Early Louis B Mayer

Louis B Mayer was a self-made man who rose from an apprenticeship at his father's scrap metal business in Canada to become the highest paid corporate executive in the U.S.

He was born Lazar Mayer in the Minsk district of Russia sometime between 1880-1885. The exact date is not certain. He grew up in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada after his parents fled Russian oppression in 1886. His father was a peddler and a scrap metal dealer and after a poverty-stricken childhood Mayer left the family home and moved to Boston in 1904. He became enthralled with the theatrical business; he diligently saved enough money for a theater, a burlesque house and soon afterward was alternating live shows with the latest rage, motion pictures. The theatre became a success and Mayer expanded into film distribution by opening the Louis B. Mayer Film Company. In 1915, with several partners he formed the Metro Pictures Corporation, and one of the first films they acquired for distribution was D.W. Griffith's classic "Birth of a Nation" (1915).

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