21st Century: Query 187 (Irving Thalberg)
“Credit you give yourself is not worth having.” ~ Irving Thalberg was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. He was called “The Boy Wonder” for his youth and ability to select scripts, choose actors, gather production staff, and make profitable films, including Grand Hotel , China Seas , Camille , Mutiny on the Bounty and The Good Earth . His films carved out an international market, “projecting a seductive image of American life brimming with vitality and rooted in democracy and personal freedom,” states biographer Roland Flamini . Overall, how is Thalberg’s assertion true? Untrue? In the U.S., we must currently endure a president who credits and praises himself constantly. How has this approach been successful? Unsuccessful? What kind of person follows a self-important egomaniac blindly and completely?