Albert Warner
Encyclopedia
Aaron "Albert" Warner was a Polish-born American film executive who was one of the founders of Warner Bros. Studios
. He established the production studio with his brothers Harry
, Sam
, and Jack Warner
. He served as the studio's treasurer, until he sold his stock in 1956.
, and Pearl Leah Eichelbaum. He came to Baltimore, Maryland with his mother and siblings in October 1889 on the steamship Hermann from Bremen, Germany. Their father had preceded them, immigrating to Baltimore in 1888 and following his trade in shoes and shoe repair. He changed the family name to Warner, which was used thereafter. As in many Jewish immigrant families, some of the children gradually acquired anglicized versions of their Yiddish-sounding names. Abraham and Jacob were late among the children to do so, becoming "Albert" and "Jack" after they came of age. However, his nickname was "Abe."
In Baltimore, the money Benjamin Warner earned in the shoe repair business was not enough to provide for his growing household. He and Pearl had another daughter, Fannie, not long after they arrived. Benjamin moved the family Canada, inspired by a friend's advice that he could make an excellent living bartering tin wares with trappers in exchange for furs. Sons Jacob and David Warner were born in London, Ontario
. After two arduous years in Canada, Benjamin and Pearl Warner returned to Baltimore, bringing along their growing family. Two more children, Sadie and Milton, were added to the household there. In 1896, the family relocated to Youngstown, Ohio
, following the lead of Harry Warner, who established a shoe repair shop in the heart of the emerging industrial town. Benjamin worked with his son Harry in the shoe repair shop until he secured a loan to open a meat counter and grocery store in the city's downtown area.
In the late 1890s, Albert became fascinated by the bicycle craze that sweep through the USA. and his older brother Harry opened a bicycle shop in Youngstown together as well. The two also tried to open a bowling alley together, but were unsuccessful.
Albert Warner stayed in school longer than any his three brothers. In 1900, Warner entered Youngstown's Rayen High School, where he served as quarterback for the school's football team. Warner eventually dropped out, and eventually got a job in Chicago as a salesman for the soap company Swift and Company. Warner's life would soon pursue a new direction after brother Sam was able to purchase Kinetoscope in 1903.
business, and started displaying copies of The Great Train Robbery from a Kinetoscope at carnivals in Ohio
and Pennsylvania
in 1903; Sam ran the projector and Albert sold tickets. In 1905, Harry agreed to join his two brothers' business and sold his Youngstown bicycle shop. During this time, the three brothers purchased a building in New Castle, Pennsylvania; with their new building, the brothers established their first theater, The Cascade Movie Palace. The theater was so successful that the brothers were able to purchase a second theater in New Castle as well. This makeshift theatre, called the Bijou, was furnished with chairs borrowed from a local undertaker. In 1907, the three brothers acquired fifteen addiional theaters in the state of Pennsylvania, and named their new business The Dusquesne Amusement Supply Company. The three brothers then rented an office in the Bakewell building in downtown Pittburgh. Harry then sent Sam to New York to purchase, and ship, films for their Pittsburgh exchange company, while he and Albert remained in Pittsburgh to run the business.
In 1909, the brothers sold the Cascade Theater to open a second film exchange company in Norfolk, Virginia; through this second film exchange, younger brother Jack joined his three brothers' business. Afterwards, Sam and Jack went to Norfolk, while Harry and Albert stayed in Pittsburgh. However, one serious threat to the Warners film company was the advent of Thomas Edison
's Motion Picture Patents Company
(also known as the Edison Trust), which charged distributors exorbitant fees. In 1910, the Warners sold the family business to the General Film Company, for "$10,000 in cash, $12,000 in preferred stock, and payments over a four-year period for a total of $52,000". After selling their business, the brothers found work distributing films for Carl Laemmle's Independent Motion Picture Company in Pittsburgh. In 1912, Sam Warner would help the brothers earn a $1,500 profit with his film Dante's Interno. In the wake of the success Dante's Interno gave the brothers, Harry Warner, seeing Edison's monopoly threat growing, decided to leave Laemmle and establish an independent film production company for himself and his three brothers, Warner Features; Albert and Harry opened an office in New York, while Sam was sent to operate the company's new Los Angeles film exchange division, and Jack was sent to run the company's new San Francisco film exchange division. In 1918, thanks in part to a loan from Ambassador James W. Gerald, the brothers expanded operations and established a studio near Hollywood, California Sam and Jack moved to the West Coast to produce films while Albert and Harry remained on the East Coast
to handle distribution.
