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100-613: In 1937, Roger Wagner joined the MGM chorus in Hollywood and was subsequently appointed Music Director of St. Joseph's Church in Los Angeles where he established an outstanding choir of men and boys, including a young Paul Salamunovich . In 1945, Roger Wagner became the supervisor of young choruses for the City of Los Angeles, most notably the "Los Angeles Concert Youth Chorus." It was from

200-511: A Las Vegas –based hotel and casino company (which it later divested in the 1980s). In 1981, the studio acquired United Artists . In 1986, Kerkorian sold MGM to Ted Turner , who retained the rights to the MGM film library, sold the studio lot in Culver City to Lorimar , and sold the remnants of MGM back to Kerkorian a few months later. After Kerkorian sold and reacquired the company again in

300-561: A madrigal group of twelve of these singers that the Roger Wagner Chorale was born in 1946. In 1949, the Chorale won a contract with Capitol Records for whom it recorded over 20 records. Over time, the Chorale became recognized the world over through its numerous radio, concert, and television appearances, motion picture soundtracks ( The Gallant Hours ), and more than eighty recordings. They were also famous for singing

400-629: A bank account. Outside the United States, these savings clubs can be formal and have proper legislation. In some countries, like Brazil, consórcios are an integral part of the traditional banking system, where there are clubs for purchasing real estate and cars, and even for plastic surgery costs. Over seven million people have engaged in these formal savings associations over the past years, adding to over U$ 10 billion in credit. Since these clubs have up to thousands of members, products purchased are awarded through lottery and bidding processes and

500-594: A bidding war which included Time Warner (the current parent of Turner Broadcasting ) and General Electric (the owners of the NBC television network at the time), MGM was acquired on September 23, 2004, by a partnership consisting of Sony Corporation of America , Comcast , Texas Pacific Group (now TPG Capital, L.P.), Providence Equity Partners , and other investors. After its bankruptcy in 2010, MGM reorganized, with its creditors' $ 4 billion debt transferred to ownership. MGM's creditors controlled MGM through MGM Holdings,

600-467: A common fund. On every installment the common fund reaches the goal value and someone is awarded this sum and from this point forward this person own the association the remaining amount, just as in a loan. This process repeats until every member is awarded the entire sum. These informal associations are specially popular among immigrants since they are a cheaper alternative to traditional financing and usually require no formal papers, credit history or even

700-617: A common goal. Consortium is a Latin word meaning " partnership ", "association", or "society", and derives from consors ("shared in property"), itself from con- ("together") and sors ("fate"). The Big Ten Academic Alliance in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic U.S., Claremont Colleges consortium in Southern California, Five College Consortium in Massachusetts, and Consórcio Nacional Honda are among

800-466: A consortium to cooperate on areas non-strategic for their core businesses. They prefer to reduce their costs on these non-strategic areas and compete on other areas where they can differentiate better. For example, the GENIVI Alliance, now called COVESA, is a not-for-profit consortium between different car makers in order to ease building an In-Vehicle Infotainment system. Another example is

900-485: A for-profit consortium is a group of banks that collaborate to make a loan—also known as a syndicate . This type of loan is more commonly known as a syndicated loan . In England it is common for a consortium to buy out financially struggling football clubs in order to keep them out of liquidation . Alyeska Pipeline Service Company , the company that built the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System in

1000-530: A host of new stars, among them Greta Garbo , John Gilbert , William Haines , Joan Crawford , and Norma Shearer (who followed Thalberg from Universal). Established names like Lon Chaney , William Powell , Buster Keaton , and Wallace Beery were hired from other studios. They also hired top directors such as King Vidor , Clarence Brown , Erich von Stroheim , Tod Browning , and Victor Seastrom . The arrival of talking pictures in 1928–29 gave opportunities to other new stars, many of whom would carry MGM through

1100-547: A huge role was Ida Koverman , Mayer's secretary and right hand. In 1937, Mayer hired Mervyn LeRoy , a former Warner Bros. producer/director as MGM's top producer and Thalberg's replacement. LeRoy convinced Mayer to acquire the film rights to the popular children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ; MGM purchased the rights from Samuel Goldwyn for $ 75,000 in 1938. MGM's hits in 1939 included The Wizard of Oz ; Ninotchka , starring Greta Garbo ; The Women , starring Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer ; and Gone with

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1200-453: A new company, Airbus SAS. In return, they got 80% and 20% shares respectively. BAE would later sell its share to EADS. The Tornado was developed and built by Panavia Aircraft GmbH, a tri-national consortium consisting of British Aerospace (previously British Aircraft Corporation), MBB of West Germany, and Aeritalia of Italy. The aircraft first flew on 14 August 1974 and was introduced into service in 1979–1980. Due to its multi-role design, it

