Benjamin Thau (15 December 1898 – 5 July 1983) was an American businessman who became vice-president of the Hollywood film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), a subsidiary of the Loew's theater chain. From 1928 he was in charge of casting, in the business of discovering and developing talented performers. He was known for his quiet and calming influence with often temperamental stars. Towards the end of his career he was head of the studio from 1956 to 1958.
Casting director Born to a Jewish family, Thau started his career as a vaudeville booking agent for Keith's and the Orpheum Circuit. He became assistant to Frank Vincent, chief booker for the Orpheum.
In 1927, following the merger of Keiths and Orpheum, Thau joined Loews as a head booker for their theatres, his duties including booking talent for Capital Theatre. In 1932 he joined MGM as a casting director. He worked closely with Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg and eventually became Mayer's assistant. According to Charles Highham, "Mayer's fascination with Thau is hard to understand: Thau was a cold, detached man, who spoke in an almost inaudible whisper. His pallor, rather mousy, dull features and unimpressive physique did not suggest executive power and authority. But apparently Mayer felt that Thau was indispensable in handling "talent," in dealing with recalcitrant employees."
Thau had a pleasant nature and was regarded with affection by many of the workers at MGM, but wielded considerable power. Thau belonged to Mayer's executive team, called "the college of cardinals", along with Eddie Mannix, Lawrence Weingarten and Hunt Stromberg. Thau managed the pool of talent, called by the publicity department "more stars than there are in heaven."
In 1938 Thau, along with other executives, agreed to produce a film version of Erich Maria Remarque's classic novel Three Comrades, but watered down the script to avoid anything that could offend Germany's Nazi government.
George Sidney described Thau as "a very quiet man, a gentle man." He would be brought in to calm down the performers when they got upset. He said, "Benny spoke very quietly. You could almost never quite hear what he said. But he would talk to this one and that one and had the ability to calm things down. A Vanity Fair article by Bob Colacello described Thau in 1949 as a "short, heavyset man with thinning hair", and quoted the biographer Charles Higham as saying "Thau's casting couch was the busiest in Hollywood".
Dore Schary wrote in his 1979 memoirs, "Ben Thau was and is smooth and cool, and in a short time I asked myself, “When will Benny thaw?” He never did."Schary p 178
In 1951, following the departure of Louis B. Mayer from MGM, Thau remained on the MGM executive committee, along with Dore Schary and Eddie Mannix. Thau's primary job was dealing with stars and contracting.Schary p 236-237 Schary later recalled: During the remaining years of my term at Metro, I never had the friendship of Ben Thau. To some degree it was my fault... I did not receive what we now call “vibes” of friendliness from Thau. As a result, I stood away from him. I did not quarrel with him but I seldom laughed with him. He was a naysayer. During a year when studios were making a large number of pictures, more pictures failed than succeeded. In some cases, the failures served a purpose in eating up overhead and in a way added to the profits of the successes. But a naysayer had a field day. By acting as Cassandra, he could in time be known as the guy who predicted all of the flops.Schary p 243
Relationships with the stars
Benny Thau was trusted by the stars. For example, Greta Garbo never had a formal contract with MGM. The director and producer Gottfried Reinhardt recalled that at one time Thau explained to Garbo that if she accepted a sizable salary reduction she would move into a lower tax bracket and receive the same net pay. She understood the logic and agreed to the cut on a handshake. When MGM first approached Rosalind Russell for a screen test in the early 1930s she was not enthusiastic, remembering poor treatment at her audition for Universal. When she met MGM's Benny Thau and Ben Piazza she was surprised, as they were "the soul of understanding."
During her first years at MGM Greer Garson was Thau's mistress. Thau was a strong supporter of Garson, who received an Oscar nomination in 1941 for Blossoms in the Dust. Joan Crawford, a more established star, was angry that she had not received any recognition, and blamed Thau. She left the studio. However, in 1953 she was surprised to get a call from Thau offering her a starring role in Torch Song (1953).
Elizabeth Taylor was given a role by MGM in Lassie Come Home, and was offered a long-term contract at the beginning of 1943. She chose MGM because "the people there had been nicer to her when she went to audition", Taylor recalled. Benny Thau was to remain the "only MGM executive" she fully trusted during subsequent years, because, according to Alexander Walker, "he had, out of kindly habit, made the gesture that showed her she was loved". He played a key role in Taylor's career, managing her contracts and helping her get what she wanted on each of her films. She said she saw Thau as her surrogate father, and went to him "for help and advice". Thau remembered her as a "little dark-haired beauty ... [with] those strange and lovely eyes that gave the face its central focus, oddly powerful in someone so young." Thau attended Taylor's 1959 marriage to Eddie Fisher.
Thau said of Nancy Davis, the future wife of Ronald Reagan, "I always recommended Nancy for parts. She was sweet and appealing – one of the most popular girls on the lot. Thau escorted Nancy Davis, to many events in Hollywood. This caused gossip about the relationship between the two. Kitty Kelley described Thau as "Nancy Davis's boyfriend", saying he paved the way for her Hollywood career, in her 1991 Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography.
