Annette Kellerman’s entrée into silent film began in the middle of an acrimonious battle to control the terms of her vaudeville career. Australian-born, she had established herself as a powerful draw on the American vaudeville circuit by promoting her “Perfect Woman” physique and presenting spectacular high diving and underwater exhibitions. Caught in a firestorm between theatre magnates B. F. Keith and William Morris after Morris offered Kellerman $1,500 per week, she astutely used her commercial popularity to get an agreement to appear in several silent kinetoscope shorts. She was ordered by court decree to fulfill the rest of her contract with Keith before beginning with Morris (Gibson and Firth 2005, 79–82)

Butkus, Clarice M.

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by Clarice M. ButkusAnnette Kellerman’s entrée into silent film began in the middle of an acrimonious battle tocontrol the terms of her vaudeville career. Australian-born, she had established herself as apowerful draw on the American vaudeville circuit by promoting her “Perfect Woman” physiqueand presenting spectacular high diving and underwater exhibitions. Caught in a firestormbetween theatre magnates B. F. Keith and William Morris after Morris offered Kellerman $1,500per week, she astutely used her commercial popularity to get an agreement to appear in severalsilent kinetoscope shorts. She was ordered by court decree to fulfill the rest of her contract withKeith before beginning with Morris (Gibson and Firth 2005, 79–82).Kellerman’s “bodiliness” and sexuality were key aspects of her vaudeville performances. Thus, bythe launch of her motion picture career, she had already developed a compelling trademark thatcombined an eroticism emphasized by form-fitting costumes with a daredevil prowess to whichwas added advocacy of women’s access to physical culture. Kellerman was arrested and chargedwith indecent exposure on Boston’s Revere Beach for wearing a “maillot pantaloon,” a unitardwith no legs, and was critical of corsets, which she described as “fiendish things injurious both tobody and health” in her 1918 book Physical Beauty: How to Keep It. Between 1909 and 1911,Kellerman appeared in both aquatic and nonaquatic silent roles for the Vitagraph Company, withher athleticism most prominently displayed in Miss Annette Kellerman (1909). She starred aswell in The Bride of Lammermoor: A Tragedy of Bonnie Scotland (1909), Jepthah’s Daughter: ABiblical Tragedy (1909), The Gift of Youth (1909), and Entombed Alive (1909). With theexception of Jepthah’s Daughter, these early films are believed to no longer exist, making itdifficult to trace Kellerman’s nascent film star persona. However, the highly marketable appealAlso Known As:Annette Kellermann, Annette Marie Sarah Kellerman, Mrs. James SullivanLived:July 6, 1887 - November 5, 1975Worked as:casting director, co-director, co-screenwriter, costume designer, film actress, stunt designer,stunt person, theatre actressWorked In:Australia, United StatesAnnette Kellermanshe had developed for mass audiences likely increased the control she would have over her imageproduction (Cullen, Hackman, and McNeilly 2007, 619-20).Kellerman finally left vaudeville when Edward Albee of what became the Keith-Albee-OrpheumCorporation threatened to cut her salary in half. Striking out on her own, she convinced CaptainLeslie T. Peacock to script her idea for the underwater fantasy film Neptune’s Daughter (1914).Carl Laemmle of Universal Film Producing Company took on the project, and Herbert Brenondirected. Kellerman’s biographers Emily Gibson and Barbara Firth sketch the outlines of heruncredited “co-directorial” role in this production, describing Kellerman as contributor in thedevelopment of story lines, stunts, locations, and camerawork. In the degree of control sheexercised, they compare her favorably with the most powerful stars of the day—Mary Pickford,Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas Fairbanks. In support of this view of Kellerman, her biographersquote her as having said of director Brenon that he