Michael Phelps hasn't done it. Mark Spitz didn't do it. But Esther Williams turned swimming talent into movie superstardom at the height of the Hollywood studio system. This month, Turner Classic Movies revisits that singular achievement.

May Thursday nights are filled with WIlliams musicals like Million Dollar Mermaid and Neptune's Daughter, flashing us back to movie machinery of an efficiency level that still today has us watching these glossy entertainments on a daily basis.

May 5's first Thursday salute showcases Williams' unlikely rise to stardom, starting with 1944's Red Skelton pairing Bathing Beauty (8 p.m. ET, TCM).

Here's more about TCM's star of the month.

Some of the other May events on Turner Classic Movies:

--- Playing the Ponies (Tuesday nights starting May 2) -- Everything from the Marx Brothers' A Day at the Races to The Black Stallion.

--- Mother's Day Classics (Sunday night, May 8) -- I Remember Mama, Stella Dallas and more.

--- Memorial Day weekend marathon (May 27-30) -- Around-the-clock war movies. Mostly from World War II, but also the first World War (All Quiet on the Western Front, Sergeant York) and Vietnam (The Green Berets).

Memorial Day movies can also be found on AMC May 27-30 (Patton, Apocalypse Now, Pearl Harbor) and Fox Movie Channel May 30 (Von Ryan's Express, For the Boys).