‘THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE ROOM’: HEDY LAMARR’S PERILOUS EXPERIMENT
A fictional take on extraordinary life of Hollywood star
Sometimes, it is all too easy to assume that we, the general public, have an understanding of our favorite celebrities on a personal level — no doubt encouraged by the proliferation of social media and the celebrity gossip industry. It’s worthwhile, then, to examine our preconceived notions of our idols. For example, it’s only been a few decades since the public was made aware of the impressive role of actress Hedy Lamarr — not her film work but her talents as an inventor, including her part in creating technology for the war effort in the 1940s that contributed to the development of mobile phones years later.
The duality of Ms. Lamarr — world-famous beauty by day and diligent inventor by night — forms the plot of Pittsburgh resident Marie Benedict’s latest work of historical fiction, “The Only Woman in the Room.” While her first two books in the same vein, 2016’s “The Other Einstein” and 2018’s “Carnegie’s Maid,” explored the possible influences of romantic interests on the early lives of Albert Einstein and Andrew Carnegie, respectively, this time around the author forgoes mythologies about Great Men and instead opts to mythologize a famous woman. The change is welcome, as “The Only Woman in the Room” not only succeeds as a novel about a woman’s search for peace with herself but also as an imagined glimpse of a decade in the life of a movie star whose contributions to the world are still felt today.
The book opens in Vienna in 1933, as the woman who will become Hedy Lamarr — then known as Hedwig Kiesler — takes center stage in a theater production, where she immediately attracts the attention of Friedrich Mandl, a wealthy munitions producer with questionable politics. Teenage Hedwig is persuaded by her father to consider Mandl as a suitor, whose protection may be invaluable to the Jewish family as antiSemitic sentiment rapidly gains traction across the country.
Once they are married he reveals himself to be a domineering and abusive husband who expects Hedwig to be beautiful — and nothing else. Made to abandon her acting career, her friends and eventually her sense of freedom, Hedwig must balance despair with the hope that her marriage will keep her parents safe, even as Hitler turns his sights to the conquest of Austria. Hedwig’s terror is deeply affecting, and her subsequent plan to run from her husband is powerfully written; readers will cheer as she leaves that life behind.
Once she escapes, the book jumps forward to Hedwig’s arrival in Hollywood, where she signs a contract with MGM and is given her famous name. Hedy Lamarr becomes a movie star, and alalthough she is happy to be free, her interior life is full of guilt and grief as the Holocaust takes root in her home country. This guilt propels her, in unexpected and brilliant ways, to play her own part in ending the war.
Although fictionalizing the world of an actual historical figure is a daring prospect, Ms. Benedict’s research brings the worlds of 1930s Austria and 1940s Hollywood to life — even if the detailed descriptions of the material possessions of the wealthy become long-winded at times — which allows the reader to fully engage with the world of her protagonist.
The Hedwig/Hedy of the book is skillfully brought to life: She’s outspoken and charismatic as a young woman and as an actress, yet her fear of her husband informs her life even when she escapes his shadow. The author’s ideas of what may have driven the actress’s professional achievements are fully fleshed out, so that even as the terrorized Hedwig Mandl makes an improbable journey to becoming the world-famous Hedy Lamarr, the reader understands her emotional growth in the context of the novel.
“The Only Woman in the Room” serves as a spotlight on how often women are omitted from historical records, despite the influence and innovations they may have been responsible for. Although Lamarr was mocked by male colleagues for her scientific aspirations, her contribution to history remains and is still worth telling. Ms. Benedict’s book brings new life to an old story, and fans should be tantalized by the possibilities of the as-yet-unexplored heroines she may bring to life in the future.