constantly turned to her, asking, “What do youthink we should do here?” (118).Kellerman’s sheer physicality and bravery dominated her films and propelled the scene action.For example, in one scene from Neptune’s Daughter, she leaps from a cliff in combat with thevillain then overcomes him to rescue the male romantic lead. Her biographers tell us that thedangerous physical stunts in the film left both Kellerman and Brenon severely injured. Kellermanwas knocked unconscious in a cliff dive, and both actress and director were badly cut when theunderwater tank in which they were performing burst (119–21). In Kellerman’s next film, ADaughter of the Gods (1916), reportedly the first feature film to cost over a million dollars, sheagain became an uncredited cowriter of the script in addition to costume designing, casting, andtraining hundreds of performers (135–6). For the film, Kellerman and Brenon scripted a death-defying waterfall dive. Gibson and Firth tell us that when William Fox studio executiveseliminated the scene because it looked too risky, Kellerman complained to them: “That’s the way.Somebody’s always trying to take the joy out of life” (136). Kellerman also refused a double for ascene that required her to jump into a pool of live crocodiles, and she became notorious fordelivering the first nude appearance by a high-profile star in a large-scale production (139).YetKellerman’s film publicity couched her sexual charge in terms of formal artistry, comparing herphysique to that of the goddess Venus, a ruse to keep from offending middle class tastes. ButKellerman’s fearlessness and sexuality went beyond pure titillation. According to one Boston Postjournalist: “After seeing her, one may feel like defying any ten-foot man in the audience to declarethat the sex of which she is an ideal example hasn’t the courage to fight or the ability to vote or doanything else they choose to do” (149).Queen of the Sea (1918), What Women Love (1920), and Venus of the South Seas (1924) wereKellerman’s last three major motion pictures. The first was a less successful reworking of many ofthe themes and stunts found in the earlier mermaid films. The second was a comedy that initiallypaired Kellerman with Lois Weber, the director who had launched her own production company,but who was ultimately replaced on the film. Venus of the South Seas was a comparatively low-budget production with a New Zealand production company directed by Kellerman’s manager-husband James Sullivan and thought to be the only complete Kellerman film extant. Though farless grandiose in scale, Venus reprises her signature role.Beyond the biographical account provided by Gibson and Firth, there have been few attempts toidentify Kellerman’s agency in the film projects she built. In all of her films, her characters retainnames that are some form of “Annette,” attesting to the carryover of Kellerman’s prefilm starpersona. During the making of the fictionalized account of her life in the Esther Williams starvehicle Million Dollar Mermaid (1952), Kellerman technically advised Busby Berkley on thechoreography of water scenes. Kellerman was so active in the mode and manner of herrepresentation that we might best see her various theatrical producers and film directors as hercollaborators. Further consideration of her creative input is now more possible because partialprints of key titles, among them Neptune’s Daughter and Siren of the Sea, have been recentlyuncovered through amateur research and are held in archives in Australia, the United Kingdom,Denmark, and Russia.BibliographyBoston Post (n.d.): 149. Clippings files.  State Library of New South Wales.Butkus, Clarice M. “’A Story of Girls and Pearls’: Genre and Gender in the Films of AnnetteKellerman.” Unpublished M.A. Thesis, New York University, 2008.Cade, Mary Ann. “The Lost Films: Searching Archives for Films that are PresumedLost.” Silentsaregolden.com. http://www.silentsaregolden.com/articles/lostfilmsarticle.htmlCullen, Frank, Florence Hackman, and Donald McNeilly. Vaudville, Old and New: AnEncyclopedia of Variety Performers in America. Vol. 1. New York: Routledge, 2007. 