Predecessors:

• Metro Pictures Corporation

• Goldwyn Pictures

• Louis B. Mayer Pictures

Founded: April 17, 1924
Founders:

• Marcus Loew

• Samuel Goldwyn

• Louis B. Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., commonly known as MGM, is an American media company based in Beverly Hills, California, specializing in film and television production and distribution. Founded on April 17, 1924, MGM was created by Marcus Loew through the merger of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and Louis B. Mayer Pictures. The studio quickly established itself as one of Hollywood's most prestigious filmmaking companies, known for its slogan "more stars than there are in heaven." MGM produced a range of popular musical films and won numerous Academy Awards during its most prosperous period, which spanned from 1926 to 1959 and was highlighted by two productions of Ben Hur. It also owned a range of assets, including film studios, movie lots, theaters, and technical production facilities. In 1956, MGM expanded into television production and divested itself of the Loews movie theater chain.

In 1969, investor Kirk Kerkorian acquired a 40% stake in MGM, significantly altering its operations. He introduced new management, reduced the studio's output to approximately five films per year, and diversified its business by creating MGM Resorts International, a Las Vegas-based hotel and casino company. Kerkorian sold MGM to Ted Turner in 1986, who retained the rights to the MGM film library and sold the studio lot to Lorimar, later reacquiring the remnants of MGM.

Overview

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) was the last major studio to transition to sound pictures. Despite this, it dominated Hollywood from the end of the silent film era through the late 1950s. However, during the 1950s and 1960s, MGM struggled to adapt to the evolving legal, economic, and demographic changes in the film industry. Although its films often performed well at the box office, the studio faced significant financial losses throughout the 1960s. In 1966, MGM was sold to Canadian investor Edgar Bronfman Sr., whose son, Edgar Jr., would later acquire Universal Studios. By 1969, a financially troubled MGM was purchased by Kirk Kerkorian, who implemented drastic cost-cutting measures, leading to a focus on low-quality, low-budget productions and halting theatrical distribution in 1973. The studio continued to produce a limited number of films annually, usually distributed through other studios like United Artists. Kerkorian, however, did expand production and film library acquisition when he bought United Artists in 1981.

History

Founding and Early Years

In 1924, Marcus Loew, a movie theater magnate, faced a challenge with his acquisition of Metro Pictures Corporation in 1919. Although he had bought Metro for $3 million to supply films for his extensive Loew's Theatres chain, the quality of films produced was disappointing. To address this issue, Loew purchased Goldwyn Pictures in 1924 for $5 million, aiming to enhance the quality of films available to his theaters. However, this expansion created a need for oversight of his Hollywood operations, as his longtime assistant, Nicholas Schenck, was required at the New York headquarters to manage the 150 theaters.

The solution came in the form of Louis B. Mayer, head of Louis B. Mayer Pictures. Loew acquired Mayer’s studio for $75,000. On April 17, 1924, Loews Incorporated finalized the merger of the theater chain with the three studios, and the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) was celebrated with a gala on April 26, 1924. Mayer took charge of MGM, with 24-year-old Irving Thalberg appointed as head of production. Budget and contract approvals remained under the control of Loews Inc. in New York, while production decisions were made at the Culver City headquarters.

In its first two years, MGM produced over 100 feature films. The studio's release of the extravagant and successful "Ben-Hur" in 1925 marked a significant achievement, yielding a profit of $4.7 million for that year. Additionally, in 1925, MGM, Paramount Pictures, and UFA formed a joint German distributor named Parufamet.

After Marcus Loew's death in 1927, control of Loew's passed to Nicholas Schenck. In 1929, with Schenck’s approval, William Fox of Fox Film Corporation sought to acquire the Loew family's holdings. Mayer and Thalberg opposed the deal, with Mayer leveraging his political connections to persuade the Justice Department to delay approval on antitrust grounds. During this period, Fox was severely injured in an automobile accident, and by the time he recovered, the stock market crash of 1929 had devastated his finances, effectively ending the merger. The failed Fox merger exacerbated the tensions between Schenck and Mayer, who had a strained relationship, with Mayer reportedly referring to Schenck as "Mr. Skunk."

