Albert Warner

Aaron Abraham Wonsal was born in the village of Krasnosielc, Poland (then part of Congress Poland within the Russian Empire). {{Cite web|url=https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/news/Andrzej-Krakowski-Pens-Books-on-Poles-in-Early-Hollywood|title=CCNY Film Professor Pens Two Books While on Sabbatical|date=14 July 2015}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5594424/?ref_=tt_ch|title=Pollywood|website=IMDb}}{{cite web | url = http://dougsinclairsarchives.com/benjaminwarnerfamily.htm | first = Doug | last = Sinclair | title = The Family of Benjamin and Pearl Leah (Eichelbaum) Warner: Early Primary Records | publisher = Doug Sinclair's Archives | accessdate = 2009-01-23| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20090206221407/http://dougsinclairsarchives.com/benjaminwarnerfamily.htm| archivedate= 6 February 2009 | url-status= live}}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 He was the son of Benjamin Wonsal, a shoemaker born in Krasnosielc, and Pearl Leah Eichelbaum, both Polish Jews.{{cite journal|url=https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1115&context=vocesnovae|title=The Warner Brothers Prove Their Patriotism|journal=Voces Novae|last=Jacobson|first=Lara|volume=10|year=2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801134403/https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1115&context=vocesnovae|archive-date=2020-08-01|publisher=Chapman University}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CAEyh6EY9kYC&q=polish+jews+warner&pg=PA28|title = The American Experience in World War II: The United States and the road to war in Europe|isbn = 9780415940290|last1 = Hixson|first1 = Walter L.|year = 2003}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nJ9h50sMkOMC&q=polish+jews+warner&pg=PA41|title = The Wolf at the Door: Stanley Kubrick, History, & the Holocaust|isbn = 9780820471150|last1 = Cocks|first1 = Geoffrey|year = 2004}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.californiamuseum.org/museum-news/california-hall-fame-induct-four-warner-brothers|title=California Hall of Fame to induct the four Warner brothers|date=17 March 2013|access-date=28 October 2019|archive-date=28 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191028052512/https://www.californiamuseum.org/museum-news/california-hall-fame-induct-four-warner-brothers|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/from-polish-village-to-hollywood-fame-the-polish-movie-mogul-behind-warner-bros-pictures-1350|title = From Polish village to Hollywood fame: The Polish movie mogul behind Warner Bros. Pictures}} 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.{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|isbn=0-07-064259-1|page=11}} 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 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.

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.

{{cite news

| title = Jack L. Warner's Death Closes Out Pioneer Clan of 'Talkies'

| work = Variety

| date = September 13, 1978

| page = 2

}} 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., 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

File:Benjamin and Pearl Warner with Willard Louis and Monte Blue 1926.jpg (right) and Willard Louis (second from left) during a 1926 visit to their sons' West Coast studio.]]

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).{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|isbn=0-07-064259-1|page=40}} 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.{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|pages=46, 47|isbn=0-07-064259-1}} 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.{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|pages=49, 50|isbn=0-07-064259-1}} Despite the success the brothers now had they still could not compete with the "big three" studios (First National, Paramount, and MGM){{cite news|title=Theatre Owners Open War on Hays|newspaper=The New York Times|page=14|date=May 12, 1925}}

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;{{cite book|last=Warner-Sperling|first=Cass |author2=Millner, Cork|author3= Warner, Jack|author4= Warner, Jack Jr.|title=Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|pages=84, 85, 86|isbn=0-8131-0958-2|year=1998 }} 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, Sam 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, CEO Harry 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.{{cite book|last=Freedland|first=Michael|title=The Warner Brothers|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=0-312-85620-2|page=119|year=1983}}

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,{{cite book|last=Warner-Sperling|first=Cass |author2=Millner, Cork|author3= Warner, Jack|author4= Warner, Jack Jr.|title=Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=0-8131-0958-2|page=94|year=1998 }} Harry then made a visit to Western Electric's Bell Laboratories in New York{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|isbn=0-07-064259-1|page=54}} (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.{{cite book|last=Warner-Sperling|first=Cass |author2=Millner, Cork|author3= Warner, Jack|author4= Warner, Jack Jr.|title=Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|pages=94–95|isbn=0-8131-0958-2|year=1998 }}

