The MGM Stock Company

While I was back home in Wisconsin, I went to Schwartz's Bookstore in Milwaukee. I looked through the section that covers movies and movie criticism and that's when I saw it. The Golden Era: The MGM Stock Company.

As the blurb on the front cover says, "Stardust to goldust...the great actors and actresses on the MGM lot."

And isn't it fantastic! For only $7.95 I got "a cornucopia of film lore, with carefully detailed biographies and career studies of nearly 150 MGM greats from June Allyson to Robert Young." June Allyson! Robert Young! And everyone else from A to Y!

Actually, it is a really great reference materials, especially for someone like me who is very interested in MGM. It's got biographies of the actors, lots of film stills, and best of all, a list of films that they appeared in, including the company that made it and the year made. At the end, the authors include a brief history of MGM, really short biographies of the various MGM executives (including Irving Thalberg, my hero!), and a list of MGM Academy Award Nominations and Winners. It's not really the type of book that you would sit down and read straight through, but is worth dipping through to read about various stars. The only downside is that it's from 1972, so many of the stars included have died by now.