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69-470: It was adapted as a TV play in 1957 and a film in 1976 of the same name, with a screenplay for the motion picture by British dramatist Harold Pinter . Elia Kazan directed the film adaptation; Robert De Niro and Theresa Russell starred. In 1993, a new version of the novel was published under the title The Love of the Last Tycoon , edited by Matthew Bruccoli , a Fitzgerald scholar. This version

138-499: A Fitzgerald scholar. Bruccoli reworked the extant seventeen chapters of the thirty-one planned according to his interpretation of the author's notes. At least one reviewer considered Bruccoli's work to be a "remarkable feat of scholarship" and notes that it "restored Fitzgerald's original version and has also restored the narrative's ostensible working title, one that implies that Hollywood is the last American frontier where immigrants and their progeny remake themselves." Fitzgerald wrote

207-464: A battle with a union organizer named Brimmer, whose intrusion he resents. In the meantime, Monroe becomes obsessed with a young woman with a troubled past, Kathleen Moore, who is engaged to be married to another man. Cecilia Brady, the young daughter of a studio board member, tries in vain to make Monroe see how she truly feels about him. Pat Brady and other studio executives resent Monroe's neglect and disrespect for their wishes. Seeing his treatment of

276-435: A boy, and deferred to by everybody, you'd think that either they were crazy or you were. But if you stayed and listened, you'd understand. He has a mind like a whip. Snap! He has an idea—the right idea—the only idea! The same quality was observed by director and screenwriter Hobart Henley : "If something that read well in conference turns out not so good on the screen, I go to him and, like that—Henley snaps his fingers—he has

345-409: A business partner and has wanted to get rid of him for a long while. He could not approve less of his daughter's fancying him. Brady knows of Stahr's continued affair with the now-married Kathleen and tries to blackmail him into leaving the company. As he fails to achieve his goal via blackmail, he does not even shy away from hiring a professional killer. Stahr survives, and, in retaliation, also appoints

414-507: A close friend of Fitzgerald, collected the notes for the novel and edited it for publication. The unfinished novel was published in 1941 as The Last Tycoon, by which name it is best known. In 1993, another version of the novel was published under the title The Love of the Last Tycoon, as part of the Cambridge edition of the Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli ,

483-487: A congenital disease that limited the oxygen supply to his heart. The prognosis from the family's doctor and specialists was that he might live to the age of twenty, or at most, to thirty. During his high school years in Brooklyn, he began having attacks of chest pains, dizziness and fatigue. This affected his ability to study, though until that time he was a good student. When he was 17 he contracted rheumatic fever , and

552-549: A hitman to have Brady killed. Unlike Brady's, Stahr's conscience starts to trouble him. But, just as he contemplates calling the execution off, his plane crashes on its way back to New York City. The contract killer finishes his job unhindered and leaves Cecilia both without a father and without a lover – the two men who meant the world to her. Fitzgerald first conceived the idea for the novel in 1931, when he met Irving Thalberg in Hollywood . Accordingly, Fitzgerald decided to set

621-534: A letter in which Kathleen confesses to having been engaged to another man for quite some time. She has now decided to marry him despite having fallen in love with Stahr. Stahr asks Cecilia to arrange for a meeting with a suspected communist who wants to organize a labor union within the film studio. Stahr and Cecilia meet the man over supper where Stahr gets drunk and gets involved in a violent confrontation. Cecilia takes care of him and they grow closer. Cecilia's father, however, becomes more and more unhappy with Stahr as

690-452: A long letter written and signed by himself, describing the problems, and summarily fired von Stroheim as of that moment. Thalberg's letter stated among the reasons, totally inexcusable and repeated acts of insubordination ... extravagant ideas which you have been unwilling to sacrifice ... unnecessary delays ... and your apparent idea that you are greater and more powerful than the organization that employs you. His dismissal of von Stroheim

759-450: A month watching how movie production worked. Before returning to New York, Laemmle told Thalberg to remain and "keep an eye on things for me." Two months later, Laemmle returned to California, partly to see how well Thalberg was able to handle the responsibilities he had been given. Thalberg gave him suggestions, and thus impressed Laemmle by his ability to understand and explain problems. Thalberg suggested, "The first thing you should do

