Editing Norma Shearer (section)

=== Early days===
[[File:Portrait photograph of Norma Shearer.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Shearer by [[Arnold Genthe]], c. 1920]]

In January 1920, the three Shearer women arrived in New York, each of them dressed up for the occasion. "I had my hair in little curls", Shearer remembered, "and I felt very ambitious and proud."{{sfn|Lambert|1990|p=19}} Her heart sank, however, when she saw their rented apartment: "There was one double bed, a cot with no mattress and a stove with one gas jet. The communal bathroom was at the end of a long, dimly lit hallway. Athole and I took turns sleeping with mother in the bed, but sleep was impossible anyway—the elevated trains rattled right past our window every few minutes."{{Citation needed |date=May 2024}}

The introduction to Ziegfeld proved equally disastrous. He turned Shearer down flat, reportedly calling her a "dog", and criticized her crossed eyes and stubby legs.<ref>Jacobs and Braum, p. 17</ref> She continued doing the rounds with her determination undimmed: "I learned that [[Universal Pictures]] was looking for eight pretty girls to serve as extras. Athole and I showed up and found 50 girls ahead of us. An assistant casting director walked up and down looking us over. He passed up the first three and picked the fourth. The fifth and sixth were unattractive, but the seventh would do, and so on, down the line until seven had been selected—and he was still some ten feet ahead of us. I did some quick thinking. I coughed loudly, and when the man looked in the direction of the cough, I stood on my tiptoes and smiled right at him. Recognizing the awkward ruse to which I'd resorted, he laughed openly and walked over to me and said, 'You win, Sis. You're Number Eight.{{' "}}{{sfn|LaSalle|2000|p=14}}

[[File:Norma Shearer 1926.jpg|thumb|left|Norma Shearer's [[strabismus]], 1926]]

Other extra parts followed, including one in ''[[Way Down East]]'', directed by [[D. W. Griffith]]. Taking advantage of a break in filming and standing shrewdly near a powerful arc light, Shearer introduced herself to Griffith and began to confide her hopes for stardom. "The Master looked down at me, studied my upturned face in the glare of the arc, and shook his eagle head. Eyes no good, he said. A [[Cast of the eye|cast]] in one and far too blue; blue eyes always looked blank in close-up. You'll never make it, he declared, and turned solemnly away."

Still undeterred, Shearer risked some of her savings on a consultation with Dr. [[William Bates (physician)|William Bates]], a pioneer in the treatment of [[strabismus]].<ref name="NormaShearer-COM">{{cite web |last1=Vieira |first1=Mark A. |title=New York |url=http://normashearer.com/biography/moving-picture-actress/new-york/ |website=Norma Shearer |publisher=Darin Barnes |access-date=August 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171030130617/http://normashearer.com/biography/moving-picture-actress/new-york/ |archive-date=October 30, 2017 |date=2017 |quote=She also had flaws. Her legs were not well turned. Her eyes were blue, which went pale when shot with the orthochromatic film of the time. Her left eye had a tendency to wander, the symptom of a strabismus.}}</ref>{{sfn|Vieira|2013|p=180}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dart |first1=William |title=Book review: The Art Of The Great Hollywood Portrait Photographers 1925 to 1940 by John Kobal <!-- Published by Allen Lane, London, 1980 --> |journal=Art New Zealand |date=Spring 1981 |volume=21 |url=https://www.art-newzealand.com/Issues21to30/books2102.htm |access-date=August 21, 2020 |archive-date=January 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210131093803/http://art-newzealand.com/Issues21to30/books2102.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> He wrote out a series of muscle-strengthening exercises that after many years of daily practice would successfully conceal Shearer's cast for long periods of time on the screen. She spent hours in front of the mirror, exercising her eyes and striking poses that concealed or improved the physical flaws noted by Ziegfeld or Griffith. At night, she sat in the galleries of [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] theatres, studying the entrances of [[Ina Claire]], [[Lynn Fontanne]], and [[Katharine Cornell]].

In desperate need of money, Shearer resorted to some modeling work, which proved successful. On her modeling career, she commented: "I could smile at a cake of laundry soap as if it were dinner at the Ritz. I posed with a strand of imitation pearls. I posed in dust-cap and house dress with a famous mop, for dental paste and for soft drink, holding my mouth in a whistling pose until it all but froze that way." She became the new model for Kelly-Springfield Tires, was bestowed with the title "Miss Lotta Miles" and depicted seated inside the rim of a tire, smiling down at traffic from a large floodlit billboard.{{sfn|Lambert|1990|p=28}}

Finally, a year after her arrival in New York, she received a break in film: fourth billing in a [[B-movie]] titled ''[[The Stealers]]'' (1920). In January 1923, Shearer received an offer from [[Louis B. Mayer Pictures]], a studio in Northeast Los Angeles that was run by a small-time producer, [[Louis B. Mayer]]. [[Irving Thalberg]] had moved to Louis B. Mayer Pictures as vice president on February 15, 1923, but had already sent a telegram to Shearer's agent, inviting her to come to the studio. After three years of hardship, she found herself signing a contract. It called for $250 a week for six months, with options for renewal and a test for a leading role in a major film called ''[[The Wanters]]''.