Queen Behind the Scenes: Ida Koverman’s Reign at MGM By Kim Luperi
Her title may have been executive secretary to MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer, but she “wields a scepter of power second only to that of her employer,” journalist Sheila Graham wrote in 1937. Indeed, Ida Koverman was one of the most powerful women in Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s, but you’ve probably never heard her name. As a former Hollywood assistant myself, I’m paying homage this International Women’s Day to a woman who “rarely operated in the shadows, even if history has pushed her there,” as Jacqueline R. Braitman declared in She Damn Near Ran the Studio: The Extraordinary Lives of Ida R. Koverman.
Born in Ohio in 1876, Koverman grew up with a passion for the arts and taught herself basic business principles in her early jobs. After becoming a wanted woman in 1909 for initially failing to appear as a witness in a bizarre bribery case, she entered an apparent marriage of convenience to distance herself from her past and used her new surname to start over on her own in New York. There, Koverman became involved with a plethora of female-focused community initiatives and established Brooklyn’s Women’s Athletic Club.
By the early 1920s, Koverman moved out west and rooted herself in the political landscape of Southern California. The enterprising woman leveraged her ambition, loyalty and aptitude to become executive secretary for the presidential campaigns of Calvin Coolidge in 1924 and Herbert Hoover in 1928. By the decade’s end, Koverman constructed a far-reaching partisan network and established herself as an esteemed political operative within the Republican Party.
Mayer had political ambitions too, which is how he and Koverman met in the mid-1920s. It was she who played matchmaker – as she did with many – to facilitate his involvement in various Republican organizations. As Mayer must have noticed, Koverman’s strength for prioritizing a high workload, negotiating with big personalities, building relationships and harnessing public support made her a natural for the film industry.
According to Braitman, after Hoover’s inauguration, Mayer furnished Koverman with a desk and “told her to make a job for herself.” She did, and she’d remain with MGM until her death in 1954. Though she undertook typical assistant duties, Koverman also operated as an executive – one of the most powerful at MGM. She supervised Mayer’s schedule with daunting yet considerate authority as the “last and toughest obstacle” before visitors entered his office and did the same facilitating for other departments if needed. Koverman also served as Mayer’s advisor in the political arena; in fact, many publications touted her as his personal political expert. Thus, on any given day, she could secure a star’s Hollywood Bowl parking pass one moment and strategize with a Senator’s publicity director the next, according to the Christian Science Monitor in 1950.
Koverman became Mayer’s confidante, and he greatly respected and trusted her judgement and aptitude for identifying audience taste. She could (and did) take over when he was away from MGM, and her versatility proved crucial to studio operations; for instance, she fostered a family-like culture and highlighted employee accomplishments by establishing The MGM News in 1936, and her far-reaching connections made her indispensable in lobbying for MGM’s interests when she spotted proposed state legislation that could affect business. As noted in Variety’s 1942 article “The Women Who Run the Men,” “… there’s very little taking place on the lot that she hasn’t exerted some influence… and with the carte blanche she enjoys in the matter of executive decisions, she has a lot of pretty important gents tiptoeing around her with devout response.”
When it came to talent, Koverman possessed a knack for discovering and nurturing actors and musicians. Indeed, it was Koverman who saw the potential in Robert Taylor, promoted Clark Gable’s sex appeal and proved instrumental in Judy Garland’s discovery. Add to that list Lena Horne, Nelson Eddy, Deanna Durbin, Mario Lanza and others – the number of performers Koverman recruited and mentored is enormous. Her eminent position also meant balancing support for the actor offscreen with MGM’s expectations onscreen. In Garland’s case, when Koverman disagreed with Mayer’s dietary regimen for the juvenile star, she secretly directed the MGM commissary to be less draconian with Garland’s meals.
Koverman continued her cultural and political involvement at MGM, becoming director of the Screen Women’s Press Club and taking on various other community leadership roles. She also remained vocal in her beliefs, including her anti-communist rhetoric and support of the Moral Rearmament movement, which promoted spiritual uplift within movies. After almost 20 years with MGM, Koverman earned a promotion to head of public relations in the late 1940s, and the Los Angeles Times recognized her career achievements by selecting her as a Woman of the Year in 1950.
Koverman operated efficiently and openly behind the scenes, successfully executing her extensive duties while enabling the interests of high-powered people and growing her own influence. Gossip columnist Hedda Hopper observed that Koverman’s “special positions of power gave her a phenomenal chance to do good.” Indeed, Koverman told Hopper, “If you can’t help somebody, what are you put here on earth for?” Perhaps Koverman’s greatest impact was through the lives she touched, personally and professionally.
