Easy to Love

As you know, I've always loved movies.  When I was a kid I would have lived in the movie theater if I could.  I distinctly remember seeing Esther Williams, "Easy to Love" at the Circle Theater in downtown Indianapolis.  I'd seen her before but the diving and swimming in this film were over the top.

So I was thrilled the other day when, in our class "Florida Goes to the Movies," we discussed "Easy to Love."


- First, what brought on this crazy swimming movie phase?  It came right after Olympic Gold Medalist Sonja Henie's popular and spectacular skating movie phase.  In the 1940s, when Esther Williams could no longer pursue her Olympic dreams because of the war, she started making auqumusicals featuring synchronized swimming and diving.  Not to mention singers and comedians and dopey but entertaining plots.

- "Easy to Love" was filmed in 1953 at Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven Florida.  Van Johnson played Ray Lloyd, the founder of Cypress Gardens but it was a thinly disguised version of the real founder, Dick Pope.  Mr. Pope was "Mr. Florida Entertainment" long before Walt Disney ever thought of us.  

- "Easy to Love" is the movie where Esther does the big drop from the sky and then comes back up from the water carrying a lit candelabra.  Wow!  Bugsby Berkeley, the great choreographer, outdid himself in this film.

- And our big, tall, muscular Esther did it all (with a little help from stand-ins) while, in real life, she was pregnant.


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