Miss Annette Kellerman, Annette Kellerman Statue

original production material

A composition statue of Annette Kellerman, the famed swimmer and creator of the one piece bathing suit (of which she was arrested for) dated 1909 and cast from a full sized statue done to honor what was then considered the perfect figure. She was also the first actress to appear fully nude in a film and whose life story was the subject of the MGM film "THE MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID" (1952) starring Esther Williams. This Vitagraph short introduced her to the American public. She made four more films for them in 1909 before going to Hollywood and making her signature swimming pictures in the mid teens.