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828-700: A night vocational school . When he turned 18, he placed an advertisement in the local newspaper hoping to find better work: Situation Wanted: Secretary, stenographer, Spanish, English, high school education, no experience; $ 15. He found work as an office secretary at Universal Pictures' New York office, and later became personal secretary to the studio's founder and president, Carl Laemmle . Among Thalberg's duties were transcribing and editing notes that Laemmle had written during screenings of his films. He earned $ 25 weekly, becoming adept at making insightful observations, which impressed Laemmle. Laemmle took Thalberg to see his Los Angeles production facility, where he spent

897-531: A number of Universal's prestige films, which made the company profitable. However, he decided it was time to find a studio in Los Angeles more suitable to his skills, and spread word that he was available. Cecil B. DeMille was the first who wanted to hire him, telling his partner Jesse Lasky , "The boy is a genius. I can see it. I know it." Lasky opposed the hire, stating, "Geniuses we have all we need." Thalberg then received an offer from Hal Roach , but

966-461: A rating of 33%. Irving Thalberg Irving Grant Thalberg (May 30, 1899 – September 14, 1936) was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. He was called "The Boy Wonder" for his youth and ability to select scripts, choose actors, gather production staff, and make profitable films, including Grand Hotel , China Seas , A Night at the Opera , Mutiny on

1035-416: A remarkable capacity for working with actors, casting them aptly and advising them on their careers." After producing two films that were in production when he began work at Universal, he presented Laemmle with his idea for a film based on one of his favorite classic stories, The Hunchback of Notre Dame . Rather than just a horror picture, Thalberg suggested turning it into a spectacle which would include

1104-442: A remedy. He's brilliant." Another assistant producer to Thalberg explains: Irving had a sixth sense about a manuscript. He was a film doctor. You could go out [to a preview] with a film, and if there was something that didn't quite come off, he could put his finger on it. Some of the great films that came out of Metro were re made at his suggestion. He had that uncanny ability. His youth also contributed to his open-mindedness to

1173-605: A replica of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. He had Lon Chaney play the hunchback. The film became Universal's most profitable silent film and established Chaney's career as a top-flight star. After nearly three years with Universal, Thalberg had supervised over a hundred movies, reorganized the studio to give more control to the managers, and had "stopped the defection" of many of their leading stars by offering them better, higher-paying contracts. He also produced

1242-665: A result, he was never bored or tired, and supplemented his spare time with reading for his own amusement, recalls screenwriter Bayard Veiller , with some of his favorite authors being Francis Bacon , Epictetus , and Immanuel Kant . Biographer Bob Thomas writes that after three years at the studio, Thalberg continually proved his value. Universal's pictures improved noticeably, primarily due to Thalberg's "uncanny sense of story." He took tight control over many key aspects of production, including his requirement that from then on scripts were tightly constructed before filming began, rather than during production. Thomas adds that he also "showed

1311-545: A store clerk during the day and to gain some job skills took a night class in typing. He then found work as a secretary with Universal Studios ' New York office, and was later made studio manager for its Los Angeles facility. There, he oversaw production of a hundred films during his three years with the company. Among the films he produced was The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923). In Los Angeles, he partnered with Louis B. Mayer 's new studio and, after it merged with two other studios, helped create Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). He

1380-417: A word, yet he can tell me exactly what to do with a story. I didn't know you had people like that out here." Actress Norma Shearer , whom he later married, was surprised after he greeted her at the door, then walked her to his office for her first job interview: "Then you're not the office boy?" she asked. He smiled, as he sat himself behind his desk: "No, Miss Shearer, I'm Irving Thalberg, vice-president of

1449-559: Is Hollywood in the Golden Thirties, when studios made 30 to 40 productions a year and every backlot could simultaneously sustain motion pictures being set in multiple locations around the world such as New York City , Africa , the South Pole and Montmartre . The background of the film has a close bond to stories of Hollywood at that time, as well as to Fitzgerald's own life and career. The theme of unfinished ambitions and

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1518-485: Is a 1976 American period romantic drama film directed by Elia Kazan and produced by Sam Spiegel , based upon Harold Pinter 's screenplay adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald 's unfinished novel The Last Tycoon . It stars Robert De Niro , Tony Curtis , Robert Mitchum , Jack Nicholson , Donald Pleasence , Jeanne Moreau , Theresa Russell and Ingrid Boulting . The film was the second collaboration between Kazan and Spiegel, who worked closely together to make On

1587-462: Is establish a new job of studio manager and give him the responsibility of watching day-to-day operations." Laemmle immediately agreed: "All right. You're it." In shock, Thalberg replied, "I'm what?" Laemmle told him to take charge of the Los Angeles studio, which he did in early 1919. When aged 20, Thalberg became responsible for immediately overseeing the nine ongoing film productions and nearly thirty scenarios then under development. In describing

