Greta Garbo than $1 million at the box office, becoming one of the studio's biggest failures of the decade. Garbo's popularity had considerably dropped, and when her contract expired soon thereafter, she returned briefly to Sweden. On 3 May 1938, Garbo was among the many stars—including Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Luise Rainer, Katharine Hepburn, Mae West, Marlene Dietrich, Fred Astaire, Dolores del Río and others—dubbed to be "Box Office Poison" in an article published by Harry Brandt on behalf of the Independent Theatre Owners of America. After the box office failure of "Conquest", MGM decided a change of pace was needed to
Garbo Talks Rolfe (Carrie Fisher) sympathizes, but when husband Gilbert abandons his job to devote his days to the search for Garbo, she can't take it anymore and abandons him. An aspiring actress in Gilbert's office, Jane Mortimer (Catherine Hicks), takes a liking to Gilbert and a romantic interest seems entirely possible, but first comes Gilbert's increasingly futile search for a famous woman who does not care to be found. Leads eventually take Gilbert to an elderly actress, Elizabeth, who once knew Garbo, and to an aging paparazzo, Angelo, who is somewhat acquainted with Garbo's habits and whereabouts, but neither is able