Hedy Lamarr: The Hollywood Goddess Who Gave Us WiFi

Hedy Lamarr: The Hollywood Goddess Who Gave Us WiFi

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today's video is brought to you by athletic  greens supplement your health and nutrition   with their daily blend of vitamins and  minerals more on them in just a bit she was described as the most  beautiful woman in hollywood's nay   the world she could enthrall audiences simply  with her gaze or by parting her lips just enough   to reveal the endless possibilities of sin her  life had all the markings of a modern day fairy   tale the story of a princess who made  her way through life thanks to her beauty   only to find herself locked in the castle of a  warlord a captivity from which she would escape   to conquer hollywood but nobody would suspect  that this austrian-born star had the brains of a   world-class inventor she was the screen siren who  inspired catwoman and disney snow white and who   invented the technology that would later enable  wifi and bluetooth today the story of hedy lamarr the actress later known as hedy lamarr was born  hedwig kissler on the 9th of november 1914 in   vienna she was the only child of a mill and  gertrude trude kisler both parents were part of   the wealthy assimilated viennese jewish community  and were able to provide hedwig with the best   education trude introduced the young eddie to  classical music theater and the arts in general   she was enrolled in one of the best schools in the  austrian capital the doblinger middle school which   could boast anna freud daughter of sigmund as a  teacher however pre-teen heady had other concerns   beyond the liberal arts she had a knack for taking  things apart to understand how they worked and   reassembling them again afterwards a pastime which  delighted a mill who was supportive of her early   engineering endeavors but most of all hedy was  conscious of her beauty and how she would turn   heads wherever she went she also had an unruly  spirit that her parents did their best to keep   under control failing consistently for example  one of hedy's grandmothers died when she was 12.   as her parents were distracted by the funeral  arrangements the tween seized the moment to enter   a beauty contest which he won around the same time  the kisslers decided to lock the rebel girl in a   swiss boarding school as if that would work eddie  asked her friends to cable the school pretending   to be her dad demanding she return home the ruse  worked and eddie slipped back to vienna to attend   yet another pageant by her early teenage years  the young kissler was back in vienna igniting the   passion of older boys and dating for the first  time one of them was a 21 year old actor wolff   albacheretti later to become father of another  austrian star remy schneider this period is also   when hedwig took her first steps to stardom  first she signed up for acting classes then   got herself a job as a script clerk at sasha's  film studios austria's largest movie production   company she should have been at school but she  forged a note in her mother's name to leave class   and attend the interview while working there eddie  learned that a casting call was being held for the   minor role of a secretary so she stole some makeup  from another aspiring actress and gave herself   a bit of a glow up looking more stunning than  ever had he boldly told the assistant director   i want to play the part of the secretary and so it  was that she got her first bit role in gold on the   street released in 1930. the small part attracted  the attention of max reinhardt a director with   legendary credentials this wizard of theater  cast her in the stage comedy the weaker sex   with a part so small it didn't even have  a name the character was credited only   as first american but reinhardt uttered some magic  words to a group of reporters saying hedy kissler   is the most beautiful girl in the world the  quote was picked up by trade papers in october   of 1931 the spell had been cast and the future  star received more offers for cinematic work   hedwig moved to berlin where she shot two films in  rapid succession the trunks of mr of and we don't   need money hedy played similar characters in both  movies a sweet unglamorous young woman who is able   to defend herself with powerful slaps should the  need arise contemporary critics found her acting   just competent enough but obviously everybody  agreed on her magnetic beauty hedy had enjoyed   relative success in berlin but in february 1932  she decided to leave the city many fellow jewish   performers had taken the same decision sending  an imminent rise to power of the nazi party   and they moved to vienna one star however had  other motivations she had been hired by czech   director gustav mahati to act in the film that  would set europe ablaze with controversy ecstasy   photography for ecstasy began in july 1932 taking  place on the carpathian mountains had he played   the part of eva a young woman married to an  older man a mill who turns out to be impotent   eva leaves him and decides to reconnect with  nature by swimming nude and alike there she meets   the young engineer adam and the two fall in love  mahati's intention was to present the heroine as   a modern-day eve who reconnects with the garden of  eden where she meets her adam the main character   is presented as an independent young woman  who rejects the gilded cage built around her   by a decaying husband in doing so she becomes  a life-affirming force never ceding authority   to other male figures not even to adam along  the way mahathir and hedy earned a misleading   reputation for pornography there is in fact a nude  swimming sequence and a close-up of eva's face   during orgasm all tamed by today's standards but  not in the 1930s the star was initially fine with   those scenes but when x to see premiered in vienna  in february of 1933 she was dead embarrassed   nonetheless ecstasy was becoming a wild success  propelled by scandal and controversy on one hand   traditional conservative cinema-goers found  this tale of extra-marital sex disturbing   and disgusting on the other hand everybody else  found the nudity and the orgasm sequence to be   too tame the marketing campaign for the flick  promised all sorts of obscenity and not some kind   of art house film with just one shot of a naked  girl to them that was the scandal in any case all   this publicity could only serve hedy's goals she  was now the talk of european cinema and another   contract soon ensued in march of 1933 when she got  the lead role in a stage production about empress   [ __ ] an iconic figure of austrian culture  her performance was greeted with enthusiasm   by critics who for once praised her skills  instead of just her looks if this is the story   of a fairy tale we could say that this is when our  protagonist is recognized as princess of her realm   but this was also the moment in which the princess  met a dark and shadowy figure who would become her   captor fritz mandel now just before we get into  the rest of today's 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been born out of wedlock in february of   1900 from a jewish father and a catholic mother  the two married only when the boy was 10. an  

