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LOUIS B. MAYER - 1885 - 1957
Author: Bob Siler
LOUIS B. MAYER - 1885 - 1957
1885
MINSK, BYEORUSSIA, RUSSIAN EMPIRE
(NEAR BELARUS)
ELIEZER (LAZAR) MAYER IS BORN ON JULY 4.
1888
His parents, Jacob and Sarah Mayer, packed up the children and sailed to America. They then moved on to St. Johns, New Brunswick, Canada, where they settled down.
1895
WINTER STREET SCHOOL - NEW BRUNSWICK
Attended elementary school here
1899 - 1902
425 MAIN STREET - PORTLAND, NEW BRUNSWICK
(The Northern part of town)
The Mayer family moved into this home for a short time before moving to another house several blocks away.
28 ACADIA STREET
From 425 Main Street they moved into this house.
705 MAIN STREET
Jacob Mayer's scrap iron business
1902
74 SMYTHE STREET
Jacob Mayer moved his business to this location
675 MAIN STREET
RUBIN AND RIEDER - LADIES AND GENTLEMEN'S
CLOTHES STORE
Owned by Mayer's sister and brother - in - law
ST. JOHNS HIGH SCHOOL
Mayer attened and graduated from this school
1904
BOSTON, MASSACHUTTES
On January 3 Mayer takes the train to Boston on business.
17 ROCHESTER STREET
He stayed at this lodging house, in room 14, on the second floor.
15 EMERALD STREET
THE FIRST ORTHODOX SYNAGOGUE
On June 14 Louis B. Mayer married Margaret Shenker
7 ROLLINS STREET (Southend of Boston)
CLARENCE POUR'S LODGING HOUSE
LB and his bride stayed in a single room in this brick row lodging house.
1905
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
101 RUSSELL STREET - GREENPOINT - BROOKLYN
LB and Margaret moved to Brooklyn and into a new house where his first daughter, Edith, was born on August 13. Their second daughter (and last child), Irene, would be born on April 12, 1907.
1907
HAVERHILL, MASSACHUTTES
This town is situated at the Northern border of Essex County, on the North bank of the Merrimack River.
In August Mayer moves the family back to Massachuttes and
settles in Haverhill.
8 ESSEX STREET - WASHINGTON SQUARE - HAVERHILL
THE GEM
The Gem was a 600 seat, unused burlesque house that Mayer put a $600 down payment on. It was his first theater. He renamed it
"THE ORPHEUM". It opened its doors on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1907.
21 TEMPLE STREET - HAVERHILL
The Mayer family moved into this drab, four - story, wooden lodging house.
1908
8 MERRIMACK STREET - BRADFORD, MASS.
(In 1909 this address was renumbered from 8 Merrimack to
2 Merrimack Street)
LB bought their first family home, which was a pleasent cottage
across the river to the south. He sold it in 1918.
1911
185 MERRIMACK STREET - BRADFORD, MASS.
(Corner of Emerson Street - across from Mayer's house)
THE COLONIAL THEATER
Mayer built this theater. Construction started on March 11, 1911.
Opening day was December 11, 1911.
1912
27 HAMILTON AVENUE - HAVERHILL
The Mayer family next moved into this three - story house. He sold it in 1913.
THE SCENIC TEMPLE THEATER
This was Mayer's third theater.
1913
501 BOYLSTON STREET (and Warren Street) - BROOKLINE
LB paid $2,500 for this semi - classical, white brick, three - story house with fourteen rooms. They moved in in August 1913.
1914 - 1917
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
RIVERSIDE DRIVE
In August, Mayer set up an apartment with an office on Time Square, which he used when he was in town on business.
1 WEST 61st STREET
METRO STUDIOS
2 WEST 45th STREET
Mayer's suite of offices
7 WEST 23rd STREET
MASONIC HALL - ST. CECILE LODGE #568
On September 15, 1914, Louis B. Mayer became a Third Degree
Mason with this lodge. Fellow lodge members included Al Jolson, D.W. Griffith, John Bunny and Raymond Hitchcock.
