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When King Vidor, the film's producer and director, proposed the idea to Thalberg of a major film cast, for the first time, exclusively with African Americans, he told Thalberg directly, "I doubt that it will make a dollar at the box office." Thalberg replied, "Don't worry about that. I've told you that MGM can afford an occasional experiment."
- Began Movie Career at Universal
- Clashed with Von Stroheim
- Hired by Louis B. Mayer
- An Early Death
- Further Reading
Thalberg began working in his maternal grandfather's department store, Heyman and Sons, as a clerk. He taught himself to type, and attended a private commercial school to learn Spanish and shorthand. Thalberg placed a newspaper ad describing his skills, and was soon hired by Taylor, Clapp and Beall, an import-export film. Within a short time, Thalb...
Thalberg's mettle as a film executive was tested by Erich Von Stroheim, a director and actor with considerable power and a taste for extravagance. Thalberg wanted Universal's films to be produced on time and on budget, the exact opposite of Von Stroheim's working methods. Thomas Schatz wrote in Genius of the System, "Thalberg did not question Stroh...
In 1923, Thalberg was hired by Louis B. Mayer Pictures as vice president and head of production at $600 per week. The following year, Louis B. Mayer Pictures merged with two other film companies, Metro Pictures and Goldwyn Pictures Corp., to become Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Thalberg was named vice president and supervisor of production at the new ...
Thalberg was doing pre-production work on what became A Day at the Races (1937) when he became seriously ill. In early September he caught a cold, which turned into pneumonia. Thalberg succumbed to the illness on September 14, 1936, in Santa Monica, California. He was only 37 years old. When The Good Earth(1937), the last important film Thalberg co...
American National Biography, edited by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, Oxford UniversityPress, 1999. Cassell Companion to Cinema,Cassell, 1997. French, Philip, The Movie Moguls: An Informal History of Hollywood Tycoons,Henry Regnery Company, 1969. Harmon, Justin et al, American Cultural Leaders: From Colonial Times to the Present,edited by Amy ...
May 25, 2024 · Irving Thalberg (born May 30, 1899, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.—died September 14, 1936, Santa Monica, California) was an American film executive called the “boy wonder of Hollywood” who, as the production manager of MGM, was largely responsible for that studio’s prestigious reputation.
Sep 18, 2015 · He was bored there, and frustrated that his bosses were always trying to cut back. That wasn’t Mayer’s style—Mayer believed in spending money to make money.
Jan 8, 2024 · How much money did MGM originally make off of The Wizard of Oz? While the film was sufficiently popular at the box office, it failed to make a profit for MGM until its 1949 re-release, earning only $3 million on a $2.7 million budget, making it MGM's most expensive production at the time.
Jun 8, 2011 · Irving Grant Thalberg, the son of German-Jewish immigrants, considered a career as a merchant and a lawyer before using kinship and ethnic networks to secure an entry-level position in the U.S. film industry. Written by Kathleen A. Feeley, University of Redlands. Introduction.
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Heart Attack 1932. The relationship between Thalberg and Mayer gradually cooled and became acrimonious when Thalberg was offered a pay rise, taking his salary to more than Mayer, his ostensible boss.
