Irving Thalberg and Norma Shearer, 1924.
In March 1923, future Hollywood star Norma Shearer and her mother Edith arrived in Los Angeles. Norma had just signed a five-year contract offered by Irving Thalberg, the boy wonder of Hollywood.
In an unpublished memoir, Norma Shearer (1902-1983) vividly recalls her first day at MGM:
We were sitting in the reception room wating to see whomever we were supposed to see when a very polite and modest young offiice boy came through a small swinging gate. He held it open for us, smiled, and said nothing. In we went. He followed us and opened a door down the hall. We found ourselves in Mr. Mayer’s office, which was large and luxurious. To our amazement the young man went around the big desk and sat down behind it. I thought to myself, He’d better get out of that chair before someone comes in! Then he started pressing buttons on that big, shiny desk. Now he’s playing games, I thought. He’d better stop fooling around or Mr. Mayer will come in and fire him. He looked so handsome. I didn’t want that to happen.
Just then Mr. Mayer did come in. The young man stood up calmly and introduced us to him. Then two other gentlemen came in, moving-picture directors named John Stahl and Fred Niblo. They bowed, shook hands with us, and went out. We soon suspected that the young man who had greeted us could not be an office boy. And indeed we soon learned that he was Irving G. Thalberg, Hollywood’s so-called “Boy Wonder.”
Irving Thalberg, just 24 years-old, sickly and frail, yet hauntingly handsome, was already blazing a trail as Hollywood’s most brilliant and visionary producer.
Irving Grant Thalberg, 1899 – 1936.
Shearer and her mother are impressed by Thalberg’s confident demeanor. And his Jewishness marks him as an exotic object of desire to Norma, a wide-eyed Catholic from Montreal, Quebec.
And when we left the studio, Mother asked me, “Did you see those eyes?”
“I should say I did. What eyes!”
Later that day it occurred to me that I had seen the most beautiful face on a young man that I would ever see. Mother told me that he was a Jew and perhaps that was why he was so beautiful.
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you married that nice young man!” she said.
Shearer had a quickie conversion to Judaism right before the Sept 29, 1927 wedding ceremony performed by rabbi to the stars, Edgar F. Magnin. MGM’s Boy Wonder and the Queen of the MGM lot remained devoted to each other until Thalberg’s early and tragic death in 1936, age 37.
Source: Irving Thalberg: Boy Wonder to Producer Prince by Mark A. Vieira.
Flagstone! FINALLY something we both like.
I do my own, with an occasional eye from a supervisor (any family member).
Jenny
Jackie W:
Author Mark A. Vieira gained access to Shearer’s unpublished memoir and quotes from it in his bio of Thalberg.
How do you go about reading an unpublished memoir ?
Malcolm:
Link works. Thanks so much. The Alice video has gone viral.
I think this link will work.
http://www.youtube.com/user/AliceTheFilm#p/a/u/0/QlccsLr48Mw
Prophet Joe:
I’ve been waiting for Friday all week. Really. Home repairs, tell me about them. I’m up to my neck in landscaping the pool. Do you know how much it costs to break up concrete, cart it away, and install flagstone?
Johnny:
Thalberg believed that giving yourself credit was no credit at all. But make no mistake about it, Thalberg had a huge ego. His clashes with L.B. Mayer regarding money and control were epic.
BTW, in Hollywood, if you don’t have an outsize ego, you will neither thrive nor survive.
Christopher:
I’m enjoying the book hugely. The key to Thalberg’s character is the acute sense of his own mortality coupled with his years spent in bed reading great works of literature and absorbing the rules of drama. His genius was in his ability to apply the structures of literary narrative to the movies.
I believe Thalberg developed into such a cool, remote character as a result of a deep seated fear that touching others would, literally, mean his own death. Don’t forget, Harriet, his mother, kept her son all to herself for as long as possible.
Malcolm:
Unfortunately, the link does not function.
Susan:
Always pleased to welcome a new reader. Thanks so much for the kind words. Do stay in touch.
Robert, I have to admit 2 things: 1) Although I’ve heard the name before, I had no knowledge of Thalberg (so thank you again) and, 2) because I am taking tomorrow off, I keep thinking today is Friday — I was totally confused when I came on your site because I was expecting Friday Footwear! I’ll have to check back tomorrow amid my long list of home repairs (we’re expecting company this weekend, so I’m under the gun!)
Shalom, my friend!
PJ
I first came across Thalberg as a teenager when I read a book on Groucho Marx. Marx spoke of Thalberg in almost reverent tones and how his death after starting “A Day At The Races” affected the film and the brothers. I know a lot of fans of the brothers don’t like Thalberg because he rounded off the biting edges of their previous films, but the success of ANATO points to his movie business acumen.
For such a powerful movie mogul, Thalberg was not one to hog the spotlight and did not take producer credits on his films. I’m surprised he wasn’t run out of town for not having an outsized ego since it seems to be a requirement to work in Hollywood.
I hope you’re enjoying that Thalberg book, Robert. I know I did, even if I still find Thalberg a mysterious figure. It’s a rather strained analogy, but he reminds me of Minerva – he just springs, fully formed, into Hollywood and sees ‘the whole equation’ of films. I find him to be a very cold fish (though Norma didn’t obviously!)
And I love looking at pictures of Thalberg. No matter how casual or dressed-up he is, he always looks heartbreakingly stylish and utterly comfortable in his clothes and his skin. It’s a trait I envy!
I thought you would enjoy this.
http://www.youtube.com/user/AliceTheFilm
Good morning-
I just discovered your blog, and I LOVE it. The prose and the pictures are just beautiful, and your dedication to your son’s memory moves my heart.
I will definitely be back. Thank you.