The Only Woman in the Room

Content Warning: The source material and this guide contain instances and discussions of domestic abuse, rape and sexual violence, sexism and misogyny, and antisemitism.

In 1933, 19-year-old actress Hedy Kiesler receives a standing ovation for her performance as Bavarian Empress Elizabeth. As she bows, hundreds of roses are delivered to Hedy, embarrassing her. After receiving a reputation from the risqué movie Ecstasy she’d filmed earlier in the year, she feels particularly vulnerable to speculation. Finally, the crowd sits, but Hedy sees a “square-jawed” (5) man remain standing with his eyes trained on her.

Once in her dressing room, Hedy reads the signature on the card to learn the roses are from a Friedrich Mandl. Her dresser confirms Hedy’s suspicion that he is the man who remained standing in the theatre and warns Hedy of his reputation. Aside from his experience with women, he is known for supplying armies with weapons, earning him the name “the Merchant of Death” (9).

Mandl places hundreds of roses in Hedy’s dressing room every night for the next nine days. On the ninth day, he writes that he wishes to meet her. Her traditional parents would forbid her meeting a strange man alone, and his reputation keeps her from desiring to break those rules.