The Original Million Dollar Mermaid The Annette Kellerman Story By Emily Gibson, Barbara Firth

For the first time in print, this extraordinary and beautiful story tells the tale of Annette Kellerman--the woman who became one of the highest paid and most adored Hollywood and vaudeville stars of her day. Kellerman won audiences the world over with her trademark performances, gained fame for her dangerous swims in the English Channel, participated in a vaudeville act in which she dove into a giant glass tank, and performed underwater ballet. After starring in Hollywood's first-ever million-dollar film, she soon became a household name who drew long lines to see her on the screen in her famous, provocative costumes. This biography beautifully captures how Kellerman stole the hearts of a generation and challenged standards regarding how women should look, act, and think. Table of Contents

The Perfect Woman..Swimming back the family fortune..I never get tired and I swim like a clock..Carnival time..Scandal in Boston..The big time: vaudeville and New York City..Physical beauty: how to keep it..More than a friendly interest..Some great ideas for a moving picture..Million dollar movie..The most dramatic episode of my life..Give me the wide open spaces..Conquering the Continent..We'll be beachcombers..The Dinkum Diggers' Dip..A namby pamby attempt..Movie star, retired to the tropics, wishes to sell mink coat

Paperback, 2005, 230 pages, very good condition