1656-662: The 1934 California gubernatorial election Democratic Upton Sinclair ran against Republican Frank Merriam , the latter of whom MGM supported. 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. Supposedly when one actor objected to

1725-515: The Bounty , Camille and The Good Earth . His films carved out an international market, "projecting a seductive image of American life brimming with vitality and rooted in democracy and personal freedom", states biographer Roland Flamini. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and as a child was afflicted with a congenital heart disease that doctors said would kill him before he reached the age of thirty. After graduating from high school he worked as

1794-495: The Mayer Company. I'm the man who sent for you." His younger-than-normal age for a studio executive was usually mentioned even after he left Universal to help start up MGM. Screenwriter Agnes Christine Johnson , who worked with Thalberg for years, described his contribution during meetings: He's so marvelous that no one who doesn't know him can believe it. Seeing him sitting in with all the important people, looking such

1863-578: The Waterfront . Fitzgerald based the novel's protagonist, Monroe Stahr, on film producer Irving Thalberg . Spiegel was once awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award . The Last Tycoon did not receive the critical acclaim that much of Kazan's earlier work received, considering the level of talent involved, but it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction ( Gene Callahan , Jack T. Collis , and Jerry Wunderlich ). The story itself

1932-420: The ability to combine quality with commercial success, and was credited with bringing his artistic aspirations in line with the demands of audiences. After his death, Hollywood's producers said he had been the world's "foremost figure in motion-picture history". President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote, "The world of art is poorer with the passing of Irving Thalberg. His high ideals, insight and imagination went into

2001-403: The cameras from von Stroheim's studio and took over editing. The uncut footage was pared down from five-and-a-half hours to three hours, to von Stroheim's deep dissatisfaction. A similar problem developed with von Stroheim's next film, Merry-Go-Round (1923). Although he had promised Thalberg to remain within budget this time, he continued production until it went to twice the agreed length and

2070-530: The daughter of influential Hollywood producer Pat Brady, preparing to fly home from the East Coast to Los Angeles. At the airport, she is surprised to meet an old friend of her father, author Wylie White. White is accompanied by a failed producer introduced as Mr. Schwartz. Due to complications during the flight, they made a forced landing in Nashville, Tennessee. The threesome decides on a spontaneous trip to

2139-532: The demands of the box office." Mayer's company subsequently merged with two others to become Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), with the 24-year-old Thalberg made part-owner and accorded the same position as vice president in charge of production. Three years after the merger, MGM became the most successful studio in Hollywood. During his twelve years at MGM, Thalberg supervised the production of over four hundred films. Although Thalberg and his colleagues at MGM knew he

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2208-421: The desired effects, Thalberg made sure his cinematographers were careful in their use of light and shadow. Vieira observes that "more than any other producer or any other studio, Thalberg and MGM manipulated lenses, filters, and lighting instruments to affect the viewer." As a result, he notes, "most of Thalberg's films contain moments such as these, in which cinematic technique transcends mere exposition and gives

2277-574: The director directed the film on film." Thalberg was generally opposed to location shooting overseas where he could not oversee production and control costs, as happened with Ben Hur . Thus, he kept hundreds of back-lot carpenters at work creating realistic sets, as he did for fifteenth-century Romeo and Juliet (1936), or with China Seas (1935), to replicate the harbors of Hong Kong. Vieira points out that Thalberg's "fascination with Broadway plays" often had him create and present stories visually. For China Seas , for instance, he described for

2346-539: The exception of Joan Micklin Silver's fine adaptation of the short story Bernice Bobs Her Hair — The Last Tycoon preserves original feeling and intelligence. The movie is full of echoes. We watch it as if at a far remove from what's happening, but that too is appropriate: Fitzgerald was writing history as it happened. The critical reaction to The Last Tycoon has been mixed. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes retrospectively collected reviews from 27 critics to give it

2415-408: The film industry, which until then assumed a star was all that was needed for success, regardless of the story or production quality. The other studios began following MGM's lead with that same formula. Thalberg generally followed a system in managing his productions. According to one of his assistants, Lawrence Weingarten , who later became a producer, "Thalberg directed the film on paper, and then

