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An influential force in the early silent era, Metro production supervisor Maxwell Karger's name was closely associated with that of screenwriter June Mathis. Along with Benjamin A. Rolfe and Charles B. Maddox, Karger founded Rolfe Photoplays, Inc. in 1914. He remained with the company when it was incorporated into Metro, functioning as production supervisor at that company's studios in New York City. Turning to directing full-time in 1921, Karger helmed such programmers as The Idle Rich (1921) and A Trip to Paradise, both starring Metro's top leading man, Bert Lytell and penned by June Mathis. Karger's legacy would perhaps have been that of director rather than producer had he not suddenly succumbed to a fatal heart attack while traveling by train from New York to Fort Wayne, IN. He was the father of composer Fred Karger (1916-1979).