Irving was crazy about the beautiful MGM actress Constance Talmadge, even after he married Norma Shearer, and would often hide in the shrubs outside her home at night to see who was bringing her home. She had a severe cocaine habit and had a reputation (along with her sisters) for being a girl who enjoyed a good time. Her lovers included the lecherous Jack Pickford, Richard Barthelmess, director Victor Fleming and songwriter Irving Berlin. There were many others.
Thalberg died from bronchial pneumonia during the making of the Marx Brothers comedy A Day at the Races. (1937) He had brought the comedy group back to greatness with A Night at the Opera in 1935, mainly through his immense personal admiration for their comedic talent. He was also an astute judge of quality and good taste, and his decisions regarding what was best for the group were generally sound. His death had also occurred on the evening of the Los Angeles premiere of Romeo and Juliet on 14 September 1936. (The picture’s world premiere had been held in New York City on August 20). His wife, Norma Shearer, starred as Juliet in it. By the time of Thalberg’s death he and Mayer loathed each other, but that did not prevent LB from going to the funeral home and bursting into tears on seeing his ‘friend’s’ casket. Other MGM employees across the lot genuinely wept for the ‘boy wonder’, however. His funeral service attracted a stargazing crowd of 7,000 at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple. Every contract player at MGM was ordered to roll up. In fairness to the deceased most of them were there out of genuine respect for the man. Dignitaries from all the studios attended as well.