Life magazine ran a page featuring me and three other girls that was clearly the precursor of Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues

It appeared as if I had invited the audience into the water with me, and it conveyed the sensation that being in there was absolutely delicious

Clark Gable was the first to have called me a mermaid.

Barely a teenager, Elizabeth Taylor was already more beautiful and voluptuous than Miss America. When she arrived at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel for our magazine shoot, I was bowled over. I couldn't believe she was only fourteen. She filled out a swimsuit better than I did. We did the pictures, including one shot of me teaching her to float. With that superstructure of hers, she floated just fine. What she couldn't do was sink.

My training in Science of Mind had begun with my mother. She took me to a different church every Sunday, and she encouraged me to question the minister afterward.

I ended up buying a restaurant. Already we had invested in a gas station and a metal products plant.

The newspapers loved pinup pictures of pretty young swimmers, and as a national champion, I got more than my share of space in the sports pages.