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The history of the illustrious film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, more commonly known as MGM, begins with Marcus Loew, a first-generation American and son of Austrian immigrants, who began purchasing penny arcades in 1905 with his business partner, Adolph Zukor. They were soon buying up motion-picture theaters, and by 1912, when Zukor struck out to form the production company Famous Players (which eventually became Paramount), Loew had his own business, Loew 39; s Theatrical Enterprises, which owned hundreds of movie houses. Russian-born Louis B. Mayer, who 39; d come to the States as a child with his parents, was a successful film distributor by 1915, thanks to the profits from his handling the New England release of D. W. Griffith 39; s classic The Birth Of A Nation.
Merging with other small distributors, he formed the production company Metro Pictures Corporation in that year. Metro found success in the teens releasing popular films starring Mary Miles Minter (Always In Way, 1915; Barbara Frietchie, 1915), Ethel Barrymore (The Awakening Of Helen Richie, 1916; Our Mrs. McChesney, 1918), Viola Dana (The Gates Of Eden, 1916; The Microbe, 1919), Alla Nazimova (Eye For Eye, 1918; The Brat, 1919), and the one-reel comedies of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew (At The Count Of Ten, 1916; The Hypochondriac, 1917). In 1918 Mayer launched his own company, Louis B.
Mayer Productions, and released several films starring Anita Stewart, including In Old Kentucky (1919). In the early 1920 s Metro released a series of outstanding two-reel comedies from Buster Keaton, including One Week and The Goat; Keaton was also starred in a feature, The Saphead (1920). Loew and his associate Nicholas M. Schenck purchased Metro in 1920, insuring a steady supply for the theaters of Loew 39; s, Inc. Metro 39; s notable features of the early 39; 20 s include three hits directed by Rex Ingram: the war film The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse (1921), which made a star of Rudolph Valentino, and the swashbucklers The Prisoner Of Zelda (1922) and Scaramouch e (1923). Keaton began directing his own features and made his first classics for Metro: Three Ages (1923), Our Hospitality (1923), Sherlock, Jr. (1924).
Henry King directed Lillian Gish and Ronald Colman in the romantic drama The White Sister (1923); Nazimova starred in Camille (1921); and Viola Dana made such popular romantic comedies as Life 39; s Darn Funny (1921) and Rouged Lips (1923). Mayer 39; s company had less money than Metro, but it had the astute guidance of vice president and head of production, Irving Thalberg, whom Mayer had hired from Universal in 1923. His releases included several films directed by John M. Stahl (The Song Of Life, 1922; The Water, 1923; Why Men Leave Home, 1924) and Fred Niblo (The Famous Mrs.
Fair, 1923; Thy Name Is Woman, 1924), as well as King Vidor 39; s His Hour (1924) with John Gilbert. In the meantime, another independent production company, the Goldwyn Pictures Corp. , started in 1917 and had released successful films starring Mary Miles Minter (Polly Of The Circus, 1917; The Bondage Of Barbara, 1919), Mabel Normand (Joan Of Plattsburg, 1918; The Pest, 1919), Geraldine Farrar (The Hell Cat, 1918; Shadows, 1919), and Will Rogers (Jubilo, 1919; Jes 39; Call Me Jim, 1920). Yet Goldwyn was in financial trouble by the early 1920 s, despite such popular films as Sherlock Holmes (1922) with John Barrymore and the horror tale A Blind Bargain (1922) with Lon Chaney. In 1922, producer Samuel Goldwyn was forced out of the company he 39; d helped form, and in 1924 Marcus Loew merged with Goldwyn to form Metro-Goldwyn Pictures. From 1924 - 25 MG releases included Keaton 39; s The Navigator (1924); Vidor 39; s Wine Of Youth (1924) and Proud Flesh (1925); Tess Of The D 39; Urbervilles (1924) and The Sporting Venus (1925) with Blanche Sweet; and The Monster (1925) with Chaney. Mayer and his Louis B.
