Albert Warner (born Aaron Abraham Wonsal, July 23, 1884Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), Warner Family Tree. – 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."Milestones: Dec. 8, 1967" Time. 8 December 1967. Archived from the original 25 October 2012.
Early years Aaron Abraham Wonsal was born in the village of Krasnosielc, Poland (then part of Congress Poland within the Russian Empire).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 > He was the son of Benjamin Wonsal, a shoemaker born in Krasnosielc, and Pearl Leah Eichelbaum, both Polish Jews. He came to Baltimore, Maryland with his mother and siblings in October 1889 on the steamship Hermann from Bremen, Germany. Their father had preceded them, immigrating to Baltimore in 1888 and following his trade in shoes and shoe repair. He changed the family name to Warner, which was used thereafter. As in many Jewish immigrant families, some of the children gradually acquired anglicized versions of their Yiddish-sounding names. Aaron and Jacob were late among the children to do so, becoming "Albert" and "Jack" after they came of age.Sinclair (2008), citing the 1900 census However, his nickname was "Abe."Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 22.
In Baltimore, the money Benjamin Warner earned in the shoe repair business was not enough to provide for his growing household. 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. Sons Jacob and David Warner were born in London, Ontario.Sinclair (2008), citing the 1910 US census. After two arduous years in Canada, Benjamin and Pearl Warner returned to Baltimore, bringing along their growing family.Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 23–24. Two more children, Sadie and Milton, were added to the household there.Sinclair (2008), citing the 1900 and 1910 US censuses. 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.Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 24–25. 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.Thomas (1990), pp. 12–13.Thomas (1990), p. 12.
In the late 1890s, Albert became fascinated by the bicycle craze that swept through the USA.Thomas (1990), p. 15. and his older brother Harry opened a bicycle shop in Youngstown together as well.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 26. The two also tried to open a bowling alley together, but were unsuccessful.
Albert Warner stayed in school longer than any of his three brothers.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 10. In 1900, Warner entered Youngstown's Rayen High School, where he served as quarterback for the school's football team. Warner eventually dropped out, and in time got a job in Chicago as a salesman for the soap company Swift and Company.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 11. Warner's life would soon pursue a new direction after brother Sam was able to purchase a Kinetoscope in 1903.Warner and Jennings (1964), p. 50.
Film career
As a young man, along with his brother Sam, Albert Warner entered the nickelodeon business, and started displaying copies of The Great Train Robbery from a Kinetoscope at carnivals in Ohio and Pennsylvania in 1903; Sam ran the projector and Albert sold tickets.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 32-34. In 1905, Harry agreed to join his two brothers' business and sold his Youngstown bicycle shop. During this time the three brothers purchased a building in New Castle, Pennsylvania; with their new building, the brothers established their first theater, The Cascade Movie Palace.Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 54–55. The theater was so successful that the brothers were able to purchase a second theater in New Castle.Thomas (1990), p. 22. This makeshift affair, called the Bijou, was furnished with chairs borrowed from a local undertaker. In 1907 the three brothers acquired fifteen additional theaters in the state of Pennsylvania, and named their new business The Dusquesne Amusement Supply Company.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 40-42. The three brothers then rented an office in the Bakewell building in downtown Pittsburgh with a loan from Max Fleischer. Harry then sent Sam to New York to purchase and ship films for their Pittsburgh exchange company, while he and Albert remained in Pittsburgh to run the business.
