Editing Greta Garbo (section)

===1920–1924: Beginnings===
[[File:Greta Garbo in Gösta Berlings Saga 1924 cropped.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.2|Garbo in her first leading role in the Swedish film ''[[The Saga of Gosta Berling|The Saga of Gösta Berling]]'' (1924) with [[Lars Hanson]]]]
Garbo first worked as a soap-lather girl in a barber shop before taking a job in the [[PUB (Stockholm)|PUB department store]] where she ran errands and worked in the [[millinery]] department. After modeling hats for the store's catalogues, Garbo earned a more lucrative job as a fashion model at [[Nordiska Kompaniet]].{{sfn|Swenson|1997|p=36}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Strömquist |first=Susanna |title=Nordens Paris. NK:s Franska damskrädderi 1902–1966 |publisher=[[Nordic Museum]] |year=2021 |isbn=978-91-7108-619-8 |location=Stockholm |pages=65 |language=Swedish}}</ref> In 1920, a director of film commercials for the store cast Garbo in roles advertising women's clothing. Her first commercial premiered on 12 December 1920<ref name="Herr">[http://www.sfi.se/en-GB/Swedish-film-database/Item/?type=MOVIE&itemid=18583 "Herrskapet Stockholm ute på inköp (1920)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102090646/http://www.sfi.se/en-GB/Swedish-film-database/Item/?type=MOVIE&itemid=18583 |date=2 January 2016 }} The Swedish Film Database, Swedish Film Institute. Retrieved 3 April 2012. {{in lang|sv}}</ref> In 1922, Garbo caught the attention of director [[Erik A. Petschler]], who gave her a part in his short comedy, ''Peter the Tramp''<ref name="SFdb/3537">{{cite web |title=Luffar-Petter (1922) |url=https://www.svenskfilmdatabas.se/en/item/?type=film&itemid=3537 |website=[[Swedish Film Database]]  - SFdb |publisher=[[Swedish Film Institute]] |access-date=15 May 2025 |language=en}}</ref> (''Luffar-Petter ''<ref name="nypl/Luffar-Petter |">{{cite web |title=Greta Garbo, Tyra Ryman and Iréne Zetterberg in the motion picture Luffar-Petter |url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e2-b935-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 |website=[[New York Public Library]] Digital Collections |access-date=15 May 2025 |language=en}}</ref>).{{sfn|Paris|1994|p=34}}<ref name="loc.gov/2021670583">{{cite web |title=Peter the Tramp |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2021670583/ |website=loc.gov |access-date=15 May 2025 |language= |date=1 January 1929}}</ref>

From 1922 to 1924, she studied at the [[Royal Dramatic Training Academy]] in Stockholm. She was recruited in 1924 by the Finnish director [[Mauritz Stiller]] to play a principal part in his film ''[[The Saga of Gosta Berling|The Saga of Gösta Berling]]'', a dramatization of the [[Gösta Berlings Saga|famous novel]] by [[Nobel Prize for Literature|Nobel Prize]] winner [[Selma Lagerlöf]], which also featured the actor [[Lars Hanson]]. Stiller became her mentor, training her as a film actress and managing all aspects of her nascent career.{{Sfn|Paris|1994|pp=54–61}} She followed her role in ''Gösta Berling'' with a starring role in the German film ''[[Die freudlose Gasse]]'' (''Joyless Street'' or ''The Street of Sorrow'', 1925), directed by [[G. W. Pabst]] and co-starring [[Asta Nielsen]].{{sfn|Paris|1994|pp=67–69}} She praised Asta and said: "In terms of expression and versatility, I am nothing to her."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Asta Nielsen, the silent film star who taught Garbo everything {{!}} Movies {{!}} The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jan/27/asta-nielsen-the-silent-film-star-who-taught-garbo-everything |access-date=2023-07-09 |website=amp.theguardian.com |archive-date=9 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230709234506/https://amp.theguardian.com/film/2022/jan/27/asta-nielsen-the-silent-film-star-who-taught-garbo-everything |url-status=live }}</ref>

Accounts differ on the circumstances of her first contract with [[Louis B. Mayer]], at that time vice president and general manager of [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]]. [[Victor Sjöström|Victor Seastrom]], a respected Swedish director at MGM, was a friend of Stiller and encouraged Mayer to meet him on a trip to Berlin. There are two recent versions of what happened next. In one,{{sfn|Swenson|1997|pp=72–74}} Mayer, always looking for new talent, had done his research and was interested in Stiller. He made an offer, but Stiller demanded that Garbo be part of any contract, convinced that she would be an asset to his career. Mayer balked, but eventually agreed to a private viewing of ''Gösta Berling''. He was immediately struck by Garbo's magnetism and became more interested in her than in Stiller. "It was her eyes," his daughter recalled him saying, "I can make a star out of her." In the second version,{{sfn|Paris|1994|pp=80–83}} Mayer had already seen ''Gösta Berling'' before his Berlin trip, and Garbo, not Stiller, was his primary interest. On the way to the screening, Mayer said to his daughter: "This director is wonderful, but what we really ought to look at is the girl&nbsp;... The girl, look at the girl!" After the screening, his daughter reported, he was unwavering: "I'll take her without him. I'll take her ''with'' him. Number one is the girl."{{sfn|Vieira|2005|p=9}}