Mayer (Louis B.) is born in Minsk in today’s Belarus.

Born Lazar Meir, Louis Mayer emigrates with his family first to Canada then to Boston in approximately 1904. He lives initially in at 17 Rochester Street, becomes a scrap metal dealer in Chelsea, and marries Margaret Shenberg. Mayer moves to Haverhill, where he opens his first movie theater in 1907, then with a partner opens a chain of theaters throughout New England and a film distribution company in 1914. He moves to Brookline, produces his first film, Virtuous Wives, which opens in New York city on December 29, 1918. Mayer then moves to Hollywood, becomes one of the principals in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer pictures. He dies in Los Angeles on October 29, 1957.