Tony Nudo's Hollywood Legends

Harry Warner, Albert Warner, Sam Warner, & Jack Warner
the Warner Brothers

"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" Harry Warner quipped of his brother Sams idea they add sound to Warner films. The idea happened, and Sam Warner is now known as "The father of talking pictures." All in all there were 12 Warner siblings (and yes there were Warner Sisters among the 12.) The main four brothers though, Harry, Jack, Albert, and Sam, are the men of the hour. The four Warner brothers founded Warner Brothers Studios in Hollywood, California in 1923. The brothers were toally different in temperment and attitude. The real last name of all four brothers was Eichelbaum, it was never legally changed. Warner was just a stage name...get it?? har har har Annnnnyway - about the brothers who started it all ....

The first to be born was Harry Warner (my personal favorite of the brothers:). Harry was born December 12, 1881 in Poland as Harold Eichelbaum. From the start Harry was a very hard worker. At age 7 he was helping his dad selling newspapers, breaking horses in, as a cobbler, and as a butcher. He was self educated, and street smart. Being oldest, he was considered a patriarch. He ran the family with a iron hand...even in the showbizz days. He was President of the empire. In 1956, Harry sold most of his shares in the company and retired. He lived on this ranch, near Desoto and Oxnard. He died January 25, 1958 in Hollywood. See his grave here.

Albert Warner (born Albert Eichelbaum) was the second of the brothers. Born in 1882 in Poland. Albert was the quietest and most silent of the brothers. He preferred to stay out of the limelight and was the Treasurer of Warner Brothers. He died in 1967 in Miami Beach, Florida where he had retired.

Sam Warner (yes Sam Eichelbaum) was born August 10, 1887 in Baltimore Maryland. From his beginnings, Sam was an outspoken and headstrong individual. Hailed as "The Father of Talking Pictures." Of the four Warner brothers, Sam was the most in favor of using synchronized sound with movies. He was the driving force behind the studio's partnership with Western Electric to create Vitaphone. Sam was full of the creative enthusiasm Warner Brothers needed. He was the main brains behind Warner Brothers first successfull film, The Jazz Singer. He used Vitaphone to provide music and sound effects. It was the first film to feature sound, and it got a standing ovation at the end of the first screening. Tragically, Sam died of a brain tumor two days before The Jazz Singer's debut in Los Angeles, California. He was the Chief Executive of Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. See his grave here

I have saved the Jack for last...Jack Warner (yup of the Eichelbaum name). Jack was a quick tempered individual, and reports say a womanizer (though that hasn't been proven and I am not accusing him of that here). What I do know, is he was quick tempered and apparently hard to get along with. His older brother Harry and him faught constantly. In fact, one time Harry chased Jack through the studio with a two by four threatening to kill him. The feud became so bitter that Jack opted to play tennis rather than attend Harry's funeral in 1958. Jack treated all of his employees with ridicule for the most part. Jack despeately wanted to become a singer in his younger days and once while walking through the WB lot heard a young man singing. Jack went up to the young man and quipped, "Young man, was that you singing?" "W-why yes Mr. Warner." "Young man you have a beautiful voice." "Oh thank you Mr. Warner." "MM. Tell me, young man, what would you rather be? A security guard or a singer?" "Oh Mr. Warner, I dreamed of being a singer." "Ok young man. You're fired!" Another time Jack called in a writer to his office. "Look pally, I got to fire you because I heard you were a communist. " "Mr. Warner, please! I'm not a communist, I'm an anti-communist!" "I don't care what kind of commie you are! You are out of here!" It was not a secret that Jack was not well liked among his employees. According to his son Jack Jr., "He existed behind a self-made wall. Besides a lot of him wasn't that nice to know. At times he gloried in being a no-good sonofabitch." "If his brothers hadn't hired him, he'd have been out of work." In all fairness to him Warner Brothers would have not become the success it is without any one of the brothers it was a joint effort and Jack was no different to that rule. He was determined. Jack was the studio’s executive in charge of production until 1967 when he sold the studio to Seven Arts. He lost interest in the studio after the death of Albert. He once quipped to Albert Eienstien ... “I have a theory of relatives too. Don’t hire ‘em.” Jack died September 9, 1978 in Los Angeles. See his grave here.