1300-474: A number of successful films in the 1970s, including Westworld (1973), Soylent Green (1973), The Sunshine Boys (1975), The Wind and the Lion (1975), Network (1976) and Coma (1978). Despite these successes, MGM never reclaimed its former status. The MGM Recording Studios were sold in 1975. In 1979, Kerkorian issued a press statement that MGM was now primarily a hotel company. In 1980, MGM hit

1400-509: A pair of Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz . Lot 3, 40 acres (160,000 m ) of back-lot property, was sold off for real-estate development. In 1971, it was announced that MGM was in talks with 20th Century-Fox about a possible merger, a plan which never came into fruition. Under Aubrey, MGM also sold off MGM Records and its overseas theater holdings. Through the 1970s, studio output slowed considerably as Aubrey preferred four or five medium-budget pictures each year along with

1500-488: A private company. New management of its film and television production divisions was installed. In 1924, movie theater magnate Marcus Loew had a problem. He had bought Metro Pictures Corporation in 1919 for $ 3 million, to provide a steady supply of films for his large Loew's Theatres chain. However, he found that his new property only provided a lackluster assortment of films. Seeking to solve this problem, Loew purchased Goldwyn Pictures in 1924 for $ 5 million to improve

1600-713: A remake—failed: Cimarron (1960), King of Kings (1961), Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1961), and, most notoriously, Mutiny on the Bounty (1962). The Cinerama film The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (also 1962), the first film in Cinerama to actually tell a story, was also a financial failure. One other big-budget epic that was a success, however, was the MGM-Cinerama co-production How

1700-401: A segment of the regular activities of these entities, based on an unnamed contract and characterized by a temporary nature, minimization of institutionalization, and lack of separate property , the need to specify how the parties participate in the joint venture and the intention not to establish a "community" with partly own interests (the partnership as such). According to this concept, despite

1800-416: A smattering of low-budget fare. In October 1973 and in decline in output, MGM closed its distribution offices then outsourced distribution for its films for a ten-year period to United Artists . UA also purchased MGM's music publishing arm, Robbins, Feist & Miller plus half of Canadian record label Quality Records . Kerkorian had largely distanced himself from the operations of the studio, focusing on

1900-451: A structure simply referred to as the "consortium." In the Polish legal system, the legal nature of the consortium agreement is disputed. According to the prevailing approach, a consortium is a form of cooperation, different from a civil law partnership, undertaken between economically independent entities already operating on the market in order to implement a specific undertaking that is

2000-510: A subsidiary of Amazon MGM Studios, MGM is a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA); it was a founding member before leaving in the 2005 acquisition. MGM was the last studio to convert to sound pictures—nonetheless, from the end of the silent film era through the late 1950s, it was the dominant motion picture studio in Hollywood. It was slow to respond to the changing legal, economic, and demographic nature of

2100-646: A successful consortium is the Five Colleges of Ohio of Ohio: Oberlin College , Ohio Wesleyan University , Kenyon College , College of Wooster and Denison University . The aforementioned Claremont Consortium (known as the Claremont Colleges) consists of Pomona College , Claremont Graduate University , Scripps College , Claremont McKenna College , Harvey Mudd College , Pitzer College , and Keck Graduate Institute . These consortia have pooled

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2200-425: A symbolic low point when David Begelman , earlier fired by Columbia following the discovery of his acts of forgery and embezzlement, was installed as MGM's president and CEO. In 1980, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. split its production and casino units into separate companies: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Film Co. and MGM Grand Hotels, Inc. The rise of ancillary markets was enough to allow MGM to increase production to 10-15 films

2300-680: A writer and producer who had found success at running RKO Pictures . Lavish musicals were Schary's focus, and hits like Easter Parade (1948) and the popular films of Mario Lanza (including The Toast of New Orleans (1950) and The Great Caruso (1951)) helped keep MGM profitable. In August 1951, Mayer was fired by MGM's East Coast executives and he was replaced by Schary. Gradually cutting loose expensive contract players (including $ 6,000-a-week Judy Garland in 1950 and "King of Hollywood" Clark Gable in 1954), saving money by recycling existing movie sets instead of building costly new scenery, and reworking expensive old costumes, Schary managed to keep

2400-423: A year compared to three to six in the previous decade, but first it needed to revive its distribution unit. Consortium A consortium ( pl.   consortiums or consortia ) is an association of two or more individuals , companies , organizations , or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving

2500-486: A year in Technicolor with Northwest Passage (1939) being one of the most notable of this era. In addition to a large short-subjects program of its own, MGM also distributed the shorts and features produced by Hal Roach Studios , including comedy shorts starring Laurel and Hardy , Our Gang and Charley Chase . The studio's distribution deal with Roach lasted from 1927 to 1938, and MGM benefited in particular from

