Louis Mayer was an American film executive and producer who was credited for creating the “star system” during the golden years of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Mayer was also one of the creators of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), which is famous for the “Oscars.” Mayer believed that entertainment should be wholesome.
Mayer was born as Lazar Meir on July 12, 1884. His family was of Jewish descent. The Mayer family first moved to the US and lived in Rhode Island in 1887. Later, the family moved to Saint John, New Brunswick. There, his father established the J. Mayer & Son, a scrap metal company. Mayer was 19 years old when he left for Boston where he engaged in scrap metal business for a while. When the scrap metal business lagged, Mayer was forced to take odd jobs to support his family.
Mayer’s first encounter with show business started during the renovation of the Gem Theater which he undertook. The 600-seat theater in Haverhill, Massachusetts reopened as Orpheum on November 28, 1907. This was the first of Mayer’s many theaters. On the opening day, Mayer debuted with a religious film to erase the building’s bad reputation in the community. Within just a few years, Mater owned all five theaters in Haverhill. There, Mayer and Nathan Gordon established the Gordon-Mayer partnership, which later controlled the largest chain of theaters in New England.
The new partnership formed a film distribution agency that would cater to Boston. It was said that Mayer acquired the exclusive rights for the showing in New England of The Birth of a Nation for $25,000 from D.W. Griffiths. Later, Gordon also partnered with Richard Rowland and formed the talent booking agency Metro Pictures Corporation.
In 1918, Mayer moved to Los Angeles and started the Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation. He formed another partnership, this time with B.P. Schulberg and established the Mayer-Schulberg Studio. But Mayer’s biggest break happened in April 1924 when Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Mayer Pictures merged to organize Metro-Goldwyn. Later, the merger was renamed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
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