Hunt Stromberg
Encyclopedia
Hunt Stromberg was a film producer
during Hollywood's Golden Age. In a prolific 30-year career beginning in 1921, Stromberg produced, wrote, and directed some of Hollywood's most profitable and enduring films, including The Thin Man
series, the Nelson Eddy
/Jeanette MacDonald
operettas, The Women
, and The Great Ziegfeld
, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1936.
In 1918 the company sent Stromberg to California, where he developed an interest in filmmaking; by 1919 he had become the personal representative of industry pioneer Thomas H. Ince
, and by 1921 he had written, produced and directed his first film. He promptly resigned from Ince's staff to form Hunt Stromberg Productions.
In 1922 Stromberg signed Bull Montana
, a popular matinee idol, to a long-term contract to star in short comedies, and hired comedy director Mal St. Clair, who had worked with Mack Sennett
and Buster Keaton
. When Sid Grauman
saw a rough cut of the resulting A Ladies' Man (1922), he immediately booked the film to premiere at his Million Dollar Theater
in Los Angeles on April 30, 1922. Stromberg continued his string of successes with Breaking Into Society (1923), which he wrote, produced and directed.
in 1925 and became one of its key executives, listed as one of the studio's "Big Four" with Louis B. Mayer
, Irving Thalberg
, and Harry Rapf
—later with Thalberg, David O. Selznick
, and Walter Wanger
.
He was the first production supervisor to get a "produced by" credit on-screen, well deserved considering his achievements. He produced:
as well as such prestige milestones as Academy Award winning The Great Ziegfeld
(1936), Marie Antoinette
(1938), The Women
(1939), and Pride and Prejudice
(1940). (See "Selected filmography" below.) At the height of his career, MGM was producing 52 films a year, or an average of one film a week, staying in the black despite the Great Depression
.
Stromberg was one of the top ranked money makers of Hollywood, with a salary to match: US $8,000 a week, guaranteed. In 1937, he was included in management's inner circle and received an additional 1.5% of Loews Theaters profits. The Treasury Department listed Stromberg as one of the ten highest paid executives in the United States.
But there were substantial changes in those years. Thalberg died in 1936, while Selznick and Wanger left MGM in 1937, leaving Mayer in sole, hands-on control. There are conflicting interpretations of what caused the rift, but by the end of 1941 it was over: after 18 years Stromberg walked away from a contract worth millions, and Mayer let him go on February 10, 1942.
Confounding industry expectations, Stromberg launched his own independent production company in 1943 with the smash hit Lady of Burlesque
, starring Barbara Stanwyck
, which grossed $1.85 million.
His subsequent films were not as successful and he finally retired in 1951, in the same year his wife, Katherine Kerwin, died. An avid horseman and a shrewd businessman, Stromberg was independently wealthy by this time as well as a founding investor in Santa Anita Park
and Hollywood Park Racetracks.
, a Broadway and television producer in his own right.
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
during Hollywood's Golden Age. In a prolific 30-year career beginning in 1921, Stromberg produced, wrote, and directed some of Hollywood's most profitable and enduring films, including The Thin Man
The Thin Man
The Thin Man is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, originally published in Redbook. Although he never wrote a sequel, the book became the basis for a successful six-part film series which also began in 1934 with The Thin Man and starred William Powell and Myrna Loy...
series, the Nelson Eddy
Nelson Eddy
Nelson Ackerman Eddy was an American singer and actor who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred...
/Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy...
operettas, The Women
The Women
The Women is a comedy of manners by Clare Boothe Luce.The play is an acidic commentary on the pampered lives and power struggles of various wealthy Manhattan socialites and up-and-comers and the gossip that propels and damages their relationships...
, and The Great Ziegfeld
The Great Ziegfeld
The Great Ziegfeld is a 1936 musical film produced by MGM. A fictionalized biography of Florenz Ziegfeld from his show business beginnings to his death, it showcases a series of spectacular musical productions. The film includes original music by Walter Donaldson and Irving Berlin...
, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1936.