Studio head The year 1956 was a turbulent one at MGM, the result of poor financial performances of some of its films, leading to the resignation of long standing president Nicholas Schecnk, eventually replaced in November 1956 by Joseph Vogel. In November Vogel sacked Dore Schary as head of production, a job Schary had held since 1951, also being vice-president since 1948. Vogel said he intended not to have a production head - he wanted a "businessman" like Ben Thau or Eddie Mannix.T. A. Wise, "Dore Schary to Resign As Loew's Production Chief on December 31: Second Key Resignation in Month Appears Aimed at Forestalling Proxy Fight". The Wall Street Journal, 29 Nov 1956: 26 In December 1956, Thau was appointed as chief of executive staff."Who's News: Management-- Personnel Notes Benjamin Thau Named Administrative Head Of M-G-M Studios", The Wall Street Journal, 5 Dec 1956: 10
Thau's executive team would include Eddie Mannix, J.J. Cohn, producer Lawrence Weingarten, story editor Kenneth MacKenna, lawyer Saul Rittenberg and Marvin Sehenck, most of whom carried over from the Schary regime. He was not officially a head of production like Dore Schary or Louis B. Mayer had been but more an administrative head, with projects to be driven more by independent producers; this system was closer to how Y. Frank Freeman ran Paramount at the time.
Vogel called Thau "one of the best known executives in the motion picture industry and perhaps one of the least known to the public - quiet and unassuming his name rarely appears in public.""Schary Job Goes to Benjamin Thau: New MGM Studio Boss, Company Executive Since 1932, Was Louis Mayer Aide", Los Angeles Times, 5 Dec 1956: B2 Millard Kaufman called Thau " “a nice, nervous man, a nice kind of dumb guy hopelessly unqualified to be a head of a studio.”Eyman p 485
The appointment was commonly interpreted as a short term one.Thomas M. Pryor, "Hollywood Changes: Mr. Thau at Metro-- Two Adaptations More Speculation Straightened Seams Hunter's Search", New York Times, 9 Dec 1956: 153"Mayer Tells Conditions of Any Return to MGM: Veteran Film Maker Says He'll Be Glad to Help if Asked and Management Is Right", Los Angeles Times, 25 Dec 1956: B1
In January 1957, Thau bought the screenrights to Some Come Running.Hedda Hopper, "Thau Gets Picture Rights to James Jones' New Story", Chicago Daily Tribune, 21 Jan 1957, b. 10 In February MGM signed a deal with Yul Byrnner and Anatole Litvak's company to make The Journey as well as a deal with producers Pandro Berman and Laurence Weingarten to make 12 films through their new partnership, Avon Productions, starting with Don't Go Near the Water and would be followed by Jailhouse Rock. At that stage the studio had Sam Zimbalist, Arthur Freed and Sol Siegel as independent producers, and Edwin Knof, Charles Schnee and Joe Pasternak as independent producers.
In April 1957 Vogel announced that MGM would release 36 films over the next fiscal year for 1957-58. Of these were 15 films for immediate release made under the Schary regime, including Raintree County, Designing Woman, The Vintage, The Little Hut, This Could Be the Night, Something of Value, The Seventh Sin and Man on Fire. Planned films to be made by MGM included The Brothers Karamazov, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Gigi, Some Came Running, Ben Hur, The Journey, Jailhouse Kid (which became Jailhouse Rock), Merry Andrew, The Wreck of the Mary Dreare directed by Alfred Hitchcock and The Boyfriend. (The Boyfriend would not be made until 1971; The Wreck of the Mary Dreare was eventually made by Michael Anderson and Hitchcock did North by Northwest for MGM instead.)
In May 1957, Vogel appointed Sidney Franklin to work as Thau's associate.Rossen to Make Adventure Film: Producer Buys 'Walls Came Tumbling Down,' About Escape From Russians. Thomas M. Pryor. The New York Times.15 May 1957: 40. Variety reported "Although a capable administrator, Thau has not generally been considered a creative production executive." His appointment was seen as a sign that Vogel felt it was not necessary for the studio to have a production chief. Vogel has stat
In May 1957, shooting began on Jailhouse Rock, Elvis Presley's third film and his first for MGM.Peter Guralnick, Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley (Boston: Back Bay Books, ISBN 978-0-316-33225-5), pp 409–410 As the producer Pandro S. Berman was busy on The Brothers Karamazov, he let Thau, then head of the studio, and Abe Lastfogel, president of the William Morris Agency, decide the cast.
In 1957 MGM's management faced several take-over attempts led by Joseph Tomlinson, with Louis B. Mayer backing them.Stanley Penn, "Vogel Foresees No Chance of Compromise "Deal" in Battle for Control of Loew's", The Wall Street Journal, 12 Aug 1957: 5Richard Dyer MacCann, "Vogel Leadership Challenged By Faction of Stockholders: Hollywood Letter", The Christian Science Monitor, 20 Aug 1957: 7. In October 1957 these attempts were defeated,"Vogel Wins Full Control of Loew's: Defeats Tomlinson Group by 6-1 Vote of Stockholders Loew's Election", Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct 1957: 2"Vogel Is Winner in Loew's Battle", New York Times, 16 Oct 1957: 49 although as a result Thau lost his seat on the Loews Board. Mayer died at the end of the month."Hollywood Pays Tribute to Mayer: Minute of Silence at Studios Precedes Service Attended by Many Movie Notables Contributions Recalled" Special to The New York Times, 1 Nov 1957: 26.
Thau took charge of MGM at a point when the studio was in decline and inherited poorly-conceived projects from Schary. Of the twenty films produced in house in 1956–57, all but one lost money, but Thau turned a loss of almost $500,000 in 1957 into a profit of $5 million the next year. By January 1958, the studio’s financial position had stabilised.Thomas M. Pryor, "Came the Hollywood Dawn: Returns on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Films Indicate Studio Is Beginning to Weather Financial Storms -- Addenda", New York Times, 26 Jan 1958: X5