Customer Reviews

Irving Thalberg: Boy Wonder to Producer Prince (Fletcher Jones Foundation Book in the Humanities)

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I pre-ordered this book several months ago and was not disappointed. Author Mark A.Viera has presented a detailed and insightful profile of Irving Thalberg, creator of such classics as Grand Hotel, Mutiny on the Bounty, and The Good Earth. A major plus for this book is the use of the heretofore unpublished memoirs of Thalberg's wife, Norma Shearer. Although there have been two excellent biographies of Shearer, this book provides an added dimension: a woman of kindness and strength. By all accounts a devoted wife, and mother of two young children who set aside her own career when necessary to care for her physically infirm husband. Still, she managed to garner 6 Oscar nominations (1 win) and set the standard for MGM glamour in the 1930's. In addition to Shearer, Thalberg made stars of: Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo. Mark Viera adeptly chronicles their rise and much more.This book is a fine account of a great visionary, Irving Grant Thalberg who in life never sought public acknowledgement, but created a lasting legacy that has delighted movie fans for generations since. Great thanks to Mark Viera for a fine book.

Irving Thalberg (1899-1936) was the legendary head of production at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the "golden age" of film making in the 1930s. He was associated with a wide range of classic films ranging from silents (The Big Parade 1925), ensemble films (Grand Hotel 1932), adventure films (Mutiny on the Bounty 1935) and even Marx Brothers comedy (A Night At The Opera 1935). He became a lasting symbol of high quality film making and even today the Academy Awards periodically give the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to producers in recognition of their body of work. Irving Thalberg achieved all of this in a short life over shadowed by a chronic heart condition.

This book, by Mark A. Vieira, is an excellent biography. It covers his early life, his drive in the face of a shortened life expectancy, his work at Universal under Carl Laemmle, his association with Louis B. Mayer and the formation of MGM, the building of the team that created the MGM style, his involvement in individual films, his battles for studio control with Louis B. Mayer and the New York office. The book also covers his personal life, notably his marriage to actress to Norma Shearer (1902-1983), his involvement with her films and her career sacrifices in the face of his ill health.

Thalberg's lasting image has been as a producer of great artistic taste whose contributions to the cinema were tragically cut short by his early death. This biography generally confirms that notion but succeeds in painting a more complex image. Thalberg, a man of limited education but widely read, possibly a would be writer, could not explain his artistic gift. In each film he sought to achieve, by combination of writing, acting, editing etc. defining moments which would link the audience emotionally to the characters and their experiences. His "team" admired him for that perfectionism but he could be cold to anyone questioning his authority, strongly anti-union, demanding with money and, most surprisingly to me, aware of but indifferent to the plight of Jews in Nazi Germany (he thought the Jews would outlast the Nazis). All in all a more complex reality than his image.

I think this is a great book for anyone interested in film and/or classic Hollywood. The material is well organized, the writing clear and the personalities well defined. I strongly recommend it.

"Boy Wonder to Producer Prince" is certainly the best and most detailed piece I have yet read on early MGM history. The author's prose is compelling, he reveals tidbits of information/trivia one has not encountered before, as well as new spins on things we've heard in other places. His depiction of Thalberg's deathbed vigil is so well written you feel you are actually there and shock resonates when the final moment arrives, even though you already may know the story. This is the fourth book I have read by Mr. Vieira and he never fails to impress with his knowledge and writing style. I heartily recommend this piece on early Hollywood history.

