Sam Warner

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For the American congressman, see Samuel L. Warner.

Samuel Warner (August 10, 1887 – October 5, 1927, aged 40) was a 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. to produce the film industry's first feature-length talking picture, The Jazz Singer.[1] He died in 1927, the day before the film's enormously successful premiere.[2]

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[edit] Early years

Samuel Warner was born in Baltimore, Maryland, into a Yiddish-speaking family of Polish Jewish immigrants.[3] Along with Albert Warner, Sam was one of the two founders of Warner Bros. Studios who were born in the United States.[4] He was the fourth surviving son of Benjamin Warner(whose original last name is not known)[5], a cobbler from Krasnosielc, Poland, and his wife, the former Pearl Leah Eichelbaum. Following their marriage in 1876, the couple had three children in Poland, one of whom died at a young age.[6] In search of a better future for his family and himself, in 1883 Benjamin made his way to Hamburg, Germany, and then took a ship to America;[7] upon arriving in America, Benjamin introduced himself as "Benjamin Warner."[8] Pearl Warner and the two surviving children, including Hirsch (later Harry), joined him in Baltimore, Maryland less than a year later. In Baltimore, five more children were born to the family, including Sam and his brother, Albert.[4]

Benjamin Warner relocated the family to Canada, where he attempted to make a living by bartering tin wares to trappers in exchange for furs. In Canada, two more Warner children arrived, including Jacob (later Jack) was born in London, Ontario.[9] After two arduous years in Canada, Benjamin Warner and his family returned to Baltimore.[10] In 1896, the family relocated to Youngstown, Ohio, following the lead of Harry Warner, who established a shoe repair shop in the heart of the emerging industrial town.[11] Benjamin Warner worked with his son, Harry, in the shoe repair shop, until he secured a loan to open a meat counter and grocery store in the city's downtown area.[12] In Youngstown, two more children were added to the crowded household.[13]

[edit] Early business ventures

Sam Warner was the first member of his family to move into the entertainment industry. In the early 1900s, he formed a business partnership with another Youngstown resident and "took over" the city's Old Grand Opera House, which he used as a venue for "cheap vaudeville and photoplays".[14] The venture failed after one summer.[14] Next, Sam secured a job as a projectionist at Idora Park, a local amusement park.[15] He persuaded the family of the new medium's possibilities and negotiated the purchase of a Model B Kinetoscope from a projectionist who was "down on his luck".[16] The purchase price was $1,000.[17] Sam's interest in film came after seeing Thomas Edison's The Great Train Robbery while working as an employee at Cedar Point Pleasure Resort in Sandusky, Ohio. During this time, Albert agreed to join Sam and together, the two displayed shows at carnivals throughout the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania;[18] Sam would run the film projector and Albert would sell tickets[18]

In 1905, Harry agreed to join his two brothers and sold his Youngstown bicycle shop.[19] During this time, the three brothers also purchased a building in New Castle, Pennsylvania[20] This makeshift theatre, called the Bijou, was furnished with chairs borrowed from a local undertaker.[21] The brothers named their new theater The Cascade Movie Palace.[22] They maintained the theater until moving into film distribution in 1907.[23] That year, the Warner brothers established the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement Company, which proved lucrative until the advent of Thomas Edison's Motion Picture Patents Company (also known as the Edison Trust), which charged distributors exorbitant fees.[24] In 1909, the brothers sold the Cascade Theater for $40,000, and decided to open a second film exchange in Norfolk, Virginia;[25] through this Norfolk company, younger brother Jack officially joined his three brothers' business and was sent to Norfolk, by older Harry, to serve as Sam's assistant.[25] In 1910, the Warners would sell the family business, to the General Film Company, for "$10,000 in cash, $12,000 in preferred stock, and payments over a four-year period for a total of $52,000".[26]

[edit] Formation of Warner Bros.

