 17 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:07,559 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. So summer's coming, at least 18 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:12,480 Speaker 1: in theory. Sure, sure, I think summer has definitely arrived 19 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:15,760 Speaker 1: where you are, which is Atlanta. Yeah, I mean, I 20 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: guess technically it's still cooler than it usually would be 21 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:19,160 Speaker 1: this time of year. 22 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:21,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. Not warm at all. 23 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 1: It's fifty seven degrees right now. We're recording this on 24 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:28,320 Speaker 1: May thirtieth. Yeah, like I think our high today might 25 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:30,760 Speaker 1: be eighty, which sounds hot to some people, but for 26 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 1: Atlanta at the end of May, that's really not. 27 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:34,160 Speaker 2: Yeah. 28 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been a We've had an unseasonably cool May 29 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:42,160 Speaker 1: up here in New England anyway, though at least in theory, 30 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 1: summer is either on the way or here for most 31 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,200 Speaker 1: but not all, of our listeners. So it seems like 32 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:52,840 Speaker 1: a good time to talk about swimming. We yes, specifically, 33 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: we are talking about Annette Kellerman, who gets a lot 34 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 1: of the credit for developing the woman's one piece bathing 35 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:03,160 Speaker 1: suit and then for making it socially appropriate for women 36 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: in a lot of the English speaking world to put 37 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 1: on an outfit that you could actually swim in without 38 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 1: drowning and then go out in public that way. And 39 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:15,400 Speaker 1: perhaps kind of ironically, she was Australian, where it is 40 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:20,840 Speaker 1: definitely not coming on summer. So Australians, we have some 41 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:25,920 Speaker 1: Australian history today that is seasonally incongruous for where you 42 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:29,480 Speaker 1: actually live. Yeah, unless you happen to be somebody who's 43 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:31,639 Speaker 1: downloading it late in the game, in which case, sure, 44 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:36,440 Speaker 1: hooray summer for you as well. Annette Kellerman was born 45 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:39,520 Speaker 1: in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia. She was coy about 46 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:42,560 Speaker 1: her birth date, and it's variously cited as July fifth 47 00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:45,800 Speaker 1: or sixth of eighteen eighty six, eighteen eighty seven, or 48 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:49,799 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty eight. The sixth is the most frequently cited date. 49 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:53,480 Speaker 1: Her father, Frederick, was a violinist born in Australia, and 50 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 1: her mother, Alice, was a pianist and a music teacher 51 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,679 Speaker 1: who was originally from France. When she was young and 52 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: had to wear braces on her legs because of persistent weakness, 53 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 1: and not only were these braces painful to wear, but 54 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:08,840 Speaker 1: she also found them embarrassing. 55 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 2: The cause is unclear. 56 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:14,919 Speaker 1: A few sources site rickets or polio, and later on 57 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:17,320 Speaker 1: in her life she speculated that it might have been 58 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: a calcium deficiency according to her own account. Actual doctors 59 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:24,400 Speaker 1: at the time said that it was because she had 60 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:26,800 Speaker 1: been allowed to learn to walk too early, or that 61 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:29,360 Speaker 1: she had chalk in her bones. Neither of those are 62 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 1: real things would have caused her to need leg braces, 63 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: so totally unclear, but the braces were a real part 64 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 1: of her life, so she get when you go to 65 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: cartoon doctors, like chalk in your bones sounds like such 66 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:47,160 Speaker 1: a cartoon diagnosed with this, and chalk bones is a 67 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 1: nickname for like one, yeah, congenital bone condition, but it 68 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 1: has nothing to do with what she was experiencing. 69 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:57,400 Speaker 2: It's a totally different set of symptoms, so very weird. 70 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, whatever the cause of her disability, eventually her father 71 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: visited a doctor who recommended swimming lessons, and at first 72 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:08,640 Speaker 1: Annette was really terrified of this plan, possibly because it 73 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 1: meant exposing her legs to people, which she did not 74 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:14,240 Speaker 1: want to do because they were visibly undeveloped, and she 75 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:16,359 Speaker 1: begged not to have to go. But her parents and 76 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:19,239 Speaker 1: the doctor were all certain that swimming would really help, 77 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:22,400 Speaker 1: so she and her brothers were taken to Frederick Cavell's 78 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,040 Speaker 1: baths so they could learn to swim. And the Cavils 79 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:27,279 Speaker 1: were actually a whole family of swimmers. They're in the 80 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: International Swimming Hall of Fame for their combined contributions to 81 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,520 Speaker 1: the sport. It took a net a lot longer to 82 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 1: get the hang of swimming than it took her brothers. 