Was up early and bored, so starting watching " Easy to Love" an Esther Williams movie filmed at Cypress Gardens, Fla. Typical 50's movie where the leading man ( Van Johnson ) falls for the leading lady and loses her, gets her back in the end. Except... How she makes swimming so effortless, she just smiles and glides. The scenes of them water skiing makes the whole movie worth watching! I've never water skied, ( pretty good surfer in my younger days ) so I was blown away by the closing scene. If you watch the clip, the coordination to get those shots must have been a nightmare. They don't make movies like that anymore. ( after the movie, they showed a trailer for my next movie to watch, " South Pacific ". )
Call me old fashioned - but all them ladies back then were really something to behold and you're right, the time and effort that went into movie making was also great When I watch 'Wizard of Oz' its so hard to believe that was 1939 !!
I was amazed at the power of those boats in the '50s,considering the technology of the time and pulling all those skiers! I waterskied but was never great at it. Toughest time was skiing parallel to the beach through surf.