"International Hollywood Bombshell...among her less impressive accomplishments."

God has displayed quite a sense of humor. For anyone that studies history at all, regardless of the omnipotent being role in daily events, that is certainly a mystery. But I refuse to believe that this Creator of all demonstrates for us mortals here and now the need to having the ultimate coping mechanism, a great sense of humor. Case in point, this woman, of which this picture was taken almost eighty years ago. At the time billed "the most beautiful woman in the world" by the major motion picture distribution company of its time, as long as she could stand upright and coherent, she would be a star. The outrageous humor in this "Renaissance Woman's" ironic existence is that she was quite likely twice the inventive mind of anyone else in the room, around men that felt they were entitled by gender or literal title to be her better, watching out for her interests as her "protectorate in life." Also in some divine meddling (it would appear) her being born Jewish in Austria (1913) a few years prior to the armistice of 1919, in the prime of her life she would've been struck down by perhaps the most evil regime to hit this side of hell during the 1930's and 1940's had she not traveled off to Paris to become an actress/artist. On top of which she was born when the medieval kingdoms of old were literally crumbling around her as the oldest orders of running the world were quickly falling faster than worldwide peace. The hilarity to me is that this person had won the genetic lottery of maybe multiple generations in natural beauty, but also had the brains that would prove pivotal in thwarting totalitarian regimes over the course of her life. I cannot help but laugh out loud thinking of the male response after talking with this person about cutting edge waves used to bounce off of to map underwater and beyond. God placed this person with this make up, skill set in a stuffy time, gender dominated environment as a woman pioneer in modern tech defense industry, and just for laughs she happened to also look like that, exploding male (frankly all) minds on the spot based on the "cover of the book" and perennial failure of assumption based fact. I can't help but be an even bigger fan of that irony.

For the longest time after hearing the story of Howard Hughes it always puzzled the daylights out of me why it took so long to make a movie about his "unreal" life. I think there is a female actress, visionary, scientist, war engineer, among countless other superlatives and titles during her astonishing lifetime that also fits in the category of why in the world has this story been stashed away? This one fits that category and then some.

In today's star maniacal celebrity obsessed culture, I would like for you to imagine for a second, Angelina Jolie (or any "uber celebrity" for that matter) developing a weapon that helps desert troops thwart terrorist efforts, like dismantling IEDs or rendering them far less effective. What the world press do when they were to catch wind of this accomplishment? You guessed it, heads would explode on the spot, and then she would have to find a way to combat that scientific phenomena as well. Or lets say Lindsay Lohan, Kim Kardashian, or Ivanka Trump somehow found the time to invent the technology that led to the development of blue tooth technology or even the wi-fi technology years down the road that allows you to read this article half way across the world? There would be statues commissioned to be put up of them, schools and streets would surely be named after them in proclamations across "the fruited plain."

Well, at one point there was that kind of person in our midst. She of course came of age during the Depression Era and World War II. I say of course because it never ceases to amaze me the level of adversity that was overcome by those whom we stand on their shoulders daily, and every once in a while are intuitive enough to realize the full-blown national, team effort in escaping ruin during these dark times. In looking at my relatives during this period I truly think it was a group of super human people more resilient than steel itself.

Also they were not born initially in the United States, but a native of Austria, lucky enough to escape the persecution of what was to come there in the German "cessation" during the WWII era. She was discovered by the film chief executive himself Louis B. Mayer (of MGM Studios). Dubbed in a marketing effort "the most beautiful woman in the world" shortly after arriving to Hollywood she was fast tracked to stardom having a career that spanned decades and countless followers and idyllic graces from such future box office sensations as Susan Sarandon, Anne Hathaway (who after being told that Catwoman from Batman was initially patterned after her, Hathaway copied mannerisms and breathing patterns), and countless other actresses and women moguls to make their presence felt as well in the creative mass medium.

Her films [Boom Town, Comrade X, White Cargo, Tortilla Flat, Samson and Delilah] had her starring and playing alongside fellow icons of the day Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Judy Garland to name only a very few. While working in Hollywood she came to the revelation and feeling of guilt that she was too comfortable in her Hollywood lifestyle while there were dark days transpiring in the earlier years of (the United States era of involvement 1941-1942) World War II. She knew should could help as she had been self taught in development of cutting edge tech concepts during this time, and produced a technology that wound up being able to scramble torpedo signals to aid in the naval efforts in the war. The technology was difficult to implement, but she actually applied for patent in the technology that was forerunner to blue-tooth and wi-fi technologies mentioned above that aided greatly in the US Cuban Missile Crisis of 1961 that brought nuclear mutually assured annihilation to the doorstep of real possibility to the baby boomer generation.

This woman of course doing things her own way unfortunately butted heads with the gentlemen of her day, being married six times over the course of her life. Ironically enough, her final marriage was to her divorce attorney Lewis J. Boies. After her final divorce with him she went on to be unmarried the remainder of her life. Such a brilliant, shinning spectacle of excellence of the mind and body unfortunately could not find a man who could match her ideal.

For marriage being seen as quite a bit different institution then as it is now, her being married and divorced at such a young age, married at age eighteen and divorced within five years by age twenty four must have been brutal, but again showed her forward thinking in her life, creating her own destiny. Her divorce with her first husband showed an impressive level of independence and that she would not be denied her life's ambitions. Her first husband was Friedrich Mandl, fifteen years older than her and reportedly the third richest man in Austria at the time being a powerful arms dealer, which apparently was the racket to be in Europe during the early 20th century. He forbade her to continue her acting career, due to a nude scene and a simulated orgasm in her movie debut in the Czech production "Ecstasy" in 1933. The film actually has drawn acclaim as the first non-pornographic film to demonstrate such an act in motion picture history. She chose the opposite decision that Mandl recommended, and her storybook life of being shackled in this picturesque castle manor of a home came to a sudden halt.

I have not mentioned this woman's name on purpose because what is so often lost in being defined by others is that the name, or the prevailing brand that follows the person throughout their life. It's tagged on them like an identity that cannot be escaped due to the ignorance of the crowd that places that stamped tattoo upon them. This woman could think circles around anyone in the room, came up with answers to many of the problems that were practical in her time and she ran into a "glass ceiling" so to speak, reaching the pinnacle of her talents as a Hollywood Depression Era star, and visionary that lead to technology due to her "immense tinkering talents" as Howard Hughes once attributed. He put his team of science engineers at her disposal, saying "they would do or make anything she asked for." [d] Had the Austrian born woman named Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler (her last name later to be changed to La Marr as ode to a silent film star Barbara La Mar). This woman was what the world would know her as Hedy La Marr, perhaps the most talented person in the room in every aspect, while spending her lifetime in elite moguls of their day, still not knowing the real impact of this Renaissance Woman among them.

Authors note: The following was shortened and meant to build curiosity to the life of Hedy La Marr purposefully, in the fact that what I think, or any other essayist or biographer absolutely does not put a cap on someone's life or fully define them. I do not like that people define me by a few labels, nor do I think that Hedy's life should be summed up in a few tags, classifications so that our minds can rest at ease having very little else to think of. I would recommend you explore the many media accounts of documentaries, books, biographies of her as you will realize life is never simple because the people that live them certainly are not.

Sources:
a-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr
b-Picture above: https://steemit-production-imageproxy-thumbnail.s3.amazonaws.com
/DQmNZY3z6EWErsMCrtDBwKu9zMqyhAQx1Udr3aQYKMwYu4b_1680x8400)
c-https://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2011/12/hedylamarr.html
d-"How Inventive “Genius” Hedy Lamarr Became a Hollywood Tragedy", Vanity Fair, April 20, 2017.