He stared at me long and hard, then added, “And no Jews. Americans won’t tolerate Jews on screen.” America was a more lenient land, I’d thought. Through my contacts, I’d been told that Mr. Mayer himself was a Russian Jew who was in London, in part, to scoop up Jewish émigré artists to bring back to Hollywood. Not as a savior but because Jewish talent—banned from performing due to the Nuremberg Laws—could be bought for a song.
