Warner Bros.
Encyclopedia
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. (though the name was occasionally given in full form as Warner Brothers during the company's early years), 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, California
and New York, New York. Warner Bros. has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television
, Warner Bros. Animation
, Warner Home Video
, New Line Cinema
, TheWB.com
, and DC Comics
. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network
.
(born Hirsch), Albert
(born Aaron), Sam
(born Szmul), and Jack
(born Jacob), whose parents had emigrated to North America
from Poland
, which was at that time part of the Russian Empire
. The three elder brothers began in the movie theatre business, having acquired a movie projector
with which they showed films in the mining towns of Pennsylvania
and Ohio
. They opened their first theater, the Cascade, in New Castle, Pennsylvania
in 1903. (The site of the Cascade later became the Cascade Center
, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex honoring its Warner Bros. heritage, though in late 2010 all of the businesses have closed and the complex is currently for sale.)
> When this original theatre building in New Castle was in danger of being demolished, the modern Warner Bros. called the modern building owners, and arranged a 3 way even splitting of the cost of saving it, between the state, Warner Bros, and the modern owners. The owners noted the fact that they were taking phone calls from all over the country in reference to the historical significance of the humble building that should be saved historically.
In 1904, the Warners founded the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company, to distribute films.
Within a few years this led to the distribution of pictures across a four-state area. In 1912, Harry Warner hired an auditor named Paul Ashley Chase
. By the time of World War I
they had begun producing films, and in 1918 the brothers opened the Warner Bros. studio on Sunset Boulevard
in Hollywood. Sam and Jack Warner produced the pictures, while Harry and Albert Warner and their auditor and now controller Chase handled finance and distribution in New York City. It was during World War I and their first nationally syndicated film was My Four Years in Germany based on a popular book by former American Ambassador James W. Gerard
. On April 4, 1923, with help from a loan given to Harry Warner by his banker Motley Flint, they formally incorporated as Warner Brothers Pictures, Incorporated. However, as late as the 1960s, Warner Bros. claimed 1905 as its founding date.
The first important deal for the company was the acquisition of the rights to Avery Hopwood
's 1919 Broadway play, The Gold Diggers, from theatrical impresario David Belasco
. However, what really put Warner Bros. on the Hollywood map was a dog, Rin Tin Tin
, brought from France after World War I by an American soldier. Rin Tin Tin debuted in the feature Where the North Begins. The movie was so successful that Jack Warner agreed to sign the dog to star in more films for $1,000 per week. Rin Tin Tin became the top star at the studio. Jack Warner nicknamed him "The Mortgage Lifter" and the success boosted Darryl F. Zanuck
's career. Zanuck eventually became a top producer for the studio and between 1928 and 1933 served as Jack Warner's right-hand man and executive producer, with responsibilities including the day-to-day production of films. More success came after Ernst Lubitsch
was hired as head director; Harry Rapf
left the studio and accepted an offer to work at MGM
. Lubitsch's film The Marriage Circle
was the studio's most successful film of 1924, and was on The New York Times best list for the year.
Despite the success of Rin Tin Tin and Lubitsch, Warners was still unable to achieve star power. As a result, Sam and Jack decided to offer Broadway actor John Barrymore
the lead role in Beau Brummel
. The film was so successful that Harry Warner agreed to sign Barrymore to a generous long-term contract; like The Marriage Circle, Beau Brummell was named one of the ten best films of the year by The New York Times. By the end of 1924, Warner Bros. was arguably the most successful independent studio in Hollywood, but it still competed with "The Big Three" Studios (First National
, Paramount Pictures
, and MGM). As a result, Harry Warner – while speaking at a convention of 1,500 independent exhibitors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin – was able to convince the filmmakers to spend $500,000 in newspaper advertising, and Harry saw this as an opportunity to finally be able to establish theaters in big cities like New York and Los Angeles.
As the studio prospered, it gained backing from Wall Street
, and in 1924 Goldman Sachs
arranged a major loan. With this new money, the Warners bought the pioneer Vitagraph Company
which had a nation-wide distribution system. In 1925, Warners also experimented in radio, establishing a successful radio station, KFWB, in Los Angeles.
(then known as "talking pictures"
or "talkies"). In 1925, at the urging of Sam, the Warners agreed to expand their operations by adding this feature to their productions. Harry, however, opposed it, famously wondering, "Who the heck wants to hear actors talk?" By February 1926, the studio suffered a reported net loss of $333,413.
After a long period of denying Sam's request for sound, Harry now agreed to accept Sam's demands, as long as the studio's use of synchronized sound was for background music purposes only. The Warners then signed a contract with the sound engineer company Western Electric
and established Vitaphone
. In 1926, Vitaphone began making films with music and effects tracks, most notably, in the feature Don Juan
starring John Barrymore. The film was silent, but it featured a large number of Vitaphone shorts at the beginning. To hype Don Juans release, Harry Warner also acquired the large Piccadilly Theater in Manhattan, New York and renamed it the Warner Theater.
Don Juan premiered at the Warner Theater in New York on August 6, 1926. Throughout the early history of film distribution, theater owners hired orchestras to attend film showings and provide soundtracks. Through Vitaphone, however, Warner Bros. produced eight Vitaphone shorts (which aired at the beginning of every showing of Don Juan across the country) in 1926, and got many film production companies to question the necessity. While Don Juan was a success at the box office, it did not earn back its production cost and Lubsitch left Warner for MGM. By April 1927, the Big Five studios (First National, Paramount, MGM, Universal
, and Producers Distributing) had put the Warner brothers in financial ruin, and Western Electric renewed Warner's Vitaphone contract with terms that allowed other film companies to test sound.
As a result of the financial problems the studio was having, Warner Bros. took the next step and released The Jazz Singer
starring Al Jolson
. This movie, which has very little sound dialog but does feature sound segments of Jolson singing, was a sensation. It signaled the beginning of the era of "talking pictures" and the twilight of the silent
era. However, as Sam died, the brothers were at his funeral and could not attend the premiere. Jack became sole head of production. Sam's death also had a great effect on Jack's emotional state, as Sam was arguably Jack's inspiration and favorite brother. In the years to come, Jack ran the studio with an iron fist. Firing of studio employees soon became his trademark. Among those whom Jack fired were Rin Tin Tin (in 1929) and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
– who had served as First National's top star since the brothers acquired the studio in 1928—in 1933.
Thanks to the success of The Jazz Singer, the studio was suddenly flush with cash. Jolson's next film for the company, The Singing Fool
was also a success. With the success of these first talkies (The Jazz Singer, Lights of New York
, The Singing Fool, and The Terror), Warner Bros. became one of the top studios in Hollywood and the brothers were now able to move out from the Poverty Row
section of Hollywood and acquire a big studio in Burbank, California
. They were also able to expand studio operations by acquiring the Stanley Corporation, a major theater chain. This gave them a share in rival First National Pictures
, of which Stanley owned one-third. In a bidding war with William Fox
, Warner Bros. bought more First National shares on September 13, 1928; Jack Warner also appointed producer Darryl Zanuck as the studio's manager of First National Pictures.
In 1929, Warner Bros also bought the St. Louis-based theater chain Skouras Brothers
. Following this take-over, Spyros Skouras
, the driving force of the chain, became general manager of the Warner Brothers Theater Circuit in America. He worked successfully in that post for two years and managed to eliminate the losses and eventually even increase the profits. This was a welcome gain given the financial hardships occasioned by the Great Depression
.
In addition, Harry Warner was also able to acquire a string of music publishers and form Warner Bros. Music. In April 1930, the Warner Bros. acquired Brunswick Records
. Harry also obtained a string of radio companies, foreign sound patents, and even a lithograph company. After establishing Warner Bros. Music, Harry appointed his son, Lewis, to serve as the company's head manager.
In 1929, Harry was also able to produce an adaptation of a Cole Porter
musical titled Fifty Million Frenchmen
. Through First National, the studio's profit increased substantially. After the success of the studio's 1929 First National film Noah's Ark, Harry also agreed to make Michael Curtiz
a major director at the Burbank studio. Mort Blumenstock, a First National screenwriter, became a top writer at the brothers' New York headquarters.
In the third quarter of 1929, Warner Bros. gained complete control of First National, when Harry purchased the company's remaining one-third share from Fox. The Justice Department
agreed to allow the purchase if First National was maintained as a separate company. When the Great Depression
hit, Warner asked for and got permission to merge the two studios; soon afterward Warner Bros. moved to the First National lot in Burbank
. Though the companies merged, the Justice Department required Warner to produce and release a few films each year under the First National name until 1938. For 30 years, certain Warner productions were identified (mainly for tax purposes) as 'A Warner Bros. – First National Picture.'
In the latter part of 1929, Jack Warner hired sixty-one year old actor George Arliss
to star in Disraeli
, which was a surprise success. Arliss won an Academy Award for Best Actor
and went on to star in nine more movies with the studio. In 1930, Harry acquired more theaters in Atlantic City
, despite the beginning of the Great Depression. In July 1930, the studio's banker, Motley Flint, was murdered by a disgruntled investor in another company.
By 1931, however, the studio began to feel the effects of the Depression as the general public became unable to afford the price of a movie ticket. In 1931, the studio reportedly suffered a net loss of $8 million, and an additional $14 million the following year. In 1931, Warner Bros. Music head Lewis Warner died from an infection.
Around that time, Warner Bros. head producer Darryl Zanuck hired screenwriter Wilson Mizner
. While at the studio, Mizner had hardly any respect for authority and found it difficult to work with studio boss Jack Warner, but nevertheless became a valuable asset. As time went by, Warner became more tolerant of Mizner and helped invest in Mizner's Brown Derby
restaurant. On April 3, 1933, Mizner died from a heart attack.
In 1928, Warner Bros. released Lights of New York
, the first all-talking feature. Due to its success, the movie industry converted entirely to sound almost overnight. By the end of 1929, all the major studios were exclusively making sound films. In 1929, National Pictures released their first film with Warner Bros., Noah's Ark. Despite its expensive budget, Noah's Ark was profitable. In 1929, Warner Bros. released On with the Show
, the first all-color all-talking feature. This was followed by Gold Diggers of Broadway
which was so popular it played in theatres until 1939. The success of these two color pictures caused a color revolution (just as the first all-talkie had created one for talkies). Warner Bros. released a large number of color films from 1929 to 1931, including The Show of Shows
(1929), Sally (1929), Bright Lights (1930), Golden Dawn
(1930), Hold Everything
(1930), Song of the Flame
(1930), Song of the West
(1930), The Life of the Party
(1930), Sweet Kitty Bellairs
(1930), Under A Texas Moon
(1930), Bride of the Regiment (1930), Viennese Nights
(1931), Woman Hungry
(1931), Kiss Me Again
(1931), Fifty Million Frenchmen
(1931), and Manhattan Parade
(1932). In addition to these, scores of features were released with Technicolor
sequences as well as a numerous variety of short subjects. The majority of these color films were musicals.
Three years later, the audience had grown so tired of musicals, the studio was forced to cut the musical numbers of many of the productions and advertise them as straight comedies. The public had begun to associate musicals with color and thus the movie studios began to abandon its use. Warner Bros. had a contract with Technicolor to produce two more pictures in that process. As a result, the first horror films in color were produced and released by the studio: Doctor X
(1932) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933). In the latter part of 1931, Harry Warner rented the Teddington Studios
in London, England. The studio focused on making 'quota quickies' for the domestic British market and Irving Asher
was appointed as the studio's head producer. In 1934, Harry Warner officially purchased the Teddington Studios.
In February 1933, however, Warner Bros. produced 42nd Street
, a very successful musical that saved the company from bankruptcy. In the wake of 42nd Streets success, the studio produced further profitable musicals. These starred Ruby Keeler
and Dick Powell
and were mostly directed by Busby Berkeley
. In 1935, the revival suffered a major blow when Berkeley was arrested after killing three people while driving drunk. By the end of the year, people again tired of Warner Bros. musicals, and the studio – after the huge profits made by the 1935 film Captain Blood – shifted its focus on producing Errol Flynn
swashbucklers
.
With the collapse of the market for musicals, Warner Bros., under production head Darryl F. Zanuck
, turned to more socially realistic storylines, "torn from the headlines" pictures many in the media said glorified gangsters; Warner Bros. soon became known as a "gangster studio". The studio's first gangster film, Little Caesar
, was a great box office success and Edward G. Robinson
was a star in many of the subsequent wave of Warner gangster films. The studio's next gangster film, The Public Enemy
, made James Cagney
arguably the studio's new top star, and Warner Bros. was now convinced to make more gangster films.
Another gangster film the studio produced was the critically acclaimed I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
, based on a true story and starring Paul Muni
. In addition to Cagney and Robinson, Muni was also given a big push as one the studio's top gangster stars after appearing in the successful film, which got audiences to question the legal system in the United States. 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, untrue and false attacks" against him in the film. After appearing in the film The Man Who Played God
, Bette Davis
became a top star for the studio.
In 1933, relief for the studio came after Franklin D. Roosevelt
became president and was able to stimulate the economy with the New Deal
; because of this economic rebound, Warner Bros. again became profitable. The same year, long time head producer Darryl F. Zanuck
quit. One reason was Harry Warner's relationship with Zanuck had become strained after Harry strongly opposed allowing Zanuck's film Baby Face
to step outside Hays Code boundaries. Also, the studio reduced Zanuck's salary as a result of the losses as a result of the Great Depression, and Harry continued to refuse to restore it in the wake of the New Deal's rebound. Zanuck resigned and established his own company. In the wake of Zanuck's resignation, Harry Warner agreed to again raise the salary for studio employees.
In 1933, Warner was able to bring newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst
's Cosmopolitan films into the Warner Bros. fold. Hearst had previously been signed with MGM, but ended the association after a dispute with the company's head producer Irving Thalberg over the treatment of Hearst's long standing mistress, actress Marion Davies
, who was struggling for box office success. Through his partnership with Hearst, Warner was able to sign Davies to a studio contract. Hearst's company and Davies' films, however, could not increase the studio's profits.
In 1934, the studio lost over $2.5 million, of which $500,000 was the result of a fire at the Burbank studio at the end of 1934, destroying 20 years worth of early Vitagraph, Warner Bros., and First National films. The following year, Hearst's film adaption of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
(1935) failed at the box office and the studio's net loss increased. During this time, Warner Bros. President Harry Warner and six other movie studio figures were indicted of conspiracy to violate the Sherman Antitrust Act
, through an attempt to gain a monopoly over theaters in the St Louis area. In 1935, Harry was put on trial; after a mistrial, Harry sold the company's movie theaters, at least for a short time, and the case was never reopened. 1935 also saw the studio rebound with a net profit of $674,158.00.
By 1936, contracts of musical and silent stars were not renewed and new talent, tough-talking, working-class types, were hired who more suitably fit in with these sort of pictures. Stars such as Dorothy Mackaill
, Bebe Daniels
, Frank Fay
, Winnie Lightner
, Bernice Claire
, Alexander Gray, Alice White, and Jack Mulhall
that had characterized the urban, modern, and sophisticated attitude of the 1920s gave way to stars such James Cagney
, Joan Blondell
, Edward G. Robinson
, Warren William
, and Barbara Stanwyck
who would be more acceptable to the common man. The studio was one of the most prolific producers of Pre-Code
pictures and had a lot of trouble with the censors once they started clamping down on what they considered indecency (around 1934). As a result, Warner Bros. turned out a number of historical pictures from around 1935 in order to avoid confrontations with the Breen office. In 1936, following the success of The Petrified Forest
, Jack Warner also signed Humphrey Bogart
to a studio contract. Warner, however, did not think Bogart was star material, and decided to only cast Bogart in infrequent roles as a villain opposite either James Cagney or Edward Robinson over the next five years.
After Hal B. Wallis
succeeded Zanuck in 1933 and the Hays Code began to be enforced in 1935, the studio was forced to abandon this realistic approach in order to produce more moralistic, idealized pictures. The studio naturally turned to historical dramas which would not cause any problems with the censors. Other offerings included melodrama
s (or "women's pictures"), swashbucklers
, and adaptations of best-sellers, with stars like Bette Davis
, Olivia de Havilland
, Paul Muni
, and Errol Flynn
. In 1936, Bette Davis, by now arguably the studio's top star, was unhappy with the roles Warner was giving her. She fled to England and tried to break her contract with Warner Bros. Davis lost the lawsuit and soon returned to America. Although many of the studio's employees had problems with Jack Warner, they considered Albert and Harry fair.
In 1935, Cagney sued Jack Warner for breach of contract. Cagney claimed Warner had forced him to star in more films than his contract required. Cagney eventually dropped his lawsuit after a cash settlement. Nevertheless, Cagney left the studio to establish an independent film company with his brother Bill. The Cagneys released their films though Grand National Films, however they were not able to get good financing for their productions and ran out of money after their third film. Cagney then agreed to return to Warner Bros., after Jack Warner agreed to a contract guaranteeing Cagney would be treated to his own terms. After the success of Yankee Doodle Dandy
at the box office, Cagney again questioned if the studio would meet his salary demand and again quit to form his own film production and distribution company with his brother Bill.
Another employee with whom Warner had troubles was studio producer Bryan Foy. In 1936, Wallis hired Foy as a producer for the studio's low budget B-films
leading to his nickname "the keeper of the B's". Foy was able to garnish arguably more profits than any other B-film producer at the time. During Foy's time at the studio, however, Warner fired him seven different times.
During 1936, the studio's film The Story of Louis Pasteur
proved a box office success and Paul Muni
, the film's star, won the Oscar for Best Actor in March 1937. The studio's 1937 film The Life of Emile Zola
gave the studio its first Best Picture Oscar.
In 1937, the studio hired Midwestern radio announcer Ronald Reagan
. Although Reagan was initially a small-time B-film actor, Warner Bros. was impressed by his performance in the final scene of Knute Rockne, All American
, and agreed to pair him with Errol Flynn in their film Santa Fe Trail
(1940). Reagan then returned to B-films. After his performance in the studio's 1942 Kings Row
, Warner decided to make Reagan a top star and signed him to a new contract, tripling his salary.
In 1936, Harry Warner's daughter Doris read a copy of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind
and was interested in making a film adaptation. Doris then offered Mitchell $50,000 for the book's screen rights. Jack, however, refused to allow the deal to take place, realizing it would be an expensive production.
Another studio actor who proved to be a problem for Jack Warner was George Raft
. Warner had signed Raft in 1939, hoping he could substitute in gangster pictures when either Robinson or Cagney were on suspension. Raft had difficulty working with Bogart and refused to co-star in any film with him. Eventually, Jack Warner agreed to release Raft from his contract. Following Raft's departure, the studio gave Bogart the role of Roy Earl in the 1941 film High Sierra, which helped establish him as one of the studio's top stars; following High Sierra, Bogart was also given a role in John Huston
's successful 1941 remake
of the studio's 1931 failure, The Maltese Falcon
.
Warner's cartoon unit had its roots in the independent Harman and Ising
studio. From 1930 to 1933, Disney
alumni Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising produced a series of musical cartoons for Leon Schlesinger
, who sold the shorts to Warner. Harman and Ising introduced their character Bosko
in the first Looney Tunes
cartoon, Sinkin' in the Bathtub
, and created a sister series, Merrie Melodies
, in 1931.
Harman and Ising broke away from Schlesinger in 1933 due to a contractual dispute, taking Bosko with them to MGM. As a result, Schlesinger started his own studio, Leon Schlesinger Productions
, which continued with Merrie Melodies while starting production on Looney Tunes starring Buddy
, a Bosko clone. By the end of the decade, a new Schlesinger production team, including directors Friz Freleng
, Tex Avery
, Robert Clampett
, and Chuck Jones
was formed. Schlesinger's staff developed a fast-paced, irreverent style that made their cartoons immensely popular worldwide.
In 1936, Avery directed a string of cartoons, starring Porky Pig
, which established the character as the studio's first bona fide star. In addition to Porky Pig, Warner Bros. cartoon characters Daffy Duck
(who debuted in the 1937 short Porky's Duck Hunt
) and Bugs Bunny
(who debuted in the 1940 short A Wild Hare
) also achieved star power. By 1942, the Schlesinger studio had surpassed Walt Disney Studios as the most successful producer of animated shorts in the United States.
Warner Bros eventually bought Schlesinger's cartoon unit in 1944 as a division, renamed it as Warner Bros. Cartoons
. Unfortunately, the unit was indifferently treated by senior management, beginning with the installation of Edward Selzer as senior producer, whom the creative staff considered an interfering incompetent. Furthermore, Jack Warner, who had little regard for his company's short film product, reputedly was so ignorant of his animation division that he was mistakenly convinced that the unit produced cartoons of Mickey Mouse
, rival company Walt Disney Pictures
' flagship character. Furthermore, he sold off the unit's pre-1948 library for a mere $3000 each, which proved a short sighted transaction in light of the considerable long term value that the company's animation product proved to have.
Warner Brothers Cartoons continued, with intermittent interruptions, until 1969 when it was dissolved when the parent company ceased film short production entirely. Regardless of this treatment, its characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird
, Sylvester
, and Porky Pig became central to the company's image in subsequent decades. Bugs in particular remains a mascot to Warner Bros.' various divisions and Six Flags
(which Time Warner previously owned). In fact, it was the success of the compilation film, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie
in 1980, featuring the archived film of these characters that prompted Warner Brothers to organize Warner Brothers Animation as a new production division to restart production of original material.
produced the successful anti-German film The Life of Emile Zola
(1937). After that, Harry supervised the production of several more anti-German films, including Confessions of a Nazi Spy
(1939), The Sea Hawk
(1940), which made King Phillip II an equivalent of Hitler
, Sergeant York
, and You're In The Army Now
(1941). After the United States officially entered World War II, Harry Warner decided to focus on producing war films. Also, one-fourth of the studio's employees, including Jack Warner and his son Jack Jr., were drafted or enlisted.
Among the films the studio made during the war were Casablanca
, Now, Voyager
, Yankee Doodle Dandy (all 1942), This Is the Army
, and Mission to Moscow
(both 1943), the latter became controversial a few years afterwards. At the premieres of Yankee Doodle Dandy (in Los Angeles, New York, and London), audiences purchased $15.6 million in war bond
s for the governments of England and the United States. By the middle of 1943, however, it became clear audiences were tired of war films. Despite the growing pressure to abandon production of war films, Warner continued to produce them, losing money in the process. Eventually, in honor of the studio's contributions to the war cause, the United States Government named a Liberty ship
after the brothers' father, Benjamin Warner, and Harry Warner was given the honor of christening the ship. By the time the war ended, $20 million in war bonds were purchased through the studio, the Red Cross
collected 5,200 pints of plasma
from studio employees, and 763 of the studio's employees served in the armed forces, including Harry Warner's son-in-law Milton Sperling
and Jack's son Jack Warner Jr.
Following a dispute over ownership of Casablanca
s Oscar for Best Picture, head producer Hal B. Wallis broke with Warner and resigned.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. (though the name was occasionally given in full form as Warner Brothers during the company's early years), 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, California
and New York, New York. Warner Bros. has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television
, Warner Bros. Animation
, Warner Home Video
, New Line Cinema
, TheWB.com
, and DC Comics
. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network
.
(born Hirsch), Albert
(born Aaron), Sam
(born Szmul), and Jack
(born Jacob), whose parents had emigrated to North America
from Poland
, which was at that time part of the Russian Empire
. The three elder brothers began in the movie theatre business, having acquired a movie projector
with which they showed films in the mining towns of Pennsylvania
and Ohio
. They opened their first theater, the Cascade, in New Castle, Pennsylvania
in 1903. (The site of the Cascade later became the Cascade Center
, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex honoring its Warner Bros. heritage, though in late 2010 all of the businesses have closed and the complex is currently for sale.)
> When this original theatre building in New Castle was in danger of being demolished, the modern Warner Bros. called the modern building owners, and arranged a 3 way even splitting of the cost of saving it, between the state, Warner Bros, and the modern owners. The owners noted the fact that they were taking phone calls from all over the country in reference to the historical significance of the humble building that should be saved historically.
In 1904, the Warners founded the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company, to distribute films.
Within a few years this led to the distribution of pictures across a four-state area. In 1912, Harry Warner hired an auditor named Paul Ashley Chase
. By the time of World War I
they had begun producing films, and in 1918 the brothers opened the Warner Bros. studio on Sunset Boulevard
in Hollywood. Sam and Jack Warner produced the pictures, while Harry and Albert Warner and their auditor and now controller Chase handled finance and distribution in New York City. It was during World War I and their first nationally syndicated film was My Four Years in Germany based on a popular book by former American Ambassador James W. Gerard
. On April 4, 1923, with help from a loan given to Harry Warner by his banker Motley Flint,Cass Warner Sperling, Cork Millner, and Jack Warner (1998), Hollywood be thy name: the Warner Brothers story (Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky), p. 77. they formally incorporated as Warner Brothers Pictures, Incorporated. However, as late as the 1960s, Warner Bros. claimed 1905 as its founding date.
The first important deal for the company was the acquisition of the rights to Avery Hopwood
's 1919 Broadway play, The Gold Diggers, from theatrical impresario David Belasco
. However, what really put Warner Bros. on the Hollywood map was a dog, Rin Tin Tin
,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 81. brought from France after World War I by an American soldier.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 80. Rin Tin Tin debuted in the feature Where the North Begins. The movie was so successful that Jack Warner agreed to sign the dog to star in more films for $1,000 per week. Rin Tin Tin became the top star at the studio. Jack Warner nicknamed him "The Mortgage Lifter" and the success boosted Darryl F. Zanuck
's career. Zanuck eventually became a top producer for the studioSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 101. and between 1928 and 1933 served as Jack Warner's right-hand man and executive producer, with responsibilities including the day-to-day production of films.Behlmer (1985), p. xii. More success came after Ernst Lubitsch
was hired as head director; Harry Rapf
left the studio and accepted an offer to work at MGM
. Lubitsch's film The Marriage Circle
was the studio's most successful film of 1924, and was on The New York Times best list for the year.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 82.
Despite the success of Rin Tin Tin and Lubitsch, Warners was still unable to achieve star power.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 83. As a result, Sam and Jack decided to offer Broadway actor John Barrymore
the lead role in Beau Brummel
. The film was so successful that Harry Warner agreed to sign Barrymore to a generous long-term contract;Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 84. like The Marriage Circle, Beau Brummell was named one of the ten best films of the year by The New York Times. By the end of 1924, Warner Bros. was arguably the most successful independent studio in Hollywood, but it still competed with "The Big Three" Studios (First National
, Paramount Pictures
, and MGM). As a result, Harry Warner – while speaking at a convention of 1,500 independent exhibitors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin – was able to convince the filmmakers to spend $500,000 in newspaper advertising,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 86. and Harry saw this as an opportunity to finally be able to establish theaters in big cities like New York and Los Angeles.
As the studio prospered, it gained backing from Wall Street
, and in 1924 Goldman Sachs
arranged a major loan. With this new money, the Warners bought the pioneer Vitagraph Company
which had a nation-wide distribution system. In 1925, Warners also experimented in radio, establishing a successful radio station, KFWB, in Los Angeles.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.88.
(then known as "talking pictures"
or "talkies"). In 1925, at the urging of Sam, the Warners agreed to expand their operations by adding this feature to their productions.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 95. Harry, however, opposed it,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 94. famously wondering, "Who the heck wants to hear actors talk?" By February 1926, the studio suffered a reported net loss of $333,413.
After a long period of denying Sam's request for sound, Harry now agreed to accept Sam's demands, as long as the studio's use of synchronized sound was for background music purposes only. The Warners then signed a contract with the sound engineer company Western Electric
and established Vitaphone
.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 96. In 1926, Vitaphone began making films with music and effects tracks, most notably, in the feature Don Juan
starring John Barrymore. The film was silent, but it featured a large number of Vitaphone shorts at the beginning. To hype Don Juans release, Harry Warner also acquired the large Piccadilly Theater in Manhattan, New York and renamed it the Warner Theater.Thomas (1990), p. 56.
Don Juan premiered at the Warner Theater in New York on August 6, 1926. Throughout the early history of film distribution, theater owners hired orchestras to attend film showings and provide soundtracks. Through Vitaphone, however, Warner Bros. produced eight Vitaphone shorts (which aired at the beginning of every showing of Don Juan across the country) in 1926, and got many film production companies to question the necessity.Thomas (1990), p. 57. While Don Juan was a success at the box office,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 113. it did not earn back its production cost and Lubsitch left Warner for MGM. By April 1927, the Big Five studios (First National, Paramount, MGM, Universal
, and Producers Distributing) had put the Warner brothers in financial ruin,Thomas (1990), p. 59. and Western Electric renewed Warner's Vitaphone contract with terms that allowed other film companies to test sound.
As a result of the financial problems the studio was having, Warner Bros. took the next step and released The Jazz Singer
starring Al Jolson
. This movie, which has very little sound dialog but does feature sound segments of Jolson singing, was a sensation. It signaled the beginning of the era of "talking pictures" and the twilight of the silent
era. However, as Sam died, the brothers were at his funeral and could not attend the premiere. Jack became sole head of production.Warner and Jennings (1964), pp.180–181. Sam's death also had a great effect on Jack's emotional state, as Sam was arguably Jack's inspiration and favorite brother.Thomas (1990), p. 62. In the years to come, Jack ran the studio with an iron fist. Firing of studio employees soon became his trademark.Thomas (1990), p. 100-101. Among those whom Jack fired were Rin Tin Tin (in 1929) and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
– who had served as First National's top star since the brothers acquired the studio in 1928—in 1933.
Thanks to the success of The Jazz Singer, the studio was suddenly flush with cash. Jolson's next film for the company, The Singing Fool
was also a success.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 141. With the success of these first talkies (The Jazz Singer, Lights of New York
, The Singing Fool, and The Terror), Warner Bros. became one of the top studios in Hollywood and the brothers were now able to move out from the Poverty Row
section of Hollywood and acquire a big studio in Burbank, California
. They were also able to expand studio operations by acquiring the Stanley Corporation, a major theater chain.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.144. This gave them a share in rival First National Pictures
, of which Stanley owned one-third.Thomas (1990), p.65. In a bidding war with William Fox
, Warner Bros. bought more First National shares on September 13, 1928;Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 147. Jack Warner also appointed producer Darryl Zanuck as the studio's manager of First National Pictures.
In 1929, Warner Bros also bought the St. Louis-based theater chain Skouras Brothers
. Following this take-over, Spyros Skouras
, the driving force of the chain, became general manager of the Warner Brothers Theater Circuit in America. He worked successfully in that post for two years and managed to eliminate the losses and eventually even increase the profits. This was a welcome gain given the financial hardships occasioned by the Great Depression
.
In addition, Harry Warner was also able to acquire a string of music publishers and form Warner Bros. Music. In April 1930, the Warner Bros. acquired Brunswick Records
. Harry also obtained a string of radio companies, foreign sound patents, and even a lithograph company. After establishing Warner Bros. Music, Harry appointed his son, Lewis, to serve as the company's head manager.Thomas (1990), p. 66.
In 1929, Harry was also able to produce an adaptation of a Cole Porter
musical titled Fifty Million Frenchmen
.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.148. Through First National, the studio's profit increased substantially. After the success of the studio's 1929 First National film Noah's Ark, Harry also agreed to make Michael Curtiz
a major director at the Burbank studio. Mort Blumenstock, a First National screenwriter, became a top writer at the brothers' New York headquarters.
In the third quarter of 1929, Warner Bros. gained complete control of First National, when Harry purchased the company's remaining one-third share from Fox. The Justice Department
agreed to allow the purchase if First National was maintained as a separate company. When the Great Depression
hit, Warner asked for and got permission to merge the two studios; soon afterward Warner Bros. moved to the First National lot in Burbank
. Though the companies merged, the Justice Department required Warner to produce and release a few films each year under the First National name until 1938. For 30 years, certain Warner productions were identified (mainly for tax purposes) as 'A Warner Bros. – First National Picture.'
In the latter part of 1929, Jack Warner hired sixty-one year old actor George Arliss
to star in Disraeli
,Thomas (1990), p. 77. which was a surprise success. Arliss won an Academy Award for Best Actor
and went on to star in nine more movies with the studio. In 1930, Harry acquired more theaters in Atlantic City
, despite the beginning of the Great Depression. In July 1930, the studio's banker, Motley Flint, was murdered by a disgruntled investor in another company.Thomas (1990), pp.72.
By 1931, however, the studio began to feel the effects of the Depression as the general public became unable to afford the price of a movie ticket. In 1931, the studio reportedly suffered a net loss of $8 million,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 160. and an additional $14 million the following year. In 1931, Warner Bros. Music head Lewis Warner died from an infection.
Around that time, Warner Bros. head producer Darryl Zanuck hired screenwriter Wilson Mizner
.Thomas (1990), pp. 89–92. While at the studio, Mizner had hardly any respect for authority and found it difficult to work with studio boss Jack Warner, but nevertheless became a valuable asset. As time went by, Warner became more tolerant of Mizner and helped invest in Mizner's Brown Derby
restaurant. On April 3, 1933, Mizner died from a heart attack.Thomas (1990), pp. 93.
In 1928, Warner Bros. released Lights of New York
, the first all-talking feature. Due to its success, the movie industry converted entirely to sound almost overnight. By the end of 1929, all the major studios were exclusively making sound films. In 1929, National Pictures released their first film with Warner Bros., Noah's Ark.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.151. Despite its expensive budget, Noah's Ark was profitable.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 150. In 1929, Warner Bros. released On with the Show
, the first all-color all-talking feature. This was followed by Gold Diggers of Broadway
which was so popular it played in theatres until 1939. The success of these two color pictures caused a color revolution (just as the first all-talkie had created one for talkies). Warner Bros. released a large number of color films from 1929 to 1931, including The Show of Shows
(1929), Sally (1929), Bright Lights (1930), Golden Dawn
(1930), Hold Everything
(1930), Song of the Flame
(1930), Song of the West
(1930), The Life of the Party
(1930), Sweet Kitty Bellairs
(1930), Under A Texas Moon
(1930), Bride of the Regiment (1930), Viennese Nights
(1931), Woman Hungry
(1931), Kiss Me Again
(1931), Fifty Million Frenchmen
(1931), and Manhattan Parade
(1932). In addition to these, scores of features were released with Technicolor
sequences as well as a numerous variety of short subjects. The majority of these color films were musicals.
Three years later, the audience had grown so tired of musicals, the studio was forced to cut the musical numbers of many of the productions and advertise them as straight comedies. The public had begun to associate musicals with color and thus the movie studios began to abandon its use. Warner Bros. had a contract with Technicolor to produce two more pictures in that process. As a result, the first horror films in color were produced and released by the studio: Doctor X
(1932) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933). In the latter part of 1931, Harry Warner rented the Teddington Studios
in London, England. The studio focused on making 'quota quickies' for the domestic British marketPatricia Warren British Film Studios: An Illustrated History, London: B.T Batsford, 2001, p.161 and Irving Asher
was appointed as the studio's head producer. In 1934, Harry Warner officially purchased the Teddington Studios.
In February 1933, however, Warner Bros. produced 42nd Street
, a very successful musicalSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 190. that saved the company from bankruptcy. In the wake of 42nd Streets success, the studio produced further profitable musicals.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 194. These starred Ruby Keeler
and Dick Powell
and were mostly directed by Busby Berkeley
.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.192. In 1935, the revival suffered a major blow when Berkeley was arrested after killing three people while driving drunk. By the end of the year, people again tired of Warner Bros. musicals, and the studio – after the huge profits made by the 1935 film Captain Blood – shifted its focus on producing Errol Flynn
swashbucklers
.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 195.