2600-727: A year to a more manageable 25 features per year. During this period, MGM released several very successful musicals with stars such as Judy Garland , Fred Astaire , Gene Kelly , and Frank Sinatra . Audiences began drifting to television in the late 1940s, and MGM and the other studios were finding it increasingly difficult to attract them to theaters. With its high overhead expenses, MGM's profit margins continued to decrease. Word came from Nicholas Schenck in New York to find "a new Thalberg" who could improve quality while paring costs. Mayer thought he had found this savior in Dore Schary ,

2700-406: Is a purely contractual cooperative contract that does not entail the creation of a third party. The consortium has no legal personality or legal capacity . The contract is concluded between two or more natural or legal persons who undertake to carry out certain works in order to implement a joint project which consortium members would not be able to carry out themselves. The consortium agreement

2800-559: Is not explicitly regulated by the French legislator, but it is admissible in the light of the principle of freedom of contract interpreted from articles 6 and 1134 of the French Civil Code . Neither consortium nor joint venture have a legal definition in U.K. law . The second term is usually used to describe various types of agreements where two or more parties cooperate in conducting business activities. This manifests e.g. in

2900-546: The Columbia film It Happened One Night (1934). Mayer and Irving Thalberg's association began warmly, but eventually relations between the two became strained; Thalberg preferred literary works and expensive costume pictures over the lower-budget, family-oriented crowd pleasers Mayer wanted. Thalberg, always physically frail, was removed as head of production in 1932. Mayer encouraged other staff producers, among them his son-in-law David O. Selznick , but no one seemed to have

3000-583: The Howard Hughes film Hell's Angels (1930), now had a big break and became a Hollywood sex symbol and one of MGM's most admired stars. Despite Harlow's gain, Garbo arguably remained the biggest star at MGM. Shearer was still a money maker despite her screen appearances becoming scarce, and Crawford continued her box-office popularity until 1937. MGM also received a boost through the man who would become known as "King of Hollywood", Clark Gable. Gable's career took off to new heights after he won an Oscar for

3100-579: The Looney Tunes ' sister series, Merrie Melodies . The Happy Harmonies regularly ran over budget, and MGM dismissed Harman and Ising in 1937 to start its own animation studio . After initial struggles with a poorly received series of The Captain and the Kids cartoons, the studio rehired Harman and Ising in 1939, and Ising created the studio's first successful animated character, Barney Bear . However, MGM's biggest cartoon stars would come in

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3200-499: The MGM Grand Hotel , investing $ 120 million into that project. Another portion of the backlot was sold in 1974. The last shooting done on the backlot was the introductory material for That's Entertainment! (1974), a retrospective documentary that became a surprise hit for the studio. That's Entertainment! was authorized by Dan Melnick , who was appointed head of production in 1972. Under Melnick's regime, MGM produced

3300-857: The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) , which is a consortium that standardizes web technologies like HTML , XML and CSS . The Institute for Food Safety and Health is a consortium consisting of the Illinois Institute of Technology , the Food and Drug Administration 's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition , and members of the food industry . Some of the work done at the institute includes, "assessment and validation of new and novel food safety and preservation technologies, processing and packaging systems, microbiological and chemical methods, health promoting food components, and risk management strategies." Commonly known in

3400-569: The 1930s, MGM produced approximately 50 pictures a year, though it never met its goal of releasing a new motion picture each and every week (it was only able to release one feature film every nine days). Loew's 153 theaters were mostly located in New York, the Northeast, and Deep South; Gone with the Wind (1939) had its world premiere at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. A fine reputation

3500-477: The 1930s: Clark Gable , Jean Harlow , Robert Montgomery , Spencer Tracy , Myrna Loy , Robert Taylor , Jeanette MacDonald , and Nelson Eddy among them. MGM was one of the first studios to experiment with filming in Technicolor . Using the two-color Technicolor process then available, MGM filmed portions of The Uninvited Guest (1924), The Big Parade (1925), and Ben–Hur (1925), among others, in

3600-443: The 1950 film, The Titan: Story of Michelangelo was telecast by ABC in 1952, but that was a documentary.) Beginning in 1959, and lasting until 1991, telecasts of The Wizard of Oz became an annual tradition, drawing huge audiences in homes all over the U.S. and earning additional profits for MGM. The studio was all too happy to see Oz become, through television, one of the two or three most famous films MGM has ever made, and one of

3700-405: The 1970s, initially was a consortium of BP , ARCO , ConocoPhillips , Exxon , Mobil , Unocal , and Koch Alaska Pipeline Company. Airbus Industries was formed in 1970 as a consortium of aerospace manufacturers. The retention of production and engineering assets by the partner companies in effect made Airbus Industries a sales and marketing company. This arrangement led to inefficiencies due to

3800-656: The 1990s, he expanded MGM by purchasing Orion Pictures and the Samuel Goldwyn Company , including both of their film libraries. Finally, in 2005, Kerkorian sold MGM to a consortium that included Sony Pictures . In 2010, MGM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and reorganization . After reorganization, it emerged from bankruptcy later that year under its creditors' ownership. Two former executives at Spyglass Entertainment , Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum , became co-chairmen and co-CEOs of MGM's new holding company . After Barber's departure in 2018,

