An Empire of Their Own by Neal Gabler

Author:Neal Gabler [Gabler, Neal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-77371-5
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2010-11-10T05:00:00+00:00

But there was something more than pragmatism at work. Despite their lack of social contact and their heated rivalry, the Hollywood Jews always sensed that their real adversaries were outside the industry, on Wall Street and in the boardrooms of the East, where they believed, not wholly without reason, that gentiles were plotting to take their studios away. Particularly after the Depression hit, the Jews had an unspoken convenant. That explained why Harry Warner put aside his differences and rushed to Lasky’s defense when he was ousted from Paramount and needed money. And it helped explain a more curious act of solidarity a few years later when Zukor himself was being besieged by the eastern financiers.

Eugene Zukor received a call from Louis Mayer inviting him to visit MGM. Mayer, whom Eugene had met only once before, asked him for an assessment of the state of Paramount. Eugene replied frankly that “our house is invaded by vermin or worse,” but that his father, despite the humiliation of being demoted from company president to head of production, intended to stick it out, believing that in the long run the eastern financiers would come to see that they needed his expertise. Mayer shot back, “I don’t agree with that at all. They are bent on destruction, and they’re going to seek it out. They’re going to do everything to scuttle it [the company].” Then, always the master dramatist, he dropped his bombshell. “I want you to come over here.”

Eugene was amazed at the offer. Mayer continued, “Beginning now, I want you and your father, and I’ll give you anything you want. You’ve got to come over here. Not only that—but I have taken a position to this effect.” And with that, Mayer opened the door from his office that led to the boardroom. Assembled there was the entire production staff of the studio—ironically including Sam Katz, who had deserted Paramount after helping to engineer its takeover. “I have just told young Zukor what I have already told you: I want him and his father to join our staff over here as an independent unit and to tell Paramount to shove it.” Mayer strode over to a telephone on the board’s table and announced that he was calling Nicholas Schenck, president of MGM’s parent company, Loew’s Incorporated, to demonstrate to Eugene that the offer was extended with Schenck’s support. “I want these people here,” Mayer told Schenck in front of the gathering, “and I want you to subscribe to it [his offer].” Hanging up the phone, he turned to Eugene for an answer.

Eugene groped, saying he was “grateful and honored and also exhilarated, stupefied, and whatever else a person can be under these circumstances,” but that he could only convey the offer to his father, which he did. When told, the elder Zukor was adamant. He would not leave Paramount. It had become a point of honor to pull himself and his company through, and nothing would change his mind. To leave now would be admitting defeat.

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