With the collapse of the market for musicals, Warner Bros., under production head Darryl F. Zanuck
, turned to more socially realistic storylines, "torn from the headlines" pictures many in the media said glorified gangsters; Warner Bros. soon became known as a "gangster studio". The studio's first gangster film, Little Caesar
, was a great box office successSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 184. and Edward G. Robinson
was a star in many of the subsequent wave of Warner gangster films.Thomas (1990), pp.77–79. The studio's next gangster film, The Public Enemy
,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.185 made James Cagney
arguably the studio's new top star,Thomas (1990), p.81. and Warner Bros. was now convinced to make more gangster films.
Another gangster film the studio produced was the critically acclaimed I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
, based on a true story and starring Paul Muni
.Thomas (1990), p.83. In addition to Cagney and Robinson, Muni was also given a big push as one the studio's top gangster starsSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.186. after appearing in the successful film, which got audiences to question the legal system in the United States. 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, untrue and false attacks" against him in the film. After appearing in the film The Man Who Played God
, Bette Davis
became a top star for the studio.Thomas (1990), pp. 82–83.
In 1933, relief for the studio came after Franklin D. Roosevelt
became president and was able to stimulate the economy with the New Deal
;Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.161. because of this economic rebound, Warner Bros. again became profitable. The same year, long time head producer Darryl F. Zanuck
quit. One reason was Harry Warner's relationship with Zanuck had become strained after Harry strongly opposed allowing Zanuck's film Baby Face
to step outside Hays Code boundaries. Also, the studio reduced Zanuck's salary as a result of the losses as a result of the Great Depression, and Harry continued to refuse to restore it in the wake of the New Deal's rebound. Zanuck resignedBehlmer (1985), p.12. and established his own company. In the wake of Zanuck's resignation, Harry Warner agreed to again raise the salary for studio employees.
In 1933, Warner was able to bring newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst
's Cosmopolitan films into the Warner Bros. fold. Hearst had previously been signed with MGM, but ended the association after a dispute with the company's head producer Irving Thalberg over the treatment of Hearst's long standing mistress, actress Marion Davies
, who was struggling for box office success. Through his partnership with Hearst, Warner was able to sign Davies to a studio contract. Hearst's company and Davies' films, however, could not increase the studio's profits.
In 1934, the studio lost over $2.5 million, of which $500,000 was the result of a fire at the Burbank studio at the end of 1934, destroying 20 years worth of early Vitagraph, Warner Bros., and First National films.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 209 The following year, Hearst's film adaption of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
(1935) failed at the box office and the studio's net loss increased. During this time, Warner Bros. President Harry Warner and six other movie studio figures were indicted of conspiracy to violate the Sherman Antitrust Act
, through an attempt to gain a monopoly over theaters in the St Louis area. In 1935, Harry was put on trial; after a mistrial, Harry sold the company's movie theaters, at least for a short time, and the case was never reopened.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 211 1935 also saw the studio rebound with a net profit of $674,158.00.
By 1936, contracts of musical and silent stars were not renewed and new talent, tough-talking, working-class types, were hired who more suitably fit in with these sort of pictures. Stars such as Dorothy Mackaill
, Bebe Daniels
, Frank Fay
, Winnie Lightner
, Bernice Claire
, Alexander Gray, Alice White, and Jack Mulhall
that had characterized the urban, modern, and sophisticated attitude of the 1920s gave way to stars such James Cagney
, Joan Blondell
, Edward G. Robinson
, Warren William
, and Barbara Stanwyck
who would be more acceptable to the common man. The studio was one of the most prolific producers of Pre-Code
pictures and had a lot of trouble with the censors once they started clamping down on what they considered indecency (around 1934).Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), pp.188–189. As a result, Warner Bros. turned out a number of historical pictures from around 1935 in order to avoid confrontations with the Breen office. In 1936, following the success of The Petrified Forest
, Jack Warner also signed Humphrey Bogart
to a studio contract. Warner, however, did not think Bogart was star material, and decided to only cast Bogart in infrequent roles as a villain opposite either James Cagney or Edward Robinson over the next five years.
After Hal B. Wallis
succeeded Zanuck in 1933 and the Hays Code began to be enforced in 1935, the studio was forced to abandon this realistic approach in order to produce more moralistic, idealized pictures. The studio naturally turned to historical dramas which would not cause any problems with the censors. Other offerings included melodrama
s (or "women's pictures"), swashbucklers
, and adaptations of best-sellers, with stars like Bette Davis
, Olivia de Havilland
, Paul Muni
, and Errol Flynn
. In 1936, Bette Davis, by now arguably the studio's top star,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 219-221. was unhappy with the roles Warner was giving her. She fled to England and tried to break her contract with Warner Bros. Davis lost the lawsuit and soon returned to America.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 221. Although many of the studio's employees had problems with Jack Warner, they considered Albert and Harry fair.
In 1935, Cagney sued Jack Warner for breach of contract. Cagney claimed Warner had forced him to star in more films than his contract required. Cagney eventually dropped his lawsuit after a cash settlement. Nevertheless, Cagney left the studio to establish an independent film company with his brother Bill. The Cagneys released their films though Grand National Films, however they were not able to get good financing for their productions and ran out of money after their third film. Cagney then agreed to return to Warner Bros., after Jack Warner agreed to a contract guaranteeing Cagney would be treated to his own terms. After the success of Yankee Doodle Dandy
at the box office, Cagney again questioned if the studio would meet his salary demand and again quit to form his own film production and distribution company with his brother Bill.
Another employee with whom Warner had troubles was studio producer Bryan Foy. In 1936, Wallis hired Foy as a producer for the studio's low budget B-films
leading to his nickname "the keeper of the B's". Foy was able to garnish arguably more profits than any other B-film producer at the time. During Foy's time at the studio, however, Warner fired him seven different times.
During 1936, the studio's film The Story of Louis Pasteur
proved a box office success and Paul Muni
, the film's star, won the Oscar for Best Actor in March 1937. The studio's 1937 film The Life of Emile Zola
gave the studio its first Best Picture Oscar.
In 1937, the studio hired Midwestern radio announcer Ronald Reagan
. Although Reagan was initially a small-time B-film actor, Warner Bros. was impressed by his performance in the final scene of Knute Rockne, All American
, and agreed to pair him with Errol Flynn in their film Santa Fe Trail
(1940). Reagan then returned to B-films. After his performance in the studio's 1942 Kings Row
, Warner decided to make Reagan a top star and signed him to a new contract, tripling his salary.
In 1936, Harry Warner's daughter Doris read a copy of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind
and was interested in making a film adaptation. Doris then offered Mitchell $50,000 for the book's screen rights. Jack, however, refused to allow the deal to take place, realizing it would be an expensive production.
Another studio actor who proved to be a problem for Jack Warner was George Raft
. Warner had signed Raft in 1939, hoping he could substitute in gangster pictures when either Robinson or Cagney were on suspension. Raft had difficulty working with Bogart and refused to co-star in any film with him. Eventually, Jack Warner agreed to release Raft from his contract. Following Raft's departure, the studio gave Bogart the role of Roy Earl in the 1941 film High Sierra, which helped establish him as one of the studio's top stars; following High Sierra, Bogart was also given a role in John Huston
's successful 1941 remake
of the studio's 1931 failure, The Maltese Falcon
.
Warner's cartoon unit had its roots in the independent Harman and Ising
studio. From 1930 to 1933, Disney
alumni Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising produced a series of musical cartoons for Leon Schlesinger
, who sold the shorts to Warner. Harman and Ising introduced their character Bosko
in the first Looney Tunes
cartoon, Sinkin' in the Bathtub
, and created a sister series, Merrie Melodies
, in 1931.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 187.
Harman and Ising broke away from Schlesinger in 1933 due to a contractual dispute, taking Bosko with them to MGM. As a result, Schlesinger started his own studio, Leon Schlesinger Productions
, which continued with Merrie Melodies while starting production on Looney Tunes starring Buddy
, a Bosko clone. By the end of the decade, a new Schlesinger production team, including directors Friz Freleng
, Tex Avery
, Robert Clampett
, and Chuck Jones
was formed. Schlesinger's staff developed a fast-paced, irreverent style that made their cartoons immensely popular worldwide.
In 1936, Avery directed a string of cartoons, starring Porky Pig
, which established the character as the studio's first bona fide star.Barrier, Michael (1999). pp.329–333. In addition to Porky Pig, Warner Bros. cartoon characters Daffy Duck
(who debuted in the 1937 short Porky's Duck Hunt
) and Bugs Bunny
(who debuted in the 1940 short A Wild Hare
) also achieved star power. By 1942, the Schlesinger studio had surpassed Walt Disney Studios as the most successful producer of animated shorts in the United States.
Warner Bros eventually bought Schlesinger's cartoon unit in 1944 as a division, renamed it as Warner Bros. Cartoons
. Unfortunately, the unit was indifferently treated by senior management, beginning with the installation of Edward Selzer as senior producer, whom the creative staff considered an interfering incompetent. Furthermore, Jack Warner, who had little regard for his company's short film product, reputedly was so ignorant of his animation division that he was mistakenly convinced that the unit produced cartoons of Mickey Mouse
, rival company Walt Disney Pictures
' flagship character. Furthermore, he sold off the unit's pre-1948 library for a mere $3000 each, which proved a short sighted transaction in light of the considerable long term value that the company's animation product proved to have.Thomas (1990), p. 212.
Warner Brothers Cartoons continued, with intermittent interruptions, until 1969 when it was dissolved when the parent company ceased film short production entirely. Regardless of this treatment, its characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird
, Sylvester
, and Porky Pig became central to the company's image in subsequent decades. Bugs in particular remains a mascot to Warner Bros.' various divisions and Six Flags
(which Time Warner previously owned). In fact, it was the success of the compilation film, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie
in 1980, featuring the archived film of these characters that prompted Warner Brothers to organize Warner Brothers Animation as a new production division to restart production of original material.
produced the successful anti-German film The Life of Emile Zola
(1937).Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 225 After that, Harry supervised the production of several more anti-German films, including Confessions of a Nazi Spy
(1939),Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 233 The Sea Hawk
(1940), which made King Phillip II an equivalent of Hitler
,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 247 Sergeant York
,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 246 and You're In The Army Now
(1941). After the United States officially entered World War II, Harry Warner decided to focus on producing war films.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 240 Also, one-fourth of the studio's employees, including Jack Warner and his son Jack Jr., were drafted or enlisted.
Among the films the studio made during the war were Casablanca
, Now, Voyager
, Yankee Doodle Dandy (all 1942), This Is the Army
, and Mission to Moscow
(both 1943), the latter became controversial a few years afterwards. At the premieres of Yankee Doodle Dandy (in Los Angeles, New York, and London), audiences purchased $15.6 million in war bond
s for the governments of England and the United States. By the middle of 1943, however, it became clear audiences were tired of war films. Despite the growing pressure to abandon production of war films, Warner continued to produce them, losing money in the process. Eventually, in honor of the studio's contributions to the war cause, the United States Government named a Liberty ship
after the brothers' father, Benjamin Warner, and Harry Warner was given the honor of christening the ship. By the time the war ended, $20 million in war bonds were purchased through the studio, the Red Cross
collected 5,200 pints of plasma
from studio employees, and 763 of the studio's employees served in the armed forces, including Harry Warner's son-in-law Milton Sperling
and Jack's son Jack Warner Jr.
Following a dispute over ownership of Casablanca
s Oscar for Best Picture, head producer Hal B. Wallis broke with Warner and resigned.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. (though the name was occasionally given in full form as Warner Brothers during the company's early years), 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, California
and New York, New York. Warner Bros. has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television
, Warner Bros. Animation
, Warner Home Video
, New Line Cinema
, TheWB.com
, and DC Comics
. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network
.
(born Hirsch), Albert
(born Aaron), Sam
(born Szmul), and Jack
(born Jacob), whose parents had emigrated to North America
from Poland
, which was at that time part of the Russian Empire
. The three elder brothers began in the movie theatre business, having acquired a movie projector
with which they showed films in the mining towns of Pennsylvania
and Ohio
. They opened their first theater, the Cascade, in New Castle, Pennsylvania
in 1903. (The site of the Cascade later became the Cascade Center
, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex honoring its Warner Bros. heritage, though in late 2010 all of the businesses have closed and the complex is currently for sale.)
> When this original theatre building in New Castle was in danger of being demolished, the modern Warner Bros. called the modern building owners, and arranged a 3 way even splitting of the cost of saving it, between the state, Warner Bros, and the modern owners. The owners noted the fact that they were taking phone calls from all over the country in reference to the historical significance of the humble building that should be saved historically.
In 1904, the Warners founded the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company, to distribute films.
Within a few years this led to the distribution of pictures across a four-state area. In 1912, Harry Warner hired an auditor named Paul Ashley Chase
. By the time of World War I
they had begun producing films, and in 1918 the brothers opened the Warner Bros. studio on Sunset Boulevard
in Hollywood. Sam and Jack Warner produced the pictures, while Harry and Albert Warner and their auditor and now controller Chase handled finance and distribution in New York City. It was during World War I and their first nationally syndicated film was My Four Years in Germany based on a popular book by former American Ambassador James W. Gerard
. On April 4, 1923, with help from a loan given to Harry Warner by his banker Motley Flint,Cass Warner Sperling, Cork Millner, and Jack Warner (1998), Hollywood be thy name: the Warner Brothers story (Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky), p. 77. they formally incorporated as Warner Brothers Pictures, Incorporated. However, as late as the 1960s, Warner Bros. claimed 1905 as its founding date.
The first important deal for the company was the acquisition of the rights to Avery Hopwood
's 1919 Broadway play, The Gold Diggers, from theatrical impresario David Belasco
. However, what really put Warner Bros. on the Hollywood map was a dog, Rin Tin Tin
,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 81. brought from France after World War I by an American soldier.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 80. Rin Tin Tin debuted in the feature Where the North Begins. The movie was so successful that Jack Warner agreed to sign the dog to star in more films for $1,000 per week. Rin Tin Tin became the top star at the studio. Jack Warner nicknamed him "The Mortgage Lifter" and the success boosted Darryl F. Zanuck
's career. Zanuck eventually became a top producer for the studioSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 101. and between 1928 and 1933 served as Jack Warner's right-hand man and executive producer, with responsibilities including the day-to-day production of films.Behlmer (1985), p. xii. More success came after Ernst Lubitsch
was hired as head director; Harry Rapf
left the studio and accepted an offer to work at MGM
. Lubitsch's film The Marriage Circle
was the studio's most successful film of 1924, and was on The New York Times best list for the year.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 82.
Despite the success of Rin Tin Tin and Lubitsch, Warners was still unable to achieve star power.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 83. As a result, Sam and Jack decided to offer Broadway actor John Barrymore
the lead role in Beau Brummel
. The film was so successful that Harry Warner agreed to sign Barrymore to a generous long-term contract;Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 84. like The Marriage Circle, Beau Brummell was named one of the ten best films of the year by The New York Times. By the end of 1924, Warner Bros. was arguably the most successful independent studio in Hollywood, but it still competed with "The Big Three" Studios (First National
, Paramount Pictures
, and MGM). As a result, Harry Warner – while speaking at a convention of 1,500 independent exhibitors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin – was able to convince the filmmakers to spend $500,000 in newspaper advertising,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 86. and Harry saw this as an opportunity to finally be able to establish theaters in big cities like New York and Los Angeles.
As the studio prospered, it gained backing from Wall Street
, and in 1924 Goldman Sachs
arranged a major loan. With this new money, the Warners bought the pioneer Vitagraph Company
which had a nation-wide distribution system. In 1925, Warners also experimented in radio, establishing a successful radio station, KFWB, in Los Angeles.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.88.
(then known as "talking pictures"
or "talkies"). In 1925, at the urging of Sam, the Warners agreed to expand their operations by adding this feature to their productions.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 95. Harry, however, opposed it,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 94. famously wondering, "Who the heck wants to hear actors talk?" By February 1926, the studio suffered a reported net loss of $333,413.
After a long period of denying Sam's request for sound, Harry now agreed to accept Sam's demands, as long as the studio's use of synchronized sound was for background music purposes only. The Warners then signed a contract with the sound engineer company Western Electric
and established Vitaphone
.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 96. In 1926, Vitaphone began making films with music and effects tracks, most notably, in the feature Don Juan
starring John Barrymore. The film was silent, but it featured a large number of Vitaphone shorts at the beginning. To hype Don Juans release, Harry Warner also acquired the large Piccadilly Theater in Manhattan, New York and renamed it the Warner Theater.Thomas (1990), p. 56.
Don Juan premiered at the Warner Theater in New York on August 6, 1926. Throughout the early history of film distribution, theater owners hired orchestras to attend film showings and provide soundtracks. Through Vitaphone, however, Warner Bros. produced eight Vitaphone shorts (which aired at the beginning of every showing of Don Juan across the country) in 1926, and got many film production companies to question the necessity.Thomas (1990), p. 57. While Don Juan was a success at the box office,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 113. it did not earn back its production cost and Lubsitch left Warner for MGM. By April 1927, the Big Five studios (First National, Paramount, MGM, Universal
, and Producers Distributing) had put the Warner brothers in financial ruin,Thomas (1990), p. 59. and Western Electric renewed Warner's Vitaphone contract with terms that allowed other film companies to test sound.
As a result of the financial problems the studio was having, Warner Bros. took the next step and released The Jazz Singer
starring Al Jolson
. This movie, which has very little sound dialog but does feature sound segments of Jolson singing, was a sensation. It signaled the beginning of the era of "talking pictures" and the twilight of the silent
era. However, as Sam died, the brothers were at his funeral and could not attend the premiere. Jack became sole head of production.Warner and Jennings (1964), pp.180–181. Sam's death also had a great effect on Jack's emotional state, as Sam was arguably Jack's inspiration and favorite brother.Thomas (1990), p. 62. In the years to come, Jack ran the studio with an iron fist. Firing of studio employees soon became his trademark.Thomas (1990), p. 100-101. Among those whom Jack fired were Rin Tin Tin (in 1929) and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
– who had served as First National's top star since the brothers acquired the studio in 1928—in 1933.
Thanks to the success of The Jazz Singer, the studio was suddenly flush with cash. Jolson's next film for the company, The Singing Fool
was also a success.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 141. With the success of these first talkies (The Jazz Singer, Lights of New York
, The Singing Fool, and The Terror), Warner Bros. became one of the top studios in Hollywood and the brothers were now able to move out from the Poverty Row
section of Hollywood and acquire a big studio in Burbank, California
. They were also able to expand studio operations by acquiring the Stanley Corporation, a major theater chain.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.144. This gave them a share in rival First National Pictures
, of which Stanley owned one-third.Thomas (1990), p.65. In a bidding war with William Fox
, Warner Bros. bought more First National shares on September 13, 1928;Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 147. Jack Warner also appointed producer Darryl Zanuck as the studio's manager of First National Pictures.
In 1929, Warner Bros also bought the St. Louis-based theater chain Skouras Brothers
. Following this take-over, Spyros Skouras
, the driving force of the chain, became general manager of the Warner Brothers Theater Circuit in America. He worked successfully in that post for two years and managed to eliminate the losses and eventually even increase the profits. This was a welcome gain given the financial hardships occasioned by the Great Depression
.
In addition, Harry Warner was also able to acquire a string of music publishers and form Warner Bros. Music. In April 1930, the Warner Bros. acquired Brunswick Records
. Harry also obtained a string of radio companies, foreign sound patents, and even a lithograph company. After establishing Warner Bros. Music, Harry appointed his son, Lewis, to serve as the company's head manager.Thomas (1990), p. 66.
In 1929, Harry was also able to produce an adaptation of a Cole Porter
musical titled Fifty Million Frenchmen
.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.148. Through First National, the studio's profit increased substantially. After the success of the studio's 1929 First National film Noah's Ark, Harry also agreed to make Michael Curtiz
a major director at the Burbank studio. Mort Blumenstock, a First National screenwriter, became a top writer at the brothers' New York headquarters.
In the third quarter of 1929, Warner Bros. gained complete control of First National, when Harry purchased the company's remaining one-third share from Fox. The Justice Department
agreed to allow the purchase if First National was maintained as a separate company. When the Great Depression
hit, Warner asked for and got permission to merge the two studios; soon afterward Warner Bros. moved to the First National lot in Burbank
. Though the companies merged, the Justice Department required Warner to produce and release a few films each year under the First National name until 1938. For 30 years, certain Warner productions were identified (mainly for tax purposes) as 'A Warner Bros. – First National Picture.'
In the latter part of 1929, Jack Warner hired sixty-one year old actor George Arliss
to star in Disraeli
,Thomas (1990), p. 77. which was a surprise success. Arliss won an Academy Award for Best Actor
and went on to star in nine more movies with the studio. In 1930, Harry acquired more theaters in Atlantic City
, despite the beginning of the Great Depression. In July 1930, the studio's banker, Motley Flint, was murdered by a disgruntled investor in another company.Thomas (1990), pp.72.
By 1931, however, the studio began to feel the effects of the Depression as the general public became unable to afford the price of a movie ticket. In 1931, the studio reportedly suffered a net loss of $8 million,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 160. and an additional $14 million the following year. In 1931, Warner Bros. Music head Lewis Warner died from an infection.
Around that time, Warner Bros. head producer Darryl Zanuck hired screenwriter Wilson Mizner
.Thomas (1990), pp. 89–92. While at the studio, Mizner had hardly any respect for authority and found it difficult to work with studio boss Jack Warner, but nevertheless became a valuable asset. As time went by, Warner became more tolerant of Mizner and helped invest in Mizner's Brown Derby
restaurant. On April 3, 1933, Mizner died from a heart attack.Thomas (1990), pp. 93.
In 1928, Warner Bros. released Lights of New York
, the first all-talking feature. Due to its success, the movie industry converted entirely to sound almost overnight. By the end of 1929, all the major studios were exclusively making sound films. In 1929, National Pictures released their first film with Warner Bros., Noah's Ark.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.151. Despite its expensive budget, Noah's Ark was profitable.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 150. In 1929, Warner Bros. released On with the Show
, the first all-color all-talking feature. This was followed by Gold Diggers of Broadway
which was so popular it played in theatres until 1939. The success of these two color pictures caused a color revolution (just as the first all-talkie had created one for talkies). Warner Bros. released a large number of color films from 1929 to 1931, including The Show of Shows
(1929), Sally (1929), Bright Lights (1930), Golden Dawn
(1930), Hold Everything
(1930), Song of the Flame
(1930), Song of the West
(1930), The Life of the Party
(1930), Sweet Kitty Bellairs
(1930), Under A Texas Moon
(1930), Bride of the Regiment (1930), Viennese Nights
(1931), Woman Hungry
(1931), Kiss Me Again
(1931), Fifty Million Frenchmen
(1931), and Manhattan Parade
(1932). In addition to these, scores of features were released with Technicolor
sequences as well as a numerous variety of short subjects. The majority of these color films were musicals.
Three years later, the audience had grown so tired of musicals, the studio was forced to cut the musical numbers of many of the productions and advertise them as straight comedies. The public had begun to associate musicals with color and thus the movie studios began to abandon its use. Warner Bros. had a contract with Technicolor to produce two more pictures in that process. As a result, the first horror films in color were produced and released by the studio: Doctor X
(1932) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933). In the latter part of 1931, Harry Warner rented the Teddington Studios
in London, England. The studio focused on making 'quota quickies' for the domestic British marketPatricia Warren British Film Studios: An Illustrated History, London: B.T Batsford, 2001, p.161 and Irving Asher
was appointed as the studio's head producer. In 1934, Harry Warner officially purchased the Teddington Studios.
In February 1933, however, Warner Bros. produced 42nd Street
, a very successful musicalSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 190. that saved the company from bankruptcy. In the wake of 42nd Streets success, the studio produced further profitable musicals.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 194. These starred Ruby Keeler
and Dick Powell
and were mostly directed by Busby Berkeley
.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.192. In 1935, the revival suffered a major blow when Berkeley was arrested after killing three people while driving drunk. By the end of the year, people again tired of Warner Bros. musicals, and the studio – after the huge profits made by the 1935 film Captain Blood – shifted its focus on producing Errol Flynn
swashbucklers
.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 195.
With the collapse of the market for musicals, Warner Bros., under production head Darryl F. Zanuck
, turned to more socially realistic storylines, "torn from the headlines" pictures many in the media said glorified gangsters; Warner Bros. soon became known as a "gangster studio". The studio's first gangster film, Little Caesar
, was a great box office successSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 184. and Edward G. Robinson
was a star in many of the subsequent wave of Warner gangster films.Thomas (1990), pp.77–79. The studio's next gangster film, The Public Enemy
,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.185 made James Cagney
arguably the studio's new top star,Thomas (1990), p.81. and Warner Bros. was now convinced to make more gangster films.
Another gangster film the studio produced was the critically acclaimed I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
, based on a true story and starring Paul Muni
.Thomas (1990), p.83. In addition to Cagney and Robinson, Muni was also given a big push as one the studio's top gangster starsSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.186. after appearing in the successful film, which got audiences to question the legal system in the United States. 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, untrue and false attacks" against him in the film. After appearing in the film The Man Who Played God
, Bette Davis
became a top star for the studio.Thomas (1990), pp. 82–83.
In 1933, relief for the studio came after Franklin D. Roosevelt
became president and was able to stimulate the economy with the New Deal
;Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.161. because of this economic rebound, Warner Bros. again became profitable. The same year, long time head producer Darryl F. Zanuck
quit. One reason was Harry Warner's relationship with Zanuck had become strained after Harry strongly opposed allowing Zanuck's film Baby Face
to step outside Hays Code boundaries. Also, the studio reduced Zanuck's salary as a result of the losses as a result of the Great Depression, and Harry continued to refuse to restore it in the wake of the New Deal's rebound. Zanuck resignedBehlmer (1985), p.12. and established his own company. In the wake of Zanuck's resignation, Harry Warner agreed to again raise the salary for studio employees.
In 1933, Warner was able to bring newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst
's Cosmopolitan films into the Warner Bros. fold. Hearst had previously been signed with MGM, but ended the association after a dispute with the company's head producer Irving Thalberg over the treatment of Hearst's long standing mistress, actress Marion Davies
, who was struggling for box office success. Through his partnership with Hearst, Warner was able to sign Davies to a studio contract. Hearst's company and Davies' films, however, could not increase the studio's profits.
In 1934, the studio lost over $2.5 million, of which $500,000 was the result of a fire at the Burbank studio at the end of 1934, destroying 20 years worth of early Vitagraph, Warner Bros., and First National films.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 209 The following year, Hearst's film adaption of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
(1935) failed at the box office and the studio's net loss increased. During this time, Warner Bros. President Harry Warner and six other movie studio figures were indicted of conspiracy to violate the Sherman Antitrust Act
, through an attempt to gain a monopoly over theaters in the St Louis area. In 1935, Harry was put on trial; after a mistrial, Harry sold the company's movie theaters, at least for a short time, and the case was never reopened.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 211 1935 also saw the studio rebound with a net profit of $674,158.00.
By 1936, contracts of musical and silent stars were not renewed and new talent, tough-talking, working-class types, were hired who more suitably fit in with these sort of pictures. Stars such as Dorothy Mackaill
, Bebe Daniels
, Frank Fay
, Winnie Lightner
, Bernice Claire
, Alexander Gray, Alice White, and Jack Mulhall
that had characterized the urban, modern, and sophisticated attitude of the 1920s gave way to stars such James Cagney
, Joan Blondell
, Edward G. Robinson
, Warren William
, and Barbara Stanwyck
who would be more acceptable to the common man. The studio was one of the most prolific producers of Pre-Code
pictures and had a lot of trouble with the censors once they started clamping down on what they considered indecency (around 1934).Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), pp.188–189. As a result, Warner Bros. turned out a number of historical pictures from around 1935 in order to avoid confrontations with the Breen office. In 1936, following the success of The Petrified Forest
, Jack Warner also signed Humphrey Bogart
to a studio contract. Warner, however, did not think Bogart was star material, and decided to only cast Bogart in infrequent roles as a villain opposite either James Cagney or Edward Robinson over the next five years.
After Hal B. Wallis
succeeded Zanuck in 1933 and the Hays Code began to be enforced in 1935, the studio was forced to abandon this realistic approach in order to produce more moralistic, idealized pictures. The studio naturally turned to historical dramas which would not cause any problems with the censors. Other offerings included melodrama
s (or "women's pictures"), swashbucklers
, and adaptations of best-sellers, with stars like Bette Davis
, Olivia de Havilland
, Paul Muni
, and Errol Flynn
. In 1936, Bette Davis, by now arguably the studio's top star,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 219-221. was unhappy with the roles Warner was giving her. She fled to England and tried to break her contract with Warner Bros. Davis lost the lawsuit and soon returned to America.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 221. Although many of the studio's employees had problems with Jack Warner, they considered Albert and Harry fair.
In 1935, Cagney sued Jack Warner for breach of contract. Cagney claimed Warner had forced him to star in more films than his contract required. Cagney eventually dropped his lawsuit after a cash settlement. Nevertheless, Cagney left the studio to establish an independent film company with his brother Bill. The Cagneys released their films though Grand National Films, however they were not able to get good financing for their productions and ran out of money after their third film. Cagney then agreed to return to Warner Bros., after Jack Warner agreed to a contract guaranteeing Cagney would be treated to his own terms. After the success of Yankee Doodle Dandy
at the box office, Cagney again questioned if the studio would meet his salary demand and again quit to form his own film production and distribution company with his brother Bill.
Another employee with whom Warner had troubles was studio producer Bryan Foy. In 1936, Wallis hired Foy as a producer for the studio's low budget B-films
leading to his nickname "the keeper of the B's". Foy was able to garnish arguably more profits than any other B-film producer at the time. During Foy's time at the studio, however, Warner fired him seven different times.
During 1936, the studio's film The Story of Louis Pasteur
proved a box office success and Paul Muni
, the film's star, won the Oscar for Best Actor in March 1937. The studio's 1937 film The Life of Emile Zola
gave the studio its first Best Picture Oscar.
In 1937, the studio hired Midwestern radio announcer Ronald Reagan
. Although Reagan was initially a small-time B-film actor, Warner Bros. was impressed by his performance in the final scene of Knute Rockne, All American
, and agreed to pair him with Errol Flynn in their film Santa Fe Trail
(1940). Reagan then returned to B-films. After his performance in the studio's 1942 Kings Row
, Warner decided to make Reagan a top star and signed him to a new contract, tripling his salary.
In 1936, Harry Warner's daughter Doris read a copy of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind
and was interested in making a film adaptation. Doris then offered Mitchell $50,000 for the book's screen rights. Jack, however, refused to allow the deal to take place, realizing it would be an expensive production.
Another studio actor who proved to be a problem for Jack Warner was George Raft
. Warner had signed Raft in 1939, hoping he could substitute in gangster pictures when either Robinson or Cagney were on suspension. Raft had difficulty working with Bogart and refused to co-star in any film with him. Eventually, Jack Warner agreed to release Raft from his contract. Following Raft's departure, the studio gave Bogart the role of Roy Earl in the 1941 film High Sierra, which helped establish him as one of the studio's top stars; following High Sierra, Bogart was also given a role in John Huston
's successful 1941 remake
of the studio's 1931 failure, The Maltese Falcon
.
Warner's cartoon unit had its roots in the independent Harman and Ising
studio. From 1930 to 1933, Disney
alumni Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising produced a series of musical cartoons for Leon Schlesinger
, who sold the shorts to Warner. Harman and Ising introduced their character Bosko
in the first Looney Tunes
cartoon, Sinkin' in the Bathtub
, and created a sister series, Merrie Melodies
, in 1931.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 187.
Harman and Ising broke away from Schlesinger in 1933 due to a contractual dispute, taking Bosko with them to MGM. As a result, Schlesinger started his own studio, Leon Schlesinger Productions
, which continued with Merrie Melodies while starting production on Looney Tunes starring Buddy
, a Bosko clone. By the end of the decade, a new Schlesinger production team, including directors Friz Freleng
, Tex Avery
, Robert Clampett
, and Chuck Jones
was formed. Schlesinger's staff developed a fast-paced, irreverent style that made their cartoons immensely popular worldwide.
In 1936, Avery directed a string of cartoons, starring Porky Pig
, which established the character as the studio's first bona fide star.Barrier, Michael (1999). pp.329–333. In addition to Porky Pig, Warner Bros. cartoon characters Daffy Duck
(who debuted in the 1937 short Porky's Duck Hunt
) and Bugs Bunny
(who debuted in the 1940 short A Wild Hare
) also achieved star power. By 1942, the Schlesinger studio had surpassed Walt Disney Studios as the most successful producer of animated shorts in the United States.
Warner Bros eventually bought Schlesinger's cartoon unit in 1944 as a division, renamed it as Warner Bros. Cartoons
. Unfortunately, the unit was indifferently treated by senior management, beginning with the installation of Edward Selzer as senior producer, whom the creative staff considered an interfering incompetent. Furthermore, Jack Warner, who had little regard for his company's short film product, reputedly was so ignorant of his animation division that he was mistakenly convinced that the unit produced cartoons of Mickey Mouse
, rival company Walt Disney Pictures
' flagship character. Furthermore, he sold off the unit's pre-1948 library for a mere $3000 each, which proved a short sighted transaction in light of the considerable long term value that the company's animation product proved to have.Thomas (1990), p. 212.
Warner Brothers Cartoons continued, with intermittent interruptions, until 1969 when it was dissolved when the parent company ceased film short production entirely. Regardless of this treatment, its characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird
, Sylvester
, and Porky Pig became central to the company's image in subsequent decades. Bugs in particular remains a mascot to Warner Bros.' various divisions and Six Flags
(which Time Warner previously owned). In fact, it was the success of the compilation film, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie
in 1980, featuring the archived film of these characters that prompted Warner Brothers to organize Warner Brothers Animation as a new production division to restart production of original material.
produced the successful anti-German film The Life of Emile Zola
(1937).Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 225 After that, Harry supervised the production of several more anti-German films, including Confessions of a Nazi Spy
(1939),Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 233 The Sea Hawk
(1940), which made King Phillip II an equivalent of Hitler
,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 247 Sergeant York
,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 246 and You're In The Army Now
(1941). After the United States officially entered World War II, Harry Warner decided to focus on producing war films.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 240 Also, one-fourth of the studio's employees, including Jack Warner and his son Jack Jr., were drafted or enlisted.
Among the films the studio made during the war were Casablanca
, Now, Voyager
, Yankee Doodle Dandy (all 1942), This Is the Army
, and Mission to Moscow
(both 1943), the latter became controversial a few years afterwards. At the premieres of Yankee Doodle Dandy (in Los Angeles, New York, and London), audiences purchased $15.6 million in war bond
s for the governments of England and the United States. By the middle of 1943, however, it became clear audiences were tired of war films. Despite the growing pressure to abandon production of war films, Warner continued to produce them, losing money in the process. Eventually, in honor of the studio's contributions to the war cause, the United States Government named a Liberty ship
after the brothers' father, Benjamin Warner, and Harry Warner was given the honor of christening the ship. By the time the war ended, $20 million in war bonds were purchased through the studio, the Red Cross
collected 5,200 pints of plasma
from studio employees, and 763 of the studio's employees served in the armed forces, including Harry Warner's son-in-law Milton Sperling
and Jack's son Jack Warner Jr.
Following a dispute over ownership of Casablanca
s Oscar for Best Picture, head producer Hal B. Wallis broke with Warner and resigned.Thomas After Casablanca made Bogart one of the studio's top stars,Thomas (1990), p.144. Bogart found his relationship with Jack Warner deteriorating. In 1943, Olivia de Haviland (whom Warner was now loaning to different companies) sued Warner for breach of contract.Thomas (1990), p. 145.