3900-495: The American Musical Academy of Arts Association to handle all of their press and artist development. The AMAAA's main function was to develop the budding stars and to make them appealing to the public. Stars such as Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, Myrna Loy, and Jeanette MacDonald reigned as the top-paid figures at the studio. Another MGM actress of the era, Jean Harlow , who had previously appeared in

4000-636: The LP liner notes), Earl Wrightson , and Carol Neblett . In 1997, for the 50th anniversary of Radio Korea , the Chorale joined a celebratory concert in Los Angeles. As of 2018, the choir is active and maintains a presence on Facebook MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures , commonly shortened to MGM ) is an American media company specializing in film and television production and distribution based in Beverly Hills, California . Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

4100-463: The Loew's merger going through. Schenck and Mayer had never gotten along (Mayer reportedly referred to his boss as "Mr. Skunk"), and the abortive Fox merger increased the animosity between the two men. From the outset, MGM tapped into the audience's need for glamor and sophistication. Having inherited few big names from their predecessor companies, Mayer and Thalberg began at once to create and publicize

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4200-532: The Loews theater chain and the three studios on April 17, 1924, celebrated with a fete on April 26, 1924. Mayer became head of the renamed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with 24-year-old Irving Thalberg as head of production. Final approval over budgets and contracts rested with New York City-based Loews Inc., while production decisions rested with the production headquarters in Culver City. MGM produced more than 100 feature films in its first two years. In 1925, MGM released

4300-573: The Rain (1952), and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). However, Brigadoon (1954), Deep in My Heart (1954), It's Always Fair Weather (1955), Invitation to the Dance (1956), and Les Girls (1957) were extravagant song and dance flops, and even the now-classic The Band Wagon (1953) and Silk Stockings (1957) lost money upon their initial releases. In 1952, as a settlement of

4400-537: The Rings: The Return of the King also did in 2003. During this period, MGM fell into a questionable practice that eventually nearly doomed the studio: an entire year's production schedule relied on the success of one big-budget epic film each year. This policy began in 1959, when Ben–Hur proved profitable enough to carry the studio through 1960. However, four succeeding big-budget epics—like Ben–Hur , each

4500-408: The United States as a rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA) and also called Savings Clubs, Christmas clubs , sousou or even money circles, they are typically informal associations of people saving money together with a commonly shared goal: buying something with the same value. In this association its members contribute by paying equal amount installments (usually monthly or weekly) towards

4600-484: The West Was Won (1962), with a huge all-star cast. King of Kings , while a commercial and critical bomb at the time, has since come to be regarded as a film classic. The losses caused by these films led to the resignations of Sol Siegel and Joseph Vogel who were replaced by Robert M. Weitman (head of production) and Robert O'Brien (president). The combination of O'Brien and Weitman seemed to temporarily revive

4700-446: The Wind , starring Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler . Although Gone With the Wind was produced by Selznick International Pictures , the film was distributed by MGM as part of a deal for producer David O. Selznick , Mayer's son-in-law, to obtain the services of Gable as well as financial assistance necessary for Selznick to complete the film. After Selznick International foundered in 1944, MGM acquired

4800-528: The classic television version of Dr. Seuss 's How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966) featuring the voice of Boris Karloff . Tom and Jerry folded in 1967, and the animation department continued with television specials and one feature film, The Phantom Tollbooth . A revived Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation was in existence from 1993 to 1999. In 1959, MGM enjoyed what is quite probably its greatest financial success of later years, with

4900-509: The common fund administrators charge a fixed fee in order to take responsibility and guarantee the integrity of the process. In France , the consortium, considered a sub-type of joint venture , has important theoretical and practical significance. The French legal system does not provide a definition and does not explicitly use the concept of a joint venture or consortium ( groupements momentanés d’entreprises ). The consortium agreement in France

5000-406: The consortium and the pool. Cooperation agreements concluded under German law are not of a uniform legal nature. There is a great wealth of legal forms of cooperation that could be cautiously qualified as consortium agreements. This is in particular a civil law partnership in its internal and occasional variants ( Gelegenheitsgesellschaft ), as well as a partnership of building contractors ( ARGE ) and

5100-554: The decision. Mayer was active in the California Republican Party and used his political connections to persuade the Justice Department to delay final approval of the deal on antitrust grounds. During this time, in the summer of 1929, Fox was badly hurt in an automobile accident. By the time he recovered, the stock market crash in the fall of 1929 had nearly wiped Fox out and ended any chance of

