Chapter one of my three part series about MGM under the ownership of corporate raider Kirk Kerkorian. Covers Kerkorian's acquisition of MGM in 1969 through the end of the 1970s.

DW Griffith created a film of deplorable subject matter but also opened the eyes of the world to the scale of what could be achieved, creatively and commercially, with the medium of film. Sources: - DW Griffith: An American Life, by Richard Schickel - DW Griffith, by Charles River Editors

The creative philosophy and methods of Irving Thalberg, MGM's head of production in the 1920s/1930s, who oversaw an extraordinary run of high quality and popular films, building MGM into the most powerful film studio in the world. References: - Thalberg: Life and Legend, by Bob Thomas - Produced by Irving Thalberg: Theory of Studio-Era Filmmaking, by Ana Salzberg

How Louis B Mayer built MGM, the most powerful entertainment company of the 1920s-1940s. Reference: Hollywood Rajah: The Life and Times of Louis B Mayer

How MCA, the Music Corporation of America, grew from a Chicago band booking agency in 1924 into the most powerful entertainment company in the world by the 1950s, dictating which movies and TV shows got made and by whom. Reference: The Last Mogul, by Dennis McDougal. Buy on Amazon: https://a.co/d/iyx0yyQ.