Mayer Productions along with Thalberg also merged with MG, and in 1925, the studio, under the control of Loew 39; s, Inc. , was officially called Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with Mayer as vice president and general manager. Two big-budget productions which MGM inherited from Goldwyn met very different fates at the new studio. The epic Ben-Hur (1926), direct by Fred Niblo, opened to great fanfare and acclaim; a marathon adaptation of the Frank Norris novel 34; Mc Teague 34; by writer / director Erich von Stroheim was slashed from 24 reels to 10 and released as Greed (1924). Thalberg let von Stroheim direct The Merry Widow (1925), but kept him on a tight rein; after its completion, he left MGM. In the last years of the 1920 s, MGM made its reputation for quality with a stream of hit silents. King Vidor directed the war film The Big Parade (1925) and the classic drama of ordinary people, The Crowd (1928).
Lillian Gish starred in two admired films directed by Sweden 39; s Victor Sea strom, the Hawthorne adaptation The Scarlet Letter (1926) and the classic frontier melodrama The Wind (1928). Sweden also provided MGM with an actress who quickly became one of the studio 39; s superstars: Greta Garbo. The public embraced her in a series of romantic dramas, most notably her films opposite John Gilbert, Flesh And The Devil (1927), Love (1927), and A Woman Of Affairs (1928). Buster Keaton made Seven Chances (1925), Go West (1925), and his biggest box-office hit, Battling Butler (1926), for MGM; he then joined United Artists but returned to MGM for his final silents, The Cameraman (1928) and Spite Marriage (1929).
Ernst Lubitsch directed Norma Shearer in The Student Prince (1927), which was released shortly before her marriage to Irving Thalberg. Director Tod Browning teamed with actor Lon Chaney for a memorable series of thrillers, including The Unholy Three (1925), The Unknown (1927), London After Midnight (1927), and West Of Zanzibar (1928). The independent comedy producer Hal Roach began distributing his films through MGM in 1927, which brought such beloved comic talent as Laurel 038; Hardy, Charley Chase, and the 34; Our Gang 34; kids under the studio 39; s banner. By the end of the decade, MGM 39; s vast array of movie theaters and its many quality films had made it one of the great five 34; integrated major 34; studios, along with Paramount, Fox, RKO, and Warner Bros. MGM began making partial-talkies in 1928, and switched permanently to sound the following year, after releasing the hit musical The Broadway Melody (1929). In the early 39; 30 s, MGM presented the most popular and glamorous movie stars in polished films, thanks to the careful guidance of Thalberg and Mayer.
The ailing Thalberg died in 1936 at age 37, after having personally overseen many of MGM 39; s best efforts. His legacy includes the Eugene O 39; Neill adaptations Anna Christie (1930) with Greta Garbo and Strange Interlude (1932) with Norma Shearer and Clark Gable; the seminal prison film The Big House (1930); Tod Browning 39; s horror classic Freaks (1932); Grand Hotel (1932) with Garbo and John Barrymore; the sequel-spawning Tarzan, The Ape Man (1932) with Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O 39; Sullivan; The Merry Widow (1934) with Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald, directed by Lubitsch; The Barrett's Of Wimpole Street (1934) with Fredric March and Norma Shearer as Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning; Mutiny On The Bounty (1935) with Gable and Charles Laughton; Romeo And Juliet (1936) with Shearer and Leslie Howard, and Camille (1936) with Garbo, both directed by George Cukor; and the Marx Brothers comedies A Night At The Opera (1935) and A Day At The Races (1936). Producer David O. Selznick was MGM 39; s vice president from 1933 to 1935, and made such memorable films as Dinner At Eight (1933) and David Copperfield (1935), both directed by Cukor; Viva Villa! (1934) with Wallace Beery and A Tale Of Two Cities (1935) with Ronald Colman, both directed by Jack Conway; and the gangster film Manhattan Melodrama (1934) with Clark Gable. At the end of the 39; 30 s, the independent Selznick released through MGM his mega-hit romantic drama set against the Civil War, Gone With The Wind (1939).
