Editing Margaret Booth (section)

===1939–1968: Supervising editor of MGM===
In 1936, Thalberg had unexpectedly died and Mayer assumed the position as production head. Three years later, in 1939, Mayer appointed Booth to be the studio's supervising film editor.{{sfn|Unterberger|1998|p=43}} Booth stated, "They liked me because I was fast. I was always very fast cutting everything I did. And boy, was I tough."{{sfn|Acker|1991|p=221}} As the supervising editor, she did no actual film editing herself but instead hired the personnel and reviewed the [[dailies]] for each film, overseeing classics such as ''[[The Wizard of Oz]]'' (1939) and ''[[Ben-Hur (1959 film)|Ben-Hur]]'' (1959).{{sfn|Unterberger|1998|p=43}}{{sfn|Malone|2017|p=36}} In his 1995 book ''Making Movies'', director [[Sidney Lumet]] called Booth "a remarkable person. She was bright and tireless, and she loved movies. I don't know if she had any other life."{{sfn|Lumet|1995|p=151}} He told one story while filming ''[[The Hill (1965 film)|The Hill]]'' (1965) in England, in which she arrived on location and asked to see a rough-cut version, promptly at eight during the following morning. A screening was arranged for her, with Lumet and [[Thelma Connell]], the editor for ''The Hill'', present. When the screening was over, she asked for two minutes of the film to be cut so it would be under two hours. Lumet pushed back and after two more screenings, Booth relented. Following the third screening, Lumet consoled a despondent Booth, who personally felt none of the new studio executives knew or care about filmmaking.{{sfn|Lumet|1995|pp=152–154}} She remained in her position until she retired in 1968.{{sfn|Unterberger|1998|p=43}}<ref>{{cite web |last=Hatch |first=Kirsten |url=https://wfpp.columbia.edu/pioneer/margaret-booth-2/ |title=Margaret Booth |website=Women Film Pioneers Project |year=2013 |location=New York |publisher=[[Columbia University Libraries]] |doi=10.7916/d8-ps4e-hw86 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240402222014/https://wfpp.columbia.edu/pioneer/margaret-booth-2/ |archive-date=April 2, 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> Booth said she left MGM after being fired by James Aubrey.<ref>Behlmer pp 93-94</ref>

In its 1982 article about Booth's long tenureship, the ''[[Village Voice]]'' describes her as "the final authority of every picture the studio made for 30 years."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Rafferty |first=Terrance |author-link=Terrence Rafferty |title=His Girl Friday |magazine=Village Voice |date=November 30, 1982 |page=83}}</ref>