2484-589: The film. In addition, he introduced horror films to audiences and coauthored the " Production Code ", guidelines for morality followed by all studios. During the 1920s and 1930s, he synthesized and merged the world of stage drama and literary classics with Hollywood films. Thalberg created numerous new stars and groomed their screen images. Among them were Lon Chaney , Ramon Novarro , Greta Garbo , John Gilbert , Lionel Barrymore , Joan Crawford , Clark Gable , Jean Harlow , Wallace Beery , Spencer Tracy , Luise Rainer , and Norma Shearer , who became his wife. He had

2553-492: The films Thalberg replied "Nothing is unfair in politics". Thalberg's production techniques "broke new ground in filmmaking", adds Vieira. Among his contributions at MGM was his innovation of story conferences, sneak previews and scene retakes. He introduced the first horror films and coauthored the Production Code , the set of moral guidelines that all film studios agreed to follow. Thalberg helped synthesize and merge

2622-433: The formidable director. Thalberg had von Stroheim come to his office, which he did still wearing his film costume as a Russian Imperial Guard and escorted by members of his production team. Thalberg calmly told him, "I have seen all the film and you have all you need for the picture. I want you to stop shooting", to which von Stroheim replied, "But I have not finished as yet." "Yes, you have", said Thalberg. "You have spent all

2691-546: The front door, Stahr recognizes her to be the woman he had seen the other night. Kathleen withstands his advances on her and even refuses to tell him her name. It is only when Stahr happens to meet her again at a party that he can convince her to go out and have a cup of coffee with him. He drives her to the building site of his new house in Santa Monica. Kathleen seems reluctant to be with Stahr, but she still ends up having sex with him. A short time afterward, Stahr receives

2760-499: The head of a statue – finding one of them to be the spitting image of his late wife. The day after, Stahr asks his secretary to identify the girls for him. She presents him with a phone number which he immediately uses to arrange a meeting with one of the girls. Unfortunately, it is not the girl he wishes to see; she does not resemble his wife at all. Stahr gives her a ride home, where she insists that he come in and meet her friend (the young Irish-born Kathleen Moore). As soon as Moore opens

2829-502: The historic estate of former President Andrew Jackson , but on arrival, the attraction is closed. Wylie then proceeds to flirt shamelessly with Cecilia while Mr. Schwartz is fast asleep. When Schwartz awakens, he informs them that he has changed his mind and will not travel to Los Angeles with them. He asks Wylie to deliver a message to a friend, which he gladly accepts. The next day, Wylie and Cecilia learn that Schwartz committed suicide right after they left Nashville. Cecilia realizes that

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2898-454: The ideas of others. Conrad Nagel , who starred in numerous Thalberg films, reported that Thalberg was generally empathetic to those he worked alongside: "Thalberg never raised his voice. He just looked into your eyes, spoke softly, and after a few minutes he cast a spell on you." Studio attorney Edwin Loeb, who also worked to create AMPAS , explained that "the real foundation of Irving's success

2967-459: The message Schwartz gave to Wylie was in fact for Monroe Stahr, her father's business partner. She has had a crush on Monroe for many years. Cecilia arrives at her father's film studio to pick him up for a birthday party. Due to a minor earthquake, Cecilia, her father, and his companions all end up in Stahr's office. A water pipe bursts and floods the set. Stahr beholds two women desperately clinging to

3036-438: The money this company can afford. I cannot allow you to spend any more." Thalberg quietly explained that the director worked under the producer, and it was his responsibility to control costs. Von Stroheim, surrounded by his assistants, then confronted Thalberg: "If you were not my superior, I would smash you in the face." Thalberg, unflinching, said "Don't let that stop you." The result was that Thalberg soon afterward removed

3105-526: The new general manager?" After five minutes of talking to Thalberg, however, she later wrote about "Universal's Boy Wonder": "He might be a boy in looks and age, but it was no child's mind that was being asked to cope with the intricate politics of Universal City." Novelist Edna Ferber responded the same way, writing that "I had fancied motion-picture producers as large gentlemen smoking oversized cigars. But this young man whose word seemed so final at Universal City ... impressed me deeply." The male actors in

3174-511: The novel in 1935, when Thalberg was still alive, so that more comparisons could be drawn between Stahr and Thalberg's lives. In preparation for writing the novel, Fitzgerald gathered all the information he could about Thalberg. Fitzgerald was initially calling the novel The Love of the Last Tycoon: A Western . The novel was unfinished and in rough form at the time of Fitzgerald's death at age 44. The literary critic and writer Edmund Wilson ,

