Editing Norma Shearer (section)

=== Transition to sound ===
One week after the marriage, ''[[The Jazz Singer]]'' was released. The first [[feature film|feature-length]] motion picture with sound, it effectively changed the cinematic landscape overnight and signaled the end of the [[silent film|silent motion-picture]] era. It also spelled the end of many silent careers, and Shearer was determined hers would not be one of them. Her brother, [[Douglas Shearer]], was instrumental in the development of sound at MGM, and every care was taken to prepare her for the microphone.

Her first talkie, ''[[The Trial of Mary Dugan (1929 film)|The Trial of Mary Dugan]]'' (1929), turned out to be a tremendous success. Shearer's "medium-pitched, fluent, flexible Canadian accent, not quite American, but not at all foreign",{{sfn|Lambert|1990|p=121}} was critically applauded, and thereafter widely imitated by other actresses, nervous about succeeding in talkies. Despite the popularity of her subsequent early talking films, ''[[The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1929 film)|The Last of Mrs. Cheyney]]'' and ''[[Their Own Desire]]'' (both 1929), Shearer feared the public would soon tire of her "good girl" image, and took the advice of friend and co-star [[Ramón Novarro]] to visit an unknown photographer named [[George Hurrell]].<ref>[[Virginia Postrel|Postrel, Virginia]]: "Starlight and Shadow", ''The Atlantic'', July/August 2007, p. 149.</ref> There, she took a series of sensual portraits that convinced her husband that she could play the lead in MGM's racy new film, ''[[The Divorcee]]'' (1930).