1917
BROOKLINE, MASSACHUTTES
74 PLEASANT STREET
Mayer moved his family into this house. It was a short stay.
1918
BOSTON, MASSACHUTTES
1199 BEACON STREET
Mayer bought this Row House in February for $2,500. This was
the Mayer's best home so far. He sold it in 1919.
69 CHURCH STREET
Mayer moved his office from 60 Church Street to this location.
In November 1918 Louis B. Mayer moved his family to Los Angeles, California.
1918 - 1957
LB IN HOLLYWOOD
1918
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA
7021 HOLLYWOOD BLVD
THE GARDEN COURT APARTMENTS
The Mayer family arrived in Los Angeles in November and stayed here.
219 WEST 7th STREET - LOS ANGELES
THE HAAS BUILDING
THE OFFICES OF LOWENTHAL, LOEB AND WALKER
(later Loeb, Walker and Loeb)
Mayer's lawyers
815 SOUTH KINGSLEY DRIVE
(South of Wilshire)
EDWIN J. LOEB
Mayer's lawyer and good friend lived here
1918 - 1923
3800 MISSION ROAD - LOS ANGELES
THE SELIG ZOO AND STUDIO
LOUIS B. MAYER PICTURES
Mayer rented the studio from Col. William Selig and formed his first movie studio. He was now a movie producer. His first star was actress Anita Stewart.
1919
6615 FRANKLIN AVENUE - HOLLYWOOD
The Mayer's first Hollywood home
NORTH CHEROKEE - HOLLYWOOD
The Mayer's next moved into a house on this street
7425 FRANKLIN AVENUE - HOLLYWOOD
ANITA STEWART
She lived in a mansion with ten columns.
1921
6811 HOLLYWOOD BLVD (and Highland) - HOLLYWOOD
THE HOLLYWOOD HOTEL
The Mayer's moved here before renting a larger house on Sunset Blvd near North Crescent Heights.
SUNSET BLVD (Near NORTH CRESCENT HEIGHTS)
Moved into a larger house on this street.
5156 FRANKLIN AVENUE - HOLLYWOOD
JERRY MAYER
Mayers brother moved here in November 1921.
1834 NORTH KENMORE - HOLLYWOOD
In December 1921 Mayer and his brood moved out of the Sunset
Blvd house and into this two - story house with Bay Windows. He bought it for $10,000, with a $1,000 deposit and seven percent interest. He sold it on November 17, 1925 to Hugh C. and Josephine W. Pritchard for $20,000.
1922 - 1923
446 NORTON AVENUE - WEST HOLLYWOOD
WILLIAM AND HENRIETTA THALBERG
They lived here with their son, Irving.
1923
In January Mayer formed "Louis B. Mayer Real Estate Co." with
William and Irving Thalberg and several businessmen as partners. On March 29 they made their first major purchase - 628 valuable acres of land North of CUMBERLAND DRIVE and West of the Baldy Mountains in Valinda, near West Covina.
525 SOUTH LORRAINE BLVD - HOLLYWOOD
B.P. SHULBERG
The producer, (and Mayer enemy) and his family moved here from their Gramercy Place home.
689 SOUTH BRONSON - BEVERLY HILLS
WILLIAM AND HENRIETTA THALBERG
904 NORTH CRESCENT DRIVE - BEVERLY HILLS
IRVING THALBERG
He rented Gloria Swanson's mansion
(GLEN COVE - LONG ISLAND SOUND - NEW YORK
"PEMBROKE"
MARCUS LOEW'S MANSION)
1924
On April 16 Marcus Loew's Metro Pictures Corp. merged with
Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pictures to form the greatest film studio of all time - Metro, Goldwyn, Mayer (MGM)
10202 WASHINGTON BLVD - CULVER CITY
METRO, GOLDWYN, MAYER STUDIOS
MGM moved into the old Thomas Ince Studio. From 1924 - 1951
Mayer was MGM Production Chief, and at one time the highest
paid person in America.
1925
1834 NORTH KENMORE - HOLLYWOOD
Mayer sold his house to Hugh and Josephine Pritchard for $20,000.
