Esther Williams: Suiting Up Again : Former Swim Star Is Considering Legal Action After Dress Code Squabble With Country Club

Lately, Esther Williams has been thinking about her options. Should she sue-- E. Williams v. Los Angeles Country Club? Should she continue to speak out publicly?

She knows there are those women who will say, “Oh, Esther, don’t. . . .” But, she says, “I don’t think I would have been a movie star if I didn’t make waves, so to speak.”

For Williams, 67, the onetime MGM aquatics star, the issue is not simply that she was turned away at Los Angeles Country Club because she was wearing pants.

Rather, it is: “What’s going on in this country about women and freedom of choice? It isn’t what you’re wearing that matters.”

It started May 15 when Williams was a guest of honor at a charity event at the club. After she arrived, she was told by management to slip into one of the skirts kept on hand for such transgressors. She refused, left and has since been besieged by the media.

It was only a dinner party and she was, after all, wearing an elegant ensemble of black silk pants and a multicolored brocade jacket fashioned by Oscar de la Renta from a Japanese obi.

“A thing like this sets you thinking,” says Williams. “We should not be herded around like lemmings. We haven’t come this far to be dictated to, as long as we stay within the guidelines of good taste.”

Williams, who swam more than 1,250 miles in 25 aquamusicals, may be ready to go the extra mile now with a sex discrimination suit. It happens that her son, Ben Gage, is a San Diego attorney.

“We have, of course, been consulted by Ben’s mom as to what her legal rights are,” says Robert Albrecht, a partner in the firm of Gage, Hansen and Albrecht. “We believe she has a strong case.”

The operative state law, explains Gage, is the Unruh Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based upon sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin or physical disability, and mandates that businesses treat everyone equally.

At issue, says attorney Gloria Allred, is whether an establishment is a business or a private club. Allred, who chaired a city attorney’s task force exploring this issue, says, “From the point of view of the law, I do not consider this country club a private club.”

Albrecht agrees. “I don’t think there’s any question that the Los Angeles Country Club is a business.”

There are precedent-setting cases in California whereby clubs that charge non-members a fee for use of a room or serve meals to the public have been defined as businesses.

A 1977 landmark case was Hales v. Ojai Valley Inn and Country Club, in which a state appeals court found that a man had been discriminated against when he was refused dining room service because he was tieless and wearing a leisure suit. Women similarly attired were being served.

Determining factors in deciding sex discrimination, Gage says, also include the prevailing local community standards of dress.

In recent years, the sticky wicket of proper and improper dressing has been largely confined to “jackets and ties required” for men, while pants for women have become widely accepted.

“We don’t have anything like that Esther Williams thing for women,” says Ralph Woodward of Chasen’s. “Coats are required for men, ties optional.”

Rick Cecetti, manager of Morton’s, says, “We have a lot of customers in the rock-and-roll business and they dress the way they dress, so there is some leeway . . . but I must say in the six years I have been here, I have never turned anyone away.”

And where did Williams and her party dine the night of May 15, after being turned away from the country club?

At Spago, where, she says, they were warmly welcomed.

“I find the incident somewhat amazing,” says Spago general manager Tom Kaplan. “The only thing Wolf (owner-chef Wolfgang Puck) doesn’t like is shorts on men. If some man comes in wearing shorts, maybe he doesn’t know, or he is from the Midwest and just came from Disneyland, we will give him a pair of chef’s pants.”

Mario Tamayo, owner of Atlas Bar and Grill and Cafe Mambo, says: “What haven’t I seen come through the doors of Atlas! When people call and ask, I tell them to wear whatever they want to be seen in.” He says he sees a lot of high-end European designer clothes, jeans, leather, Chanel “and lots of skin.”

A longtime member of L.A. Country Club says the club at one time altered its rules to permit dressy pants for women at night, but not long afterwards rescinded that, claiming women had abused the privilege.

Neither Jim Brewer, club manager, nor club president Clarke Nelson returned telephone calls from The Times.

When Esther Williams received her invitation to the event sponsored by Child-help USA, she says, “They didn’t have any mention at all of dress, nothing.” That afternoon, she says, she called the charity president and was told the dress was “dressy cocktail.”

But, arriving at the club, she was intercepted by management suggesting that she retire to the powder room and select a skirt from their ready supply.

Williams says she was “very disappointed” that none of the other women guests came to her defense. There are those, she knows, who are “probably upset because I’m stirring up the status quo. I know there will be ladies there who will say, ‘Why did Esther make this fuss?’ ”

But she’s speaking out on principle: “I don’t even think we should let our husbands tell us what to wear, much less strangers.”

Skirts only? “It’s so medieval, in our trendy L.A.,” Williams says.

She adds, “I was really embarrassed for them because they were so dogmatic about it. I said can’t you just do like a traffic ticket, give me a warning, say ‘be a good girl’ and next time come in a skirt like a good little girl. I’d probably have done it.”

Elegant pants costumes have come to be something of a trademark for Williams, who was the film mermaid of the 1940s and ‘50s. At 5 feet, 8 inches, she says, and of a certain age, “I certainly don’t think the short, short skirts sliding up over your hips are appropriate. I’m a grandma. You wear one of those skirts over one of my swimsuits, you could get into that club.”

No, neither she nor escort Edward Dell gave a minute’s thought to her going home to change. “Edward,” she says, “is a free thinker. He said, ‘We can’t stay here.’ ”

Until that evening, Williams says, “I’d never set foot in the place. I never will again, either. It’s the first time I’ve ever been asked to leave any place.”

In Style for L.A. Clubs, Restaurants

A dress code sampler of restaurants and private clubs around town:

Bel-Air Country Club. No shorts, denim jeans, T-shirts with slogans and tank tops. Men are expected to wear jackets and ties, women are allowed to wear slacks at dinner.

The California Club. For women, dresses. For men, jackets and ties.

Hillcrest Country Club. Ian Smith, club manager, would not divulge the dress code, for fear of unwanted publicity. He says it’s the responsibility of members to inform their guests.

Riviera Country Club. “Jeans and denim, even dressy denim, is forbidden,” says Nancy Pear, director of membership.

Citrus. No shorts or anything ripped is allowed.

L’Ermitage. “Our dress code is elegance. And this being L.A., elegance is open to interpretation,” says Teresa Morris, director of public relations.

Morton’s. “We have a lot of customers in the rock ‘n’ roll business, and they dress the way they dress, so there is some leeway,” says manager Rick Cecetti.

Rex, Newport Beach. Men are expected to wear sport coats after 6. Ties are optional. Women cannot wear short shorts.