1920s and 1930s

From the beginning, MGM capitalized on the public's craving for glamour and sophistication. With few established stars inherited from their predecessor companies, Mayer and Thalberg quickly set about creating and promoting new stars such as Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, William Haines, Joan Crawford, and Norma Shearer, who followed Thalberg from Universal. They also recruited well-known actors from other studios, including Lon Chaney, William Powell, Buster Keaton, and Wallace Beery, and brought on top directors like King Vidor, Clarence Brown, Erich von Stroheim, Tod Browning, and Victor Seastrom. The advent of talking pictures in 1928–29 provided opportunities for a new generation of stars, including Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Robert Montgomery, Spencer Tracy, Myrna Loy, Robert Taylor, Jeanette MacDonald, and Nelson Eddy, who would become key figures for MGM throughout the 1930s.

MGM was also a pioneer in experimenting with Technicolor. The studio used the two-color Technicolor process for films such as "The Uninvited Guest" (1924), "The Big Parade" (1925), and "Ben-Hur" (1925). They released "The Viking" (1928), the first complete Technicolor feature with a synchronized score and sound effects, though it did not include spoken dialogue.

As the "talkies" era began, MGM was slow to embrace the sound revolution, releasing films like "White Shadows in the South Seas" (1928) with music and sound effects, and "Alias Jimmy Valentine" (1928) with limited dialogue. However, their first full-fledged talkie, the musical "The Broadway Melody" (1929), was a box-office success and won the Academy Award for Best Picture of the Year.

MGM was the last major studio to fully convert to sound. Their first all-color, "all-talking" sound feature was the musical "The Rogue Song" (1930). The studio incorporated a sequence in Technicolor’s new three-color process in the otherwise black-and-white "The Cat and the Fiddle" (1934), starring Jeanette MacDonald and Ramon Novarro. MGM produced several three-color short subjects, including the musical "La Fiesta de Santa Barbara" (1935). The first complete Technicolor feature was "Sweethearts" (1938) with MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, and from then on, MGM regularly produced multiple Technicolor films each year, with "Northwest Passage" (1939) standing out as one of the most notable of this era.

In addition to its own extensive short-subjects program, MGM also distributed shorts and features produced by Hal Roach Studios, including comedy shorts featuring Laurel and Hardy, Our Gang, and Charley Chase. This distribution deal, which lasted from 1927 to 1938, was particularly advantageous for MGM due to the popularity of the Laurel and Hardy films. In 1938, MGM purchased the rights to the Our Gang series from Roach, and production of the successful series continued at MGM studios until 1944. Between 1929 and 1931, MGM produced a series of comedy shorts known as All Barkie Dogville Comedies. These films featured trained dogs dressed up to parody contemporary movies and were voiced by actors, with one notable short, "The Dogway Melody" (1930), spoofing MGM’s hit 1929 musical "The Broadway Melody."

MGM also ventured into the music industry by acquiring the "Big Three" music publishers. They began with the purchase of Miller Music Publishing Co. in 1934, followed by Robbins Music Corporation. In 1935, MGM acquired a controlling interest in Leo Feist, Inc., completing their acquisition of the Big Three. During the 1934 California gubernatorial election, MGM supported Republican candidate Frank Merriam against Democrat Upton Sinclair. To fund an anti-Sinclair campaign, MGM and other film studios deducted a day's pay from each of their employees, raising $500,000. Irving Thalberg led MGM's anti-Sinclair efforts, and the studio hired Carey Wilson to produce a series of anti-Sinclair propaganda films. Directed by Felix E. Feist, these films included fake newsreels portraying Sinclair supporters as bums and criminals, with one episode featuring actors portraying Sinclair supporters with foreign accents, which were shown in California movie theaters.