3243-531: The novel in a blend of first person and third person narrations. While the story is ostensibly told by Cecilia, many scenes are narrated in which she is not present. Occasionally a scene will be presented twice, once through Cecilia and once through a third party. The revised edition of The Love of The Last Tycoon won the Choice Outstanding Academic Books award of 1995. The Last Tycoon (1976 film) The Last Tycoon

3312-608: The offer was withdrawn because Thalberg lacked experience with slapstick comedy films. In late 1922, Thalberg was introduced to Louis B. Mayer , president of a small but dynamic and fast-growing studio. At that first meeting, Thalberg "made a deep, immediate impression on Mayer", writes Flamini. After Thalberg had left, Mayer said to studio attorney Edwin Loeb: "Tell him if he comes to work for me, I'll look after him as though he were my son." Although their personalities were in many ways opposite, Mayer being more outspoken and nearly twice

3381-403: The primacy of the studio over the director" and forever altered the balance of power in the movie industry. According to Flamini, his youth was a subject of conversation within the movie community. Executives from other studios, actors, and film crew, often mistook him to be a junior employee. Movie columnist Louella Parsons , upon first being introduced to him, asked, "What's the joke? Where's

3450-550: The production of his masterpieces." The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award , given out periodically by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1937, has been awarded to producers whose body of work reflected consistently high-quality films. Thalberg was born in Brooklyn , to German Jewish immigrant parents, William and Henrietta (Haymann). Shortly after birth, he was diagnosed with " blue baby syndrome ", caused by

3519-404: The rationale for this early appointment as studio manager, film historian David Thomson writes that his new job "owed nothing to nepotism, private wealth, or experience in the film industry." He reasons that despite "Thalberg's youth, modest education, and frail appearance ... it is clear that he had the charm, insight, and ability, or the appearance of it, to captivate the film world." Thalberg

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3588-524: The scenery. "We were all young", said comedian Buster Keaton . "The air in California was like wine. Our business was also young—and growing like nothing ever seen before." He quickly established his tenacity as he battled with well-known director Erich von Stroheim over the length of Foolish Wives (1922). Biographer Roland Flamini notes that the film was Universal's most expensive "jewel" ever in production, and its director and star, von Stroheim,

3657-495: The screenwriters, director and others, exactly how he wanted the film to appear on screen: I'd like to open this sequence on a roaring gale at sea. ... I think it might be better to open just prior to the storm—that awful calm before the storm ... and the typhoon hits and they go through all that hell, and the terrific tiredness after the fight is over—the weariness of Gaskell [Clark Gable], and from behind him this China woman comes and their affair [begins]. To be certain of achieving

3726-444: The streets of New York, and led to his interest in classical philosophy and philosophers, such as William James . When Thalberg returned to school, he finished high school but lacked the stamina for college, which he felt would have required constant late-night studying and cramming for exams. Instead, he took part-time jobs as a store clerk, and in the evenings, to gain some job skills, taught himself typing, shorthand and Spanish at

3795-660: The studio had a similar reaction. Lionel Barrymore , who was nearly twice his age, recalled their meetings: I used to go into his office with the feeling I was addressing a boy. In a moment, I would be the one who felt young and inexperienced. I would feel he was not one, but all the forty disciples. Thalberg likewise gained the respect of leading playwrights, some of whom also looked down on him due to his youth. George S. Kaufman , co-author of Dinner at Eight , several Marx Brothers films, and two George Gershwin plays, came from New York to meet with Thalberg. Afterward he confided to his friend, Groucho Marx : "That man has never written

3864-471: The unattained love of the young and beautiful in Hollywood, embodied by the beach house, have great significance for both the Novelist and Director at the end of their luminary careers. Vincent Canby of The New York Times writes: None of the changes that Mr. Pinter has made in the novel seem to me to damage the style or mood of the book. More than any other screen adaptation of a Fitzgerald work—with

3933-402: The union organizer as the last straw, they insist that Monroe go away for a long rest. As his difficulties grow bigger and his health declines, Monroe's life runs to an uncertain but inevitable twilight that echoes a long gone era. The character Monroe Stahr is full of associations to Irving Thalberg , the production chief at M-G-M in the period between the late 1920s and 1930s. The background

4002-467: The world of stage drama and literary classics with Hollywood films. MGM thereby became the only movie studio to consistently show a profit during the Great Depression . Flamini explains that the equation for MGM's success depended on combining stars, a Broadway hit or popular classic, and high standards of production. This combination at the time was considered a "revolutionary approach" in