618-620.Gibson, Emily, and Barbara Firth. The Original Million Dollar Mermaid: The Annette KellermanStory. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2005.“I always advocate something to do.” New York Evening Journal (1 May 1912): 92.Kellerman, Annette. “My Story.” Unpublished memoir. n.d. State Library of New South Wales.------. Physical Beauty: How to Keep It. United States: George H. Doran Company, 1918.“Kellerman, Annette Marie Sarah.” HerStory Archive [online database]. The National PioneerWomen's Hall of Fame. https://pioneerwomen.com.au/collection/herstory-archive/kellermanWooster, Marcelle [Kellerman's sister]. “Let’s Do Something.” Unpublished memoir. n.d. StateLibrary of New South Wales.Archival Paper Collections:Various archival materials. State Library of New South Wales.FilmographyA. Archival Filmography: Extant Film Titles:1. Annette Kellerman as ActressJephtah's Daughter: A Biblical Tragedy. Supervisor: J. Stuart Blackton, sc.: Rev. Madison C.Peters (Vitagraph Company US 1909) cas.: Annette Kellerman, si, b&w. Archive: BFI NationalArchive [GBB].Siren of the Sea. Dir.: Uncredited (Vitagraph Company US 1911) cas.: Maurice Costello, AnnetteKellerman, si, b&w. Archive: Danske Filminstitut [DKK].2. Annette Kellerman as Actress and Possible Stunt DesignerNeptune's Daughter. Dir.: Herbert Brenon, sc.: Leslie T. Peacock (Universal Film ManufacturingCompany US 1914) cas.: Annette Kellerman, William E. Shay, William Welsh, Leah Baird, Mrs.Allen Walker, Herbert Brenon, Millie Liston, Katherine Lee, si, b&w. Archive: National Film andSound Archive of Australia [AUC], Gosfilmofond of Russia [RUR].Venus of the South Seas. Dir.: James R. Sullivan. (New Zealand Dominion Productions NZ 1924)cas.: Annette Kellerman, si, b&w. Archive: National Film and Sound Archive of Australia [AUC].3. Annette Kellerman as HerselfThe Perfectly Formed Woman. Newsreel Footage. (Warwick Bioscope Chronicles UK 1910) cas.:Annette Kellerman, si, b&w. Archive: National Film and Sound Archive of Australia [AUC].Annette Kellerman Performing Water Ballet. Unedited Actuality Footage (1925) cas.: AnnetteKellerman, si, b&w. Archive: National Film and Sound Archive of Australia [AUC].Annette Kellerman Returns to Australia. Uncredited. Newsreel Footage (Fox Movietone Australia1933) cas.: Annette Kellerman, si, b&w. Archive: National Film and Sound Archive of Australia[AUC].Water Ballet: Sydney. Dir.: Uncredited. Newsreel. (Cinesound Productions Australia 1940) cas:Annette Kellerman, si, b&w. Archive: National Film and Sound Archive of Australia [AUC].B. Filmography: Non-Extant Film Titles:1. Annette Kellerman as ActressThe Bride of Lammermoor: A Tragedy of Bonnie Scotland, 1909; Entombed Alive, 1909; The Giftof Youth, 1909; Miss Annette Kellerman, 1909; The Mermaid, 1911; National Red Cross Pageant,1917; What Women Love, 1920.2. Annette Kellerman as Actress and Possible Stunt DesignerA Daughter of the Gods, 1916; Queen of the Sea, 1918.C. DVD Sources:Neptune's Daughter. DVD (Grapevine Video US 2004)Venus of the South Seas. DVD (Grapevine Video US 2004)D. Streamed Media:Excerpt from Neptune's Daughter (1914):Excerpt from Venus of the South Seas (1924):Credit ReportThe Annette Kellerman filmography is incomplete as she was not credited on-screen for the workbehind the scenes of her films, particularly in terms of stunt design and co-collaboration inscripting and direction. For example, she codirected scenes of Neptune’s Daughter. Thisfilmography is based on references to her work by her biographers, the research work of MaryAnn Cade, and cross-referencing of existing filmographies. The existence of The Art of Diving(1920) needs to be confirmed.CitationButkus, Clarice M. "Annette Kellerman." In Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal, and MonicaDall’Asta, eds. Women Film Pioneers Project. New York, NY: Columbia UniversityLibraries, 2013. <https://wfpp-test.cul.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-annette-kellerman/>

Annette Kellerman

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