In 1910, the Warner brothers pooled their resources and moved into film production.[27] After they sold their business,[28] the brothers lent their support to filmmaker Carl Laemmle's Independent Motion Picture Company, which challenged the monopolistic control of the Edison Trust;[29] the brothers served as distributors for Laemmle's films in Pittsburgh.for Carl Laemmle's Independent Fillm Company.[28] In 1912, Sam would help the brothers earn a $1,500 profit with his film Dante's Interno[30] In the wake of this success, Harry Warner-seeing Edison's monopoly threat grow- decided to break with Laemmle[28] and have the brothers start their own film producion company, Warner Features.[31] After this occurred Harry Warner-who now had an office in New York with brother Albert-[32] sent Sam and Jack to establish film exchanges in Los Angeles and San Francisco;[29] Sam would run the company's Los Angeles division while Jack ran the company's San Francisco division.[32] The brothers were soon poised to exploit the expanding California movie market.[29] Their first opportunity to produce a major film came in 1918, when they purchased the film rights for My Four Years in Germany, a bestselling novel that condemned German wartime atrocities.[33] During this year, the brothers were able to establish a studio in Hollywood, California.[34] In the new Hollywood studio, Sam became co-head of production along with his younger brother, Jack.[35] In this capacity, the two brothers secured new scripts and story lines, managed film production, and looked for ways to reduce production costs.[33]

Between the years 1919 and 1920, unfortunately, the studio was not able to garnish any profits.[36] During this time, banker Montley Flint-who was, unlike most bankers at the time, not anti-semetic-.[37] helped the Warners pay off their debts.[37] The studio would also rebound in 1921, after the success of the studio's film Why Girls Leave Home.[38] On April 4, 1923, following the studio's successful film The Gold Diggers,[39] Warner Brothers, Inc. was officially established.[40]

One of the new company's first big stars would be the dog Rin Tin Tin.[41] In addition to Rin Tin Tin, the studio was also able to gain more success with German film director Lubitsch, who's first film with the studio-The Marriage Circle- reached the New York Times Ten Best List for the 1924;[42] the film was also the studio's most successful film of the year,[42] and it helped establish Lubitsch as the studio's top director at this point in time.[43] The Warners were also able to add another film to New York Times Top Ten Films of The Year 1924 List with Beau Brummell' as well.[44]

In 1925, Sam Warner had also acquired a radio station, KWBC,[45] After acquiring his radio station, Sam decided to make an attempt to use synchronized sound in future Warner Bros. Pictures.[46] After a visit to Western Electric's Bell Labritories headquarters,[47] Sam urged his brother, Harry, to sign an agreement with Western Electric to develop a series of "talking" shorts using the newly-upgraded Sound-on-film technology, a sound-on-disc system for motion pictures.[48] Harry eventually agreed to so.[49] Through the company's partnership with Western Electric, Sam formed a subsidiary known as Vitaphone,[50] which released a series of musical shorts and the feature-length "Don Juan" (which had a synchronized music track). Upon buying Vitaphone, Sam was also made Vice President of Warner Bros. as well.[51] These vehicles received a tepid response, and Harry grew increasingly opposed to the venture. But Sam pushed ahead with a new Vitaphone feature, based on a Broadway play and starring Al Jolson. The Jazz Singer broke box-office records, established Warner Bros. as a major player in Hollywood, and single-handedly launched the talkie revolution. Sam died the day before The Jazz Singer made its debut in New York City. At age 40, he succumbed to complications from a sinus infection.[2] According to Hollywood Be Thy Name, the 1993 memoir of Jack Warner, Jr., and Cass Warner Sperling, late character actor William Demarest claimed Sam Warner was murdered by his own brothers.[52] This allegation, leveled in 1977, was never corroborated, and Demarest's reliability was questioned because of his long dependence on alcohol.[52]

