Annette Kellerman on Sex Appeal

This clip is taken from the Fox Movietone newsreel Annette Kellerman Returns to Australia.

After living and working abroad since 1905, swimmer, vaudeville performer, silent movie star, author and entrepreneur Annette Kellerman arrives back in Australia to a warm welcome in 1933.

Kellerman knew how to market herself and make people sit up and take notice. A fine example of this is her reference to her next novel – which she laments may never be finished because 'nowadays a novel has to have so much sex appeal and I don't know a thing about that'. 

It's not clear who the people are standing behind her in this newsreel, but their shy smiles and reactions to her talk of nudity and sex appeal show how ahead of her time Kellerman was.

Notes by Beth Taylor