Early career
Hunt Stromberg was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1894. Leaving a career as a newspaper reporter and sports writer for the St. Louis Times, he followed an advertising friend into the motion picture industry prior to World War I, becoming publicity director for the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation in New York.In 1918 the company sent Stromberg to California, where he developed an interest in filmmaking; by 1919 he had become the personal representative of industry pioneer Thomas H. Ince
Thomas H. Ince
Thomas Harper Ince was an American silent film actor, director, screenwriter and producer of more than 100 films and pioneering studio mogul. Known as the "Father of the Western", he invented many mechanisms of professional movie production, introducing early Hollywood to the "assembly line"...
, and by 1921 he had written, produced and directed his first film. He promptly resigned from Ince's staff to form Hunt Stromberg Productions.
Independent producer
From his first independent film, The Foolish Age (1921), Stromberg quickly made his mark by turning out independent, low budget films in increasing quantity and quality.In 1922 Stromberg signed Bull Montana
Bull Montana
Bull Montana , was a professional wrestler and American actor.Lewis Montagna came to the U.S. as a child. The hulking, plug-ugly Montagna became a professional wrestler under the name of Bull Montana...
, a popular matinee idol, to a long-term contract to star in short comedies, and hired comedy director Mal St. Clair, who had worked with Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett
Mack Sennett was a Canadian-born American director and was known as the innovator of slapstick comedy in film. During his lifetime he was known at times as the "King of Comedy"...
and Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
. When Sid Grauman
Sid Grauman
Sidney Patrick Grauman was an American showman who created one of Southern California's most recognizable and visited landmarks, Grauman's Chinese Theater. He was the son of David Grauman who died in 1921 in Los Angeles, California and Rosa Goldsmith...
saw a rough cut of the resulting A Ladies' Man (1922), he immediately booked the film to premiere at his Million Dollar Theater
Million Dollar Theater
The Million Dollar Theater at 307 S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles is one of the first movie palaces built in the United States. It opened in February 1918...
in Los Angeles on April 30, 1922. Stromberg continued his string of successes with Breaking Into Society (1923), which he wrote, produced and directed.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Stromberg joined newly-formed Metro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
in 1925 and became one of its key executives, listed as one of the studio's "Big Four" with Louis B. Mayer
Louis B. Mayer
Louis Burt Mayer born Lazar Meir was an American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B...
, Irving Thalberg
Irving Thalberg
Irving Grant Thalberg was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. He was called "The Boy Wonder" for his youth and his extraordinary ability to select the right scripts, choose the right actors, gather the best production staff and make very profitable films.-Life and...
, and Harry Rapf
Harry Rapf
Harry Rapf was a Jewish American producer. He began his career in 1917, and during a 20 year career became a well-known producer of films for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He created the comedic duo Dane & Arthur featuring Karl Dane and George K...
—later with Thalberg, David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick was an American film producer. He is best known for having produced Gone with the Wind and Rebecca , both of which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture.-Early years:...
, and Walter Wanger
Walter Wanger
Walter Wanger was an American film producer. An intellectual and a socially conscious movie executive who produced provocative message movies and glittering romantic melodramas, Wanger's career began at Paramount Pictures in the 1920s and led him to work at virtually every major studio as either a...
.
He was the first production supervisor to get a "produced by" credit on-screen, well deserved considering his achievements. He produced:
- all of Jean HarlowJean HarlowJean Harlow was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde" , Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute...
's films - Joan CrawfordJoan CrawfordJoan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
's breakthrough films - Greta GarboGreta GarboGreta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
's first American film, TorrentTorrent (1926 film)Torrent is an American silent romantic drama film directed by Monta Bell , based on a novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, and released on February 21, 1926.Torrent was the first American film starring Swedish actress Greta Garbo...
(1926) - the Nelson EddyNelson EddyNelson Ackerman Eddy was an American singer and actor who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred...
/Jeanette MacDonaldJeanette MacDonaldJeanette MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy...
operetta cycle - the William PowellWilliam PowellWilliam Horatio Powell was an American actor.A major star at MGM, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the popular Thin Man series in which Powell and Loy played Nick and Nora Charles...
