Although conventional everyday pantyhose would not be invented until 1959, sheer stage tights, such as Eleanor Powell wears in her dance number, had been in use for decades by those in the entertainment industry.
When Red Skelton is called up on stage to award the "Duchess of Idaho" trophy, he tells Esther Williams that she looks familiar. This is an inside joke since Red made several movies with her.
Duchess of Idaho (1950) was also Esther Williams' return to the screen after the birth one year previously of her first child, Benjamin Stanton Gage. In her autobiography, The Million Dollar Mermaid, Williams described the enormous professional demands then placed on movie stars, whose newborns were often enlisted into the publicity effort.
Everyone wanted pictures of a sweet baby and a pretty mother, preferably one who's got her figure back already." Williams quickly lost the 25 pounds gained during pregnancy, with the MGM publicity department claiming she had even lost an inch off her hips. That same year Williams signed a new contract with MGM guaranteeing her $1,300,000 and $2,500 a week.
Everyone wanted pictures of a sweet baby and a pretty mother, preferably one who's got her figure back already." Williams quickly lost the 25 pounds gained during pregnancy, with the MGM publicity department claiming she had even lost an inch off her hips. That same year Williams signed a new contract with MGM guaranteeing her $1,300,000 and $2,500 a week.
Before a modern airport was built, train travel (or auto) was the way to reach Sun Valley. The nearby town of Ketchum, Idaho was the rail hub for Sun Valley visitors.