HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr at the WWII Museum’s Stage Door Canteen March 13-15
[HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr returns to the WWII Museum’s Stage Door Canteen March 13-15. The following are excerpts from my June 2021 review of it.]
HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, Heather Massie’s one-woman show, made it to New Orleans recently. Best known as a glamourous screen actress–she was once dubbed “The Most Beautiful Woman in the World”–Lamarr is now finally being more widely recognized as inventing, with composer George Antheil, The Secret Communication System, which made torpedoes more accurate. Also referred to as frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology, her invention is used today in cell phones, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, and a variety of other wireless systems.
Massie wrote the script, starred in it, and has toured the production around the world for the last five years. Her mission — “To establish Hedy Lamarr as a role model and to encourage young women in science and technology” — is a noble one. And the show is certainly interesting as Massie weaves dialog in with facts to flesh out her portrait of Lamarr.
Heather Massie in HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr
As with many one-person, biographical shows, however, it includes much exposition that could’ve been gleaned from Wikipedia and not enough dramatic tension.
When it does crackle, as when Massie describes how Lamarr got out of Vienna just in time from under the watchful eye of her then-husband, Austrian arms dealer Friedrich (“Fritz”) Mandl,HEDY! is fascinating. In its delicious descriptions of Mandl and his world (“a snake who sells to everyone including Hitler and Mussolini”; “in the world of selling munitions, there are no enemies”) and how Lamarr established herself in Hollywood (negotiations with Louis B. Mayer of MGM are a highlight), HEDY! draws you in by demonstrating how smart a cookie Lamarr was.
At other times, though, HEDY! settles for too facile dramaturgy. Though it includes some fun anecdotes, Lamarr’s showbiz story is fairly standard issue. Details about her friendship with Howard Hughes came out of nowhere. And while it’s always difficult to dramatize creativity, Massie doesn’t fully connect the dots as to how Lamarr was able to become a successful inventor.
While I could’ve done without the audience interaction and a too precious “summoning” of such ex-lovers as George Sanders and Jimmy Stewart, any show that includes such gems, presumably gleaned from Lamarr’s writings and interviews, as “To be glamourous, you just have to stand still and look stupid” makes for a worthy evening.
Even worthier, HEDY! makes clear that while the Army just wanted her to sell war bonds, which she did during WWII with extreme success, it might have made even greater use of her talents had her aptitude for inventing critical systems been encouraged.
Lamarr passed away in 2000 at the age of 85. I’m glad HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr had its run here at the National WWII Museum as a way to pay tribute to the self-described “simple Austrian girl” who was so far ahead of her time.
[For tickets and information about HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, go to HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans]
Mark Twain Tonight! at the Saenger Theatre
Emmy Award-winner Richard (“John-Boy Walton”) Thomas recently appeared at the Saenger Theatre in Mark Twain Tonight! This one-man show about one of America’s greatest writers and wits was written and originally performed throughout the country by Hal Holbrook, who won a Tony Award for the part when it debuted on Broadway in 1966. Suffice to say, it’s just as relevant and entertaining now as it was 60 years ago.
Richard Thomas in Mark Twain Tonight!
The show portrays Twain in his later years as though he’s giving a lecture or just talking to an audience. As is often the case with these one-person bio-shows (see above), there’s not an abundance of plot but when the subject is as rich a one as Twain, that doesn’t matter much. Wisely, Thomas, presumably with the permission of Holbrook’s estate, has shortened the presentation from 2 acts taking 2 hours to a 90-minute one-acter. There are a few longueurs, most notably during a recitation of one of Twain’s short stories, but, most of the time, Thomas and Mark Twain Tonight! were utterly engaging and, during a passage from Huckleberry Finn, absolutely gripping.
In addition to the segments taken from Twain’s literary works, the show is filled with many of the humorist’s quotable quotes: “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”; “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”; and “The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.”
Twain had a particularly scathing view of politicians — “Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.” Clearly, some things never change.
Thomas is the first and only actor authorized to perform Mark Twain Tonight! since the original. His still boyish face is transformed by Luc Verschueren’s wig and make-up design into Twain’s recognizable physiognomy with its crown of white hair. Thomas takes his time, slowly if intentionally, moving about Brian Pather’s simple set, all the while inhabiting Twain’s “great–but not pompous–man of letters” persona. In this winning performance, Thomas almost makes you believe that it’s Twain himself up there on the stage, 116 years after his death.
With his keen intelligence, lacerating humor, and sharp observations, I wonder what Twain would make of today’s news and, especially, politics. He’d probably have a top-rated podcast, eh?
