Norma Shearer - Portrait 2
by Chuck Staley
Title
Norma Shearer - Portrait 2
Artist
Chuck Staley
Medium
Digital Art - Colorized Photo
Description
The Shearer women came back to Montreal & Shearer sought work with local photographer James Rice. He and his brother Charlie paid her five dollars for fashion poses and gave her letters of introduction to New York photographers.
Then Norma received a telegram from the agent Edward Small: the star of the Universal Pictures serial Pink Tights had become difficult. Someone had thought of Norma as a replacement, so Edith took Norma back to New York. Then, during the interview, a Universal executive made improper advances to Norma. She complained to Small, but it was a moot point, since the star of Pink Tights had mended her ways. Undaunted, Norma used the Rice photographs to apply for modeling work.
Edward Small continued to represent Norma Shearer, and in mid-1921 she began to get work. Her memoir notes tell that she worked at the Norma Talmadge Studios on a Herbert Brenon film called The Sign on the Door but was cut from the final version. She continued to model but acting jobs came more frequently; she worked on at least ten films in 1922.
Although few of Norma’s roles were in major films, they were seen by industry executives. One of these was Samuel Marx, a writer at the Robertson-Cole studio. In 1918 he had worked at Universal’s New York office with Irving Thalberg, who had since become general manager of Universal’s Los Angeles plant. Marx wrote to Thalberg, telling him to look at Norma’s films.
In early 1923, Norma was wanted in Los Angeles. Small had contract offers from Universal, Hal Roach Productions, and Louis B. Mayer Productions. Small said Mayer was the best bet because Norma’s roles would be dramatic, not comedies or serials, and Mayer was offering a five-year contract (with six-month options) that started at $150 a week, with train fare for both Norma and Edith. No one knew that all three offers had been prompted by one executive. [In the 21st century, $150 is the equivalent of $3,000.]
Uploaded
December 18th, 2022
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