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5200-452: The earlier Hanna and Barbera shorts, they did receive positive reviews in some quarters. In 1963, the production of Tom and Jerry returned to Hollywood under Chuck Jones and his Sib Tower 12 Productions studio (later absorbed by MGM and renamed MGM Animation/Visual Arts ). Jones' group also produced its own works, winning an Oscar for The Dot and the Line (1965), as well as producing

5300-413: The end of MGM's animation department, as the studio determined it could generate the same amount of revenue by reissuing older cartoons as it could by producing and releasing new ones. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, by then the heads of the MGM cartoon studio, took most of their unit and made their own company, Hanna-Barbera Productions , a successful producer of television animation. In 1956, MGM sold

5400-422: The extravagant and successful Ben-Hur , taking a $ 4.7 million profit that year, its first full year. Also in 1925, MGM, Paramount Pictures and UFA formed a joint German distributor, Parufamet . Marcus Loew died in 1927, and control of Loew's passed to Nicholas Schenck. In 1929, William Fox of Fox Film Corporation bought the Loew family's holdings with Schenck's assent. Mayer and Thalberg disagreed with

5500-404: The failure of the big-budget epic Raintree County (1957) prompted the studio to terminate Schary's contract. Schary's reign at MGM had been marked with few legitimate hits, but his departure (along with the retirement of Schenck in 1955) left a power vacuum that would prove difficult to fill. Initially Joseph Vogel became president and Sol Siegel head of production. In 1957 (by coincidence,

5600-591: The few films that nearly everybody in the U.S. has seen at least once. Today The Wizard of Oz is regularly shown on the Turner -owned channels, no longer just once a year. In animation, MGM purchased the rights in 1930 to distribute a series of cartoons that starred a character named Flip the Frog , produced by Ub Iwerks . The first cartoon in this series (titled Fiddlesticks ) was the first sound cartoon to be produced in two-color Technicolor. In 1933, Ub Iwerks canceled

5700-515: The first million-dollar executive in American history. The company remained profitable, and an increase in MGM's "series" pictures ( Andy Hardy starring Mickey Rooney , Maisie starring Ann Sothern , The Thin Man starring William Powell and Myrna Loy , and Dr. Kildare / Dr. Gillespie with Lew Ayres and Lionel Barrymore ) is cited as evidence of Mayer's restored influence. Also playing

5800-465: The form of the cat-and-mouse duo Tom and Jerry , created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera in 1940. The Tom and Jerry cartoons won seven Academy Awards between 1943 and 1953. In 1941, Tex Avery , another Schlesinger alumnus, joined the animation department. Avery gave the unit its image, with successes like Red Hot Riding Hood , Swing Shift Cinderella , and the Droopy series. Avery left

5900-438: The full rights to Gone With the Wind . While The Wizard of Oz was a critical hit, the production costs for the film were so expensive it took 20 years before it turned a profit. Within one year, beginning in 1942, Mayer released his five highest-paid actresses from their MGM contracts: Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Jeanette MacDonald and Myrna Loy. After being labeled " box office poison ", Crawford's MGM contract

6000-891: The general law of contract, similar to an ordinary partnership agreement , does not create a separate entity. In Germany the view prevails that the consortium is a type of internal civil law partnership (§ 705–740 of the BGB ). In external relations, consortium members may decide on joint and several liability regulated by § 421 BGB, while internally there is sometimes a release from this liability. Joint ventures often include credit syndicates (Kreditkonsortien), securities issuing consortia, including mainly shares ( Emissionskonsortien ), construction consortia ( Baukonsortien ) also referred to as investment ( Investitionskonsortien ) and profit pools ( Ergebnispools ). Sometimes, special purpose partnerships established to jointly use construction facilities ( Planungsgesellschaften ) are listed in one category with

6100-477: The government's restraint-of-trade action, United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. 334 US 131 (1948), Loews, Inc. gave up control of MGM. It would take another five years before the interlocking arrangements were completely undone, by which time both Loews and MGM were losing money. In 1956, Schary was ousted from MGM in another power struggle against the New York-based executives. Cost overruns and

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6200-644: The inherent conflicts of interest that the four partner companies faced; they were both shareholders of, and subcontractors to, the consortium. The companies collaborated on development of the Airbus range, but guarded the financial details of their own production activities and sought to maximize the transfer prices of their sub-assemblies. In 2001, EADS (created by the merger of French, German and Spanish Airbus partner companies) and BAE Systems (the British partner company) transferred their Airbus production assets to

6300-433: The joint distribution of profit, sharing cash, assets, knowledge or abilities. As there are no legal provisions regulating in detail the consortium or joint venture, the relations between the parties participating in this type of agreement—when choosing a joint venture as a collaboration agreement or a special partnership —are subject to common law or the provisions of the partnership law . A consortium agreement governed by