/Myrna LoyMyrna LoyMyrna Loy was an American actress. Trained as a dancer, she devoted herself fully to an acting career following a few minor roles in silent films. Originally typecast in exotic roles, often as a vamp or a woman of Asian descent, her career prospects improved following her portrayal of Nora Charles...
"Thin Man" series
as well as such prestige milestones as Academy Award winning The Great Ziegfeld
The Great Ziegfeld
The Great Ziegfeld is a 1936 musical film produced by MGM. A fictionalized biography of Florenz Ziegfeld from his show business beginnings to his death, it showcases a series of spectacular musical productions. The film includes original music by Walter Donaldson and Irving Berlin...
(1936), Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette (1938 film)
Marie Antoinette is a 1938 film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starred Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette...
(1938), The Women
The Women (1939 film)
The Women is a 1939 American comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor. The film is based on Clare Boothe Luce's play of the same name, and was adapted for the screen by Anita Loos and Jane Murfin, who had to make the film acceptable for the Production Code in order for it to be released.The film...
(1939), and Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice (1940 film)
Pride and Prejudice is a 1940 film adaptation of Jane Austen's novel of the same name. Robert Z. Leonard directed, and Aldous Huxley served as one of the screenwriters of the film. It is adapted specifically from the stage adaptation by Helen Jerome in addition to Jane Austen's novel...
(1940). (See "Selected filmography" below.) At the height of his career, MGM was producing 52 films a year, or an average of one film a week, staying in the black despite the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
.
Stromberg was one of the top ranked money makers of Hollywood, with a salary to match: US $8,000 a week, guaranteed. In 1937, he was included in management's inner circle and received an additional 1.5% of Loews Theaters profits. The Treasury Department listed Stromberg as one of the ten highest paid executives in the United States.
But there were substantial changes in those years. Thalberg died in 1936, while Selznick and Wanger left MGM in 1937, leaving Mayer in sole, hands-on control. There are conflicting interpretations of what caused the rift, but by the end of 1941 it was over: after 18 years Stromberg walked away from a contract worth millions, and Mayer let him go on February 10, 1942.
Independent again
"Hunt Stromberg was the first producer added to the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers in 1942 after the group had been formed by Charlie ChaplinCharlie ChaplinSir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
, Walt DisneyWalt DisneyWalter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
, Samuel GoldwynSamuel GoldwynSamuel Goldwyn was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.-Biography:...
, Alexander KordaAlexander KordaSir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian-born British producer and film director. He was a leading figure in the British film industry, the founder of London Films and the owner of British Lion Films, a film distributing company.-Life and career:The elder brother of filmmakers Zoltán Korda and Vincent...
, Mary PickfordMary PickfordMary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
, David O. SelznickDavid O. SelznickDavid O. Selznick was an American film producer. He is best known for having produced Gone with the Wind and Rebecca , both of which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture.-Early years:...
, Walter WangerWalter WangerWalter Wanger was an American film producer. An intellectual and a socially conscious movie executive who produced provocative message movies and glittering romantic melodramas, Wanger's career began at Paramount Pictures in the 1920s and led him to work at virtually every major studio as either a...
, and Orson WellesOrson WellesGeorge Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
."
Confounding industry expectations, Stromberg launched his own independent production company in 1943 with the smash hit Lady of Burlesque
Lady of Burlesque
Lady of Burlesque is a 1943 American mystery film starring Barbara Stanwyck and Michael O'Shea, based on the novel The G-String Murders written by famous strip tease artist Gypsy Rose Lee...
, starring Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
, which grossed $1.85 million.
His subsequent films were not as successful and he finally retired in 1951, in the same year his wife, Katherine Kerwin, died. An avid horseman and a shrewd businessman, Stromberg was independently wealthy by this time as well as a founding investor in Santa Anita Park
Santa Anita Park
Santa Anita Park is a thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent racing events in the United States during the winter and in spring. With its backdrop of the purple San Gabriel Mountains, it is considered by many as the world's most beautiful race...
and Hollywood Park Racetracks.
Death
Stromberg died on August 23, 1968. He was survived by his son Hunt Stromberg Jr.Hunt Stromberg Jr.
