I know little about Hollywood history. Yet, I reduced my Hollywood Golden Age ignorance when I read about Hedy Lamarr. I didn’t know anything about Lamarr… much less her name, yet, I knew her face. As a teenager, I saw her picture every Friday at the movie theatre. I remember her face because she reminded me of my mother. Mesmerized by Lamarr’s photos, my ADD sent me into a hour long Hedy surf.
The more I read, the more I liked. Lamarr’s quote “ Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.” Ah, show me your wit, I’ll show you my heart. Doesn’t wit usually coexist with a high IQ? Not sure, but this sexy woman was smart. Smart goes a long way in my book.
Lamarr co-patented an early form of Frequency-hopping as a military defense that wasn’t used until years later because it was ahead of it’s time. Although, her invention was used in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Lamarr’s patent eventually became valuable to modern mobile communications that she was paid an undisclosed amount by Ottawa wireless technology developer Wi-LAN, Inc. approximately 50 years later.
It’s highly unlikely Lamarr ever attended the WSOP, however, she was born on November 9th which also became Inventor’s Day in her honor. So, next November Nine, remember Hedy Lamarr’s birthday when booting up a laptop. After all, it was Lamarr’s frequency-hopping plays a role in today’s Wi-Fi networks.
PS – Rachel Weisz is rumored to play Hedy Lamarr in Amy Redford’s upcoming film Face Value. No idea on the latest with that as I ran out of Google time.
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