Louis Meyer, one of the founders of MGM and known as the "King of Hollywood", was born in the Ukraine in the late 19th century and later took refuge in the United States. His keen business judgement enabled him to seize opportunities in time for success. Meyer's greatest contribution was his proposal to found the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and, later, the Academy Awards, known as the Oscars.
As in The Godfather, Meyer was brought to America by his parents to escape the persecution of Jews in Russia. He never knew his exact date of birth, but simply took it upon himself to presume that 4 July 1885 was his birthday, and this ambitious man thus claimed an American dream for himself.
When Meyer had achieved fame and fortune, a colleague said to him, "Money is something that one can't take with one when one leaves!" Meyer replied, "If I can't take the money with me, then I won't leave!"
After Meyer married and had children, by chance, he rented a theatre and made $25,000 in his first year, relying on his clever tongue and speaking around to promote his theatre and the idea of going to the movies. He then built a luxury theatre and took out a debt to buy the exclusive eastern distribution rights to the Griffith film The Birth of a Nation, earning a million dollars. He then gradually moved from the film distribution business to the film production business.
In 1924, he became the executive head of MGM, one of the top five film production companies in Hollywood. I don't know whether he made MGM or MGM made him, but the 30 years he was at the helm were the golden age of MGM and the best years of his life.
Hollywood's first star-making giant
"I would get down on both knees and kiss the ground where talented people walk." Meyer's words will always be remembered in Hollywood, and the 1930s and 1940s saw the heyday of MGM and the flurry of movie stars launched by the company - Gable, Vivien Leigh, Garbo, Quixote, Taylor, Crawford and many more! All of them were MGM properties.
Meyer's relationship with movie stars was so delicate that he once shouted at one star, "I made you, and I can ruin you!"
Father of the Oscars
In the 1920s, with the establishment of nine major companies centred in Los Angeles: Warner, Columbia, Thunderdome, Republic, Paramount, MGM, United States, Fox and Universal, the American film production industry was firmly established, and the major companies wanted to get hold of their subordinates at the cheapest salaries in order to make more profits for their filmmaking needs, while the cast and crew wanted higher salaries, and the workers in the film industry repeatedly The film industry workers offered to negotiate with the studios, leaving Meyer in a state of distress.
The film company bosses feared that a union of workers would make them more difficult to manage. So, in 1926, at a party, the worldly-savvy Meyer made a moving speech calling for the formation of a trade guild of film producers in Hollywood, along with an evaluation of the films themselves. Without exception, the men were so impressed by his speech that they signed the papers and Meyer was elected chairman of the planning committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
In 1927, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the first academic film institution of mankind and an institution that would later have a profound impact on the film industry in the United States and humanity, was born. The annual Academy Awards ceremony also became a major event for filmmakers.
In the 1950s, MGM also fell into the trap of being a late bloomer, and, unable to do anything in the face of this downturn, Meyer was sacked from the position he had occupied for over 30 years, and his sword was worn out.
If there is one man who is inseparable from Hollywood, it is Louis Meyer. The life of the president and owner of MGM Studios is a microcosm of more than half a century of Hollywood. In him, the past and present of the Hollywood film empire can be seen.
Under his leadership, MGM became the largest film company in the country, with a number of notable actors such as Greta Garbo and Clark Gable under its belt at the time. Meyer's influence in the film industry and in politics was unparalleled for a while. But with the changing tastes of audiences and innovations in film production, Meyer's position was shaken, and his political leanings to the far right, Meyer's career came to an end. In a state of loneliness and disillusionment, Meyer died in 1958.
The story of a Jewish man from Russia, who came to America without a name, without knowing his date of birth, and entered Hollywood to become the King of Hollywood. The story is a film legend in itself. Even though he never acted, everyone thought he was a naturally good actor. But his heart was bigger than anyone else's. While the actor was just a puppet on a string, he was a great man who manipulated a kingdom for more than 30 years, combining the Puritan morality of not wanting sex and ultimate satisfaction with baroque luxury, concocting one happy ending after another that Jews were keen on, driving countless Americans mad. He was the one-time godfather figure of Hollywood - Louis Meyer - a born money-maker.