Between the years 1919 and 1920, the studio was not able to garnish any profits. During this time, banker Motley Flint helped the Warners pay off their debts. Shortly afterwards, the four brothers then decided to relocate their studio from Culver City to Sunset Boulevard. The studio rebounded in 1921, after the success of the studio's film Why Girls Leave Home. As a result of the financial success of the film, its director, Harry Rapf
, was appointed the studio's new head producer. On April 4, 1923, following the studio's successful film The Gold Diggers
, Warner Brothers, Inc. was officially established. Albert remained in New York, where he ran the company's distribution and finances.
the studio's first star. newcomer director Darryl Zanuck's career was also greatly boosted because of his productions of Rin Tin Tin as well. Zanuck would eventually become a top producer for the studio as well, and between 1928 and 1933, served as Jack Warner's right-hand man and executive producer, a position whose responsibilities included the day-to-day production of films.
After establishing Warner Bros. Pictures, the studio had, unfortunately overdrawn $1,000,000.00 (the amount which Warner had loaned from Flint). At this, Albert convinced Harry not to purchase the screenrights to the hit play Rain Harry then decided to help ease the company's financial status by acquiring forty theaters in the state of Pennsylvania
More success would also come for the studio after the brothers hired German director Ernst Lubitsch as the head director for the studio as well; Rapf had departed the studio and accepted an offer to work at MGM. Lubitsch's first film at the studio, The Marriage Circle, became the studio's most successful film of 1924, and was also on the New York Times Best list for the year as well. The studio's 1924 film Beau Brummel also made John Barrymore a top star at the studio as well. Despite the success the brothers now had, they still could not compete with the Big Three studios (First National, Paramount, and MGM)
In 1925, Albert's older brother Harry and a large group of independent film-makers assembled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to challenge the monopoly the Big Three had over the film industry). Harry and the other independent film-makers at the Milwaukee convention agreed to spend $500,000.00 in newspaper advertisements; this action would help benefit Warner Bros. profits. With help from a loan supplied by Golddman, Sachs head banker Waddill Catchings, Warner would find a way to successfully respond to the growing concern the Big Three Studios further induced to Warner Bros., and expanded the company's operations further buy purchasing the Brooklyn theater company Vitagraph. through this purchase, the Warners now had theaters in the New York area.
In 1925, Sam Warner had also acquired a radio station, KWBC, After acquiring this radio station, Sam decided to make an attempt to use synchronized sound in future Warner Bros. Pictures. Harry Warner, however had initial reservations about the idea, in which he is memorably quoted as saying "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" when his brother, CEO Sam Warner proposed the idea to him. Under Warner and his brothers leadership, the company came to own and operate some 250 theaters in which to screen its films, and, more importantly, was a successful pioneer of the sound film industry and the company still thrives today. By the February of 1926, however, the brothers' radio business had failed, and the studio was suffered a net loss of $333,413.00.
After a period of refusing to accept the usage of sound in the company's films, Harry Warner now agreed to use synchronized sound in Warner Bros. shorts, as long as it just for usage of background music
, Harry then made a visit to Western Electric's Bell Laboratories in New York, (which younger brother Sam had earlier visited) and was impressed. on problem that occurred for the Warners though was the fact that the high-ups at Western Electric were anti-Semitic. Sam, though, was able to convince the high-ups to sign with the studio after his wife Lina wore a gold cross at a dinner he attended with the Western Electric. After which, Harry signed a partnership agreement with Western Electric
to use Bell Laboratories to test the sound-on-film process.
After the agreement was signed, Vitaphone
was established. and Sam and Jack decided to take a big step forward make Don Juan. The film began with eight Vitaphone features filmed in sound. Despite the success it had at the box office, the film was not able to match its expensive budget. Harry was now further convinced not to use any more sound in Warner Bros. pictures.
With Harry now refusing to allow further Vitaphone productions, Paramount head Adolph Zukor took advantage of the situation and tried to offer Sam a deal as an executive producer for his studio if he brought Vitaphone with him. Sam easily accepted Zukor's offer, but the offer died after Paramount lost money in the wake of Rudolph Valentino's death in late 1926. By April 1927, the Big Five studios (First National, Paramount, MGM, Universal, and Producers Distributing) had put the Warners in financial ruin, and Western Electric renewed the Warner's Vitaphone contract with terms that it was no longer exclusive and that other film company's could test sound with Western Electric as well; the Warners were even forced to sell some of their stock to Harry Cohn, the head of the independent film company Columbia Pictures. Eventually, Harry agreed to accept Sam's demands to continue with Vitaphone productions, and the studio soon began production of the first talkie, The Jazz Singer
; soon after its release, The Jazz Singer
would indeed help establish the Warners as the arguably the three most importa figures in the film industry. On October 5, 1927, Sam would die and younger brother Jack was granted with the power to head all of the studio's production, despite the fact that Jack still did not have as much power over the studio as Harry did, as he was only the studio's Vice President.
to star in the studio's film Disraeli. To everybody's surprise, the film Disraeli was a success, and Arliss would win an Oscar for Best Actor
for his role in the film and star in nine more films with the studio as well.