During the 1930s, MGM consistently produced approximately 50 films each year, although it fell short of its goal to release a new movie every week, managing to release one feature film every nine days instead. Loew's 153 theaters were predominantly situated in New York, the Northeast, and the Deep South; notably, "Gone with the Wind" (1939) had its world premiere at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. MGM built a reputation for its lavish productions, which were sophisticated and polished to appeal to an urban audience. However, as the Great Depression worsened, MGM began economizing by "recycling" existing sets, costumes, and furnishings from previous projects—a practice that persisted once it was established.

Additionally, MGM saved money by not owning an off-site movie ranch, a luxury that some of its competitors had. Despite the economic challenges, MGM never reported a financial loss until the mid-1950s, although it did produce occasional flops like Clark Gable’s "Parnell" (1937). Remarkably, MGM was the only Hollywood studio that continued to pay dividends during the 1930s.

During the 1930s, MGM stars dominated the box office, and the studio was instrumental in creating the Hollywood stable-of-stars system. MGM enlisted the American Musical Academy of Arts Association (AMAAA) to manage press and artist development, focusing on cultivating new talent and making them appealing to the public. Stars like Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, Myrna Loy, and Jeanette MacDonald emerged as top earners. Jean Harlow, who had previously appeared in Howard Hughes' "Hell's Angels" (1930), gained significant fame and became a prominent sex symbol. Despite Harlow's rise, Garbo arguably remained MGM's biggest star, while Shearer continued to be profitable despite fewer appearances, and Crawford maintained her box-office appeal until 1937. Clark Gable, who would later be known as the "King of Hollywood," saw his career soar after winning an Oscar for "It Happened One Night" (1934).

The relationship between Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg, initially positive, grew strained as Thalberg preferred literary and costly costume films, while Mayer favored lower-budget, family-oriented features. Thalberg, physically frail, was removed as head of production in 1932, and Mayer encouraged other producers, including his son-in-law David O. Selznick, though none matched Thalberg's success. Thalberg’s declining health and eventual death in September 1936 at age 37 deeply impacted MGM.

After Thalberg's death, Mayer took over as head of production and studio chief, becoming the first million-dollar executive in American history. MGM continued to be profitable, bolstered by an increase in popular "series" pictures such as "Andy Hardy" starring Mickey Rooney, "Maisie" starring Ann Sothern, "The Thin Man" with William Powell and Myrna Loy, and "Dr. Kildare/Dr. Gillespie" featuring Lew Ayres and Lionel Barrymore. Ida Koverman, Mayer's secretary and trusted advisor, also played a crucial role.

In 1937, Mayer hired Mervyn LeRoy, a former Warner Bros. producer/director, as MGM's top producer and Thalberg's successor. LeRoy persuaded Mayer to acquire the film rights to the beloved children's book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," which MGM purchased from Samuel Goldwyn for $75,000 in 1938.

MGM's successes in 1939 included "The Wizard of Oz," "Ninotchka" starring Greta Garbo, "The Women" featuring Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer, and "Gone with the Wind" with Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler. Although "Gone with the Wind" was produced by Selznick International Pictures, MGM distributed it through a deal with producer David O. Selznick for Gable’s services and financial support. Following the downfall of Selznick International in 1944, MGM acquired the full rights to "Gone with the Wind." While "The Wizard of Oz" was critically acclaimed, its high production costs meant it took 20 years to become profitable.

1940s

In the early 1940s, Louis B. Mayer made significant changes to MGM's roster, releasing his five highest-paid actresses—Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Jeanette MacDonald, and Myrna Loy—from their contracts. Joan Crawford, who had been labeled "box office poison," saw a resurgence in her career after moving to Warner Brothers. Garbo and Shearer retired from filmmaking altogether after leaving MGM. Among the five, only Loy and MacDonald were rehired by Mayer, with Loy returning in 1947 and MacDonald in 1948. Crawford rejoined MGM for the musical drama Torch Song in 1953, after Mayer had departed.

