Louis B. Mayer Pictures (or Louis B. Mayer Productions) was an American

film production Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...

company of the

silent era A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

which operated from 1918 until 1924.

History

Founded by the

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

-based theater owner Louis B. Mayer, it functioned as a high-class producer of films for the first-run market. One of the leading Mayer stars was Anita Stewart who was recruited from

Vitagraph Studios Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907, ...

.Eyman p.50 The company had a long-running

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations * Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...

arrangement with

First National Pictures First National Pictures was an American motion picture production and distribution company. It was founded in 1917 as First National Exhibitors' Circuit, Inc., an association of independent theatre owners in the United States, and became the count ...

. Mayer appointed Irving Thalberg as head of production following his stint at

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

. In 1924, the company was part of a series of mergers by Marcus Loew that brought together Metro Pictures and

Goldwyn Pictures Goldwyn Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production company that operated from 1916 to 1924 when it was merged with two other production companies to form the major studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was founded on November 19, 1 ...

into a single outfit

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

, which was a central major studio of the classical era. Although the new company was initially known as Metro-Goldwyn, within a year the name Mayer had been added to the title in acknowledgement of his key role in the studio.

Films

References

Bibliography

* Eyman, Scott. ''Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer''. Simon and Schuster, 2008. * Schatz, Thomas. ''The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era''. Henry Holt and Company, 2015. American film studios Film production companies of the United States 1918 establishments in the United States 1924 disestablishments in the United States Mass media companies established in 1918 Mass media companies disestablished in 1924 1924 mergers and acquisitions {{US-film-company-stub