The Million Dollar Mermaid
The Million Dollar Mermaid
Only slightly aware of the fact that Jeff Chandler and Esther Williams had dated in the late 1950s, Dennis Potter awaited the 1999 release of the biography The Million Dollar Mermaid: An Autobiography by Esther Williams with Digby Diehl. Dennis was curious to find out what Ms. Williams might have to say about the Jeff Chandler; at the time, there wasn't any pre-release book promotion.
One evening before he bought Ms. Williams' book, Dennis had "The Phil Hendrie Show," on KFI-AM, a Los Angeles-based radio station, playing in the background; the topic: Esther Williams' claim that Jeff Chandler had been a cross-dresser. While he listened to the radio broadcast, Dennis' memories whirled backwards in time: for the next few minutes, Dennis realized, it was no longer 1999; instead, it was the early 1960s as Dennis remembered, for the first time in many years, his childhood experiences as a cross-dresser, something that Dennis' mother completely disabused him of at a very early age.
One evening before he bought Ms. Williams' book, Dennis had "The Phil Hendrie Show," on KFI-AM, a Los Angeles-based radio station, playing in the background; the topic: Esther Williams' claim that Jeff Chandler had been a cross-dresser. While he listened to the radio broadcast, Dennis' memories whirled backwards in time: for the next few minutes, Dennis realized, it was no longer 1999; instead, it was the early 1960s as Dennis remembered, for the first time in many years, his childhood experiences as a cross-dresser, something that Dennis' mother completely disabused him of at a very early age.
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Photo (Below): The Million Dollar Mermaid by Esther Williams, with Digby Diehl (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999). Click on the photo to shop for The Million Dollar Mermaid at Amazon.com.
