M. C. Levee - Career

Career

M.C. Levee Presents: The Isle of Lost Ships (1923) Levee began his career in the film industry by working as a prop man at Fox Film Corporation in 1917, earning $20 a week working on A Tale of Two Cities. Within a year, Levee became the assistant to Abe Carles, the General Superintendent at Fox. Levee left Fox in 1920 in order to become a business man at Robert Brunton Studios with Robert Brunton.

In 1920, Levee organized United Studios, serving as President. While working at United Studios, Levee produced The Isle of Lost Ships (1923), The White Moth (1924), starring Barbara La Marr, and Sweet Daddies (1926). In April 1926, Levee sold United Studios to Paramount Pictures. Levee then joined First National, also known as Warner Bros., in order to build more studio facilities in Burbank. Levee joined Nicholas Schenck as General Studio and Business Manager until 1929, when he left to become Executive Manager at Paramount. In 1932, Levee was let go by Sam Jaffe, the General Production Manager, who believed he could cover both jobs. Levee was also the founder and first President of Artists Management Guild.

In the 1930s Levee started the M.C. Levee Agency directly after working at United Artists. He ran a one-man business with no staff or organization. He had several important clients, most of which were from Warner Brothers. Most agents do not stick to one studio, it was simply a coincidence that Levee's client base were all working under Warner Brothers. Because he had several large clients, Levee was very well off. Some of Levee's star clients included Mary Pickford, Joan Crawford, Merle Oberson, Bette Davis, Paul Muni, Jeanette MacDonald, Leslie Howard, Greer Garson, Claude Rains, Dick Powell, and Franchot Tone. He was also the agent of creators Cecil B. DeMille, Frank Borzage, and Mervyn LeRoy. Robert Cowan referred to Levee as being a fair and reliable agent.