His parents were Jacob Meir and Sarah Meltzer (both Jewish) and he had two sisters Yetta, born in c. 1878 and Ida, born in c. 1883. In his wonderfully readable biography of Mayer, "Lion of Hollywood," Scott Eyman paints a vivid portrait of Mayer and the studio he ran with blood, bile and singular common sense. On a quiet. [98] Mayer also enjoyed ballet and opera, and concerts where violinist Jascha Heifetz or pianist Arthur Rubinstein performed. Your definitive source to filming locations and all things Hollywood! "In our family, all the basic decisions were made by him", remembers his nephew, Gerald Mayer. would ask only one question: 'Can you make it better?' At its peak, MGM employed 6,000. [91] When RKO turned down financing of Frank Capra's State of the Union in 1948 because of its expensive budget, Mayer took on the project. The pilot, Charles Foster, recalled his visit: "Mary's driver took me through the gates, and I saw this little man come running down the steps of the Thalberg Building. Two years later, Mayer moved to Los Angeles and formed his own production company, Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation. [45] He relied on his instinct and intuition, said actress Esther Williams. Film summary. Mayer endorsed President Herbert Hoover's failed reelection bid.[106]. I have a comment that you may find interesting, concerning Marilyns death, which was neither a suicide nor murder. [93] Many assumed that his leaving meant the end of an era. Note Marilyn never tristed there with JFK or Bobby. During the summer of 1929, Fox was severely injured in an auto accident. [82], From September 1939 until January 1940, all films that could be considered anti-Nazi were banned by the Hays Office. Mayer told him, "When this war is over, if you want to come back here, I'll find a job for you. Reports tell that the body had been moved about and was in a disheveled state. . As Mayer hoped, Freed's unit at MGM produced many films considered among the best musicals ever made: For Me and My Gal, Girl Crazy, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Harvey Girls, The Pirate, Easter Parade, The Barkleys of Broadway, On the Town, An American in Paris, Singin' in the Rain, The Band Wagon, and Gigi. After dinner, invitees adjourned to the aqua-blue living room for a performance by fellow guests (think Judy Garland duetting with Bing Crosby) or a movie screening. Some stars did not appreciate his attempts to control their private lives, while others saw him as a solicitous father figure. They relied on each other, and neither operated unilaterally. The beach side of the house can easily be viewed by parking in the lot located near 480 Pacific Coast Highway and walking just a few hundred feet south. Mayer asked her to have him drop by the studio. I think MM was murdered.I arrived at this conclusion after immersing myself in any book/video or magazine article I could find on the subject.The guest cottage seems to me, to be the place where she was finally silenced. Louis B. Mayer will celebrate 139th birthday on a Wednesday 12th of July 2023. [35] Mayer issued statements to the press, calling Thalberg "the finest friend a man could ever have the guiding inspiration behind the artistic progress on the screen." About Louis B. Mayer November 28, 1907, was a big day in the history of dreams. Mankiewicz. According to the blurb, in January 1927, legendary producer Louis B. Mayer was enjoying some idle conversation with friends Conrad Nagel and Fred Niblo at his beachfront home when the idea to form an elite club of fellow movie-industry moguls struck him. Louis B. Mayer was born Lazar Meir in Dymer, a town in the Ukraine some 25 miles north of Kiev, on July 12, 1884. She later took over ownership of the property, the front of which is pictured below, through the divorce settlement. Unlike Charlie Chaplin, who produced The Great Dictator, the other, much larger Hollywood studios lacked the freedom to make such independent films. The following is of interest to Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy fans. Both he and MGM reached their peaks at the end of World War II, and Mayer was forced out in 1951. Mayer wanted British actress Greer Garson, his personal discovery, to star, but she refused to play a matronly role. "In our house the word of Louis B Mayer became the law," Garland said later. He may have been an immigrant with a good suit of clothes, but never forget that this was a man working hard to be an American. Louis Burt Mayer (/ m e. Fairbanks presented the big picture, Mayer hit them up for $100 a head, and, lo and behold, they had forged an academy (Nagels term) of cinemas elite. [62] He sometimes arranged marriages, and coping with occupational hazards such as alcoholism, suicide, and eccentric sexual habits were as much a part of his job as negotiating contracts with stars and directors. Horse of the Year, Busher; and the 1959 Preakness Stakes winner, Royal Orbit. [3][13] In addition he gave his birth year as 1882 in his marriage certificate[17] while the April 1910 census states his age as 26[18] (b.1883). They don't like to be challenged or instructed, but comforted and entertained. He felt that the general public, especially Americans, like to see stars, spectacle, and optimism on screen, and if possible, with a little sentiment attached. [14], According to his personal details in the U.S. immigration documents,[15][16] the date was July 4, 1885. As pressure built to find a new Thalberg-style manager to handle production, Dore Schary was brought in from RKO, and began work on July 14, 1948, as vice president in charge of production, working under Mayer's direction. You're a symbol!" Mayer moved to Boston in 1904 and married. It will house a laboratory named for the late Louis B. Mayer, co-founder and former chairman of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture company. [87] Mayer implored her "to have the same faith in me" that he had in her. Nicholas Schenck