With the collapse of the market for musicals, Warner Bros., under production head Darryl F. Zanuck
, turned to more realistic and gritty storylines, 'torn from the headlines' pictures that some said glorified gangster
s; Warner Bros. soon became known as "gangster studio. The studio's first gangster film Little Caesar
was a great success at the box office. and Edward Robinson was cast a star in many of the wave of gangster films the studio produced after Little Caesar The studio's next gangster film, The Public Enemy
, would also make James Cagney arguably the studio's new top star, and the Warners were now further convinced to make more gangster films as well.
Another gangster film the studio produced was the critically acclaimed I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang
, starring Paul Muni
. In addition to Cagney and Robinson, Paul Muni was also given a big push as one the studio's top gangster stars after appearing in the successful film I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang
. The film I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang
got audiences in the United States to question the legal system in the United States. and by January 1933, the film's protagonist Robert Elliot Burns-who was still imprisoned in New Jersey- and a number of different chain gang prisoners nationwide in the United States were able to appeal and were released. In January 1933, Georgia chain gang warden J Harold Hardy-who was also made into a character in the film- sued the studio for displaying "vicious, brutual and false attacks" against him in the film. After appearing in the film The Man Who Played God
, Bette Davis
would also become a top star for the studio as well. In 1933, the studio's very successful film 42nd Street
would revive the studio's musicals Most these new musicals featured Ruby Keeler
and Dick Powell
as the stars, and were mostly directed by Busby Berkeley
.
By 1931, however, the studio would begin to feel the effects of the Depression as the general public became unable to afford the price for movie tickets. In 1931, the studio would reportedly suffer a net loss of $8,000,000.00. The following year, the studio would suffer an additional $14,000,000.00 net loss as well.
In 1933, relieve for the studio would come again after Franklin Roosevelt became US President in 1933 and was able to rebound the US Economy with the New Deal
; because of this economic rebound, box office profits for Warner Bros. existed once again. This same year, however, a blow would also occur as the studio's longtime head producer Darryl F. Zanuck
would quit, because: (1) Harry Warner's relationship with Zanuck became strained after Harry was strongly against allowing Zanuck film Baby Face
to step outside the Hays Code boundaries; and 2) the studio reduced Zanuck's salary as a result of the financial woes the Great Depression gave the studio's net profits, and Harry still refused to raise his salary in the wake of the New Deal's rebound. Zanuck produced his letter of resignation to Jack Warner, and went on to establish his own company In the wake of Zanuck's resignation, Harry Warner agreed to again raise the salary for the studio's employees.
In 1933, the studio was also able to bring newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan films into the Warner Bros. fold. Hearst had previously been signed with MGM, but he ended his ties with the company after a dispute with the company's head producer Irving Thalberg over the treatment of Marion Davies; Davies was a longtime mistress of Hearst, and was now struggling to draw box office success. Through the studios partnership with Hearst, Harry's younger brother Jack was also able to sign Davies to a studio contract as well. Hearst's company and Davies' films, however, could not increase the studio's net profits. In 1934, Warner officially purchased the Teddington Studio as well.
In 1934, the studio would suffer a net loss of over $2,500,000.00. $500,000 of this loss was also the result of physical damage to the Warner Bros. Burbank studio that occurred after a massive fire that broke out in the studio around the end of 1934, and destroyed twenty years worth of early Warner Bros. films. The following year, Hearst's film adaption of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
would fail at the box office and the studio net loss increased. During the year 1935, the studio's revived musicals would also suffer a major blow after director Busby Berkeley was arrested after killing three people while driving drunk one night. By the end of the 1935, however, relief would come for the Warners, as the studio would rebound with a year-end net profit of $674,158.00.
, first promulgating the Hollywood Blacklist
. Around this time, Albert also bought a second mansion in Miami Beach, Florida
, where he lived for most of the remaining years of his life. By 1956, the studio was losing money and Albert wanted to retire and live full time in his Miami Beach house.
In May 1956, the brothers announced they were putting Warner Bros. on the market. Jack, however, secretly organized a syndicate
headed by Boston banker Serge Semenenko that purchased 90% (800,000 shares) of the company's stock. After the three brothers sold their stock, in an under-the-table deal with Sememenko, Jack officially joined Semenenko's syndicate and bought back all his stock, which consisted of 200,000 shares. The deal officially completed in July. Now the company's largest stockholder, Jack appointed himself as the new company president. By the time Harry and Albert learned of their brother's subterfuge, it was too late.
Albert read about Jack's dealings while spending time in New York City. He never spoke to Jack again, but he did later rejoin the company's board of directors to keep Jack "from stealing the stockholders blind."