Warners cut its film production in half during the war, eliminating its B Picture unit in 1941. Bryan Foy was quickly snapped up by 20th Century Fox.
De Haviland had refused to accept an offer to portray famed abolitionist Elizabeth Blackwell in an upcoming film for Columbia Pictures. Warner responded by sending 150 telegrams to different film production companies, warning them not to hire her for any role. Afterwards, de Haviland discovered employment contracts in the United States could only serve a duration of seven years; de Haviland had been under contract with the studio since 1935.Thomas (1990), p.98. The court ruled in de Haviland's favor and she left the studio. Through de Haviland's victory, many of the studio's longtime actors were now freed from their contracts, and Harry Warner decided to terminate the studio's suspension policy.Thomas (1990), p. 148.
The same year, Jack Warner also signed newly-released MGM actress Joan Crawford
, a former top star who found her career fading.Thomas (1990), p.150. Crawford's first role with the studio was 1944's Hollywood Canteen.Thomas (1990), p.151. Her first starring role at the studio, in the title role as Mildred Pierce
(1945), revived her career and earned her an Oscar for Best Actress.Thomas (1990), p.152.
and Doris Day
. The studio prospered greatly after the war. By 1946, company payroll reached $600,000 a week and net profit $19.4 million.
One problem for Warner Bros., however, was Jack Warner's refusal to meet Screen Actors Guild
salary demands.Thomas (1990), p. 163. In September 1946, the employees engaged in a month-long strike. In retaliation, Warner-during his 1947 testmony before Congress
, for making the 1942 Russian propaganda film Mission to Moscow – accused a number of studio employees of having ties to Communists.Thomas (1990), p. 164 By the end of 1947, the studio reached a record net profit of $22 million.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.279 This dropped 50% the following year.
On January 5, 1948, Warner offered the first color newsreel
, covering the Tournament of Roses Parade
and the Rose Bowl Game
. In 1948, Bette Davis, still the studio's top actress and now fed up with Jack Warner, was a big problem for Harry after she and a number of her fellow colleagues left the studio after completing the film Beyond the Forest
.
Warner was a party to the United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.
anti-trust case of the 1940s. This action, brought by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission
, claimed the five integrated studio-theater chain combinations restrained competition. The Supreme Court
heard the case in 1948, and ruled in favor of the government. As a result, Warner and four other major studios were forced to separate production from exhibition. In 1949, the studio's net profit was only $10 million.
Warner Bros. set up two semi-independent production units that made films for the studio. One of these was Harry Warner's son-in-law Milton Sperling
's United States Pictures
.
In the early 1950s, the threat of television had grown greatly, and in 1953, Jack Warner decided to take a new approach to compete with the rising threat. In the wake of United Artists
successful 3D film Bwana Devil
, he decided to expand into 3D films with the studio's 1953 film House of Wax
. Unfortunately, despite the success of House of Wax, 3-D films soon lost their appeal among moviegoers.Thomas (1990), p. 191.
In 1952 Warner Bros. made their first film (Carson City
) in "Warnercolor" the studio's name for Eastman Color.
3-D almost caused the demise of the Warner Bros. cartoon studio. Having completed a 3D Bugs Bunny cartoon, Lumber Jack-Rabbit
, Jack Warner ordered the animation unit to be shut down, erroneously believing that all cartoons hence would be produced in the 3D process. Several months later, Warner relented and reopened the cartoon studio. Fortunately, Warner Bros. had enough of a backlog of cartoons and a healthy reissue program so that there was no noticeable interruption in the release schedule.
After the downfall of 3D films, Harry Warner decided to use CinemaScope
in future Warner Bros. films.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), pp.287–288. One of the studio's first CinemaScope
films, The High and the Mighty
(now owned by John Wayne's company Batjac), enabled the studio to show a profit.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.288.
Early in 1953, the Warner theater holdings were spun off as Stanley Warner Theaters; Stanley Warner's non-theater holdings were sold to Simon Fabian Enterprises, and its theaters merged with RKO Theatres to become RKO-Stanley Warner Theatres. By 1956, however, the studio was losing money.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.303. By the end of 1953, the studio's net profit was $2.9 million and ranged between $2 and $4 million for the next two years. In February 1956, Jack Warner sold the rights to all of the studio's pre-1950 films to Associated Artists Productions
(which merged with United Artists Television
in 1958).You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story (2008), p. 255.WB retained a pair of features from 1949 that they merely distributed, and all short subjects released on or after September 1, 1948; in addition to all cartoons released in August 1948.
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– to purchase 800,000 shares, 90% of the company's stock. After the three brothers sold, Jack – through his under-the-table deal – joined Semenenko's syndicateSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 308. and bought back all his stock, 200,000 shares. Shortly after the deal was completed in July, Jack – now the company's largest stockholder – appointed himself new president.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.306. By the time Harry and Albert learned of their brother's dealings, it was too late.Thomas (1990), p.226. Shortly after the deal was closed, Jack Warner announced the company and its subsidiaries would be "directed more vigorously to the acquisition of the most important story properties, talents, and to the production of the finest motion pictures possible."
(FCC) would not permit it. After an unsuccessful attempt to convince other movie studio bosses to switch their focus to television, Harry abandoned his television efforts.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.287
The other Warner brother, Jack, began his hatred of television with problems with Milton Berle
being hired by the studio to make an unsuccessful film Always Leave Them Laughing during the peak of his television popularity. Warner felt that Berle was not strong enough as a lead to carry a film and that people would not pay to see the man they could see on television for free. However Jack Warner was pressured into using Berle, even replacing Danny Kaye
with him. Berle's outrageous behaviour on the set and the film's massive failure proving Jack Warner right led to Jack Warner forbidding television sets appearing in the studio's film sets.
In 1954, the studio was finally able engage in television through the successful Warner Bros. Television
unit run by William T. Orr
, Jack Warner's son-in-law. Warner Bros. Television provided the ABC
with a weekly show, Warner Bros. Presents
; the show featured a rotating series of shows based on three of the studio's film successes, Kings Row
, Casablanca and Cheyenne, followed by a promotion for one of Warner's big screen films.Thomas (1990), p.192. It was not a success.Thomas (1990), p. 193.
The studio's next effort, making a weekly series out of Cheyenne, would be.Thomas (1990), p. 194. Cheyenne was television's first one hour Western with two episodes placed together for feature film release outside the United States. In the tradition of their B Pictures, the studio followed up with a series of rapidly produced popular Westerns
, such as Maverick
, Bronco
, and Colt .45
. The success of these series helped to make up for the losses on the film side. As a result, Jack Warner decided to emphasize television production.Thomas (1990), p. 195. Warners then produced a series of popular private detective shows beginning with 77 Sunset Strip
(1958–64) followed by Hawaiian Eye
(1959–1963), Bourbon Street Beat
(1960) and Surfside Six (1960–1962).
Within a few years, the studio, in a matter reminiscent of their problems with James Cagney and Bette Davis, provoked hostility among their emerging contract TV stars like Clint Walker
and James Garner
, who sued over a contract disputeThomas (1990), pp.196–8. and won. Edd Byrnes was not so lucky and bought himself out of his contract. Jack Warner was angered by the perceived ingratitude of television actors, who evidently showed more independence than film actors, and this deepened his contempt for the new medium.Thomas (1990), p.199.
Many of Warners television stars appeared in the casts of Warner's cinema releases of the time. In 1963 as a result of a court decision Warners has to cease their contracts with their television stars, engaging them for specific series or film roles. In the same year Jack Webb
took over the television unit and did not have any successes.
) and television shows (arranged by Max Steiner
).
In 1958 the studio launched Warner Bros. Records
. Initially the label released recordings made by their television stars whether they could sing or not and records based on the soundtracks of favourite Warner Bros. Television shows.
In 1963, Jack Warner agreed to a "rescue takeover" of Frank Sinatra
's Reprise Records
.Thomas (1990), p. 255. The deal gave Sinatra US$1.5 million and part ownership of Warner Bros. Records, with Reprise becoming a sub-label; most significantly for Warner Bros.'s future music operations, the deal also brought Reprise manager Morris "Mo" Ostin
into the company. In 1964, upon seeing the profits record companies made from Warner film music, Jack Warner decided to claim ownership of the studio's film soundtracks and focus on making profits through Warner Bros. Records.Thomas (1990), pp.264–265. In its first eighteen months, Warner Bros. Records lost around $2 million.Thomas (1990), p.265.
(1956), No Time for Sergeant swift (1958), and Gypsy
(1962).
With his health slowly recovering from a car accident whilst on holiday to France in 1958, Jack returned to the studio and made sure his name was featured in studio press releases.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), Hollywood Be Thy Name, Prima Publishing, ISN:559858346 p.325. In each of the first three years of the 1960s, the studio's net profit was a little over $7 million. Warner paid an unprecedented $5.5 million for the film rights to the Broadway musical My Fair Lady
in February 1962. The previous owner, CBS
director William S. Paley
, set terms including half the distributor's gross profits "plus ownership of the negative at the end of the contract."Thomas (1990), p.259. In 1963, the net profit dropped to $3.7 million. By the mid-1960s, motion picture production was in decline. There were few studio-produced films and many more co-productions (for which Warner provided facilities, money, and distribution), and pickups of independently made pictures.
With the success of the studio's 1965 Broadway play The Great Race
, as well as its soundtrack, Warner Bros. Records became a profitable subsidiary. The studio's 1966 film Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?
was a huge success at the box office.Thomas (1990), p. 278.
In November 1966, Jack gave in to advancing age and the changing times,Thomas (1990), p.280. selling control of the studio and its music business to Seven Arts Productions
, run by the Canadian investors Elliot and Kenneth Hyman, for $32 million.Thomas (1990), p.279. The company, including the studio, was renamed Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
. Jack Warner did, however, remain studio president until the summer of 1967, when Camelot
failed at the box office and Warner gave up his position to the studio's longtime publicity director, Ben Kalmenson;Thomas (1990), p. 279-280. Warner did, however, remain on board as an independent producer and vice-president. With the success of the studio's 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde
, Warner Bros was making profits once again.Thomas (1990), p. 288.
Two years later, the Hymans, now fed up with Jack Warner, accepted a cash-and-stock offer from an odd conglomerate called Kinney National Company
for more than $64 million. Kinney owned a Hollywood talent agency, Ashley-Famous
, and it was Ted Ashley
who led Kinney head Steve Ross to purchase Warner Bros. Ashley became the new head of the studio, and the name was changed to Warner Bros., Inc. once again. Jack Warner, however, was outraged by the Hymans' sale, and decided to retire.
Although movie audiences had shrunk, Warner's new management believed in the drawing power of stars, signing co-production deals with several of the biggest names of the day, among them Paul Newman
, Robert Redford
, Barbra Streisand
, and Clint Eastwood
, carrying the studio successfully through the 1970s and 1980s. Warner Bros. also made major profits on films built around the characters of Superman
and Batman
, owned by Warner Bros. subsidiary DC Comics
.
Abandoning the mundane parking lots and funeral homes, the refocused Kinney renamed itself in honor of its best-known holding, Warner Communications
. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Warner Communications branched out into other business, such as its acquiring of video game company Atari, Inc. in 1976, and later the Six Flags
theme parks.
From 1971 until the end of 1987, Warner's international distribution operations were a joint venture with Columbia Pictures
, and in some countries, this joint venture also distributed films from other companies (like EMI Films
and Cannon Films in the UK). Warner ended the venture in 1988 and joined up with Walt Disney Pictures
; this joint venture lasted until 1993, when Disney created Buena Vista International.
In 1972 in a cost-cutting move, Warner and Columbia Pictures formed a partnership called The Burbank Studios in which they would share production facilities utilitizing the Warner lot in Burbank. The partnership ended in 1990 when Columbia moved into the former MGM studio lot in Culver City.
To the surprise of many, flashy, star-driven Warner Communications merged in 1989 with the white-shoe
publishing company Time Inc.
Though Time and its magazines claimed a higher tone, it was the Warner Bros. film and music units which provided the profits. The Time Warner
merger was almost derailed when Paramount Communications (Formerly Gulf+Western
, later sold to Viacom
), launched a $12.2 billion dollar hostile takeover bid for Time Inc., forcing Time to acquire Warner for $14.9 billion dollar cash/stock offer. Paramount responded with a lawsuit filed in Delaware
court to break up the merger. Paramount lost and the merger proceeded.
In 1997, Time Warner sold the Six Flags unit. The takeover of Time Warner in 2000 by then-high-flying AOL
did not prove a good match, and following the collapse in "dot-com" stocks, the AOL name was banished from the corporate nameplate.
In 1995, Warner and station owner Tribune Company
of Chicago launched The WB Network
, finding a niche market in teenagers. The WB's early programming included an abundance of teenage fare like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville
, Dawson's Creek
, and One Tree Hill
. Two dramas produced by Spelling Television
, 7th Heaven
and Charmed
also helped bring The WB into the spotlight, with "Charmed" lasting eight seasons and being the longest running drama with female leads and "7th Heaven" surviving eleven seasons and being the longest running family drama and longest running show for The WB. In 2006, Warner and CBS Paramount Television
decided to close The WB and CBS's UPN
and jointly launch The CW Television Network
.
In 1999, Terry Semels and Robert Daly resigned as heads of the studio after a career of 13 Oscar nominated films. Many of Warner's top stars were considering quitting because of their absence. Daly and Semels were said to popularize the modern model of partner financing and profit sharing for film production.
In the late 1990s, Warner obtained rights to the Harry Potter
novels, and released feature film adaptations of the first
in 2001, the second
in 2002, the third
in June 2004, the fourth
in November 2005, and the fifth
on July 11, 2007. The sixth
was slated for November 2008, but Warner moved it to July 2009 only three months before the movie was supposed to come out, citing the lack of summer blockbusters in 2009 (due to the Writer's Strike
) as the reason. The decision was purely financial, and Alan Horn said, "There were no delays. I’ve seen the movie. It is fabulous. We would have been perfectly able to have it out in November.” This resulted in a massive fan backlash. The seventh and final adaptation was released in two parts: Part 1 in November 2010 and Part 2 in July 2011.
Over the years, Warner Bros. has had distribution and/or co-production deals with a number of small companies. These include (but are not limited to) Amblin Entertainment
, The Zanuck Company
, Morgan Creek Productions
(now working with Universal Studios
), Regency Enterprises
(now working with 20th Century Fox
), Village Roadshow Pictures
, Icon Productions
, Legendary Pictures
, Heyday Films
, Alcon Entertainment
, Lakeshore Entertainment
, Malpaso Productions
, Virtual Studios
, Silver Pictures
(including Dark Castle Entertainment
), The Ladd Company
, Castle Rock Entertainment
and The Geffen Film Company
. Green Hat Films, Troublemaker Studios
, DC Entertainment, Appian Way Productions
, GK Films
, Media Rights Capital
, Syncopy Films
, Cruel and Unusual Films
and Spyglass Entertainment
.
Warner Bros. played a large part in the discontinuation of the HD DVD
format. On January 4, 2008, Warner Bros. announced that they would drop support of HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray Disc
. HD DVDs would continue to be released through May 2008 (when their contract with the HD DVD promotion group expired), but only following Blu-ray and DVD releases. This started a chain of events which resulted in HD DVD development and production being halted by Toshiba
on February 16, 2008, ending the format war.
Warner Bros. and National CineMedia
have formed a partnership to provide pre-feature entertainment and advertising in movie theaters nationwide.
Warner Bros. celebrated its 90th anniversary on June 1, 2008 even though the company celebrated for its 85th anniversary for films only.
In 2009, Warner Bros. became the first studio in history to gross more than $2 billion domestically in a single year.
Warner Bros. is responsible for the Harry Potter film series
, the highest grossing film series of all time, both domestic and international without inflation adjustment. It is also responsible for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 as Warner Bros.' highest grossing movie ever (the former was The Dark Knight
).
IMAX Corp.
has finalized a pact with Time Warner
Inc.'s Warner Bros. Pictures unit to release as many as 20 giant-format films through 2013.
Since 2006, Warner Bros operated a joint venture with China Film Group Corporation and HG to form Warner China Film HG to produce films in Hong Kong and China, including Connected
, which is a remake of the 2004 thriller film Cellular
, they have co-produced many other Chinese films as well.
In 2010, Warner announced its intention to buy Leavesden Film Studios near London, where the Harry Potter films were shot, making Warner Bros. the first studio since MGM in the 1940s to establish a permanent base in Europe.
In 2010, Warner Bros. had a deal with French film distributor, Pathé
to handle their films for theatrical distribution in the UK with 20th Century Fox
still distributing their film catalog for DVD release.
Flixster
including Rotten Tomatoes
was acquired by Warner Bros. in May 2011.
Over the years, a series of mergers and acquisitions have helped Warner Bros. (the present-day Time Warner subsidiary) to accumulate a diverse collection of movies, cartoons, and television programs.
In the aftermath of the 1948 antitrust suit, uncertain times led Warner Bros. in 1956 to sell most of its pre-1950 films and cartoons to a holding company called Associated Artists Productions
(a.a.p.). a.a.p. also got the Fleischer Studios
and Famous Studios
Popeye
cartoons originally from Paramount. Two years later, a.a.p. was sold to United Artists (UA), which held them until 1981, when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought UA.
Five years later, Turner Broadcasting System
, having failed to buy MGM, settled for ownership of the MGM/UA library. This included almost all the pre-May 1986 MGM film and television library with the exception of those owned by United Artists (i.e. James Bond franchise), although some UA material were included such as the a.a.p. library, the U.S. rights to a majority of the RKO Radio Pictures library, and the television series Gilligan's Island
.
In 1991, Turner Broadcasting System bought animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions, and much of the back catalog of both Hanna-Barbera and Ruby-Spears Productions
from Great American Broadcasting, and three years later, Turner bought New Line Cinema and Castle Rock Entertainment
. In 1996, Time Warner bought Turner Broadcasting System, and as a result, the pre-1950 sound films and the pre-August 1948 cartoon library (excluding the B&W Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies which WB bought back as it merged with Seven Arts but including the Harman-Ising Merrie Melodies, save Lady, Play Your Mandolin! which was bought back by WB when merging with 7A) returned to WB ownership. WB tried to buy back the pre-1950 sound films and pre-August 1948 cartoons from MGM/UA in 1982, but the deal fell through.
In 2007, Warner Bros. added the Peanuts
/Charlie Brown library to its collection (this includes all the television specials and series outside of the theatrical library, which continues to be owned by CBS and Paramount through United Feature Syndicate
, licensor and owner of the Peanuts material).
In 2008, Warner Bros. absorbed New Line Cinema, as a result, Warner added the New Line Cinema film and television library to its collection. On October 15, 2009, Warner Bros. acquired the home entertainment rights to the Sesame Street
library, in conjunction with Sesame Workshop
.
Warner Bros. Archives is the largest single studio collection in the world. Donated in 1977 to USC's School of Cinema-Television by Warner Communications, the WBA houses departmental records that detail Warner Bros. activities from the studio's first major feature, My Four Years in Germany (1918), to its sale to Seven Arts in 1968.
UA donated pre-1949 Warner Bros. nitrates to the Library of Congress
and post-1951 negatives to the UCLA Film and Television Archive
. Most of the company's legal files, scripts, and production materials were donated to the University of Wisconsin–Madison
.
One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
, with its headquarters in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
and New York, New York. Warner Bros. has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television is the television production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on...
, Warner Bros. Animation
Warner Bros. Animation
Warner Bros. Animation is the animation division of Warner Bros., a subsidiary of Time Warner. The studio is closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies characters, among others. The studio is the successor to Warner Bros...
, Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
, New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
, TheWB.com
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
, and DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
.
1903–25: Founding
The corporate name honors the four founding Warner brothers (born Wonskolaser)—HarryHarry 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...
(born Hirsch), Albert
Albert Warner
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...
(born Aaron), 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...
(born Szmul), and Jack
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...
(born Jacob), whose parents had emigrated to North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
from Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, which was at that time part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. The three elder brothers began in the movie theatre business, having acquired a movie projector
Movie projector
A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying moving pictures by projecting them on a projection screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras.-Physiology:...
with which they showed films in the mining towns of 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...
and 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...
. They opened their first theater, the Cascade, in New Castle, Pennsylvania
New Castle, Pennsylvania
New Castle is a city in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, United States, northwest of Pittsburgh and near the Pennsylvania-Ohio border just east of Youngstown, Ohio; in 1910, the total population was 36,280; in 1920, 44,938; and in 1940, 47,638. The population has fallen to 26,309 according to the...
in 1903. (The site of the Cascade later became the Cascade Center
Cascade Center
The Cascade Center at the Riverplex is an indoor and outdoor shopping, dining and entertainment complex located in downtown New Castle, Pennsylvania, which opened in 2006. Much of the complex sits on the former site of the Cascade, the first movie theater of the Warner Bros., hence the name. The...
, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex honoring its Warner Bros. heritage, though in late 2010 all of the businesses have closed and the complex is currently for sale.)
> When this original theatre building in New Castle was in danger of being demolished, the modern Warner Bros. called the modern building owners, and arranged a 3 way even splitting of the cost of saving it, between the state, Warner Bros, and the modern owners. The owners noted the fact that they were taking phone calls from all over the country in reference to the historical significance of the humble building that should be saved historically.
In 1904, the Warners founded the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company, to distribute films.
Within a few years this led to the distribution of pictures across a four-state area. In 1912, Harry Warner hired an auditor named Paul Ashley Chase
Paul Ashley Chase
Paul Ashley Chase was one of the founding executives, first auditor, Assistant Secretary of the corporation, and comptroller for Warner Brothers Pictures. He was previously the traveling auditor for the Erie Railroad. In 1912 Harry Warner and Paul Chase were staying at the same boarding house in...
. By the time of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
they had begun producing films, and in 1918 the brothers opened the Warner Bros. studio on Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...
in Hollywood. Sam and Jack Warner produced the pictures, while Harry and Albert Warner and their auditor and now controller Chase handled finance and distribution in New York City. It was during World War I and their first nationally syndicated film was My Four Years in Germany based on a popular book by former American Ambassador James W. Gerard
James W. Gerard
James Watson Gerard was a U.S. lawyer and diplomat.-Biography:Gerard was born in Geneseo, N. Y. He graduated from Columbia in 1890 and from New York Law School. He was chairman of the Democratic campaign committee of New York County for four years, and served as major of the National Guard of the...
. On April 4, 1923, with help from a loan given to Harry Warner by his banker Motley Flint, they formally incorporated as Warner Brothers Pictures, Incorporated. However, as late as the 1960s, Warner Bros. claimed 1905 as its founding date.
The first important deal for the company was the acquisition of the rights to Avery Hopwood
Avery Hopwood
James Avery Hopwood , was the most successful playwright of the Jazz Age, having four plays running simultaneously on Broadway in 1920.-Biography:...
's 1919 Broadway play, The Gold Diggers, from theatrical impresario David Belasco
David Belasco
David Belasco was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director and playwright.-Biography:Born in San Francisco, California, where his Sephardic Jewish parents had moved from London, England, during the Gold Rush, he began working in a San Francisco theatre doing a variety of routine jobs,...
. However, what really put Warner Bros. on the Hollywood map was a dog, Rin Tin Tin
Rin 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...
, brought from France after World War I by an American soldier. Rin Tin Tin debuted in the feature Where the North Begins. The movie was so successful that Jack Warner agreed to sign the dog to star in more films for $1,000 per week. Rin Tin Tin became the top star at the studio. Jack Warner nicknamed him "The Mortgage Lifter" and the success boosted 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...
's career. Zanuck eventually became a top producer for the studio and between 1928 and 1933 served as Jack Warner's right-hand man and executive producer, with responsibilities including the day-to-day production of films. More success came after Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch was a German-born film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch."In 1947 he received an Honorary Academy Award for his...
was hired as head 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...
left the studio and accepted an offer to work at MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
. Lubitsch's film The Marriage Circle
The Marriage Circle
The Marriage Circle is a 1924 silent film produced by Ernst Lubitsch and Warner Brothers with direction by Lubitsch and distribution by the Warners. Based on the play Only a Dream by Lothar Schmidt, the screenplay was written by Paul Bern...
was the studio's most successful film of 1924, and was on The New York Times best list for the year.
Despite the success of Rin Tin Tin and Lubitsch, Warners was still unable to achieve star power. As a result, Sam and Jack decided to offer Broadway actor John Barrymore
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
the lead role in Beau Brummel
Beau Brummel (1924 film)
Beau Brummel is a 1924 American silent film historical drama. The film stars John Barrymore and was directed by Harry Beaumont. The film is based on Clyde Fitch's historical play which had been performed by Richard Mansfield....
. The film was so successful that Harry Warner agreed to sign Barrymore to a generous long-term contract; like The Marriage Circle, Beau Brummell was named one of the ten best films of the year by The New York Times. By the end of 1924, Warner Bros. was arguably the most successful independent studio in Hollywood, but it still competed with "The Big Three" Studios (First National
First National
First National was an association of independent theater owners in the United States that expanded from exhibiting movies to distributing them, and eventually to producing them as a movie studio, called First National Pictures, Inc. It later merged with Warner Bros.-Early history:The First National...
, Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, and MGM). As a result, Harry Warner – while speaking at a convention of 1,500 independent exhibitors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin – was able to convince the filmmakers to spend $500,000 in newspaper advertising, and Harry saw this as an opportunity to finally be able to establish theaters in big cities like New York and Los Angeles.
As the studio prospered, it gained backing from Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
, and in 1924 Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...
arranged a major loan. With this new money, the Warners bought the pioneer Vitagraph Company
Vitagraph Studios
American Vitagraph was a United States movie studio, founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York. By 1907 it was the most prolific American film production company, producing many famous silent films. It was bought by Warner Bros...
which had a nation-wide distribution system. In 1925, Warners also experimented in radio, establishing a successful radio station, KFWB, in Los Angeles.
1925–35: Sound, Color, Style
Warner Bros. was a pioneer of films with synchronized soundSynchronization
Synchronization is timekeeping which requires the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. The familiar conductor of an orchestra serves to keep the orchestra in time....
(then known as "talking pictures"
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
or "talkies"). In 1925, at the urging of Sam, the Warners agreed to expand their operations by adding this feature to their productions. Harry, however, opposed it, famously wondering, "Who the heck wants to hear actors talk?" By February 1926, the studio suffered a reported net loss of $333,413.
After a long period of denying Sam's request for sound, Harry now agreed to accept Sam's demands, as long as the studio's use of synchronized sound was for background music purposes only. The Warners then signed a contract with the sound engineer company 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...
and established 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...
. In 1926, Vitaphone began making films with music and effects tracks, most notably, in the feature Don Juan
Don Juan (1926 film)
Don Juan is a Warner Brothers film, directed by Alan Crosland. It was the first feature-length film with synchronized Vitaphone sound effects and musical soundtrack, though it has no spoken dialogue...
starring John Barrymore. The film was silent, but it featured a large number of Vitaphone shorts at the beginning. To hype Don Juans release, Harry Warner also acquired the large Piccadilly Theater in Manhattan, New York and renamed it the Warner Theater.
Don Juan premiered at the Warner Theater in New York on August 6, 1926. Throughout the early history of film distribution, theater owners hired orchestras to attend film showings and provide soundtracks. Through Vitaphone, however, Warner Bros. produced eight Vitaphone shorts (which aired at the beginning of every showing of Don Juan across the country) in 1926, and got many film production companies to question the necessity. While Don Juan was a success at the box office, it did not earn back its production cost and Lubsitch left Warner for MGM. By April 1927, the Big Five studios (First National, Paramount, MGM, Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
, and Producers Distributing) had put the Warner brothers in financial ruin, and Western Electric renewed Warner's Vitaphone contract with terms that allowed other film companies to test sound.
As a result of the financial problems the studio was having, Warner Bros. took the next step and released 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,...
starring Al Jolson
Al Jolson
Al Jolson was an American singer, comedian and actor. In his heyday, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer"....
. This movie, which has very little sound dialog but does feature sound segments of Jolson singing, was a sensation. It signaled the beginning of the era of "talking pictures" and the twilight of the silent
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
era. However, as Sam died, the brothers were at his funeral and could not attend the premiere. Jack became sole head of production. Sam's death also had a great effect on Jack's emotional state, as Sam was arguably Jack's inspiration and favorite brother. In the years to come, Jack ran the studio with an iron fist. Firing of studio employees soon became his trademark. Among those whom Jack fired were Rin Tin Tin (in 1929) and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr. KBE was an American actor and a highly decorated naval officer of World War II.-Early life:...
– who had served as First National's top star since the brothers acquired the studio in 1928—in 1933.
Thanks to the success of The Jazz Singer, the studio was suddenly flush with cash. Jolson's next film for the company, The Singing Fool
The Singing Fool
The Singing Fool is a 1928 musical drama Part-Talkie motion picture which was released by Warner Brothers. The film starred Al Jolson and was a follow-up to his previous film, The Jazz Singer...
was also a success. With the success of these first talkies (The Jazz Singer, Lights of New York
Lights of New York (1928 film)
Lights of New York was the first all-talking feature film, released by Warner Brothers and directed by Bryan Foy. The film, which cost only $23,000 to produce, grossed over $1,000,000. It was also the first film to define the crime genre...
, The Singing Fool, and The Terror), Warner Bros. became one of the top studios in Hollywood and the brothers were now able to move out from the Poverty Row
Poverty Row
Poverty Row is a slang term used in Hollywood from the late silent period through the mid-fifties to refer to a variety of small and mostly short-lived B movie studios...
section of Hollywood and acquire a big studio in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
. They were also able to expand studio operations by acquiring the Stanley Corporation, a major theater chain. This gave them a share in rival First National Pictures
First National
First National was an association of independent theater owners in the United States that expanded from exhibiting movies to distributing them, and eventually to producing them as a movie studio, called First National Pictures, Inc. It later merged with Warner Bros.-Early history:The First National...
, of which Stanley owned one-third. In a bidding war with William Fox
William Fox (producer)
William Fox born Fried Vilmos was a pioneering Hungarian American motion picture executive who founded the Fox Film Corporation in 1915 and the Fox West Coast Theatres chain in the 1920s...
, Warner Bros. bought more First National shares on September 13, 1928; Jack Warner also appointed producer Darryl Zanuck as the studio's manager of First National Pictures.
In 1929, Warner Bros also bought the St. Louis-based theater chain Skouras Brothers
Skouras Brothers
The Skouras Brothers Enterprises Inc. was an American movie theater chain from the early days of film-making based in St. Louis, Missouri. It was owned and operated by three brothers: Charles, Spyros and George...
. Following this take-over, Spyros Skouras
Spyros Skouras
Spyros Panagiotis Skouras was an American motion picture pioneer and movie executive who was the president of the 20th Century Fox from 1942 to 1962...
, the driving force of the chain, became general manager of the Warner Brothers Theater Circuit in America. He worked successfully in that post for two years and managed to eliminate the losses and eventually even increase the profits. This was a welcome gain given the financial hardships occasioned by the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
.
In addition, Harry Warner was also able to acquire a string of music publishers and form Warner Bros. Music. In April 1930, the Warner Bros. acquired Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
. Harry also obtained a string of radio companies, foreign sound patents, and even a lithograph company. After establishing Warner Bros. Music, Harry appointed his son, Lewis, to serve as the company's head manager.
In 1929, Harry was also able to produce an adaptation of a Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
musical titled Fifty Million Frenchmen
Fifty Million Frenchmen
Fifty Million Frenchmen is a musical comedy with a book by Herbert Fields and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It opened on Broadway in 1929 and was adapted for a film two years later...
. Through First National, the studio's profit increased substantially. After the success of the studio's 1929 First National film Noah's Ark, Harry also agreed to make Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz was an Academy award winning Hungarian-American film director. He had early creditsas Mihály Kertész and Michael Kertész...
a major director at the Burbank studio. Mort Blumenstock, a First National screenwriter, became a top writer at the brothers' New York headquarters.
In the third quarter of 1929, Warner Bros. gained complete control of First National, when Harry purchased the company's remaining one-third share from Fox. The Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
agreed to allow the purchase if First National was maintained as a separate company. When the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
hit, Warner asked for and got permission to merge the two studios; soon afterward Warner Bros. moved to the First National lot in Burbank
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
. Though the companies merged, the Justice Department required Warner to produce and release a few films each year under the First National name until 1938. For 30 years, certain Warner productions were identified (mainly for tax purposes) as 'A Warner Bros. – First National Picture.'
In the latter part of 1929, Jack Warner hired sixty-one year old actor George Arliss
George 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 Disraeli
Disraeli (film)
Disraeli is a film that was adapted by Julien Josephson and De Leon Anthony from a play by Louis N. Parker. The film was directed by Alfred E. Green....
, which was a surprise success. Arliss won an Academy Award 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...
and went on to star in nine more movies with the studio. In 1930, Harry acquired more theaters in Atlantic City
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
, despite the beginning of the Great Depression. In July 1930, the studio's banker, Motley Flint, was murdered by a disgruntled investor in another company.
By 1931, however, the studio began to feel the effects of the Depression as the general public became unable to afford the price of a movie ticket. In 1931, the studio reportedly suffered a net loss of $8 million, and an additional $14 million the following year. In 1931, Warner Bros. Music head Lewis Warner died from an infection.
Around that time, Warner Bros. head producer Darryl Zanuck hired screenwriter Wilson Mizner
Wilson Mizner
Wilson Mizner was an American playwright, raconteur, and entrepreneur. His best-known plays are The Deep Purple, produced in 1910, and The Greyhound, produced in 1912...
. While at the studio, Mizner had hardly any respect for authority and found it difficult to work with studio boss Jack Warner, but nevertheless became a valuable asset. As time went by, Warner became more tolerant of Mizner and helped invest in Mizner's Brown Derby
Brown Derby
The Brown Derby was the name of a chain of restaurants in Los Angeles, California. The first and most famous of these was shaped like a men's derby hat, an iconic image that became synonymous with the Golden Age of Hollywood....
restaurant. On April 3, 1933, Mizner died from a heart attack.
In 1928, Warner Bros. released Lights of New York
Lights of New York (1928 film)
Lights of New York was the first all-talking feature film, released by Warner Brothers and directed by Bryan Foy. The film, which cost only $23,000 to produce, grossed over $1,000,000. It was also the first film to define the crime genre...
, the first all-talking feature. Due to its success, the movie industry converted entirely to sound almost overnight. By the end of 1929, all the major studios were exclusively making sound films. In 1929, National Pictures released their first film with Warner Bros., Noah's Ark. Despite its expensive budget, Noah's Ark was profitable. In 1929, Warner Bros. released On with the Show
On with the Show (1929 film)
On with the Show! is a 1929 American musical film released by Warner Bros. The film is noted as the first ever all-talking all-color feature length movie, and the second color movie released by Warner Bros.; the first was a partly color, black-and-white musical, The Desert Song . -Plot:With unpaid...
, the first all-color all-talking feature. This was followed by Gold Diggers of Broadway
Gold Diggers of Broadway (film)
Gold Diggers of Broadway is a 1929 Warner Bros. comedy/musical film which is historically important as the second two-strip Technicolor all-talking feature length movie . Gold Diggers of Broadway was also the third movie released by Warner Bros...
which was so popular it played in theatres until 1939. The success of these two color pictures caused a color revolution (just as the first all-talkie had created one for talkies). Warner Bros. released a large number of color films from 1929 to 1931, including The Show of Shows
The Show of Shows (film)
The Show of Shows is a lavish all talking Vitaphone musical revue film which cost $850,000 to make. The Show of Shows was Warner Bros. fifth color movie, the first four were The Desert Song , On With the Show , Gold Diggers of Broadway and Paris . This movie featured most of the contemporary...
