He ignored his doctor’s advice and set out to accomplish something in the time he had been given. But Thalberg was ambitious, persistent, and hard-working. As a child, doctors had told his parents he would spend the rest of his life in bed. Various other ailments left him sickly and weak. He also contracted rheumatic fever as a child which left him with a bad heart. Thalberg was a shy young man and even though he was incredibly bright, was ill at ease around others. Carl realized some of his relatives weren’t exactly cut out for the movie business, so he asked the 21-year-old Thalberg for help in managing some of the various film projects that threatened to run out of control. There, he landed a job as a personal assistant to Carl Laemmle, who ran the studio as a small, family-oriented operation.

Yet he was probably more responsible than anyone else for setting the quality standards for what became known as a “Hollywood film.” Irving Thalberg oversaw the production of many classic MGM films during the 1920s and 30s “A Bag of Bones…” Irving Thalberg’s story began during the early 1920s at Universal Studios. And somewhat shockingly, was only 37 years old when he passed away. Despite his monumental achievements, Thalberg only worked in the film industry for a scant 15 years. What’s even more remarkable was that he wasn’t a star, a director, a writer, or even a studio head. But when it comes to film history, he played a major role in shaping cinema as the dominant art form of the 20th century. Introduction Irving Thalberg might not be a household name.

Cine de universal studios