Albert Warner died in 1967 in Miami Beach. A funeral service was held in Los Angeles. Warner was then interred in Brooklyn
, next to his first wife Bessie Krieger. After Albert's second wife Bessie Warner died in 1970 she was interred with him as well in Brooklyn.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
. He established the production studio with his brothers Harry
Harry Warner
Harry Morris Warner was an American studio executive, one of the founders of Warner Bros., and a major contributor to the development of the film industry. Along with his three brothers Warner played a crucial role in the film business and played a key role in establishing Warner Bros...
, Sam
Sam Warner
Samuel Louis "Sam" Warner was an American film producer who was the co-founder and chief executive officer of Warner Bros. Studios. He established the studio along with his brothers Harry, Albert, and Jack Warner. Sam Warner is credited with procuring the technology that enabled Warner Bros...
, and Jack Warner
Jack Warner
Jack Leonard "J. L." Warner , born Jacob Warner in London, Ontario, was a Canadian American film executive who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California...
. He served as the studio's treasurer, until he sold his stock in 1956.
Early years
Abraham "Wonsal" or "Wonskolaser", later Abraham Warner, was born in a part of the Russian Empire that is now Poland, and possibly in the village of Krasnosielc, He was the son of Benjamin "Wonsal" or "Wonskolaser," a shoe maker born in KrasnosielcKrasnosielc
Krasnosielc is a village in Maków County , on the river Orzyc, in east-central Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district called Gmina Krasnosielc. It lies approximately north of Maków Mazowiecki and north of Warsaw. Previous names include: Sielc, Siedlec and in...
, and Pearl Leah Eichelbaum. He came to Baltimore, Maryland with his mother and siblings in October 1889 on the steamship Hermann from Bremen, Germany. Their father had preceded them, immigrating to Baltimore in 1888 and following his trade in shoes and shoe repair. He changed the family name to Warner, which was used thereafter. As in many Jewish immigrant families, some of the children gradually acquired anglicized versions of their Yiddish-sounding names. Abraham and Jacob were late among the children to do so, becoming "Albert" and "Jack" after they came of age. However, his nickname was "Abe."
In Baltimore, the money Benjamin Warner earned in the shoe repair business was not enough to provide for his growing household. He and Pearl had another daughter, Fannie, not long after they arrived. Benjamin moved the family Canada, inspired by a friend's advice that he could make an excellent living bartering tin wares with trappers in exchange for furs. Sons Jacob and David Warner were born in London, Ontario
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
. After two arduous years in Canada, Benjamin and Pearl Warner returned to Baltimore, bringing along their growing family. Two more children, Sadie and Milton, were added to the household there. In 1896, the family relocated to Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Mahoning County; it also extends into Trumbull County. The municipality is situated on the Mahoning River, approximately southeast of Cleveland and northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
, following the lead of Harry Warner, who established a shoe repair shop in the heart of the emerging industrial town. Benjamin worked with his son Harry in the shoe repair shop until he secured a loan to open a meat counter and grocery store in the city's downtown area.
In the late 1890s, Albert became fascinated by the bicycle craze that sweep through the USA. and his older brother Harry opened a bicycle shop in Youngstown together as well. The two also tried to open a bowling alley together, but were unsuccessful.
Albert Warner stayed in school longer than any his three brothers. In 1900, Warner entered Youngstown's Rayen High School, where he served as quarterback for the school's football team. Warner eventually dropped out, and eventually got a job in Chicago as a salesman for the soap company Swift and Company. Warner's life would soon pursue a new direction after brother Sam was able to purchase Kinetoscope in 1903.
Film career
As a young man, along with his brother Sam, Albert Warner entered the nickelodeonNickelodeon movie theater
The Nickelodeon was a multi-purpose theater that was popular from about 1900 to 1914. Usually situated in converted storefronts, the Nickelodeon featured motion pictures, illustrated songs, slide shows and lectures...
business, and started displaying copies of The Great Train Robbery from a Kinetoscope at carnivals in Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
and Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
in 1903; Sam ran the projector and Albert sold tickets. In 1905, Harry agreed to join his two brothers' business and sold his Youngstown bicycle shop. During this time, the three brothers purchased a building in New Castle, Pennsylvania; with their new building, the brothers established their first theater, The Cascade Movie Palace. The theater was so successful that the brothers were able to purchase a second theater in New Castle as well. This makeshift theatre, called the Bijou, was furnished with chairs borrowed from a local undertaker. In 1907, the three brothers acquired fifteen addiional theaters in the state of Pennsylvania, and named their new business The Dusquesne Amusement Supply Company. The three brothers then rented an office in the Bakewell building in downtown Pittburgh. Harry then sent Sam to New York to purchase, and ship, films for their Pittsburgh exchange company, while he and Albert remained in Pittsburgh to run the business.
