Louis B. Mayer

At 73 years old, Louis B. Mayer physical status not available right now. We will update Louis B. Mayer's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Early career

Mayer restored the Gem Theatre in Haverhill, Massachusetts, which he opened on November 28, 1907, as the Orpheum, his first movie theater. Mayer started with a religious film at his new Orpheum, From the Manger to the Cross, 1912, in an attempt to repair the building's poor reputation. He owned all five of Haverhill's theaters within a few years, and with Nathan H. Gordon, he formed the Gordon-Mayer consortium that managed New England's biggest theater chain. Mayer lived on 16 Middlesex St. in the city's Bradford neighborhood, closer to Temple Street's downtown district, and 2 1/2 Merrimac St. Mayer owned a house he built at 27 Hamilton Ave.

In 1914, the partners formed their own film distribution company in Boston. In New England, Mayer paid D.W. Griffith $25,000 for the exclusive rights to air The Birth of a Nation (1915) in New England. Mayer made the offer on a film that one of his scouts had seen but wasn't aware of the Ku Klux Klan's plot; his decision netted him over $100,000. Mayer founded Metro Pictures Corporation, a talent booking firm in New York City, in 1916 after earning money from The Birth of a Nation.

Mayer migrated to Los Angeles two years ago and founded Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation, his own production firm. Virtuous Wives, 1918, was the first production. To make the Mayer-Schulberg Studio, a collaboration was formed with B. P. Schulberg.

Mayer was introduced to Irving Thalberg in late 1922 and then began working for Universal Pictures. Mayer was looking for someone to help him with his little, but growing studio. According to biographer Roland Flamini, Thalberg made a positive impression on Mayer right away at the first meeting. Mayer told Thalberg's attorney, Edwin Loeb, that if he wanted to work for Mayer, he'd be treated like a son.

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Although their personalities were in many ways contradictory, Mayer being more outspoken and nearly double the age of the younger man, Thalberg was hired as vice president in charge of Louis B. Mayer Productions. Irene Mayer Selznick, Mayer's daughter, found it difficult to believe that someone "so boyish" could be so important. Thalberg was hired because, although Mayer was an astute businessman, Thalberg's strong ability to combine making films of quality with commercial success was lacking." 47 According to Flamini, Thalberg was hired because, despite Mayer's astute businessman, Thalberg's strong ability to connect making films of quality and gaining commercial success.

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