Other notable MGM releases of the 39; 30 s include producer / director King Vidor 39; s The Champ (1932) with Wallace Beery; the first American film of director Fritz Lang, Fury (1936) with Spencer Tracy; the series of mystery / comedies begun by The Thin Man (1934) with William Powell and Myrna Loy; the operetta adaptations of producer Hunt Stromberg, which starred Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, and started with Naughty Marietta (1935); the Kipling adaptation Captains Courageous (1937) with Spencer Tracy; the series of 34; Andy Hardy 34; films starring Mickey Rooney, which was officially launched with You 39; re Only Young Once (1938), and the 34; Dr. Kildare 34; series with Lew Ayres, which officially began with Young Dr. Kildare (1938); and two classics from 1939, Lubitsch 39; s romantic comedy Ninotchka with Garbo and the fantasy / musical The Wizard Of Oz with Judy Garland. MGM maintained its box-office clout in the war years, giving the public hit romantic comedies (Cukor 39; s The Philadelphia Story (1940) with Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and James Stewart; Lubitsch 39; s The Shop Around The Corner (1940) with Stewart and Margaret Sulla van; George Stevens 39; Woman Of The Year (1942) with Hepburn and Spencer Tracy); wartime morale boosters (William Wyler 39; s Mrs. Miniver (1942) with Greer Garson; Mervyn LeRoy 39; s Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) with Tracy; John Ford 39; s They Were Expendable (1945) with John Wayne); and tear-jerking dramas (LeRoy 39; s Blossoms In The Dust (1941) and Random Harvest (1941), both with Greer Garson). With the talent of new director Vincente Minnelli, MGM also kept the hit musicals coming: the all-black Cabin In The Sky (1943) with Lena Horne; the Americana classic Meet Me In St.
Louis (1944) with Judy Garland; and the all-star Ziegfeld Follies (1945). After the war, MGM 39; s production included such notable films as the drama The Yearling (1946) and the William Faulkner adaptation Intruder In The Dust (1949), both directed by Clarence Brown; the Minnelli musicals Yolanda And The Thief (1946) and The Pirate (1947); director Fred Zinnemann 39; s postwar drama The Search (1948), the first film of actor Montgomery Clift; Ford 39; s Western 3 Godfathers (1948) with John Wayne; Frank Capra 39; s political satire State Of The Union (1948) with Tracy and Hepburn; and director William A. Wellman 39; s war film Battleground (1949), produced by the studio 39; s new chief of production, Dore Schary. A government antitrust action in 1952 forced Loew 39; s, Inc. , to split its production and distribution businesses. As a separate corporation, MGM no longer had its network of theaters, and its finances were sharply curtailed. The growth of television was also a drain on the studio 39; s profits, while internal power struggles further weakened MGM: Schary ousted Mayer in 1951, and was himself axed in 1956, along with Schenck.
Yet during the 1950 s many of the studio 39; s most beloved films were released. Writer / director John Huston made the classic caper film The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and the Stephen Crane adaptation The Red Badge Of Courage (1951) (which was butchered by studio editing). George Cukor directed Tracy and Hepburn in the comedy Adam 39; s Rib (1950). Minnelli made the musicals An American In Paris (1951) with Gene Kelly and The Band Wagon (1952) with Fred Astaire, and Gigi (1957) with Leslie Caron; he also directed the Hollywood drama The Bad And The Beautiful (1952) and the Van Gogh biopic Lust For Life (1955), both starring Kirk Douglas, and the James Jones adaptation Some Came Running (1958). Gene Kelly and Stanley Done co-directed the classic musical Singin 39; In The Rain (1952), and Done helped Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954). LeRoy directed the epic Quo Vadis? (1951) with Robert Taylor, and Joseph L.
Mankiewicz directed the Shakespeare adaptation Julius Caesar (1953) with Marlon Brando. John Ford directed Clark Gable in the African drama Mogambo (1953) and John Wayne in The Wings Of Eagles (1957). Spencer Tracy starred in the thriller Bad Day At Black Rock (1955), directed by John Sturges, and Alfred Hitchcock produced and directed his espionage classic North By Northwest (1959) with Cary Grant. Richard Brooks directed the juvenile-delinquent drama Blackboard Jungle (1956) and the Tennessee Williams adaptation Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1958). William Wyler directed the box-office smash Ben-Hur (1959). The 1960 s were an extremely rocky time for MGM.