83 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:39,120 Speaker 1: They were both able to swim on their own after 84 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:41,719 Speaker 1: a handful of lessons, but it took a net close 85 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:44,279 Speaker 1: to twenty But once she knew how to do it, 86 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:47,600 Speaker 1: as predicted, it really did help her build her strength 87 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: up in her legs, and with the water supporting her, 88 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:54,039 Speaker 1: she could move around without having to wear the braces. 89 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: Annette would later describe her gradual improvement through swimming as 90 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:01,440 Speaker 1: a process of intense joy. By the time she reached 91 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:03,840 Speaker 1: the age of thirteen, her muscle development was more or 92 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:06,839 Speaker 1: less typical for a child her age, although she was 93 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:10,520 Speaker 1: susceptible to muscle strains and had to wear very tightly laced. 94 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 2: Boots until she was eighteen. 95 00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:14,719 Speaker 1: A lot of the swimming strokes that are recognized and 96 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 1: used competitively today were still new or in the process 97 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:21,120 Speaker 1: of being developed and refined, so what Annette learned at 98 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:23,680 Speaker 1: first was basically the breast stroke, and that was the 99 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:26,839 Speaker 1: stroke that she used mostly when she was exercising at first. 100 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:30,200 Speaker 1: At about the age of fifteen, she started branching out 101 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:34,400 Speaker 1: into learning other strokes, putting dedicated effort into practicing them 102 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 1: and getting better at them, and soon she told her 103 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 1: parents that she wanted to start competing in swimming. Her 104 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:43,840 Speaker 1: first swimming race was a local event, and she won it. 105 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:47,719 Speaker 1: Annette's father had been incredulous when she said she wanted 106 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:50,640 Speaker 1: to enter a swimming race. He had thought of swimming 107 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:53,520 Speaker 1: as something she was doing because of her disability, not 108 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:56,599 Speaker 1: as something she would seriously pursue for her own sake. 109 00:05:57,240 --> 00:05:59,360 Speaker 1: But once she had that first win under her belt, 110 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:02,640 Speaker 1: he was in instrumental in her progress as a competitive swimmer, 111 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 1: essentially becoming both her trainer and her coach. As soon 112 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:11,120 Speaker 1: as she started seriously competing, Annette started winning races and 113 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:14,160 Speaker 1: setting records. In nineteen oh two, at the age of 114 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 1: about sixteen, she won a one hundred yard championship for 115 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:20,839 Speaker 1: New South Wales and also set a world record for 116 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:23,400 Speaker 1: swimming a mile with a time of thirty two minutes 117 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:27,760 Speaker 1: and twenty nine seconds. That same year, she started participating 118 00:06:27,839 --> 00:06:32,520 Speaker 1: in long distance swimming races and public diving demonstrations. Her 119 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:36,279 Speaker 1: time in the water wasn't only about competition, though, She 120 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 1: started doing mermaid shows in Australian aquariums along with other 121 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:45,440 Speaker 1: aquatic performances while she was still in her teens. Although 122 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:48,040 Speaker 1: she was winning races and making a name for herself 123 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 1: as a competitive swimmer, she wasn't really able to earn 124 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:54,040 Speaker 1: an income from doing so, so Annette and her father 125 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:56,560 Speaker 1: moved to England with the hope of finding more lucrative 126 00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:00,919 Speaker 1: opportunities to compete and perform. Once they arrived in England, 127 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:04,400 Speaker 1: they had a really hard time getting started. Although Annette 128 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:08,040 Speaker 1: already held multiple records in swimming, they didn't know anyone, 129 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:11,000 Speaker 1: and Annette didn't have a local reputation to try to 130 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:13,800 Speaker 1: build on, So her father hatched a plan to drum 131 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:17,640 Speaker 1: up some publicity. She would swim twenty six miles, which 132 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: was forty two kilometers down the Thames from Putney to Blackwall. 133 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:25,120 Speaker 1: In nineteen oh five, a net at about age eighteen, 134 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:28,680 Speaker 1: became the first woman to make this swim. Although it 135 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:31,080 Speaker 1: did indeed bring in a lot of media attention, the 136 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:35,200 Speaker 1: swim itself was terrible. The Thames was filthy, and Annette 137 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 1: later said she felt like she'd swallowed big mouthfuls of 138 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:41,160 Speaker 1: oil from the surface of the river. She'd also had 139 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 1: to dodge a lot of flotsam, garbage, tugboats and barges 140 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:49,160 Speaker 1: along the way. But afterward, a sports editor from the 141 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:53,800 Speaker 1: Daily Mirror approached her with another idea. The Daily Mirror 142 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:56,840 Speaker 1: was the first paper in the UK to use photographs 143 00:07:56,960 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: rather than illustrations, and the editor thought that articles on 144 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:03,960 Speaker 1: a net complete with photographs of her in the scandalous 145 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:06,360 Speaker 1: swimwear that we're going to talk about a little bit 146 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:09,360 Speaker 1: more later. He thought that would sell a lot of papers, 147 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 1: so we offered to back her an attempt in an 148 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:15,160 Speaker 1: attempt to swim across the English Channel, along with paying 149 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:19,000 Speaker 1: for and writing about swims along the coast to train 150 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:23,720 Speaker 1: for it. This entire enterprise was wildly successful in almost 151 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 1: every way. Annette's training swims down the coast drew huge crowds, 152 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 1: and the articles and their corresponding photos sold lots of papers. 