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FROM THE BOOK:
Hollywood's
greatest dream factory was a child of economic necessity. Like many
exhibitors in the teens and twenties, Marcus Loew wanted to move into
production to guarantee his theaters a steady supply of high-quality
product. At the same time, Metro Pictures, which had been founded in
1915, wanted to expand into exhibition to provide a guaranteed market for
its product.
In
1921, the two entitles merged, with Loews, Inc., as parent company.
When Loew realized that he needed more product than Metro could supply, he
bought the ailing Goldwyn Studios (two years after the departure of
founder Sam Goldwyn), complete with its lion trademark and lavish backlot
in Culver City, California. A manager was needed for the new
operation so a fourth entity was added to the mix: Louis B. Mayer.
Mayer
had been producing films for five years and had just acquired the services
of a twenty-four-year-old production executive already being touted as
Hollywood's “boy wonder,” Irving G. Thalberg. Within two years,
they would make the newly created MGM studios Hollywood's most profitable
production company. Mayer knew the wisdom of building a solid stable of
contract talent and set out to make MGM the studio with “more stars than
the heavens.” As head of his own company, he had acquired the services
of Lon Chaney and Norma Shearer. From Metro came Ramon Novarro and
Buster Keaton, while Goldwyn Pictures brought him Mae Murray and John
Gilbert. Within a few years, Mayer would add some of MGM's biggest
stars, including Greta Garbo, Lillian Gish, and one-time chorus girl
Lucille Le Sueur, who would be redubbed Joan Crawford in a studio contest.
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