Evening star., 1936-09-16

Robert Rubin lett Tor Hollywood laSC'
night on a special train.
Irving G. Thalberg's sensational
rise as a boy of "a to one Of the most
important positions in the notion
picture industry, is perhaps less re-
markable, in retrospect, than his con-
sistent maintenance of that creative
leadership during period of internal
and external reorganization. Through
out the entire cycle of boom days,
the years of the depression and the
shifting from silent to sound tech
nique, the young executive vice presi-
dent of Neutrality-suspicious. re-
peatedly demonstrated extraordinary
ability to reach a new peak of achieve
ment as he faced each successive
problem.
Not only did he prove himself an
expert in guidance of the uninter-
rupted expansion and business pros
perity of his company, but his crea-
tive talent and his contributions in
raising standards of film production
were acknowledged to be unique by
every other leader in the motion
u.
ton Of story properties was coupled
with a rare capacity in following
through each detail of production.
He rose above the handicap of early
Ill health to establish the routine of
an 18-hour working day, and his
critical, editorial and executive ad-
Woe was valued above that of any
other Hollywood producer His bust
ness associates were intensely and
militantly loyal, and fewer changes
were made in the executive staff of
Metro -Goldwyn-M Mayer during the
years 1924-36 than in that of any
other film concern.
Mr.. Thalberg was born May 80,
1899, in an fashioned brownstone
house at 1903 Bushwick avenue,
Brooklyn. His parents were William
and Henrietta Thalberg, his father a
lace importer on very small scale.
After attending Public School No. IS
in Brooklyn, he graduated from Boys
High School in the same borough.
Then his constitution, always delicate,
impinged the first great obstacle IN
the way of an active professional ca
reer. He was stricken with heart
ailment which kept him confined to
bed for six months, and it was more
than two years later before he could
resume a normal routine of activity.
While convalescing from his illness
he read scores Of books and studied
shorthand, typeWriting and Spanish
at home. He supplemented what he
could teach himself by subsequent
course at business school, and also
took some special courses at New
York University. Six months later,
fortified by his teachers statement
that he was qualified to become an
expert stenographer, he inserted the
following simply worded advertisement
in the New York Journal of Com
merce:
Situation Wanted - Secretary,
stenographer, Spanish and Eng
lish. High school education, IN
experienced. $500.
Four answers came to this ad, and
one lead to a definite offer of a posi-
tion-at the modest salary which
Young MIR. Thalberg had stipulated.
Within a year he had become as
sistant manager of a small exporting
concern, but, realizing that further
advancement here might be limited,
he began to look about for new con-
nection. He had not even thought
about the movies at this time
Anv one who thinks that Mr.. Thai
tn al
ing talents with the growing picture
industry might find justification 1or
the belief in what next happened.
While visiting his grandmother at
Edgemere, Long Island, he was intro
duced to Carl Laemmle. president OF
Universal Pictures. Mr.. Laemmle,
struck by the boys manner and per-
sonality, offered him job in the New
York Offices of the company. He
turned it down, feeling that he wanted
to remain in some branch OF mer-
camille business.
Time went by, and while later the
young spurner of Mr.. Laemmle's job
found himself walking past the build
ing housing the Universal offices. He
saw the sign in the window, and, sud-
denly changing his mind about the
moving pictures, went upstairs. But
he didn't ask for Mr.. Laemmle. And
without ever having seen the head
Of the company he got secretarlal
position at $35 week.
Not until months later did Mr..
Laemmle, passing through the outer
Offices, discover that the young man
who didn't want to work for him was
on the pay roll anyway. Then he
offered him a position as his private
secretary. The head of Universal soon
found out that his original impulse to
give this youngster a job had been
wisely ordered one.
In a few months Mr.. Thalberg was
being consulted on matters of business
policy. At the end of two, years he
accompanied his employer to the Coast
on a business trip and was left in
charge of studio management while
Mr.. Laemmle made trip abroad. This
worked out so successfully that he was
made permanent general manager of
the studios.
There was only one embarrassing
feature about this for the young
executive. He was under 81 and could
not sign checks legally. But with a
modest and quietly disarming approach
that concealed the tremendous energy