Former junkman Louis B. Mayer rose to become one of the most influential and powerful men in Hollywood during the '30s and '40s, when he was the head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, once considered the grandest of Hollywood studios that claimed to have "more stars than there are in the heavens." He was born Eliezer Mayer in Minsk, Russia. The son of a laborer, he emigrated with his family to New York during his childhood. They then moved to St. John, New Brunswick, Canada where young Mayer helped out in his father's successful junk and scrap metal operation. As a young man, Mayer went to Boston and set up his own junk business. He too was successful and after marrying a kosher butcher's daughter in 1904, bought a ramshackle motion picture theater in Haverhill, Massachusetts for a song. After renovating it, he vowed only to show the best films. The gambit was successful and he continued buying theaters until he owned New England's largest theater chain. He then began working in film distribution during 1914 — when The Birth of a Nation came out, he made a fortune. In 1917, after founding a production company — first called Alco, and then Metro — Mayer moved to L.A. with star Anita Stewart. Metro was purchased by studio helmer Marcus Loew in 1924.…  » Read more