Hunt Stromberg, Jr. was a Broadway, radio and television producer best remembered for the discovery and casting of Maila Nurmi as Vampira, and for producing the 1973 film classic Frankenstein: The True Story....
, a Broadway and television producer in his own right.
As producer
- The Flaming FortiesThe Flaming FortiesThe Flaming Forties is an American Western silent film, the sixth of seven features which short-lived motion picture company Stellar Productions released in 1924–25 as Producers Distributing Corporation vehicles for Harry Carey. Carey was primarily known as a star of Westerns and only one of the...
(1924) - The Texas TrailThe Texas TrailThe Texas Trail is a 1925 Western film featuring Harry Carey.-Cast:* Harry Carey - Pete Grainger* Ethel Shannon - Betty Foster* Charles K. French - Ring 'Em Foster* Claude Payton - Dan Merrill* Sidney Franklin - Ike Collander...
(1925) - The Prairie PirateThe Prairie PirateThe Prairie Pirate is a 1925 Western film featuring Harry Carey.-Cast:* Harry Carey - Brian Delaney* Trilby Clark - Teresa Esteban* Lloyd Whitlock - Howard Steele* Robert Edeson - Don Esteban* Fred Kohler - Aguilar...
(1925) - TorrentTorrent (1926 film)Torrent is an American silent romantic drama film directed by Monta Bell , based on a novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, and released on February 21, 1926.Torrent was the first American film starring Swedish actress Greta Garbo...
(1926) - Our Dancing DaughtersOur Dancing DaughtersOur Dancing Daughters is a 1928 MGM silent drama film starring Joan Crawford and John Mack Brown , about the "loosening of youth morals" that took place during the 1920s. The film was directed by Harry Beaumont and produced by Hunt Stromberg...
(1928) - ThunderThunder (film)Thunder is a melodrama film released by MGM, starring Lon Chaney.Directed by William Nigh, it is noteworthy for several reasons. First, it was Chaney's penultimate film appearance and his last silent film, as well as one of the very last films of the silent era...
(1929) - Call of the FleshCall of the FleshCall of the Flesh is an American musical film directed by Charles Brabin. The film stars Ramon Novarro, Dorothy Jordan, and Renée Adorée...
(1930) - The Beast of the CityThe Beast of the CityThe Beast of the City is a 1932 pre-Code gangster movie featuring cops as vigilantes and known for its singularly vicious ending. Written by W.R...
(1932) - Red DustRed DustRed Dust is an American 1932 romantic drama film directed by Victor Fleming. The picture is the second of six movies Clark Gable and Jean Harlow made together and was produced during the Pre-Code era of Hollywood...
(1932), co-producer - Hide-OutHide-OutHide-Out is a 1934 comedy film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starring Robert Montgomery and Maureen O'Sullivan. It also features a young Mickey Rooney.- Plot :...
(1934), co-producer - The Painted VeilThe Painted Veil (1934 film)The Painted Veil is a 1934 drama film made by MGM. It was directed by Ryszard Bolesławski and produced by Hunt Stromberg from a screenplay by John Meehan, Salka Viertel, and Edith Fitzgerald, adapted from the 1925 W. Somerset Maugham novel The Painted Veil. The music score was by Herbert Stothart,...
(1934) - The Thin ManThe Thin Man (film)The Thin Man is a 1934 American comic detective film starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, a flirtatious married couple who banter wittily as they solve crimes with ease. Nick is a hard drinking retired detective and Nora a wealthy heiress...
(1934) - Naughty Marietta (1935), co-producer
- Ah, Wilderness!Ah, Wilderness! (film)Ah, Wilderness! is a 1935 screen adaptation of the Eugene O'Neill play of the same name starring Wallace Beery. The movie was filmed in Grafton, Massachusetts and directed by Clarence Brown. Beery plays the drunken uncle later portrayed on Broadway by Jackie Gleason, and the film features Lionel...
(1935), co-producer - Wife vs. SecretaryWife vs. SecretaryWife vs. Secretary is a comedy film directed and co-produced by Clarence Brown. It stars Clark Gable as a successful businessman, Jean Harlow as his secretary, and Myrna Loy as his wife, supported by May Robson as his mother and James Stewart, in one of his first memorable roles, as the...