153 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 1: She swam an average of forty five miles or seventy 154 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:38,679 Speaker 1: two kilometers per week, increasing the distance of each swim 155 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:41,319 Speaker 1: until she'd done the twenty four mile stretch from Dover 156 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: to Ramsgate. At that point she thought she was ready 157 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 1: to try to conquer the Channel. Although that's a slightly 158 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:50,599 Speaker 1: shorter distance than her swim down the Thames, swimming in 159 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: the English Channel is far more difficult due to the 160 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:57,600 Speaker 1: very cold water, the waves and the tides. She made 161 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:00,600 Speaker 1: her first attempts to swim across the English Channel along 162 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,880 Speaker 1: with six men on August twenty fourth of nineteen oh five. 163 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:07,120 Speaker 1: They all started their swim at about three in the morning, 164 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:10,080 Speaker 1: all from different points along the coast, based on where 165 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:12,200 Speaker 1: they thought the currents and the tides would be the 166 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:16,280 Speaker 1: most advantageous. Each swimmer was accompanied by a steam tug 167 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 1: and a row boat in case they fell into some 168 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:21,920 Speaker 1: distress along the way, and then periodically hot chocolate or 169 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:25,040 Speaker 1: food could be handed down to the swimmers from these 170 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 1: boats to keep their energy up. An advertiser had given 171 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:31,320 Speaker 1: a net chocolate to eat along the way, but the 172 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 1: combination of chocolate and the choppy water really made her seasick. 173 00:09:35,640 --> 00:09:37,960 Speaker 1: The further she went, the bigger her payday would be. 174 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:41,000 Speaker 1: Those so she kept herself going through that seasickness by 175 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:44,599 Speaker 1: thinking the longer you stick, the more you get. She 176 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:46,800 Speaker 1: stuck it out for about six and a half hours, 177 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:50,240 Speaker 1: and she was paid thirty pounds. This was the first 178 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:53,960 Speaker 1: of Kellerman's three attempts to swing that swim the English Channel, 179 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:56,560 Speaker 1: and as with her swim down the Thames, she was 180 00:09:56,600 --> 00:10:00,040 Speaker 1: the first woman to make the attempt. The closest it 181 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:03,280 Speaker 1: came in these three attempts to actually crossing was about. 182 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:05,079 Speaker 2: Three quarters of the way, which took ten and a 183 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:05,880 Speaker 2: half hours. 184 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:09,640 Speaker 1: Later, Kellerman would say she thought she had the endurance 185 00:10:09,679 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 1: to swim the Channel, but not the raw strength. In 186 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:16,200 Speaker 1: her nineteen eighteen book How to Swim, she wrote that 187 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:18,680 Speaker 1: she didn't think a woman would ever successfully swim the 188 00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:21,880 Speaker 1: English Channel. She was proven wrong in nineteen twenty six 189 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:25,440 Speaker 1: when Gertrude utterly crossed in fourteen hours thirty nine minutes, 190 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:28,960 Speaker 1: not only swimming the channel but beating the previous record 191 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:32,520 Speaker 1: time by more than two hours. Today there are lots 192 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:37,959 Speaker 1: of women swim across the English Channel, including swimming at 193 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:40,760 Speaker 1: three consecutive times, like swimming it across one way and 194 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:43,640 Speaker 1: then going back and then going back across again, which 195 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:48,679 Speaker 1: is astounding to me. So in Kellerman's first attempt to 196 00:10:48,679 --> 00:10:51,960 Speaker 1: swim across the English Channel, the male swimmers who were 197 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:54,920 Speaker 1: swimming that night were allowed to be nude, but she 198 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:58,520 Speaker 1: had to wear a swimsuit that chafed her skin just terribly. 199 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:01,480 Speaker 1: And this brings us to her efforts to make suitable 200 00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:04,680 Speaker 1: swimwear for women, which we will talk about more after 201 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:15,000 Speaker 1: a sponsor break. That swim down the Thames and the 202 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:17,680 Speaker 1: attempts to cross the English Channel were not a net 203 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:22,520 Speaker 1: Kellerman's only long distance races in the nineteen hundreds. Before 204 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:26,480 Speaker 1: leaving Australia, she had taken multiple long distance swims down 205 00:11:26,520 --> 00:11:30,160 Speaker 1: the Yarra River, including becoming the first woman to complete 206 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:34,120 Speaker 1: a ten mile stretch. In nineteen oh five, she participated 207 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:36,360 Speaker 1: in a race down the Seine where she tied for 208 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:40,440 Speaker 1: third with Thomas William Burgess, and her account of this 209 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:42,880 Speaker 1: race and how to swim, she wrote that well, meeting 210 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 1: spectators kept calling out that she was almost there and 211 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:49,880 Speaker 1: had just two bridges more, and when she realized she 212 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:53,720 Speaker 1: was not almost there, and she became just really discouraged 213 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:56,520 Speaker 1: because she had worn herself out doing what she thought 214 00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:59,520 Speaker 1: was her final push to the finish line. So when 215 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:01,560 Speaker 1: Burgess caught up to her and saw that she was 216 00:12:01,679 --> 00:12:05,360 