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. Afterwards, Sam and Jack went to Norfolk, while Harry and Albert stayed in Pittsburgh. However, one serious threat to the Warners film company was the advent of Thomas Edison's Motion Picture Patents Company (also known as the Edison Trust), which enforced Edison's patents and charged distributors exorbitant fees.Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 65-66. In 1910 the Warners sold the family business to the General Film Company for "$10,000 in cash, $12,000 in preferred stock, and $30,000 in payments over a four-year period, for a total of $52,000".Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 45-46. After selling their business the brothers found work distributing films for Carl Laemmle's Independent Motion Picture Company in Pittsburgh. In 1912 Sam would help the brothers earn a $1,500 profit by distributing the Italian film Dante's Inferno in the United States.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 47-48. Harry, encouraged by the success of Dante's Inferno and wary of Edison's growing monopoly, decided to leave Laemmle and establish an independent film production company for the four Warner brothers, Warner Features; Albert and Harry opened an office in New York, while Sam was sent to operate the company's new Los Angeles film exchange division, and Jack was sent to run the company's new San Francisco film exchange division.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 51-54 In 1918, thanks in part to a loan from Ambassador James W. Gerald,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 62. the brothers expanded operations and established a studio near Hollywood, CaliforniaSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 66-67. Sam and Jack moved to the West Coast to produce films while Albert and Harry remained on the East Coast to handle distribution.
Between the years 1919 and 1920 the studio was not able to earn any profits.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), pp. 71-77 During this time banker Motley Flint helped the Warners pay off their debts. Shortly afterwards the four brothers decided to relocate their studio from Culver City to Sunset Boulevard.Thomas (1990), pp. 38. The studio rebounded in 1921, after the success of the studio's film Why Girls Leave Home. As a result of the financial success of the film, its director, Harry Rapf, was appointed the studio's new head producer. On April 4, 1923, following the studio's successful film The Gold Diggers, Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. was officially established. Albert remained in New York, where he ran the company's distribution and finances.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), pp. 173-174
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Warner Bros' first film, Where the North Begins, brought success for the brothers not seen since My Four Years in Germany.Thomas (1990), p. 75. The film also made the dog Rin Tin Tin the studio's first star. Newcomer director Darryl Zanuck's career was also greatly boosted through his productions of Rin Tin Tin.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 82. Zanuck would eventually become a top producer for the studio as well,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 101. and between 1928 and 1933 served as Jack Warner's right-hand man and executive producer, a position whose responsibilities included the day-to-day production of films.Behlmer (1985), p. xii. After establishing Warner Bros. Pictures the studio had overdrawn $1,000,000 (the amount which Warner had borrowed from Flint). At this, Albert convinced Harry not to purchase the screenrights to the hit play Rain. Harry then decided to help ease the company's financial status by acquiring forty theaters in the state of Pennsylvania.
More success would come for the studio after the brothers hired German director Ernst Lubitsch as head director; Rapf had departed the studio and accepted an offer to work at MGM. Lubitsch's first film at the studio, The Marriage Circle, became the studio's most successful film of 1924, and was also on the New York Times best list for the year. The studio's 1924 film Beau Brummel also made John Barrymore a top star at the studio. Despite the success the brothers now had they still could not compete with the "big three" studios (First National, Paramount, and MGM)
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. Harry and the other independent film-makers at the Milwaukee convention agreed to spend $500,000 in newspaper advertisements; this action would help benefit Warner Bros. profits. With help from a loan supplied by Goldman, Sachs head banker Waddill Catchings, Warner would find a way to successfully respond to the growing concern the big three studios further presented to Warner Bros., and expanded the company's operations by purchasing the Brooklyn theater company Vitagraph. Through this purchase, the Warners then had theaters in the New York area.
In 1925 Sam Warner had also acquired a radio station, KWBC.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 89. After this, Sam decided to make an attempt to use synchronized sound in future Warner Bros. pictures.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 90. However, Harry Warner had initial reservations about the idea, in which he is quoted as saying "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" when his brother, Sam Warner proposed the idea to him. Under Warner and his brothers’ leadership, the company came to own and operate some 250 theaters to screen its films, and was a successful pioneer of the sound film industry. However, by February 1926 the brothers' radio business had failed, and the studio suffered a net loss of $333,413.
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 background music, Harry then made a visit to Western Electric's Bell Laboratories in New York (which his younger brother Sam had earlier visited) and was impressed. A problem for the Warners was that the high-ups at Western Electric were perceived as anti-Semitic. Sam was able to convince the high-ups to sign with the studio after his wife Lina wore a gold cross at a dinner he attended with Western Electric. Afterwards, Harry signed a partnership agreement with Western Electric to use Bell Labs to test the sound-on-film process.