The Dream Factory
The Dream Factory is a podcast about the sometimes magical, sometimes terrifying world of MGM studios during Hollywood's golden age. Join host Derek Lajeunesse and fellow movie fans as they reawaken the ghosts of MGM, deep diving into people and the films that defined an era of moviemaking.
The Dream Factory
MGM History (Part 2)
Episode two of our deep dive into the history of movie factory MGM is here! I am once again joined by Nate and together we travel back to the Culver City of over 80 years and further explore who were the artists who created these movies throughout Metro's reign as a film giant.
The shock of Thalberg's death in 1936 rocked the studio and paved the way for L.B. Mayer's to be the singular leader of MGM into the profitable late '30s and into the war years. Mayer's vision changes the direction of the MGM's films from literate and glamourous to more homespun and family-friendly, characterized by perhaps the greatest film to be made on the MGM lots...the immortal 1939 masterpiece The Wizard of Oz.
The studio system is in full swing at this point and no studio had more stars than MGM. From Greta Garbo and Clark Gable and William Powell and Myrna Loy to Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, Mayer understood how to cultivate a movie star and how to exploit each of their unique talents and thereby created a huge stable of stars.
Thanks for listening!
Derek
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