Speaker 1: crying and a very lovely show of sporting behavior, he 217 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:07,440 Speaker 1: stayed with her and encouraged her for the rest of 218 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:09,040 Speaker 1: the race of the race, and that is how they 219 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:12,680 Speaker 1: came to tie. In June of nineteen oh six, Kellerman 220 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:15,760 Speaker 1: also won a twenty two mile or thirty six kilometer 221 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:19,720 Speaker 1: race down the Danube. I think anyone also who has 222 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:23,520 Speaker 1: ever run a race knows the ire of please don't 223 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:25,840 Speaker 1: tell me if you're almost there, when you're not, When 224 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:26,160 Speaker 1: you're not. 225 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 2: Now I knew. 226 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:29,200 Speaker 1: It was a little bit unclear to me whether these 227 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:31,800 Speaker 1: were the people in the guideboat or the people who 228 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:34,640 Speaker 1: were just spectators who were saying this. But like she 229 00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:37,760 Speaker 1: they got her a couple times, and then in like 230 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:40,079 Speaker 1: time number three of them being like, you're almost there, 231 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:42,679 Speaker 1: she was like, no, I'm not well right, And it's 232 00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:46,680 Speaker 1: almost always well intentioned, like if you But let this 233 00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:49,559 Speaker 1: be a note if you are ever spectating a sporting event, 234 00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:52,880 Speaker 1: please don't fib to the participants because it does more 235 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:56,120 Speaker 1: to harm their head game than help. Yeah. Uh. And 236 00:12:56,160 --> 00:12:58,480 Speaker 1: in most of these events, Kellerman was one of very 237 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:01,400 Speaker 1: few women, and sometimes he was the only woman, and 238 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:04,280 Speaker 1: she typically swam them wearing a swimsuit that was actually 239 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:06,320 Speaker 1: made for men, so. 240 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:09,319 Speaker 2: This was not unheard of in Australia. At this point. 241 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:14,160 Speaker 1: Swimming was already a more established sport in Australia than 242 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:16,640 Speaker 1: it was in the United Kingdom or the United States, 243 00:13:17,160 --> 00:13:20,120 Speaker 1: but it was astonishing in a lot of the rest 244 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:24,119 Speaker 1: of the English speaking world, where water was for bathing, 245 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:28,000 Speaker 1: not for swimming. Bathing meant getting into the water a 246 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:30,760 Speaker 1: little way, and you might wait or play or maybe 247 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:34,480 Speaker 1: float a little out there, but you didn't really swim, 248 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:36,840 Speaker 1: and a lot of people didn't even know how to swim. 249 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:41,760 Speaker 1: The idea of a man made swimming pool was also 250 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:44,400 Speaker 1: still quite recent at this point, like there had not 251 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:49,600 Speaker 1: even been one built for the Olympics yet. So like 252 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:53,000 Speaker 1: bathing was a thing that happened at a beach, whether 253 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:55,520 Speaker 1: it was like a lakeside beach or a seashore beach, 254 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:58,560 Speaker 1: it did not really happen in a pool. And even 255 00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:01,200 Speaker 1: if you wanted to swim, if you were a woman 256 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:04,120 Speaker 1: around the turn of the twentieth century, your bathing attire 257 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,640 Speaker 1: was not something you could actually swim in. The standard 258 00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:10,679 Speaker 1: bathing costume for women was essentially a dress with a 259 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:13,200 Speaker 1: length that ranged within a couple of inches above or 260 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:16,520 Speaker 1: below the knee. It had a blousey top and puffy, 261 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:21,160 Speaker 1: usually short sleeves, sometimes with the sailor's collar. It was cinched, 262 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:24,200 Speaker 1: belted or ribboned at the waist and worn with stockings 263 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:27,880 Speaker 1: and bathing slippers or sometimes even bathing boots that went 264 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:30,480 Speaker 1: all the way up the calves, and many women wore 265 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 1: their bathing clothes with corsets and other underpinnings. Here is 266 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:39,920 Speaker 1: what Annette Kellerman had to say about these outfits. Quote 267 00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:42,600 Speaker 1: there is no more reason why you should wear those 268 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:48,400 Speaker 1: awful water overcoats, those awkward, unnecessary, lumpy quote bathing suits 269 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:52,240 Speaker 1: than there is that you should wear lead chains. Heavy 270 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:55,840 Speaker 1: bathing suits have caused more deaths by drowning than cramps. 271 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:58,800 Speaker 1: I am certain there isn't a single reason under the 272 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:03,320 Speaker 1: sun why everybody should not wear lightweight suits. Anyone who 273 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 1: persuades you to wear the heavy, skirty kind is endangering 274 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:12,960 Speaker 1: your life. Just thinking about wearing tights into the water 275 00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:15,000 Speaker 1: is a horrifying prospect to me. 276 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:18,920 Speaker 2: Oh, I don't know why. It just kind of grosses 277 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:19,320 Speaker 2: me out. 278 00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:25,360 Speaker 1: For competitive women swimmers, there was a grudging exception to 279 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:28,800 Speaker 1: the standard of dress. They could wear a men's bathing suit, 280 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:31,440 Speaker 1: which was more like a T shirt and shorts, sometimes 281 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:34,920 Speaker 1: constructed all as one piece. But this also starts a 282 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:38,080 Speaker 1: whole chicken and egg situation. Women weren't supposed to be 283 00:15:38,120 --> 00:15:40,920 Speaker 1: seen in attired that they could actually swim in, which 284 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:45,200 Speaker 1: created a huge barrier for entry for the sport of swimming. Yeah, 285 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:47,240 Speaker 1: I people were like, well, I guess you can wear 286 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:50,880 Speaker 1: a men's suit for this race. That left the question of, 287 00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:52,680 Speaker 1: like all the training you would need to do to 288 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:55,560 Speaker 1: be able to compete in the race in the first place. 