Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1188730
96 C I N E M O N T A G E Corbaley CONTINUED FROM PAGE 59 television, I really love dramas (and the occasional comedy). My favorite television show of all time is "Prison Break" for its incredible writing and complete suspense every episode. I also love "White Collar," "Stranger Things," "Bob's Burgers," and "The Office." Q Do you have an industry mentor? I don't have an industry mentor, but a lot of lovely people have helped me immensely! Q What advice would you offer to someone interested in pursuing your line of work? I'd advise anyone pursuing my line of work (or really any line of work) to keep your head up and go after exactly what it is that you want! It's not always easy, but anything that you feel passionate about is worth the hard work and dedication. Q Was there ever a circumstance when you had to rely on the Guild for help or assistance? I've only just recently become a mem- ber so not yet, but I'm grateful to know it's there for me! Q Is there anything you'd like to say to your fellow Guild members, some words of encouragement? We're all in this together, and it's a beautiful thing to have a group of people to support you if you need it. ■ Wilson CONTINUED FROM PAGE 36 as Micawber), Selznick asked Corbaley for insight into which Dickens novels are most popular after "Copperfield." The next day, Corbaley answered with a page-long memo chock-full of opinions and advice. Although the consensus answer was "Great Expectations," Cor- baley lodged a minority report. "Certain groups of people will always do battle for their favorite novel," she told Selznick, "but I am confident when we get the full report you will find that PICKWICK PAPERS leads the field." About a month later, Corbaley mes- saged Selznick with the results of several studies of the matter, including figures from the Los Angeles Public Library that listed "Oliver Twist," "A Tale of Two Cities," and "The Pickwick Papers" as running "neck and neck" for that sought-after second spot. Always think- ing, she concluded her memo with a non-Dickens pitch: "May I call to your at- tention that a book we own is still carried as one of the most popular Period novels ever written in this country, THE CRISIS, by Winston Churchill." THE STORY WHISPERER Th e m e m o s t h at p a ss e d b e twe e n Corbaley and Selznick reveal some of the frustration felt by story editors (and sto- ry analysts) then and now: Days of work might go into developing reports on po- tential film material, but producers could veto a project with the flick of a wrist. On the other hand, Corbaley's unique partnership with Mayer — her ability to transfix him with her storytelling gifts — must have provided her with an unusual degree of job satisfaction. She was good at her job, and she knew it. In an Academy oral history, MGM publicist Robert M.W. Vogel remembered the influence Corba- ley had on Mayer. "Kate would go to Louis and suggest such-and-such a story, such- and-such a picture and so on and so on, and almost automatically he would take her word for it," Vogel said, adding that his faith in her was justified. "She had a wonderful story mind," he said. That mind was stopped in its tracks when Corbaley died in 1938 at the age of 60 — just a year before MGM delivered its one-two punch: "Gone with the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz." In a front-page story, The Los Angeles Times gave the cause of death as a "brief illness," but her hometown paper elaborated on that account, explaining that she had been ill with a cold that progressed to a case of pneumonia. The New York Times ran an obituary, and the Associated Press put the news out on its wires. MGM had lost an irreplaceable talent. Simply put, when Kate spoke, Louis B. listened. "He liked the way she talked, he liked the way she thought, he liked the way she narrated," Eyman said. "He functioned in his head to a great extent, and he could just sort of close his eyes and listen and see the film in his head as she talked the story. It determined what got bought, how much they paid, and who got cast. To a great extent, it all depended on how Kate Corbaley narrated the story." It's not known whether Mayer, who could be brought to tears by Corbaley's storytelling, wept again at her funeral service at what is now St. John's Epis- co p a l C a t h e d ra l i n t h e We s t Ad a m s district of Los Angeles. But according to MGM scenario department head Samuel Marx, the boss was bereft at the loss of the right-hand woman responsible for so many of his creative and business decisions. On that most solemn of days, Mayer expressed his sentiments to Marx plain- ly: "I would rather have lost any star than this woman." ■ Peter Tonguette is a freelance writer specializing in film and culture.