Albert Warner
Albert Warner | |
---|---|
Born | Aaron (or Abraham) Wonsal July 23, 1884 |
Died | November 26, 1967 Miami Beach, Florida, U.S. | (aged 83)
Occupation(s) | Film executive Co-founder of Warner Brothers |
Years active | 1903–1956 |
Spouses | Bessie Krieger
(m. 1908; died 1923)Bessie Siegal (m. 1925) |
Relatives | brothers Harry, Sam, and Jack L. Warner |
Abraham "Albert" Warner (born Aaron Wonsal,[1] July 23, 1884[2] – November 26, 1967) was an American film executive who was one of the founders of Warner Bros. He established the production studio with his brothers Harry, Sam, and Jack L. Warner. He served as the studio's treasurer until he sold his stock in 1956.[3]
Early years
Abraham "Wonsal"
In Baltimore, the money Benjamin Warner earned in the shoe repair business was not enough to provide for his growing household.[16] He and Pearl had another daughter, Fannie, not long after they arrived. Benjamin moved the family to Canada, inspired by a friend's advice that he could make an excellent living bartering tin wares with trappers in exchange for furs.[16] Sons Jacob and David Warner were born in London, Ontario.[16][17] After two arduous years in Canada, Benjamin and Pearl Warner returned to Baltimore, bringing along their growing family.[18] Two more children, Sadie and Milton, were added to the household there.[19] 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.[20] Benjamin worked with his son Harry in the shoe repair shop until he secured a loan to open a meat counter and grocery store in the city's downtown area.[21][22]
In the late 1890s, Albert became fascinated by the bicycle craze that swept through the USA.[23] and his older brother Harry opened a bicycle shop in Youngstown together as well.[24] The two also tried to open a bowling alley together, but were unsuccessful.[23]
Albert Warner stayed in school longer than any his three brothers.[25] In 1900, Warner entered Youngstown's Rayen High School, where he served as quarterback for the school's football team.[25] Warner eventually dropped out,[25] and in time got a job in Chicago as a salesman for the soap company Swift and Company.[26] Warner's life would soon pursue a new direction after brother Sam was able to purchase a Kinetoscope in 1903.[27]
Film career
As a young man, along with his brother Sam, Albert Warner entered the
In 1909, the brothers sold the Cascade Theater to open a second film exchange company in Norfolk, Virginia, drawing youngest brother Jack into the fold.
Between the years 1919 and 1920 the studio was not able to earn any profits.
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Warner Bros' first film,
More success would come for the studio after the brothers hired German director
In 1925, Albert's older brother Harry and a large group of independent film-makers assembled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to challenge the monopoly the big three had over the film industry.
In 1925 Sam Warner had also acquired a radio station,
After a period of refusing to accept sound in the company's films, Harry Warner now agreed to use synchronized sound in Warner Bros. shorts for usage of
After the agreement was signed Vitaphone was established,[57] and Sam and Jack decided to take a big step forward make Don Juan.[58] The film began with eight Vitaphone features filmed in sound.[59] Despite the success it had at the box office,[60] the film was not able to recoup its expensive budget.[61] Harry was now further convinced not to use any more sound in Warner Bros. pictures.
With Harry now refusing to allow further Vitaphone productions,
Kings of the talking screen
With the success of the Jazz Singer, more talkies followed.[67] With the large sums of money the Warners now had on-hand, Harry was able to expand business operations further, acquiring the Stanley Corporation for the studio.[69] This gave them a share in rival First National Pictures, of which Stanley owned one-third.[70] After this purchase, Warner was soon able to acquire William Fox's one third remaining share in First National and was now officially the majority stockholder of the company.[70] Harry, after purchasing a string of music publishers,[71] established a music subsidiary-Warner Bros. Music- bought out additional radio companies, acquired foreign sound patents, and purchased a lithograph company.[72] In 1929, with the large amount of money he now had made off of the studio's valuable subsidiaries, Albert acquired a large home in Rye, Westchester County, New York, which he dubbed "Caradel Hall."[73]
The Great Depression
With the Wall Street Crash of 1929 officially marking the beginning of the Great Depression, Albert saw that the studio was in need of additional star power in order to survive.[74] Following Albert's advice, Jack and Harry Warner acquired three Paramount stars (William Powell, Kay Francis, and Ruth Chatterton) for studio salaries doubled from their previous ones.[74] This move proved to be a success, and stockholders maintained confident in the Warners.[74] In late 1929, Jack Warner would hire sixty-one-year-old actor George Arliss to star in the studio's film Disraeli.[75] To everybody's surprise,[75] the film Disraeli was a success,[75] and Arliss would win an Oscar for Best Actor for his role in the film and star in nine more films with the studio as well.[75]
