Louis B(urt) Mayer (1885-1957)

• motion picture executive, for 25 years the most powerful producer in Hollywood
• born Eliezer (Lazar) Mayer on July 4, 1885 in Minsk (now in Belarus),
• three years later his parents moved with him to Saint John, New Brunswick, where Mayer Sr. became a junk dealer and his wife sold chickens door to door
• after graduating from elementary school, Mayer joined his father's business, which had become a profitable scrap metal operation
• Louis set up his own junk business in Boston, and in 1904, he married the daughter of a local kosher butcher
• in 1907 Mayer bought a small rundown motion picture theater in Haverhill, Mass.
• He renovated the auditorium and announced a policy of top-quality films only
• within a few years he owned the largest theater chain in New England
• by 1914 he had branched out into distribution and the following year he made a huge profit out of distributing Griffith's The Birth of a Nation in New England
• in 1916 he moved to Los Angeles and formed his own producing company, which in 1924 after a series of mergers became known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
• as production chief of MGM from 1924 to 1951, he discovered many of the screen's greatest stars, producers, writers, and directors.
• instrumental in the founding of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927
• ruled MGM as one big family, rewarding obedience, punishing insubordination, and regarding opposition as personal betrayal
• in the 30s and 40s, Mayer was the most powerful magnate in Hollywood
• his annual salary (plus bonuses) of more than one and a quarter million dollars, made him the highest paid person in the United States
• a staunch conservative, he was active in politics and for several years was the California state chairman of the Republican party
• he was ousted in a power struggle with Dore Schary, his former aide, in 1951
• among his successes were:
  • The Big Parade (1925)
  • Ben Hur (1926)
  • Grand Hotel (1932)
  • Dinner at Eight /i> (1933)
  • the Andy Hardy series
• biography: Hollywood Rajah (1960) by Bosley Crowther, Mayer and Thalberg (1975) by Sam Marx
• Sam Goldwyn said of his office: "You need an automobile to reach the desk."
• B.P. Schulberg gave him the title: "Czar of all the rushes."
• Herman J. Mankiewicz: "He had the memory of an elephant and the hide of an elephant. The only difference is that elephants are vegetarians and Mayer's diet was his fellow man.
• "The only reason so many people attended his funeral was they wanted to make sure he was dead." -anonymous
• Bob Hope: "Louis B. Mayer came out west with twenty-eight dollars, a box camera and an old lion. He built a monument to himself---the Bank of America."
• quotes:
  • to a complaining writer, "The number one book of the ages was written by a committee, and it was called The Bible"
  • to Gottfried Reinhardt, who wanted to make a non-commercial picture, "You want to be an artist, but you want other people to starve for your art."
  • the success of the Andy Hardy movies didn't delude Mayer into thinking they were great movies: "Don't make these pictures any better. Just keep them the way they are."
  • "Look out for yourself or they'll pee on your grave."
• books:
  • Hollywood rajah; the life and times of Louis B. Mayer (1960) by Bosley Crowther
  • Mayer and Thalberg : the make-believe saints (1975) by Samuel Marx
  • All the stars in heaven : Louis B. Mayer's MGM (1981) by Gary Carey.
  • Hollywood East : Louis B. Mayer and the origins of the studio system (1992) by Diana Altman
  • Merchant of dreams : Louis B. Mayer, M.G.M., and the secret Hollywood (1993) by Charles Higham

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