(1936), co-producer - The Great ZiegfeldThe Great ZiegfeldThe Great Ziegfeld is a 1936 musical film produced by MGM. A fictionalized biography of Florenz Ziegfeld from his show business beginnings to his death, it showcases a series of spectacular musical productions. The film includes original music by Walter Donaldson and Irving Berlin...
(1936) - After the Thin ManAfter the Thin ManAfter the Thin Man is a 1936 American film, starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, and James Stewart, that is the sequel to the film The Thin Man. The movie presents Powell and Loy as Dashiell Hammett's characters Nick and Nora Charles. The film was directed by W. S...
(1936) - Rose-MarieRose-MarieRose-Marie is an operetta-style musical with music by Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stothart, and book and lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II. The story takes place in the Canadian Rockies and concerns Rose-Marie La Flemme, a French Canadian girl who loves miner Jim Kenyon...
(1936) - Maytime (1937), co-producer
- Night Must FallNight Must Fall (1937 film)Night Must Fall is a 1937 film adaptation of the Emlyn Williams play of the same name. It was directed by Richard Thorpe and adapted by John Van Druten. It stars Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, and Dame May Whitty...
(1937) - SweetheartsSweethearts (film)Sweethearts is a 1938 musical romance directed by W.S. Van Dyke, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. The screenplay, by Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell, uses the “play within a play” device: a contemporary Broadway production of the 1913 Victor Herbert operetta is the setting for...
(1938) - Idiot's Delight (1939)
- Another Thin ManAnother Thin ManAnother Thin Man is a 1939 American film that is the third film in the six-volume series, The Thin Man. It again stars William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, and is based on the writings of Dashiell Hammett. Their son, Nicky Jr., is also introduced in the film. The cast includes...
(1939) - The WomenThe Women (1939 film)The Women is a 1939 American comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor. The film is based on Clare Boothe Luce's play of the same name, and was adapted for the screen by Anita Loos and Jane Murfin, who had to make the film acceptable for the Production Code in order for it to be released.The film...
(1939) - Northwest Passage (1940)
- Susan and GodSusan and GodSusan and God is a 1940 comedy-drama film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Joan Crawford and Fredric March in a story about a matron who finds religion. The screenplay by Anita Loos was based upon a 1937 play by Rachel Crothers. The film was directed by George Cukor and produced by Hunt...
(1940) - Pride and PrejudicePride and Prejudice (1940 film)Pride and Prejudice is a 1940 film adaptation of Jane Austen's novel of the same name. Robert Z. Leonard directed, and Aldous Huxley served as one of the screenwriters of the film. It is adapted specifically from the stage adaptation by Helen Jerome in addition to Jane Austen's novel...
(1940) - They Met in BombayThey Met in BombayThey Met in Bombay is a 1941 American drama film adventure directed by Clarence Brown. The film stars Clark Gable, Rosalind Russell and Peter Lorre.-Plot:...
(1941) - Too Late for TearsToo Late for TearsToo Late for Tears is a 1949 black-and-white film noir directed by Byron Haskin and starring Lizabeth Scott and Dan Duryea. The screenplay was written by Roy Huggins, drawn from a serial he wrote for the Saturday Evening Post. The film was reissued as Killer Bait in 1955...
(1949)
As director or screenwriter
- Roaring RailsRoaring RailsRoaring Rails is a 1924 action film featuring Harry Carey.-Cast:* Harry Carey - Big Bill Benson* Frankie Darro - Little Bill* Edith Roberts - Nora Burke* Wallace MacDonald - Malcolm Gregory* Frank Hagney - Red Burley...
(1924), screenwriter - Soft ShoesSoft ShoesSoft Shoes is a 1925 drama film featuring Harry Carey.-Cast:* Harry Carey - Pat Halahan* Lillian Rich - Faith O'Day* Paul Weigel - Dummy O'Day* Francis Ford - Quig Mundy* Stanton Heck - Bradley* Harriet Hammond - Mrs. Bradley...
(1925), screenwriter - The White Sister (1933), director