WARNER BROTHERS PICTURES - WHERE IT ALL STARTED ... THE STORY

Now that you know the brothers, the story on how a multi-billion dollar company was formed. The four brothers grew up, with thier 8 other siblings in Ohio. Of the 12, Harry being oldest and Jack being youngest. The children were taught to work hard and did just that. Whether side jobs, or at thier family grocery store, the were always working hard. According to Betty Warner Sheinbaum (Harry's daughter) .. The brothers lives took a turn when a tenent in a room over thier grocery store move out and left what Harry said was a "magic lantern." (What it was really, was a projector lamp) Harry, Sam, and Albert were intrigued by the picture machine (projector lamp) and decided to rent out the local funeral parlor (when it wasn't being used), and hanging up a sheet to show the current "film." They charged 5 cents for admission. The brothers sister would play the piano, and Jack was to sing between shows to empty out the theater (funeral parlor) before the next show.

By the 1920s, the brothers had started aquiring theaters and the brothers started actually making thier own films with borrowed cameras in Astoria, New York so they would have matierial to show in thier theaters. Harry loved opera, music, and theater and thought these were wonderful subjects to distribute on a mass basis. He always felt movies should educate as well as entertain. In 1923, the brothers came to Los Angeles. Harry bought a small studio and then another larger studio in which he expected his son Lewis to run. Unfortunatly, Lewis died shortly after Jack was designated in charge of production. Harry, it is said, knew every employee by name and those of thier family. He picked up nails to reuse on sets, and turned off lights to save electricity. Jack felt his writers should work 9 to 5 in an office at the studio and actors should be seen and do what they were told. By 1927, Sam Warner and Nathan Levinson helped invent sound for the first sound film, The Jazz Singer. This revolutionized the film industry. The studio grew to make 60 films a year under the guidence of the brothers, twelve producers, and many fine writers. Harry lived on a ranchsurrounded by his family and friends, and jack on a Beverly Hills Estate in true Hollywood Style.

Betty Warner Sheinbaum (Harry's daughter)......"My father was a very serious, moral, conservative man. He was the company's conscience and driving force. It was up to him to provide the money and watch carefully what films were being made.He dealt with bankers constantly as the studio was in constant need of funds to continue productions. My father loved being in America , away from the frequent protests against Jews in his native Poland. The U.S. was the land of opportunity and he seized it. He often spoke of his responsibilities as a filmmaker and insisted on making films about the Constitution and the founding fathers and people like Louis Pasteur, Emilie Zola, the prison system, the underworld and other socially committed dramas." It needs to be said that Harry and Jack loved America (as did all Albert and Sam) and regularly offered "any sacrifice" of themselves and the studio to aid the country. In a Western Union note to then President Franklin D. Roosevelt read, "Your message was an inspiration to those who believe in civilization and freedom from war. Any sacrifice that you desire of us or our company, please call on us ..... Harry and Jack Warner

Today, the driving force behind what these brothers established, though changed with the times, is still in effect and Warner Brothers remains one of the leading forces in the entertainment industry. Operated today under Time-Warner, Warner Brothers still offers high quality films unlike any other. It's commitment stands firm, unlike some who have fleged .. MGM for example, thus making the legacy, a good one for Harry, Jack, Albert, and Sam.

TRIVIA:
website: www.warnerbros.com

As a boy Jack Warner wished to be a singer and a comedian. His brothers, recognizing his lack of talent instructed him to sing in the tent when they wanted the audience to leave. He was later advised that the money was not in performing, it was in paying performers. Among the stars that would be under contract to him would be Betty Davis, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and Errol Flynn.

Jack remarking on his retirement to Palm Springs: "You're nothing if you don't have a studio. Now I'm just another millionaire, and there are a lot of 'em around."

Jack ran the studio with a firm and frugal hand and often clashed with his producers, writers, and stars, most famously with Bette Davis, Olivia De Havilland, Humphrey Bogart, and James Cagney A frustrated vaudevillian, he spiced his quarrels with a robust sense of humor and practical jokes. Also famous for his hawkish political views and occasional tactless cracks. (Once, when he was introduced to Mme. Chiang Kai-chek, he muttered that he had forgotten his laundry.)