Last night as I was channel-hopping, I came across an item on Hedy Lamarr, the moviestar. I was immediately interested -- you don't hear about her too often, and the movies she starred in don't come to our screens all that often, either. As a result, I can't really say whether that's a good thing, or a bad thing.
However, I've been hearing about Hedy all my life. The reason for this, is that I was named after her. In the 40s, when my mum was a little girl in the Dutch East Indies, she saw one of her movies (I don't know which and my mum doesn't remember the name) and was bowled over by her presence on the silver screen. She thought she was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen or was ever likely to see, and decided then and there that if she ever had a daugher, she would name her after Ms. Lamarr.
Like all Asians, my mum is pretty superstitious. She believed that if she named her daughter after the most beautiful woman she had ever seen, that daughter would grow up to be beautiful as well. Personally, I wish Mum had known about Ms. Lamarr's scientific mind and technological prowess (the original idea and 1942 patent that led to mobile phone technology had been hers), then perhaps I too could have been brilliant, but alas! I'm just stuck with having the same hair colour.
However, I've been hearing about Hedy all my life. The reason for this, is that I was named after her. In the 40s, when my mum was a little girl in the Dutch East Indies, she saw one of her movies (I don't know which and my mum doesn't remember the name) and was bowled over by her presence on the silver screen. She thought she was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen or was ever likely to see, and decided then and there that if she ever had a daugher, she would name her after Ms. Lamarr.
Like all Asians, my mum is pretty superstitious. She believed that if she named her daughter after the most beautiful woman she had ever seen, that daughter would grow up to be beautiful as well. Personally, I wish Mum had known about Ms. Lamarr's scientific mind and technological prowess (the original idea and 1942 patent that led to mobile phone technology had been hers), then perhaps I too could have been brilliant, but alas! I'm just stuck with having the same hair colour.
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Comments
Lovely pictures of the both of you :)
Really? I think I only found out about it when I was reading through the obits...I remember having been slightly taken aback by seeing her face on some Microsoft product shortly before her death, and wondering why that could be...
I'd say there's more than just a physical similarity in the folicle region, you're one clever female yourself.
Well, now you know! I was named after a 1940s Hollywood star; and there but for the grace of God (or rather, my mother's jealousy), my sister might have been named after a 1960s sex bomb: my Dad quite fancied the idea of naming his second daughter Brigitte. But as I said, Mum put a stop to that right quick.
you're one clever female yourself
Thank you.
However unfair the reaction, still it's a bit shocking when an incredibly gorgeous specimen (of either sex really) turns out to have such a good scientific brain.
What I do remember is Hedy's being considered scandalous for having done a topless (if not fully nude) scene. I don't have time to hunt that info down, but I did see a film still of the nude scene once somewhere ...
Is that...is that Louise Brooks in your icon?
In her younger days, Mum was (and still is, to a certain extent) a big movie maniac. Growing up in the 40s and 50s, she collected pictures of movies stars and made countless scrapbooks, that my sister and I loved to look at when we were little. It wasn't uncommon for either of us to demand our mother do our hair like Grace Kelly or Olivia de Havilland before going to school...
What I do remember is Hedy's being considered scandalous for having done a topless (if not fully nude) scene.
I've found a very interesting article about this scene and her title role in Cecil B. DeMille's 1949 film Delilah. To be honest, I'd never really heard of the furore surrounding it, although I did know about the nude scenes in her 1933 debut Ecstacy, that actually brought her to the attention of Hollywood. Funny, really -- it seems that America's still as easily shocked now (viz. the reaction to Janet Jackson's baring of her boob last year) as it was then.
Yes, my icon was of Louise Brooks. I have a few of her films. She definitely had screen presence!
My mom used to give my hair little french braids down the sides of the scalp from a middle part, progressing into bigger braids that she would loop up once, attaching the ends behind my ears with barrettes. I was the only one in school with this hairstyle, which I kept up for years ... until I suddenly got old enough to realize if I didn't stop, I was going to get made fun of! Thankfully I figured this out soon enough to head off peer torment at the pass. I believe I was about 10 or 11 years old at that point, so I'd worn that style for 4 to 5 years by then!