SHE DAMN NEAR
RAN THE STUDIO
The Extraordinary Lives
of Ida R. Koverman
A biography by Jacqueline R. Braitman
Watch interview with author Jacqueline Braitman about the life of Ida Koverman!
She Damn Near Ran the Studio
Best known as the woman who “ran MGM,” Ida R. Koverman (1876–1954) served as talent scout, mentor, executive secretary, and confidant to American movie mogul Louis B. Mayer for twenty-five years. She Damn Near Ran the Studio: The Extraordinary Lives of Ida R. Koverman is the first full account of Koverman’s life and the true story of how she became a formidable politico and a creative powerhouse during Hollywood’s Golden Era.
The first biography of Hollywood’s political matchmaker, kingmaker, and MGM’s movie star maker
What People Are Saying!
What a great book for anyone who loves reading about the business and backrooms of Hollywood cinema. Part political history, part movie history…a very ambitious and readable journey through the life of Ida Koverman…the story of a strong and intelligent woman working in a male dominated industry, and succeeding there. The book is history and Hollywood rolled up in a biography well worth reading.
Bruce Shapiro, Ph.D., Theater Arts, February 2022
About the Author
Jacqueline R. Braitman
Jacqueline R. Braitman, PhD focuses on the lives of women and men of 20th Century California. Formerly with the Department of History at the University of California, Los Angeles, her research focuses on cultural and political leaders who shaped state and national politics, film, and history. Sometimes the Golden States' legends' contributions conflicted, and occasionally they overlapped, but all of them shifted the conversations of their times and continue to influence public policy and popular culture.
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Before she got to Hollywood, Ida Koverman ushered in the era of inclusion of women in competitive swimming.
Braitman argues that the swimming spectacular grew out of Koverman's passion for all things aquatic.
A comic book dedicated to the acclaimed tenor Mario Lanza featured Ida Koverman, who brought his charisma and voice to the silver screen.
Koverman promoted women's national and Olympic comptetitive swimming and Duke Kahanamoku, the king of surfing.
Other Work
by Jacqueline R. Braitman
Justice Stanley Mosk
A Life at the Center of California Politics and Justice
"Mosk issued the courageous ruling that invalidated...a stain of legalized racism that can be found in countless residential chains-of-title across Southern California…What we learn from [this book] is that Mosk was not only a prolific jurist, but a consequential one, and the world we live in today has been shaped in significant ways by his life and work.”
- Jonathan Kirsch
Author, attorney, and book editor, Jewish Journal
“Dr. Braitman [has] a scholarly reputation as a major authority on women in 20th Century California politics... I have personally profited in revising my own work."
- Jackson Putnam, Author
California Politics
“Jacqueline Braitman’s insightful study of the role of California women fills the gap between the Progressive Era and post-World War II.”
- Judith Raftery, Professor and Author
California State University, Chico
She Damn Near Ran the Studio
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