(1929), Sally (1929), Bright Lights (1930), Golden Dawn
Golden Dawn (film)
Golden Dawn is a musical operetta released by Warner Brothers and photographed entirely in Technicolor. The film is based on the semi-hit stage musical of the same name by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach.-Songs:...
(1930), Hold Everything
Hold Everything (1930 film)
Hold Everything is a 1930 early all-talking film. It was the first musical comedy film to be released that was photographed entirely in early two-color Technicolor. It was adapted from the DeSylva-Brown-Henderson Broadway musical of the same name that had served as a vehicle for Bert Lahr and...
(1930), Song of the Flame
Song of the Flame (film)
Song of the Flame is a musical operetta film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was the first color film to feature a widescreen sequence using a process called Vitascope, the trademark name for Warner Bros.' widescreen process...
(1930), Song of the West
Song of the West (film)
Song of the West is a musical operetta film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was based on the 1928 musical play Rainbow by Oscar Hammerstein II and Laurence Stallings and was the first all-color all-talking feature to be filmed entirely outdoors. The film starred John Boles, Joe E. Brown...
(1930), The Life of the Party
The Life of the Party (1930 film)
The Life of the Party is a 1930 American musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. The musical numbers of this film were cut out before general release in the United States because the public had grown tired of musicals by late 1930. Only one song was left in the picture...
(1930), Sweet Kitty Bellairs
Sweet Kitty Bellairs (film)
Sweet Kitty Bellairs is a 1930 musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. In contrast to usual historical costume dramas, the picture never takes itself seriously and is a delightful satire of the England of 1793 in the city of Bath...
(1930), Under A Texas Moon
Under a Texas Moon (film)
Under A Texas Moon is a 1930 musical western film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was based on the novel Two-Gun Man which was written by Stewart Edward White. It was the second all-color all-talking feature to be filmed entirely outdoors as well as being the second western in color...
(1930), Bride of the Regiment (1930), Viennese Nights
Viennese Nights (film)
Viennese Nights is a musical operetta film photographed entirely in Technicolor and released by Warner Brothers. The movie was filmed in March and April 1930, before anyone realized the extent of the economic hardships that would arrive with Great Depression, which began in the autumn of that year...
(1931), Woman Hungry
Woman Hungry (film)
Woman Hungry is a 1931 musical western film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was based on the play The Great Divide which was written by William Vaughn Moody...
(1931), Kiss Me Again
Kiss Me Again (1931 film)
Kiss Me Again is a musical operetta film filmed entirely in Technicolor. It was originally released in the United States as Toast of the Legion late in 1930, but was quickly withdrawn when Warner Bros. realized that the public had grown weary of musicals. The Warner Bros...
(1931), Fifty Million Frenchmen
Fifty Million Frenchmen (film)
__notoc__Fifty Million Frenchmen is a 1931 musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was based on Cole Porter's 1929 Broadway musical. It was originally intended to be released, in the United States, late in 1930, but was shelved due to public apathy towards musicals. Despite...
(1931), and Manhattan Parade
Manhattan Parade (film)
Manhattan Parade is a 1931 musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was originally intended to be released, in the United States, early in 1931, but was shelved due to public apathy towards musicals. Despite waiting a number of months, the public proved obstinate and the Warner...
(1932). In addition to these, scores of features were released with Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
sequences as well as a numerous variety of short subjects. The majority of these color films were musicals.
Three years later, the audience had grown so tired of musicals, the studio was forced to cut the musical numbers of many of the productions and advertise them as straight comedies. The public had begun to associate musicals with color and thus the movie studios began to abandon its use. Warner Bros. had a contract with Technicolor to produce two more pictures in that process. As a result, the first horror films in color were produced and released by the studio: Doctor X
Doctor X (film)
Doctor X is a First National/Warner Bros. horror and mystery film based on the play of the same name. It was directed by Michael Curtiz and stars Lee Tracy, Fay Wray, and Lionel Atwill....
(1932) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933). In the latter part of 1931, Harry Warner rented the Teddington Studios
Teddington Studios
Teddington Studios is a large British television studio complex located in Teddington, South-West London, providing studio facilities for programmes airing on BBC television, ITV, and Channel 4 along with others...
in London, England. The studio focused on making 'quota quickies' for the domestic British market and Irving Asher
Irving Asher
Irving Asher was an Producer. He worked as a managing director for Warner Brothers in England in the 1930s, working on Alexander Korda's classic epic, The Four Feathers...
was appointed as the studio's head producer. In 1934, Harry Warner officially purchased the Teddington Studios.
In February 1933, however, Warner Bros. produced 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...
, a very successful musical that saved the company from bankruptcy. In the wake of 42nd Streets success, the studio produced further profitable musicals. These starred 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:...
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...
. In 1935, the revival suffered a major blow when Berkeley was arrested after killing three people while driving drunk. By the end of the year, people again tired of Warner Bros. musicals, and the studio – after the huge profits made by the 1935 film Captain Blood – shifted its focus on producing Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
swashbucklers
Swashbuckler films
Swashbuckler films are an action-adventure subgenre often characterised by swordfighting and adventurous heroic characters, often set in Renaissance Western Europe with appropriately lavish costumes. Morality is often clear-cut, heroic characters are clearly heroic and even villains tend to have a...
.
1931–1935: Pre-code realistic period
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 socially realistic storylines, "torn from the headlines" pictures many in the media said glorified gangsters; Warner Bros. soon became known as a "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 box office success and Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
was a star in many of the subsequent wave of Warner gangster films. 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...
, made James Cagney
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
arguably the studio's new top star, and Warner Bros. was now convinced to make more gangster films.
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...
, based on a true story and starring Paul Muni
Paul Muni
Paul Muni was an Austrian-Hungarian-born American stage and film actor...
. In addition to Cagney and Robinson, Muni was also given a big push as one the studio's top gangster stars after appearing in the successful film, which got audiences to question the legal system in the United States. 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, untrue 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...
became a top star for the studio.
In 1933, relief for the studio came after Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
became president and was able to stimulate the 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, Warner Bros. again became profitable. The same year, long time 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...
quit. One reason was Harry Warner's relationship with Zanuck had become strained after Harry strongly opposed allowing Zanuck's 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 Hays Code boundaries. Also, the studio reduced Zanuck's salary as a result of the losses as a result of the Great Depression, and Harry continued to refuse to restore it in the wake of the New Deal's rebound. Zanuck resigned and established his own company. In the wake of Zanuck's resignation, Harry Warner agreed to again raise the salary for studio employees.
In 1933, Warner was able to bring newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
's Cosmopolitan films into the Warner Bros. fold. Hearst had previously been signed with MGM, but ended the association after a dispute with the company's head producer Irving Thalberg over the treatment of Hearst's long standing mistress, actress Marion Davies
Marion Davies
Marion Davies was an American film actress. Davies is best remembered for her relationship with newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, as her high-profile social life often obscured her professional career....
, who was struggling for box office success. Through his partnership with Hearst, Warner was able to sign Davies to a studio contract. Hearst's company and Davies' films, however, could not increase the studio's profits.
In 1934, the studio lost over $2.5 million, of which $500,000 was the result of a fire at the Burbank studio at the end of 1934, destroying 20 years worth of early Vitagraph, Warner Bros., and First National 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...
(1935) failed at the box office and the studio's net loss increased. During this time, Warner Bros. President Harry Warner and six other movie studio figures were indicted of conspiracy to violate the Sherman Antitrust Act
Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act requires the United States federal government to investigate and pursue trusts, companies, and organizations suspected of violating the Act. It was the first Federal statute to limit cartels and monopolies, and today still forms the basis for most antitrust litigation by...
, through an attempt to gain a monopoly over theaters in the St Louis area. In 1935, Harry was put on trial; after a mistrial, Harry sold the company's movie theaters, at least for a short time, and the case was never reopened. 1935 also saw the studio rebound with a net profit of $674,158.00.
By 1936, contracts of musical and silent stars were not renewed and new talent, tough-talking, working-class types, were hired who more suitably fit in with these sort of pictures. Stars such as Dorothy Mackaill
Dorothy Mackaill
Dorothy Mackaill was an English-born American actress, most notably of the silent film era and into the early 1930s.-Early life:...
, Bebe Daniels
Bebe Daniels
Bebe Daniels was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer and producer. She began her career in Hollywood during the silent movie era as a child actress, became a star in musicals like 42nd Street, and later gained further fame on radio and television in Britain...
, Frank Fay
Frank Fay (American actor)
Frank Fay was an American film and stage actor, emcee, comedian, best known as an actor for having played "Elwood P. Dowd" in the play Harvey by the American playwright Mary Coyle Chase on Broadway...
, Winnie Lightner
Winnie Lightner
Winnie Lightner was an American motion picture actress. Perhaps her most famous role was as a gold-digger named Mabel, in Gold Diggers of Broadway...
, Bernice Claire
Bernice Claire
Bernice Claire was an American singer and actress. She appeared in 13 films between 1930 and 1938.-Career:...
, Alexander Gray, Alice White, and Jack Mulhall
Jack Mulhall
Jack Mulhall, born John Joseph Francis Mulhall, was a film actor since the silent film era and appeared in over 430 films....
that had characterized the urban, modern, and sophisticated attitude of the 1920s gave way to stars such James Cagney
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
, Joan Blondell
Joan Blondell
Rose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career...
, Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
, Warren William
Warren William
Warren William was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, popular during the early 1930s, who was later nicknamed the "king of Pre-Code". He was born Warren William Krech in Aitkin, Minnesota to parents Freeman E. and Frances Krech. He had a certain physical resemblance to John Barrymore. He attended the...
, and Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
who would be more acceptable to the common man. The studio was one of the most prolific producers of Pre-Code
Pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood refers to the era in the American film industry between the introduction of sound in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines. Although the Code was adopted in 1930, oversight was poor and it did not become rigorously...
pictures and had a lot of trouble with the censors once they started clamping down on what they considered indecency (around 1934). As a result, Warner Bros. turned out a number of historical pictures from around 1935 in order to avoid confrontations with the Breen office. In 1936, following the success of The Petrified Forest
The Petrified Forest
The Petrified Forest is a 1936 American film, starring Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, and Humphrey Bogart. A precursor of film noir, it was adapted from Robert E. Sherwood's 1936 stage play of the same name...
, Jack Warner also signed Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
to a studio contract. Warner, however, did not think Bogart was star material, and decided to only cast Bogart in infrequent roles as a villain opposite either James Cagney or Edward Robinson over the next five years.
After Hal B. Wallis
Hal B. Wallis
Hal B. Wallis was an American film producer.-Career:Harold Brent Wallis was born in Chicago in 1898. His family moved in 1922 to Los Angeles, California, where he found work as part of the publicity department at Warner Bros...
succeeded Zanuck in 1933 and the Hays Code began to be enforced in 1935, the studio was forced to abandon this realistic approach in order to produce more moralistic, idealized pictures. The studio naturally turned to historical dramas which would not cause any problems with the censors. Other offerings included melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
s (or "women's pictures"), swashbucklers
Swashbuckler films
Swashbuckler films are an action-adventure subgenre often characterised by swordfighting and adventurous heroic characters, often set in Renaissance Western Europe with appropriately lavish costumes. Morality is often clear-cut, heroic characters are clearly heroic and even villains tend to have a...
, and adaptations of best-sellers, with stars like 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...
, Olivia de Havilland
Olivia de Havilland
Olivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland...
, Paul Muni
Paul Muni
Paul Muni was an Austrian-Hungarian-born American stage and film actor...
, and Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
. In 1936, Bette Davis, by now arguably the studio's top star, was unhappy with the roles Warner was giving her. She fled to England and tried to break her contract with Warner Bros. Davis lost the lawsuit and soon returned to America. Although many of the studio's employees had problems with Jack Warner, they considered Albert and Harry fair.
Code era
This period also saw the disappearance of a large number of actors and actresses who had characterized the realistic pre-Code era but who were not suited to the new trend into moral and idealized pictures. Warner Bros. remained a top studio in Hollywood since the dawn of talkies, but this changed after 1935 as other studios, notably MGM, quickly overshadowed the prestige and glamor that previously characterized Warner Bros. However, in the late 1930s, Bette Davis became the studio's top draw and was even dubbed as "The Fifth Warner Brother."In 1935, Cagney sued Jack Warner for breach of contract. Cagney claimed Warner had forced him to star in more films than his contract required. Cagney eventually dropped his lawsuit after a cash settlement. Nevertheless, Cagney left the studio to establish an independent film company with his brother Bill. The Cagneys released their films though Grand National Films, however they were not able to get good financing for their productions and ran out of money after their third film. Cagney then agreed to return to Warner Bros., after Jack Warner agreed to a contract guaranteeing Cagney would be treated to his own terms. After the success of Yankee Doodle Dandy
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Yankee Doodle Dandy is a 1942 American biographical musical film about George M. Cohan, known as "The Man Who Owns Broadway". It stars James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, and Richard Whorf, and features Irene Manning, George Tobias, Rosemary DeCamp and Jeanne Cagney.The movie was written by...
at the box office, Cagney again questioned if the studio would meet his salary demand and again quit to form his own film production and distribution company with his brother Bill.
Another employee with whom Warner had troubles was studio producer Bryan Foy. In 1936, Wallis hired Foy as a producer for the studio's low budget B-films
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
leading to his nickname "the keeper of the B's". Foy was able to garnish arguably more profits than any other B-film producer at the time. During Foy's time at the studio, however, Warner fired him seven different times.
During 1936, the studio's film The Story of Louis Pasteur
The Story of Louis Pasteur
The Story of Louis Pasteur is a 1936 American biographical film. It starred Paul Muni as the renowned scientist. It was written by Toni Pollastre and Sheridan Gibney, and Edward Chodorov , and directed by William Dieterle....
proved a box office success and Paul Muni
Paul Muni
Paul Muni was an Austrian-Hungarian-born American stage and film actor...
, the film's star, won the Oscar for Best Actor in March 1937. The studio's 1937 film The Life of Emile Zola
The Life of Emile Zola
The Life of Emile Zola is a 1937 American biographical film about French author Émile Zola. Set in the mid through late 19th century, it depicts his friendship with noted painter Paul Cézanne, and his rise to fame through his prolific writing, with particular focus on his involvement in the Dreyfus...
gave the studio its first Best Picture Oscar.
In 1937, the studio hired Midwestern radio announcer Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. Although Reagan was initially a small-time B-film actor, Warner Bros. was impressed by his performance in the final scene of Knute Rockne, All American
Knute Rockne, All American
Knute Rockne, All American is a 1940 biographical film which tells the story of Knute Rockne, Notre Dame football coach. It stars Pat O'Brien, Ronald Reagan, Gale Page, Donald Crisp, Albert Bassermann, Owen Davis, Jr., Nick Lukats, Kane Richmond, William Marshall and William Byrne. It also...
, and agreed to pair him with Errol Flynn in their film Santa Fe Trail
Santa Fe Trail (film)
Santa Fe Trail is a 1940 western film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. The film was one of the top-grossing films of the year, being the seventh Flynn-de Havilland collaboration. The film also has nothing to do with its namesake, the famed Santa Fe Trail...
(1940). Reagan then returned to B-films. After his performance in the studio's 1942 Kings Row
Kings Row
Kings Row is a 1942 film starring Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, and Ronald Reagan that tells a story of young people growing up in a small American town at the turn of the twentieth century, beset by social pressure, dark secrets, and the challenges and tragedies one must face as a result of these...
, Warner decided to make Reagan a top star and signed him to a new contract, tripling his salary.
In 1936, Harry Warner's daughter Doris read a copy of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind
The slaves depicted in Gone with the Wind are primarily loyal house servants, such as Mammy, Pork and Uncle Peter, and these slaves stay on with their masters even after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 sets them free...
and was interested in making a film adaptation. Doris then offered Mitchell $50,000 for the book's screen rights. Jack, however, refused to allow the deal to take place, realizing it would be an expensive production.
Another studio actor who proved to be a problem for Jack Warner was George Raft
George Raft
George Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s...
. Warner had signed Raft in 1939, hoping he could substitute in gangster pictures when either Robinson or Cagney were on suspension. Raft had difficulty working with Bogart and refused to co-star in any film with him. Eventually, Jack Warner agreed to release Raft from his contract. Following Raft's departure, the studio gave Bogart the role of Roy Earl in the 1941 film High Sierra, which helped establish him as one of the studio's top stars; following High Sierra, Bogart was also given a role in John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
's successful 1941 remake
The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)
The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and a remake of the 1931 film of the same name...
of the studio's 1931 failure, The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon (1931 film)
The Maltese Falcon is a 1931 American Warner Bros. Pre-Code crime film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. The movie was directed by Roy Del Ruth and stars Bebe Daniels in the role of Ruth Wonderly and Ricardo Cortez as private detective Sam Spade.Maude Fulton, Brown Holmes,...
.
1930: Birth of Warner's cartoons
Harman and Ising
Hugh Harman and Rudolf "Rudy" Ising were an American animation team best known for founding the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation studios...
studio. From 1930 to 1933, Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
alumni Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising produced a series of musical cartoons for Leon Schlesinger
Leon Schlesinger
Leon Schlesinger was an American film producer, most noted for founding Leon Schlesinger Productions, which later became the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, during the golden age of Hollywood animation.-Early life and career:...
, who sold the shorts to Warner. Harman and Ising introduced their character Bosko
Bosko
Bosko is an animated cartoon character created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. Bosko is the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger's cartoon series, and is the star of over three dozen Looney Tunes shorts released by Warner Bros...
in the first Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
cartoon, Sinkin' in the Bathtub
Sinkin' in the Bathtub
Sinkin' in the Bathtub was the very first Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon short as well as the very first of the Looney Tunes series.The short was produced and directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, with animation by a very young Friz Freleng...
, and created a sister series, Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
, in 1931.
Harman and Ising broke away from Schlesinger in 1933 due to a contractual dispute, taking Bosko with them to MGM. As a result, Schlesinger started his own studio, Leon Schlesinger Productions
Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was the in-house division of Warner Bros. Pictures during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, Warner Bros. Cartoons was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical...
, which continued with Merrie Melodies while starting production on Looney Tunes starring Buddy
Buddy (Looney Tunes)
Buddy is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes series of cartoons.-Looney Tunes:Buddy has his origins in the chaos that followed the severing of relations between animators Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising from producer Leon Schlesinger...
, a Bosko clone. By the end of the decade, a new Schlesinger production team, including directors Friz Freleng
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng was an animator, cartoonist, director, and producer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros....
, Tex Avery
Tex Avery
Frederick Bean "Fred/Tex" Avery was an American animator, cartoonist, voice actor and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He did his most significant work for the Warner Bros...
, Robert Clampett
Bob Clampett
Robert Emerson "Bob" Clampett was an American animator, producer, director, and puppeteer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes animated series from Warner Bros., and the television shows Time for Beany and Beany and Cecil...
, and Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
was formed. Schlesinger's staff developed a fast-paced, irreverent style that made their cartoons immensely popular worldwide.
In 1936, Avery directed a string of cartoons, starring Porky Pig
Porky Pig
Porky Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts using the fat little pig...
, which established the character as the studio's first bona fide star. In addition to Porky Pig, Warner Bros. cartoon characters Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
(who debuted in the 1937 short Porky's Duck Hunt
Porky's Duck Hunt
Porky's Duck Hunt is an animated short film produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, directed by Tex Avery, and released on April 17, 1937 by Warner Bros. Pictures. Porky's Hare Hunt was the sequel to this one....
) and Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
(who debuted in the 1940 short A Wild Hare
A Wild Hare
A Wild Hare is a 1940 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short film. It was produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, directed by Tex Avery, and written by Rich Hogan. It was originally released on July 27, 1940...
) also achieved star power. By 1942, the Schlesinger studio had surpassed Walt Disney Studios as the most successful producer of animated shorts in the United States.
Warner Bros eventually bought Schlesinger's cartoon unit in 1944 as a division, renamed it as Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was the in-house division of Warner Bros. Pictures during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, Warner Bros. Cartoons was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical...
. Unfortunately, the unit was indifferently treated by senior management, beginning with the installation of Edward Selzer as senior producer, whom the creative staff considered an interfering incompetent. Furthermore, Jack Warner, who had little regard for his company's short film product, reputedly was so ignorant of his animation division that he was mistakenly convinced that the unit produced cartoons of Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
, rival company Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
' flagship character. Furthermore, he sold off the unit's pre-1948 library for a mere $3000 each, which proved a short sighted transaction in light of the considerable long term value that the company's animation product proved to have.
Warner Brothers Cartoons continued, with intermittent interruptions, until 1969 when it was dissolved when the parent company ceased film short production entirely. Regardless of this treatment, its characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird
Tweety
Tweety Bird is a fictional Yellow Canary in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated cartoons. The name "Tweety" is a play on words, as it originally meant "sweetie", along with "tweet" being a typical English onomatopoeia for the sounds of birds...
, Sylvester
Sylvester (Looney Tunes)
Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr., Sylvester the Cat or simply Sylvester, is a fictional character, a three-time Academy Award-winning anthropomorphic Tuxedo cat in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies repertory, often chasing Tweety Bird, Speedy Gonzales, or Hippety Hopper...
, and Porky Pig became central to the company's image in subsequent decades. Bugs in particular remains a mascot to Warner Bros.' various divisions and Six Flags
Six Flags
Six Flags Entertainment Corp. is the world's largest amusement park corporation based on quantity of properties and the fifth most popular in terms of attendance. The company maintains 14 properties located throughout North America, including theme parks, thrill parks, water parks and family...
(which Time Warner previously owned). In fact, it was the success of the compilation film, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie is a 1979 Looney Tunes film with a compilation of classic Warner Bros. cartoon shorts and animated bridging sequences, hosted by Bugs Bunny...
in 1980, featuring the archived film of these characters that prompted Warner Brothers to organize Warner Brothers Animation as a new production division to restart production of original material.
World War II
According to Jack Warner in his autobiography, prior to the United States entering World War II, the head of Warner Bros. sales in Germany, Philip Kauffman, was murdered by the Nazis in Berlin in 1936. Harry WarnerHarry 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...
produced the successful anti-German film The Life of Emile Zola
The Life of Emile Zola
The Life of Emile Zola is a 1937 American biographical film about French author Émile Zola. Set in the mid through late 19th century, it depicts his friendship with noted painter Paul Cézanne, and his rise to fame through his prolific writing, with particular focus on his involvement in the Dreyfus...
(1937). After that, Harry supervised the production of several more anti-German films, including Confessions of a Nazi Spy
Confessions of a Nazi Spy
Confessions of a Nazi Spy is a 1939 American spy thriller film and the first blatantly anti-Nazi film produced by a major Hollywood studio prior to World War II. The film stars Edward G. Robinson, Francis Lederer, George Sanders, and a large cast of German actors, including some who had emigrated...
(1939), The Sea Hawk
The Sea Hawk (1940 film)
The Sea Hawk is a 1940 American Warner Bros. feature film starring Errol Flynn as an English privateer who defends his nation's interests on the eve of the Spanish Armada. The film was the tenth collaboration between Flynn and director Michael Curtiz. The film's screenplay by Howard Koch and Seton I...
(1940), which made King Phillip II an equivalent of Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, Sergeant York
Sergeant York
Sergeant York is a 1941 biographical film about the life of Alvin York, the most-decorated American soldier of World War I. It was directed by Howard Hawks and was the highest-grossing film of the year....
, and You're In The Army Now
You're in the Army Now
You're in the Army Now is a 1941 comedy film starring Jimmy Durante, Phil Silvers, Jane Wyman, and Regis Toomey.It featured the longest kiss in film, lasting three minutes and six seconds until Elena Undone beat it by eighteen seconds.- Cast :...
(1941). After the United States officially entered World War II, Harry Warner decided to focus on producing war films. Also, one-fourth of the studio's employees, including Jack Warner and his son Jack Jr., were drafted or enlisted.
Among the films the studio made during the war were Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
, Now, Voyager
Now, Voyager
Now, Voyager is a 1942 American drama film starring Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, and Claude Rains, and directed by Irving Rapper. The screenplay by Casey Robinson is based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Olive Higgins Prouty....
, Yankee Doodle Dandy (all 1942), This Is the Army
This Is the Army
This Is the Army is a 1943 American wartime motion picture produced by Hal B. Wallis and Jack L. Warner, and directed by Michael Curtiz, and a wartime musical designed to boost morale in the U.S. during World War II, directed by Sgt. Ezra Stone...
, and Mission to Moscow
Mission to Moscow
Mission to Moscow is a book by the former U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union Joseph E. Davies published by Simon and Schuster in 1941. It was adapted into a film directed by Michael Curtiz in 1943....
(both 1943), the latter became controversial a few years afterwards. At the premieres of Yankee Doodle Dandy (in Los Angeles, New York, and London), audiences purchased $15.6 million in war bond
War bond
War bonds are debt securities issued by a government for the purpose of financing military operations during times of war. War bonds generate capital for the government and make civilians feel involved in their national militaries...
s for the governments of England and the United States. By the middle of 1943, however, it became clear audiences were tired of war films. Despite the growing pressure to abandon production of war films, Warner continued to produce them, losing money in the process. Eventually, in honor of the studio's contributions to the war cause, the United States Government named a Liberty ship
Liberty ship
Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
after the brothers' father, Benjamin Warner, and Harry Warner was given the honor of christening the ship. By the time the war ended, $20 million in war bonds were purchased through the studio, the Red Cross
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...
collected 5,200 pints of plasma
Blood plasma
Blood plasma is the straw-colored liquid component of blood in which the blood cells in whole blood are normally suspended. It makes up about 55% of the total blood volume. It is the intravascular fluid part of extracellular fluid...
from studio employees, and 763 of the studio's employees served in the armed forces, including Harry Warner's son-in-law Milton Sperling
Milton Sperling
Milton Sperling was an American film producer and screenwriter for 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. where he had his own independent production unit United States Pictures.-Biography:...
and Jack's son Jack Warner Jr.
Following a dispute over ownership of Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
s Oscar for Best Picture, head producer Hal B. Wallis broke with Warner and resigned.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. (though the name was occasionally given in full form as Warner Brothers during the company's early years), is an American producer of film and television entertainment.
One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
, with its headquarters in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
and New York, New York. Warner Bros. has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television is the television production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on...
, Warner Bros. Animation
Warner Bros. Animation
Warner Bros. Animation is the animation division of Warner Bros., a subsidiary of Time Warner. The studio is closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies characters, among others. The studio is the successor to Warner Bros...
, Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
, New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
, TheWB.com
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
, and DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
.
1903–25: Founding
The corporate name honors the four founding Warner brothers (born Wonskolaser)—HarryHarry 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...
(born Hirsch), Albert
Albert Warner
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...
(born Aaron), 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...
(born Szmul), and Jack
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...
(born Jacob), whose parents had emigrated to North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
from Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, which was at that time part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. The three elder brothers began in the movie theatre business, having acquired a movie projector
Movie projector
A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying moving pictures by projecting them on a projection screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras.-Physiology:...
with which they showed films in the mining towns of 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...
and 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...
. They opened their first theater, the Cascade, in New Castle, Pennsylvania
New Castle, Pennsylvania
New Castle is a city in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, United States, northwest of Pittsburgh and near the Pennsylvania-Ohio border just east of Youngstown, Ohio; in 1910, the total population was 36,280; in 1920, 44,938; and in 1940, 47,638. The population has fallen to 26,309 according to the...
in 1903. (The site of the Cascade later became the Cascade Center
Cascade Center
The Cascade Center at the Riverplex is an indoor and outdoor shopping, dining and entertainment complex located in downtown New Castle, Pennsylvania, which opened in 2006. Much of the complex sits on the former site of the Cascade, the first movie theater of the Warner Bros., hence the name. The...
, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex honoring its Warner Bros. heritage, though in late 2010 all of the businesses have closed and the complex is currently for sale.)
> When this original theatre building in New Castle was in danger of being demolished, the modern Warner Bros. called the modern building owners, and arranged a 3 way even splitting of the cost of saving it, between the state, Warner Bros, and the modern owners. The owners noted the fact that they were taking phone calls from all over the country in reference to the historical significance of the humble building that should be saved historically.
In 1904, the Warners founded the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company, to distribute films.
Within a few years this led to the distribution of pictures across a four-state area. In 1912, Harry Warner hired an auditor named Paul Ashley Chase
Paul Ashley Chase
Paul Ashley Chase was one of the founding executives, first auditor, Assistant Secretary of the corporation, and comptroller for Warner Brothers Pictures. He was previously the traveling auditor for the Erie Railroad. In 1912 Harry Warner and Paul Chase were staying at the same boarding house in...
. By the time of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
they had begun producing films, and in 1918 the brothers opened the Warner Bros. studio on Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...
in Hollywood. Sam and Jack Warner produced the pictures, while Harry and Albert Warner and their auditor and now controller Chase handled finance and distribution in New York City. It was during World War I and their first nationally syndicated film was My Four Years in Germany based on a popular book by former American Ambassador James W. Gerard
James W. Gerard
James Watson Gerard was a U.S. lawyer and diplomat.-Biography:Gerard was born in Geneseo, N. Y. He graduated from Columbia in 1890 and from New York Law School. He was chairman of the Democratic campaign committee of New York County for four years, and served as major of the National Guard of the...
. On April 4, 1923, with help from a loan given to Harry Warner by his banker Motley Flint,Cass Warner Sperling, Cork Millner, and Jack Warner (1998), Hollywood be thy name: the Warner Brothers story (Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky), p. 77. they formally incorporated as Warner Brothers Pictures, Incorporated. However, as late as the 1960s, Warner Bros. claimed 1905 as its founding date.
The first important deal for the company was the acquisition of the rights to Avery Hopwood
Avery Hopwood
James Avery Hopwood , was the most successful playwright of the Jazz Age, having four plays running simultaneously on Broadway in 1920.-Biography:...
's 1919 Broadway play, The Gold Diggers, from theatrical impresario David Belasco
David Belasco
David Belasco was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director and playwright.-Biography:Born in San Francisco, California, where his Sephardic Jewish parents had moved from London, England, during the Gold Rush, he began working in a San Francisco theatre doing a variety of routine jobs,...
. However, what really put Warner Bros. on the Hollywood map was a dog, Rin Tin Tin
Rin 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...
,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 81. brought from France after World War I by an American soldier.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 80. Rin Tin Tin debuted in the feature Where the North Begins. The movie was so successful that Jack Warner agreed to sign the dog to star in more films for $1,000 per week. Rin Tin Tin became the top star at the studio. Jack Warner nicknamed him "The Mortgage Lifter" and the success boosted 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...
's career. Zanuck eventually became a top producer for the studioSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 101. and between 1928 and 1933 served as Jack Warner's right-hand man and executive producer, with responsibilities including the day-to-day production of films.Behlmer (1985), p. xii. More success came after Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch was a German-born film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch."In 1947 he received an Honorary Academy Award for his...
was hired as head 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...
left the studio and accepted an offer to work at MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
. Lubitsch's film The Marriage Circle
The Marriage Circle
The Marriage Circle is a 1924 silent film produced by Ernst Lubitsch and Warner Brothers with direction by Lubitsch and distribution by the Warners. Based on the play Only a Dream by Lothar Schmidt, the screenplay was written by Paul Bern...
was the studio's most successful film of 1924, and was on The New York Times best list for the year.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 82.
Despite the success of Rin Tin Tin and Lubitsch, Warners was still unable to achieve star power.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 83. As a result, Sam and Jack decided to offer Broadway actor John Barrymore
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
the lead role in Beau Brummel
Beau Brummel (1924 film)
Beau Brummel is a 1924 American silent film historical drama. The film stars John Barrymore and was directed by Harry Beaumont. The film is based on Clyde Fitch's historical play which had been performed by Richard Mansfield....
. The film was so successful that Harry Warner agreed to sign Barrymore to a generous long-term contract;Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 84. like The Marriage Circle, Beau Brummell was named one of the ten best films of the year by The New York Times. By the end of 1924, Warner Bros. was arguably the most successful independent studio in Hollywood, but it still competed with "The Big Three" Studios (First National
First National
First National was an association of independent theater owners in the United States that expanded from exhibiting movies to distributing them, and eventually to producing them as a movie studio, called First National Pictures, Inc. It later merged with Warner Bros.-Early history:The First National...
, Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, and MGM). As a result, Harry Warner – while speaking at a convention of 1,500 independent exhibitors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin – was able to convince the filmmakers to spend $500,000 in newspaper advertising,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 86. and Harry saw this as an opportunity to finally be able to establish theaters in big cities like New York and Los Angeles.
As the studio prospered, it gained backing from Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
, and in 1924 Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...
arranged a major loan. With this new money, the Warners bought the pioneer Vitagraph Company
Vitagraph Studios
American Vitagraph was a United States movie studio, founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York. By 1907 it was the most prolific American film production company, producing many famous silent films. It was bought by Warner Bros...
which had a nation-wide distribution system. In 1925, Warners also experimented in radio, establishing a successful radio station, KFWB, in Los Angeles.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.88.
1925–35: Sound, Color, Style
Warner Bros. was a pioneer of films with synchronized soundSynchronization
Synchronization is timekeeping which requires the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. The familiar conductor of an orchestra serves to keep the orchestra in time....
(then known as "talking pictures"
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
or "talkies"). In 1925, at the urging of Sam, the Warners agreed to expand their operations by adding this feature to their productions.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 95. Harry, however, opposed it,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 94. famously wondering, "Who the heck wants to hear actors talk?" By February 1926, the studio suffered a reported net loss of $333,413.
After a long period of denying Sam's request for sound, Harry now agreed to accept Sam's demands, as long as the studio's use of synchronized sound was for background music purposes only. The Warners then signed a contract with the sound engineer company 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...
and established 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...
.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 96. In 1926, Vitaphone began making films with music and effects tracks, most notably, in the feature Don Juan
Don Juan (1926 film)
Don Juan is a Warner Brothers film, directed by Alan Crosland. It was the first feature-length film with synchronized Vitaphone sound effects and musical soundtrack, though it has no spoken dialogue...
starring John Barrymore. The film was silent, but it featured a large number of Vitaphone shorts at the beginning. To hype Don Juans release, Harry Warner also acquired the large Piccadilly Theater in Manhattan, New York and renamed it the Warner Theater.Thomas (1990), p. 56.
Don Juan premiered at the Warner Theater in New York on August 6, 1926. Throughout the early history of film distribution, theater owners hired orchestras to attend film showings and provide soundtracks. Through Vitaphone, however, Warner Bros. produced eight Vitaphone shorts (which aired at the beginning of every showing of Don Juan across the country) in 1926, and got many film production companies to question the necessity.Thomas (1990), p. 57. While Don Juan was a success at the box office,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 113. it did not earn back its production cost and Lubsitch left Warner for MGM. By April 1927, the Big Five studios (First National, Paramount, MGM, Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
, and Producers Distributing) had put the Warner brothers in financial ruin,Thomas (1990), p. 59. and Western Electric renewed Warner's Vitaphone contract with terms that allowed other film companies to test sound.
As a result of the financial problems the studio was having, Warner Bros. took the next step and released 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,...
starring Al Jolson
Al Jolson
Al Jolson was an American singer, comedian and actor. In his heyday, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer"....
. This movie, which has very little sound dialog but does feature sound segments of Jolson singing, was a sensation. It signaled the beginning of the era of "talking pictures" and the twilight of the silent
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
era. However, as Sam died, the brothers were at his funeral and could not attend the premiere. Jack became sole head of production.Warner and Jennings (1964), pp.180–181. Sam's death also had a great effect on Jack's emotional state, as Sam was arguably Jack's inspiration and favorite brother.Thomas (1990), p. 62. In the years to come, Jack ran the studio with an iron fist. Firing of studio employees soon became his trademark.Thomas (1990), p. 100-101. Among those whom Jack fired were Rin Tin Tin (in 1929) and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr. KBE was an American actor and a highly decorated naval officer of World War II.-Early life:...
