Shearer's marriage to Thalberg gave her a degree of power in Hollywood that was resented by rivals such as Crawford, who complained that Shearer would always be offered the best roles and best conditions: " How can I compete with Norma when she's sleeping with the boss.

Irving Thalberg immediately gave her permission to do so.

Soon after he returned, Thalberg gave him his recommendations and Laemmle was impressed by his ability to understand and explain ongoing problems.

" Thalberg was impressed and began grooming the new starlet the following day :" the studio arranged to fix her teeth, made sure she lost weight, and gave her an English tutor.

Thalberg had taken ill again and gave Emerson a two-year contract as a producer at $ 1, 250 a week.

She had heard Thalberg on May 14, 1830, at a concert which he gave in the theatre of Leipzig.

On April 16, 1836, Thalberg gave his first solo concert in Paris, and the success was again sensational.

While Liszt then gave over a dozen concerts, Thalberg gave only one concert on March 12, 1837 in the Paris Conservatoire, and a further concert on April 2, 1837.

In May 1837 Thalberg gave a concert in London, following which The Athenaeum gave an enthusiastic review ..

Thalberg left Paris on April 18, 1838, travelling to Vienna, the very day that Liszt gave there a charity concert for the benefit of the victims of a flood in Hungary.

From Brussels Thalberg travelled to the Rhineland, where he gave a series of concets with Bériot.

After his stay in Leipzig, Thalberg gave concerts in Breslau and Warsaw.

In winter 1841 – 1842, Thalberg gave concerts in Italy, while Liszt, from end of December 1841 until beginning of March 1842, gave a series of concerts in Berlin.

In winter 1843-44 Thalberg gave concerts in Italy again.

On May 3, 1848, Thalberg gave a benefit concert which Liszt attended.

Thalberg also gave a series of solo matinees in New York and Boston at which he played own works as well as chamber music.

Among those whose stardom was guided by Thalberg were Lon Chaney, Ramon Novarro, John Gilbert, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, Luise Rainer, Greta Garbo, Lionel Barrymore, and Norma Shearer, who would become his wife.

Thalberg began the trend by studios of having two major stars in the same picture, such as Greta Garbo with John Gilbert, and Clark Gable costarring with Jean Harlow, among others.

Although there are seven other types of annual awards presented by the Academy ( the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, the Gordon E. Sawyer Award, the Scientific and Engineering Award, the Technical Achievement Award, the John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation, and the Student Academy Award ) plus two awards that are not presented annually ( the Special Achievement Award in the form of an Oscar statuette and the Honorary Award that may or may not be in the form of an Oscar statuette ), the best known one is the Academy Award of Merit more popularly known as the Oscar statuette.

Shearer had two children with Thalberg, Irving Junior ( 1930 – 1988 ) and Katherine ( 1935 – 2006 ).

George S. Kaufman, co-author of Dinner at Eight, various Marx Brothers films, and two George Gershwin plays, came from New York to meet with Thalberg.

" Mayer's company subsequently merged with two others to become Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer ( MGM ), with the 24 year-old Thalberg made part-owner and accorded the same position as vice president in charge of production.

Thalberg began using two stars in a film, rather than one, as had been the tradition by all studios.

Thalberg invited Liszt for dinner, and the two great pianists dined together on the 28th with Prince Moritz Dietrichstein, who told Liszt, that he was delighted to have " Castor and Pollux " together in his home.

The concerts were reviewed in the Revue et Gazette musicale by Henri Blanchard who two years before, in his review of Liszt's concert on April 20, 1840, had nominated Thalberg as Cesar, Octavian or Napoleon of the piano.

Thalberg et Liszt "' in the Revue et Gazette musicale of April 23, 1837, Fétis claimed that Thalberg had created a new piano-style by uniting two different schools.

Mayer's company folded into Metro Goldwyn with two notable additions: Mayer Pictures ' contracts with key directors such as Fred Niblo and John M. Stahl, and up-and-coming actress Norma Shearer, later married to Thalberg.

These included Franz Liszt, with whom he played arrangements of two of Liszt's symphonic poems ( Les Préludes, and Tasso, Lamento e Trionfo ) for 2 pianos, Hector Berlioz, Gioachino Rossini, Charles Gounod, Felix Mendelssohn, Sigismond Thalberg and Charles-Marie Widor.

When Thalberg returned to work in 1933, it was as one of the studio's unit producers, albeit one who had first choice on projects and MGM resources, including its stars, due to his closeness to Nicholas Schenck, who was then president of MGM corporate parent Loew's Inc. Schenck, who was the true power and ultimate arbiter at the studio, usually backed up Thalberg.

In 2009 the inaugural Governors Awards were held, at which the Academy awards the Academy Honorary Award and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.

Before they were married, Shearer converted to Judaism so that she could marry Thalberg.

Irving G. Thalberg of Metro Goldwyn Mayer ( MGM ), Sol Wurtzel of Fox, and E. H. Allen of Paramount responded by collaborating on a list they called the " Don ’ ts and Be Carefuls " based on items that were challenged by local censor boards, and which consisted of eleven subjects best avoided, and twenty-six to be handled very carefully.

Furthermore, it was Chico's connection with Irving Thalberg of MGM that led to Thalberg's signing the Brothers when they were in a career slump after Duck Soup ( 1933 ), the last of their films for Paramount Pictures.

Stroheim, surrounded by his assistants, then confronted Thalberg: " If you were not my superior, I would smash you in the face.

Later that evening, after Thalberg had left, Mayer said to studio attorney Edwin Loeb: " Tell him if he comes to work for me, I'll look after him as though he were my son.

Although their personalities were in many ways opposite, Mayer being more outspoken and nearly twice the younger man's age, Thalberg was hired as vice president in charge of production at Louis B. Mayer Productions.

To be certain of achieving the desired effects, Thalberg made sure his cinematographers were careful in their use of light a shadow.

Thalberg and Shearer were on a much needed Labor Day weekend vacation in Monterey, California, in 1936, staying at the same beachfront hotel where they spent their honeymoon.

Services were held at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple that Thalberg had occasionally attended.

Most of MGM's major films in the 1930s were, according to Flamini, " in a very real sense ," made by Thalberg.

" Fitzgerald and Thalberg had real life similarities: both were prodigies, each had heart ailments, and they both died at early ages.

Although parallels between Monroe Stahr in the novel and Thalberg were evident, many who knew Thalberg intimately stated that they did not see similarities in their personalities.

Gilbert's fortunes were temporarily restored by MGM's production chief Irving Thalberg.

Czerny, Friedrich Silcher, Ferdinand Hiller, Sigismond Thalberg, and Adolf von Henselt were among Hummel's most prominent students.

The contributors were Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, Carl Czerny, Sigismond Thalberg, Johann Peter Pixis, and Henri Herz.

However, MGM studio bosses Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg were outraged, since, despite their high posts in MGM, they were not shareholders.

Liszt and Thalberg were both dinner guests of Metternich During Liszt's stay in Vienna Thalberg did not perform at all.

On Sundays, concerts were generally only allowed if they presented " sacred music ", but several times Thalberg performed anyhow, playing pieces like his Moïse-fantasy, based on a prayer from Rossini's opera, or his Huguenots-fantasy with the chorale " Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott " as main subject.