Advice from Hedy Lamarr

I love watching biographies, and the story of Hedy Lamarr caught my attention.  My father and father-in-law both thought Hedy Lamarr was “the cat’s meow”.  She was a beautiful woman, an actress who left Nazi-occupied Austria and came to America.  She was under the old star-system, a form of bondage.  Sadly, very few saw past the beautiful face to the extraordinary inventor she was.

Hedy Kiesler Markey and George Anthiel (a musician) developed frequency hopping and offered it to the U.S. military to aid in the war effort.  Higher ups turned up their noses.  An actress coming up with a good idea?  Never heard of such a thing!  Her brilliant, patented invention was tossed into a file and forgotten during the war when it might have saved countless lives.

Later, it was found and became the basis of secure wifi, Bluetooth, cellphone, GPS and military technology.  Unfortunately, too much time elapsed and Hedy Lamarr would not receive even a nickel for her amazing work, and recognition came very late in her life.

At the end of the program, Hedy Lamarr is heard reading Mother Teresa’s “Anyway”.

People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.

Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish

alternative motives.

Do good anyway.

The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be

shot down by the smallest people with the smallest minds.

Think big anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.

Build anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll be kicked

in the teeth.

Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

 

Good advice to any generation and a poignant summary of Hedy Lamarr’s life.