The studio lost a fortune on its remake of Mutiny On The Bounty (1962) with Marlon Brando. There were also several hits over the decade: Stanley Kubrick 39; s Vladimir Nabokov adaptation Lolita (1961) and his science-fiction classic 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); the sprawling Cinerama Western How The West Was Won (1963); David Lean 39; s Boris Pasternak adaptation Dr. Zhivago (1965); and the war action The Dirty Dozen (1967), directed by Robert Aldrich. The studio also released such acclaimed films as Sam Peckinpah 39; s Western classic Ride The High Country (1962); the Tennessee Williams adaptations Sweet Bird Of Youth (1962), directed by Richard Brooks, and The Night Of The Iguana (1964) directed by John Huston; the stylish fantasy 7 Faces Of Dr. Lao (1964); the the Paddy Chayefsky satire The Americanization Of Emily (1964), directed by Arthur Hiller; the last film of director John Ford, 7 Women (1966); and Michelangelo Antonio ni 39; s English-language films Blow-Up (1966) and Zabriskie Point (1969). But by the end of the decade Kirk Kerkorian took over MGM.
He brought in James T. Aubrey, the former production chief of CBS, as president, and his belt-tightening methods further diminished MGM: He pulled the plug on Fred Zinnemann 39; s adaptation of the Andr? Malraux novel 34; Man 39; s Fate 34; just before shooting could commence, and slashed to ribbons such noteworthy films as Ken Russell 39; s musical The Boy Friend (1971), Sam Peckinpah 39; s Western Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid (1973), and Blake Edwards 39; Wild Rovers (1971) and The Carey Treatment (1972). David Lean 39; s sprawling and expensive romantic drama Ryan 39; s Daughter (1970) fared less well than Dr.
Zhivago had, and Joseph Love 39; s The Go-Between (1970) and The Assassination Of Trotsky (1972) didn 39; t bring much in the way of profits. By 1973 MGM was no longer distributing its films: United Artists handled its domestic releases, and CIC the foreign distribution. Several MGM films of the late 39; 70 s proved successful: the musical-highlight compilation films That 39; s Entertainment! (1974) and That 39; s Entertainment! , Part 2 (1976); Neil Simon 39; s comedies The Sunshine Boys (1975) and The Goodbye Girl (1977, an MGM/Warner Bros. co-production), both directed by Herbert Ross; and the Paddy Chayefsky satire Network (1976), directed by Sidney Let. Yet the studio 39; s biggest profits of the late 39; 70 s came from its investments and casino ownerships rather than from its films. MGM acquired United Artists in 1981, and changed its name to MGM/UA Entertainment in 1983; the initial hits in this change over included Alan Parker 39; s musical Fame (1980), Barry Levinson 39; s comedy Diner (1982), Tobe Hooper 39; s sequel-spawning horror film Poltergeist (1982), Blake Edwards 39; transgender musical Victor/Victoria (1982), and the James Bond movies Octo pussy (1983) and A View To A Kill (1985).
But there were also such flops as the Korean War epic Inchon (1982), the Bette Midler comedy Jinxed (1982), and Yes, Giorgio (1982) with Luciano Pavarotti. In 1986 the Turner Broadcasting System purchased MGM/UA, kept the library of MGM classics (plus the RKO and Warner Bros. releases MGM had bought up), and sold off United Artists as well as the MGM film and television production and distribution. A period of corporate instability followed, and the studio released a trickle of negligible efforts, despite such successes as Moonstruck (1987), A Fish Called Wanda (1988), and Rain Man (1988). The Italian conglomerate Path? Communications, run by Giancarlo Parretti, took over the MGM/UA Communications Corp.
in 1990, and set up Yoram Globus as president of MGM-Path? Communications. The next year, Parretti was out and producer Alan Ladd Jr. was the chairman and CEO of MGM-Path? . In 1992, MGM-Path?
was bought up by its creditor, French bank Credit Lyonnais, which renamed the studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. A year later, Ladd was replaced by the former chairman of Paramount, Frank Mancuso. Most of the studio 39; s 39; 90 s releases have been as feeble as its 39; 80 s efforts. Yet there have also been such hits as Thelma And Louise (1991), Stargate (1994), GoldenEye (1995), The Birdcage (1996), and Get Shorty (1996). These successes may be no more capable of restoring MGM 39; s stature as its handful of late- 39; 80 s hits were.
But regardless of the studio 39; s future, its past will always bring to the name of MGM a brilliant glow of respect, glamour, and imagination.
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