With the collapse of the market for musicals, Warner Bros., under production head Darryl F. Zanuck, turned to more realistic and gritty storylines, 'torn from the headlines' pictures that some said glorified gangsters; Warner Bros. soon became known as "gangster studio.[76] The studio's first gangster film Little Caesar was a great success at the box office.[77] And Edward Robinson was cast a star in many of the wave of gangster films the studio produced after Little Caesar.[78] The studio's next gangster film, The Public Enemy,[79] would also make James Cagney arguably the studio's new top star,[80] and the Warners were now further convinced to make more gangster films as well.[79]
Another gangster film the studio produced was the critically acclaimed
By 1931, however, the studio would begin to feel the effects of the Depression as the general public became unable to afford the price for movie tickets.[89] In 1931, the studio would reportedly suffer a net loss of $8,000,000.00.[89] The following year, the studio would suffer an additional $14,000,000.00 net loss as well.[89]
In 1933, relief for the studio came after
In 1933, the studio was also able to bring newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst's
In 1934, the studio would suffer a net loss of over $2,500,000.00. $500,000 of this loss was also the result of physical damage to the Warner Bros. Burbank studio that occurred after a massive fire that broke out in the studio around the end of 1934, and destroyed twenty years worth of early Warner Bros. films.[99] The following year, Hearst's film adaption of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream would fail at the box office and the studio net loss increased.[100] During the year 1935, the studio's revived musicals would also suffer a major blow after director Busby Berkeley was arrested after killing three people while driving drunk one night.[101] By the end of the 1935, however, relief would come for the Warners, as the studio would rebound with a year-end net profit of $674,158.00.[102]
Post war era
On November 25, 1947, Albert Warner and other executives in the motion picture industry issued the
In May 1956, the brothers announced they were putting Warner Bros. on the market.[105] Jack, however, secretly organized a syndicate headed by Boston banker Serge Semenenko that purchased 90% (800,000 shares) of the company's stock.[106] After the three brothers sold their stock, in an under-the-table deal with Semenenko, Jack officially joined Semenenko's syndicate and bought back all his stock, which consisted of 200,000 shares.[106] The deal officially completed in July.[107] Now the company's largest stockholder, Jack appointed himself as the new company president.[106] By the time Harry and Albert learned of their brother's subterfuge, it was too late.[107]
Albert read about Jack's dealings while spending time in New York City.[106] He never spoke to Jack again, but he did later rejoin the company's board of directors to stop Jack "from stealing the stockholders blind".[106]
Albert Warner died of a stroke[108] in 1967 in Miami Beach. A funeral service was held in Los Angeles.[109] Warner was then interred in Brooklyn, next to his first wife Bessie Krieger.[103] After Albert's second wife Bessie Warner died in 1970 she was interred with him as well in Brooklyn.
Personal life
In 1908, Warner married Bessie Krieger,[2] in New Castle, Pennsylvania.[110] Krieger died in 1923 from influenza.[111] On April 23, 1925, Warner married Bessie Siegal, the widow of his friend,[112] Jonas Siegal.[113] The couple remained married until Warner's death in 1967.[109] Through his marriage to Bessie Siegel, Warner had a stepson, Arthur Jack Steel, who married Ruth Mandel, and had sons John and Lewis Steel (named after Harry Warner's son Lewis Warner). Warner was noted as never adopting an upper class lifestyle, remaining unrefined throughout his life.[114]
Thoroughbred racing
Like his brother Harry, Albert too would be a fan of Thoroughbred racing and beginning in the 1930s owned horses he raced under the name Warbern Stable and later under the nom de course, Warner Stable. In March 1945 Warner purchased Elberton Hill Farm in Harford County, Maryland from G. Ray Bryson and his wife, Ella K. Bryson. The property was used for his East Coast racing operations under the management of trainer A. G. "Bob" Robertson.[115]
Among Warner's best horses, Native Charger won the 1965 Flamingo Stakes[116] and the Florida Derby[117] that sent him on the road to the Kentucky Derby, in which he finished fourth to winner Lucky Debonair.[118]
References
- ^ "Wielcy Polacy - Warner Bros czyli bracia Warner: Aaron (Albert), Szmul (Sam) i Hirsz (Harry) Wonsal oraz Jack (Itzhak) Wonsal - Białczyński". 22 April 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
- ^ a b Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), Warner Family Tree.
- ^ "Milestones: Dec. 8, 1967" Time. 8 December 1967. Archived from the original 25 October 2012.
- ^ "CCNY Film Professor Pens Two Books While on Sabbatical". 14 July 2015.
- ^ "Pollywood". IMDb.
- ^ Sinclair, Doug. "The Family of Benjamin and Pearl Leah (Eichelbaum) Warner: Early Primary Records". Doug Sinclair's Archives. Archived from the original on 6 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-23.
- ^ According to Bette-Ann Warner, a second cousin to the Warner brothers, in The Brothers Warner, 2008 documentary written and directed by Cass Warner, viewed on Turner Classic Movies March 8, 2010. Bette-Anne Warner's grandfather was a brother of the Warner brothers' father.
- ^ Doug Sinclair, "The Family of Benjamin and Pearl Leah (Eichelbaum) Warner: Early Primary Records," (2008), published at Doug Sinclair's Archives <http://dougsinclairsarchives.com/benjaminwarnerfamily.htm Archived 2019-09-08 at the Wayback Machine>
- ^ Jacobson, Lara (2018). "The Warner Brothers Prove Their Patriotism". Voces Novae. 10. Chapman University. Archived from the original on 2020-08-01.