– who had served as First National's top star since the brothers acquired the studio in 1928—in 1933.
Thanks to the success of The Jazz Singer, the studio was suddenly flush with cash. Jolson's next film for the company, The Singing Fool
The Singing Fool
The Singing Fool is a 1928 musical drama Part-Talkie motion picture which was released by Warner Brothers. The film starred Al Jolson and was a follow-up to his previous film, The Jazz Singer...
was also a success.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 141. With the success of these first talkies (The Jazz Singer, Lights of New York
Lights of New York (1928 film)
Lights of New York was the first all-talking feature film, released by Warner Brothers and directed by Bryan Foy. The film, which cost only $23,000 to produce, grossed over $1,000,000. It was also the first film to define the crime genre...
, The Singing Fool, and The Terror), Warner Bros. became one of the top studios in Hollywood and the brothers were now able to move out from the Poverty Row
Poverty Row
Poverty Row is a slang term used in Hollywood from the late silent period through the mid-fifties to refer to a variety of small and mostly short-lived B movie studios...
section of Hollywood and acquire a big studio in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
. They were also able to expand studio operations by acquiring the Stanley Corporation, a major theater chain.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.144. This gave them a share in rival First National Pictures
First National
First National was an association of independent theater owners in the United States that expanded from exhibiting movies to distributing them, and eventually to producing them as a movie studio, called First National Pictures, Inc. It later merged with Warner Bros.-Early history:The First National...
, of which Stanley owned one-third.Thomas (1990), p.65. In a bidding war with William Fox
William Fox (producer)
William Fox born Fried Vilmos was a pioneering Hungarian American motion picture executive who founded the Fox Film Corporation in 1915 and the Fox West Coast Theatres chain in the 1920s...
, Warner Bros. bought more First National shares on September 13, 1928;Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 147. Jack Warner also appointed producer Darryl Zanuck as the studio's manager of First National Pictures.
In 1929, Warner Bros also bought the St. Louis-based theater chain Skouras Brothers
Skouras Brothers
The Skouras Brothers Enterprises Inc. was an American movie theater chain from the early days of film-making based in St. Louis, Missouri. It was owned and operated by three brothers: Charles, Spyros and George...
. Following this take-over, Spyros Skouras
Spyros Skouras
Spyros Panagiotis Skouras was an American motion picture pioneer and movie executive who was the president of the 20th Century Fox from 1942 to 1962...
, the driving force of the chain, became general manager of the Warner Brothers Theater Circuit in America. He worked successfully in that post for two years and managed to eliminate the losses and eventually even increase the profits. This was a welcome gain given the financial hardships occasioned by the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
.
In addition, Harry Warner was also able to acquire a string of music publishers and form Warner Bros. Music. In April 1930, the Warner Bros. acquired Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
. Harry also obtained a string of radio companies, foreign sound patents, and even a lithograph company. After establishing Warner Bros. Music, Harry appointed his son, Lewis, to serve as the company's head manager.Thomas (1990), p. 66.
In 1929, Harry was also able to produce an adaptation of a Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
musical titled Fifty Million Frenchmen
Fifty Million Frenchmen
Fifty Million Frenchmen is a musical comedy with a book by Herbert Fields and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It opened on Broadway in 1929 and was adapted for a film two years later...
.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.148. Through First National, the studio's profit increased substantially. After the success of the studio's 1929 First National film Noah's Ark, Harry also agreed to make Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz was an Academy award winning Hungarian-American film director. He had early creditsas Mihály Kertész and Michael Kertész...
a major director at the Burbank studio. Mort Blumenstock, a First National screenwriter, became a top writer at the brothers' New York headquarters.
In the third quarter of 1929, Warner Bros. gained complete control of First National, when Harry purchased the company's remaining one-third share from Fox. The Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
agreed to allow the purchase if First National was maintained as a separate company. When the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
hit, Warner asked for and got permission to merge the two studios; soon afterward Warner Bros. moved to the First National lot in Burbank
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
. Though the companies merged, the Justice Department required Warner to produce and release a few films each year under the First National name until 1938. For 30 years, certain Warner productions were identified (mainly for tax purposes) as 'A Warner Bros. – First National Picture.'
In the latter part of 1929, Jack Warner hired sixty-one year old actor George Arliss
George 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 Disraeli
Disraeli (film)
Disraeli is a film that was adapted by Julien Josephson and De Leon Anthony from a play by Louis N. Parker. The film was directed by Alfred E. Green....
,Thomas (1990), p. 77. which was a surprise success. Arliss won an Academy Award 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...
and went on to star in nine more movies with the studio. In 1930, Harry acquired more theaters in Atlantic City
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
, despite the beginning of the Great Depression. In July 1930, the studio's banker, Motley Flint, was murdered by a disgruntled investor in another company.Thomas (1990), pp.72.
By 1931, however, the studio began to feel the effects of the Depression as the general public became unable to afford the price of a movie ticket. In 1931, the studio reportedly suffered a net loss of $8 million,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 160. and an additional $14 million the following year. In 1931, Warner Bros. Music head Lewis Warner died from an infection.
Around that time, Warner Bros. head producer Darryl Zanuck hired screenwriter Wilson Mizner
Wilson Mizner
Wilson Mizner was an American playwright, raconteur, and entrepreneur. His best-known plays are The Deep Purple, produced in 1910, and The Greyhound, produced in 1912...
.Thomas (1990), pp. 89–92. While at the studio, Mizner had hardly any respect for authority and found it difficult to work with studio boss Jack Warner, but nevertheless became a valuable asset. As time went by, Warner became more tolerant of Mizner and helped invest in Mizner's Brown Derby
Brown Derby
The Brown Derby was the name of a chain of restaurants in Los Angeles, California. The first and most famous of these was shaped like a men's derby hat, an iconic image that became synonymous with the Golden Age of Hollywood....
restaurant. On April 3, 1933, Mizner died from a heart attack.Thomas (1990), pp. 93.
In 1928, Warner Bros. released Lights of New York
Lights of New York (1928 film)
Lights of New York was the first all-talking feature film, released by Warner Brothers and directed by Bryan Foy. The film, which cost only $23,000 to produce, grossed over $1,000,000. It was also the first film to define the crime genre...
, the first all-talking feature. Due to its success, the movie industry converted entirely to sound almost overnight. By the end of 1929, all the major studios were exclusively making sound films. In 1929, National Pictures released their first film with Warner Bros., Noah's Ark.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.151. Despite its expensive budget, Noah's Ark was profitable.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 150. In 1929, Warner Bros. released On with the Show
On with the Show (1929 film)
On with the Show! is a 1929 American musical film released by Warner Bros. The film is noted as the first ever all-talking all-color feature length movie, and the second color movie released by Warner Bros.; the first was a partly color, black-and-white musical, The Desert Song . -Plot:With unpaid...
, the first all-color all-talking feature. This was followed by Gold Diggers of Broadway
Gold Diggers of Broadway (film)
Gold Diggers of Broadway is a 1929 Warner Bros. comedy/musical film which is historically important as the second two-strip Technicolor all-talking feature length movie . Gold Diggers of Broadway was also the third movie released by Warner Bros...
which was so popular it played in theatres until 1939. The success of these two color pictures caused a color revolution (just as the first all-talkie had created one for talkies). Warner Bros. released a large number of color films from 1929 to 1931, including The Show of Shows
The Show of Shows (film)
The Show of Shows is a lavish all talking Vitaphone musical revue film which cost $850,000 to make. The Show of Shows was Warner Bros. fifth color movie, the first four were The Desert Song , On With the Show , Gold Diggers of Broadway and Paris . This movie featured most of the contemporary...
(1929), Sally (1929), Bright Lights (1930), Golden Dawn
Golden Dawn (film)
Golden Dawn is a musical operetta released by Warner Brothers and photographed entirely in Technicolor. The film is based on the semi-hit stage musical of the same name by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach.-Songs:...
(1930), Hold Everything
Hold Everything (1930 film)
Hold Everything is a 1930 early all-talking film. It was the first musical comedy film to be released that was photographed entirely in early two-color Technicolor. It was adapted from the DeSylva-Brown-Henderson Broadway musical of the same name that had served as a vehicle for Bert Lahr and...
(1930), Song of the Flame
Song of the Flame (film)
Song of the Flame is a musical operetta film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was the first color film to feature a widescreen sequence using a process called Vitascope, the trademark name for Warner Bros.' widescreen process...
(1930), Song of the West
Song of the West (film)
Song of the West is a musical operetta film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was based on the 1928 musical play Rainbow by Oscar Hammerstein II and Laurence Stallings and was the first all-color all-talking feature to be filmed entirely outdoors. The film starred John Boles, Joe E. Brown...
(1930), The Life of the Party
The Life of the Party (1930 film)
The Life of the Party is a 1930 American musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. The musical numbers of this film were cut out before general release in the United States because the public had grown tired of musicals by late 1930. Only one song was left in the picture...
(1930), Sweet Kitty Bellairs
Sweet Kitty Bellairs (film)
Sweet Kitty Bellairs is a 1930 musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. In contrast to usual historical costume dramas, the picture never takes itself seriously and is a delightful satire of the England of 1793 in the city of Bath...
(1930), Under A Texas Moon
Under a Texas Moon (film)
Under A Texas Moon is a 1930 musical western film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was based on the novel Two-Gun Man which was written by Stewart Edward White. It was the second all-color all-talking feature to be filmed entirely outdoors as well as being the second western in color...
(1930), Bride of the Regiment (1930), Viennese Nights
Viennese Nights (film)
Viennese Nights is a musical operetta film photographed entirely in Technicolor and released by Warner Brothers. The movie was filmed in March and April 1930, before anyone realized the extent of the economic hardships that would arrive with Great Depression, which began in the autumn of that year...
(1931), Woman Hungry
Woman Hungry (film)
Woman Hungry is a 1931 musical western film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was based on the play The Great Divide which was written by William Vaughn Moody...
(1931), Kiss Me Again
Kiss Me Again (1931 film)
Kiss Me Again is a musical operetta film filmed entirely in Technicolor. It was originally released in the United States as Toast of the Legion late in 1930, but was quickly withdrawn when Warner Bros. realized that the public had grown weary of musicals. The Warner Bros...
(1931), Fifty Million Frenchmen
Fifty Million Frenchmen (film)
__notoc__Fifty Million Frenchmen is a 1931 musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was based on Cole Porter's 1929 Broadway musical. It was originally intended to be released, in the United States, late in 1930, but was shelved due to public apathy towards musicals. Despite...
(1931), and Manhattan Parade
Manhattan Parade (film)
Manhattan Parade is a 1931 musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was originally intended to be released, in the United States, early in 1931, but was shelved due to public apathy towards musicals. Despite waiting a number of months, the public proved obstinate and the Warner...
(1932). In addition to these, scores of features were released with Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
sequences as well as a numerous variety of short subjects. The majority of these color films were musicals.
Three years later, the audience had grown so tired of musicals, the studio was forced to cut the musical numbers of many of the productions and advertise them as straight comedies. The public had begun to associate musicals with color and thus the movie studios began to abandon its use. Warner Bros. had a contract with Technicolor to produce two more pictures in that process. As a result, the first horror films in color were produced and released by the studio: Doctor X
Doctor X (film)
Doctor X is a First National/Warner Bros. horror and mystery film based on the play of the same name. It was directed by Michael Curtiz and stars Lee Tracy, Fay Wray, and Lionel Atwill....
(1932) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933). In the latter part of 1931, Harry Warner rented the Teddington Studios
Teddington Studios
Teddington Studios is a large British television studio complex located in Teddington, South-West London, providing studio facilities for programmes airing on BBC television, ITV, and Channel 4 along with others...
in London, England. The studio focused on making 'quota quickies' for the domestic British marketPatricia Warren British Film Studios: An Illustrated History, London: B.T Batsford, 2001, p.161 and Irving Asher
Irving Asher
Irving Asher was an Producer. He worked as a managing director for Warner Brothers in England in the 1930s, working on Alexander Korda's classic epic, The Four Feathers...
was appointed as the studio's head producer. In 1934, Harry Warner officially purchased the Teddington Studios.
In February 1933, however, Warner Bros. produced 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...
, a very successful musicalSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 190. that saved the company from bankruptcy. In the wake of 42nd Streets success, the studio produced further profitable musicals.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 194. These starred 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:...
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...
.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.192. In 1935, the revival suffered a major blow when Berkeley was arrested after killing three people while driving drunk. By the end of the year, people again tired of Warner Bros. musicals, and the studio – after the huge profits made by the 1935 film Captain Blood – shifted its focus on producing Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
swashbucklers
Swashbuckler films
Swashbuckler films are an action-adventure subgenre often characterised by swordfighting and adventurous heroic characters, often set in Renaissance Western Europe with appropriately lavish costumes. Morality is often clear-cut, heroic characters are clearly heroic and even villains tend to have a...
.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 195.
1931–1935: Pre-code realistic period
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 socially realistic storylines, "torn from the headlines" pictures many in the media said glorified gangsters; Warner Bros. soon became known as a "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 box office successSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 184. and Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
was a star in many of the subsequent wave of Warner gangster films.Thomas (1990), pp.77–79. 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...
,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.185 made James Cagney
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
arguably the studio's new top star,Thomas (1990), p.81. and Warner Bros. was now convinced to make more gangster films.
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...
, based on a true story and starring Paul Muni
Paul Muni
Paul Muni was an Austrian-Hungarian-born American stage and film actor...
.Thomas (1990), p.83. In addition to Cagney and Robinson, Muni was also given a big push as one the studio's top gangster starsSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.186. after appearing in the successful film, which got audiences to question the legal system in the United States. 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, untrue 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...
became a top star for the studio.Thomas (1990), pp. 82–83.
In 1933, relief for the studio came after Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
became president and was able to stimulate the 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...
;Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.161. because of this economic rebound, Warner Bros. again became profitable. The same year, long time 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...
quit. One reason was Harry Warner's relationship with Zanuck had become strained after Harry strongly opposed allowing Zanuck's 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 Hays Code boundaries. Also, the studio reduced Zanuck's salary as a result of the losses as a result of the Great Depression, and Harry continued to refuse to restore it in the wake of the New Deal's rebound. Zanuck resignedBehlmer (1985), p.12. and established his own company. In the wake of Zanuck's resignation, Harry Warner agreed to again raise the salary for studio employees.
In 1933, Warner was able to bring newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
's Cosmopolitan films into the Warner Bros. fold. Hearst had previously been signed with MGM, but ended the association after a dispute with the company's head producer Irving Thalberg over the treatment of Hearst's long standing mistress, actress Marion Davies
Marion Davies
Marion Davies was an American film actress. Davies is best remembered for her relationship with newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, as her high-profile social life often obscured her professional career....
, who was struggling for box office success. Through his partnership with Hearst, Warner was able to sign Davies to a studio contract. Hearst's company and Davies' films, however, could not increase the studio's profits.
In 1934, the studio lost over $2.5 million, of which $500,000 was the result of a fire at the Burbank studio at the end of 1934, destroying 20 years worth of early Vitagraph, Warner Bros., and First National films.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 209 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...
(1935) failed at the box office and the studio's net loss increased. During this time, Warner Bros. President Harry Warner and six other movie studio figures were indicted of conspiracy to violate the Sherman Antitrust Act
Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act requires the United States federal government to investigate and pursue trusts, companies, and organizations suspected of violating the Act. It was the first Federal statute to limit cartels and monopolies, and today still forms the basis for most antitrust litigation by...
, through an attempt to gain a monopoly over theaters in the St Louis area. In 1935, Harry was put on trial; after a mistrial, Harry sold the company's movie theaters, at least for a short time, and the case was never reopened.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 211 1935 also saw the studio rebound with a net profit of $674,158.00.
By 1936, contracts of musical and silent stars were not renewed and new talent, tough-talking, working-class types, were hired who more suitably fit in with these sort of pictures. Stars such as Dorothy Mackaill
Dorothy Mackaill
Dorothy Mackaill was an English-born American actress, most notably of the silent film era and into the early 1930s.-Early life:...
, Bebe Daniels
Bebe Daniels
Bebe Daniels was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer and producer. She began her career in Hollywood during the silent movie era as a child actress, became a star in musicals like 42nd Street, and later gained further fame on radio and television in Britain...
, Frank Fay
Frank Fay (American actor)
Frank Fay was an American film and stage actor, emcee, comedian, best known as an actor for having played "Elwood P. Dowd" in the play Harvey by the American playwright Mary Coyle Chase on Broadway...
, Winnie Lightner
Winnie Lightner
Winnie Lightner was an American motion picture actress. Perhaps her most famous role was as a gold-digger named Mabel, in Gold Diggers of Broadway...
, Bernice Claire
Bernice Claire
Bernice Claire was an American singer and actress. She appeared in 13 films between 1930 and 1938.-Career:...
, Alexander Gray, Alice White, and Jack Mulhall
Jack Mulhall
Jack Mulhall, born John Joseph Francis Mulhall, was a film actor since the silent film era and appeared in over 430 films....
that had characterized the urban, modern, and sophisticated attitude of the 1920s gave way to stars such James Cagney
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
, Joan Blondell
Joan Blondell
Rose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career...
, Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
, Warren William
Warren William
Warren William was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, popular during the early 1930s, who was later nicknamed the "king of Pre-Code". He was born Warren William Krech in Aitkin, Minnesota to parents Freeman E. and Frances Krech. He had a certain physical resemblance to John Barrymore. He attended the...
, and Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
who would be more acceptable to the common man. The studio was one of the most prolific producers of Pre-Code
Pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood refers to the era in the American film industry between the introduction of sound in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines. Although the Code was adopted in 1930, oversight was poor and it did not become rigorously...
pictures and had a lot of trouble with the censors once they started clamping down on what they considered indecency (around 1934).Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), pp.188–189. As a result, Warner Bros. turned out a number of historical pictures from around 1935 in order to avoid confrontations with the Breen office. In 1936, following the success of The Petrified Forest
The Petrified Forest
The Petrified Forest is a 1936 American film, starring Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, and Humphrey Bogart. A precursor of film noir, it was adapted from Robert E. Sherwood's 1936 stage play of the same name...
, Jack Warner also signed Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
to a studio contract. Warner, however, did not think Bogart was star material, and decided to only cast Bogart in infrequent roles as a villain opposite either James Cagney or Edward Robinson over the next five years.
After Hal B. Wallis
Hal B. Wallis
Hal B. Wallis was an American film producer.-Career:Harold Brent Wallis was born in Chicago in 1898. His family moved in 1922 to Los Angeles, California, where he found work as part of the publicity department at Warner Bros...
succeeded Zanuck in 1933 and the Hays Code began to be enforced in 1935, the studio was forced to abandon this realistic approach in order to produce more moralistic, idealized pictures. The studio naturally turned to historical dramas which would not cause any problems with the censors. Other offerings included melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
s (or "women's pictures"), swashbucklers
Swashbuckler films
Swashbuckler films are an action-adventure subgenre often characterised by swordfighting and adventurous heroic characters, often set in Renaissance Western Europe with appropriately lavish costumes. Morality is often clear-cut, heroic characters are clearly heroic and even villains tend to have a...
, and adaptations of best-sellers, with stars like 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...
, Olivia de Havilland
Olivia de Havilland
Olivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland...
, Paul Muni
Paul Muni
Paul Muni was an Austrian-Hungarian-born American stage and film actor...
, and Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
. In 1936, Bette Davis, by now arguably the studio's top star,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 219-221. was unhappy with the roles Warner was giving her. She fled to England and tried to break her contract with Warner Bros. Davis lost the lawsuit and soon returned to America.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 221. Although many of the studio's employees had problems with Jack Warner, they considered Albert and Harry fair.
Code era
This period also saw the disappearance of a large number of actors and actresses who had characterized the realistic pre-Code era but who were not suited to the new trend into moral and idealized pictures. Warner Bros. remained a top studio in Hollywood since the dawn of talkies, but this changed after 1935 as other studios, notably MGM, quickly overshadowed the prestige and glamor that previously characterized Warner Bros. However, in the late 1930s, Bette Davis became the studio's top draw and was even dubbed as "The Fifth Warner Brother."In 1935, Cagney sued Jack Warner for breach of contract. Cagney claimed Warner had forced him to star in more films than his contract required. Cagney eventually dropped his lawsuit after a cash settlement. Nevertheless, Cagney left the studio to establish an independent film company with his brother Bill. The Cagneys released their films though Grand National Films, however they were not able to get good financing for their productions and ran out of money after their third film. Cagney then agreed to return to Warner Bros., after Jack Warner agreed to a contract guaranteeing Cagney would be treated to his own terms. After the success of Yankee Doodle Dandy
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Yankee Doodle Dandy is a 1942 American biographical musical film about George M. Cohan, known as "The Man Who Owns Broadway". It stars James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, and Richard Whorf, and features Irene Manning, George Tobias, Rosemary DeCamp and Jeanne Cagney.The movie was written by...
at the box office, Cagney again questioned if the studio would meet his salary demand and again quit to form his own film production and distribution company with his brother Bill.
Another employee with whom Warner had troubles was studio producer Bryan Foy. In 1936, Wallis hired Foy as a producer for the studio's low budget B-films
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
leading to his nickname "the keeper of the B's". Foy was able to garnish arguably more profits than any other B-film producer at the time. During Foy's time at the studio, however, Warner fired him seven different times.
During 1936, the studio's film The Story of Louis Pasteur
The Story of Louis Pasteur
The Story of Louis Pasteur is a 1936 American biographical film. It starred Paul Muni as the renowned scientist. It was written by Toni Pollastre and Sheridan Gibney, and Edward Chodorov , and directed by William Dieterle....
proved a box office success and Paul Muni
Paul Muni
Paul Muni was an Austrian-Hungarian-born American stage and film actor...
, the film's star, won the Oscar for Best Actor in March 1937. The studio's 1937 film The Life of Emile Zola
The Life of Emile Zola
The Life of Emile Zola is a 1937 American biographical film about French author Émile Zola. Set in the mid through late 19th century, it depicts his friendship with noted painter Paul Cézanne, and his rise to fame through his prolific writing, with particular focus on his involvement in the Dreyfus...
gave the studio its first Best Picture Oscar.
In 1937, the studio hired Midwestern radio announcer Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. Although Reagan was initially a small-time B-film actor, Warner Bros. was impressed by his performance in the final scene of Knute Rockne, All American
Knute Rockne, All American
Knute Rockne, All American is a 1940 biographical film which tells the story of Knute Rockne, Notre Dame football coach. It stars Pat O'Brien, Ronald Reagan, Gale Page, Donald Crisp, Albert Bassermann, Owen Davis, Jr., Nick Lukats, Kane Richmond, William Marshall and William Byrne. It also...
, and agreed to pair him with Errol Flynn in their film Santa Fe Trail
Santa Fe Trail (film)
Santa Fe Trail is a 1940 western film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. The film was one of the top-grossing films of the year, being the seventh Flynn-de Havilland collaboration. The film also has nothing to do with its namesake, the famed Santa Fe Trail...
(1940). Reagan then returned to B-films. After his performance in the studio's 1942 Kings Row
Kings Row
Kings Row is a 1942 film starring Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, and Ronald Reagan that tells a story of young people growing up in a small American town at the turn of the twentieth century, beset by social pressure, dark secrets, and the challenges and tragedies one must face as a result of these...
, Warner decided to make Reagan a top star and signed him to a new contract, tripling his salary.
In 1936, Harry Warner's daughter Doris read a copy of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind
The slaves depicted in Gone with the Wind are primarily loyal house servants, such as Mammy, Pork and Uncle Peter, and these slaves stay on with their masters even after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 sets them free...
and was interested in making a film adaptation. Doris then offered Mitchell $50,000 for the book's screen rights. Jack, however, refused to allow the deal to take place, realizing it would be an expensive production.
Another studio actor who proved to be a problem for Jack Warner was George Raft
George Raft
George Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s...
. Warner had signed Raft in 1939, hoping he could substitute in gangster pictures when either Robinson or Cagney were on suspension. Raft had difficulty working with Bogart and refused to co-star in any film with him. Eventually, Jack Warner agreed to release Raft from his contract. Following Raft's departure, the studio gave Bogart the role of Roy Earl in the 1941 film High Sierra, which helped establish him as one of the studio's top stars; following High Sierra, Bogart was also given a role in John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
's successful 1941 remake
The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)
The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and a remake of the 1931 film of the same name...
of the studio's 1931 failure, The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon (1931 film)
The Maltese Falcon is a 1931 American Warner Bros. Pre-Code crime film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. The movie was directed by Roy Del Ruth and stars Bebe Daniels in the role of Ruth Wonderly and Ricardo Cortez as private detective Sam Spade.Maude Fulton, Brown Holmes,...
.
1930: Birth of Warner's cartoons
Harman and Ising
Hugh Harman and Rudolf "Rudy" Ising were an American animation team best known for founding the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation studios...
studio. From 1930 to 1933, Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
alumni Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising produced a series of musical cartoons for Leon Schlesinger
Leon Schlesinger
Leon Schlesinger was an American film producer, most noted for founding Leon Schlesinger Productions, which later became the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, during the golden age of Hollywood animation.-Early life and career:...
, who sold the shorts to Warner. Harman and Ising introduced their character Bosko
Bosko
Bosko is an animated cartoon character created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. Bosko is the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger's cartoon series, and is the star of over three dozen Looney Tunes shorts released by Warner Bros...
in the first Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
cartoon, Sinkin' in the Bathtub
Sinkin' in the Bathtub
Sinkin' in the Bathtub was the very first Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon short as well as the very first of the Looney Tunes series.The short was produced and directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, with animation by a very young Friz Freleng...
, and created a sister series, Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
, in 1931.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 187.
Harman and Ising broke away from Schlesinger in 1933 due to a contractual dispute, taking Bosko with them to MGM. As a result, Schlesinger started his own studio, Leon Schlesinger Productions
Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was the in-house division of Warner Bros. Pictures during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, Warner Bros. Cartoons was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical...
, which continued with Merrie Melodies while starting production on Looney Tunes starring Buddy
Buddy (Looney Tunes)
Buddy is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes series of cartoons.-Looney Tunes:Buddy has his origins in the chaos that followed the severing of relations between animators Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising from producer Leon Schlesinger...
, a Bosko clone. By the end of the decade, a new Schlesinger production team, including directors Friz Freleng
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng was an animator, cartoonist, director, and producer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros....
, Tex Avery
Tex Avery
Frederick Bean "Fred/Tex" Avery was an American animator, cartoonist, voice actor and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He did his most significant work for the Warner Bros...
, Robert Clampett
Bob Clampett
Robert Emerson "Bob" Clampett was an American animator, producer, director, and puppeteer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes animated series from Warner Bros., and the television shows Time for Beany and Beany and Cecil...
, and Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
was formed. Schlesinger's staff developed a fast-paced, irreverent style that made their cartoons immensely popular worldwide.
In 1936, Avery directed a string of cartoons, starring Porky Pig
Porky Pig
Porky Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts using the fat little pig...
, which established the character as the studio's first bona fide star.Barrier, Michael (1999). pp.329–333. In addition to Porky Pig, Warner Bros. cartoon characters Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
(who debuted in the 1937 short Porky's Duck Hunt
Porky's Duck Hunt
Porky's Duck Hunt is an animated short film produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, directed by Tex Avery, and released on April 17, 1937 by Warner Bros. Pictures. Porky's Hare Hunt was the sequel to this one....
) and Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
(who debuted in the 1940 short A Wild Hare
A Wild Hare
A Wild Hare is a 1940 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short film. It was produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, directed by Tex Avery, and written by Rich Hogan. It was originally released on July 27, 1940...
) also achieved star power. By 1942, the Schlesinger studio had surpassed Walt Disney Studios as the most successful producer of animated shorts in the United States.
Warner Bros eventually bought Schlesinger's cartoon unit in 1944 as a division, renamed it as Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was the in-house division of Warner Bros. Pictures during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, Warner Bros. Cartoons was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical...
. Unfortunately, the unit was indifferently treated by senior management, beginning with the installation of Edward Selzer as senior producer, whom the creative staff considered an interfering incompetent. Furthermore, Jack Warner, who had little regard for his company's short film product, reputedly was so ignorant of his animation division that he was mistakenly convinced that the unit produced cartoons of Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
, rival company Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
' flagship character. Furthermore, he sold off the unit's pre-1948 library for a mere $3000 each, which proved a short sighted transaction in light of the considerable long term value that the company's animation product proved to have.Thomas (1990), p. 212.
Warner Brothers Cartoons continued, with intermittent interruptions, until 1969 when it was dissolved when the parent company ceased film short production entirely. Regardless of this treatment, its characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird
Tweety
Tweety Bird is a fictional Yellow Canary in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated cartoons. The name "Tweety" is a play on words, as it originally meant "sweetie", along with "tweet" being a typical English onomatopoeia for the sounds of birds...
, Sylvester
Sylvester (Looney Tunes)
Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr., Sylvester the Cat or simply Sylvester, is a fictional character, a three-time Academy Award-winning anthropomorphic Tuxedo cat in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies repertory, often chasing Tweety Bird, Speedy Gonzales, or Hippety Hopper...
, and Porky Pig became central to the company's image in subsequent decades. Bugs in particular remains a mascot to Warner Bros.' various divisions and Six Flags
Six Flags
Six Flags Entertainment Corp. is the world's largest amusement park corporation based on quantity of properties and the fifth most popular in terms of attendance. The company maintains 14 properties located throughout North America, including theme parks, thrill parks, water parks and family...
(which Time Warner previously owned). In fact, it was the success of the compilation film, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie is a 1979 Looney Tunes film with a compilation of classic Warner Bros. cartoon shorts and animated bridging sequences, hosted by Bugs Bunny...
in 1980, featuring the archived film of these characters that prompted Warner Brothers to organize Warner Brothers Animation as a new production division to restart production of original material.
World War II
According to Jack Warner in his autobiography, prior to the United States entering World War II, the head of Warner Bros. sales in Germany, Philip Kauffman, was murdered by the Nazis in Berlin in 1936. Harry WarnerHarry 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...
produced the successful anti-German film The Life of Emile Zola
The Life of Emile Zola
The Life of Emile Zola is a 1937 American biographical film about French author Émile Zola. Set in the mid through late 19th century, it depicts his friendship with noted painter Paul Cézanne, and his rise to fame through his prolific writing, with particular focus on his involvement in the Dreyfus...
(1937).Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 225 After that, Harry supervised the production of several more anti-German films, including Confessions of a Nazi Spy
Confessions of a Nazi Spy
Confessions of a Nazi Spy is a 1939 American spy thriller film and the first blatantly anti-Nazi film produced by a major Hollywood studio prior to World War II. The film stars Edward G. Robinson, Francis Lederer, George Sanders, and a large cast of German actors, including some who had emigrated...
(1939),Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 233 The Sea Hawk
The Sea Hawk (1940 film)
The Sea Hawk is a 1940 American Warner Bros. feature film starring Errol Flynn as an English privateer who defends his nation's interests on the eve of the Spanish Armada. The film was the tenth collaboration between Flynn and director Michael Curtiz. The film's screenplay by Howard Koch and Seton I...
(1940), which made King Phillip II an equivalent of Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 247 Sergeant York
Sergeant York
Sergeant York is a 1941 biographical film about the life of Alvin York, the most-decorated American soldier of World War I. It was directed by Howard Hawks and was the highest-grossing film of the year....
,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 246 and You're In The Army Now
You're in the Army Now
You're in the Army Now is a 1941 comedy film starring Jimmy Durante, Phil Silvers, Jane Wyman, and Regis Toomey.It featured the longest kiss in film, lasting three minutes and six seconds until Elena Undone beat it by eighteen seconds.- Cast :...
(1941). After the United States officially entered World War II, Harry Warner decided to focus on producing war films.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 240 Also, one-fourth of the studio's employees, including Jack Warner and his son Jack Jr., were drafted or enlisted.
Among the films the studio made during the war were Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
, Now, Voyager
Now, Voyager
Now, Voyager is a 1942 American drama film starring Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, and Claude Rains, and directed by Irving Rapper. The screenplay by Casey Robinson is based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Olive Higgins Prouty....
, Yankee Doodle Dandy (all 1942), This Is the Army
This Is the Army
This Is the Army is a 1943 American wartime motion picture produced by Hal B. Wallis and Jack L. Warner, and directed by Michael Curtiz, and a wartime musical designed to boost morale in the U.S. during World War II, directed by Sgt. Ezra Stone...
, and Mission to Moscow
Mission to Moscow
Mission to Moscow is a book by the former U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union Joseph E. Davies published by Simon and Schuster in 1941. It was adapted into a film directed by Michael Curtiz in 1943....
(both 1943), the latter became controversial a few years afterwards. At the premieres of Yankee Doodle Dandy (in Los Angeles, New York, and London), audiences purchased $15.6 million in war bond
War bond
War bonds are debt securities issued by a government for the purpose of financing military operations during times of war. War bonds generate capital for the government and make civilians feel involved in their national militaries...
s for the governments of England and the United States. By the middle of 1943, however, it became clear audiences were tired of war films. Despite the growing pressure to abandon production of war films, Warner continued to produce them, losing money in the process. Eventually, in honor of the studio's contributions to the war cause, the United States Government named a Liberty ship
Liberty ship
Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
after the brothers' father, Benjamin Warner, and Harry Warner was given the honor of christening the ship. By the time the war ended, $20 million in war bonds were purchased through the studio, the Red Cross
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...
collected 5,200 pints of plasma
Blood plasma
Blood plasma is the straw-colored liquid component of blood in which the blood cells in whole blood are normally suspended. It makes up about 55% of the total blood volume. It is the intravascular fluid part of extracellular fluid...
from studio employees, and 763 of the studio's employees served in the armed forces, including Harry Warner's son-in-law Milton Sperling
Milton Sperling
Milton Sperling was an American film producer and screenwriter for 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. where he had his own independent production unit United States Pictures.-Biography:...
and Jack's son Jack Warner Jr.
Following a dispute over ownership of Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
s Oscar for Best Picture, head producer Hal B. Wallis broke with Warner and resigned.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. (though the name was occasionally given in full form as Warner Brothers during the company's early years), is an American producer of film and television entertainment.
One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
, with its headquarters in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
and New York, New York. Warner Bros. has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television is the television production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on...
, Warner Bros. Animation
Warner Bros. Animation
Warner Bros. Animation is the animation division of Warner Bros., a subsidiary of Time Warner. The studio is closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies characters, among others. The studio is the successor to Warner Bros...
, Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
, New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
, TheWB.com
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
, and DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
.
1903–25: Founding
The corporate name honors the four founding Warner brothers (born Wonskolaser)—HarryHarry 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...
(born Hirsch), Albert
Albert Warner
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...
(born Aaron), 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...
(born Szmul), and Jack
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...
(born Jacob), whose parents had emigrated to North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
from Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, which was at that time part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. The three elder brothers began in the movie theatre business, having acquired a movie projector
Movie projector
A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying moving pictures by projecting them on a projection screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras.-Physiology:...
with which they showed films in the mining towns of 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...
and 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...
. They opened their first theater, the Cascade, in New Castle, Pennsylvania
New Castle, Pennsylvania
New Castle is a city in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, United States, northwest of Pittsburgh and near the Pennsylvania-Ohio border just east of Youngstown, Ohio; in 1910, the total population was 36,280; in 1920, 44,938; and in 1940, 47,638. The population has fallen to 26,309 according to the...
in 1903. (The site of the Cascade later became the Cascade Center
Cascade Center
The Cascade Center at the Riverplex is an indoor and outdoor shopping, dining and entertainment complex located in downtown New Castle, Pennsylvania, which opened in 2006. Much of the complex sits on the former site of the Cascade, the first movie theater of the Warner Bros., hence the name. The...
, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex honoring its Warner Bros. heritage, though in late 2010 all of the businesses have closed and the complex is currently for sale.)
> When this original theatre building in New Castle was in danger of being demolished, the modern Warner Bros. called the modern building owners, and arranged a 3 way even splitting of the cost of saving it, between the state, Warner Bros, and the modern owners. The owners noted the fact that they were taking phone calls from all over the country in reference to the historical significance of the humble building that should be saved historically.
In 1904, the Warners founded the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company, to distribute films.
Within a few years this led to the distribution of pictures across a four-state area. In 1912, Harry Warner hired an auditor named Paul Ashley Chase
Paul Ashley Chase
Paul Ashley Chase was one of the founding executives, first auditor, Assistant Secretary of the corporation, and comptroller for Warner Brothers Pictures. He was previously the traveling auditor for the Erie Railroad. In 1912 Harry Warner and Paul Chase were staying at the same boarding house in...
. By the time of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
they had begun producing films, and in 1918 the brothers opened the Warner Bros. studio on Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...
in Hollywood. Sam and Jack Warner produced the pictures, while Harry and Albert Warner and their auditor and now controller Chase handled finance and distribution in New York City. It was during World War I and their first nationally syndicated film was My Four Years in Germany based on a popular book by former American Ambassador James W. Gerard
James W. Gerard
James Watson Gerard was a U.S. lawyer and diplomat.-Biography:Gerard was born in Geneseo, N. Y. He graduated from Columbia in 1890 and from New York Law School. He was chairman of the Democratic campaign committee of New York County for four years, and served as major of the National Guard of the...
. On April 4, 1923, with help from a loan given to Harry Warner by his banker Motley Flint,Cass Warner Sperling, Cork Millner, and Jack Warner (1998), Hollywood be thy name: the Warner Brothers story (Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky), p. 77. they formally incorporated as Warner Brothers Pictures, Incorporated. However, as late as the 1960s, Warner Bros. claimed 1905 as its founding date.
The first important deal for the company was the acquisition of the rights to Avery Hopwood
Avery Hopwood
James Avery Hopwood , was the most successful playwright of the Jazz Age, having four plays running simultaneously on Broadway in 1920.-Biography:...
's 1919 Broadway play, The Gold Diggers, from theatrical impresario David Belasco
David Belasco
David Belasco was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director and playwright.-Biography:Born in San Francisco, California, where his Sephardic Jewish parents had moved from London, England, during the Gold Rush, he began working in a San Francisco theatre doing a variety of routine jobs,...
. However, what really put Warner Bros. on the Hollywood map was a dog, Rin Tin Tin
Rin 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...
,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 81. brought from France after World War I by an American soldier.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 80. Rin Tin Tin debuted in the feature Where the North Begins. The movie was so successful that Jack Warner agreed to sign the dog to star in more films for $1,000 per week. Rin Tin Tin became the top star at the studio. Jack Warner nicknamed him "The Mortgage Lifter" and the success boosted 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...
's career. Zanuck eventually became a top producer for the studioSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 101. and between 1928 and 1933 served as Jack Warner's right-hand man and executive producer, with responsibilities including the day-to-day production of films.Behlmer (1985), p. xii. More success came after Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch was a German-born film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch."In 1947 he received an Honorary Academy Award for his...
was hired as head 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...
left the studio and accepted an offer to work at MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
. Lubitsch's film The Marriage Circle
The Marriage Circle
The Marriage Circle is a 1924 silent film produced by Ernst Lubitsch and Warner Brothers with direction by Lubitsch and distribution by the Warners. Based on the play Only a Dream by Lothar Schmidt, the screenplay was written by Paul Bern...
was the studio's most successful film of 1924, and was on The New York Times best list for the year.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 82.
Despite the success of Rin Tin Tin and Lubitsch, Warners was still unable to achieve star power.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 83. As a result, Sam and Jack decided to offer Broadway actor John Barrymore
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
the lead role in Beau Brummel
Beau Brummel (1924 film)
Beau Brummel is a 1924 American silent film historical drama. The film stars John Barrymore and was directed by Harry Beaumont. The film is based on Clyde Fitch's historical play which had been performed by Richard Mansfield....
. The film was so successful that Harry Warner agreed to sign Barrymore to a generous long-term contract;Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 84. like The Marriage Circle, Beau Brummell was named one of the ten best films of the year by The New York Times. By the end of 1924, Warner Bros. was arguably the most successful independent studio in Hollywood, but it still competed with "The Big Three" Studios (First National
First National
First National was an association of independent theater owners in the United States that expanded from exhibiting movies to distributing them, and eventually to producing them as a movie studio, called First National Pictures, Inc. It later merged with Warner Bros.-Early history:The First National...
, Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, and MGM). As a result, Harry Warner – while speaking at a convention of 1,500 independent exhibitors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin – was able to convince the filmmakers to spend $500,000 in newspaper advertising,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 86. and Harry saw this as an opportunity to finally be able to establish theaters in big cities like New York and Los Angeles.
As the studio prospered, it gained backing from Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
, and in 1924 Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...
arranged a major loan. With this new money, the Warners bought the pioneer Vitagraph Company
Vitagraph Studios
American Vitagraph was a United States movie studio, founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York. By 1907 it was the most prolific American film production company, producing many famous silent films. It was bought by Warner Bros...
which had a nation-wide distribution system. In 1925, Warners also experimented in radio, establishing a successful radio station, KFWB, in Los Angeles.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.88.
1925–35: Sound, Color, Style
Warner Bros. was a pioneer of films with synchronized soundSynchronization
Synchronization is timekeeping which requires the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. The familiar conductor of an orchestra serves to keep the orchestra in time....
(then known as "talking pictures"
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
or "talkies"). In 1925, at the urging of Sam, the Warners agreed to expand their operations by adding this feature to their productions.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 95. Harry, however, opposed it,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 94. famously wondering, "Who the heck wants to hear actors talk?" By February 1926, the studio suffered a reported net loss of $333,413.
After a long period of denying Sam's request for sound, Harry now agreed to accept Sam's demands, as long as the studio's use of synchronized sound was for background music purposes only. The Warners then signed a contract with the sound engineer company 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...
and established 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...
.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 96. In 1926, Vitaphone began making films with music and effects tracks, most notably, in the feature Don Juan
Don Juan (1926 film)
Don Juan is a Warner Brothers film, directed by Alan Crosland. It was the first feature-length film with synchronized Vitaphone sound effects and musical soundtrack, though it has no spoken dialogue...
starring John Barrymore. The film was silent, but it featured a large number of Vitaphone shorts at the beginning. To hype Don Juans release, Harry Warner also acquired the large Piccadilly Theater in Manhattan, New York and renamed it the Warner Theater.Thomas (1990), p. 56.
Don Juan premiered at the Warner Theater in New York on August 6, 1926. Throughout the early history of film distribution, theater owners hired orchestras to attend film showings and provide soundtracks. Through Vitaphone, however, Warner Bros. produced eight Vitaphone shorts (which aired at the beginning of every showing of Don Juan across the country) in 1926, and got many film production companies to question the necessity.Thomas (1990), p. 57. While Don Juan was a success at the box office,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 113. it did not earn back its production cost and Lubsitch left Warner for MGM. By April 1927, the Big Five studios (First National, Paramount, MGM, Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
, and Producers Distributing) had put the Warner brothers in financial ruin,Thomas (1990), p. 59. and Western Electric renewed Warner's Vitaphone contract with terms that allowed other film companies to test sound.
As a result of the financial problems the studio was having, Warner Bros. took the next step and released 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,...
starring Al Jolson
Al Jolson
Al Jolson was an American singer, comedian and actor. In his heyday, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer"....
. This movie, which has very little sound dialog but does feature sound segments of Jolson singing, was a sensation. It signaled the beginning of the era of "talking pictures" and the twilight of the silent
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
era. However, as Sam died, the brothers were at his funeral and could not attend the premiere. Jack became sole head of production.Warner and Jennings (1964), pp.180–181. Sam's death also had a great effect on Jack's emotional state, as Sam was arguably Jack's inspiration and favorite brother.Thomas (1990), p. 62. In the years to come, Jack ran the studio with an iron fist. Firing of studio employees soon became his trademark.Thomas (1990), p. 100-101. Among those whom Jack fired were Rin Tin Tin (in 1929) and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr. KBE was an American actor and a highly decorated naval officer of World War II.-Early life:...
– who had served as First National's top star since the brothers acquired the studio in 1928—in 1933.
Thanks to the success of The Jazz Singer, the studio was suddenly flush with cash. Jolson's next film for the company, The Singing Fool
The Singing Fool
The Singing Fool is a 1928 musical drama Part-Talkie motion picture which was released by Warner Brothers. The film starred Al Jolson and was a follow-up to his previous film, The Jazz Singer...
was also a success.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 141. With the success of these first talkies (The Jazz Singer, Lights of New York
Lights of New York (1928 film)
Lights of New York was the first all-talking feature film, released by Warner Brothers and directed by Bryan Foy. The film, which cost only $23,000 to produce, grossed over $1,000,000. It was also the first film to define the crime genre...
, The Singing Fool, and The Terror), Warner Bros. became one of the top studios in Hollywood and the brothers were now able to move out from the Poverty Row
Poverty Row
Poverty Row is a slang term used in Hollywood from the late silent period through the mid-fifties to refer to a variety of small and mostly short-lived B movie studios...
section of Hollywood and acquire a big studio in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
. They were also able to expand studio operations by acquiring the Stanley Corporation, a major theater chain.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.144. This gave them a share in rival First National Pictures
First National
First National was an association of independent theater owners in the United States that expanded from exhibiting movies to distributing them, and eventually to producing them as a movie studio, called First National Pictures, Inc. It later merged with Warner Bros.-Early history:The First National...
, of which Stanley owned one-third.Thomas (1990), p.65. In a bidding war with William Fox
William Fox (producer)
William Fox born Fried Vilmos was a pioneering Hungarian American motion picture executive who founded the Fox Film Corporation in 1915 and the Fox West Coast Theatres chain in the 1920s...
, Warner Bros. bought more First National shares on September 13, 1928;Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 147. Jack Warner also appointed producer Darryl Zanuck as the studio's manager of First National Pictures.
In 1929, Warner Bros also bought the St. Louis-based theater chain Skouras Brothers
Skouras Brothers
The Skouras Brothers Enterprises Inc. was an American movie theater chain from the early days of film-making based in St. Louis, Missouri. It was owned and operated by three brothers: Charles, Spyros and George...
. Following this take-over, Spyros Skouras
Spyros Skouras
Spyros Panagiotis Skouras was an American motion picture pioneer and movie executive who was the president of the 20th Century Fox from 1942 to 1962...
, the driving force of the chain, became general manager of the Warner Brothers Theater Circuit in America. He worked successfully in that post for two years and managed to eliminate the losses and eventually even increase the profits. This was a welcome gain given the financial hardships occasioned by the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
.
In addition, Harry Warner was also able to acquire a string of music publishers and form Warner Bros. Music. In April 1930, the Warner Bros. acquired Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
. Harry also obtained a string of radio companies, foreign sound patents, and even a lithograph company. After establishing Warner Bros. Music, Harry appointed his son, Lewis, to serve as the company's head manager.Thomas (1990), p. 66.
In 1929, Harry was also able to produce an adaptation of a Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
musical titled Fifty Million Frenchmen
Fifty Million Frenchmen
Fifty Million Frenchmen is a musical comedy with a book by Herbert Fields and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It opened on Broadway in 1929 and was adapted for a film two years later...
.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.148. Through First National, the studio's profit increased substantially. After the success of the studio's 1929 First National film Noah's Ark, Harry also agreed to make Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz was an Academy award winning Hungarian-American film director. He had early creditsas Mihály Kertész and Michael Kertész...
a major director at the Burbank studio. Mort Blumenstock, a First National screenwriter, became a top writer at the brothers' New York headquarters.
In the third quarter of 1929, Warner Bros. gained complete control of First National, when Harry purchased the company's remaining one-third share from Fox. The Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
agreed to allow the purchase if First National was maintained as a separate company. When the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
hit, Warner asked for and got permission to merge the two studios; soon afterward Warner Bros. moved to the First National lot in Burbank
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
. Though the companies merged, the Justice Department required Warner to produce and release a few films each year under the First National name until 1938. For 30 years, certain Warner productions were identified (mainly for tax purposes) as 'A Warner Bros. – First National Picture.'
In the latter part of 1929, Jack Warner hired sixty-one year old actor George Arliss
George 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 Disraeli
Disraeli (film)
Disraeli is a film that was adapted by Julien Josephson and De Leon Anthony from a play by Louis N. Parker. The film was directed by Alfred E. Green....
,Thomas (1990), p. 77. which was a surprise success. Arliss won an Academy Award 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...
and went on to star in nine more movies with the studio. In 1930, Harry acquired more theaters in Atlantic City
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
, despite the beginning of the Great Depression. In July 1930, the studio's banker, Motley Flint, was murdered by a disgruntled investor in another company.Thomas (1990), pp.72.
By 1931, however, the studio began to feel the effects of the Depression as the general public became unable to afford the price of a movie ticket. In 1931, the studio reportedly suffered a net loss of $8 million,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 160. and an additional $14 million the following year. In 1931, Warner Bros. Music head Lewis Warner died from an infection.
Around that time, Warner Bros. head producer Darryl Zanuck hired screenwriter Wilson Mizner
Wilson Mizner
Wilson Mizner was an American playwright, raconteur, and entrepreneur. His best-known plays are The Deep Purple, produced in 1910, and The Greyhound, produced in 1912...
.Thomas (1990), pp. 89–92. While at the studio, Mizner had hardly any respect for authority and found it difficult to work with studio boss Jack Warner, but nevertheless became a valuable asset. As time went by, Warner became more tolerant of Mizner and helped invest in Mizner's Brown Derby
Brown Derby
The Brown Derby was the name of a chain of restaurants in Los Angeles, California. The first and most famous of these was shaped like a men's derby hat, an iconic image that became synonymous with the Golden Age of Hollywood....
restaurant. On April 3, 1933, Mizner died from a heart attack.Thomas (1990), pp. 93.
In 1928, Warner Bros. released Lights of New York
Lights of New York (1928 film)
Lights of New York was the first all-talking feature film, released by Warner Brothers and directed by Bryan Foy. The film, which cost only $23,000 to produce, grossed over $1,000,000. It was also the first film to define the crime genre...
, the first all-talking feature. Due to its success, the movie industry converted entirely to sound almost overnight. By the end of 1929, all the major studios were exclusively making sound films. In 1929, National Pictures released their first film with Warner Bros., Noah's Ark.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.151. Despite its expensive budget, Noah's Ark was profitable.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 150. In 1929, Warner Bros. released On with the Show
On with the Show (1929 film)
On with the Show! is a 1929 American musical film released by Warner Bros. The film is noted as the first ever all-talking all-color feature length movie, and the second color movie released by Warner Bros.; the first was a partly color, black-and-white musical, The Desert Song . -Plot:With unpaid...
, the first all-color all-talking feature. This was followed by Gold Diggers of Broadway
Gold Diggers of Broadway (film)
Gold Diggers of Broadway is a 1929 Warner Bros. comedy/musical film which is historically important as the second two-strip Technicolor all-talking feature length movie . Gold Diggers of Broadway was also the third movie released by Warner Bros...
which was so popular it played in theatres until 1939. The success of these two color pictures caused a color revolution (just as the first all-talkie had created one for talkies). Warner Bros. released a large number of color films from 1929 to 1931, including The Show of Shows
The Show of Shows (film)
The Show of Shows is a lavish all talking Vitaphone musical revue film which cost $850,000 to make. The Show of Shows was Warner Bros. fifth color movie, the first four were The Desert Song , On With the Show , Gold Diggers of Broadway and Paris . This movie featured most of the contemporary...
(1929), Sally (1929), Bright Lights (1930), Golden Dawn
Golden Dawn (film)
Golden Dawn is a musical operetta released by Warner Brothers and photographed entirely in Technicolor. The film is based on the semi-hit stage musical of the same name by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach.-Songs:...
(1930), Hold Everything
Hold Everything (1930 film)
Hold Everything is a 1930 early all-talking film. It was the first musical comedy film to be released that was photographed entirely in early two-color Technicolor. It was adapted from the DeSylva-Brown-Henderson Broadway musical of the same name that had served as a vehicle for Bert Lahr and...
(1930), Song of the Flame
Song of the Flame (film)
Song of the Flame is a musical operetta film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was the first color film to feature a widescreen sequence using a process called Vitascope, the trademark name for Warner Bros.' widescreen process...
(1930), Song of the West
Song of the West (film)
Song of the West is a musical operetta film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was based on the 1928 musical play Rainbow by Oscar Hammerstein II and Laurence Stallings and was the first all-color all-talking feature to be filmed entirely outdoors. The film starred John Boles, Joe E. Brown...
(1930), The Life of the Party
The Life of the Party (1930 film)
The Life of the Party is a 1930 American musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. The musical numbers of this film were cut out before general release in the United States because the public had grown tired of musicals by late 1930. Only one song was left in the picture...
(1930), Sweet Kitty Bellairs
Sweet Kitty Bellairs (film)
Sweet Kitty Bellairs is a 1930 musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. In contrast to usual historical costume dramas, the picture never takes itself seriously and is a delightful satire of the England of 1793 in the city of Bath...
(1930), Under A Texas Moon
Under a Texas Moon (film)
Under A Texas Moon is a 1930 musical western film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was based on the novel Two-Gun Man which was written by Stewart Edward White. It was the second all-color all-talking feature to be filmed entirely outdoors as well as being the second western in color...
(1930), Bride of the Regiment (1930), Viennese Nights
Viennese Nights (film)
Viennese Nights is a musical operetta film photographed entirely in Technicolor and released by Warner Brothers. The movie was filmed in March and April 1930, before anyone realized the extent of the economic hardships that would arrive with Great Depression, which began in the autumn of that year...
(1931), Woman Hungry
Woman Hungry (film)
Woman Hungry is a 1931 musical western film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was based on the play The Great Divide which was written by William Vaughn Moody...
(1931), Kiss Me Again
Kiss Me Again (1931 film)
Kiss Me Again is a musical operetta film filmed entirely in Technicolor. It was originally released in the United States as Toast of the Legion late in 1930, but was quickly withdrawn when Warner Bros. realized that the public had grown weary of musicals. The Warner Bros...
(1931), Fifty Million Frenchmen
Fifty Million Frenchmen (film)
__notoc__Fifty Million Frenchmen is a 1931 musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was based on Cole Porter's 1929 Broadway musical. It was originally intended to be released, in the United States, late in 1930, but was shelved due to public apathy towards musicals. Despite...
(1931), and Manhattan Parade
Manhattan Parade (film)
Manhattan Parade is a 1931 musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was originally intended to be released, in the United States, early in 1931, but was shelved due to public apathy towards musicals. Despite waiting a number of months, the public proved obstinate and the Warner...
(1932). In addition to these, scores of features were released with Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
sequences as well as a numerous variety of short subjects. The majority of these color films were musicals.
Three years later, the audience had grown so tired of musicals, the studio was forced to cut the musical numbers of many of the productions and advertise them as straight comedies. The public had begun to associate musicals with color and thus the movie studios began to abandon its use. Warner Bros. had a contract with Technicolor to produce two more pictures in that process. As a result, the first horror films in color were produced and released by the studio: Doctor X
Doctor X (film)
Doctor X is a First National/Warner Bros. horror and mystery film based on the play of the same name. It was directed by Michael Curtiz and stars Lee Tracy, Fay Wray, and Lionel Atwill....
(1932) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933). In the latter part of 1931, Harry Warner rented the Teddington Studios
Teddington Studios
Teddington Studios is a large British television studio complex located in Teddington, South-West London, providing studio facilities for programmes airing on BBC television, ITV, and Channel 4 along with others...
in London, England. The studio focused on making 'quota quickies' for the domestic British marketPatricia Warren British Film Studios: An Illustrated History, London: B.T Batsford, 2001, p.161 and Irving Asher
Irving Asher
Irving Asher was an Producer. He worked as a managing director for Warner Brothers in England in the 1930s, working on Alexander Korda's classic epic, The Four Feathers...
was appointed as the studio's head producer. In 1934, Harry Warner officially purchased the Teddington Studios.
In February 1933, however, Warner Bros. produced 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...
, a very successful musicalSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 190. that saved the company from bankruptcy. In the wake of 42nd Streets success, the studio produced further profitable musicals.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 194. These starred 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:...
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...
.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.192. In 1935, the revival suffered a major blow when Berkeley was arrested after killing three people while driving drunk. By the end of the year, people again tired of Warner Bros. musicals, and the studio – after the huge profits made by the 1935 film Captain Blood – shifted its focus on producing Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
swashbucklers
Swashbuckler films
Swashbuckler films are an action-adventure subgenre often characterised by swordfighting and adventurous heroic characters, often set in Renaissance Western Europe with appropriately lavish costumes. Morality is often clear-cut, heroic characters are clearly heroic and even villains tend to have a...
.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 195.
1931–1935: Pre-code realistic period
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 socially realistic storylines, "torn from the headlines" pictures many in the media said glorified gangsters; Warner Bros. soon became known as a "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 box office successSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 184. and Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
was a star in many of the subsequent wave of Warner gangster films.Thomas (1990), pp.77–79. 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...
,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.185 made James Cagney
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
arguably the studio's new top star,Thomas (1990), p.81. and Warner Bros. was now convinced to make more gangster films.
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...
, based on a true story and starring Paul Muni
Paul Muni
Paul Muni was an Austrian-Hungarian-born American stage and film actor...
.Thomas (1990), p.83. In addition to Cagney and Robinson, Muni was also given a big push as one the studio's top gangster starsSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.186. after appearing in the successful film, which got audiences to question the legal system in the United States. 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, untrue 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...
became a top star for the studio.Thomas (1990), pp. 82–83.
In 1933, relief for the studio came after Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
became president and was able to stimulate the 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...
;Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.161. because of this economic rebound, Warner Bros. again became profitable. The same year, long time 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...
quit. One reason was Harry Warner's relationship with Zanuck had become strained after Harry strongly opposed allowing Zanuck's 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 Hays Code boundaries. Also, the studio reduced Zanuck's salary as a result of the losses as a result of the Great Depression, and Harry continued to refuse to restore it in the wake of the New Deal's rebound. Zanuck resignedBehlmer (1985), p.12. and established his own company. In the wake of Zanuck's resignation, Harry Warner agreed to again raise the salary for studio employees.
In 1933, Warner was able to bring newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
's Cosmopolitan films into the Warner Bros. fold. Hearst had previously been signed with MGM, but ended the association after a dispute with the company's head producer Irving Thalberg over the treatment of Hearst's long standing mistress, actress Marion Davies
Marion Davies
Marion Davies was an American film actress. Davies is best remembered for her relationship with newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, as her high-profile social life often obscured her professional career....
, who was struggling for box office success. Through his partnership with Hearst, Warner was able to sign Davies to a studio contract. Hearst's company and Davies' films, however, could not increase the studio's profits.
In 1934, the studio lost over $2.5 million, of which $500,000 was the result of a fire at the Burbank studio at the end of 1934, destroying 20 years worth of early Vitagraph, Warner Bros., and First National films.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 209 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...
(1935) failed at the box office and the studio's net loss increased. During this time, Warner Bros. President Harry Warner and six other movie studio figures were indicted of conspiracy to violate the Sherman Antitrust Act
Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act requires the United States federal government to investigate and pursue trusts, companies, and organizations suspected of violating the Act. It was the first Federal statute to limit cartels and monopolies, and today still forms the basis for most antitrust litigation by...
, through an attempt to gain a monopoly over theaters in the St Louis area. In 1935, Harry was put on trial; after a mistrial, Harry sold the company's movie theaters, at least for a short time, and the case was never reopened.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 211 1935 also saw the studio rebound with a net profit of $674,158.00.
By 1936, contracts of musical and silent stars were not renewed and new talent, tough-talking, working-class types, were hired who more suitably fit in with these sort of pictures. Stars such as Dorothy Mackaill
Dorothy Mackaill
Dorothy Mackaill was an English-born American actress, most notably of the silent film era and into the early 1930s.-Early life:...
, Bebe Daniels
Bebe Daniels
Bebe Daniels was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer and producer. She began her career in Hollywood during the silent movie era as a child actress, became a star in musicals like 42nd Street, and later gained further fame on radio and television in Britain...
, Frank Fay
Frank Fay (American actor)
Frank Fay was an American film and stage actor, emcee, comedian, best known as an actor for having played "Elwood P. Dowd" in the play Harvey by the American playwright Mary Coyle Chase on Broadway...
, Winnie Lightner
Winnie Lightner
Winnie Lightner was an American motion picture actress. Perhaps her most famous role was as a gold-digger named Mabel, in Gold Diggers of Broadway...
, Bernice Claire
Bernice Claire
Bernice Claire was an American singer and actress. She appeared in 13 films between 1930 and 1938.-Career:...
, Alexander Gray, Alice White, and Jack Mulhall
Jack Mulhall
Jack Mulhall, born John Joseph Francis Mulhall, was a film actor since the silent film era and appeared in over 430 films....
that had characterized the urban, modern, and sophisticated attitude of the 1920s gave way to stars such James Cagney
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
, Joan Blondell
Joan Blondell
Rose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career...
, Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
, Warren William
Warren William
Warren William was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, popular during the early 1930s, who was later nicknamed the "king of Pre-Code". He was born Warren William Krech in Aitkin, Minnesota to parents Freeman E. and Frances Krech. He had a certain physical resemblance to John Barrymore. He attended the...
, and Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
who would be more acceptable to the common man. The studio was one of the most prolific producers of Pre-Code
Pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood refers to the era in the American film industry between the introduction of sound in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines. Although the Code was adopted in 1930, oversight was poor and it did not become rigorously...
pictures and had a lot of trouble with the censors once they started clamping down on what they considered indecency (around 1934).Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), pp.188–189. As a result, Warner Bros. turned out a number of historical pictures from around 1935 in order to avoid confrontations with the Breen office. In 1936, following the success of The Petrified Forest
The Petrified Forest
The Petrified Forest is a 1936 American film, starring Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, and Humphrey Bogart. A precursor of film noir, it was adapted from Robert E. Sherwood's 1936 stage play of the same name...
, Jack Warner also signed Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
to a studio contract. Warner, however, did not think Bogart was star material, and decided to only cast Bogart in infrequent roles as a villain opposite either James Cagney or Edward Robinson over the next five years.
After Hal B. Wallis
Hal B. Wallis
Hal B. Wallis was an American film producer.-Career:Harold Brent Wallis was born in Chicago in 1898. His family moved in 1922 to Los Angeles, California, where he found work as part of the publicity department at Warner Bros...
succeeded Zanuck in 1933 and the Hays Code began to be enforced in 1935, the studio was forced to abandon this realistic approach in order to produce more moralistic, idealized pictures. The studio naturally turned to historical dramas which would not cause any problems with the censors. Other offerings included melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
s (or "women's pictures"), swashbucklers
Swashbuckler films
Swashbuckler films are an action-adventure subgenre often characterised by swordfighting and adventurous heroic characters, often set in Renaissance Western Europe with appropriately lavish costumes. Morality is often clear-cut, heroic characters are clearly heroic and even villains tend to have a...
, and adaptations of best-sellers, with stars like 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...
, Olivia de Havilland
Olivia de Havilland
Olivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland...
, Paul Muni
Paul Muni
Paul Muni was an Austrian-Hungarian-born American stage and film actor...
, and Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
. In 1936, Bette Davis, by now arguably the studio's top star,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 219-221. was unhappy with the roles Warner was giving her. She fled to England and tried to break her contract with Warner Bros. Davis lost the lawsuit and soon returned to America.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 221. Although many of the studio's employees had problems with Jack Warner, they considered Albert and Harry fair.
Code era
This period also saw the disappearance of a large number of actors and actresses who had characterized the realistic pre-Code era but who were not suited to the new trend into moral and idealized pictures. Warner Bros. remained a top studio in Hollywood since the dawn of talkies, but this changed after 1935 as other studios, notably MGM, quickly overshadowed the prestige and glamor that previously characterized Warner Bros. However, in the late 1930s, Bette Davis became the studio's top draw and was even dubbed as "The Fifth Warner Brother."In 1935, Cagney sued Jack Warner for breach of contract. Cagney claimed Warner had forced him to star in more films than his contract required. Cagney eventually dropped his lawsuit after a cash settlement. Nevertheless, Cagney left the studio to establish an independent film company with his brother Bill. The Cagneys released their films though Grand National Films, however they were not able to get good financing for their productions and ran out of money after their third film. Cagney then agreed to return to Warner Bros., after Jack Warner agreed to a contract guaranteeing Cagney would be treated to his own terms. After the success of Yankee Doodle Dandy
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Yankee Doodle Dandy is a 1942 American biographical musical film about George M. Cohan, known as "The Man Who Owns Broadway". It stars James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, and Richard Whorf, and features Irene Manning, George Tobias, Rosemary DeCamp and Jeanne Cagney.The movie was written by...
at the box office, Cagney again questioned if the studio would meet his salary demand and again quit to form his own film production and distribution company with his brother Bill.
Another employee with whom Warner had troubles was studio producer Bryan Foy. In 1936, Wallis hired Foy as a producer for the studio's low budget B-films
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
leading to his nickname "the keeper of the B's". Foy was able to garnish arguably more profits than any other B-film producer at the time. During Foy's time at the studio, however, Warner fired him seven different times.
During 1936, the studio's film The Story of Louis Pasteur
The Story of Louis Pasteur
The Story of Louis Pasteur is a 1936 American biographical film. It starred Paul Muni as the renowned scientist. It was written by Toni Pollastre and Sheridan Gibney, and Edward Chodorov , and directed by William Dieterle....
proved a box office success and Paul Muni
Paul Muni
Paul Muni was an Austrian-Hungarian-born American stage and film actor...
, the film's star, won the Oscar for Best Actor in March 1937. The studio's 1937 film The Life of Emile Zola
The Life of Emile Zola
The Life of Emile Zola is a 1937 American biographical film about French author Émile Zola. Set in the mid through late 19th century, it depicts his friendship with noted painter Paul Cézanne, and his rise to fame through his prolific writing, with particular focus on his involvement in the Dreyfus...
gave the studio its first Best Picture Oscar.
In 1937, the studio hired Midwestern radio announcer Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. Although Reagan was initially a small-time B-film actor, Warner Bros. was impressed by his performance in the final scene of Knute Rockne, All American
Knute Rockne, All American
Knute Rockne, All American is a 1940 biographical film which tells the story of Knute Rockne, Notre Dame football coach. It stars Pat O'Brien, Ronald Reagan, Gale Page, Donald Crisp, Albert Bassermann, Owen Davis, Jr., Nick Lukats, Kane Richmond, William Marshall and William Byrne. It also...
, and agreed to pair him with Errol Flynn in their film Santa Fe Trail
Santa Fe Trail (film)
Santa Fe Trail is a 1940 western film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. The film was one of the top-grossing films of the year, being the seventh Flynn-de Havilland collaboration. The film also has nothing to do with its namesake, the famed Santa Fe Trail...
(1940). Reagan then returned to B-films. After his performance in the studio's 1942 Kings Row
Kings Row
Kings Row is a 1942 film starring Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, and Ronald Reagan that tells a story of young people growing up in a small American town at the turn of the twentieth century, beset by social pressure, dark secrets, and the challenges and tragedies one must face as a result of these...
, Warner decided to make Reagan a top star and signed him to a new contract, tripling his salary.
In 1936, Harry Warner's daughter Doris read a copy of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind
The slaves depicted in Gone with the Wind are primarily loyal house servants, such as Mammy, Pork and Uncle Peter, and these slaves stay on with their masters even after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 sets them free...
and was interested in making a film adaptation. Doris then offered Mitchell $50,000 for the book's screen rights. Jack, however, refused to allow the deal to take place, realizing it would be an expensive production.
Another studio actor who proved to be a problem for Jack Warner was George Raft
George Raft
George Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s...
. Warner had signed Raft in 1939, hoping he could substitute in gangster pictures when either Robinson or Cagney were on suspension. Raft had difficulty working with Bogart and refused to co-star in any film with him. Eventually, Jack Warner agreed to release Raft from his contract. Following Raft's departure, the studio gave Bogart the role of Roy Earl in the 1941 film High Sierra, which helped establish him as one of the studio's top stars; following High Sierra, Bogart was also given a role in John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
's successful 1941 remake
The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)
The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and a remake of the 1931 film of the same name...
of the studio's 1931 failure, The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon (1931 film)
The Maltese Falcon is a 1931 American Warner Bros. Pre-Code crime film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. The movie was directed by Roy Del Ruth and stars Bebe Daniels in the role of Ruth Wonderly and Ricardo Cortez as private detective Sam Spade.Maude Fulton, Brown Holmes,...
.
1930: Birth of Warner's cartoons
Harman and Ising
Hugh Harman and Rudolf "Rudy" Ising were an American animation team best known for founding the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation studios...
studio. From 1930 to 1933, Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
alumni Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising produced a series of musical cartoons for Leon Schlesinger
Leon Schlesinger
Leon Schlesinger was an American film producer, most noted for founding Leon Schlesinger Productions, which later became the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, during the golden age of Hollywood animation.-Early life and career:...
, who sold the shorts to Warner. Harman and Ising introduced their character Bosko
Bosko
Bosko is an animated cartoon character created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. Bosko is the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger's cartoon series, and is the star of over three dozen Looney Tunes shorts released by Warner Bros...
in the first Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
cartoon, Sinkin' in the Bathtub
Sinkin' in the Bathtub
Sinkin' in the Bathtub was the very first Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon short as well as the very first of the Looney Tunes series.The short was produced and directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, with animation by a very young Friz Freleng...
, and created a sister series, Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
, in 1931.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 187.
Harman and Ising broke away from Schlesinger in 1933 due to a contractual dispute, taking Bosko with them to MGM. As a result, Schlesinger started his own studio, Leon Schlesinger Productions
Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was the in-house division of Warner Bros. Pictures during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, Warner Bros. Cartoons was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical...
, which continued with Merrie Melodies while starting production on Looney Tunes starring Buddy
Buddy (Looney Tunes)
Buddy is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes series of cartoons.-Looney Tunes:Buddy has his origins in the chaos that followed the severing of relations between animators Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising from producer Leon Schlesinger...
, a Bosko clone. By the end of the decade, a new Schlesinger production team, including directors Friz Freleng
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng was an animator, cartoonist, director, and producer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros....
, Tex Avery
Tex Avery
Frederick Bean "Fred/Tex" Avery was an American animator, cartoonist, voice actor and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He did his most significant work for the Warner Bros...
, Robert Clampett
Bob Clampett
Robert Emerson "Bob" Clampett was an American animator, producer, director, and puppeteer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes animated series from Warner Bros., and the television shows Time for Beany and Beany and Cecil...
, and Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
was formed. Schlesinger's staff developed a fast-paced, irreverent style that made their cartoons immensely popular worldwide.
In 1936, Avery directed a string of cartoons, starring Porky Pig
Porky Pig
Porky Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts using the fat little pig...
, which established the character as the studio's first bona fide star.Barrier, Michael (1999). pp.329–333. In addition to Porky Pig, Warner Bros. cartoon characters Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
(who debuted in the 1937 short Porky's Duck Hunt
Porky's Duck Hunt
Porky's Duck Hunt is an animated short film produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, directed by Tex Avery, and released on April 17, 1937 by Warner Bros. Pictures. Porky's Hare Hunt was the sequel to this one....