In 1909, the brothers sold the Cascade Theater to open a second film exchange company in Norfolk, Virginia; through this second film exchange, younger brother Jack joined his three brothers' business. Afterwards, Sam and Jack went to Norfolk, while Harry and Albert stayed in Pittsburgh. However, one serious threat to the Warners film company was the advent of Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
's Motion Picture Patents Company
Motion Picture Patents Company
The Motion Picture Patents Company , founded in December 1908, was a trust of all the major American film companies , the leading film distributor and the biggest supplier of raw film stock, Eastman Kodak...
(also known as the Edison Trust), which charged distributors exorbitant fees. In 1910, the Warners sold the family business to the General Film Company, for "$10,000 in cash, $12,000 in preferred stock, and payments over a four-year period for a total of $52,000". After selling their business, the brothers found work distributing films for Carl Laemmle's Independent Motion Picture Company in Pittsburgh. In 1912, Sam Warner would help the brothers earn a $1,500 profit with his film Dante's Interno. In the wake of the success Dante's Interno gave the brothers, Harry Warner, seeing Edison's monopoly threat growing, decided to leave Laemmle and establish an independent film production company for himself and his three brothers, Warner Features; Albert and Harry opened an office in New York, while Sam was sent to operate the company's new Los Angeles film exchange division, and Jack was sent to run the company's new San Francisco film exchange division. In 1918, thanks in part to a loan from Ambassador James W. Gerald, the brothers expanded operations and established a studio near Hollywood, California Sam and Jack moved to the West Coast to produce films while Albert and Harry remained on the East Coast
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
to handle distribution.
Between the years 1919 and 1920, the studio was not able to garnish any profits. During this time, banker Motley Flint helped the Warners pay off their debts. Shortly afterwards, the four brothers then decided to relocate their studio from Culver City to Sunset Boulevard. The studio rebounded in 1921, after the success of the studio's film Why Girls Leave Home. As a result of the financial success of the film, its director, Harry Rapf
Harry Rapf
Harry Rapf was a Jewish American producer. He began his career in 1917, and during a 20 year career became a well-known producer of films for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He created the comedic duo Dane & Arthur featuring Karl Dane and George K...
, was appointed the studio's new head producer. On April 4, 1923, following the studio's successful film The Gold Diggers
The Gold Diggers
The Gold Diggers can refer to:* The Gold Diggers , a 1919 play by Avery Hopwood, the source material for the 1923 film, as well as Gold Diggers of Broadway and Gold Diggers of 1933* The Gold Diggers , a Warner Bros...
, Warner Brothers, Inc. was officially established. Albert remained in New York, where he ran the company's distribution and finances.
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Warner Bros' first film, Where the North Begins, drew success for the brothers not seen since My First Four In Germany. The film also made the dog Rin Tin TinRin Tin Tin
Rin Tin Tin was the name given to a dog adopted from a WWI battlefield that went on to star in twenty-three Hollywood films. The name was subsequently given to several related German Shepherd dogs featured in fictional stories on film, radio and television.-Origins:The first of the line Rin Tin...
the studio's first star. newcomer director Darryl Zanuck's career was also greatly boosted because of his productions of Rin Tin Tin as well. Zanuck would eventually become a top producer for the studio as well, and between 1928 and 1933, served as Jack Warner's right-hand man and executive producer, a position whose responsibilities included the day-to-day production of films.
After establishing Warner Bros. Pictures, the studio had, unfortunately overdrawn $1,000,000.00 (the amount which Warner had loaned from Flint). At this, Albert convinced Harry not to purchase the screenrights to the hit play Rain Harry then decided to help ease the company's financial status by acquiring forty theaters in the state of Pennsylvania
More success would also come for the studio after the brothers hired German director Ernst Lubitsch as the head director for the studio as well; Rapf had departed the studio and accepted an offer to work at MGM. Lubitsch's first film at the studio, The Marriage Circle, became the studio's most successful film of 1924, and was also on the New York Times Best list for the year as well. The studio's 1924 film Beau Brummel also made John Barrymore a top star at the studio as well. Despite the success the brothers now had, they still could not compete with the Big Three studios (First National, Paramount, and MGM)
In 1925, Albert's older brother Harry and a large group of independent film-makers assembled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to challenge the monopoly the Big Three had over the film industry). Harry and the other independent film-makers at the Milwaukee convention agreed to spend $500,000.00 in newspaper advertisements; this action would help benefit Warner Bros. profits. With help from a loan supplied by Golddman, Sachs head banker Waddill Catchings, Warner would find a way to successfully respond to the growing concern the Big Three Studios further induced to Warner Bros., and expanded the company's operations further buy purchasing the Brooklyn theater company Vitagraph. through this purchase, the Warners now had theaters in the New York area.
