Show Business: Louis the Lion

"The reason so many people showed up at his funeral was because they wanted to be sure he was dead." Thus, the legend goes, did Movie Magnate Sam Goldwyn dispose of his longtime colleague and competitor, Louis B. Mayer. By quoting the remark near the start of his new biography, Hollywood Rajah (Holt; $5.50), New York Times Movie Critic Bosley Crowther makes plain that he feels no kindlier toward the onetime junk dealer who became one of Hollywood's gaudiest tycoons, created stars from Garbo to Rooney, wrote his name on some of the best...