LOUIS B. MAYER - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 03/23/1933 CO-SIGNED BY: EDMUND GOULDING - HFSID 257600

LOUIS B. MAYER and EDMUND GOULDING
The studio mogul amends an agreement with director and writer Edmund Goulding after Goulding reported to the studio on February 28, 1933 instead of January 2, 1933.
Typed DS: "LB Mayer" as Vice President, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corporation, 1p, 8½x10¼. Culver City, California, 1933 March 23. To Mr. Edmund Goulding, c/o Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corporation, Culver City, California. Also signed: "Edmund Goulding" under "Approved and Accepted". In full: "Instead of reporting to us at our studio at Culver City on January 2, 1933 as provided in paragraph 1 of that certain agreement between us dated August 10, 1932, you reported to us on February 28, 1933. This is to confirm the understanding and agreement between us that the portion of paragraph 1 of said agreement of August 10, 1932 granting you the right to be absent from our studio up to and including January 1, 1933 and relieving us from all obligation to pay you any compensation or other remuneration during your absence, is hereby amended so that the period of your absence and during which we are relieved from any and all obligation to pay you any compensation or other remuneration extends up to and including February 27, 1933. The further portion of paragraph 1 of said agreement of August 10, 1932 is extended to run until the expiration of forty-eight (48) weeks and two (2) days from and after January 2, 1933, shall be and is hereby amended to provide that the term of said contract of May 11, 1932 is extended to run until the expiration of forty-eight (48) weeks and two (2) days from and after February 28, 1933. Except as hereinabove specifically provided said agreement of August 10, 1932 is not modified or amended in any manner or particular whatsover. If the foregoing is in accordance with your understanding and agreement kindly indicate your approval and acceptance thereof in the space hereinbelow provided. Very truly yours". Goulding was not involved in any films released in 1933. In 1934, the M-G-M production, Riptide, for which he was the screenwriter and director, was released. In 1932, the year mentioned in Goulding's previous agreement with the studio, he wrote the stories for two films, Flesh and No Man of Her Own, and he directed Grand Hotel and Blondie of the Follies. English-born director, screenwriter and playwright EDMUND GOULDING (1891-1959), a former stage actor, emigrated to the U.S. in 1921, and directed his first film, Fury (based on his 1922 novel), in 1923. Goulding was hired as a screenwriter and director by M-G-M in 1925, and he would go on to direct some of the studio's biggest stars, including Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford. Best known for Grand Hotel, Goulding's directing credits also include The Dawn Patrol (1938), Dark Victory (1939), Of Human Bondage (1946), The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947), Down Among the Sheltering Palms (1953) and Mardi Gras (1958, his last film). LOUIS B. MAYER (circa 1882-1957), born Lazar Mayer in the Russian Empire, began his career in show business with the purchase of a burlesque house in Boston. Alternating between live shows and presentations of films, he made a fortune showing The Birth of a Nation (1914), using the money to expand his theater empire and eventually move into movie production in Los Angeles in 1918. There, Mayer formed Louis B. Mayer Productions before joining forces with Samuel Goldwyn and Marcus Loew to form Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (M-G-M), which produced more films and created more film stars than any other studio over the next 25 years. Credited as being the creator of the "star system", Mayer was one of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and he was the highest-paid American business executive in the 1930s, making a salary of $1.3 million in 1937. Mayer's credits as a producer include Human Desire (1919), Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) and I Take This Woman (1940). Lightly creased with folds, not at signatures. Fine condition.