Vidor fell in love with the movies as a child. In 1913, using a camera made from a cigar box, Vidor filmed a hurricane in his hometown of Galveston, Texas, and sold it to a newsreel company. Two years later, he and his new wife Florence struck out for Hollywood. Florence Vidor soon began making a name for herself as an actress, while her husband wrote movie scenarios and took any film work he could get. He wrote 52 scripts before he sold a single one. In 1919, he made his feature film directing debut with The Turn of the Road, which did well enough to attract offers from several major studios. He chose to open his own small studio, Vidor Village, but experienced no success. He then accepted a job at Metro Pictures, and, in 1924, when Metro merged with Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Productions, Vidor went along. MGM remained Vidor’s professional home for the next 20 years.