"And Esther was referred to as 'the mother of synchronized swimming.' "Įsther Williams had almost gone to the Olympics herself. In 1939, she was the reigning American 100-meter freestyle champion. "But, in 1940, the Olympics were canceled because of the war. So, as Esther said, 'As compensation, I became a movie star.' "Įsther's first movie was 'Andy Hardy's Double Life' with Mickey Rooney. "She gave Mickey Rooney an underwater kiss," Edward says.Įsther Williams starred in a new kind of movie – called "aqua musicals." They were huge MGM productions that spotlighted Esther’s grace and power as a swimmer. "And I think, instinctively, women felt empowered by her. This strength about her as a woman," Bell says. Maybe you’ve already figured this out, but Edward and Esther fell in love. We had a wonderful, wonderful relationship." Esther Williams and Edward Bell in 2008. Brown/Getty Images)Įsther Williams died in 2013. And I didn’t call Edward Bell to talk about her career. I called him because I recently learned that this swimmer-turned-movie star was the prize, the face and the voice of an international military competition that spanned seven decades. "We've got lots of ways of being stupid in the armed forces," says military historian Dr. Tom served in the Australian Navy for 20 years. And it wasn’t long after he joined in 1983 that he first heard about the Esther Williams Trophy. "I think I remember thinking that it was just one of those trophies that ships compete for," Tom says. "So you do have competitions in sport, you have competitions for best gunnery ship and things like that. So I would have thought it was just one of those type trophies."īut it wasn’t, as Tom learned on a visit to a place called Spectacle Island. They're a couple of hundred meters long - each of them - and air conditioned." "Spectacle Island is so called, because it was two islands joined by a little strip of land," Tom says. Spectacle Island is where the Australian Navy keeps its most prized artifacts. And it was there that Tom first saw the framed photo that the Australian Navy - and, later, the British, American and Canadian Navies - fought over from 1943 until Esther’s death in 2013. "It's a rather odd looking thing and a rather odd concept of a trophy," Tom says. The one Tom saw is called the "fighting copy." It’s a signed photo of a smiling Esther in a wooden frame inscribed with "Take me if you dare" and "Carry me with honor." Over the years, a few copies of the Esther Williams Trophy have been made. You’re probably picturing a photo of Esther Williams in a swimsuit with legs for days. Esther Williams Trophy (Courtesy Australia's Department of Defence) But Edward Bell wants you to know this wasn’t that. "It's not like Rita Hayworth or Betty Grable, where you were showing legs and bodies.
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