ambitious man mandel made it big in the armament's  business earning the nicknames of austria's   munitions king and the merchant of death pritz  was also elegant charming and a smooth talker he   nagged mercilessly hedy and her parents until the  kistlers consented to an engagement announced in   may 1933. hedy converted to roman catholicism and  the two were married on the 10th of august 1933   soon embarking on a honeymoon across europe's most  luxurious destinations venice capri nice paris   all along the young bride had a taste of the  riches that this marriage could offer but she   soon realized that those solid gold bracelets  weighed more than handcuffs as she later put   it at every luxury except freedom in fact fritz  was blinded by a furious jealousy he demanded   that he quit acting and ensured that she did not  get access to the movie and staged celebrities it   was rumored that he ordered every print of ecstasy  to be bought and destroyed the rumor was probably   a publicity stunt concocted by the director  mcatee but it captures mandel's character well   after the honeymoon the munitions king locked up  his princess in his version of rapunzel's tower   villa fiegenberg about 160 kilometers outside of  vienna mandel demanded that hedy spend all her   time at home and not attend any social or business  events he even ensured that she was always short   on cash to better control her a battle of wit soon  ensued as the princess bride staged crazy antics   to escape pritz's control on one occasion she  removed all 16 toilet seats from the vast mansion   repainted them in bright colors and sat them out  to dry on the front lawn this was happening just   when fritz's business partners were arriving for  a meeting she then took to escaping from the villa   and going on wild shopping sprees buying on credit  of course when fritz saw the extent of the bill he   agreed to give her a fixed allowance one day after  escaping to vienna had he realized that fritz   was following her in her own version of events  she evaded capture by sneaking into a notorious   people show club but she entered the wrong door  and found herself on stage with the performers   having no other options eddie got into character  and improvised performance with a young male actor   it's often said that life imitates art in  this case hedy's life seemed to follow the   plot of ecstasy a young wife older husband and  extramarital passion one of the such flings was   inadvertently caused by a friend and client of  mandals a former italian journalist you might   have heard of this chap it's benito mussolini  mussolini was happy to buy weapons at a premium   rate from mandel he knew that fritz could use the  extra cash to fund count ernst von stehenberg one   of the top most austro-fascists and a leader  of the heimther militia ernst happened to have   a charming younger brother ferdinand who caught  hedy's eye and the two started an affair in the   meantime mandal was busy supporting the local  brand of fascism while he was opposed to an   annexation by german nazis mandel shared much of  their ideology including anti-semitism in fact in   1936 the austrian association of cinema producers  declared a ban on hiring jewish performers this   may have prompted eddie's plan to elope with  ferdinand on the 13th of november 1936 the   two hopped on a train to budapest where had he  planned to resume acting in theater but when the   train pulled into the station eddie was shocked  to see fritz waiting for her his face was a grey   mask of fury mrs mantle was promptly returned to  her gilded cage but it didn't take long for her   next prison break in early 1937 hedy hired a new  may laura her credentials she made for a credible   lookalike one morning the runaway bride slipped  three sleeping pills into laura's coffee after   she fell asleep eddie donned her uniform packed  a suitcase and snuck out from the servant store   driving laura's wreck of a car had he made it to  a nearby train station and hopped on a train to   freedom the experience with mandel had not been  entirely negative while she was supposed to play   the role of a trophy wife at business gatherings  she actually enjoyed discussing technical details   