Word: thalberg
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...most powerful women in the movie business are those actresses who married studio executives. Such sexual politics did wonders for the careers of several little or no-talent stars: Norma Talmadge, wife of the president of United Artists back in the silent era; Norma Shearer, who married Irving Thalberg when he was head of production at Metro; and of course Ali McGraw, who is Mrs. Paramount when Paramount is one of the few Hollywood studios in the black...
Norma Shearer had seen him lounging, tan and beautiful, at poolside at the Beverly Hills Hotel. She decided that he was just the chap to play her late husband, MGMogul Irving Thalberg, in the movie Man of a Thousand Faces. As it turned out, Actor Evans had one face: immobile. He also played Ava Gardner's bullfighter in The Sun Also Rises. It was bad enough that Papa Hemingway did not want him in the film. Neither did Tyrone Power. Or Errol Flynn. Even Mel Ferrer turned thumbs down. "They resented the fact," says Evans with acuity, "that a pants...
Losses mounted; Evans became a Seconal customer. He was not, after all, Irving Thalberg. Still, he was a contemporary version of the studio czar, a two-time loser as a husband, an 18-hour-a-day man at the office, constantly visible at parties, previews, promotions. Was this what a Wellesley girl was meant for? Entries in the Ali MacGraw notebook: 1) "To marry a second time represents the triumph of hope over experience." 2) "Do you want to be in the movies?" he asked. "Yes, I think so . . . Now," she said. "Why?" "Because . . . I guess . . . it will be okay...
...Under Aubrey's "streamlining" program, MGM's 183-acre Hollywood studio is now considered just real estate. Five out of every six movies nowadays are shot on location; so he would like to sell off all but one of the five lots and the Irving G. Thalberg administration building. More than 20 of 32 domestic sales offices are to be closed, and Aubrey's first priority has been to reduce the payroll overall by 40%. Wouldn't it be decent to wait until after the holidays? asked one top aide last fall. "What holidays?" snapped Aubrey...
...English music. The years have been equally hard on other romantics on the Butler program. Belgium's Henri Vieuxtemps was perhaps the greatest violinist of his day, but until Cellist Jascha Silberstein performed his Cello Concerto in A Minor, it had never been heard in the U.S. Sigismond Thalberg was Liszt's great rival at the keyboard and a composer of considerable skill. Yet his lively fantasy on The Barber of Seville, exuberantly played at Butler by Pianist Raymond Lewenthal, is now a rarity...