289 00:15:57,040 --> 00:15:59,960 Speaker 1: Was this whole social standard of what was acceptable for 290 00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:04,240 Speaker 1: women to wear that led Kellerman to invent a new swimsuit. 291 00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:06,960 Speaker 1: In nineteen oh five, she was scheduled for a swimming 292 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:09,640 Speaker 1: performance at London's Bath Club and some of the royal 293 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:13,120 Speaker 1: family was to be in attendance. The men's bathing suit 294 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:16,080 Speaker 1: that she had been wearing was determined to be inappropriate 295 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:19,120 Speaker 1: because it was too revealing. So Kellerman bought a pair 296 00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:21,680 Speaker 1: of black stockings and she sewed them to the legs 297 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:25,000 Speaker 1: of her men's bathing suit, creating what was effectively a 298 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:27,880 Speaker 1: one piece garment that covered her from her shoulders to 299 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:31,680 Speaker 1: her feet. From there, she began tweaking and refining this 300 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:35,680 Speaker 1: original design, eventually developing a one piece, form fitting garment 301 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:39,400 Speaker 1: without sleeves. The lengths of the legs varied from full 302 00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:43,760 Speaker 1: length and stalking like to stopping at the thigh. Although 303 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:46,960 Speaker 1: this would be considered pretty modest swimwear by a lot 304 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:50,080 Speaker 1: of today's standards, it was not at all modest by 305 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:52,640 Speaker 1: the standards of the day. Like we said before, the 306 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:55,960 Speaker 1: first break. The very idea of a woman in public 307 00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:59,240 Speaker 1: and such a garment was enough to sell newspapers. It's 308 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:03,200 Speaker 1: widely that in nineteen oh seven Kellerman was arrested for 309 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,879 Speaker 1: indecency on Revere Beach in Massachusetts while wearing one of 310 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:10,560 Speaker 1: these swimsuits. Although there's no arrest in the log books, 311 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:12,600 Speaker 1: it's a story that came up again and again and 312 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:16,920 Speaker 1: again during her own lifetime, including from her own mouth, like, 313 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:19,600 Speaker 1: I don't think she made this up, but people have 314 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:22,439 Speaker 1: noted that, like they can't find a document that actually 315 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:26,320 Speaker 1: details the arrest. In spite of heavy resistance to the 316 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:30,120 Speaker 1: idea of women being out in public so relatively unclothed, 317 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:34,520 Speaker 1: Kellerman persisted. She launched her own line of women's swimwear, 318 00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:37,439 Speaker 1: some of which came with a modesty panel, which was 319 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:39,919 Speaker 1: a close fitting skirt that went from waste to knee, 320 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:42,879 Speaker 1: covering the thighs but bringing along far less fabric and 321 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:46,840 Speaker 1: weight than the previous era of swimsuits. She became so 322 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:50,440 Speaker 1: closely associated to this type of swimwear that soon people 323 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 1: were calling anything that looked like it and Annette Kellerman 324 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:56,399 Speaker 1: or just a Kellerman. Although it was a name she 325 00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:59,119 Speaker 1: trademarked and went to court to defend when she needed to, 326 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:03,880 Speaker 1: and at some beaches, Kellerman type suits were actually banned. 327 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:08,280 Speaker 1: As Kellerman became more famous and her swimsuits became more 328 00:18:08,359 --> 00:18:12,000 Speaker 1: widely adopted, it gradually became more acceptable for women to 329 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:14,480 Speaker 1: be seen in them and for women to participate in 330 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:18,800 Speaker 1: the sport of swimming, and compounding that, for swimming in 331 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:22,840 Speaker 1: general to be seen as a recreational activity. Some of 332 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:25,960 Speaker 1: this was part of an overall growth in the popularity 333 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:29,800 Speaker 1: of swimming, but it wasn't just happenstance. Kellerman was an 334 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:33,200 Speaker 1: active advocate for women to learn to swim and for 335 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:37,679 Speaker 1: swimming to be seen as an acceptable form of exercise, recreation, 336 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:41,919 Speaker 1: and competition for women. She wrote quote, I am not 337 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:43,720 Speaker 1: trying to shut men out of swimming. 338 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:45,560 Speaker 2: There is enough water in the world for. 339 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:48,359 Speaker 1: All of us. But as men can indulge in so 340 00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:51,359 Speaker 1: many other sports where women can make a poor showing 341 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:54,879 Speaker 1: or cannot compete at all, swimming may well be called 342 00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:59,760 Speaker 1: the women's sport. But unfortunately this progress did not apply 343 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:04,080 Speaker 1: to all women. Even though Kellerman herself wrote things like quote, 344 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:08,080 Speaker 1: there is nothing more democratic than swimming and a clean, cool, 345 00:19:08,119 --> 00:19:11,600 Speaker 1: beautiful cheap thing we all from cats to kings, can enjoy. 