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Louis B. Mayer, Film Magnate, Slated for U.S. Ambassador to Turkey

February 1, 1929
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
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Louis B. Mayer, vice-president of the motion picture producing company. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer of Los Angeles, will be appointed United States Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey, the “Jewish Morning Journal,” a Republican paper, states today that it has learned from reliable sources.

President-elect Hoover has decided to follow the precedent established by Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson in sending an American Jew as the United States Ambassador to Turkey.

The appointment has already been made and Mr. Mayer has already resigned from the vice-presidency of his company, the paper states.

Louis B. Mayer was born in Kovno, July 4, 1885. son of Jacob and Sarah (Meltzer) Meyer. He was educated in the public schools of St. John’s, New Brunswick and later brought to Boston, where he married Margaret Shenberg in 1903. At the age of 14 he entered the business of his father that of raising and salvaging wrecked ships. He purchased a theatre in Haverhill, Mass. and later became supervisor of all motion picture theatres in that town. He entered the motion picture distribution field in Boston and was distributor of the film “The Birth of a Nation.”

He was elected vice-president of Metro-Pictures Corporation and was in charge of Metro releases in the New England states. With Nathan H. Gordon he founded the Gordon-Mayer Film Corporation which later merged with the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Film Corporation in 1924.

He is a member of the Central Republican Committee, 62nd District, and a member of the California State Republican Committee. He is a personal friend of Mr. Hoover.

Mr. Mayer is a generous contributor to Jewish causes.

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