with mandel's colleagues especially engineers what  everybody had overlooked so far is that ms kessler   may have frequently skipped school but when  she was in class she excelled at science   her propensity for experimenting and inventing  would later pay off in a rather unexpected way the mandel's marriage was dissolved years later  when hedy obtained a divorce in nevada after   leaving the states her first destination was  similar at switzerland a popular destination   amongst jewish showbiz personalities seeking  refuge from germany and austria while there   the princess on the run had a brief affair with  eric maria remark also a persona non grata due   to his novel all quiet on the western front but  the two soon parted ways and mrs kusla reached   london in the summer of 1937. this is where she  was introduced the man who would open the gates   of hollywood for her co-founder of mgm louis b  mayer the film tycoon was interested including   her in his new batch of imported european talent  he was also aware of the fame that she gathered   thanks to ecstasy and was quick to admonish her he  said never get away with that stuff in hollywood   never a woman's is for her husband not  theatergoers mayer also picked a new name   for his new acquisition kisler sounded too german  and mandel had political connotations from now on   she would be known as hedy lamarr after the late  silent film star barbara lemar on october 4th 1937   the reborn miss lamar signed her first contract  with mgm with a weekly salary of 550 about 10   000 in today's money despite plenty of attention  from the gossip columns hedy still struggled to   find a suitable role she spoke little english and  some camera tests convinced mgm directors that   she really could not act that was until producer  walter wagner had an insight with her dark hair   wide eyes and foreign accent lamar was an  embodiment of exotic beauty perfect casting   for exotic dramas and so she got to star  in 1938's algiers are all coveted by   ingrid bergman in this drama set in algiers casbah  lamar plays the role of a passionate woman torn   between an older husband and her young lover a  gangster what a surprise a review of the time   read best of all is the smoldering velvet voiced  wanton mouthed femme fatale blackhead hazel-eyed   viennese actress hedy lamarr suddenly our heroine  had broken into the fantasies of millions of   american cinema goers her looks even inspired  the character design of sydney's snow white   initially drawn to be blonde later she would also  inspire the first version of catwoman the success   of algiers was followed by lady of the tropics in  1939. in this romance set in saigon hedy plays a   multi-racial woman born to a french father and  an indochinese mother and guess what she's torn   between an older powerful industrialist lover  and a younger suitor surprise another pattern   that emerges is that mgm was typecasting  heady into stereotypical roles the trend   was confirmed by 1942 with white cargo here the  austrian beauty plays another exotic seductress   the half egyptian half arabic ton de laio these  films did do well enough at the box office but   lamar would later regret not sinking her perfectly  aligned teeth into meatier roles for example in   1940 she had turned down the classic thriller  gaslight even worse in 1942 she had to decline   the part of ilsa in casablanca for contractual  reasons the role went to ingrid bergman of course   during her early tinseltown years hedy lamarr  married and soon divorced two hollywood   personalities first the producer jean markey with  whom she adopted her son james then she married   actor john loda with whom she had two children  denise and anthony all the while she maintained   a hobby only a few friends such as howard hughes  were aware of designing inventions hughes gifted   her portable engineering equipment so that she  could invent away in her trailer between takes   had he repaid the favor by streamlining the  tycoon's racing airplane lamar also invented   a tablet that could turn a glass of water into  a cola drink she also invented an anti-aircraft   shell with a proximity fuse after the u.s entered  world war ii in december 1941 she wanted to do  

