This is why the concept survived the paper-strip mechanism’s obsolescence. When solid-state electronics made it possible to hop frequencies thousands of times per second rather than the relatively slow rate of a mechanical paper strip, the underlying security advantage increased correspondingly. A jammer trying to track a frequency-hopping signal that changes thousands of times per second cannot possibly follow it.
## The Bond-Selling Years in Detail
Lamarr’s war bond work is documented well enough to provide a substantive account. She was not the only Hollywood actress involved in bond drives — a substantial portion of the studio system’s female stars participated, some enthusiastically and some because the studios required it — but she was among the most effective, in the specific sense that her presence produced unusually large revenues.
The mechanics of a war bond drive were simple: celebrities appeared at public events, made speeches or simply showed up and smiled, and the crowds that gathered to see them bought bonds as part of the experience. For some celebrities, the bond drives were primarily image management, an opportunity to demonstrate patriotism without significant personal commitment. For others, the work was more substantial.
Lamarr reportedly offered, at one point, to personally sell a kiss for fifty thousand dollars in bond purchases. The reported figure attached to that offer — that she raised a million dollars in a single evening — appears in multiple accounts, and while the specific figure is difficult to verify independently, the general order of magnitude is consistent with the bond prices of the era and the crowds her appearances attracted.