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 3)
For our third and final MGM history episode, Nate and I conclude our look at a movie company that was a small city unto itself in Culver City. Riding high in the mid-40s, the studio faced external forces that threaten its existence by the end of the decade.
New stars like Lana Turner, Hedy Lamarr and Van Johnson enter the scene after the exit of MGM stars like Garbo, Shearer and Crawford and the tone of MGM changes with the war. At this time producer Arthur Freed forever puts MGM musicals on the map with the classic Meet Me In St. Louis and he created his own production unit that forever changed musicals.
The 1950s sees the exit of L.B. Mayer, the rise of television, releasing the big stars from their contracts leading to the slow dismantling of the greatest studio over the next 20 years...the whole story of how this happened in this last MGM history episode.
Thanks for listening!
Derek
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