MovieChat Forums > Hollywood Canteen (1944) Discussion > My Dad Danced with Hedy Lamar

My Dad Danced with Hedy Lamar


My late Dad told me he danced with Hedy Lamar at The Hollywood Canteen..
Sounds like a great place for the stars to give a shout out to the soldiers..too bad there isn't one today..

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It's no wonder he always remembered dancing with her; she was one of the great film beauties. Lamarr became famous for the German film "Ecstasy" in which she is shown (facially) having an orgasm. She appeared nude in the same film (1933), and was known for a time as the "orgasm girl". Many people don't realize Lamarr was an inventor who received patents for her frequency-hopping spread spectrum.

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My father was in the Navy during WWII and danced there with Loretta Young, who was considered the ultimate paragon of elegance in those days. He said she was a kind and gracious lady and she complimented him on his dancing. I was in Vietnam and there was nothing for us. I have a son in the service who has fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I don't think any movie actress or singer ever asked him to dance anywhere. The entertainment world is very different today, and not for the better.

Ironically, a few of the actors playing themselves in the film were in or later joined military service, but Robert Hutton and Dane Clark, who played the two GIs on leave, never did to my knowledge. Clark was 32 in 1944 and perhaps too old, but at 24, Hutton wasn't.

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