During and before World War II, Mayer increasingly depended on his "College of Cardinals," a group of senior producers who oversaw the studio's output. This management approach led to a loss of MGM's momentum, with the studio developing few new stars and relying heavily on sequels and unremarkable material. Dorothy Parker famously referred to the studio as "Metro-Goldwyn-Merde." Despite this, production values remained high, with even "B" pictures exhibiting a polish and gloss that made them costly to produce. After 1940, MGM scaled back its output from 50 films a year to about 25. This period saw the release of several successful musicals featuring stars like Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, and Frank Sinatra.

1950s

In the late 1940s, audiences began drifting to television, posing a challenge for MGM and other studios struggling to draw viewers to theaters. MGM's high overhead expenses contributed to decreasing profit margins, prompting Nicholas Schenck in New York to seek a "new Thalberg" who could enhance quality while reducing costs. Mayer believed he had found this solution in Dore Schary, a successful writer and producer from RKO Pictures. Schary's focus on lavish musicals produced hits such as Easter Parade (1948) and popular films starring Mario Lanza, including The Toast of New Orleans (1950) and The Great Caruso (1951), which helped maintain MGM's profitability.

In August 1951, Mayer was dismissed by MGM's East Coast executives and replaced by Schary. Schary implemented cost-saving measures, such as cutting loose expensive contract players like Judy Garland and Clark Gable, recycling existing sets and costumes, and focusing on maintaining the studio's early 1940s success. Despite Schary's efforts, his preference for hard-edged, message-driven films had limited success. However, under producer Arthur Freed, MGM continued to produce acclaimed and profitable musicals like An American in Paris (1951), Singin' in the Rain (1952), and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954).

Unfortunately, other musicals, including Brigadoon (1954), Deep in My Heart (1954), and It's Always Fair Weather (1955), failed to meet expectations, and even some now-classic films, such as The Band Wagon (1953) and Silk Stockings (1957), initially lost money.

In 1952, as part of a settlement of the government's restraint-of-trade action (United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.), Loews, Inc. relinquished control of MGM. It would take another five years to completely dismantle the interlocking arrangements, by which time both Loews and MGM were struggling financially. Schary was ousted from MGM in 1956 following another power struggle with New York executives. Cost overruns and the failure of the expensive epic Raintree County (1957) led to Schary's contract termination.

Schary's tenure saw few significant hits, and his departure, along with Schenck's retirement in 1955, created a challenging power vacuum. Initially, Joseph Vogel was appointed president and Sol Siegel became head of production. In 1957, the year Mayer died, MGM experienced its first financial loss in 34 years. By 1960, MGM had released Robert Taylor and the last of its major contract players, many of whom had either retired or transitioned to television.

In 1958, MGM released what is often considered its last great musical, Gigi, directed by Arthur Freed and featuring Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, and Louis Jourdan. Adapted from Colette's novel and written by Lerner and Loewe, Gigi was both a box-office and critical success, winning nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film produced several hit songs, such as "Thank Heaven for Little Girls," "I Remember It Well," and the Oscar-winning title song. It was the last MGM musical to win the Best Picture Oscar, a distinction previously earned by The Broadway Melody (1929), The Great Ziegfeld (1936), and An American in Paris (1951). The final musical produced by the Freed Unit was an adaptation of the Broadway musical Bells Are Ringing (1960), starring Judy Holliday and Dean Martin. MGM continued to release musical films thereafter, including an adaptation of Meredith Willson's The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) with Debbie Reynolds and Harve Presnell.

