Hedy Lamarr, The Only Woman in the Room

I am so enjoying the book discussions led by the women at the local Twin Beaches library here in my Maryland home away from home. Even though Maryland libraries have only recently reopened with fewer hours, they do so much with so little and so well. Throughout the pandemic Zoom has been working over time for them.

Apparently each November around Veterans' Day the discussion centers on a book about war, fiction, non-fiction, each year is different. This year was wide open. The discussion was to be about Hedy Lamarr and we could research her life through documentary films, fiction, biographies, and yes, even Wikipedia!

I watched an award winning film that utilized a great deal of original footage and interviews with family and friends who knew her well. I supplemented with "The Only Woman in the Room," a novel by Marie Benedict. Benedict's specialty seems to be this now ubiquitous genre, the "fictional biography," and she loves to write about the woman behind the man. Einsteins''s wife, Clementine Churchill, and Andrew Carnegie's maid have all been subjects of her books and, though I felt she took quite a bit too much licence by use of the first person, I look forward to her take on Agatha Christie.

So what do war and Hedy Lamarr have in common? Well, by now you may know that Ms. Lamarr, born Hedwig Kiesler, in Vienna, Austria, to a secular Jewish family, was much more than just a pretty face. Her story is fascinating and the discussion was lively.

It was the looming rise of Fascism in Italy and the threat of German boots at Austria's border that changed so many lives in the 1930's, Hedy's among them.  Hedy caught the eye of arms manufacturer Friedrich Mandl while appearing onstage as the empress of Austria. Their subsequent marriage, though psychologically abusive, afforded Hedy the opportunity to listen and learn as her husband entertained weapons scientists and leaders like Mussolini and Hitler. Hedy was little more than eye candy to Mandl and his associates but their conversations thrilled the woman who, at five years old, disassembled a music box and put it back together just to see how it worked.

Years later, while charming Hollywood and the world with her beauty, she put her mind to work devising a method of frequency hopping that would inhibit an enemy's ability to jam transmissions between torpedoes and targets. Though she and her partner, the musician George Antheil, were awarded a patent for their breakthrough, it was years before the technology was used and even more before Ms. Lamarr was acknowledged by the Dept. of the Navy.

For centuries smart women have had to hide their lights under barrels. Think of the leaders we could have, should have had, how only as an appendage to a man were we "allowed" in the room. Yes, things are finally looking up - go Kamala - but it's been a long time coming. Our discussion was graced with smart, accomplished women with something to say. Now go learn the truth about Hedy Lamarr.