Two moguls made the MGM Lion Roar in the days of the Hollywood studio system. Louis B. Mayer was a tough former junk dealer who was was the President of MGM during that studio's supremacy., His Vice-President and overall producer was Irving Grant Thalberg (1899-1936) the fascinating subject of Mark Viera's formidable biography.
Thalberg was a Brooklyn Jew born to a wimpy father William and Henrietta his demanding mother. Irving was isolated as a youth due to a weak heart. Doctors told his parents the lad would probably not live until his 30th birthday. Irving spent much of his youth in bed where he became a voracious reader of classic novels and modern philosophy. He graduated from high school but was thought to lack the stamina needed to go to college.
Irving got a job at Universal Studios run by Carl Laemmele. Thalberg soon left their New York offices for the Hollywood Universal studio. He was a brilliant producer of silent films. Feeling underappreciated at Universal he took a job with the fledgling MGM . Soon he was producing films. Many of them have become legendary such as "Grand Hotel"; "Camille"; "Mutiny on the Bounty"; "Dinner at Eight"; the Marx Brothers films; "The Good Earth" and "Romeo and Juliet." His productions were often based on literary masterpieces; were elegantly produced and starred the brightest stars in the Hollywood constellation.
Thalberg nourished and promoted the careers of such MGM stars as Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, his wife Norma Shearer, Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, Mickey Rooney, Myrna Loy, Johnny Weissmuller, Maurice Chevalier, Jeannette McDonald and countless others.
Thalberg was a perfectionist. He demanded the best of his stars and directors. Thalberg was noted for his editing work in fine tuning a good movie into a great film. He demanded the best of his staff. Thalberg pre-screened and tested films before the final reel was delivered to the Loew's theatre chain for national distribution.
He worked skillfully in avoiding censorship by the Production Code. He was a canny businessman but following an illness was bested by Mayer and some of his former acolytes in gaining stronger control at MGM. Instead of being head producer of the whole studio he was forced to focus on a production team. He decided to stay at MGM. He was friendly but wary of David O. Selznick "the son-in-law who also rises" who was wed to L.B. Mayer's daughter Irene.
Thalberg was a conservative Republican who came from the German Jewish tradition of hard work. He put in long days at the studio working up to 16 hours every day of the week. He was honest and had no major vices. He did enjoy playing cards and loved to flip a coin high into the air. He was the prototype of producer Monroe Stahr the chief character in F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic "The Last Tycoon". For a short time Fitzgerald toiled in the Hollywood writer's bungalow at MGM. Thalberg was thin and spoke quietly but with a heavy stick of power behind his back. At times he could become sarcastic and was a very demanding boss. He nurtured outstanding writers such as Francis Marion and Anita Loos who authored MGM scripts.
Thalberg had a nine year marriage of happiness with the first lady of MGM Norma Shearer. Shearer won the Oscar for Best Actress for her film "The Divorcee." She was a Canadian who actively courted Thalberg caring for him when he was ill and becoming the mother of two children: Irving Jr. And a daughter. The couple were faithful to one another and serve as a template of a steady Hollywood marriage. As a big fan of Norma Shearer I relished the pages on which she appeared. She wasn't the loveliest woman or the best actress on the lot. Joan Crawford groused, "She gets all my parts because she sleeps with the boss."
He was not easily intimidated and was a hard man to push around in the brutal Hollywood business environment.
Much of the book deals with business aspects involved in running the best Hollywood studio during the golden age of film. Thalberg began in the silents and thought sound was just a fad. When sound became a reality he worked to ensure that MGM was a leader in sound filmmaking. A notable quote is "Every great film must have at least one great scene.' He worked himself to death dying of pneumonia in 1936 mourned by the industry he had helped create. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences presents an Irving G. Thalberg Award to outstanding producers in the industry.
I have all of Mark Viera's beautifully produced picture books about Hollywood in the glory days. This is his best book. It is a full portrait of a good man who wasn't perfect but was an upright and clean living gentleman who knew he was living on borrowed time. Thalberg is someone we can admire and emulate in his work ethic, sense of decency and dedication to excellence. A splendid biography of a splending man! Kudos galore to Mark Viera!

This is a book painstakingly researched, and written with the utmost respect and appreciation for his subject. Stars and executives at MGM are revealed in their day-to-day mortal lives, and presented clearly and fairly, even after all these decades. It is a must have addition to any Cinephile's library, and an engrossing read for anyone else who just loves the movies and how they are made. This should be a movie.

Any book by Mark Viera is something to treasure and his Thalberg bio is no exception. This is a truly inspiring book-everything a bio should be. His companion pictorial on Thalberg published in 2008 by Abrams is also something to be savored. Bravo, Mr. Viera !

Disclosure: I am a film historian who knows the author.

Irving Thalberg is a superb achievement and a major contribution to American studio era history. Vieira not only explores and reveals the complex, somewhat enigmatic Thalberg, he also fully illuminates the important people in his orbit - wife Norma Shearer, producer David Lewis, director Sidney Franklin, studio head Louis B. Mayer, and many others. Vieira devotes equally close attention to Thalberg's working methods, the results preserved in The Big Parade, Grand Hotel, Mutiny on the Bounty, and dozens of others. Irving Thalberg benefits tremendously from Vieira's impeccable research in previously untapped production files and unpublished memoirs. The book is lavish in direct quotes, giving it a rare you-are-in-the-room reading pleasure. Highly recommended!

Extremely well written and apparently well researched, this bio of Irving Thalberg is a must read for anyone interesetd in hollywood history. The author takes care to paint both Mr. Thalberg's assets and flaws. Mr. Thalberg's wife, actress Norma Shearer, is also given balanced treatment, and reads as a class act.

The book makes me mourn the absence of intelligence and artistry that once piloted the movie making process.

I have read many articles and books on Irving Thalberg over the years, but Mark Veira's work is head and shoulders above the rest. With clarity and eloquence, the author brings to life a man who shaped the film industry for all time and left a lasting imprint on our culture.

I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this book. Thalberg is beyond legend, was truly "the candle that burned brightest", and is responsible for making the film industry what it became. Today, it is a sad tale of formulaic garbage.
I long for the good old days when someone like Thalberg understood how to craft stories and knew when to take magnificent risks.
Read it now!