) and Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
(who debuted in the 1940 short A Wild Hare
A Wild Hare
A Wild Hare is a 1940 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short film. It was produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, directed by Tex Avery, and written by Rich Hogan. It was originally released on July 27, 1940...
) also achieved star power. By 1942, the Schlesinger studio had surpassed Walt Disney Studios as the most successful producer of animated shorts in the United States.
Warner Bros eventually bought Schlesinger's cartoon unit in 1944 as a division, renamed it as Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was the in-house division of Warner Bros. Pictures during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, Warner Bros. Cartoons was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical...
. Unfortunately, the unit was indifferently treated by senior management, beginning with the installation of Edward Selzer as senior producer, whom the creative staff considered an interfering incompetent. Furthermore, Jack Warner, who had little regard for his company's short film product, reputedly was so ignorant of his animation division that he was mistakenly convinced that the unit produced cartoons of Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
, rival company Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
' flagship character. Furthermore, he sold off the unit's pre-1948 library for a mere $3000 each, which proved a short sighted transaction in light of the considerable long term value that the company's animation product proved to have.Thomas (1990), p. 212.
Warner Brothers Cartoons continued, with intermittent interruptions, until 1969 when it was dissolved when the parent company ceased film short production entirely. Regardless of this treatment, its characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird
Tweety
Tweety Bird is a fictional Yellow Canary in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated cartoons. The name "Tweety" is a play on words, as it originally meant "sweetie", along with "tweet" being a typical English onomatopoeia for the sounds of birds...
, Sylvester
Sylvester (Looney Tunes)
Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr., Sylvester the Cat or simply Sylvester, is a fictional character, a three-time Academy Award-winning anthropomorphic Tuxedo cat in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies repertory, often chasing Tweety Bird, Speedy Gonzales, or Hippety Hopper...
, and Porky Pig became central to the company's image in subsequent decades. Bugs in particular remains a mascot to Warner Bros.' various divisions and Six Flags
Six Flags
Six Flags Entertainment Corp. is the world's largest amusement park corporation based on quantity of properties and the fifth most popular in terms of attendance. The company maintains 14 properties located throughout North America, including theme parks, thrill parks, water parks and family...
(which Time Warner previously owned). In fact, it was the success of the compilation film, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie is a 1979 Looney Tunes film with a compilation of classic Warner Bros. cartoon shorts and animated bridging sequences, hosted by Bugs Bunny...
in 1980, featuring the archived film of these characters that prompted Warner Brothers to organize Warner Brothers Animation as a new production division to restart production of original material.
World War II
According to Jack Warner in his autobiography, prior to the United States entering World War II, the head of Warner Bros. sales in Germany, Philip Kauffman, was murdered by the Nazis in Berlin in 1936. Harry WarnerHarry 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...
produced the successful anti-German film The Life of Emile Zola
The Life of Emile Zola
The Life of Emile Zola is a 1937 American biographical film about French author Émile Zola. Set in the mid through late 19th century, it depicts his friendship with noted painter Paul Cézanne, and his rise to fame through his prolific writing, with particular focus on his involvement in the Dreyfus...
(1937).Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 225 After that, Harry supervised the production of several more anti-German films, including Confessions of a Nazi Spy
Confessions of a Nazi Spy
Confessions of a Nazi Spy is a 1939 American spy thriller film and the first blatantly anti-Nazi film produced by a major Hollywood studio prior to World War II. The film stars Edward G. Robinson, Francis Lederer, George Sanders, and a large cast of German actors, including some who had emigrated...
(1939),Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 233 The Sea Hawk
The Sea Hawk (1940 film)
The Sea Hawk is a 1940 American Warner Bros. feature film starring Errol Flynn as an English privateer who defends his nation's interests on the eve of the Spanish Armada. The film was the tenth collaboration between Flynn and director Michael Curtiz. The film's screenplay by Howard Koch and Seton I...
(1940), which made King Phillip II an equivalent of Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 247 Sergeant York
Sergeant York
Sergeant York is a 1941 biographical film about the life of Alvin York, the most-decorated American soldier of World War I. It was directed by Howard Hawks and was the highest-grossing film of the year....
,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 246 and You're In The Army Now
You're in the Army Now
You're in the Army Now is a 1941 comedy film starring Jimmy Durante, Phil Silvers, Jane Wyman, and Regis Toomey.It featured the longest kiss in film, lasting three minutes and six seconds until Elena Undone beat it by eighteen seconds.- Cast :...
(1941). After the United States officially entered World War II, Harry Warner decided to focus on producing war films.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 240 Also, one-fourth of the studio's employees, including Jack Warner and his son Jack Jr., were drafted or enlisted.
Among the films the studio made during the war were Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
, Now, Voyager
Now, Voyager
Now, Voyager is a 1942 American drama film starring Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, and Claude Rains, and directed by Irving Rapper. The screenplay by Casey Robinson is based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Olive Higgins Prouty....
, Yankee Doodle Dandy (all 1942), This Is the Army
This Is the Army
This Is the Army is a 1943 American wartime motion picture produced by Hal B. Wallis and Jack L. Warner, and directed by Michael Curtiz, and a wartime musical designed to boost morale in the U.S. during World War II, directed by Sgt. Ezra Stone...
, and Mission to Moscow
Mission to Moscow
Mission to Moscow is a book by the former U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union Joseph E. Davies published by Simon and Schuster in 1941. It was adapted into a film directed by Michael Curtiz in 1943....
(both 1943), the latter became controversial a few years afterwards. At the premieres of Yankee Doodle Dandy (in Los Angeles, New York, and London), audiences purchased $15.6 million in war bond
War bond
War bonds are debt securities issued by a government for the purpose of financing military operations during times of war. War bonds generate capital for the government and make civilians feel involved in their national militaries...
s for the governments of England and the United States. By the middle of 1943, however, it became clear audiences were tired of war films. Despite the growing pressure to abandon production of war films, Warner continued to produce them, losing money in the process. Eventually, in honor of the studio's contributions to the war cause, the United States Government named a Liberty ship
Liberty ship
Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
after the brothers' father, Benjamin Warner, and Harry Warner was given the honor of christening the ship. By the time the war ended, $20 million in war bonds were purchased through the studio, the Red Cross
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross , also known as the American National Red Cross, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. It is the designated U.S...
collected 5,200 pints of plasma
Blood plasma
Blood plasma is the straw-colored liquid component of blood in which the blood cells in whole blood are normally suspended. It makes up about 55% of the total blood volume. It is the intravascular fluid part of extracellular fluid...
from studio employees, and 763 of the studio's employees served in the armed forces, including Harry Warner's son-in-law Milton Sperling
Milton Sperling
Milton Sperling was an American film producer and screenwriter for 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. where he had his own independent production unit United States Pictures.-Biography:...
and Jack's son Jack Warner Jr.
Following a dispute over ownership of Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
s Oscar for Best Picture, head producer Hal B. Wallis broke with Warner and resigned.Thomas After Casablanca made Bogart one of the studio's top stars,Thomas (1990), p.144. Bogart found his relationship with Jack Warner deteriorating. In 1943, Olivia de Haviland (whom Warner was now loaning to different companies) sued Warner for breach of contract.Thomas (1990), p. 145.
Warners cut its film production in half during the war, eliminating its B Picture unit in 1941. Bryan Foy was quickly snapped up by 20th Century Fox.
De Haviland had refused to accept an offer to portray famed abolitionist Elizabeth Blackwell in an upcoming film for Columbia Pictures. Warner responded by sending 150 telegrams to different film production companies, warning them not to hire her for any role. Afterwards, de Haviland discovered employment contracts in the United States could only serve a duration of seven years; de Haviland had been under contract with the studio since 1935.Thomas (1990), p.98. The court ruled in de Haviland's favor and she left the studio. Through de Haviland's victory, many of the studio's longtime actors were now freed from their contracts, and Harry Warner decided to terminate the studio's suspension policy.Thomas (1990), p. 148.
The same year, Jack Warner also signed newly-released MGM actress Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
, a former top star who found her career fading.Thomas (1990), p.150. Crawford's first role with the studio was 1944's Hollywood Canteen.Thomas (1990), p.151. Her first starring role at the studio, in the title role as Mildred Pierce
Mildred Pierce (film)
Mildred Pierce is a 1945 American drama film starring Joan Crawford, Ann Blyth, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, and Eve Arden in a film noir about a long-suffering mother and her ungrateful daughter. The screenplay by Ranald MacDougall, William Faulkner, and Catherine Turney was based upon the 1941...
(1945), revived her career and earned her an Oscar for Best Actress.Thomas (1990), p.152.
After World War II: changing hands
The record attendance figures of the World War II years made the Warner brothers rich. The gritty Warner image of the 1930s gave way to a glossier look, especially in women's pictures starring Davis, de Havilland, and Crawford. The 1940s also saw the rise of Bogart. In the post-war years, Warner Bros. continued to create new stars, like Lauren BacallLauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks.She first emerged as leading lady in the Humphrey Bogart film To Have And Have Not and continued on in the film noir genre, with appearances in The Big Sleep and Dark Passage ,...
and Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
. The studio prospered greatly after the war. By 1946, company payroll reached $600,000 a week and net profit $19.4 million.
One problem for Warner Bros., however, was Jack Warner's refusal to meet Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
salary demands.Thomas (1990), p. 163. In September 1946, the employees engaged in a month-long strike. In retaliation, Warner-during his 1947 testmony before Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, for making the 1942 Russian propaganda film Mission to Moscow – accused a number of studio employees of having ties to Communists.Thomas (1990), p. 164 By the end of 1947, the studio reached a record net profit of $22 million.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.279 This dropped 50% the following year.
On January 5, 1948, Warner offered the first color newsreel
Newsreel
A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...
, covering the Tournament of Roses Parade
Tournament of Roses Parade
The Tournament of Roses Parade, better known as the Rose Parade, is "America's New Year Celebration", a festival of flower-covered floats, marching bands, equestrians and a college football game on New Year's Day , produced by the non-profit Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association.The annual...
and the Rose Bowl Game
Rose Bowl Game
The Rose Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2...
. In 1948, Bette Davis, still the studio's top actress and now fed up with Jack Warner, was a big problem for Harry after she and a number of her fellow colleagues left the studio after completing the film Beyond the Forest
Beyond the Forest
Beyond the Forest is a 1949 American film, representative of the film noir genre. It was nominated for an Academy Award for best score.-Plot:...
.
Warner was a party to the United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.
United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.
United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., 334 US 131 was a landmark United States Supreme Court anti-trust case that decided the fate of movie studios owning their own theatres and holding exclusivity rights on which theatres would...
anti-trust case of the 1940s. This action, brought by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
, claimed the five integrated studio-theater chain combinations restrained competition. The Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
heard the case in 1948, and ruled in favor of the government. As a result, Warner and four other major studios were forced to separate production from exhibition. In 1949, the studio's net profit was only $10 million.
Warner Bros. set up two semi-independent production units that made films for the studio. One of these was Harry Warner's son-in-law Milton Sperling
Milton Sperling
Milton Sperling was an American film producer and screenwriter for 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. where he had his own independent production unit United States Pictures.-Biography:...
's United States Pictures
United States Pictures
United States Pictures was the name of the motion picture production company belonging to Milton Sperling who was Harry Warner's son-in-law....
.
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
successful 3D film Bwana Devil
Bwana Devil
Bwana Devil is a 1952 drama based on the true story of the Tsavo maneaters. It was written, directed, and produced by Arch Oboler, and is considered the first color, American 3-D feature. It started the 3-D boom in the U.S. film making industry from 1952 to 1954...
, he decided to expand into 3D films with the studio's 1953 film House of Wax
House of Wax (1953 film)
House of Wax is a 1953 American horror film starring Vincent Price. It is a remake of Warners' Mystery of the Wax Museum without the comic relief featured in the earlier film, and was directed by André de Toth...
. Unfortunately, despite the success of House of Wax, 3-D films soon lost their appeal among moviegoers.Thomas (1990), p. 191.
In 1952 Warner Bros. made their first film (Carson City
Carson City (1952 film)
Carson City is a 1952 western film starring Randolph Scott, Lucille Norman, Raymond Massey, and Richard Webb. Carson City was Warner Bros.' first film shot in WarnerColor.-Plot:...
) in "Warnercolor" the studio's name for Eastman Color.
3-D almost caused the demise of the Warner Bros. cartoon studio. Having completed a 3D Bugs Bunny cartoon, Lumber Jack-Rabbit
Lumber Jack-Rabbit
Lumber Jack-Rabbit is a 1953 3D Looney Tunes animated short film directed by Chuck Jones and featuring Bugs Bunny. With a story by Michael Maltese, the short was released by Warner Bros. Pictures on September 25, 1953. It was notable as the first Warner Bros. cartoon short produced in 3-D. It...
, Jack Warner ordered the animation unit to be shut down, erroneously believing that all cartoons hence would be produced in the 3D process. Several months later, Warner relented and reopened the cartoon studio. Fortunately, Warner Bros. had enough of a backlog of cartoons and a healthy reissue program so that there was no noticeable interruption in the release schedule.
After the downfall of 3D films, Harry Warner decided to use CinemaScope
CinemaScope
CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
in future Warner Bros. films.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), pp.287–288. One of the studio's first CinemaScope
CinemaScope
CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
films, The High and the Mighty
The High and the Mighty (film)
The High and the Mighty is a 1954 American "disaster" film directed by William A. Wellman and written by Ernest K. Gann who also wrote the novel on which his screenplay was based. The film's cast was headlined by John Wayne, who was also the project's co-producer...
(now owned by John Wayne's company Batjac), enabled the studio to show a profit.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.288.
Early in 1953, the Warner theater holdings were spun off as Stanley Warner Theaters; Stanley Warner's non-theater holdings were sold to Simon Fabian Enterprises, and its theaters merged with RKO Theatres to become RKO-Stanley Warner Theatres. By 1956, however, the studio was losing money.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.303. By the end of 1953, the studio's net profit was $2.9 million and ranged between $2 and $4 million for the next two years. In February 1956, Jack Warner sold the rights to all of the studio's pre-1950 films to Associated Artists Productions
Associated Artists Productions
Associated Artists Productions was a distributor of theatrical feature films and short subjects for television. It existed from 1953 to 1958. It was later folded into United Artists. The former a.a.p. library was later owned by MGM/UA Entertainment and then Turner Entertainment. Turner continues...
(which merged with United Artists Television
United Artists Television
-Background:UA purchased Associated Artists Productions in 1958, giving UA access to the pre-1950 Warner Bros. library and the Popeye cartoons made by Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios between 1933 and 1957....
in 1958).You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story (2008), p. 255.WB retained a pair of features from 1949 that they merely distributed, and all short subjects released on or after September 1, 1948; in addition to all cartoons released in August 1948.
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– to purchase 800,000 shares, 90% of the company's stock. After the three brothers sold, Jack – through his under-the-table deal – joined Semenenko's syndicateSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 308. and bought back all his stock, 200,000 shares. Shortly after the deal was completed in July, Jack – now the company's largest stockholder – appointed himself new president.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.306. By the time Harry and Albert learned of their brother's dealings, it was too late.Thomas (1990), p.226. Shortly after the deal was closed, Jack Warner announced the company and its subsidiaries would be "directed more vigorously to the acquisition of the most important story properties, talents, and to the production of the finest motion pictures possible."
Warner Bros. Television
By 1949, with the success of television threatening the film industry more and more, Harry Warner decided to shift his focus towards television production.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 286 However, the Federal Communications CommissionFederal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) would not permit it. After an unsuccessful attempt to convince other movie studio bosses to switch their focus to television, Harry abandoned his television efforts.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p.287
The other Warner brother, Jack, began his hatred of television with problems with Milton Berle
Milton Berle
Milton Berlinger , better known as Milton Berle, was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater , in 1948 he was the first major star of U.S. television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr...
being hired by the studio to make an unsuccessful film Always Leave Them Laughing during the peak of his television popularity. Warner felt that Berle was not strong enough as a lead to carry a film and that people would not pay to see the man they could see on television for free. However Jack Warner was pressured into using Berle, even replacing Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
with him. Berle's outrageous behaviour on the set and the film's massive failure proving Jack Warner right led to Jack Warner forbidding television sets appearing in the studio's film sets.
In 1954, the studio was finally able engage in television through the successful Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television is the television production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on...
unit run by William T. Orr
William T. Orr
William T. Orr was an American television producer associated with a series of western and detective programs of the 1950s-1970s....
, Jack Warner's son-in-law. Warner Bros. Television provided the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
with a weekly show, Warner Bros. Presents
Warner Bros. Presents
Warner Bros. Presents is the umbrella title for three series telecast as part of the 1955-56 season on ABC: Cheyenne, a new Western series that originated on Presents, and two based on classic Warner Bros. films, Casablanca and Kings Row....
; the show featured a rotating series of shows based on three of the studio's film successes, Kings Row
Kings Row
Kings Row is a 1942 film starring Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, and Ronald Reagan that tells a story of young people growing up in a small American town at the turn of the twentieth century, beset by social pressure, dark secrets, and the challenges and tragedies one must face as a result of these...
, Casablanca and Cheyenne, followed by a promotion for one of Warner's big screen films.Thomas (1990), p.192. It was not a success.Thomas (1990), p. 193.
The studio's next effort, making a weekly series out of Cheyenne, would be.Thomas (1990), p. 194. Cheyenne was television's first one hour Western with two episodes placed together for feature film release outside the United States. In the tradition of their B Pictures, the studio followed up with a series of rapidly produced popular Westerns
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
, such as Maverick
Maverick (TV series)
Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...
, Bronco
Bronco (TV series)
Bronco is a Western series on ABC from 1958 through 1962. It was shown by the BBC in the United Kingdom. The program starred Ty Hardin as Bronco Layne, a former Confederate officer who wandered the Old West, meeting such well-known individuals as Wild Bill Hickok, Billy the Kid, Jesse James,...
, and Colt .45
Colt .45 (TV series)
Colt .45 is an American Western television series shown on ABC between 1957 and 1960. The half-hour show derives from the 1950 Warner Brothers film of the same name starring Randolph Scott and formed part of the William T...
. The success of these series helped to make up for the losses on the film side. As a result, Jack Warner decided to emphasize television production.Thomas (1990), p. 195. Warners then produced a series of popular private detective shows beginning with 77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....
(1958–64) followed by Hawaiian Eye
Hawaiian Eye
Hawaiian Eye is an American television series that ran from October 1959 to September 1963 on the American Broadcasting Company television network.-Premise:...
(1959–1963), Bourbon Street Beat
Bourbon Street Beat
Bourbon Street Beat is a private detective series which aired on the ABC network from 1959-1960 and featured Andrew Duggan as Cal Calhoun, Richard Long as Rex Randolph, Van Williams as Kenny Madison, and Arlene Howell as Melody Lee Mercer, the secretary at the New Orleans detective agency in which...
(1960) and Surfside Six (1960–1962).
Within a few years, the studio, in a matter reminiscent of their problems with James Cagney and Bette Davis, provoked hostility among their emerging contract TV stars like Clint Walker
Clint Walker
Norman Eugene Walker, known as Clint Walker , is an American actor best known for his cowboy role as "Cheyenne Bodie" in the TV Western series, Cheyenne.-Life and career:...
and James Garner
James Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
, who sued over a contract disputeThomas (1990), pp.196–8. and won. Edd Byrnes was not so lucky and bought himself out of his contract. Jack Warner was angered by the perceived ingratitude of television actors, who evidently showed more independence than film actors, and this deepened his contempt for the new medium.Thomas (1990), p.199.
Many of Warners television stars appeared in the casts of Warner's cinema releases of the time. In 1963 as a result of a court decision Warners has to cease their contracts with their television stars, engaging them for specific series or film roles. In the same year Jack Webb
Jack Webb
John Randolph "Jack" Webb , also known by the pseudonym John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet...
took over the television unit and did not have any successes.
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. was already the owner of extensive music-publishing holdings, whose tunes had appeared in countless Warners cartoons (arranged by Carl StallingCarl Stalling
Carl W. Stalling was an American composer and arranger for music in animated films. He is most closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts produced by Warner Bros., where he averaged one complete score each week, for 22 years.-Biography:Stalling was born to Ernest and...
) and television shows (arranged by Max Steiner
Max Steiner
Max Steiner was an Austrian composer of music for theatre productions and films. He later became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Trained by the great classical music composers Brahms and Mahler, he was one of the first composers who primarily wrote music for motion pictures, and as...
).
In 1958 the studio launched Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
. Initially the label released recordings made by their television stars whether they could sing or not and records based on the soundtracks of favourite Warner Bros. Television shows.
In 1963, Jack Warner agreed to a "rescue takeover" of Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
's Reprise Records
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
.Thomas (1990), p. 255. The deal gave Sinatra US$1.5 million and part ownership of Warner Bros. Records, with Reprise becoming a sub-label; most significantly for Warner Bros.'s future music operations, the deal also brought Reprise manager Morris "Mo" Ostin
Mo Ostin
Mo Ostin is a record executive who has worked for several companies, including Verve, Reprise Records, Warner Bros. Records, and DreamWorks. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 by Paul Simon, Neil Young, and Lorne Michaels...
into the company. In 1964, upon seeing the profits record companies made from Warner film music, Jack Warner decided to claim ownership of the studio's film soundtracks and focus on making profits through Warner Bros. Records.Thomas (1990), pp.264–265. In its first eighteen months, Warner Bros. Records lost around $2 million.Thomas (1990), p.265.
New owners
Warner Bros. rebounded in the late 1950s, specializing in adaptations of popular plays like The Bad SeedThe Bad Seed (film)
The Bad Seed is a 1956 American horror-thrillerfilm directed by Mervyn LeRoy. It is based upon a play by Maxwell Anderson, which in turn is based upon William March's 1954 novel The Bad Seed. The play was adapted by John Lee Mahin for the screenplay of the film...
(1956), No Time for Sergeant swift (1958), and Gypsy
Gypsy (1962 film)
Gypsy is a 1962 American musical film produced and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The screenplay by Leonard Spigelgass is based on the book of the 1959 stage musical Gypsy: A Musical Fable by Arthur Laurents, which was adapted from Gypsy: A Memoir by Gypsy Rose Lee.Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics for...
(1962).
With his health slowly recovering from a car accident whilst on holiday to France in 1958, Jack returned to the studio and made sure his name was featured in studio press releases.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), Hollywood Be Thy Name, Prima Publishing, ISN:559858346 p.325. In each of the first three years of the 1960s, the studio's net profit was a little over $7 million. Warner paid an unprecedented $5.5 million for the film rights to the Broadway musical My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
in February 1962. The previous owner, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
director William S. Paley
William S. Paley
William S. Paley was the chief executive who built Columbia Broadcasting System from a small radio network into one of the foremost radio and television network operations in the United States.-Early life:...
, set terms including half the distributor's gross profits "plus ownership of the negative at the end of the contract."Thomas (1990), p.259. In 1963, the net profit dropped to $3.7 million. By the mid-1960s, motion picture production was in decline. There were few studio-produced films and many more co-productions (for which Warner provided facilities, money, and distribution), and pickups of independently made pictures.
With the success of the studio's 1965 Broadway play The Great Race
The Great Race
The Great Race is a 1965 slapstick comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Natalie Wood, directed by Blake Edwards, written by Blake Edwards and Arthur A. Ross, and with music by Henry Mancini and cinematography by Russell Harlan. The supporting cast includes Peter Falk, Keenan Wynn,...
, as well as its soundtrack, Warner Bros. Records became a profitable subsidiary. The studio's 1966 film Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (film)
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a 1966 American drama film directed by Mike Nichols. The screenplay by Ernest Lehman is an adaptation of the play of the same title by Edward Albee...
was a huge success at the box office.Thomas (1990), p. 278.
In November 1966, Jack gave in to advancing age and the changing times,Thomas (1990), p.280. selling control of the studio and its music business to Seven Arts Productions
Seven Arts Productions
Seven Arts Productions was founded in 1957 by Ray Stark and Eliot Hyman. The company was a frequent producer of movies for other studios, including The Misfits for United Artists, Gigot for Twentieth Century-Fox, Lolita for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Is Paris Burning? for Paramount Pictures.Over...
, run by the Canadian investors Elliot and Kenneth Hyman, for $32 million.Thomas (1990), p.279. The company, including the studio, was renamed Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts was formed in 1967 and became defunct in 1970, when Seven Arts Productions acquired Jack Warner's controlling interest in Warner Bros. for $32 million and merged with it. The deal also included Warner Bros. Records, Reprise Records and the B&W Looney Tunes library...
. Jack Warner did, however, remain studio president until the summer of 1967, when Camelot
Camelot (film)
Camelot is a 1967 film adaptation of the musical of the same name. Richard Harris stars as Arthur, Vanessa Redgrave as Guinevere, and Franco Nero as Lancelot. The film was directed by Joshua Logan.-Plot:...
failed at the box office and Warner gave up his position to the studio's longtime publicity director, Ben Kalmenson;Thomas (1990), p. 279-280. Warner did, however, remain on board as an independent producer and vice-president. With the success of the studio's 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde (film)
The film was originally offered to François Truffaut, the best-known director of the New Wave movement, who made contributions to the script. He passed on the project to make Fahrenheit 451. The producers approached Jean-Luc Godard next...
, Warner Bros was making profits once again.Thomas (1990), p. 288.
Two years later, the Hymans, now fed up with Jack Warner, accepted a cash-and-stock offer from an odd conglomerate called Kinney National Company
Kinney National Company
Kinney National Services, Inc. was formed in 1966 when the Kinney Parking Company and the National Cleaning Company merged. The new company was headed by Steve Ross....
for more than $64 million. Kinney owned a Hollywood talent agency, Ashley-Famous
Ashley-Famous
Ashley-Famous was a talent agency started in 1951 by talent agent Ted Ashley. The agency had a successful 16 year run under that name and owner; it was responsible for many hit television shows and had several famous clients...
, and it was Ted Ashley
Ted Ashley
Ted Ashley was the chairman of the Warner Bros. film studio from 1969 to 1980.He was born in Brooklyn as Theodore Assofsky. At the age of 20 he started out as a William Morris agent...
who led Kinney head Steve Ross to purchase Warner Bros. Ashley became the new head of the studio, and the name was changed to Warner Bros., Inc. once again. Jack Warner, however, was outraged by the Hymans' sale, and decided to retire.
Although movie audiences had shrunk, Warner's new management believed in the drawing power of stars, signing co-production deals with several of the biggest names of the day, among them Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
, Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
, Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, and Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
, carrying the studio successfully through the 1970s and 1980s. Warner Bros. also made major profits on films built around the characters of Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
and Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
, owned by Warner Bros. subsidiary DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
.
Abandoning the mundane parking lots and funeral homes, the refocused Kinney renamed itself in honor of its best-known holding, Warner Communications
Warner Communications
Warner Communications or Warner Communications, Inc. was established in 1971 when Kinney National Company spun off its non-entertainment assets, due to a financial scandal over its parking operations and changed its name....
. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Warner Communications branched out into other business, such as its acquiring of video game company Atari, Inc. in 1976, and later the Six Flags
Six Flags
Six Flags Entertainment Corp. is the world's largest amusement park corporation based on quantity of properties and the fifth most popular in terms of attendance. The company maintains 14 properties located throughout North America, including theme parks, thrill parks, water parks and family...
theme parks.
From 1971 until the end of 1987, Warner's international distribution operations were a joint venture with Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, and in some countries, this joint venture also distributed films from other companies (like EMI Films
EMI Films
EMI Films was a British film and television production company and distributor. The company was formed after the takeover of Associated British Picture Corporation in 1968 by EMI....
and Cannon Films in the UK). Warner ended the venture in 1988 and joined up with Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
; this joint venture lasted until 1993, when Disney created Buena Vista International.
In 1972 in a cost-cutting move, Warner and Columbia Pictures formed a partnership called The Burbank Studios in which they would share production facilities utilitizing the Warner lot in Burbank. The partnership ended in 1990 when Columbia moved into the former MGM studio lot in Culver City.
To the surprise of many, flashy, star-driven Warner Communications merged in 1989 with the white-shoe
White shoe firm
White shoe firm is a phrase used to describe the leading professional services firms in the United States, particularly firms that have been in existence for more than a century and represent Fortune 500 companies...
publishing company Time Inc.
Time Inc.
Time Inc. is a subsidiary of the media conglomerate Time Warner, the company formed by the 1990 merger of the original Time Inc. and Warner Communications. It publishes 130 magazines, most notably its namesake, Time...
Though Time and its magazines claimed a higher tone, it was the Warner Bros. film and music units which provided the profits. The Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
merger was almost derailed when Paramount Communications (Formerly Gulf+Western
Gulf+Western
Gulf and Western Industries, Inc., for a number of years known as Gulf+Western, was an American conglomerate.- History :Gulf and Western's prosaic origins date to a manufacturer named Michigan Bumper Co. founded in 1934, though Charles Bluhdorn treated his 1958 takeover of what was then Michigan...
, later sold to Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
), launched a $12.2 billion dollar hostile takeover bid for Time Inc., forcing Time to acquire Warner for $14.9 billion dollar cash/stock offer. Paramount responded with a lawsuit filed in Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
court to break up the merger. Paramount lost and the merger proceeded.
In 1997, Time Warner sold the Six Flags unit. The takeover of Time Warner in 2000 by then-high-flying AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
did not prove a good match, and following the collapse in "dot-com" stocks, the AOL name was banished from the corporate nameplate.
Since 1995
Tribune Company
The Tribune Company is a large American multimedia corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with ten daily newspapers and commuter tabloids including Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida...
of Chicago launched The WB Network
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
, finding a niche market in teenagers. The WB's early programming included an abundance of teenage fare like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville
Smallville
Smallville is the hometown of Superman in comic books published by DC Comics. While growing up in Smallville, the young Clark Kent attended Smallville High with best friends Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross...
, Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek is an American teen drama television series which debuted on January 20, 1998, on The WB Television Network and was produced by Sony Pictures Television. The show is set in the fictional seaside town of Capeside, Massachusetts, and in Boston, Massachusetts, during the later seasons...
, and One Tree Hill
One Tree Hill (TV series)
One Tree Hill is an American television drama created by Mark Schwahn, which premiered on September 23, 2003, on The WB Television Network. After its third season, The WB merged with UPN to form The CW Television Network, and, since September 27, 2006, the network has been the official broadcaster...
. Two dramas produced by Spelling Television
Spelling Television
Spelling Television Inc. was a television production company that produced popular shows such as Charmed, Beverly Hills, 90210, 7th Heaven, Dynasty and Melrose Place. The company was founded by television producer Aaron Spelling in 1969...
, 7th Heaven
7th Heaven
7th Heaven is an American family drama television series, created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The series premiered on August 26, 1996, on the WB, the first time that the network aired Monday night programming, and was originally broadcast from August 26, 1996 to May 13, 2007...
and Charmed
Charmed
Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...
also helped bring The WB into the spotlight, with "Charmed" lasting eight seasons and being the longest running drama with female leads and "7th Heaven" surviving eleven seasons and being the longest running family drama and longest running show for The WB. In 2006, Warner and CBS Paramount Television
CBS Paramount Television
CBS Television Studios is an American television production/distribution company that was formed on January 17, 2006 by CBS Corporation merging Paramount Television and CBS Productions...
decided to close The WB and CBS's UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
and jointly launch The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
.
In 1999, Terry Semels and Robert Daly resigned as heads of the studio after a career of 13 Oscar nominated films. Many of Warner's top stars were considering quitting because of their absence. Daly and Semels were said to popularize the modern model of partner financing and profit sharing for film production.
In the late 1990s, Warner obtained rights to the Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
novels, and released feature film adaptations of the first
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, released in the United States and India as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, is a 2001 fantasy film directed by Chris Columbus and based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. The film is the first instalment in the Harry Potter film series,...
in 2001, the second
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a 2002 fantasy film directed by Chris Columbus and based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the second instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Steve Kloves and produced by David Heyman...
in 2002, the third
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a 2004 fantasy film directed by Alfonso Cuarón and based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the third instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Steve Kloves and produced by Chris Columbus, David Heyman and Mark Radcliffe...
in June 2004, the fourth
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a 2005 fantasy film directed by Mike Newell and based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the fourth instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Steve Kloves and produced by David Heyman...
in November 2005, and the fifth
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a 2007 fantasy film directed by David Yates and based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the fifth instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Michael Goldenberg and produced by David Heyman and David Barron...
on July 11, 2007. The sixth
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a 2009 fantasy film directed by David Yates and based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the sixth instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Steve Kloves and produced by David Heyman and David Barron...
was slated for November 2008, but Warner moved it to July 2009 only three months before the movie was supposed to come out, citing the lack of summer blockbusters in 2009 (due to the Writer's Strike
2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
) as the reason. The decision was purely financial, and Alan Horn said, "There were no delays. I’ve seen the movie. It is fabulous. We would have been perfectly able to have it out in November.” This resulted in a massive fan backlash. The seventh and final adaptation was released in two parts: Part 1 in November 2010 and Part 2 in July 2011.
Over the years, Warner Bros. has had distribution and/or co-production deals with a number of small companies. These include (but are not limited to) Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1981. Amblin is only a production company, and has never distributed its own movies, nor has it fully financed its...
, The Zanuck Company
Richard D. Zanuck
Richard Darryl Zanuck is an American film producer. He iscredited for producing famous movies of the 1970's, 80's, 90's and the 21 century.-Life and career:...
, Morgan Creek Productions
Morgan Creek Productions
Morgan Creek Productions is an American film studio that has released box-office hits like Young Guns, Dead Ringers, Major League, True Romance, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The King and I, The Crush, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and others. The studio was co-founded in 1987 by James G...
(now working with Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
), Regency Enterprises
Regency Enterprises
Regency Enterprises is a Los Angeles-based film and television production company formed by Arnon Milchan and Joseph P. Grace. It was founded in 1982 as Embassy International Pictures, but the company name changed to avoid confusion with Norman Lear's Embassy Pictures . Its most successful film is...
(now working with 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
), Village Roadshow Pictures
Village Roadshow Pictures
Village Roadshow Pictures is an Australian motion picture production company. It is a subsidiary of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, an Australian entertainment company. Most of its films are co-produced in partnership with Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema...
, Icon Productions
Icon Productions
Icon Productions LLC is an American independent production company founded in August 1989 by actor/director Mel Gibson and Australian producing partner Bruce Davey.-History:Icon started when Gibson was having trouble in financing the 1990 film Hamlet...
, Legendary Pictures
Legendary Pictures
Legendary Pictures is an American film production company, whose parent company, Legendary Entertainment, is based in Burbank, California and was founded by Thomas Tull in 2004...
, Heyday Films
Heyday Films
Heyday Films is a British film production company, founded by producer David Heyman in London, 1997.Its first feature film production was Ravenous, directed by Antonia Bird. It is most notable for producing the Harry Potter film series, based on the novels by J. K...
, Alcon Entertainment
Alcon Entertainment
Alcon Entertainment, LLC is an American film production company, founded in 1997 by film producers Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove. Since its establishment, Alcon Entertainment has developed and financed films that are ultimately distributed by Warner Bros., following a ten-year motion picture...
, Lakeshore Entertainment
Lakeshore Entertainment
Lakeshore Entertainment Group is an American independent film production company founded in 1994 by Tom Rosenberg and Ted Tannebaum . Lakeshore Entertainment is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California...
, Malpaso Productions
Malpaso Productions
Malpaso Productions, originally known as The Malpaso Company, is Clint Eastwood's production company. It was established in 1967 by Eastwood's financial adviser Irving Leonard for the film Hang 'Em High, using finances from the Dollars trilogy...
