rage Ten

ewish-AritisizOfficer Leaves
egacy of Wisdom, Poetry

An American

Success Story:

"Let Stephen Speak" by Han-.
nah F. Cohen, published by
Sylvan Press Ltd., 24 Museum St.,
London WC1, England, is an un-
usual book.
It is "A Memoir of Capt.
Stephen Behrens Cohen," written
by his aunt who did not live to
see the book. inprint.

eat

rr

&Pl.w.Ct nit

By LEON GUTTERMAN

(Copyright, 1947. Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)

HOLLYWOOD_
IIE name of Hedy Lamarr has become a
household word wherever motion pictures are
shown. To millions of moviegoers her dark
beauty has today become a measuring rod for
feminine pulchritude. But she has not depended
on her looks alone. Her dramatic ability, not
her beauty, won her stardom.
Within 'a span of years, Hedy Lamarr has
carved a niche for herself in cinema's Hall of
Fame that is unique and unprecedented in the
annals of Hollywood.
She was born in Vienna, Austria, the daughter
of Emil Kiesler, director of the Bank of Vienna,
at that time an institution of international
power. Her childhood was spent in an atmos-
phere of comparative luxury, with affluent sur-
roundings, many servants and a corps of private
tutors. When she was 12, her parents sent her
to a girl's academy in Switzerland.

T

NEM 'gab. IOW

T

WO years later Hedy was brought back to
Vienna to study in a private school. Long
interested in acting, veteran of many impromptu
"one-girl" plays and boarding school dramatics,
her interest was aroused by the fact that the
Sascha Studios were situated between her
home and her school.
Before long this interest reached a climax
when she was virtually drawn into the studio
offices where she was startled to hear herself
applying for a job as script clerk, still more
amazed to find she'd been hired. When, two
hours later, an actress scheduled for a bit part
as a secretary failed to show up, Hedy—still
giddy with success—volunteered to play the
role, acquitted herself sufficiently well to be
told to report next day for another small part.
The picture was titled "Storm in a Water Glass."
There was a tempest at home, too, but Hedy
weathered it. The upshot was she was trans-
ferred to a dramatic school but in less than six
months she won a fair role in another motion
picture, One Doesn't Need Money," following
which she Berlin, shortly thereafter
meeting Max Reinhardt who lOst no time in
casting her in The Weaker Sex," followed by
a role in Noel Coward's "Private Lives."
Now 'vow
Y this time, at the age of 16, she was gaining
recognition as one of Europe's most beauti-
ful women and one of its most promising young
actresses. Critics were sitting up and taking
notice of the name Hedy Kiesler. The world was
a rosy place for young Hedy. She had won her
struggle to be an actress over terrific odds. She
. was doing the work of which she had dreamed.
Her parents were reconciled.
But Fate has a way of slipping in bad cards
alone with the. good ones. The first of these
cards turned up one Friday the 13th; when a
friend brought a motion picture producer
around to meet Hedy Kiesler. He wanted her to
portray the leading role in a film he was plan-
ning. It was named "Sympathy of Love," and
was to be filmed in Prague. She read the script
and signed the contract. The film was released
as "Ecstasy."
Hedy tells the story in her own words: "We
started the film and everything went well until
we went on location by a river. Now, I was
told, we had come to the nude scenes. I pro-
tested and was told they would be long shots,
but even as long shots they were vital to the
story. When I asked what would happen if I
refused, I was told that, according to my con-
tract, I had to do everything that was required.
Should I fail to do so, the picture would be
ruined and the producer could collect from me
his entire losses. So, there was a 16-year-old girl
seeing visions of creditors descending upon her
respected father at the bank, with legal right
to collect a great sum. Of course, I made the
scenes.
"It was bad enough believing these were long
shots." she continues, "but imagine my emotions
at the preview when they became close-ups.
How was I to know about telescopic lenses?
There was a wild scene in that theater, with
me crying hysterically that I had been tricked."
Now ',vim wok
HEN the film was released it created a mild-
sensation, but Hedy, who had fled back to
the stage and was appearing as the lead in a play
called "Cissy" in Vienna, felt a bit more secure.
Certainly, it was such a small film, it would be
quickly forgotten.
But it wasn't forgotten. Submitted at the
Italian Cinematic Exposition, it won the Grand
Prize. Such an honor 'stirred up World wide
curiosity. about the picture. Suddenly Hedy.
realized, with a sickening feeling, that no