In 1925, Sam Warner had also acquired a radio station, KWBC, After acquiring this radio station, Sam decided to make an attempt to use synchronized sound in future Warner Bros. Pictures. Harry Warner, however had initial reservations about the idea, in which he is memorably quoted as saying "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" when his brother, CEO Sam Warner proposed the idea to him. Under Warner and his brothers leadership, the company came to own and operate some 250 theaters in which to screen its films, and, more importantly, was a successful pioneer of the sound film industry and the company still thrives today. By the February of 1926, however, the brothers' radio business had failed, and the studio was suffered a net loss of $333,413.00.
After a period of refusing to accept the usage of sound in the company's films, Harry Warner now agreed to use synchronized sound in Warner Bros. shorts, as long as it just for usage of background music
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
, Harry then made a visit to Western Electric's Bell Laboratories in New York, (which younger brother Sam had earlier visited) and was impressed. on problem that occurred for the Warners though was the fact that the high-ups at Western Electric were anti-Semitic. Sam, though, was able to convince the high-ups to sign with the studio after his wife Lina wore a gold cross at a dinner he attended with the Western Electric. After which, Harry signed a partnership agreement with Western Electric
Western Electric
Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering company, the manufacturing arm of AT&T from 1881 to 1995. It was the scene of a number of technological innovations and also some seminal developments in industrial management...
to use Bell Laboratories to test the sound-on-film process.
After the agreement was signed, Vitaphone
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film process used on feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the sound-on-disc processes...
was established. and Sam and Jack decided to take a big step forward make Don Juan. The film began with eight Vitaphone features filmed in sound. Despite the success it had at the box office, the film was not able to match its expensive budget. Harry was now further convinced not to use any more sound in Warner Bros. pictures.
With Harry now refusing to allow further Vitaphone productions, Paramount head Adolph Zukor took advantage of the situation and tried to offer Sam a deal as an executive producer for his studio if he brought Vitaphone with him. Sam easily accepted Zukor's offer, but the offer died after Paramount lost money in the wake of Rudolph Valentino's death in late 1926. By April 1927, the Big Five studios (First National, Paramount, MGM, Universal, and Producers Distributing) had put the Warners in financial ruin, and Western Electric renewed the Warner's Vitaphone contract with terms that it was no longer exclusive and that other film company's could test sound with Western Electric as well; the Warners were even forced to sell some of their stock to Harry Cohn, the head of the independent film company Columbia Pictures. Eventually, Harry agreed to accept Sam's demands to continue with Vitaphone productions, and the studio soon began production of the first talkie, The Jazz Singer
The Jazz Singer (1927 film)
The Jazz Singer is a 1927 American musical film. The first feature-length motion picture with synchronized dialogue sequences, its release heralded the commercial ascendance of the "talkies" and the decline of the silent film era. Produced by Warner Bros. with its Vitaphone sound-on-disc system,...
; soon after its release, The Jazz Singer
The Jazz Singer (1927 film)
The Jazz Singer is a 1927 American musical film. The first feature-length motion picture with synchronized dialogue sequences, its release heralded the commercial ascendance of the "talkies" and the decline of the silent film era. Produced by Warner Bros. with its Vitaphone sound-on-disc system,...
would indeed help establish the Warners as the arguably the three most importa figures in the film industry. On October 5, 1927, Sam would die and younger brother Jack was granted with the power to head all of the studio's production, despite the fact that Jack still did not have as much power over the studio as Harry did, as he was only the studio's Vice President.
Kings of the talking Screen
With the success of the Jazz Singers, more talkies followed. With the large sums of money the Warners now had on-hand, Harry was able to expand business operations further. Harry Warner was able to acquire the Stanley Corporation for the studio, This purchase gave them a share in rival First National Pictures, of which Stanley owned one-third. After this purchase, Warner was soon able to acquire William Fox's one third remaining share in First National and was now officially the majority stockholder of the company. Harry, after purchasing a string of music publishers, was even able to establish a music subsidiary-Warner Bros. Music- and buy out additional radio companies, foreign sound patents, and a lithograph company as well; In 1929, with the large amount of money he now had made off of the studio's valuable subsidiaries, Albert acquired a large home in Rye, Westchester County, New York, which he dubbed "Caradel Hall."The Great Depression
With the Wall Street Crash of 1929 officially marking the beginning of The Great Depression, Albert saw that the studio was in need of additional star power in order to survive. Following Albert's advice, Jack and Harry Warner acquired three Paramount stars (William Powell, Kay Francis, and Ruth Chatteron) for studio salaries doubled from their previous ones. This move proved to be a success, and stockholders maintained confident in the Warners. In late 1929, Jack Warner would hire sixty-one year old actor George ArlissGeorge Arliss
George Arliss was an English actor, author and filmmaker who found success in the United States. He was the first British actor to win an Academy Award.-Life and career:...
to star in the studio's film Disraeli. To everybody's surprise, the film Disraeli was a success, and Arliss would win an Oscar for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
for his role in the film and star in nine more films with the studio as well.
