ABSTRACT
Louis B. Mayer revamped the Culver City studio and ordered the construction of four new stages, three administrative buildings, and a prop building to enlarge the wardrobe and furniture departments. When Louis B. Mayer gave Cecil B. DeMille a three-picture contract in 1928, Adrian came with him. After producing three flops in a row, DeMille departed the studio, but Adrian stayed behind to become Metro-Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) chief costume designer until 1941. MGM originally served only as a distributor for Coogan, Keaton, Marion Davies, and Mae Murray, who had their own independent production companies. MGM's Scenario Department was headed by an aspiring writer named Robert Harris. In March 1925, he entered into a production pact with MGM calling for MGM to finance six Cosmopolitan pictures a year based on stories from Hearst's Cosmopolitan magazine. Such pictures paid the overhead; profits came from the studio's prestige pictures, which were based on well-known properties and showcased the studio's top stars and directors.
