 In his 1951 autobiography Polgar claimed that he had served as Sigmund Freud's "medical hypnotist" (Polgar's term) in 1924 and had worked in close association with Freud for six months and had assisted in the treatment of Freud's patients.In 1982, Gravitz and Gerton investigated this claim and determined that it had no foundation.He immigrated to the United States in 1935 and honed his hypnotism skills by working in speakeasy bars in New York City.