more for the war effort together with a friend  composer george anthel she developed an idea   building on frequency hopping a concept originally  patented by nikola tesla in 1903. lamar reasoned   that naval torpedoes were given input for both  depth speed and direction but were left unguided   after launch how about developing a technology to  control their trajectory remotely hedy went one   step further how could one prevent the enemy from  jamming those directions given via radio signals   with the help of anthiol an expert in mechanical  pianos she devised a contraption similar to   a piano role that would switch between ata  frequencies very hard for the enemy to intercept   this method was patented on august 11th 1942 under  the name secret communication system the invention   was fully developed by the u.s military in 1959  as a device to control early drone models three   years later during the cuban missile crisis all  u.s navy vessels to enforce a blockade on cuba  

were equipped with the technology and jumping  even further ahead the lamar anthill secret   communication system became a fundamental  component of wireless communication systems   including wi-fi and bluetooth this invention alone  was estimated to be worth at least 30 billion   dollars in today's money and yet hedy and george  never saw a single cent the sad truth is that the   navy rejected the invention back in 1942 they  understood its theoretical advantages but found   it to be too cumbersome to put into practice  and in later years lamar failed to renew the   patent application during the war years the armed  forces believed that eddie lamar could serve her   country of adoption in another way she bolstered  the morale of gi joes by joining uso events and   more importantly led a fundraising effort which  sold 25 million worth of war bonds in just 10 days   with her contract with mgm expired she invested  heavily in producing her own movies the noir the   strange woman of 1946 was a moderate success but  dishonored lady one year later was savaged by   censorship and tanked at the box office this did  not help eddie's finances as she was known for   reckless shopping sprees the 1940s though closed  with hedy's biggest success to date the biblical   epic samson and delilah directed by cecil b  demille and starring victor mature as the male   lead commenting on mature's pictorials groucho  marx famously quipped first picture i've seen in   which the male lead has bigger than the female  as much as we love groucho barks and his humor   we expect that lamar wished to be remembered for  something more than a figure but such was the life   of a hollywood star and one on the decline too  at the age of 35 movie offers started to dry   up after working with demille had he only appeared  in six more films the last being the female animal   in 1958 hedy's declining years were accompanied by  trouble and heartache at home throughout the 1950s   and 1960s eddie got married and then divorced  three more times the wild spending the box   office bombs and the divorce lawyer bills left the  once glamorous star financially ruined in 1965 she   confessed to a fan i have no idea where my next  meal is coming from and some days i go hungry in   1966 she had the chance to return to the screen  with the horror picture mummy dead but she first   failed to show up on set and when she did she  collapsed due to exhaustion in february she was   fired from the production the year 1966 was the  start of a series of curious appearances in court   earlier that january she'd been arrested for  shoplifting however the judge found her innocent   and released her in the following years  she appeared in court again and again   this time as the plaintiff first she sued  the ghostwriters who had penned her 1966   autobiography ecstasy and me and accused them of  inventing scandalous details and lurid stories   then in 1974 she dragged to court comedy legend  mel brooks guilty of naming a character hedly   lamarr in his blazing saddles apparently brooks  was amused by the attention and agreed to settle   out of court next up were the newspapers san  francisco chronicle and the national enquirer   the chronicle the dead publishing the photo of a  two-headed goat called hedy lamar while the latter   claimed that the once star had become a pathetic  recluse old and ugly by the 1990s hedy was living   in a small flat in miami supporting herself with  a social security check and a screen actors guild   pension she was arrested again for shoplifting in  1991 and this time she was sentenced to a year of   probation in april 1998 eddie found the energy to  file her final lawsuit against software company   coral corp her photo had been used without  permission on the cover of coral draw hedwig kissler better known as hedy lamarr died on  the 19th of january 2000 in castlebury florida up   to the end she kept coming up with new inventions  a fluorescent dog collar a type of new traffic   light and even improvements for the concorde in  her last years eddie had become obsessed with   plastic surgery some say she was attempting to  recreate her long gone beauty true hedy owed her   success and film career to her looks but deep  inside she despised them in her autobiography   she wrote my face has been by misfortune it has  attracted all the wrong people into my boudoir   and brought me tragedy and heartache for five  decades my face is a mask i cannot remove   i must always live with it i curse it perhaps  that's what she wanted to do through surgery   punish and erase the face that had distracted the  world from her true talents a gift for innovation   invention and inexhaustible lust for life she  once said when i die i want on my gravestone   thank you very much for a colorful life the  actual quote in our gravestone represents much   better heady's world view and achievements films  have a certain place in a certain time period   technology is forever i hope you found  today's video interesting if you did please do   hit that like button below don't forget  to subscribe and thank you for watching

2022-02-19 15:10

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