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Zusatztext "A fast-paced and well-researched new biography of Thalberg." Informationen zum Autor Mark A. Vieira is a photographer! filmmaker! and Hollywood historian. His previous books include Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits and Greta Garbo: A Cinematic Legacy. Klappentext "I thought I knew the story of Irving Thalberg, Hollywood's fabled boy wonder, but I learned a lot from this well-written, diligently researched book. Mark Vieira immerses us in Thalberg's life and career and sheds new light on the workings of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at the peak of its powers. This is an altogether remarkable piece of work. "—Leonard Maltin, film critic and historian "Mark A. Vieira's book is exceptionally well researched and makes a tremendous contribution to our understanding of an extraordinary era."—Kevin Brownlow, film historian and filmmaker "Being the son of David O. Selznick and the grandson of Louis B. Mayer, I have read many books about Irving Thalberg, but none has brought this elusive figure to life as does Mark A. Vieira's. Because he had access to Norma Shearer's memoir notes and because he painstakingly reconstructed each year of Thalberg's brief life, a new figure emerges. Where before we saw a gentle and sensitive man who devoted great care to his films, we now see fierce concentration, arrogance, impatience with stupidity, and a compulsion to oversee every detail of every MGM film. Whatever it cost—and it cost him his health—it resulted in a body of work unprecedented in the history of the medium. I found Irving Thalberg compelling reading and masterly in its ability to keep me reading chapter after astonishing chapter."—Daniel Mayer Selznick, film historian and filmmaker Zusammenfassung Hollywood in the 1920s sparkled with talent, confidence, and opportunity. Enter Irving Thalberg of Brooklyn, who survived childhood illness to run Universal Pictures at twenty; co-found Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at twenty-four; and make stars of Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, and Jean Harlow. Known as Hollywood's “Boy Wonder,” Thalberg created classics such as Ben-Hur, Tarzan the Ape Man, Grand Hotel, Freaks, Mutiny on the Bounty, and The Good Earth, but died tragically at thirty-seven. His place in the pantheon should have been assured, yet his films were not reissued for thirty years, spurring critics to question his legend and diminish his achievements. In this definitive biography, illustrated with rare photographs, Mark A. Vieira sets the record straight, using unpublished production files, financial records, and correspondence to confirm the genius of Thalberg's methods. In addition, this is the first Thalberg biography to utilize both his recorded conversations and the unpublished memoirs of his wife, Norma Shearer. Irving Thalberg is a compelling narrative of power and idealism, revealing for the first time the human being behind the legend. Inhaltsverzeichnis Preface Part One The Merger 1 The Boy Wonder 2 A Funny Little Man 3 Three Shaky Little Stars Part Two The Perfection of Silence 4 A Studio Style 5 Wicked Stepchildren 6 A Business of Personalities 7 Top of the Heap 8 “More Stars Than There Are in Heaven” Part Three The Talkies 9 The Golden Silents 10 All-Talking! All-Singing! All Profitable 11 The Production Code Part Four “His Brain Is the Camera” 12 Visiting Royalty 13 New Morals for Old 14 The Right to Be Wrong 15 Hollywood Icarus Part Five The Thalberg Unit 16 The New Setup 17 Honor with Credit 18 “To Hell with Art!” Part Six The Crown Prince of Hollywood 19 “Napoleon Thalberg” 20 A Feverish Energy 21 A Labor of L...