With the collapse of the market for musicals, Warner Bros., under production head Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl Francis Zanuck was an American producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors...
, turned to more realistic and gritty storylines, 'torn from the headlines' pictures that some said glorified gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....
s; Warner Bros. soon became known as "gangster studio. The studio's first gangster film Little Caesar
Little Caesar (film)
Little Caesar is a 1931 Warner Bros. Pre-Code crime film. It tells the story of a hoodlum who ascends the ranks of organized crime until he reaches its upper echelons. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy, the film stars Edward G. Robinson and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.. The story was adapted by Francis Edward...
was a great success at the box office. and Edward Robinson was cast a star in many of the wave of gangster films the studio produced after Little Caesar The studio's next gangster film, The Public Enemy
The Public Enemy
The Public Enemy is a 1931 American Pre-Code crime film starring James Cagney and directed by William A. Wellman. The film relates the story of a young man's rise in the criminal underworld in prohibition-era urban America...
, would also make James Cagney arguably the studio's new top star, and the Warners were now further convinced to make more gangster films as well.
Another gangster film the studio produced was the critically acclaimed I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is a Pre-Code crime/drama film starring Paul Muni as a wrongfully convicted convict on a chain gang who escapes to Chicago. The film was written by Howard J. Green and Brown Holmes from Robert Elliott Burns's autobiography, I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain...
, starring Paul Muni
Paul Muni
Paul Muni was an Austrian-Hungarian-born American stage and film actor...
. In addition to Cagney and Robinson, Paul Muni was also given a big push as one the studio's top gangster stars after appearing in the successful film I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is a Pre-Code crime/drama film starring Paul Muni as a wrongfully convicted convict on a chain gang who escapes to Chicago. The film was written by Howard J. Green and Brown Holmes from Robert Elliott Burns's autobiography, I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain...
. The film I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is a Pre-Code crime/drama film starring Paul Muni as a wrongfully convicted convict on a chain gang who escapes to Chicago. The film was written by Howard J. Green and Brown Holmes from Robert Elliott Burns's autobiography, I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain...
got audiences in the United States to question the legal system in the United States. and by January 1933, the film's protagonist Robert Elliot Burns-who was still imprisoned in New Jersey- and a number of different chain gang prisoners nationwide in the United States were able to appeal and were released. In January 1933, Georgia chain gang warden J Harold Hardy-who was also made into a character in the film- sued the studio for displaying "vicious, brutual and false attacks" against him in the film. After appearing in the film The Man Who Played God
The Man Who Played God
The Man Who Played God is a 1932 American drama film directed by John G. Adolfi. The screenplay by Julien Josephson and Maude T. Howell is based on the 1914 play The Silent Voice by Jules Eckert Goodman, who adapted it from a story by Gouverneur Morris....
, Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
would also become a top star for the studio as well. In 1933, the studio's very successful film 42nd Street
42nd Street (film)
-Cast:*Warner Baxter as Julian Marsh, director*Bebe Daniels as Dorothy Brock, star*George Brent as Pat Denning, Dorothy's old vaudeville partner*Ruby Keeler as Peggy Sawyer, the newcomer*Guy Kibbee as Abner Dillon, the show's backer...
would revive the studio's musicals Most these new musicals featured Ruby Keeler
Ruby Keeler
Ruby Keeler, born Ethel Hilda Keeler, was an actress, singer, and dancer most famous for her on-screen coupling with Dick Powell in a string of successful early musicals at Warner Brothers, particularly 42nd Street . From 1928 to 1940, she was married to singer Al Jolson...
and Dick Powell
Dick Powell
Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.Despite the same last name he was not related to William Powell, Eleanor Powell or Jane Powell.-Biography:...
as the stars, and were mostly directed by Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley was a highly influential Hollywood movie director and musical choreographer. Berkeley was famous for his elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns...
.
By 1931, however, the studio would begin to feel the effects of the Depression as the general public became unable to afford the price for movie tickets. In 1931, the studio would reportedly suffer a net loss of $8,000,000.00. The following year, the studio would suffer an additional $14,000,000.00 net loss as well.