4071-485: The younger man's age, Thalberg was hired as vice president in charge of production at Louis B. Mayer Productions . Years later, Mayer's daughter Irene Mayer Selznick recalled that "it was hard to believe anyone that boyish could be so important." According to Flamini, Thalberg was hired because, although Mayer was an astute businessman, "what he lacked was Thalberg's almost unerring ability to combine quality with commercial success, to bring artistic aspiration in line with

4140-444: Was "doomed" to not live much past the age of 30 due to heart disease, he loved producing films. He continued developing innovative ideas and overseeing most of MGM's pictures. Under Thalberg's management, MGM released over 40% more films yearly than Warner Brothers , and more than double Paramount 's releases. From 1924 until 1936, when Thalberg died at the age of 37, "almost every film bore Thalberg's imprint", wrote Mark Vieira. In

4209-705: Was Fitzgerald's last, unfinished novel, as well as the last film Kazan directed, even though he lived until 2003. Monroe Stahr is the young production chief and the most creative executive of one of the biggest studios of the Golden Age of Hollywood . He is a tireless worker in a time of turmoil in the industry due to the creation of the Writers Guild of America ; Monroe is accustomed to making his underlings, including screenwriters, do whatever he says. Monroe's life flows between film shootings, industry bosses' machinations, discussions with writers and actors and

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4278-602: Was adapted for a stage production that premiered in Los Angeles, California, in 1998. In 2013, HBO announced plans to produce an adaptation. HBO cancelled the project and gave the rights to Sony Pictures , which produced and released the television series on Amazon Studios in 2016. Set in the 1930s, The Last Tycoon traces the life of Hollywood studio manager Monroe Stahr, clearly based on Irving Thalberg (in charge of production at MGM), whom Fitzgerald had encountered several times. The novel begins with young Bennington College student Cecilia Brady (first-person narrator),

4347-481: Was confined to bed for a year. His mother, in order to prevent him falling too far behind other students, brought him homework from school, books, and tutors to teach him at home. She also hoped that the schoolwork and reading would distract him from the "tantalizing sounds" of children playing outside his window. With little to entertain him, he read books as a main activity. He devoured popular novels, classics, plays, and biographies. His books, of necessity, replaced

4416-443: Was considered an "earthquake in movie circles", notes Flamini. Producer David O. Selznick said that "it was the first time a director had been fired. It took great guts and courage ... Von Stroheim was utterly indifferent over money and could have gone on and spent millions, with nobody to stop him". The opinion was shared by director Rouben Mamoulian , who said that the "little fellow at Universal", in one bold stroke, had "asserted

4485-413: Was his ability to look at life through the eyes of any given person. He had a gift of empathy , and almost complete perspective." Those opinions were also shared by producer Walter Wanger : "You thought that you were talking to an Indian savant. He could cast a spell on anybody." His talent as a producer was enhanced by his "near-miraculous" powers of concentration, notes film critic J. Hoberman . As

4554-415: Was made head of production of MGM in 1925, at the age of twenty-six, helping MGM become the most successful studio in Hollywood. During his twelve years with MGM, until his premature death at the age of 37, he produced four hundred films, most of which bore his imprint and innovations, including story conferences with writers, sneak previews to gain early feedback, and extensive re-shooting of scenes to improve

4623-445: Was not yet near completion. Flamini speculates why this happened: Given his earlier problems with Thalberg, the director's behavior seemed suicidal. It's possible, however, that the idea of dismissal was simply unthinkable to him or that that he felt he could go over Thalberg's head to Laemmle, and the studio boss would surely want to keep his most prestigious director happy. Thalberg again called von Stroheim to his office, handed him

4692-518: Was one among the majority of Hollywood film industry workers who migrated from the East Coast, primarily from New York. Some film actors, such as Conrad Nagel , did not like the five-day train trip or the sudden warmth of the California climate. Neither did Marion Davies , who was not used to such "big wide spaces". Samuel Marx , a close friend of Thalberg's from New York, recalled how easily Thalberg adapted to Southern California, often standing outside his doorway during moments of contemplation to enjoy

4761-415: Was taking the film far over budget. Thalberg, now Universal's general manager, was forced to have the director quickly finalize production before the studio's working capital was used up. Flamini describes the situation: The cost of that set alone had staggered Thalberg when he learned of it, but it was von Stroheim's obsessive spending on unnecessary detail that finally led to Thalberg's confrontation with

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