We’re taking you to the beach for Memorial Day weekend. 111 years ago, champion swimmer Annette Kellerman was arrested on Revere Beach. Her crime? Appearing in public in a one piece bathing suit of her own design. Along with being a record setting swimmer, Kellerman was a fitness and wellness guru, a vaudeville producer, movie actress, and a clothing designer. Besides her athletic prowess, she was known for her physical beauty, appearing in Hollywood’s first nude scene. A Harvard professor would go so far as to claim that he had scientific proof that she was “the most beautifully formed woman of modern times.” Puritanical Boston wasn’t prepared to see the exposed arms of such a specimen, so Kellerman was arrested for indecent exposure.
Bathing Beauty
- Angela Woolacott’s biographical sketch of Annette Kellerman’s life.
- Kellerman’s 1975 obituary.
- The New York Times Sunday Magazine article declaring that Annette Kellerman was the perfect woman.
- Annette in Brazen: Rebel Ladies who Rocked the World.
The 2018 Boston Light Swim is coming up on August 11.
Featured Historic Site
In 1909, an amusement park called Paragon Park opened across the street from Nantasket Beach, in Hull. It had a ferris wheel, a wooden roller coaster, bumper cars, a racing game, and a flume ride. In 1928, the operators contracted with the Philadelphia Toboggan Company to construct a grand electric carousel. It boasted two roman style chariots and 66 horses arranged in four rows. It was decked out with 35 original paintings and carvings of 36 cherubs and 18 goddesses. The music was automated, provided by a Wurlitzer Band Organ that ran on huge music rolls like a player piano.
After a long period of decline, Paragon Park closed in 1984. The following year, the carousel was auctioned off. Three local businessmen bought it and made plans to preserve it. The land the park sat on was slated for development, so the carousel would have to move. In early 1986, the owners moved it a few hundred feet down the beach, to a small lot that it shares with the park’s clock tower and a former train station. That’s where you’ll find the Paragon Park Carousel Museum today. It’s the last remaining ride from the former amusement park, one of just 18 four row carousels ever manufactured, and one of just two similar carousels that remain in Massachusetts.
With the summer season just getting started, the carousel is now open on Tuesday through Sunday from 1 to 5pm. Ride a classic carousel for just a two dollar suggested donation.
Upcoming Event
On Saturday, June 24, the Massachusetts Historical Society is hosting a talk by Red Sox historian Gordon Edes titled “All American Girls, Women in Professional Baseball.”
Baseball is not just a beloved pastime for American boys and men. From 19th-century college teams formed at Vassar and Smith and the nationally celebrated Boston Bloomer Girls to the formation of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League when major male talent faced the WWII draft, women players have increasingly found ways to make their mark on the game. Today, more women than ever before are playing baseball at a world-class level, staking a claim on the most nostalgic and patriotic of American sports.
There will be a reception at 3:30pm, and the event begins at 4pm. There is a $20 fee for non-members and advanced registration is required.