346 00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:16,720 Speaker 1: Swimming was not actually accessible to everyone. In the United States, 347 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:19,960 Speaker 1: public beaches and as they were built, public swimming pools 348 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:24,040 Speaker 1: were often racially segregated, and the Indigenous population was barred 349 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:27,919 Speaker 1: from many public swimming areas in Australia, So while Kellerman 350 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:31,320 Speaker 1: was a staunch advocate for making swimming accessible to women, 351 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:35,880 Speaker 1: that was really most applicable to white women. To add 352 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:38,399 Speaker 1: another layer to all of this, a lot of the 353 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:41,159 Speaker 1: swimming strokes that she learned as a child and then 354 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:44,600 Speaker 1: helped to popularize and as an adult were either patterned 355 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:50,119 Speaker 1: after or directly taught to white swimmers by Indigenous Australians 356 00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:53,639 Speaker 1: and Indigenous people from elsewhere in the Pacific. So like 357 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:57,320 Speaker 1: a lot of the art and skill of swimming drew 358 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:01,240 Speaker 1: from indigenous knowledge, but Indigenous people were excluded from a 359 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:05,560 Speaker 1: lot of public swimming locations. In addition to contributing to 360 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:09,560 Speaker 1: the popularity and at least for some accessibility of swimming, 361 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:13,320 Speaker 1: Anett Kellerman's fame and skill led to a completely different 362 00:20:13,359 --> 00:20:17,359 Speaker 1: aspect of her career, Vaudeville and Hollywood. We're going to 363 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:19,800 Speaker 1: talk about that after we paused for a sponsor break. 364 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:29,600 Speaker 1: A lot of Annette Kellerman's fame as a swimmer came 365 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:34,919 Speaker 1: because she was naturally a performer. She was definitely talented. 366 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:38,680 Speaker 1: I don't want to overlook that at all. She legitimately 367 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:41,360 Speaker 1: won races and she set records, and she was one 368 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:43,320 Speaker 1: of the best swimmers of her era. 369 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:45,760 Speaker 2: But a lot of the attention. 370 00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:48,480 Speaker 1: That she got for those successes was due to showmanship 371 00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:51,600 Speaker 1: and an openness with her body that was not really 372 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:55,840 Speaker 1: typical for the time. A woman's swimmer was already relatively 373 00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:59,120 Speaker 1: novel in a lot of places, and a woman swimmer 374 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:04,080 Speaker 1: who flaunted social expectations to proudly wear a scandalous swimsuit 375 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:07,919 Speaker 1: was a real attention getter. This attention actually led her 376 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:11,320 Speaker 1: to a career in vaudeville. In nineteen oh six, having 377 00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:14,840 Speaker 1: performed at the London Hippodrome and won numerous races in Europe, 378 00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:17,920 Speaker 1: she sailed for the United States to perform at amusement 379 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:22,800 Speaker 1: parks and theaters. Her vaudeville act involved a combination of swimming, 380 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:26,840 Speaker 1: high diving, water stunts, and mermaid shows, for which she 381 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,280 Speaker 1: often designed all of her own costumes. She would eventually 382 00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:33,760 Speaker 1: donate oli her costumes and memorabilia to the Sydney Opera House. 383 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:35,720 Speaker 1: We will put a link in the show notes where 384 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:38,479 Speaker 1: you can go look at them. There's a lot. There 385 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:40,639 Speaker 1: are lots and lots of pictures of this collection that 386 00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:44,480 Speaker 1: you can browse through, and they are fascinating. Although water 387 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:47,919 Speaker 1: shows already existed in vaudeville, Kellerman added a lot of 388 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:51,240 Speaker 1: her own flare and incorporated ballet and other movement in 389 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:55,200 Speaker 1: what would become a precursor to synchronize swimming. Her biggest 390 00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:58,240 Speaker 1: production at the New York Hippodrome included a core of 391 00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:02,520 Speaker 1: two hundred mermaids, all swimming in tandem. She also tried 392 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:05,760 Speaker 1: her hand at other types of performance, including mail impersonation 393 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:10,040 Speaker 1: and high wire walking. By nineteen fourteen, Kellerman had become 394 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:14,480 Speaker 1: one of the highest paid performers in vaudeville. Also during 395 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:17,439 Speaker 1: her time in vaudeville, she got married after proposing to 396 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:20,879 Speaker 1: her manager, Lewis Sullivan, who was known as Jimmy, in 397 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:26,080 Speaker 1: nineteen twelve. Running parallel to her time in vaudeville, Kellerman 398 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:29,480 Speaker 1: also began acting in films. Her first films were a 399 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:31,879 Speaker 1: series of silent shorts made while she was trying to 400 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:35,439 Speaker 1: work at a contract dispute between two different theater managers. 