Created in the 1940s for home viewing, and sold to customers through the mail via ads in the back of popular magazines, these three short films feature beautiful women in skimpy costumes performing diving, underwater ballet, and the rhumba. The third film has a title card indicating it was sold via Joe Bonica’s “Movie of the Month”. Bonica was apparently one of the more successful entrepreneurs in this type of business, and although many of his titles featured the word “nude” in them, his most popular title was apparently a short showing the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll.

Opening titles: Movie Newsreels – Diving Exhibitions, Santa Barbara, CA (:06-:10). Coral Casino Club in Santa Barbara, CA. Marjorie Gestring climbs a ladder and gets to the diving board, she won a gold medal at the age of 13 in the 1936 Olympics. She bounces up and down on the diving board. She then does a swan dive, shown in slow motion. She does another dive, she does a twist followed by another swan dive. A running half gainer dive (:11-1:29). Slow motion dives for Marjorie Gestring continue. A running half twist dive. A running forward flip dive, shown from multiple angles. Title: The End (1:30-2:43). (Note: Marjorie Gestring was a competitive springboard diver from the United States. At the age of 13 years and 268 days, she won the gold medal in 3-meter springboard diving at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, making her, at the time, the youngest person ever to win an Olympic gold medal.)

Opening titles: Movie Newsreels – Nini Shipley in Underwater Ballet. Sign reads: Underwater Room, The Town House in Los Angeles (also known as the Sheraton-Town House featuring the Lanai Swimming Club). Nini Shipley performs underwater ballet moves in a pool. She spins, smiles, and swims underwater. Nini does flips underwater. Gracefully, Nini swims and flips underwater. She makes eye contact with the camera. Title: The End (2:44-5:25).

Opening titles: Joe Bonica presents The Movie of the Month: Rhumba Amalia (5:26-5:32). A woman dances the rhumba in a risque costume. The sounds of men cheering her on. She bends over backwards as she dances (5:33-6:45). The woman continues to dance the rhumba. She shakes and moves. Title: The End

(6:46-8:00).

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com