49. Louis B. Mayer
I will only make pictures that I won't be ashamed to have my children see.
During the first few years of the 20th century, a handful of Jewish immigrants, who originally settled in eastern cities such as New York, Boston, and Cleveland, settled in Hollywood, a suburb of Los Angeles and created the motion picture industry. For the rest of the first half of the 20th century, until television gradually overtook them, this small handful of Jews did more to influence American and world culture, mores, and thinking than any other single source. The most prominent of these men was the head of MGM studios, Louis B. Mayer.
Mayer was a political and social conservative, but in terms of innovation he was one of our greatest visionaries. Together with his partner, the brilliant Irving Thalberg, Mayer created the Hollywood "system" of closed studios, promotion of stardom, etc. He helped create the motion picture "star" and later on the motion picture actor when the advent of sound eliminated the talents of most of the silent stars. Mayer and his friends had tight control over everything that was released in Hollywood, and during the years of Mayer's life, Hollywood was basically the ONLY venue for the motion picture.
Perhaps even more importantly in terms of how Americans view themselves, it might be fair to say that Louis B; Mayer and his cohorts essentially created American history. Generations of Americans formed their perceptions of the west, the Civil War, the treatment of indians, blacks, and immigrants, much more from Hollywood than they did from any history book. MGM's greatest masterpiece, Gone With The Wind, created the perception that blacks enjoyed slavery and were treated kindly by their masters, and this perception lasted for decades afterwards. And this was deliberate: Mayer was determined to show a happy America, with few warts. Later films that would question American history would have to wait until after Mayer's death.
Interestingly enough, the one group who for the most part escaped notice from Hollywood and MGM were the Jews. For most of Mayer's career, even during and after World War II, Jews simply did not exist in Hollywood presentation. Jewish actors were given "Christian" names. Jewish themes were not allowed. Mayer wanted to present an all-American image. (Ironically, though Mayer and the other Jewish executors of Hollywood became among the wealthiest men in America, they were ostracized as Jews from Los Angeles society. Unable to purchase homes in choice LA areas, they created Beverly Hills and built their homes there. Unable to join fancy Christian exclusive country clubs such as Riviera, Bel-Air, the Los Angeles Country Club and the Jonathan Club, they formed their own country clubs such as Hillcrest and Brentwood.)
Louis B. Mayer was forced out of MGM in 1951 and he died in 1957, just as the film industry was being taken over by television as the main purveyor of American culture. Though Hollywood would in the years afterwards actuality become even larger and more popular than ever before, it would never exhibit such a singular command of world society and culture as it did during it's formative years- mainly the years of Louis B. Mayer.
Up next: A Founding Father, born out of wedlock in the West Indies...
Book it.