MGM enters television

MGM ventured into television with its first program, The MGM Parade, which was produced by the studio's trailer department. This show, designed as a compilation and promotional effort, was an attempt to replicate Disney's successful Disneyland series on ABC. However, The MGM Parade was canceled by ABC in the second quarter of 1956. Although MGM received a $50 million bid from Lou Chesler for its film library, the studio decided to enter the television market independently. In June 1956, MGM Television was established with Bud Barry appointed to lead the new division. MGM Television's mandate included distributing its films to TV networks, producing TV shows, and acquiring TV stations. Production was slated to begin with the 1957–58 season, featuring half-hour remakes of MGM films or new series based on its pictures. Initially, the focus was on selling feature films to television networks.

The same year saw the end of MGM's animation department, as the studio realized it could achieve the same revenue by reissuing old cartoons rather than creating new ones. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who were leading the MGM cartoon studio, subsequently left to form their own company, Hanna-Barbera Productions, which became a successful producer of television animation.

In 1956, MGM sold the television rights to The Wizard of Oz to CBS, which scheduled its premiere for November of that year. This broadcast marked a historic moment as it became the first American theatrical fiction film to be shown complete in one evening on prime-time television over a major American network. Although Olivier's version of Hamlet was shown on prime-time network TV a month later, it was split into two parts over two weeks. Earlier, ABC had telecast the documentary The Titan: Story of Michelangelo in 1952. Beginning in 1959 and continuing until 1991, The Wizard of Oz became an annual tradition, attracting large audiences across the U.S. and generating additional profits for MGM. The film's television success cemented its place as one of MGM's most famous and widely seen movies. Today, The Wizard of Oz is regularly broadcast on Turner-owned channels, far surpassing its original annual airings.

MGM cartoons

In animation, MGM acquired the rights in 1930 to distribute a series of cartoons featuring a character named Flip the Frog, created by Ub Iwerks. The first cartoon of this series, titled Fiddlesticks, was notable for being the first sound cartoon produced in two-color Technicolor. However, in 1933, Iwerks discontinued the unsuccessful Flip the Frog series, leading MGM to distribute a new series of cartoons featuring a character named Willie Whopper, also produced by Iwerks.

In 1934, following the expiration of Iwerks' distribution contract, MGM contracted animation producers Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising to create a new series of color cartoons. Harman and Ising, who had previously worked with Leon Schlesinger and Warner Bros., brought with them the popular Looney Tunes character Bosko. Their series, known as Happy Harmonies, resembled Warner Bros.'s Merrie Melodies. However, the Happy Harmonies series frequently ran over budget, leading MGM to dismiss Harman and Ising in 1937 in favor of starting its own animation studio.

The studio initially struggled with a poorly received series of The Captain and the Kids cartoons. In 1939, MGM rehired Harman and Ising, who created the studio's first successful animated character, Barney Bear. Nonetheless, MGM's most prominent cartoon stars emerged with the creation of the cat-and-mouse duo Tom and Jerry by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera in 1940. Tom and Jerry cartoons won seven Academy Awards between 1943 and 1953. In 1941, Tex Avery, another former Schlesinger employee, joined MGM and made significant contributions with successful cartoons such as Red Hot Riding Hood, Swing Shift Cinderella, and the Droopy series.

After Avery left MGM in 1953, Hanna and Barbera continued to focus on the Tom and Jerry and Droopy series. Starting in 1955, all cartoons were filmed in CinemaScope until the closure of MGM's cartoon division in 1957.

In 1961, MGM resumed releasing new Tom and Jerry shorts, with production moving to Rembrandt Films in Prague, Czechoslovakia, under the supervision of Gene Deitch, who had been recruited from Terrytoons. Although Deitch's Tom and Jerry cartoons were considered inferior to the earlier Hanna and Barbera shorts, they received some positive reviews. In 1963, production returned to Hollywood under Chuck Jones and his Sib Tower 12 Productions studio, which was later absorbed by MGM and renamed MGM Animation/Visual Arts. Jones' team produced their own works, including the Oscar-winning The Dot and the Line (1965) and the classic television adaptation of Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966), featuring the voice of Boris Karloff. Tom and Jerry ceased production in 1967, but the animation department continued with television specials and the feature film The Phantom Tollbooth. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation was revived from 1993 to 1999.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.

