For her work in
Trader Horn (1931), for which she spent several weeks in
primitive, dangerous and unhealthy conditions in East Africa, Carey was
paid the grand sum of $300 by MGM, making her very angry. Upon
returning to the US she, along with the rest of the cast, was promptly
fired by MGM, which had decided to shelve the picture. However, several
weeks later the studio decided to try to save the film, and called back
the original cast, all of whom were under contract to MGM--except Olive
Carey. Told that she would be needed for five days and would be paid
the standard $300 fee, Carey demanded a salary of $1000 a day. MGM
eventually gave in, as they needed her to match the footage that had
previously been shot in Africa, and paid what she asked. She told a
friend that she would have normally done the reshoot for the regular
contract fee, except that she saw a chance to get back at studio head
Louis B. Mayer for "dumping me in the middle of Africa, paying me nothing,
then bringing me back home and firing me." This feat won her the
reputation of being one of the few people in Hollywood to beat Mayer at
his own game.
