In preparation for Goatdog's 1927 Blog-a-Thon, coming up March 23-25, the Siren is posting some brief excerpts from a 1927 Vanity Fair article about Irving Thalberg. The article is by Jim Tully. One thing that strikes the Siren when reading film articles of the past is that the writers were often a great deal more prescient and perceptive than we give them credit for today.
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He is considered a genius by many of the leading citizens of Hollywood. In the cinema world the word genius is more common than a threadbare plot...
I would have considered [Thalberg] a real boy wonder had he curbed with understanding the torrent that was Stroheim. For ... Stroheim is likely to be considered the first man of genuine and original talent to break his heart against the stone wall of Hollywood ...
To Thalberg, all life is a soda fountain. He knows how to mix ingredients that will please the herd on a picnic ...
He has inspired and sponsored such productions as The Big Parade, The Merry Widow, Tell It to the Marines, The Scarlett Letter, and Flesh and the Devil. He has been a firm rung in the ladder that led to the success of such stars as Lon Chaney, John Gilbert, Greta Garbo, William Haines and many others...
No person could dominate a world of cheap intrigue and fierce economics with a set of emasculated virtues. He can be relentless and suave. He can strike back from any angle. In a world where friendship is as shadowy as figures on a screen, Thalberg relies on no man. He has retained a level and a clear course through the helter skelter of the cheapest form of intrigue known to mankind--studio politics....
He is so wan, so tired-looking and so appealing, that women, ever on the alert to evade logic, often become sentimental about him. The feeling is wasted. Caesar Borgia was no better able to take care of himself...
The young supervisor's outstanding achievement for 1927 is Flesh and the Devil. The director, Clarence Brown, must be given full credit for this excellent film. He was ably assisted by the fine work of Greta Garbo. If Mr. Thalberg guessed these two people into their respective roles, which is quite likely, he should be given full credit...
In one respect Thalberg is superior to most producers. He reads books...
[quoting Thalberg] 'A young woman came to me from one of the fan magazines and said, "Mr. Thalberg--I realize that you are of the new order in films--a young man with ideals."
'I interrupted her. "If you mean that I think I'm superior to the so-called cloak and shoe and glove manufacturers who have really given their lives and their pocket-books to this business in order to allow us something to build on---why then--you are wrong. I respect them very much--they had ideals also." '
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Above, Irving Thalberg and his wife, Norma Shearer, photographed by Edward Steichen in 1931. They really do look to be in love, don't they? For a look at the Thalbergs' celebrated beach house, go here.