6400-663: The latter of whom MGM supported. MGM and other film studios deducted a days pay from each of their employees to raise an anti-Sinclair fund that amounted to $ 500,000. Irving Thalberg was to lead MGM's anti-Sinclair campaign and the studio recruited Carey Wilson to create a series of anti-Sinclair propaganda films. These films, directed by Felix E. Feist , included fake newsreels of Sinclair supporters who were portrayed as bums and criminals. They were shown in Californian movie theaters, with one episode featuring hired actors as Sinclair supporters speaking with foreign accents. During

6500-439: The mid-1950s, MGM could make a claim its rivals could not: the studio never lost money, although it did produce an occasional disaster such as Parnell (1937), Clark Gable's biggest flop. MGM was the only Hollywood studio that continued to pay dividends during the 1930s. MGM stars dominated the box office during the 1930s, and the studio was credited for inventing the Hollywood stable-of-stars system as well. MGM contracted with

6600-435: The motion picture industry during the 1950s and 1960s; and although its films often did well at the box office, it lost significant amounts of money throughout the 1960s. In 1966, MGM was sold to Canadian investor Edgar Bronfman Sr. , whose son Edgar Jr. would later buy Universal Studios . Three years later, an increasingly unprofitable MGM was bought by Kirk Kerkorian , who slashed staff and production costs, forced

6700-521: The musical The Broadway Melody (1929), however, was both a box-office success and won the Academy Award as Best Picture of the Year. MGM was the last major studio to convert to sound. The studio's first all-color, "all-talking" sound feature with dialogue was the musical The Rogue Song in 1930. MGM included a sequence made in Technicolor's superior new three-color process, a musical number in

6800-651: The oldest and most successful higher education consortia in the world. The Big Ten Academic Alliance , formerly known as the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, includes the members of the Big Ten athletic conference. The participants in Five Colleges, Inc. are: Amherst College , Hampshire College , Mount Holyoke College , Smith College , and the University of Massachusetts Amherst . Another example of

6900-502: The otherwise black-and-white The Cat and the Fiddle (1934), starring Jeanette MacDonald and Ramon Novarro . The studio then produced a number of three-color short subjects including the musical La Fiesta de Santa Barbara (1935); the first complete Technicolor feature was Sweethearts (1938) with MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, the earlier of the popular singing team's two films in color. From then on, MGM regularly produced several films

7000-503: The process. MGM released The Viking (1928), the first complete Technicolor feature with a synchronized score and sound effects, but no spoken dialogue. With the arrival of " talkies ", MGM moved slowly and reluctantly into the sound era, releasing features like White Shadows in the South Seas (1928) with music and sound effects, and Alias Jimmy Valentine (1928) with limited dialogue sequences. Their first full-fledged talkie,

7100-463: The quality of the theaters' products. However, these purchases created a need for someone to oversee his new Hollywood operations, since longtime assistant Nicholas Schenck was needed in New York headquarters to oversee the 150 theaters. A solution came in the person of Louis B. Mayer , head of Louis B. Mayer Pictures. Loew bought the Mayer studio for $ 75,000. Loews Incorporated completed the merger of

7200-488: The region ( University of Kentucky , University of North Carolina , University of Tennessee , West Virginia University , University of Virginia , and Virginia Tech ) are affiliated with the ACA. These institutions assist the ACA in reviewing grant and fellowship applications, conducting workshops, and providing technical assistance. The ACA works to serve higher education in the rural regions of these five states. An example of

7300-402: The release of its nearly four-hour Technicolor epic Ben–Hur , a remake of its 1925 silent film hit, loosely based on true story—despite being adapted from the novel by General Lew Wallace . Starring Charlton Heston in the title role, the film was critically acclaimed, and won 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, a record that held until Titanic matched it in 1997 and The Lord of

7400-789: The resources of their member colleges and the universities to share human and material assets as well as to link academic and administrative resources. An example of a non-profit consortium is the Appalachian College Association (ACA) located in Richmond, Kentucky . The association consists of 35 private liberal arts colleges and universities spread across the central Appalachian mountains in Kentucky , North Carolina , Tennessee , Virginia , and West Virginia . Collectively these higher education institutions serve approximately 42,500 students. Six research universities in

7500-535: The shorts, The Dogway Melody (1930), spoofed MGM's hit 1929 musical The Broadway Melody . MGM entered the music industry by purchasing the "Big Three" starting with Miller Music Publishing Co. in 1934, then Robbins Music Corporation. In 1935, MGM acquired a controlling interest in the capital stock of Leo Feist, Inc. , the last of the Big Three. In the 1934 California gubernatorial election Democratic Upton Sinclair ran against Republican Frank Merriam ,

7600-711: The studio in 1953, leaving Hanna and Barbera to focus on the popular Tom and Jerry and Droopy series. After 1955, all cartoons were filmed in CinemaScope until MGM closed its cartoon division in 1957. In 1961, MGM resumed the release of new Tom and Jerry shorts, and production moved to Rembrandt Films in Prague , Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) under the supervision of Gene Deitch , who had been hired away from Terrytoons . Although Deitch's Tom and Jerry cartoons were considered to be vastly inferior to