As the family grieved over Sam's sudden passing, the success of The Jazz Singer helped establish Warner Bros. as a major studio. While Warner Bros. invested only $500,000 in the film, the studio reaped $3 million in profits.[53] Hollywood's five major studios, which controlled most of the nation's movie theaters, initially attempted to block the growth of "talking pictures".[53] In the face of such organized opposition, Warner Bros. produced 12 "talkies" in 1928 alone.[53] The following year, the newly formed Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences recognized Warner Bros. for "revolutionizing the industry with sound".[54]

[edit] Personal Life

In 1923, Sam met sixteen year-old Ziegfeld Follies actress Lina Basquette[55] and began a love affair with her.[56] On July 4, 1925, the two were married.[57] On October 6, 1926, the couple's only child, daughter Lita, would be born.[58]

[edit] Legacy

For all Sam Warner's reputation as pioneer, it should be noted that he envisioned sound in movies not for dialogue but for music and effects only, in order to cut the costs of having live musicians in Warner theatres. And within a few years his Vitaphone was replaced by the technically superior Movietone (sound-on-film) system, which became the industry standard. Nevertheless, his determination forever changed the way motion pictures are made.

He is interred in the Home of Peace Cemetery in East Los Angeles, California. His tombstone [1] shows his birth year to be 1885. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Sam Warner has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6201 Hollywood Boulevard.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Thomas (1990), pp. 52–62.
  2. ^ a b "Warner, Movie Magnate, Dies: Sam Warner, Former Youngstown Man, Rose from Obscurity to Leader in Field", The Youngstown Daily Vindicator, October 5, 1927. 
  3. ^ Thomas (1990), p. 9.
  4. ^ a b Warner and Jennings (1964), p. 20.
  5. ^ www.adherents.com/people/pw/Jack_Warner.html
  6. ^ Thomas (1990), p. 10.
  7. ^ Warner and Jennings (1964), p. 18.
  8. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 20
  9. ^ Thomas (1990), p. 11.
  10. ^ Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 23–24.
  11. ^ Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 24–25.
  12. ^ Thomas (1990), pp. 12–13.
  13. ^ Thomas (1990), p. 12.
  14. ^ a b "Heard on the Corner: How the Warner Brothers, Movie Producers, Got Their Start", The Youngstown Daily Vindicator, December 30, 1923. 
  15. ^ Warner and Jennings (1964), p. 49.
  16. ^ Warner and Jennings (1964), p. 50.
  17. ^ Trebilcock, Bob. "A Warner Brothers Production: They parlayed Youngstown nickelodeon into a Hollywood empire", Ohio Magazine, March 1985, pp. 24–25. 
  18. ^ a b Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 32.
  19. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 33.
  20. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 34.
  21. ^ "Jack L. Warner's Death Closes Out Pioneer Clan of 'Talkies'", Variety, September 13, 1978, p. 2. 
  22. ^ Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 54–55.
  23. ^ Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 55–57.
  24. ^ Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 65–66.
  25. ^ a b Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 42
  26. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 45-46
  27. ^ Warner and Jennings (1964), p. 73.
  28. ^ a b c Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 46
  29. ^ a b c Thomas (1990), p. 29.
  30. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 47-48
  31. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 51
  32. ^ a b Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 54
  33. ^ a b Thomas (1990), pp. 34–35.
  34. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 66
  35. ^ Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 100–101.
  36. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 71
  37. ^ a b Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 72
  38. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 73
  39. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 76
  40. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 77
  41. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 81
  42. ^ a b Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 83
  43. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 82
  44. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 84
  45. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 89.
  46. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 90.
  47. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 92.
  48. ^ Thomas (1990), 52–55;
  49. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 94.
  50. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 95.
  51. ^ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,731079,00.html
  52. ^ a b "Warner brothers book covers Valley roots, Hollywood highs", The Vindicator, October 24, 1993. 
  53. ^ a b c Thomas (1990), p. 63.
  54. ^ Thomas (1990), p. 66.
  55. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 96.
  56. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 97.
  57. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 98.
  58. ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 115.

[edit] References

  • Thomas, Bob (1990). Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner. New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. ISBN 0070642591
  • Warner, Jack; Jennings, Dean (1964). My First Hundred Years in Hollywood. New York: Random Books.