Metro-Goldwyn Mayer studio’s head of production Irving Thalberg, left, joins studio chief Louis B. Mayer, center, and a producer Harry Rapf, right, in a meeting in the early 1930s.

Metro-Goldwyn Mayer studio’s head of production Irving Thalberg, left, joins studio chief Louis B. Mayer, center, and a producer Harry Rapf, right, in a meeting in the early 1930s.

It took until January 1926 to add the de facto studio boss Louis B. Mayer’s handle, and thus was born Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, almost immediately nicknamed MGM. But one name was still missing.