March 16

The Only Woman in the Room: A Novel (2019)

By Marie Benedict

This novel is one of those imagined biographies (eg, American Heiress, The Paris Wife) that incorporates imagined thoughts and conversations consistent with the actual known facts of the subject's life, in this instance the actress Hedy Lamarr.

Hedwig Kiesler grew up as the only child of a wealthy couple in Dobling, Austria.  While she is smart and musical, it is her beauty that singles her out.  As a 19-year-old aspiring actress she catches the eye of Fritz Mandl, a wealthy older man in solved in weapons manufacture.  While she is attracted to him as well, it is her parents who push Hedy to accept his marriage proposal, assuming he'll keep them all safe through the turbulent days they anticipate, as the aggressive German chancellor seeks alliances with Italy and seems on the brink of invading other countries.  Hedy serves as Fritz's trophy wife, shown off at the many dinners he hosts in his 3 ostentatious residences for powerful and wealthy guests, including those in the highest levels of government.  Hedy starts to chafe under her new life and is eventually kept under lock and key, but she becomes an astute listener who overhears military and weapons secrets.  She goes off to visit her father, who is dying, and she manages to escape, eventually to America.  In a storybook moment, she meets Louis B Mayer, who signs her to a lucrative contract with MGM.  She goes on to make some very successful films (and another unsuccessful marriage), but her most cherished contribution is a device (partly based on overheard conversations among Fritz's associates) designed to make radio waves skip frequencies (with applications for torpedo launches) that would avoid detection by enemy radar.  Although this invention, developed with the aid of composer George Antheil, was not explained with any complexity (and is probably beyond the understanding of many readers, anyway), it was registered with the US patent office and paved the way for more effective remote control/wifi technology.  Unfortunately, the US Navy is not interested in an invention by a beautiful actress and encourages her to instead use her fame to sell war bonds, which she does.

It is only long after Hedy and George's patent expires that the government actually adopts their technology, which will one day pave the way for the internet.