David O. Selznick: 'Your New Producer'

This is an absolute prize if you are a film history buff. Other reviewers have pretty much summed it up - It is humorist Peter Benchley talking about the achievements of MGM producer David O. Selznick with clips from the films he has produced for Paramount, RKO, and MGM.

Why would MGM bother to produce a short praising Selznick when they didn't do this for any other producer, including Irving Thalberg who practically built MGM from its inception in 1924 to 1933? Two reasons probably. The first can be seen in David Selznick's wedding pictures where he is marrying...Louis B. Mayer's daughter Irene in 1930. You know, Louis B. - the guy who ran MGM for 25 years? The second is Louis B. Mayer's well known jealousy of Irving Thalberg. When Thalberg had his long hiatus after his heart attack at the end of 1932, Mayer used the opportunity to give Selznick his own production unit. Oddly enough, Selznick and Thalberg were not enemies - each admired the other's work.

What is the irony I speak of? Well, this short was made in 1935, and shortly thereafter - in the same year - Selznick quit MGM and started his own independent film production company in direct competition with his father-in-law Louis B. Mayer. Given Buster Keaton's detailed stories about Mayer's disposition I can just see Mayer having a temper tantrum on his office floor upon hearing the news. Happy end to happy story.