B

W

Frlday, April 4, 1947,

THE JE-WISH NEWS

HEDY LAMARR

longer was she Hedy Kiesler. Instead, she was
the "girl who bathed nude for the picture
'Ecstasy'."
Youth takes its joys with exuberance. It takes
its misfortunes with blackest tragedy. Heart-
broken, Hedy continued her work in the stage
production, "Elizabeth of Austria." One evening
during the run of the play, a huge basket of
flowers was delivered to her dressing room.
They bore the card of the internationally famous
financier and manufacturer, Fritz Mandl.
Hedy had heard of him, but they had never
met. A few afternoons later, Mandl called on
Hedy's mother, for permission to pay court to
her daughter. The courtship was a whirlwind
affair. To Hedy it offered escape from the humil-
iation of her youthful enthusiasm for acting had
brought. A few weeks later- they were married
and went to live on Mandl's huge estate.
"It was splendid," Hedy recalls. "I had 17
dogs. We served dinners on gold plates for
ambassadors and diplomat.i."
Nook ',Now
UT Hedy was scarcely 17. Suddenly the
world that she had learned to love had been
snatched away. Her associates were politically
famous personalities. There were no young
people, no girls of her own age with whom she
could chat.
For five years, Hedy tried to fight it out with
herself. She tried to forget her ambitions, to
push thoughts of the theater into the back of
her mind. But with loneliness increasing, the
urge became stronger. One evening her en-
thusiasm for the stage burned at a fever height.
She had to escape from everything that sur-
rounded her. She needed friends, the excite-
ment of the stage, someone of her age with
whom to talk. That night she ran away to Paris.
She couldn't remain in that city for fear she
would be overtaken and persuaded to return.
From Paris she fled to London. There, she
learned, Louis B. Mayer, executive head of
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, was staying. She
- arranged to meet him. He, h.owever y was leaving
on the next boat for America. But before he de-
parted he arranged to have tests made of Hedy
Kiesler at the London studio. If the tests turned
out well, he assured her, the studio in Holly-
wood would send for her.
Hedy couldn't wait. First there was that
youthful exuberance, and then the fear that
every minute counted. She Was playing against
time. In her bag was enough . money for passage
to America. She decided to take the gamble.
Mr. Mayer was on the same boat. He was
startled when he saw the girl whom he had in-
terviewed, only the day before, in London. But
she lost no time in explaining. She couldn't
wait; she said, for that test in London. She had
gambled everything on coming' to Hollywood.
She was willing to take her chance.
"You have courage," Mayer answered. "I like
that. I will see that you get your chance."

B

contract was drawn up, giving
A temporary
Hedy Kiesler—who immediately changed

her last name to Lamarr, and who couldn't speak
a word of English—six months to make good in
a new country.
Arriving at last in Hollywood, Hedy realized
it would be some time before she could make
her test. First, she had to learn to speak English.
She was provided with a tutor on the lot. Then
she went everywhere in an effort to improve
her English. She spent hours in motion picture
theaters, matching the movement of her players'
lips with the sounds which came from their
throats.
It tok only two months for her to prepare for
her first American screen test. Studio executives
were loud in their praises.
But Hollywood, she discovered, had to wait
for more than a good test. In launching a new
player, the role must be right. Just when she
began to feel the right role would never come,
she was informed that she was to be loaned to
producer Wanger for the film "Algiers" opposite
Charles Boyer.
wok Now Now
HE rest is history. Overnight, following the
release of that film, Hedy Lamarr's name
was a household word. She was a star, the new-
est and most glamorous, to flash across the Hol-
lywood horizon in years. '
Married on May 26, 1943, to Sohn Loder,
motion picture actor, Hedy has one adopted son,
Jarnsie, now 8; a daughter, Denise, born in
May, 1945, and an infant son, Anthony John,
who was delivered by Caesarian section in
Good Samaritan' Hospital, Hollkrwood, Calif.,
, on March 1, 1947. Her maqlage - to Loder cli-
maxed a romance that start4 atthe Hollywood
. Canteen, where -they- . were _ both volunteer

T

workers.

Capt. Cohen, member of a dis-
tinguished family of Jewish lead-
ers on both his maternal and pa-
ternal sides, died in 1943 at the
age of 31 from effects of a tropical
disease contracted while in ser-
vice in India. Educated at Eton
and Cambridge, called to the
Bar, adopted as a Conservative
candidate for Parliament, his bril-
liant career was cut short by
death. His letters and memoirs
reveal the genius of the young
man who took a deep interest in
Jewish affairs, who wrote poetry
well, who knew history' and had
a marvelous sense of humor.

