WE DON’T HAVE MERMAIDS LIKE HER ANYMORE
(…the one-piece swimsuit kind that is…)

She was just a down-home all-American type girl, back then, until she made a big splash, becoming everyone’s favorite mermaid, and a pin-up star for a lot of WWII and Korean War GI’s.

She’s gone now. Esther Williams passed away last week as a grand dame of 91 years, which means we don’t have a lot of mermaids like her anymore…the one-piece swimsuit kind that is…cavorting in the water with flashy displays of athletic grace.

Whether backed up by a bevy of a dozen or more bathing beauties flowing through that water in synchronized ballet motion, or, high on top of a pyramid of luscious pulchritude zooming by on water skis behind a speeding boat, Esther and her mermaid cohorts always gave us shows of extravaganza appeal.

While we’re not so far gone as not to still have mildly prurient pleasure in watching a bunch of lithe young beach bunnies prance around in itsy-bitsy polka dot bikinis (which rarely get wet), comparing these to any well designed and well fitted one-piece swim gear is like trying to compare –fashion- to – style -. There’s just no comparison.

Well, there’s a hell of a lot of –fashion- all around us these days, but damn little in the way of –style-, and the one thing about our Esther was that she always had…style.

CENTURION