MGM in the 1960s

In 1959, MGM achieved one of its greatest financial successes with the release of Ben-Hur, a nearly four-hour Technicolor epic. This remake of the studio’s 1925 silent film, loosely based on General Lew Wallace's novel, starred Charlton Heston in the title role. The film was critically acclaimed and won 11 Academy Awards, a record that was not matched until Titanic in 1997 and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003.

However, during this period, MGM adopted a risky practice that nearly jeopardized the studio. The studio relied on the success of one big-budget epic film each year to sustain its production schedule. This strategy began with Ben-Hur, which was profitable enough to support the studio through 1960. Unfortunately, subsequent big-budget epics—Cimarron (1960), King of Kings (1961), Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1961), and Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)—failed to replicate Ben-Hur's success. Additionally, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962), the first Cinerama film to tell a story, was also financially unsuccessful. Although How the West Was Won (1962), another big-budget epic and MGM-Cinerama co-production, was a success, the string of failures led to the resignations of Sol Siegel and Joseph Vogel, who were replaced by Robert M. Weitman as head of production and Robert O'Brien as president.

The combination of O'Brien and Weitman temporarily revived the studio's fortunes with successful releases such as David Lean's Doctor Zhivago (1965), The Dirty Dozen (1967), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and Where Eagles Dare (1968). Despite this, MGM found itself preoccupied with defending against proxy attacks from corporate raiders and later faced a series of box office failures, including the musical remake of Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) and Ryan's Daughter (1970). Weitman moved to Columbia in 1967, and O'Brien resigned a few years later.

In the mid-1960s, MGM began diversifying by investing in real estate. Edgar Bronfman Sr. purchased a controlling interest in MGM in 1966 and briefly served as chairman of the board in 1969. By 1967, Time Inc. had become the company’s second-largest shareholder.

Kirk Kerkorian investment

In 1969, Kirk Kerkorian acquired 40 percent of MGM stock, attracted by the studio's substantial assets, which included subsidiary businesses, real estate, and the glamour associated with its 45-year legacy. Kerkorian intended to leverage this allure with his Las Vegas hotel and casino. However, the film-making segment of MGM was struggling financially and was swiftly downsized under James T. Aubrey Jr. The studio reduced its operations by producing fewer films annually, increasing location shooting, and distributing more independent productions. Aubrey sold off MGM's props, furnishings, and historical memorabilia, including Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz. Additionally, 40 acres of backlot property, known as Lot 3, were sold for real estate development. In 1971, a proposed merger with 20th Century-Fox was announced but did not materialize. Under Aubrey, MGM also sold MGM Records and its overseas theater holdings.

During the 1970s, MGM's production slowed significantly, with Aubrey favoring four or five medium-budget films annually alongside a few low-budget projects. By October 1973, as output continued to decline, MGM closed its distribution offices and outsourced film distribution to United Artists for a ten-year period. United Artists also acquired MGM's music publishing arm, Robbins, Feist & Miller, and half of Canadian record label Quality Records.

Kerkorian, now largely detached from studio operations, focused on the MGM Grand Hotel, investing $120 million into the project. Another portion of the backlot was sold in 1974, with the final shooting on the backlot being the introductory material for That's Entertainment! (1974), a retrospective documentary that surprisingly succeeded. This project was authorized by Dan Melnick, who became head of production in 1972. Under Melnick, MGM produced several successful films in the 1970s, including Westworld (1973), Soylent Green (1973), The Sunshine Boys (1975), The Wind and the Lion (1975), Network (1976), and Coma (1978). Despite these successes, MGM did not regain its former status. The MGM Recording Studios were sold in 1975, and in 1979, Kerkorian declared MGM as primarily a hotel company.