Louis Burt Mayer (born
Lazar Meir July 4, 1884 – October 29, 1957) was a Russian-born American
film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "
star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in its golden years. Known always as Louis B. Mayer and often simply as "L.B.", he believed in "wholesome entertainment" and went to great lengths so that MGM had "more stars than there are in the heavens".
Early life
Born to a
Jewish family in
Minsk, today the capital of
Belarus, then in the Russian Empire, capital of the Minsk Province (Minskaja
Guberniya). His actual birthdate is unknown; a patriotic Mayer chose July 4 when he became an American citizen, to honor his adopted country. Mayer emigrated with his family to
Saint John, New Brunswick,
Canada when he was still very young, and Mayer attended school there. His father started a
scrap metal business, J. Mayer & Son. His parents, Sarah and Jacob Mayer, had five children: Yetta, Ida, Louis, Jerry and Rudolph. In 1904, the 19-year-old Mayer left Saint John for
Boston, where continued for a time in the scrap metal business, married, and took a variety of odd jobs to support his family when his junk business lagged.
Early career
With studio starlet
Jean Harlow shortly before her death
Mayer renovated the "Gem Theater", a rundown, 600 seat
burlesque house in
Haverhill, Massachusetts, which he reopened on November 28, 1907 as the "
Orpheum", his first
movie theater. To overcome the unfavorable reputation that the building once had in the community, Mayer decided to debut with the showing of a religious film. Years later, Mayer would say that the premiere at the Orpheum was
From the Manger to the Cross, although most sources place the release date of that film as 1912. Within a few years, he owned all five of Haverhill's theaters, and, with
Nathan H. Gordon, created the Gordon-Mayer partnership that controlled the largest theater chain in
New England.
[Current Biography 1943. pp521-524.]In 1914, the partners organized their own film distribution agency in Boston. Mayer paid
D.W. Griffith $25,000 for the exclusive rights to show
The Birth of a Nation (1915) in New England. Although Mayer made the bid on a film that one of his scouts had seen, but he had not, his decision netted him over $100,000. Mayer partnered with
Richard A. Rowland in 1916 to create
Metro Pictures Corporation, a talent booking agency, in
New York City.
Two years later, Mayer moved to
Los Angeles and formed his own production company, Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation. The first production was 1918's
Virtuous Wives. A partnership was set up with
B. P. Schulberg to make the Mayer-Schulberg Studio. Mayer's big breakthrough, however, was in April 1924 when
Marcus Loew, owner of the
Loews Theatres chain, merged Metro Pictures,
Samuel Goldwyn's
Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, and Mayer Pictures into
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer under the supervision of
Nicholas Schenck in New York City. As "Vice-President in Charge of Production" based in Los Angeles, Mayer effectively controlled MGM for the next 27 years.
MGM boss
As a studio boss, Louis B. Mayer built MGM into the most financially successful motion picture studio in the world and the only one to pay dividends throughout the
Great Depression of the 1930s. However he frequently clashed with production chief
Irving Thalberg, who preferred literary works over the crowd-pleasers Mayer wanted. He ousted Thalberg as production chief in 1932 while Thalberg was recovering from a
heart attack and replaced him with independent producers, ie
David Selznick, until Thalberg's death in 1936, when Mayer became head of production as well as studio chief. Under Mayer, MGM produced many successful films with high earning stars, including
Greta Garbo,
Clark Gable,
Spencer Tracy,
Katharine Hepburn,
Lon Chaney,
Joan Crawford,
Jean Harlow,
Judy Garland and many others.
Katharine Hepburn referred to him as a "nice man" (and claimed she personally negotiated many of her contracts with Mayer), and some younger actors, such as
Debbie Reynolds,
June Allyson,
Mickey Rooney and
Leslie Caron, who matured as MGM contract players, viewed him as a
father figure.
Between 1939 to 1950, Mayer's success was so great that he was the highest paid man in
America.
Later years and fall from power
By 1948, due to the introduction of
television and changing public tastes, MGM suffered a considerable dropoff in its success. The glory days of MGM as well as other studios were also over because of
United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. (1948), a
Supreme Court decision that severed the connection between
film studios and the
movie theater chains that showed their films. In 1947, the
HUAC hearings -- and later Sen.
Joseph McCarthy -- accused some Hollywood stars, writers, and directors of being
communists.
The MGM corporate office in New York decided that
Dore Schary, a writer and producer recently hired from
RKO Radio Pictures, might be able to turn the tide. In 1951, MGM had gone three years without a major
Academy Award, which provoked further conflict between Mayer and Schenck. Under orders to control costs and hire "a new Thalberg," Mayer hired writer and producer Schary as production chief. Schary, who was 20 years Mayer's junior, preferred
message pictures in contrast with Mayer's taste for "wholesome" films.
In 1951, Schenck fired Mayer from the post he'd held for 27 years. The firing reportedly came after Mayer called New York and issued an ultimatum--"It's either me, or Schary." Mayer tried to stage a boardroom
coup but failed and largely retired from public life.
Personal life
Mayer had two daughters from his first marriage to Margaret Shenberg. The eldest, Edith (Edie) Mayer (b. August 14, 1905 - d.1987), from whom he would later become estranged and disinherit, married producer
William Goetz (who became president of
Universal Pictures). The younger daughter, Irene Gladys Mayer (1907-1990), married producer
David O. Selznick.
Active in Republican Party politics, Mayer served as the vice chairman of the
California Republican Party from 1931 to 1932, and as its state chairman between 1932 and 1933. He was a delegate to the
1932 Republican National Convention with fellow Republicans
Earl Warren,
Joseph R. Knowland and Marshall Hale in Chicago. Mayer endorsed the second term of President
Herbert Hoover.
Thoroughbred horse racing hobby
Mayer owned or bred a number of successful
thoroughbred racehorses at his ranch in
Perris, California, east of Los Angeles.
In the 2005 biography,
Lion of Hollywood, author Scott Eyman wrote that: "Mayer built one of the finest racing stables in the United States" and that he "almost single-handedly raised the standards of the California racing business to a point where the Eastern thoroughbred establishment had to pay attention." Among his horses was
Your Host, sire of
Kelso, the 1945
U.S. Horse of the Year,
Busher, and the 1959
Preakness Stakes winner,
Royal Orbit. Eventually Mayer sold off the stable, partly to finance his divorce in 1947. His 248 horses brought more than $4.4 million. In 1976,
Thoroughbred of California magazine named him "California Breeder of the Century".
Death and legacy
Louis B. Mayer died of
leukemia on October 29, 1957 and was interred in the
Home of Peace Cemetery in
East Los Angeles, California. His sister, Ida Mayer Cummings, and brothers Jerry and Rudolph are also interred there.
- Mayer was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1990.
Mayer has been portrayed numerous times in film and television including:
Mayer has a star on Canada's Walk of Fame
See also
