Editing Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (section)

===1950s===
Audiences began drifting to television in the late 1940s, and MGM and the other studios were finding it increasingly difficult to attract them to theaters. With its high overhead expenses, MGM's profit margins continued to decrease. Word came from [[Nicholas Schenck]] in New York to find "a new Thalberg" who could improve quality while paring costs. Mayer thought he had found this savior in [[Dore Schary]], a writer and producer who had found success at running [[RKO Pictures]]. Lavish musicals were Schary's focus, and hits like ''[[Easter Parade (film)|Easter Parade]]'' (1948), ''[[Annie Get Your Gun (film)|Annie Get Your Gun]]'' (1950) and the popular musical films of tenor [[Mario Lanza]], including ''[[That Midnight Kiss]]'' (1949) and ''[[The Great Caruso]]'' (1951),  helped to keep MGM profitable during this period.<ref name=fu/>

In August 1951, Louis B. Mayer was fired by MGM's East Coast executives<ref>{{cite web |url=http://biography.yourdictionary.com/louis-burt-mayer |title=Louis Burt Mayer Facts |publisher=Biography.yourdictionary.com |access-date=February 24, 2015 |archive-date=February 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224035516/http://biography.yourdictionary.com/louis-burt-mayer |url-status=live }}</ref> and he was replaced by Schary. Gradually cutting loose expensive contract players (including $6,000-a-week Judy Garland in 1950 and "King of Hollywood" Clark Gable in 1954), saving money by recycling existing movie sets instead of building costly new scenery, and reworking expensive old costumes, Schary managed to keep the studio running much as it had through the early 1940s, though his sensibilities for hard-edged, message movies would never bear much fruit.  One bright spot continued to be MGM's musical pictures, under the aegis of producer [[Arthur Freed]], who was operating what amounted to an independent unit within the studio. During the 1950's, MGM produced some well-regarded and profitable musicals that would later be acknowledged as classics, among them ''[[An American in Paris (film)|An American in Paris]]'' (1951), ''[[Singin' in the Rain]]'' (1952), and ''[[Seven Brides for Seven Brothers]]'' (1954). However, ''[[Brigadoon (film)|Brigadoon]]'' (1954), ''[[Deep in My Heart (1954 film)|Deep in My Heart]]'' (1954), ''[[It's Always Fair Weather]]'' (1955), ''[[Invitation to the Dance (film)|Invitation to the Dance]]'' (1956), and ''[[Les Girls]]'' (1957) were extravagant song and dance flops, and even ''[[The Band Wagon]]'' (1953) and ''[[Silk Stockings (1957 film)|Silk Stockings]]'' (1957), two musicals that are now considered classics and among the studio's best, lost money upon their initial releases.
[[File:Singin' in the Rain trailer.jpg|right|thumb|250px|[[Gene Kelly]], [[Donald O'Connor]] and [[Debbie Reynolds]] in ''[[Singin' in the Rain]]'' (1952)]]
In 1952, as a settlement of the government's restraint-of-trade action, ''[[United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.]]'' 334 US 131 (1948), [[Loews Cineplex Entertainment|Loews, Inc.]] gave up control of MGM.<ref name=fu/> It would take another five years before the interlocking arrangements were completely undone, by which time both Loews and MGM were losing money. In 1956, Schary was ousted from MGM in another power struggle against the New York-based executives.<ref>{{cite web|last=Murphy |first=Mekado |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/person/110121/Dore-Schary |title=Movies – The New York Times |access-date=June 1, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527173723/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/110121/Dore-Schary |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2008 |archive-date=May 27, 2008}}</ref> Cost overruns and the failure of the big-budget epic ''[[Raintree County (film)|Raintree County]]'' (1957) prompted the studio to terminate Schary's contract.

Schary's reign at MGM had been marked with few legitimate hits, but his departure (along with the retirement of Schenck in 1955) left a power vacuum that would prove difficult to fill. Initially [[Joseph Vogel (executive)|Joseph Vogel]] became president and [[Sol Siegel]] head of production. In 1957 (by coincidence, the year Mayer died), the studio lost money for the first time in its 34-year history.<ref name=fu/> After [[Spencer Tracy]] left MGM in 1955, the only major star remaining  under contract from MGM's heyday was [[Robert Taylor (American actor)|Robert Taylor]]; by 1960, MGM had released Taylor and the last of its contract players, with many either retiring or moving on to television.

In 1958, MGM released what is generally considered its last great musical, Arthur Freed's Cinemascope color production of ''[[Gigi (1958 film)|Gigi]]'', starring [[Leslie Caron]], [[Maurice Chevalier]], and [[Louis Jourdan]]. It was adapted from the novel by [[Colette]], and written by the team of [[Lerner and Loewe]], who also wrote ''My Fair Lady'' and ''Camelot''. ''Gigi'' was a box-office and critical success which won nine [[Academy Award]]s, including [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]]. From it came several hit songs, including "Thank Heaven For Little Girls", "I Remember It Well", the "Waltz at Maxim's", and the Oscar-winning title song. The film was the last MGM musical to win a Best Picture Oscar, an honor that had previously gone to ''[[The Broadway Melody]]'' (1929), ''[[The Great Ziegfeld]]'' (1936), and ''[[An American in Paris (film)|An American in Paris]]'' (1951). The last musical film produced by the "[[Arthur Freed|Freed Unit]]" was an adaptation of the Broadway musical ''[[Bells Are Ringing (film)|Bells Are Ringing]]'' (1960) with [[Judy Holliday]] and [[Dean Martin]]. However, MGM did release later musical films, including an adaptation of [[Meredith Willson]]'s ''[[The Unsinkable Molly Brown (film)|The Unsinkable Molly Brown]]'' (1964) with [[Debbie Reynolds]] and [[Harve Presnell]].