- ISBN 9780415940290.
- ISBN 9780820471150.
- ^ "California Hall of Fame to induct the four Warner brothers". 17 March 2013. Archived from the original on 28 October 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
- ^ "From Polish village to Hollywood fame: The Polish movie mogul behind Warner Bros. Pictures".
- ^ Sinclair (2008), citing the 1900 census
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 22.
- ^ ISBN 0-07-064259-1.
- ^ Sinclair (2008), citing the 1910 US census.
- ^ Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 23–24.
- ^ Sinclair (2008), citing the 1900 and 1910 US censuses.
- ^ Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 24–25.
- ^ Thomas (1990), pp. 12–13.
- ^ Thomas (1990), p. 12.
- ^ a b Thomas (1990), p. 15.
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 26.
- ^ a b c Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 10.
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 11.
- ^ Warner and Jennings (1964), p. 50.
- ^ a b c Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 32-34.
- ^ Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 54–55.
- ^ a b c d Thomas (1990), p. 22.
- ^ "Jack L. Warner's Death Closes Out Pioneer Clan of 'Talkies'". Variety. September 13, 1978. p. 2.
- ^ a b c Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 40-42.
- ^ Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 65-66.
- ^ a b Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 45-46.
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 47-48.
- ^ a b Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 51-54
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 62.
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 66-67.
- ^ a b c d Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), pp. 71-77
- ^ a b Thomas (1990), pp. 38.
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), pp. 173-174
- ^ a b Thomas (1990), p. 75.
- ^ a b c d Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 82.
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 101.
- ^ Behlmer (1985), p. xii.
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- ^ a b "Theatre Owners Open War on Hays". New York Times. May 12, 1925. p. 14.
- ^ ISBN 0-8131-0958-2.
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 89.
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 90.
- ISBN 0-312-85620-2.
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- ^ ISBN 0-07-064259-1.
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- ^ "Milestones". Time. 1927-10-17. p. 2. Archived from the original on November 25, 2010.
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- ^ ISBN 0-8131-0958-2.
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- ^ ISBN 0-8131-0958-2.
- ISBN 0-07-064259-1.
- ^ ISBN 0-07-064259-1.
- ^ "Warner Week". Time. 1930-06-09. p. 1. Archived from the original on January 29, 2005.
- ISBN 0-8131-0958-2.
- ^ ISBN 0-07-064259-1.
- ISBN 0-07-064259-1.
- ISBN 0-8131-0958-2.
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 154
- ^ ISBN 0-07-064259-1.
- ^ a b c d Thomas (1990), p. 77.
- ^ "CNN.com - The mobster and the movies - Aug 24, 2004". August 24, 2004. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 184.
- ^ Thomas (1990), pp. 77–79.
- ^ a b Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 185
- ^ Thomas (1990), pp. 81.
- ^ Thomas (1990), pp. 83.
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 186.
- ^ "Fugitive". Time. December 26, 1932. Archived from the original on January 14, 2009. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
- ^ "Fugitive Free". Time. 1933-01-02. Archived from the original on January 14, 2009. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
- ^ "Sued". Time. 1933-01-16. Archived from the original on January 14, 2009. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
- ^ Thomas (1990), pp. 82–83.
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 194.
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 192.
- ^ a b c Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 160.
- ^ a b Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 161.
- ^ "Musicomedies of the Week". Time. 1933-07-03. p. 2. Archived from the original on January 14, 2009.
- ISBN 0-8131-0958-2.
- ^ a b c "New Deal in Hollywood". Time. 1933-05-01. p. 2. Archived from the original on January 14, 2009.
- ^ Behlmer (1985), p. 12.
- ^ ISBN 0-07-064259-1.
- ^ ISBN 0-07-064259-1.
- ^ ISBN 0-07-064259-1.
- ISBN 0-07-064259-1.
- ISBN 0-8131-0958-2.
- ISBN 0-07-064259-1.
- ISBN 0-07-064259-1.
- ISBN 0-8131-0958-2.
- ^ a b Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 340.
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 295.
- ^ "Boston to Hollywood". Time. 1956-05-21. p. 2. Archived from the original on December 14, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 303-309.
- ^ ISBN 0-07-064259-1.
- ISBN 9780300231335.
- ^ a b Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 339.
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 38.
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 78.
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 88
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 540.
- ^ Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 170-173.
- ^ "75 Years Ago: March 1945". Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred. 2020-03-05. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
- ^ Sports Illustrated archives MARCH 15, 1965 article on Warner and Native Charger's Flamingo Stakes win Retrieved June 30, 2018
- ^ Equibase Profile for Native Charger Retrieved July 3, 2018
- ^ Churchill Downs, Incorporated Kentuckyderby.com - 1965 Kentucky Derby details Retrieved July 3, 2018
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0-7432-0481-1.
- Sperling, Cass Warner; Cork Milner; Jack Warner Jr. (1998). Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-0958-2.
- Thomas, Bob (1990). Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner. McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. ISBN 0-07-064259-1.
- Warner, Jack L.; Dean Jennings (1964). My First Hundred Years in Hollywood. Random Books. ASIN: B0007DZSKW.