Charlie Chaplin and Louis B. Mayer couldn't be more different. Charlie was a free spirit creative type who had quickly become one of the biggest actors in the world. Louis B. Mayer was more businessman than showman. He had turned the art of making pictures into an assembly line, shrewdly putting together talent with projects. He was afraid of no one in Hollywood; if one of his stars got into trouble, he could get them out of it; provided the star was willing to stay in his good graces.
To Mayer, Chaplin was a renegade; he made his own films, owned his own studio. When Chaplin married a 16 year old girl, Mayer saw an opportunity, quietly whispering to others in Hollywood that Chaplin was a pervert. When Chaplin and his wife divorced, Mayer quickly signed her to a deal, suggesting to others that he planned to bill her as "Mrs. Charlie Chaplin". Charlie flew into a rage, hunting down Louis. Charlie lunged at him, but Mayer quickly decked him, sending him into a flower bed. Needless to say, Chaplin never worked for MGM.