401 00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:38,760 Speaker 1: Later on, when other people started to copy her water 402 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:42,720 Speaker 1: act and her pay in vaudeville consequently plummeted, she turned 403 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:48,080 Speaker 1: to film almost entirely. Kellerman's film roles involved lots of 404 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:51,439 Speaker 1: water and swimming, and sometimes they also played off the 405 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:55,840 Speaker 1: fact that the South Pacific was pretty exotic to American audiences, 406 00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:59,360 Speaker 1: which meant that Kellerman herself was often seen as exotic 407 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:03,600 Speaker 1: as well. Her first full length movie was Neptune's Daughter, 408 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:07,040 Speaker 1: which came out in nineteen fourteen. She played a mermaid 409 00:23:07,119 --> 00:23:11,640 Speaker 1: wearing sheer bodysuits that matched her skin tone. In nineteen sixteen, 410 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:14,080 Speaker 1: she starred in a film called The Daughter of the Gods, 411 00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:17,520 Speaker 1: which was a fantasy drama. She played Anisha, who was 412 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:20,480 Speaker 1: the daughter in question. In this film, she had a 413 00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:23,240 Speaker 1: scene in which she was completely nude, although part of 414 00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:26,080 Speaker 1: her body was covered by her hair. It was one 415 00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:28,960 Speaker 1: of the first fully nude appearances by a major star 416 00:23:29,119 --> 00:23:33,119 Speaker 1: in a non pornographic movie. Her final film, Venus of 417 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:37,040 Speaker 1: the South Seas, came out in nineteen twenty four. There 418 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:40,760 Speaker 1: are definitely people who call the Daughter of the Gods 419 00:23:41,119 --> 00:23:45,680 Speaker 1: role like the first nude appearance by a woman in film, 420 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:48,560 Speaker 1: and that seems a little it needs a little more 421 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:55,560 Speaker 1: caveats than that. Kellerman mostly retired from performing in the 422 00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:58,720 Speaker 1: nineteen thirties. She and her husband moved to California, where 423 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:01,719 Speaker 1: she opened a health food store. She's apparently a vegetarian 424 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:05,359 Speaker 1: her whole life. By this point, she'd published books on 425 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:08,280 Speaker 1: swimming and on fitness, and one called Physical Beauty and 426 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:12,280 Speaker 1: How to Keep It. This one, to a modern reader, 427 00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:16,119 Speaker 1: is maybe a little weird. It simultaneously acknowledges the double 428 00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:20,760 Speaker 1: standards that women face regarding our bodies and appearances, but 429 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:23,040 Speaker 1: at the same time it is a how to manual 430 00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:25,440 Speaker 1: for how to have an ideal body, and it clearly 431 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:28,720 Speaker 1: spells out that the point in doing so is to 432 00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:31,800 Speaker 1: keep from losing your figure and consequently your husband as 433 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:35,280 Speaker 1: you age. So in some ways, like in some ways 434 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:37,040 Speaker 1: she was way ahead of her time, and in some 435 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:39,560 Speaker 1: ways she was squarely a product of it. 436 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:42,359 Speaker 2: The system is really bad, but here's how to buy in. 437 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:43,960 Speaker 2: Yeah that. 438 00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:50,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, uh that book also like it's a little I 439 00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:56,320 Speaker 1: don't really know what Annette Kellerman's racial views were about, 440 00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:59,280 Speaker 1: like the contributions of indigenous swimmers to swimming and all 441 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:01,240 Speaker 1: of those sort of stuff. But she has a couple 442 00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:05,840 Speaker 1: of lines in this book that, like you can tell 443 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:11,920 Speaker 1: there are some problematic racial and racist views in there, 444 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:13,840 Speaker 1: Like at one point she says it's the only people 445 00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:18,080 Speaker 1: who need corsets are children and savages, and by savages 446 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:23,240 Speaker 1: in quotation marks, she means Africans, like huh, I don't 447 00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:26,000 Speaker 1: want to gloss over that, but like that's it's a 448 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:30,720 Speaker 1: weird intrusion in a book that's definitely about, you know, 449 00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:35,879 Speaker 1: middle class white women retaining their figures, which has its 450 00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:37,960 Speaker 1: own set of social. 451 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:39,399 Speaker 2: Play. 452 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:44,960 Speaker 1: Kellerman also established health spas. She wrote newspaper columns on 453 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:48,760 Speaker 1: health and beauty. She's stridently advocated for women to be 454 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:51,399 Speaker 1: encouraged to be fit and active, and she wrote a 455 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:54,879 Speaker 1: children's book called Fairy Tales of the South Seas. But 456 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:57,359 Speaker 1: in a lot of ways she had become famous for 457 00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:00,600 Speaker 1: her bathing suits and for the body under them. In 458 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:03,720 Speaker 1: nineteen oh nine, doctor Dudley Sergent of Harvard had taken 459 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:06,760 Speaker 1: the measurements of about one thousand women and compared them 460 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:10,639 Speaker 1: to the measurements of the Venus de Milo. Kellerman's were closest, 461 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:14,040 Speaker 1: and he dubbed her the perfect Woman, which along with 462 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:18,600 Speaker 1: that Revere Beach arrest became part of her ongoing marketing 463 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:23,400 Speaker 1: in the Harvard Collections, like the Harvard Special Collections, are 464 00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:26,840 Speaker 1: still boxes and boxes of these women's measurement cards that 465 00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:32,480 Speaker 1: were part of this study, which baffles me on a 466 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:35,119 Speaker 1: number of different Yeah, it doesn't baffle me that the 467 00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:37,960 Speaker 1: cards are still in the collection. It baffles me that, like, 468 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:40,399 Speaker 1: let's measure a thousand women and compare them to a 469 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:43,200 Speaker 1: statue was a study in. 470 00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:43,800 Speaker 2: The first place. 