7700-515: The studio running much as it had through the early 1940s, though his sensibilities for hard-edged, message movies would never bear much fruit. One bright spot was MGM musical pictures, under the aegis of producer Arthur Freed , who was operating what amounted to an independent unit within the studio. MGM produced some well-regarded and profitable musicals that would later be acknowledged as classics, among them An American in Paris (1951), Singin' in

7800-515: The studio sought to be acquired by another company to pay its creditors. In May 2021, Amazon acquired MGM for US$ 8.45 billion ; the deal closed in March 2022. In October 2023, Amazon Studios absorbed MGM Holdings and rebranded itself as Amazon MGM Studios. As of 2023, its most commercially successful film franchises include Rocky and James Bond , while its most recent television productions include Fargo and The Handmaid's Tale . As

7900-431: The studio to produce low-quality, low-budget fare, and then ceased theatrical distribution in 1973. The studio continued to produce five to six films a year that were distributed through other studios, usually United Artists . Kerkorian did, however, commit to increased production and an expanded film library when he bought United Artists in 1981. MGM ramped up internal production, and kept production going at UA, which

8000-416: The studio's output. This management-by-committee resulted in MGM losing its momentum, developing few new stars, and relying on the safety of sequels and bland material. ( Dorothy Parker memorably referred to the studio as "Metro-Goldwyn-Merde". ) Production values remained high, and even "B" pictures carried a polish and gloss that made them expensive to mount. After 1940, production was cut from 50 pictures

8100-509: The studio. MGM released David Lean 's immensely popular Doctor Zhivago (1965), later followed by such hits as The Dirty Dozen (1967), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Where Eagles Dare (1968). However the company's time was taken up fighting off proxy attacks by corporate raiders , and then MGM backed another series of box office failures, including the musical remake of Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) and Ryan's Daughter (1970). Weitman moved over to Columbia in 1967 and O'Brien

8200-472: The success of the popular Laurel and Hardy films. In 1938, MGM purchased the rights to the Our Gang series from Roach and production of the successful series moved to the MGM studios, where it continued until 1944. From 1929 to 1931, MGM produced a series of comedy shorts called All Barkie Dogville Comedies , in which trained dogs were dressed up to parody contemporary films and were voiced by actors. One of

8300-460: The sure touch of Thalberg. As Thalberg's health deteriorated in 1936, Mayer could now serve as his temporary replacement. Rumors had begun circulating for some time that Thalberg was leaving MGM to set up his own independent company; his premature death at age 37 in September 1936 cost MGM dearly. After Thalberg's untimely death, Mayer became head of production, as well as studio chief, becoming

8400-473: The television rights for The Wizard of Oz to CBS , which scheduled it to be shown in November of that year. In a landmark event, the film became the first American theatrical fiction film to be shown complete in one evening on prime time television over a major American commercial network. ( Olivier's version of Hamlet was shown on prime time network TV a month later, but split in half over two weeks, and

8500-524: The theme song and "score" for I Married Joan . The Virtuoso recording won a Grammy Award in 1959, and the popular carol recording Joy to the World was a Gold Record Album, selling more than a half million copies. The Chorale toured all over the world and included such outstanding singers as Marilyn Horne , Marni Nixon , Claudine Carlson, Harve Presnell (on several recordings), Salli Terri (on several recordings as well as researching for several of

8600-588: The unsuccessful Flip the Frog series and MGM began to distribute its second series of cartoons, starring a character named Willie Whopper , that was also produced by Iwerks. In 1934, after Iwerks' distribution contract expired, MGM contracted with animation producers/directors Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising to produce a new series of color cartoons. Harman and Ising came to MGM after breaking ties with Leon Schlesinger and Warner Bros. and brought with them their popular Looney Tunes character, Bosko . These were known as Happy Harmonies , and in many ways resembled

8700-541: The year Mayer died), the studio lost money for the first time in its 34-year history. After Spencer Tracy left MGM in 1955, the only major star remaining under contract from MGM's heyday was Robert Taylor ; by 1960, MGM had released Taylor and the last of its contract players, with many either retiring or moving on to television. In 1958, MGM released what is generally considered its last great musical, Arthur Freed's Cinemascope color production of Gigi , starring Leslie Caron , Maurice Chevalier , and Louis Jourdan . It

8800-617: Was MGM's asset value, which included subsidiary businesses, real estate, and the value of 45 years' worth of glamour associated with the name, which he attached to a Las Vegas hotel and casino . As for film-making, that part of the company was bleeding money and was quickly and severely downsized under the supervision of James T. Aubrey Jr. With changes in its business model including fewer pictures per year, more location shooting and more distribution of independent productions, MGM's operations were reduced. Aubrey sold off MGM's accumulation of props, furnishings and historical memorabilia, including

