Soon after "A Journey By Night" ended, Stewart signed a seven-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), orchestrated by talent scout Bill Grady, who had been tracking Stewart's career since seeing him perform in Princeton. His first Hollywood role was a minor appearance in the Spencer Tracy vehicle "The Murder Man" (1935). His performance was largely ignored by critics, although the "New York Herald Tribune", remembering him in "Yellow Jack", called him "wasted in a bit that he handles with characteristically engaging skill." As MGM did not see leading-man material in Stewart, described by biographer Michael D. Rinella as a "lanky young bumpkin with a hesitant manner of speech" during this time, his agent Leland Hayward decided that the best path for him would be through loan-outs to other studios.