called Mayer and insisted that he "cut, cut", recalls director George Sidney. Louis B. Mayer (born Lazar Mier) was a Russian-Jewish immigrant who eventually became well known for founding the Metro Goldwyn Mayer film company. Below we countdown . Old Hollywood has all but disappeared. But MGM received a serious blow when Thalberg died suddenly on September 14, 1936, at age 37. With MGM's film output as high as one film each week, he never panicked over a bad picture. [73], While MGM's films during the 1920s and 1930s were often known for containing adult themes and strong female stars, such as Greta Garbo, after Thalberg's early death in 1936, Mayer promoted a change in emphasis to more male leads, family themes, and child stars. In fact, she was the first person I have ever seen who died reaching for a telephone. Her sister, Irene, married Gone With the Wind producer and studio exec David O. Selznick. Nonetheless, Schenck believed Mayer had cost him a fortune and never forgave him, causing an already frigid relationship to become even worse. They were given acting or dancing tutors. Edie Goetz lived in the house for 41 years until her death in 1988 at age 82. [citation needed], Mayer wanted the studio to nurture child stars for MGM's family-oriented productions. ", Irun my house and its a full-time job running this studio, Edith Edie Mayer Goetz said in 1967, settled in her Holmby Hills mansion, the epicenter of Hollywood social life for more than 20 years. It was considered one of the finest racing stables in the United States and raised the standards of the California racing business. [38] 1939 was an especially "golden" year: besides distributing Gone with the Wind, MGM released The Wizard of Oz, Babes in Arms, At the Circus, and The Women. "I was making very little money,. She was then moved back to her house and posed in bed. You want to take her in your arms and hold her, telling her that everything is going to be ok, but of course we cant. Why were the residue of her stomach contents thrown away on autopsy? The studio usually succeeded in hiring those it wanted since they offered the highest salaries. "Mr. Mayer was to me like a father", said Ricardo Montalbn. Mayer was pressured to tighten expenses by the studio's parent company, although Mayer's reputation as a "big-picture man" would make that difficult. Located in Holmby Hills, his new spread measures a roomy 20,000 square feet and has 11 bedrooms. The nitrate film collection was originally stored in the Henry A. Mayer quickly announced that the new theater . Like any respectable film studio owner, he wanted a private Santa Monica beach. Some have speculated that Marilyn actually died in the Lawfords beach house and was then taken to her house and placed in bed. Louis B. Mayer moved out of the home upon separating from his wife, Margaret, in 1944. I was shocked. The German government informed the studios that "those films would be remembered by Germany when not if they won the war", writes Eyman. For the first dozen years of its existence, Mayer's influence over the company would be at least matched . [22] Whenever Mayer visited Saint John in later years, he placed flowers on Wilson's grave, just as he did on his mother's.[22]. Everyone wanted to touch it, she says. At age 12, he dropped out of school to help in his father's scrap metal business. Floodlights were brought in so that the laborers could continue to ply away through the night and, according to E.J., Mayers children would often head down to the beach to watch the spectacle. [50], During MGM's growth period, Mayer traveled often, and among his personal discoveries were Greta Garbo, Hedy Lamarr, Norma Shearer and Greer Garson. Mayer was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1990. But before Foster arrived, Mayer had invited every Canadian in Hollywood to meet the flier, including Fay Wray, Walter Pidgeon, Raymond Massey, Jack Carson, Rod Cameron, Deanna Durbin, Walter Huston, Ann Rutherford, and even his main competitor, Jack Warner. Hmm not so, she fell for Bobby and had a rough abortion in Mexico weeks before her death, which some said happened at the Lawfords house. An immigrant unskilled in any trade, he struggled to earn a living. "All right", he said. At that first meeting, Thalberg made an immediate positive impression on Mayer, writes biographer Roland Flamini. You can read the whole history of Hollywood just from my book of menus, she once said. [31]:47. Again, thank you for sharing the fruits of all your hard work stalking interesting places! "[56] British director Victor Saville remembered him as being "the best listener. March is heating up as another strong concert month, with big acts including John Mayer, Muse, the Killers, Buddy Guy, Trevor Noah and more coming to St. Louis. In the book Sweethearts, we learn that Jeanette first backed out of divorcing her husband, Gene Raymond, after serious threats were made against Nelson Eddy by the infamous Louie B . You're the Stars and Stripes. Louis B. Mayer. We hired geniuses at make-up, hair dressing, surgeons to slice away a bulge here and there, rubbers to rub away the blubber, clothes designers, lighting experts, coaches for everythingfencing, dancing, walking, talking, sitting and spitting. Everything was the best that you could have, he recalls. Anxious to make more of them, on a hunch, he asked songwriter Arthur Freed to be associate producer for The Wizard of Oz. When you see some of the pictures taken of Marilyn when shed left hospitals after miscarriages, or the mental hospital she was in for a few days, supposedly to kick her sleeping pill addiction only a few weeks before her death, we get a glimpse of the frightened, scared Marilyn, who looks so alone in the world, and its absolutely heartbreaking to see them. A Holmby Hills home that hosted countless star-studded soirees during Hollywood's Golden Age is now on the market for $79 million. 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