•

•

•

Under the date March 21, 1937,
in a letter from Highfield,
Stephen included the following
interesting paragraph:

"I recently came across a ref-
erence to a dispute between
Gladstone and Huxley as to
(a) whether in Jewish law a
Jew might legitimately keep
pigs for sale of pork to Gentiles
and (b) following from that
whether the destruction of the
Gladstone swine was an un-
justified interference in the
rights of private property on
the part of the Almighty. I am
trying to discover a record of
the controversy."
Interesting Reference
An interesting reference to

Palestine and to the late High
Commissioner Sir Arthur Wau-
chope is contained in the follow-
ing message to his mother (who
was abroad) under the date of
Feb. 23, 1939:
"Sir Arthur Wauchope asked
me to lunch last Friday; there
was a Palestinian Jew there
too. He seemed quite nice; he
was an agricultural expert. We
- had an interesting discussion.
Wauchope advocates a large
settlement of Jews in Iraq; in
a rational world he would of

course be quite right, as the
country needs developing and
used to support a large popula-
tion till the Turks smashed the
water-works, but . in present
conditions and when one con-
siders what .happened to the
wretched Assyrians who had
been there since Sennacherib,
it seems to irk a most hazard-
ous idea. Even God expelled
Adam from the place, and I
didn't think King Ghasi can be
trusted to improve on the
Divine precedent . ."
Human Relations

.

In this as well as in other com-
ments on world conditions, Ste-
phen revealed a thorough knowl-
edge of history as well as an
understanding of human rela-
tions.
There is an interesting refer-
ence to the Nazis, recorded as of
Nov. 14, 1937. He wrote:

"Talking of our Teutonic
cousins, I went to Cambridge
recently for the opening of the
synagogue there. A lot of my
fellow non-Aryans came up on
the same train, which also con-
tained a gang of Nazi youth
leaders coming to see Cam-
bridge. Afflicted by the visual
aspect of their fellow pas-
sengers they asked Clayton,
who is now a Don at King's
and who was showing them
around, whether there were a
lot of Jews in Cambridge, to
which he replied, 'Oh, yes, it's
compulsory.'"
• • •

From his diary, under the date
Dec. 14, 1942, we quote:

"What is happening to the
Jews in Europe is too frightful,
one wonders whether there will
be any left at the end of the
war, like Abdul Hamid saying
he would end the Armenian
question by ending the Ar-
-
menians."

"Let Stephen Speak" is a book
of wise selections of bits of
poetry, commentaries and im-
pressions by a very wise young
man. It is understandable why
"Aunt H." should have wanted
so much to pay tribute to her
very able nephew.

Palestine Soccer Team
To Play Matches in U. S.

By WILLIAM B. SAPHIRE

NEW YORK — A tall, mus-
cularly-built man stepped off the
Middle East plane at La Guardia
Field here early this month and
gave New York's sports writers
and fans their first introduction to
one of the most unique athletic
organizations in the world, the
Hapoel, physical training organi-
zation of Jewish Palestine's labor
federation, (Histadruth) whose
star soccer players will soon arrive
here to match their mettle against
the best professional teams in the
United States.
The man, Loeb Sirkin, lawyer,
coach and himself an athlete, is
unrestrained in his enthusiasm
for that tough new generation of
athletes produced by Jewish
Palestine. "In 1948," he declared,
"we'll send the first Jewish team
in history to the international
Olympics in England."
Sirkin, wartime liaison officer
for Jewish enlistees in the Royal
Navy, was the hero of the in-
famous arms trial in 1943, when
a British military court admitted-
ly without evidence, convicted
him of gun running and sen-
tenced him to 10 years in prison.
38 Months in Jail
Dubbed the "Dreyfus of Pales-
tine," Sirkin spent 38 months in
a Jerusalem jail, when he was
suddenly granted "clemency", al-
though he had made no appeal.'
In this country to arrange a
coast to coast tour for his soccer
team, he says none of the
eighteen picked players are pro-

fessional athletes. Their training
and playing is done exclusively
in their spare time. But their
sport skill ranges from the highly
co-ordinated team work required
for soccer and basketball to the
individual talent needed in
swimming, wrestling, boxing and
running where the 'contestant is
completely on his own.
Women, Sirkin says, comprise
about 40 per cent of the 20,000
members of Jewish Palestine's
three sports groups, of which
Hapoel is the largest.
A game like soccer is too rough
for women, but Palestinian girls
engage in almost every other
sport.

Outstanding Athletes

Affiliated with international
workers' sports groups. Hapoel
numbers among its members out-
standing Jewish athletes from
pre-war Europe, champion Jew-
ish runners from Vienna and
swimmers from Warsaw. But the
bulk of the group are the "Sab-
ras", husky, Palestine born youthS
whcf, are the backbOne- of - the

Jewish National Home.- -
-Their frequentcPyptients. Orr,-
Palestine's soccer fieldi are'

ish army and police .teams ;Who
play well, Sirkin says, "but are
usually beaten by the heat 'after
the,Ar# half, when our boysfiare
juStifilgtheir stride." No
wins, the games
terieh `

are played in a- spirit of • sports,-
.
Mariship.

(Copyright, 1947, Independeni
Press Service, Inc.)