Actress Hedy Lamarr may have owed her fame to ״standing still and looking stupid,״ but she was anything but. This assimilated Jewess combined aspects of her colorful past to patent something that could have torpedoed the Nazi threat to Allied ships – if the U.S. Navy had only seen fit to use it

Scene 1: a lavish European ballroom complete with crystal chandeliers, plush Persian rugs, and exquisite porcelain vases. Flowers, champagne flutes on silver salvers, exotic hors d’oeuvres served by black-clad waiters – all in honor of the hostess’ birthday. 

Background music: a Viennese waltz, the musicians seated off to the side.

The belle of the ball mingles effortlessly with her elegant guests, her wavy brown hair cascading carelessly over her bare shoulders. A deep red evening gown sparkling with sequins sets off her perfect figure; a double string of pearls adorns her long, graceful neck. Her green eyes flash habitually at each witty comment, and her veiled gaze lends her every move an air of sensual mystery. She flirts with the evening’s guest of honor – the führer – and they clink glasses of rich-toned merlot. He offers a toast – to his beautiful hostess; to the munitions deal he’s signed and its significance for German rearmament; and to Austria, which will soon rid itself of Jews forever. He has no idea the birthday belle is one of them. And no one dreams that in a few short years, on the very day she celebrates her twenty-fourth birthday, Germany will be shattered by Kristallnacht. Cut.

Scene 2: the dining room of a Hollywood villa. Cigarette smoke, a table strewn with the untidy remains of a hasty supper. A few couples sit around, yawning. Lazy conversation.

Background music: the mechanical notes of a player piano.

A bohemian-looking man of about forty huddles with a younger woman in an airy summer dress. In the newspaper on the coffee table, a headline announces the ravages of the German blitz in Europe. The woman’s wavy brown hair tumbles at her shoulders just as before, but her glance is piercing now, her eyes hard and glinting. She and her companion discuss how hard it is for the Allies’ long-distance guided torpedoes to sink German U-boats and other ships, when their guiding signals are constantly being jammed by  German radio interference. He smiles suddenly as her idea penetrates, then pulls paper and pen from his jacket pocket and begins to sketch. She smiles and flutters her eyelids. 

Who could imagine this exchange would lead to some of the most advanced communication technologies in the world?