8900-471: Was able to replace several different fleets of aircraft in the adopting air forces. The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) became the only export operator of the Tornado in addition to the three original partner nations. Including all variants, 992 aircraft were built. Coopetition , deriving from a portmanteau of cooperation and competition, is the word used when companies otherwise competitors collaborate in

9000-463: Was adapted from the novel by Colette , and written by the team of Lerner and Loewe , who also wrote My Fair Lady and Camelot . Gigi was a box-office and critical success which won nine Academy Awards , including Best Picture . From it came several hit songs, including "Thank Heaven For Little Girls", "I Remember It Well", the "Waltz at Maxim's", and the Oscar-winning title song. The film

9100-603: Was bought by Pathé Communications (led by Italian publishing magnate Giancarlo Parretti ) in 1990, but Parretti lost control of Pathé and defaulted on the loans used to purchase the studio. The French banking conglomerate Crédit Lyonnais , the studio's major creditor, then took control of MGM. Even more deeply in debt, MGM was purchased by a joint venture between Kerkorian, producer Frank Mancuso , and Australia's Seven Network in 1996. The debt load from these and subsequent business deals negatively affected MGM's ability to survive as an independent motion picture studio. After

9200-444: Was bracketed by two productions of Ben Hur . It divested itself of the Loews movie theater chain and, in 1956, expanded into television production. In 1969, businessman and investor Kirk Kerkorian bought 40% of MGM and dramatically changed the operation and direction of the studio. He hired new management, reduced the studio's output to about five films per year, and diversified its products, creating MGM Resorts International as

9300-482: Was continuing to thrive, particularly with the lucrative James Bond film franchise. It also incurred significant amounts of debt to increase production. The studio took on additional debt as a series of owners took charge in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1986, Ted Turner bought MGM, but a few months later, sold the company back to Kerkorian to recoup massive debt, while keeping the library assets for himself. The series of deals left MGM even more heavily in debt. MGM

9400-402: Was forced to resign a few years later. In the mid-1960s, MGM began to diversify by investing in real estate. Edgar Bronfman Sr. purchased a controlling interest in MGM in 1966 (and was briefly chairman of the board in 1969), and in 1967 Time Inc. became the company's second-largest shareholder. In 1969, Kirk Kerkorian purchased 40 percent of MGM stock. What appealed to Kerkorian

9500-697: Was founded on April 17, 1924, and has been owned by the Amazon MGM Studios subsidiary of Amazon since 2022. MGM was formed by Marcus Loew by combining Metro Pictures , Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pictures into one company. It hired a number of well-known actors as contract players—its slogan was "more stars than there are in heaven"—and soon became Hollywood's most prestigious filmmaking company, producing popular musical films and winning many Academy Awards . MGM also owned film studios, movie lots, movie theaters and technical production facilities. Its most prosperous era, from 1926 to 1959,

9600-495: Was gained for lavish productions that were sophisticated and polished to cater to an urban audience. Still, as the Great Depression deepened, MGM began to economize by "recycling" existing sets, costumes, and furnishings from previous projects. This recycling practice never let up once started. In addition, MGM saved money because it was the only one of the big five studios that did not own an off-site movie ranch . Until

9700-457: Was produced by MGM's trailer department as one of the compilation and promotional shows that imitated Disney's series Disneyland which was also on ABC . Parade was canceled by ABC in the 2nd quarter of 1956. MGM took bids for its movie library in 1956 from Lou Chesler and others, but decided on entering the TV market itself. Chesler had offered $ 50 million for the film library. MGM Television

9800-480: Was started with the hiring of Bud Barry to head up the operation in June 1956. MGM Television was to distribute its films to TV (starting with the networks), TV production and purchasing TV stations. TV production was expected to start with the 1957–58 season and was to include half-hour remakes of, or series based on, its pictures. Initial feature film sales focused on selling to the networks. The year 1957 also marked

9900-490: Was terminated and she moved to Warner Brothers, where her career took a dramatic upturn. Garbo and Shearer never made another film after leaving the lot. Of the five stars, Loy and MacDonald were the only two whom Mayer later rehired, in 1947 and 1948 respectively; Crawford returned to MGM after Mayer's departure for the musical drama Torch Song in 1953. Increasingly, before and during World War II, Mayer came to rely on his "College of Cardinals"—senior producers who controlled

10000-641: Was the last MGM musical to win a Best Picture Oscar, an honor that had previously gone to The Broadway Melody (1929), The Great Ziegfeld (1936), and An American in Paris (1951). The last musical film produced by the " Freed Unit " was an adaptation of the Broadway musical Bells Are Ringing (1960) with Judy Holliday and Dean Martin . However, MGM did release later musical films, including an adaptation of Meredith Willson 's The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) with Debbie Reynolds and Harve Presnell . MGM's first television program, The MGM Parade ,

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