FREMONT PLACE - HANCOCK PARK
The Mayer's temporarily moved into a rented house here. LB was waiting to but property on Santa Monica Beach, where he planned to build his dream house.
1925 - 1944
625 OCEAN FRONT - SANTA MONICA
(also Palisades Beach Road and Pacific Coast Highway)
In late 1925 Mayer bought some beach property on Ocean Front in Santa Monica. The tract of land, known as Rancho San Vicente, was where he started building his first house. The construction was turned over to MGM art director, Cedric Gibbons and the MGM building, electricial and carpentry shops.
The design was Mediterranean Spanish, with a dark red tiled
roof, a white stone front, a large curving living room with windows facing the ocean, and wrought iron balconies onto which French windows opened. The swimming pool was decorated with white sun umbrellas. A sandstone cliff rose behind the house, which began crumbling from earthquacks and floods.
The house was built on thirty foot pilings to secure it against being swept away in a tidal wave. The walls were a foot thick, to ensure coolness during the summer. Mayer's den had a heavy, Spanish antique desk and on the window sill behind it was a model of a Spanish galleon, without sails. The curtains throughout the house were either satin or chintz, and the carpets were richly woven.The furnishings were Spanish, with tapestries of coats of arms on the walls and heavy oak beams in the ceilings.There were thirteen Onyx and marble bathrooms and four bedrooms.
The work was completed in six weeks, by April 18, 1926, and cost $28,000. The neighbors were Jesse Lasky, Sam Goldwyn and Harry Warner.
In 1944 Mayer and his wife seperated and he moved out leaving the house to Margaret.
In the 1950s / 1960s actor Peter Lawford and his wife, Pat, who was the sister of John and Robert Kennedy, lived here.
1930
THE BILTMORE HOTEL - DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES
On March 19 producer William Goetz and Edith Mayer were
married.
GLENDALE SANITORUM
JACOB MAYER
On April 18, Mayer's father died here. He was buried at
Home Of Peace Cemetery in East Los Angeles. On his headstone,
LB placed the inscription in Yiddish:
"A wonderful man, exceptionally versed in learning experience through the Talmud and greatly beloved".
1932
WESTERN AVENUE - HOLLYWOOD
Mayer owned a bowling alley and billard hall on this street.
1941 - 1945
PARRIS, CALIFORNIA STOCK RANCH
(near the Mojave Desert)
Mayer raised and bred race horses here.
1944 - 1950
910 BENEDICT CANYON DRIVE - BEVERLY HILLS
After moving out of his beach house, Mayer rented this house in early June 1944. He had built this eleven room bungalow for actress Marion Davies in 1924 to use as a dressing room on the MGM lot. When Mayer, Davies and her boyfriend, William Randolph Hearst parted ways in 1934, Hearst had his construction crews cut the building in half and moved it to the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank, where Marion used it until she completed her last Warner film in 1937. In 1937 Hearst's Cosmopolitan Productions moved to the Fox lot and the bungalow
followed. When the work at Fox was completed Marian gave the building to her niece, and once again it was moved. This time it
was relocated to 910 Benedict Canyon Drive in Beverly Hills.
According to papers left over from the last move, it was stated that they cut off the top story and made some serious modifications to the building. The current house bears little to no
resemblance to the famed bungalow.
1950 - 1957
332 ST. CLOUD ROAD - BEL AIR
In 1950 Mayer bought this house from director / producer Mervyn LeRoy and lived here with his second wife and adopted daughter. He died here on October 29, 1957. In 1958 his widow sold the mansion to Jerry Lewis.
OTHER ADDRESSES AND REAL ESTATE IN LOS ANGELES OWNED BY MAYER
197 NORTH CAMDEN DRIVE - BEVERLY HILLS
His office
910 HARTFORD WAY - BEVERLY HILLS
3520 WILSHIRE BLVD
Mayer owned a restaruant here
MAYER RELATED ADDRESSES
546 PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY - SANTA MONICA
WILLIAM AND EDDIE GOETZ
1050 SUMMIT DRIVE - BEVERLY HILLS
DAVID O. AND IRENE MAYER SELZNICK
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