Middle School Drop Out
As we touched on when Mayer was a little boy, his family moved from their Soviet hometown to New Brunswick in order to give them a better life, but that’s not what they got. Since his parents didn’t really know English, it was difficult for them to find jobs. At one point, his mom worked as a door-to-door chicken saleswoman just to make ends meet.
Louis B Mayer, Greta Garbo, and Lars Hanson in 1927. Photo by MGM / Kobal / Shutterstock
His family problems affected young Mayer. He had to drop out of school at the tender age of 12 so that he could help support his family. The future MGM boss used to walk around with a cart that said, “JUNK DEALER.” He first started off helping his dad sell scrap metal before he diverged into his own business path.