, Virtual Studios
Virtual Studios
Virtual Studios LLC is a motion picture financier founded by Benjamin Waisbren and backed by hedge fund Stark Investments.-Films:* Duane Hopwood * V for Vendetta * Poseidon * The Good German...
, Silver Pictures
Silver Pictures
Silver Pictures is a film production company founded by Hollywood producer Joel Silver during 1985. All movies after Ricochet have been distributed by Warner Bros and its subsidiary New Line Cinema.-Films:-Television series:*Moonlight...
(including Dark Castle Entertainment
Dark Castle Entertainment
Dark Castle Entertainment is a division of Silver Pictures, a production house affiliated with Warner Bros. It was formed in 1999 by Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis, and Gilbert Adler...
), The Ladd Company
The Ladd Company
The Ladd Company is a film production and distribution company founded by Alan Ladd, Jr. in 1979, after ending his job as President of 20th Century Fox. Under Warner Bros...
, Castle Rock Entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment is a film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. It is a subsidiary of Warner Bros...
and The Geffen Film Company
The Geffen Film Company
The Geffen Film Company was a film distributor and production company founded by David Geffen, the founder of Geffen Records, and future co-founder of DreamWorks. Geffen founded the company in 1980, having recruited Eric Eisner as president, and distributed its films through Warner Bros...
. Green Hat Films, Troublemaker Studios
Troublemaker Studios
Troublemaker Studios is a film production company founded and owned by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and producer Elizabeth Avellan. The company is based in Austin, Texas and is located at the former site of the Robert Mueller Municipal Airport...
, DC Entertainment, Appian Way Productions
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator , and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television...
, GK Films
Graham King
Graham King, OBE is a British film producer. He is also President and CEO of Initial Entertainment Group. He is best known for his Academy Award winning 2006 crime thriller film The Departed, which was awarded the Best Picture Oscar at the 79th Academy Awards.King was appointed Officer of the...
, Media Rights Capital
Media Rights Capital
Media Rights Capital II LP is an independent film, television and digital studio founded by Mordecai Wiczyk and Asif Satchu. MRC specializes in the creation of premium content. It has full in-house physical production, legal, finance and sales teams, and a complete marketing infrastructure...
, Syncopy Films
Syncopy Films
Syncopy Films is a British production company founded by director, writer and producer Christopher Nolan and wife producer Emma Thomas. The name Syncopy Films derives from "syncope," the medical term for fainting.-History:...
, Cruel and Unusual Films
Cruel and Unusual Films
Cruel and Unusual Films, Inc. is an American production company that was established in 2004 by filmmaker Zack Snyder, his wife Deborah Snyder, and their producing partner Wesley Coller.-Company:...
and Spyglass Entertainment
Spyglass Entertainment
Spyglass Entertainment is an American film production company, co-founded by Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum in 1998. The studio was founded with an investment from European media conglomerates Kirch Group and Mediaset, and a five-year distribution deal with The Walt Disney Company...
.
Warner Bros. played a large part in the discontinuation of the HD DVD
HD DVD
HD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
format. On January 4, 2008, Warner Bros. announced that they would drop support of HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
. HD DVDs would continue to be released through May 2008 (when their contract with the HD DVD promotion group expired), but only following Blu-ray and DVD releases. This started a chain of events which resulted in HD DVD development and production being halted by Toshiba
Toshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
on February 16, 2008, ending the format war.
Warner Bros. and National CineMedia
National CineMedia
National CineMedia operates NCM Media Networks, an integrated media company reaching U.S. consumers in movie theaters, online and through mobile technology...
have formed a partnership to provide pre-feature entertainment and advertising in movie theaters nationwide.
Warner Bros. celebrated its 90th anniversary on June 1, 2008 even though the company celebrated for its 85th anniversary for films only.
In 2009, Warner Bros. became the first studio in history to gross more than $2 billion domestically in a single year.
Warner Bros. is responsible for the Harry Potter film series
Harry Potter (film series)
The Harry Potter film series is a British-American film series based on the Harry Potter novels by the British author J. K. Rowling...
, the highest grossing film series of all time, both domestic and international without inflation adjustment. It is also responsible for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 as Warner Bros.' highest grossing movie ever (the former was The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight (film)
The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins...
).
IMAX Corp.
IMAX Corporation
IMAX Corporation is a Canadian theatre company which designs and manufactures IMAX cameras and projection systems as well as film development, production, post production and distribution to IMAX affiliated theatres worldwide. It was founded in 1968 as a result of Expo 67 in Montreal...
has finalized a pact with Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
Inc.'s Warner Bros. Pictures unit to release as many as 20 giant-format films through 2013.
Since 2006, Warner Bros operated a joint venture with China Film Group Corporation and HG to form Warner China Film HG to produce films in Hong Kong and China, including Connected
Connected (film)
Connected is a 2008 action-crime thriller film co-written and directed by Benny Chan. A co-production between Hong Kong and China, the film is a remake of the 2004 film Cellular...
, which is a remake of the 2004 thriller film Cellular
Cellular (film)
Cellular is a 2004 thriller film directed by David R. Ellis and starring Kim Basinger, Chris Evans, Jason Statham and William H. Macy. The screenplay was written by Chris Morgan, Larry Cohen and J...
, they have co-produced many other Chinese films as well.
In 2010, Warner announced its intention to buy Leavesden Film Studios near London, where the Harry Potter films were shot, making Warner Bros. the first studio since MGM in the 1940s to establish a permanent base in Europe.
In 2010, Warner Bros. had a deal with French film distributor, Pathé
Pathé
Pathé or Pathé Frères is the name of various French businesses founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France.-History:...
to handle their films for theatrical distribution in the UK with 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
still distributing their film catalog for DVD release.
Flixster
Flixster
Flixster is a social movie site allowing users to share movie ratings, discover new movies, learn about movies, and meet others with similar taste in movies. The site allows users to view movie trailers as well as learn about the new and upcoming movies in the box office. The site is based in San...
including Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
was acquired by Warner Bros. in May 2011.
Film library
Over the years, a series of mergers and acquisitions have helped Warner Bros. (the present-day Time Warner subsidiary) to accumulate a diverse collection of movies, cartoons, and television programs.
In the aftermath of the 1948 antitrust suit, uncertain times led Warner Bros. in 1956 to sell most of its pre-1950 films and cartoons to a holding company called Associated Artists Productions
Associated Artists Productions
Associated Artists Productions was a distributor of theatrical feature films and short subjects for television. It existed from 1953 to 1958. It was later folded into United Artists. The former a.a.p. library was later owned by MGM/UA Entertainment and then Turner Entertainment. Turner continues...
(a.a.p.). a.a.p. also got the Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios, Inc., was an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City, New York...
and Famous Studios
Famous Studios
Famous Studios was the animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount acquired the aforementioned studio and ousted its founders, Max and Dave Fleischer, in 1941...
Popeye
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor is a cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who has appeared in comic strips and animated cartoons in the cinema as well as on television. He first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929...
cartoons originally from Paramount. Two years later, a.a.p. was sold to United Artists (UA), which held them until 1981, when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought UA.
Five years later, Turner Broadcasting System
Turner Broadcasting System
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. is the Time Warner subsidiary managing the collection of cable networks and properties started and acquired by Robert Edward "Ted" Turner starting in the mid-1970s. The company has its headquarters in the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. TBS, Inc...
, having failed to buy MGM, settled for ownership of the MGM/UA library. This included almost all the pre-May 1986 MGM film and television library with the exception of those owned by United Artists (i.e. James Bond franchise), although some UA material were included such as the a.a.p. library, the U.S. rights to a majority of the RKO Radio Pictures library, and the television series Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...
.
In 1991, Turner Broadcasting System bought animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions, and much of the back catalog of both Hanna-Barbera and Ruby-Spears Productions
Ruby-Spears Productions
Ruby-Spears Productions is a Burbank, California-based entertainment production company that specializes in animation...
from Great American Broadcasting, and three years later, Turner bought New Line Cinema and Castle Rock Entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment is a film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. It is a subsidiary of Warner Bros...
. In 1996, Time Warner bought Turner Broadcasting System, and as a result, the pre-1950 sound films and the pre-August 1948 cartoon library (excluding the B&W Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies which WB bought back as it merged with Seven Arts but including the Harman-Ising Merrie Melodies, save Lady, Play Your Mandolin! which was bought back by WB when merging with 7A) returned to WB ownership. WB tried to buy back the pre-1950 sound films and pre-August 1948 cartoons from MGM/UA in 1982, but the deal fell through.
In 2007, Warner Bros. added the Peanuts
Peanuts
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
/Charlie Brown library to its collection (this includes all the television specials and series outside of the theatrical library, which continues to be owned by CBS and Paramount through United Feature Syndicate
United Media
United Media is a large editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States, owned by The E.W. Scripps Company. It syndicates 150 comics and editorial columns worldwide. Its core business is the United Feature Syndicate and the Newspaper Enterprise Association...
, licensor and owner of the Peanuts material).
In 2008, Warner Bros. absorbed New Line Cinema, as a result, Warner added the New Line Cinema film and television library to its collection. On October 15, 2009, Warner Bros. acquired the home entertainment rights to the Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
library, in conjunction with Sesame Workshop
Sesame Workshop
Sesame Workshop, formerly known as the Children's Television Workshop , is a Worldwide American non-profit organization behind the production of several educational children's programs that have run on public broadcasting around the world...
.
The Warner Bros. Archives
The University of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
Warner Bros. Archives is the largest single studio collection in the world. Donated in 1977 to USC's School of Cinema-Television by Warner Communications, the WBA houses departmental records that detail Warner Bros. activities from the studio's first major feature, My Four Years in Germany (1918), to its sale to Seven Arts in 1968.
UA donated pre-1949 Warner Bros. nitrates to the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
and post-1951 negatives to the UCLA Film and Television Archive
UCLA Film and Television Archive
The UCLA Film and Television Archive is an internationally renowned visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles. It holds more than 220,000 film and television titles and 27 million feet of...
. Most of the company's legal files, scripts, and production materials were donated to the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
.
Warner Bros. franchises
This is a list that Warner Bros. Entertainment owns primarily by Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. itself and by ownership through acquisition of companies such as Turner Entertainment Co., New Line Cinema, and Hanna-Barbera.| Title | Years | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Dirty Harry Dirty Harry (film series) Dirty Harry is the name of a series of films and novels starring fictional San Francisco Police Department Homicide Division Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan, portrayed by Clint Eastwood... |
1971-1988 | |
| The Exorcist The Exorcist series The Exorcist film series consists of five horror films based on the fictional story from the novel The Exorcist, created by William Blatty. The films have been distributed by Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox.... |
1973-2005 | |
| Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh, God! is a 1977 comedy film starring George Burns and John Denver. Based on a novel by Avery Corman, the film was directed by Carl Reiner from a screenplay written by Larry Gelbart... |
1977-1984 | |
| National Lampoon's Vacation National Lampoon's Vacation (film series) National Lampoon's Vacation is a series of comedy films that were originally inspired by National Lampoon magazine. The series primarily features the misadventures of the Griswold family, whose attempts to enjoy vacations and holidays are plagued with continual disasters and strangely ridiculous... |
1983-1997 | |
| Police Academy | 1984-1994 | |
| The NeverEnding Story The NeverEnding Story (film) The NeverEnding Story is a 1984 German-American epic fantasy film based on the novel of the same name written by Michael Ende. The film was directed and co-written by Wolfgang Petersen and starred Barret Oliver, Noah Hathaway and Tami Stronach. At the time of its release, it was the most... |
1984-1996 | |
| Lethal Weapon Lethal Weapon (film series) Lethal Weapon is a series of films starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as a pair of LAPD detectives. All four films in the series were directed by Richard Donner, and also share many of the same core cast members.-Lethal Weapon :... |
1987-1998 | |
| Major League Major League (film) Major League is a 1989 American satire comedy film written and directed by David S. Ward, starring Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Wesley Snipes, James Gammon, and Corbin Bernsen. Made for US$11 million, Major League grossed nearly US$50 million in domestic release... |
1989-1998 | on behalf of Morgan Creek Productions Morgan Creek Productions Morgan Creek Productions is an American film studio that has released box-office hits like Young Guns, Dead Ringers, Major League, True Romance, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The King and I, The Crush, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and others. The studio was co-founded in 1987 by James G... |
| Free Willy Free Willy Free Willy is a 1993 family film directed by Simon Wincer, and released by Warner Bros. under its Family Entertainment label. The film stars Jason James Richter as a young boy who befriends an orca whale, named "Willy."... |
1993-2010 | on behalf of Regency Enterprises Regency Enterprises Regency Enterprises is a Los Angeles-based film and television production company formed by Arnon Milchan and Joseph P. Grace. It was founded in 1982 as Embassy International Pictures, but the company name changed to avoid confusion with Norman Lear's Embassy Pictures . Its most successful film is... |
| Ace Ventura Ace Ventura Ace Ventura is a fictional character, created by screenwriters Jack Bernstein, Tom Shadyac and Steve Oedekerk. Ace was played by Jim Carrey in the films He was voiced by Michael Daingerfield in the animated television series.-Biography:Ace is a... |
1994-2009 | on behalf of Morgan Creek Productions Morgan Creek Productions Morgan Creek Productions is an American film studio that has released box-office hits like Young Guns, Dead Ringers, Major League, True Romance, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The King and I, The Crush, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and others. The studio was co-founded in 1987 by James G... |
| The Matrix | 1999-2003 | |
| Harry Potter Harry Potter (film series) The Harry Potter film series is a British-American film series based on the Harry Potter novels by the British author J. K. Rowling... |
2001-2011 | |
| Ocean's Eleven Ocean's Trilogy The Ocean's Trilogy is a series of three caper comedies directed by Steven Soderbergh and produced by Jerry Weintraub for Warner Bros., between 2001 and 2007. The first of the films, Ocean's Eleven was a remake of the 1960 film of the same name and was followed, due to an immense commercial... |
2001-2007 | also distributed the 1960 film Ocean's Eleven (1960 film) Ocean's 11 is a 1960 heist film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring five Rat Packers: Peter Lawford, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Joey Bishop.... |
- ^New Line Cinema^
Title Years Notes A Nightmare on Elm Street A Nightmare on Elm Street (franchise)A Nightmare on Elm Street is an American horror franchise that consists of nine slasher films, a television show, novels, and comic books. The franchise began with the film series created by Wes Craven. The franchise is based on the fictional character Freddy Krueger, introduced in A Nightmare on...
1984-2010 Critters Critters (film series)The Critters film series, from New Line Cinema, comprises four movies that combine elements of horror, science fiction and comedy. The first film, called simply Critters, was released in 1986 and received "two thumbs up" from Siskel and Ebert....
1986-1992 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (film series)Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a film franchise based on the comic book series of the same name by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles :...
1990-1993 since 2009, Paramount's Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (TV channel)Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
owns the franchiseThe Mask The Mask (film)The Mask is a 1994 American superhero comedy film based on a series of comic books published by Dark Horse Comics. This film was directed by Chuck Russell, and produced by Dark Horse Entertainment and New Line Cinema, and originally released to movie theatres on July 29, 1994 through New Line...
1994-2005 Dumb and Dumber 1994-2003 Friday Friday (film)Friday is a 1995 stoner comedy-drama-buddy film directed by F. Gary Gray. Starring Ice Cube, Chris Tucker, Nia Long, Bernie Mac, Tommy Lister, Jr...
1995-2002 Austin Powers Austin Powers (film series)The Austin Powers series is a series of action-comedy films written by and starring Mike Myers as the title character, directed by Jay Roach and distributed by New Line Cinema...
1997-2002 Blade 1998-2004 Rush Hour Rush Hour (film series)The Rush Hour film series is a series of martial arts/action-comedy films starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, directed by Brett Ratner, and distributed by New Line Cinema...
1998-2007 Final Destination 2000-2011 The Lord of the Rings The Lord of the Rings film trilogyThe Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...
2001-2003 Harold & Kumar Harold & KumarHarold & Kumar is the common name for a series of stoner comedy films starring John Cho and Kal Penn . The first film, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, was released on July 30, 2004 by New Line Cinema and spawned a sequel titled Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, released four years...
2004-2011
-
- Friday the 13th (2009 film)Friday the 13th (2009 film)Friday the 13th is a 2009 American slasher film directed by Marcus Nispel and written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. It is a reboot of the Friday the 13th film series, which began in 1980 and the twelfth Friday the 13th film in total...
- The GuyverThe GuyverThe Guyver is a 1991 American Tokusatsu film loosely based on the Manga series of the same name. The film was met with a mixed to negative reaction from critics and fans. A sequel was followed in 1994 called Guyver: Dark Hero, which was received more favorably than it's predecessor.-Plot:CIA agent...
- Mortal KombatMortal Kombat (series)Mortal Kombat, commonly abbreviated MK, is a science fantasy series of fighting games created by Ed Boon and John Tobias. The first four renditions and their updates were developed by Midway Games and initially released on arcade machines. The arcade titles were later picked up by Acclaim...
, on behalf of Midway GamesMidway GamesMidway Games, Inc. is an American company that was formerly a major video game publisher. Following a bankruptcy filing in 2009, it is no longer active and is in the process of liquidating all of its assets. Midway's titles included Mortal Kombat, Ms.Pac-Man, Spy Hunter, Tron, Rampage, the...
(Warner's Interactive Entertainment division would later co-publish Mortal Kombat Vs. DC UniverseMortal Kombat vs. DC UniverseMortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is a crossover fighting game from Midway Games and Warner Bros. Games. The eighth game in the Mortal Kombat series, MK vs. DC was released on November 16, . MK vs. DC contains characters from both the Mortal Kombat franchise and the DC Universe...
in 2008) - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
- Deacon FrostDeacon FrostDeacon Frost is a fictional character appearing in the Marvel Universe. He appears in The Tomb of Dracula and in the Blade limited series.- Publication history :...
- Poison IvyPoison Ivy (film)Poison Ivy is a 1992 thriller and drama film directed by Katt Shea. Andy Ruben transformed Melissa Goddard's story into the screenplay. It stars Drew Barrymore, Sara Gilbert, Tom Skerritt and Cheryl Ladd. The original music score is composed by David Michael Frank. The film was shot in Los...
- Friday the 13th (2009 film)
- Looney TunesLooney TunesLooney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
(featuring Bugs BunnyBugs BunnyBugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
, Daffy DuckDaffy DuckDaffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
, Porky PigPorky PigPorky Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts using the fat little pig...
, Yosemite SamYosemite SamYosemite Sam is an American animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The name is somewhat alliterative and is inspired by Yosemite National Park...
, Marvin the MartianMarvin the MartianMarvin the Martian is a fictional character appearing in the Looney Tunes cartoons. Marvin's likeness appears in miniature on the Spirit rover on Mars.-Conception and creation:...
, Elmer FuddElmer FuddElmer J. Fudd/Egghead is a fictional cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters, and the de facto archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheon . His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring...
, Speedy GonzalesSpeedy GonzalesSpeedy Gonzales is an animated caricature of a mouse in the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He is portrayed as "The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico" with his major traits being the ability to run extremely fast and speaking with an exaggerated Mexican accent...
, Foghorn Leghorn, SylvesterSylvester (Looney Tunes)Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr., Sylvester the Cat or simply Sylvester, is a fictional character, a three-time Academy Award-winning anthropomorphic Tuxedo cat in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies repertory, often chasing Tweety Bird, Speedy Gonzales, or Hippety Hopper...
, Tasmanian DevilTasmanian Devil (Looney Tunes)The Tasmanian Devil, often referred to as Taz, is an animated cartoon character featured in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes series of cartoons. The character appeared in only five shorts before Warner Bros...
, Wile E. Coyote and Road RunnerWile E. Coyote and Road RunnerWile E. Coyote and The Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. The characters were created by animation director Chuck Jones in 1948 for Warner Bros., while the template for their adventures was the work of writer Michael Maltese...
, Pepe Le PewPepé Le PewPepé Le Pew is a fictional character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, first introduced in 1945. A French skunk that always strolls around in Paris in the springtime, when everyone's thoughts are of "love", Pepé is constantly seeking "l'amour" of his own...
, GrannyGranny (Looney Tunes)Granny is a co-star of many Sylvester the Cat and Tweety Bird animated shorts throughout the 1950s and 1960s, is a Looney Tunes character that was created by Tex Avery. She is the owner of Tweety . Granny's voice was first provided by Bea Benaderet from 1937 through 1953...
, TweetyTweetyTweety Bird is a fictional Yellow Canary in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated cartoons. The name "Tweety" is a play on words, as it originally meant "sweetie", along with "tweet" being a typical English onomatopoeia for the sounds of birds...
, Baby Looney TunesBaby Looney TunesBaby Looney Tunes is a Canadian-American animated television series that shows Looney Tunes characters as toddlers. It was produced by Warner Bros. Animation....
, AnimaniacsAnimaniacsSteven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
, Tiny Toon AdventuresTiny Toon AdventuresSteven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures, usually referred to as Tiny Toon Adventures or simply Tiny Toons, is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. It began production as a result of Warner Bros....
, etc.) - Tom and JerryTom and JerryTom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...
(Through Turner Entertainment Co.Turner EntertainmentTurner Entertainment Company, Inc. is an American media company founded by Ted Turner. Now owned by Time Warner, the company is largely responsible for overseeing its library for worldwide distribution Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. (commonly known as Turner Entertainment Co.) is an American...
) - Warner Bros. AnimationWarner Bros. AnimationWarner Bros. Animation is the animation division of Warner Bros., a subsidiary of Time Warner. The studio is closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies characters, among others. The studio is the successor to Warner Bros...
- The CW (in partnership with CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
) - Warner Bros. TelevisionWarner Bros. TelevisionWarner Bros. Television is the television production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on...
- Hanna-BarberaHanna-BarberaHanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
(The FlintstonesThe FlintstonesThe Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that screened from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. It...
, Yogi BearYogi BearYogi Bear is a fictional bear who appears in animated cartoons created by Hanna-Barbera Productions. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in The Huckleberry Hound Show. Yogi Bear was the first breakout character created by Hanna-Barbera, and was eventually more popular than...
, Hong Kong PhooeyHong Kong PhooeyHong Kong Phooey is a 16-episode Hanna-Barbera animated series that first aired on ABC Saturday morning from to . The main character, Hong Kong Phooey, is a superhero who uses Chinese martial arts to fight crime. Hong Kong Phooey is the secret alter ego of Penrod "Penry" Pooch, a "mild-mannered"...
, The JetsonsThe JetsonsThe Jetsons is a animated American sitcom that was produced by Hanna-Barbera, originally airing in prime-time from 1962–1963 and again from 1985–1987...
, Magilla GorillaMagilla GorillaThe Magilla Gorilla Show is an animated series for television produced by Hanna-Barbera for Screen Gems between 1963 and 1967, and originally sponsored in syndication by Ideal Toys from 1963 through 1966. The show also had other recurring characters, including Punkin' Puss & Mushmouse, and Ricochet...
, Huckleberry HoundHuckleberry HoundThe Huckleberry Hound Show is a 1958 syndicated animated series and the second from Hanna-Barbera following The Ruff & Reddy Show, sponsored by Kellogg's. Three segments were included in the program: one featuring Huckleberry Hound; another starring Yogi Bear and his sidekick Boo Boo; and a third...
, Scooby-DooScooby-DooScooby-Doo is an American media franchise based around several animated television series and related works produced from 1969 to the present day. The original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, was created for Hanna-Barbera Productions by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears in 1969...
, Top CatTop CatTop Cat is a Hanna-Barbera prime time animated television series which ran from September 27, 1961 to April 18, 1962 for a run of 30 episodes on the ABC network. Reruns are played on Cartoon Network's classic animation network Boomerang.-History:...
, Wally GatorWally GatorWally Gator is one of the segments from The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series. The other segments that compose this trilogy are Lippy the Lion & Hardy Har Har and Touché Turtle and Dum Dum. The segment consisted of 52 episodes over two seasons....
, Wacky RacesWacky RacesWacky Races is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera. The series features 11 different cars racing against each other in various road rallies throughout North America, with each driver hoping to win the title of the "World's Wackiest Racer." Wacky Races ran on CBS from September...
, The Quick Draw McGraw Show, Jonny QuestJonny QuestJonny Quest is a media franchise that revolves around a boy named Jonny Quest who accompanies his father on extraordinary adventures. The franchise started with a 1964-65 television series and has come to include two subsequent television series, two television films, and a video game.-1964–1965...
, The Pirates of Dark Water, Space GhostSpace GhostSpace Ghost is a fictional superhero created by Hanna-Barbera Productions and designed by Alex Toth for CBS in the 1960s. In his original incarnation, he was a superhero who, with his sidekick teen helpers Jan, Jace, and Blip the monkey, fought supervillains in outer space...
, 2 Stupid Dogs2 Stupid Dogs2 Stupid Dogs was an American animated television series created by Donovan Cook and produced by Hanna-Barbera and Turner Program Services that originally ran from September 5, 1993 to February 13, 1995 on TBS. The main segments of the show featured two dogs, "Big Dog" and "Little Dog". The Big Dog...
, SWAT Kats: The Radical SquadronSWAT Kats: The Radical SquadronSWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron is an animated series for television created by Christian and Yvon Tremblay and produced by Hanna-Barbera and Turner Program Services. Every episode of the series was directed by Robert Alvarez. The bulk of the series was written by either Glenn Leopold or Lance Falk...
, The HerculoidsThe HerculoidsThe Herculoids is a Saturday morning animated television series that was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The show debuted on September 9, 1967 on CBS...
etc.) - DC ComicsDC ComicsDC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
(features SupermanSupermanSuperman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
, BatmanBatmanBatman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
, Wonder WomanWonder WomanWonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....
, Green LanternGreen LanternThe Green Lantern is the shared primary alias of several fictional characters, superheroes appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The first Green Lantern was created by writer Bill Finger and artist Martin Nodell in All-American Comics #16 .Each Green Lantern possesses a power ring and...
, WatchmenWatchmenWatchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series created by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colourist John Higgins. The series was published by DC Comics during 1986 and 1987, and has been subsequently reprinted in collected form...
, and many other heroes) - DualstarDualstarDualstar Entertainment Group, LLC is a privately held American limited liability company owned by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, which produces movies, TV shows, magazines, video games, etc...
(Mary-Kate and Ashley OlsenMary-Kate and Ashley OlsenMary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen are American actresses and entrepreneurs.Both have appeared in television and films since infancy. Since then, they have continued their celebrity through numerous television programs, films, interviews, as well as commercial endorsements...
) - Mad Magazine
- Judge MathisJudge MathisJudge Mathis is a syndicated television legal reality show produced originally by Black Pearl Productions. In 2008, it entered its tenth season produced by AND Syndicated Productions and Telepictures. It is taped at NBC Tower in Chicago, but includes cases and litigants from other U.S....
- Nine NetworkNine NetworkThe Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
(owned by the Nine Entertainment Co. for the deal) - GO!Go! (Australian TV channel)GO! is an Australian free-to-air standard definition digital television channel launched by the Nine Network on Sunday 9 August 2009.-Origins:...
(owned by the Nine Entertainment Co. for the deal) - GEMGEM (Australian TV channel)GEM is an Australian free-to-air high definition digital television channel, launched by the Nine Network on Sunday 26 September 2010 at 6am...
(owned by the Nine Entertainment Co. for the deal) - The Ellen DeGeneres ShowThe Ellen DeGeneres ShowThe Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/actress Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it is produced by Telepictures and airs in syndication, including stations owned by NBC Universal. For its first five seasons, the show...
- Selena (1987–1995, Warner Bros. produced and distributed a film about her lifeSelena (film)Selena is a 1997 American biographical drama film about the life and career of the late Tejano music star Selena, a recording artist who was well known in the Mexican-American and Hispanic communities in the United States and Mexico before she was shot to death at the age of twenty-three.The movie...
) - The Dukes of HazzardThe Dukes of HazzardThe Dukes of Hazzard is an American television series that aired on the CBS television network from 1979 to 1985.The series was inspired by the 1975 film Moonrunners, which was also created by Gy Waldron and had many identical or similar character names and concepts.- Overview :The Dukes of Hazzard...
- Sherlock HolmesSherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
- ThunderCatsThunderCatsThunderCats is an American animated television series that was produced by Rankin/Bass Productions debuting in 1984, based on the characters created by Tobin "Ted" Wolf. The series follows the adventures of a group of cat-like humanoid aliens...
after the takeover of Lorimar-TelepicturesLorimar-TelepicturesLorimar-Telepictures was a production and television syndication firm established in 1986 with the merger of Lorimar and Telepictures until both TV divisions became separate in 1988... - Captain Planet after the takeover of Turner EntertainmentTurner EntertainmentTurner Entertainment Company, Inc. is an American media company founded by Ted Turner. Now owned by Time Warner, the company is largely responsible for overseeing its library for worldwide distribution Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. (commonly known as Turner Entertainment Co.) is an American...
- BeetlejuiceBeetlejuiceBeetlejuice is a 1988 American comedy horror film directed by Tim Burton, produced by The Geffen Film Company and distributed by Warner Bros...
(film and animated incarnations, co-produced with The Geffen Film CompanyThe Geffen Film CompanyThe Geffen Film Company was a film distributor and production company founded by David Geffen, the founder of Geffen Records, and future co-founder of DreamWorks. Geffen founded the company in 1980, having recruited Eric Eisner as president, and distributed its films through Warner Bros...
) - GremlinsGremlinsGremlins is a 1984 American horror comedy film directed by Joe Dante, released by Warner Bros. The film is about a young man who receives a strange creature—called a Mogwai—as a pet, which then spawns other creatures who transform into small, destructive, evil monsters. It was followed by a sequel,...
- The Lost BoysThe Lost BoysThe Lost Boys is a 1987 American teen comedy horror film directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Kiefer Sutherland, Jami Gertz, Corey Feldman, Dianne Wiest, Edward Herrmann, Alex Winter, Jamison Newlander, and Barnard Hughes....
- The Tyra Banks ShowThe Tyra Banks ShowThe Tyra Banks Show, also known as and shortened to Tyra or The Tyra Show, is an American talk show hosted by Tyra Banks. The last new episode aired on Friday, May 28, 2010.-2005-2009: Syndication:...
- TerminatorTerminator (franchise)The Terminator series is a science fiction franchise encompassing a series of films and other media concerning battles between Skynet's artificially intelligent machine network, and John Connor's Resistance forces and the rest of the human race....
(USA and Canada only, franchise is of Sony Pictures ReleasingSony Pictures EntertainmentSony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. is the television and film production/distribution unit of Japanese multinational technology and media conglomerate Sony...
on the rest of the world) (beginning with Terminator 3: Rise of the MachinesTerminator 3: Rise of the MachinesTerminator 3: Rise of the Machines, commonly abbreviated as T3, is a 2003 science fiction action film directed by Jonathan Mostow and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes and Kristanna Loken...
) - Viz MediaVIZ MediaVIZ Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, is an anime, manga, and Japanese entertainment company. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media LLC, which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and...
(50% only outside of USA) - Section23 FilmsSection23 FilmsSection23 Films is an American home video distribution company specializing in anime and Japanese films. The company is one of five successors to ADV Films, as well as the distributor of titles from Sentai Filmworks and Switchblade Films. ADV had announced that it had sold its assets to a group of...
(Digital distribution, such as on iTunesITunesiTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
, only) - Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
(on behalf of Sesame WorkshopSesame WorkshopSesame Workshop, formerly known as the Children's Television Workshop , is a Worldwide American non-profit organization behind the production of several educational children's programs that have run on public broadcasting around the world...
) - Under SiegeUnder SiegeUnder Siege is a 1992 American action film directed by Andrew Davis and starring Steven Seagal as a former Navy SEAL who must stop a group of mercenaries, led by Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey, on a U.S. Navy battleship...
- Star WarsStar WarsStar Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
(on behalf of Lucasfilm, Twentieth Century Fox produced the six live-action films, but Warner Bros. produced a 2008 CGIComputer-generated imageryComputer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
film Star Wars: The Clone WarsStar Wars: The Clone Wars (film)Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a 2008 CGI animated science fiction/action film that takes place within the Star Wars saga, leading into the TV series of the same name. The film is set in the same time period as the 2003 Clone Wars television series...
(film) - Speed RacerSpeed RacerSpeed Racer is an English adaptation name of the Japanese manga and anime, which centered on automobile racing. Mach GoGoGo was originally serialized in print form in Shueisha's 1958 Shōnen Book, and was released in tankōbon book form by Sun Wide Comics, re-released in Japan by Fusosha...
(on behalf of Speed Racer Enterprises, but Warner Bros. produced the live-action Speed RacerSpeed Racer (film)Speed Racer is a 2008 American live action film adaptation of Tatsuo Yoshida's 1960s Japanese anime series of the same name, produced by Tatsunoko Productions. The film is written and directed by the Wachowskis...
(film) - The Last StarfighterThe Last StarfighterThe Last Starfighter is a 1984 science fiction adventure film directed by Nick Castle. The film tells the story of Alex Rogan , an average teenage boy recruited by an alien defense force to fight in an interstellar war. It also featured Dan O'Herlihy, Catherine Mary Stewart, Robert Preston, Norman...
(on behalf of Warner Bros. Television DistributionWarner Bros. Television DistributionWarner Bros. Television Distribution is an American television distribution arm of Warner Bros. Television, itself a part of Time Warner formed circa 1960. In 1989, the studio formed Warner Bros...
due to the television broadcast rights) - Tomb RaiderTomb RaiderTomb Raider is an action-adventure video game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. It was originally released in 1996 for the Sega Saturn, with MS-DOS and PlayStation versions following shortly thereafter...
series after share of SCi/Eidos InteractiveEidos InteractiveEidos Interactive Ltd. is a British video game publisher and is a label of Square Enix Europe. As an independent company Eidos plc was headquartered in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton....
, but Paramount PicturesParamount PicturesParamount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
distributed the two live-action films - Charlie and the Chocolate FactoryCharlie and the Chocolate FactoryCharlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 1964 children's book by British author Roald Dahl. The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of the eccentric chocolatier, Willy Wonka....
(including the 1971 filmWilly Wonka & the Chocolate FactoryWilly Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 musical film adaptation of the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, directed by Mel Stuart, and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. The film tells the story of Charlie Bucket as he receives a golden ticket and visits Willy...
, which WB acquired from The Quaker Oats Company, and the 2005 filmCharlie and the Chocolate Factory (film)Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 2005 film adaptation of the 1964 book of the same name by Roald Dahl. The film was directed by Tim Burton. The film stars Freddie Highmore as Charlie Bucket and Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka...
) - The Wizard of OzThe Wizard of Oz (1939 film)The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
(Through Turner Entertainment Co.Turner EntertainmentTurner Entertainment Company, Inc. is an American media company founded by Ted Turner. Now owned by Time Warner, the company is largely responsible for overseeing its library for worldwide distribution Turner Entertainment Company, Inc. (commonly known as Turner Entertainment Co.) is an American...
) - Village Roadshow (Village CinemasVillage CinemasVillage Cinemas is an Australian cinema chain. Its Australian sites are owned and operated by Village Roadshow-Amalgamated Holdings Limited joint venture Australian Theatres. The group has rebranded several of its premier Australian and New Zealand cinemas as Event Cinemas since 2009. Village...
and Village Roadshow PicturesVillage Roadshow PicturesVillage Roadshow Pictures is an Australian motion picture production company. It is a subsidiary of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, an Australian entertainment company. Most of its films are co-produced in partnership with Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema...
for the deal with the Warner Bros films) - Warner Village Theme ParksWarner Village Theme ParksVillage Roadshow Theme Parks is a collection of divisions of Village Roadshow Limited which operate theme parks and attractions in Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America. Village Roadshow Theme Parks is made up local Australian theme parks as well as Village Roadshow Theme Parks...