Evening star., 1936-09-16

and will power underneath, he plunged |
into the task of improving the quality |
of production. He brought new talent,
new ideas into the studios, hired and
fired freely, heroically turned some
foredoomed failures into successes, and
was responsible for the making of such
notable pictures as Outside the Law"
Merry -Go-Round" and THE Hunch-
back of Notre Dame" People started
to call him the boy wizard" and the
boy Napoleon" Those who made the
mistake of undertaking him and sur
missing that he was merely flash-in-
the-pan soon found how drastically
they had been mistaken.
His success as guiding head at the
Universal lot brought Mr.. Thalberg
to the attention of Louis B. Mayer, who
at the time was an independent Coast
producer. in partnership with J.
Robert Rubin. The three met, liked
each other and Thalberg decided to
join forces with the Mayer organiza-
ton.
When in April, 1924, the consolida-
ton of Metro -Goldwyn and Mayer took
place, Thalberg became vice president
and a producing chief at the big
Culver City plant. In an amazingly
brief time he had reached one of the
most responsible posts in the industry
But this was just the beginning, ana
his progress from this point on was
strewn with great story successes, and
new talent discovered. "Ben-Hur" and
The Big Parade" marked the in
auguration of Thalberg's pre- -eminence
as story producer. John Gilbert waa
one of his earliest acting discoveries.
THE Scarlet Letter" and He Who
Gets Slapped" were early out-of the
ordinary pictures.
Other players who developed under
Thalbergs intuitive and magnetic
leadership included Norma Shearer,
Greta Garbo, Lon Chaney, Ramon
Novarro, Marie Dressler, Joan Craw-
ford and Wallace Beery, and these
were supplemented later by Robert
Montgomery, Jean Harlow, Myrna 10y.
Clark Gable, Jackie Cooper, Nelson
Eddy, Robert Taylor and many others.
The astonishing thing about the whole
business was not that Metro became
known as 'the company of star pow
er," for any concern could hire talent,
but rather the fact that nearly all
these people were unknown, obscure
or badly misplaced when first en-
gagged by Thalberg, under whose di-
rection they attained fame.
During his development of new tai
ent, Thalberg's attention was directed
to a youthful actress actressing in
small bits in films made in New York.
Her name was Norma Shearer. She
was invited to join the M.-G-M ros-
ter and rapidly developed into one
of the most talented players at the
studios. Two years later Thalberg
ventured his first off-the-lot date"
with Miss Shearer. In 1927 the eX-
ecutive and young star were married
The Thalberg's have always been
considered one of Hollywood's ideal
couples. Their home was a charm
ing French provincial cottage on the
shore of the Pacific at Santa Monica
palisades. There are two children,
Irving. jr., who is now 6, and Kather-
inc, IA months old
The arrival of talking pictures
placed Thalberg in the most challeng-
ing position of his career, obliging
him to take the lead in charting out a
reconstruction within the ranks. He
mastered the situation to such an
extent that his first dialogue film,
THE Broadway Melody" broke all
records. From that point on, despite
the years of economic depression, his
career went from one triumphant
achievement to another. Some of the
outstanding pictures produced under
his supervision include Grand Ho-
TEL" "Smilin' Through" THE Bar
retts of Wimpole Street." THE Merry
Widow What Every Woman
Knows" "a Night at the Opera"
mo More Ladies'" China Seas" "Mu-
tiny on the Bounty" and the newly
released Romeo and Juliet" In addi-
tion to the films which he personally
supervised from start to finish, he
was the fulcrum about which most
executive decisions rotated at the M
GIN. studios. His friends and asso-
ciates marveled at the mass of detail
he managed to keep steadily in his
mind about all productions emanat-
ing from Culver City, and it was
nothing for him to spend a day aid
ing in the cutting, editing, photo
graphing or continuity treatment of
a dozen different pictures, besides
keeping his ordinary Office appoint
ments
The group of eight productions
which Mr. Thalberg was to personally
supervise for the coming year was the
most important of his entire career,
including "The Good Earth" and
Camille" both just completed; Marie
Antoinette," THE Prisoner of Zenda,"
Pride and Prejudice" Beloved"
"Maytime" and the Marx Brothers
film, "A Day at the Races"
Thalberg was the exact opposite of
the film mogul of fiction and the stage.
He was quiet, slight of build, ever
courteous, tireless in enthusiasm and
energy, but restrained in speech, and
modest in the extreme. 1t was this
latter trait which was responsible for
the deletion of his name from screen