A Hollywood Mogul’s Early Years: Louis B. Mayer

Los Angeles is the movie capital of the world. In the early 20th century, Hollywood grew into the filmmaking hub that would change the entertainment industry forever. And this rapid growth from a few wildcat distributors with cameras into the organized, polished studio system can be attributed to a few influential men. 

One of the most powerful studio bosses, or moguls, from the Golden Era of Hollywood was Louis B. Mayer. He was the boss of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) for over 25 years, in the studio’s heyday. Most people interested in Hollywood history are familiar with the stories about Mayer’s tenure as lord and master of Tinseltown’s grandest studio. However, it was an uphill climb that brought Mayer to Hollywood. 

Living in Los Angeles for the second half of his life, Louis B. Mayer was one of Southern California’s most colorful residents. To learn more about who he was and how he shaped the motion picture business, let’s look at his little-known early days, which led him to find the American dream on the Silver Screen. 

Making an American 

“If anybody on earth ever created himself, Louis B. Mayer did.” So said actress Ann Rutherford, according to A. Scott Eyman’s 2005 biography “Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer.” Rutherford was a starlet in the pre-war years, best known for playing Polly Benedict in MGM’s ongoing hit “The Hardy Family Series.”

Mayer created the Andy Hardy franchise just like he created himself. It was something distinctly American, if not wholly organic, and it resonated with people because it was a patriotic idealization of smalltown Americana. Similarly, the Canadian-raised, Russian-born Jewish immigrant made himself as American as apple pie. 

Born Lazar Meir, Mayer always claimed he was born in Minsk, a city in the Russian Empire in modern-day Belarus, on July 4, 1885. As he only admitted on his naturalization papers in 1912, he was actually born in Dymer, a town in modern Ukraine, but his family moved to Minsk shortly after his birth. Most likely his real birthdate was July 12, 1884, but he undoubtedly chose American Independence Day as his birthday in later years to emphasize his adopted Americanism.  

Lazar came from a very poor family of three children. His father was a peddler. They eventually fled Russia because of Jewish persecution. Upon immigrating to Canada in the early 1890s, his father changed the family name to Mayer, and Lazar became Louis. He spent his childhood in Saint John, New Brunswick, where he and his brother helped their father collect scrap metal to sell. While Mayer wasn’t ashamed of his humble background, he firmly denied claims that he was a ragpicker. He gave himself the middle initial B and later created the name Burt (or Bert or Burton) to go along with it.  

At 19, L.B. (as his friends called him) left Saint John for Boston, where he began his adulthood just as he’d spent his childhood—working hard, scrounging, and scrapping for every bit of success he could find. He became part of the Jewish community there, marrying a girl named Margaret in 1904. They had two daughters and were married for over 40 years.  

A portrait of Hollywood movie producer Louis B. Mayer, co-founder of movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Entering the Movie Business 

Like most of the moguls who would develop the big Hollywood film companies, Mayer got into the motion picture business on the distribution side on the East Coast. Mayer’s fascination with show business went back to his boyhood, when he would annoy his father by hanging around the local Vaudeville theater. He wasn’t interested in sitting in the audience, though. He wanted to be backstage, watching the work that went on behind the scenes.  

In 1907, Mayer bought a little chunk of show business when he purchased the Gem, a rundown burlesque theater in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He haggled the price down to half the asking rate, then spent months renovating it—moving his family into the accompanying apartment. It opened on Thanksgiving weekend, renamed the Orpheum.

As manager, Mayer was determined to convince the people of Haverhill that motion pictures could be quality entertainment for the whole family. He used a combination of indefatigable advertising, flashy showmanship, and genuine attention to quality to fill the theater. From a ladies-only section of the seating to homemade cookies, these little details quickly made the Orpheum a big success. 

Before long, Mayer became manager of a second theater, the New Bijou, which he renamed the Scenic Temple. This theater specialized in legitimate stage shows, and Mayer spent as much as he could afford—if not more—to bring in the best shows. By 1910, his little rundown theater had grown into a string of six Mayer theaters, each specializing in a different form of entertainment.

The man behind them had become a celebrity, and the big show business names from New York praised his taste.  

Going to Hollywood 

In 1911, Mayer cemented his reputation by building the grand Colonial Theater, a 1,500-seat auditorium designed for films and live shows. The same year, Mayer began the process to become an American citizen.

“The Birth of a Nation” (1915), the D.W. Griffith film that’s considered the first Hollywood movie, made Mayer a fortune when he bought the exclusive rights to screen it in New England. With the proceeds from this move, he became one of the founders of Metro Pictures, which started as a distribution company but later became a film production company.   

In 1918, Mayer moved out west to stake his claim in the Wild West moviemaking town that was developing: Hollywood. He formed his own silent film production company, Louis B. Mayer Pictures. He found the partner who would help him make this venture a true success in 1923, when he hired boy-wonder Irving Thalberg as his vice president.

Just having left Universal Pictures, where Thalberg was the head of production, the 23-year-old producer became like a son to Mayer. Together, they would become the joint bosses of the newest studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 

Mayer’s MGM years were a storied quarter of a century that rival any movie. From his early partnership with Thalberg to a late rivalry with his successor Dore Schary, Mayer was the defining figure who shaped MGM, making it Hollywood’s grandest studio.

That illustrious chapter isn’t the inspiring part of his story, though. His struggle from a starving immigrant to an industrious businessman is what makes him an example of the American dream.