With
that in mind, Turner classic movies will be airing "Irving Thalberg:
Prince of Hollywood", a touching documentary by Robert Trachberg on the
life and times of Irving Thalberg, Hollywood's "Boy Wonder" whose
creativity and idealism as a movie producer helped turn M-G-M into the
great studio it became during those early years of the industry.
F. Scott Fitzgerald based his final novel, "The Last Tycoon", on
Thalberg.
Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1899 to German parents, Thalberg didn't have an
easy childhood, having been born with a heart ailment and later having
contracted rheumatic fever during his teen years, he would have been just
another sick kid if his mother hadn't nurtured him during his illnesses,
giving him classic books to read as he was bed-ridden.
When he was 19 years old, he
attended a home screening of several films by Universal Studios(studio
exec Carl Langley was a friend of his grandmother's ), he was enthralled
by movies, and also caused and impression on Carl Langley, who offered him
a job at Universal Studios, where he quickly rose to the position of head
of production at the tender age of 21.
He didn't waste time, and soon he brought organization to the studio,
and created a system in which movies would be produced following a certain
standard - something that enraged Erich Von Stronheim(a silent-era
director better known to contemporary audiences as Gloria Swanson's
protective driver in Sunset Blvd), who was used to have things done
his way.
When Von Stronheim was unceremoniously taken away from the direction of
"Merry Go Round," Thalberg earned the respect of his colleagues.
Thalberg was mostly responsible for the success of The Hunchback of
Notre Dame, the Lon Chaney vehicle that made the character actor a
star.
Thalberg's tenure at Universal didn't last - at 23, he signed with the
recently merged M-G-M as head of production, where he oversaw the
once-disastrous production of the original Ben-Hur(1925).
The climaxing sequence of the film, the famed chariot race, was
coordinated by Thalberg, who spent no expense in doing and redoing certain
scenes, and included up to forty cameras in the arena - a huge film that
consumed 4 million dollars.
Irving Thalberg was responsible for the creation of many stars - names
such as Clark Gable, Robert Montgomery, Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow and many
others owed much of their stardom to him.. He was also partly responsible
for raising the star of Norma Shearer(who appeared with Lon Chaney in "He
Who Gets Slapped"), who would ultimately marry him in 1927.
Thalberg was one of the first producers to do previews of the films,
and during those films were re-edited when he felt that audiences wouldn't
connect to this or that element of a certain plot.
For instance, during "The Big House", he changed one character's
relationship to Robert Montgomery from "girlfriend" to "sister", a re-edit
that gave Montgomery's stool pigeon a family and something to connect
with.
Thalberg didn't believe in talking films when "The Jazz Singer" came to
be, so M-G-M only went into much later - and in 1929, they produced "The
Broadway Melody" as cheaply as possible but without letting go of quality
- something that earned Thalberg the first Best Picture Oscar for a sound
film that year.
After overseeing production of many film throughout his career,
Thalberg's ailing health finally gave in, and on in the fall of 1936 he
fell ill with pneumonia in Santa Monica and slipped into a coma, finally
passing away on September 15th at the age of 37.
Thalberg never took a credit for any of his films was one of the
greatest creative minds of his era, and his untimely passing was a great
loss for the movie industry.
"The Prince of Hollywood" is a great tribute to Thalberg, and it
is a must-watch event.
s Oscar season once
again moves in(with a lot of surprises and disappointments as far as the
nominees go), it is also time to look back at the great films of the past
- nominated or not - and also to recall those pioneers of the movie
industry who helped, in a way or another, to turn moviemaking in this
country what it has become today.