In 1933, relieve for the studio would come again after Franklin Roosevelt became US President in 1933 and was able to rebound the US Economy with the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
; because of this economic rebound, box office profits for Warner Bros. existed once again. This same year, however, a blow would also occur as the studio's longtime head producer Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl Francis Zanuck was an American producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors...
would quit, because: (1) Harry Warner's relationship with Zanuck became strained after Harry was strongly against allowing Zanuck film Baby Face
Baby Face (film)
Baby Face is a 1933 American dramatic film directed by Alfred E. Green, and starring Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent. Based on a story by Darryl F. Zanuck , this sexually-charged, Pre-Code Hollywood film is about an attractive young woman who uses sex to advance her social and financial status...
to step outside the Hays Code boundaries; and 2) the studio reduced Zanuck's salary as a result of the financial woes the Great Depression gave the studio's net profits, and Harry still refused to raise his salary in the wake of the New Deal's rebound. Zanuck produced his letter of resignation to Jack Warner, and went on to establish his own company In the wake of Zanuck's resignation, Harry Warner agreed to again raise the salary for the studio's employees.
In 1933, the studio was also able to bring newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan films into the Warner Bros. fold. Hearst had previously been signed with MGM, but he ended his ties with the company after a dispute with the company's head producer Irving Thalberg over the treatment of Marion Davies; Davies was a longtime mistress of Hearst, and was now struggling to draw box office success. Through the studios partnership with Hearst, Harry's younger brother Jack was also able to sign Davies to a studio contract as well. Hearst's company and Davies' films, however, could not increase the studio's net profits. In 1934, Warner officially purchased the Teddington Studio as well.
In 1934, the studio would suffer a net loss of over $2,500,000.00. $500,000 of this loss was also the result of physical damage to the Warner Bros. Burbank studio that occurred after a massive fire that broke out in the studio around the end of 1934, and destroyed twenty years worth of early Warner Bros. films. The following year, Hearst's film adaption of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935 film)
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1935 film directed by Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle, produced by Henry Blanke and Hal Wallis, and adapted by Charles Kenyon and Mary C. McCall Jr...
would fail at the box office and the studio net loss increased. During the year 1935, the studio's revived musicals would also suffer a major blow after director Busby Berkeley was arrested after killing three people while driving drunk one night. By the end of the 1935, however, relief would come for the Warners, as the studio would rebound with a year-end net profit of $674,158.00.
Post War Era
On November 25, 1947, Albert Warner and other executives in the motion picture industry issued the Waldorf StatementWaldorf Statement
The Waldorf Statement was a two-page press release issued on December 3, 1947, by Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, following a closed-door meeting by forty-eight motion picture company executives at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel...
, first promulgating the Hollywood Blacklist
Hollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
. Around this time, Albert also bought a second mansion in Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper...
, where he lived for most of the remaining years of his life. By 1956, the studio was losing money and Albert wanted to retire and live full time in his Miami Beach house.
In May 1956, the brothers announced they were putting Warner Bros. on the market. Jack, however, secretly organized a syndicate
Syndicate
A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies or entities formed to transact some specific business, or to promote a common interest or in the case of criminals, to engage in organized crime...
headed by Boston banker Serge Semenenko that purchased 90% (800,000 shares) of the company's stock. After the three brothers sold their stock, in an under-the-table deal with Sememenko, Jack officially joined Semenenko's syndicate and bought back all his stock, which consisted of 200,000 shares. The deal officially completed in July. Now the company's largest stockholder, Jack appointed himself as the new company president. By the time Harry and Albert learned of their brother's subterfuge, it was too late.
Albert read about Jack's dealings while spending time in New York City. He never spoke to Jack again, but he did later rejoin the company's board of directors to keep Jack "from stealing the stockholders blind."
Albert Warner died in 1967 in Miami Beach. A funeral service was held in Los Angeles. Warner was then interred in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, next to his first wife Bessie Krieger. After Albert's second wife Bessie Warner died in 1970 she was interred with him as well in Brooklyn.
Personal life
In 1908, Warner married Bessie Krieger, in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Krieger died in 1923 from influenza. On April 23, 1925, Warner married Bessie Siegal, the widow of his friend, Jonas Siegal. The couple remained married until Warner's death in 1967. Through his marriage to Bessie Siegel, Warner had a stepson, Arthur Jack Steel, who married Ruth Mandel, and had sons John and Lewis Steel (named after Harry Warner's son Lewis Warner). Warner was noted to never adapt the upper class lifestyle, remaining unrefined throughout his life.See also
- Harry WarnerHarry WarnerHarry Morris Warner was an American studio executive, one of the founders of Warner Bros., and a major contributor to the development of the film industry. Along with his three brothers Warner played a crucial role in the film business and played a key role in establishing Warner Bros...
(1881–1958) - Sam WarnerSam WarnerSamuel Louis "Sam" Warner was an American film producer who was the co-founder and chief executive officer of Warner Bros. Studios. He established the studio along with his brothers Harry, Albert, and Jack Warner. Sam Warner is credited with procuring the technology that enabled Warner Bros...
(1887–1927) - Jack WarnerJack WarnerJack Leonard "J. L." Warner , born Jacob Warner in London, Ontario, was a Canadian American film executive who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California...
(1892–1978)