Warner Brothers History

Born in a family of 12 children with the original last name of Eichelbaum, the brothers emmigrated from Poland to Canada and then finally settling down in Youngstown, Ohio and where their name was changed to Warner. Harry, the oldest of the children wanted to get into the new film industry and recruited 3 of his younger brothers to join him. The four brothers were:

Harry - the oldest of the 12, born in 1881 in Poland and died in Los Angeles in 1958. Harry was considered the brains of the family and was the President.

Albert - born in 1882 in Poland and died in 1967 in Miami Beach where he had retired. Albert was the Treasurer.

Sam - born in 1887 in Baltimore Maryland and died in 1927 in Los Angeles. Sam was the Chief Executive of Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. and known as the 'Father of Talking Pictures'

Jack - born 1892 in Canada and died in Los Angeles in 1978. Jack was the youngest of the 12 and most famous of the Brothers. Jack was the studio's Executive in Charge of Production until 1967 when he lost interest after Alberts death and sold the studio to Seven Arts.

Wanting to get into the new booming film industry, the Warner Brothers established a nickelodeon in Newcastle, Pa. in 1905. They expanded into the film distribution business in 1907 establishing a film exchange in Pennsylvania (as the Duquesne Film Exchange) and soon in Norfolk, Virginia and Atlanta, Georgia. Legal problems with Edison forced them to sell out to the Patents Company. Then in 1913, they moved into film production with Warner Features.

In 1918, they produced their first full-scale picture, "My Four Years in Germany," which grossed an amazing (for that time) $1.5 million.

In 1918 with their success, the Warner brothers purchased property at 5842 Sunset Boulevard for $25,000, and the Warner Bros. West Coast Studio was born.

Warner Bros. was incorporated on April 4, 1923 and soon after purchased their first theatre at Youngstown, Ohio (their hometown).

In 1925, Warner accquired Vitagraph, Inc. which operated 34 exchanges in the US and Canada as well as acquiring a few other foreign exchanges. Later in 1925, Warner purchased the rights for developing sound-on-disc process from Western Electric at the insistance of Sam Warner. They took the main offices of Vitagraph and renamed it Vitaphone to use for sound developing.

The first Vitaphone production premiered August 1926 with the feature Don Juan with full musical and sound effects track. Success was so overwhelming that they produced 'The Jazz Singer' for a premiere in October 1927. This was not a full talking picture, but had musical score with some dialogue at the end of the film.

In 1927 Sam Warner, who was the driving force and the one that convinced his brothers to invest in sound, died on October 5th. This was the DAY BEFORE the premiere of the Jazz Singer.

In July, 1928, Warner released Lights of New York which was the first 100% All Talking Picture. It was a one hour feature that broke all box office records.

The pioneering in sound brought Warner Bros. to the forefront and inspired expansion in spite of the economic condition of the country.

Warner acquired the Stanley Company of America, with had approximately 250 theaters in 1928. That same year, they also bought First National Pictures which had a 135 acre studio and back lot as well as exchanges and theaters. Warner also purchased several music publishing companies to help in production of their musicals.

In 1952, Warner was forced to divide the company due to the government's Consent Decree. The theaters were sold to Fabian Enterprises and the company renamed Stanley Warner Corporation. The production-distribution company remained as Warner Bros. Pictures Inc.

In 1956, Harry and Albert retired. They sold their shares to an investment group headed by Serge Semenenko and Charles Allen Jr. Jack retained his shares, remaining as the largest single stockholder and becoming President of the company. During the restructure, United Artists purchased the pre-1948 Warner film library which consisted of approximately 850 features and 1000 shorts.

Harry Warner died in 1958.

Albert died in early 1967, leaving Jack as the only surviving brother. After the death of Albert, Jack lost interest in the studio and decided to retire. On July 15, 1967, a subsidiary of Seven Arts Production, a Canadian company, acquired Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. and changed the name to Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Limited.

On July 8, 1969, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts was acquired by Kinney National Service, Inc. headed by Steven J. Ross. The name was changed to Warner Communications Inc. in 1971.

Jack Warner died in 1978.

In the 1980's they purchased the Samuel Goldwyn Studios and in 1988, they acquired Lorimar Studios.

In 1989, Warner Communications merged with Time, Inc. in an $18 Billion merger that created one of the largest communications and entertainment companies in the world. That same year, they also regained full control of it's Burbank Studio when it reacquired 35% interest that was owned by Columbia Pictures. This was done as a result of a settlement of a lawsuit WB filed against Sony Corp., who was the new owner of Columbia, over a 5 year contract WB held with the Jon Peters and Peter Guber production company. To free the 2 producers from their commitment to WB, Sony made the settlement. In addition to acquiring the Columbia stake in the Warner lot, WB received a 50% interest in the CBS Record Club, which Sony owns, and the right to distribute Columbia's films and made-for -TV films for 10 years.

Warner Bros. continues to grow and prosper.