471 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:49,240 Speaker 1: So her fame for her figure and the clothing being 472 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:53,520 Speaker 1: bathing suits on it persisted long after the first decade 473 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:56,960 Speaker 1: of the nineteen hundreds, which was really when Annette Kellerman 474 00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:00,840 Speaker 1: had introduced and become famous for this bathing suit. In 475 00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:04,840 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty five, an Associated Press reporter tractor down and 476 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:08,439 Speaker 1: got her opinion on some suitorial hubbub in Yonkers, New 477 00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:12,720 Speaker 1: York that was over women wearing shorts. She recalled that 478 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:15,040 Speaker 1: it had only been a couple of decades since that 479 00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:17,920 Speaker 1: time she was arrested, and then said, quote, but I've 480 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:21,119 Speaker 1: always preached the importance of caring for the female figure, 481 00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:23,120 Speaker 1: So the girls will have to look to their shapes 482 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:26,360 Speaker 1: and not to the courts. When they appear in suits. 483 00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:37,000 Speaker 1: But remember please, I am not a newdist An Associated 484 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:40,119 Speaker 1: Press headline from nineteen thirty seven read quote Anett Kellerman 485 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:43,840 Speaker 1: still draws crowd legs of diving venus hold former beauty 486 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:47,800 Speaker 1: so like people were still basically writing about her body 487 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:55,040 Speaker 1: years after she stopped me performing right with it, like 488 00:27:55,280 --> 00:27:57,000 Speaker 1: she was still the go to person to talk to 489 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:02,199 Speaker 1: you about scandalous swimwear and women's figures. Kellerman and her 490 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:05,000 Speaker 1: husband returned to Australia a couple of times during the 491 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:08,320 Speaker 1: nineteen forties, including during World War Two when she entertained 492 00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:09,800 Speaker 1: troops in the South Pacific. 493 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:12,400 Speaker 2: In nineteen fifty two. 494 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:15,760 Speaker 1: Esther Williams played her in the film Million Dollar Mermaid. 495 00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:18,880 Speaker 1: Kellerman was not a fan of this film. They called 496 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:22,119 Speaker 1: it quote a silly little yarn and also quote a 497 00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:26,520 Speaker 1: namby pamby Attempt. She was frustrated that she was played 498 00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:29,080 Speaker 1: by an American in this movie, and also that the 499 00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:31,959 Speaker 1: film was more of a swimming spectacular than an actual 500 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:35,119 Speaker 1: biography of her. As kind of a side note, she 501 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:37,600 Speaker 1: was also not a fan of the bikini after it 502 00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:40,800 Speaker 1: was introduced, calling it far too revealing and noting that 503 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:45,320 Speaker 1: almost nobody had the figure to actually wear one. Kellerman 504 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:48,280 Speaker 1: and her husband moved back to Australia for good in 505 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:52,160 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy. She was inducted into the International Swimming Hall 506 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:55,120 Speaker 1: of Fame in nineteen seventy four, and she died on 507 00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:58,840 Speaker 1: November sixth, nineteen seventy five, at the age of roughly 508 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:03,160 Speaker 1: eighty seven bost sources say eighty seven or eighty eight. 509 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:08,040 Speaker 1: It's a it's a little her late eighties, her late eighties. 510 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:10,840 Speaker 2: Who wants to end with a poem? I do. 511 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,080 Speaker 1: I'm really excited. We've gotten to end some episodes with 512 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:19,160 Speaker 1: poems lately. This poem ran in the Boston Post on 513 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:23,520 Speaker 1: November seventh of nineteen oh eight. No more the Gibson 514 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:27,760 Speaker 1: bathing Girls shall grace the Newport summer whirl. Annette declares 515 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:32,200 Speaker 1: her garments wrong at both ends, too extremely long. The 516 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:35,960 Speaker 1: Gibson girl may be a peach as she perambulates the beach, 517 00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:39,400 Speaker 1: but now if in the swim she'd be she must, 518 00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:43,440 Speaker 1: with sweet Annette agree her heavy skirt she must replace 519 00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:45,320 Speaker 1: with filmy raiment for the race. 520 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:46,440 Speaker 2: Thank you. 521 00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:50,600 Speaker 1: She will consent to dress in such approach to nothingness. 522 00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:58,200 Speaker 1: So that's a Nick Kellerman. Sometimes you will see her 523 00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:01,040 Speaker 1: name spelled with two ends instead of one in which 524 00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:03,760 Speaker 1: was apparently a nod to her German heritage that she 525 00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:07,880 Speaker 1: used when she published her books, but most sources and 526 00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:17,200 Speaker 1: as biographies have it just with one end. Thanks so 527 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:20,320 Speaker 1: much for joining us on this Saturday. Since this episode 528 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:22,200 Speaker 1: is out of the archive, if you heard an email 529 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:24,920 Speaker 1: address or a Facebook RL or something similar over the 530 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:28,120 Speaker 1: course of the show, that could be obsolete now. Our 531 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:33,680 Speaker 1: current email address is History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. 532 00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:36,600 Speaker 1: You can find us all over social media at Missed 533 00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:39,680 Speaker 1: End History, and you can subscribe to our show on 534 00:30:39,760 --> 00:30:43,960 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, and wherever else 535 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:49,360 Speaker 1: you listen to podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class 536 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:53,400 Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 537 00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:57,160 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen 538 00:30:57,240 --> 00:30:58,440 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.