The wonder boy who revolutionized Hollywood

Exactly a century ago this year, one of the most transcendent novels in American literature was published, The Great Gatsby, a work by Francis Scott Fitzgerald. The life of this legend of Yankee literature was short, and unfortunately, the novel's success came after his death. Also after his death, a film based on the last (and unfinished) novel he wrote was released, The last tycoonThe plot revolved around a film producer who was, in reality, a reflection of Irving Thalberg, a star from Hollywood's golden age, who was also short-lived like Scott Fitzgerald himself.

Having a difficult life due to fragile health was no obstacle for Thalberg, but through sheer willpower he overcame barriers to make his mark on the glittering Hollywood of the 1920s. He was born in New York to a Jewish family of German origin and soon showed great talent and a unique ability to detect stories that would interest the public. After some odd jobs, his mastery of typing allowed him to work in the New York office of one of the country's leading film production companies, Universal Pictures. From there he moved to the headquarters in Los Angeles, where he quickly learned all the secrets of the trade. So quickly, that at 21 years old, in 1920, he was already the company's head of production.

In 1924, he bet on a newly created studio called Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). His relationship with one of the founders, Louis B. Mayer, opened the doors to a production company that was poised to reign in the world of cinema. His work was key to MGM becoming the most successful studio in Hollywood's golden years. With high-quality raw material (actors such as Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, and Joan Crawford, among others), he designed in great detail such great achievements as Ben Hur (the silent version, 1925), Grand Hotel (1932), A Night at the Opera (1935) or the original version of Mutiny on the Bounty (Mutiny on the Bounty, 1935).

The secret of Thalberg's success in producing films must be sought in his obsession with perfection, which might be reminiscent of that of a modern-day football coach: extreme meticulousness in controlling productions, endless days in the editing room, dozens of meetings with a guide. He was the key man in transforming Hollywood from a crafts workshop into a global industry. In his own words: "Cinema is both art and business. It is business because it must generate box-office revenue, but it is art because it has the relentless demands of creative impression; it depends, like no other business, on the emotional reaction of its customers."

In 1927, together with representatives of the other major studios, Thalberg drew up a list of content that could not appear in scripts under any circumstances and of topics that had to be addressed; the lists were called Don'ts and Very careful, and were the basis for the regulation—almost censorship—that was in force between 1934 and 1968 under the name of the Hays Code.

Illustration by Francesc Cugat

According to the biographies, in 1927 Thalberg met Francis Scott Fitzgerald, a meeting that deeply marked the writer, who decided to write a novel, the aforementioned The last tycoon, in which he recreated the producer's life. In 1936, congenital heart problems caused Thalberg's life to end prematurely. Just four years later, an alcoholic Scott would die of a heart attack. His death at a young age turned Thalberg into a legend. MGM named one of its main buildings after him, and just a year after his transfer, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences created the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, which is intended to recognize filmmakers who demonstrate a high level of production quality. Winners in recent years include names such as Coppola, De Laurentiis, and Warren Beatty.

By the way, since we're talking aboutThe Great GatsbyIt should be noted that the cover of the original US edition was designed by a very popular illustrator at the time named Francesc Cugat Mingall, a thirty-two-year-old Barcelona native, brother of the musician Xavier Cugat.