Hello and welcome to Herstory. Today we're going to have a little fun in the sun with
the inventor of the bikini. No, no. I'm Annette Kellermann, Australian swimmer and inventor
of the women's one-piece swimsuit. What?! You're referring to Louis Reard, frenchman
who invented the two-piece in 1946. Please enlighten me as to how a one-piece swimsuit
is at all herstorically significant. Before I invented the one-piece for women the acceptable
cossie--what?--swimming costume was a floppy hat, bloomers that reached down below the
knees, a tunic with a skirt attached to cover said bloomers, which also had sleeves which
reached at least down to the elbows, rubber shoes to keep their feet from getting wet.
A lot of times, the tunic would have been weighted down to keep from billowing out and
revealing anymore of a woman's skin. Complete whacker. Looks like someone just got swim-schooled.
What I did in 1905 was create an amended men's swimsuit. It became known as the Annette Kellermann
style swimsuit. What was the public reaction to your swimsuit? Not everyone was too keen
on women showing more skin. In 1907 when I wore my one-piece swimsuit on a Boston beach
I was actually arrested. Arrested?! For public indecency. Didn't know we had a criminal in
our midst. The only thing criminal about that was how terrified you Americans were of the
female form. Annette I am puzzled by one thing which is that your nickname is the Australian
mermaid not the Australian swimsuit kangaroo. Well I was born in 1866 in a little suburb
right outside of Sydney Australia. As a child I was actually quite weak, I had deformities
in my legs and so my parents taught me to swim at a very young age as a form of therapy
and I just naturally took to the water, started swimming competitively. I was actually in
a seven-mile race down the Seine river, tried to cross the English channel a few times,
swam down the Thames river for about 15 miles with a whole crowd cheering me on. It was
actually a swimming and diving exhibition that I was doing in London in 1905 that necessitated
the development of my one-piece swimsuit. The royal family was going to be in attendance
and I needed to create a swimsuit that would have allow for enough movement underwater
but also retain enough modesty. How did you wade professionally the rest of your life?
Did you just swim around and sell swimsuits here and there? No in fact I transitioned
from water to land and became a Vaudeville star--ooh--and sort of like an off-broadway.
I became at one point the highest paid Vaudeville actress. Because I was so successful, transitioned
from Vaudeville to Hollywood and starred in quite a number of silent films. A movie star
too?! You might have seen me in titles such as 'The Mermaid' or 'A Daughter of the Gods',
'Entombed Alive'. My god woman. You were like the Beyonce of your day. In 1908 in fact a
Harvard professor decided that based on my measurements and my fitness level that I was
the most perfect woman alive. It made national news. Annette Kellermann the perfect woman.
Perfect? To which I responded oh yes but only from the neck down. Oooohh, this is really
uh, dredging up some of my inferiority complexes. [Strange sounds.] Tell me what came next in
your life. After my film career sort of died down a bit I decided to open a health food
store in Long Beach, California. Health food store? Really? I had become a national and
international advocate for health and fitness and I had a health food store, I was a best-selling
author, I would go on speaking tours. Please tell me your biography doesn't end on that
lackluster note. In 1952, Ester Williams starred in 'The Six Million Dollar Mermaid' which
was all about oh I don't know, me. Let's try again. In 1974 the year before I died I was
inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. Well that is a relief to hear. That
is quite an accolade. Glad I finally meet your standards. Among your multi-faceted carreer,
which aspect do you hold most dear? Was it the way that you decided to steer your life
in front of the public mirror? That you were for women the swimsuit freer allowing us to
swim in oceans far and near. First of all, great rhyme. I once famously said that there's
nothing more liberating than swimming because all of life's shackles are washed away in
the waves. I believe that I helped wash away some of women's shackles with my invention
of the one-piece swimsuit. Truer words have never been spoken at least I'm assuming so
because honestly I can't understand you much through your accent.