Loew was born in
New York City on May 7, 1870, into a poor
Jewish family, who had emigrated to New York City a few years previously from
Austria and
Germany. He was forced by circumstances to work at a very young age and had little formal education. Beginning with a small amount of money saved from menial jobs, he invested in the
penny arcade business. Shortly after, in partnership with
Adolph Zukor and others, he founded the successful but short-lived
Automatic Vaudeville Company which established a chain of arcades across several cities. After the company dissolved in 1904 Loew converted his share of the business into
nickelodeons and over time he turned Loew's Theatres into a leading chain of vaudeville and
movie theaters in the United States. By 1905, Marcus Loew was on his own and his success eventually meant that he needed a steady flow of films for his theaters. In 1904, he founded the People's Vaudeville Company, a theater chain showcasing one-reel films and live variety shows. In 1910, the company had considerably expanded and was renamed Loew's Consolidated Enterprises. His associates included
Adolph Zukor,
Joseph Schenck, and
Nicholas Schenck. In addition to theaters, Loew and the Schencks expanded the
Fort George Amusement Park in upper Manhattan. By 1913, Loew operated a large number of theaters in New York City including the
American Music Hall, Avenue A Theatre, Avenue B Theatre,
Broadway Theatre (41st St.), Circle Theatre, and the Columbia Theatre in Brooklyn. Other Loew-operated theaters were the Delancey St. Theatre, Greeley Sq. Theatre,
Herald Square Theatre, Liberty Theatre, Brooklyn, Lincoln Sq. Theatre, National Theatre (149th St.), Plaza Theatre, 7th Ave. Theatre (124th St.), Shubert Theatre, Brooklyn, and the Yorkville Theatre. Outside of New York, he managed the Columbia Theatres of both
Washington, D.C., and
Boston and Philadelphia’s
Metropolitan Opera House. In 1920, Loew purchased
Metro Pictures Corporation. A few years later, he acquired a controlling interest in the financially troubled
Goldwyn Picture Corporation which at that point was controlled by theater impresario
Lee Shubert. Goldwyn Pictures owned the "
Leo the Lion" trademark and studio property in
Culver City, California. But without its founder
Samuel Goldwyn, the Goldwyn studio lacked strong management. With Loew's vice president
Nicholas Schenck needed in New York City to help manage the large
East Coast movie theater operations, Loew had to find a qualified executive to take charge of this new
Los Angeles entity. Loew recalled meeting a film producer named
Louis B. Mayer who had been operating a successful, modest studio in east Los Angeles. Mayer had been making low budget melodramas for a number of years, marketing them primarily to women. Since he rented most of his equipment and hired most of his stars on a per-picture basis, Loew wasn't after Mayer's brick and mortar business; he wanted Mayer and his Chief of Production, the former
Universal Pictures executive,
Irving Thalberg. Nicholas Schenck was dispatched to finalize the deal that ultimately resulted in the formation of Metro-Goldwyn Pictures in April 1924 with Mayer as the studio head and Thalberg chief of production. 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. Mayer would eventually be rewarded by having his name added to the company. Loews Inc. would act as MGM's financier and retain controlling interest for decades. Loew died in 1927 of a
heart attack at the age of 57 at his country home in
Glen Cove, New York. Reporting his death,
Variety called him "the most beloved man of all show business of all time". He was interred in the Maimonides Cemetery in
Brooklyn. He left only one public gift in his will which was to
Midtown Hospital. For his very significant contribution to the development of the motion picture industry, Marcus Loew has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1617 Vine Street. ==Personal life==