Early Years
Thalberg was born in Brooklyn, New York, to German Jewish immigrant parents, William and Henrietta (Haymann). Shortly after birth, he was diagnosed with "blue baby syndrome," caused by a congenital disease which limited the supply of oxygen to his heart. The prognosis received from their family doctor and specialists years later was that he would possibly live to age twenty, or at most age thirty.
During his high school years in Brooklyn, he began having attacks of chest pains, dizziness and fatigue which affected his ability to study, although up until that time he was considered a good student. When he was 17, he was stricken with rheumatic fever, and was confined to bed for a year. His mother, Henrietta, however, trying to prevent him falling too far behind other students, brought him homework from school, books, and tutors to teach him at home. She also hoped that the schoolwork and reading would distract him from the "tantalizing sounds" of children playing outside his window.
As a result, with little to entertain him, he began reading books as a main activity. He enjoyed reading, however, and began devouring popular novels, classics, plays, and biographies. His books, of necessity, replaced the streets of New York. He also took an interest in classical philosophy and of philosophers like William James, from whom he learned that "pragmatism" was more valuable in life than "abstraction."
When Thalberg returned to school, he lacked the stamina to enroll in college which he felt would have required constant late-night studying and cramming for exams. Instead, he took part time jobs as store clerk, and in the evenings taught himself typing, shorthand, and Spanish, while going to a night vocational school. When he turned 18, he placed an ad with the local newspaper hoping to find better work:
Situtation Wanted: Secretary, stenographer, Spanish, English, high school education, no experience; $15.Read more about this topic: Irving Thalberg
Famous quotes containing the words early years, early and/or years:
“Even today . . . experts, usually male, tell women how to be mothers and warn them that they should not have children if they have any intention of leaving their side in their early years. . . . Children don’t need parents’ full-time attendance or attention at any stage of their development. Many people will help take care of their needs, depending on who their parents are and how they chose to fulfill their roles.”
—Stella Chess (20th century)
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—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“I, who cannot stay in my chamber for a single day without acquiring some rust,... confess that I am astonished at the power of endurance, to say nothing of the moral insensibility, of my neighbors who confine themselves to shops and offices the whole day for weeks and months, aye, and years almost together. I know not what manner of stuff they are of,—sitting there now at three o’clock in the afternoon, as if it were three o’clock in the morning.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)