After the agreement was signed Vitaphone was established,{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,731079,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125031810/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,731079,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 25, 2010|title=Milestones|date=1927-10-17|magazine=Time|page=2}} and Sam and Jack decided to take a big step forward make Don Juan.{{cite book|last=Warner-Sperling|first=Cass |author2=Millner, Cork|author3= Warner, Jack|author4= Warner, Jack Jr.|title=Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=0-8131-0958-2|page=102|year=1998 }} The film began with eight Vitaphone features filmed in sound.{{cite book|last=Warner-Sperling|first=Cass |author2=Millner, Cork|author3= Warner, Jack|author4= Warner, Jack Jr.|title=Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=0-8131-0958-2|page=105|year=1998 }} Despite the success it had at the box office,{{cite book|last=Warner-Sperling|first=Cass |author2=Millner, Cork|author3= Warner, Jack|author4= Warner, Jack Jr.|title=Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|pages=110–112|isbn=0-8131-0958-2|year=1998 }} the film was not able to recoup its expensive budget.{{cite book|last=Warner-Sperling|first=Cass |author2=Millner, Cork|author3= Warner, Jack|author4= Warner, Jack Jr.|title=Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story|date=January 1998 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=0-8131-0958-2|page=113}} Harry was now further convinced not to use any more sound in Warner Bros. pictures.

With Harry now refusing to allow further Vitaphone productions, Paramount head Adolph Zukor took advantage of the situation and tried to offer Sam a deal as an executive producer for his studio if he brought Vitaphone with him.{{cite book|last=Warner-Sperling|first=Cass |author2=Millner, Cork|author3= Warner, Jack|author4= Warner, Jack Jr.|title=Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story|date=January 1998 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=0-8131-0958-2|page=114}} Sam easily accepted Zukor's offer, but the offer died after Paramount lost money in the wake of Rudolph Valentino's death in late 1926. By April 1927, the Big Five studios (First National, Paramount, MGM, Universal, and Producers Distributing) had put the Warners in financial ruin,{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|isbn=0-07-064259-1|page=59}} and Western Electric renewed the Warner's Vitaphone contract on non-exclusive terms that allowed other film company's to test sound with the company; the Warners were even forced to sell some of their stock to Harry Cohn, the head of the independent film company Columbia Pictures.{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|isbn=0-07-064259-1|page=160}} Eventually, Harry agreed to accept Sam's demands to continue with Vitaphone productions,{{cite book|last=Warner-Sperling|first=Cass |author2=Millner, Cork|author3= Warner, Jack|author4= Warner, Jack Jr.|title=Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story|date=January 1998 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky|pages=115, 116|isbn=0-8131-0958-2}} and the studio soon began production of the first talkie, The Jazz Singer; soon after its release, the film would indeed help establish the Warners as, arguably the three most important figures in the film industry.{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|isbn=0-07-064259-1|page=62}} On October 5, 1927, Sam would die and younger brother Jack was given charge of the studio's production,{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|isbn=0-07-064259-1|page=63}} despite the fact that Jack still did not have as much power over the studio as Harry did, as he was only the studio's vice president.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,739489,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050129094434/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,739489,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 29, 2005|title=Warner Week|date=1930-06-09|magazine=Time|page=1}}

With the success of the Jazz Singer, more talkies followed. 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.{{cite book|last=Warner-Sperling|first=Cass |author2=Millner, Cork|author3= Warner, Jack|author4= Warner, Jack Jr.|title=Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story|date=January 1998 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=0-8131-0958-2|page=146}} This gave them a share in rival First National Pictures, of which Stanley owned one-third.{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|page=65|isbn=0-07-064259-1}} 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. Harry, after purchasing a string of music publishers,{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|page=66|isbn=0-07-064259-1}} established a music subsidiary-Warner Bros. Music- bought out additional radio companies, acquired foreign sound patents, and purchased a lithograph company.{{cite book|last=Warner-Sperling|first=Cass |author2=Millner, Cork|author3= Warner, Jack|author4= Warner, Jack Jr.|title=Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=0-8131-0958-2|page=147|year=1998 }} 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."Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 154

File:Movie Industry pledges cooperation with the government. Washington, D.C., June 25. At a conference with President Roosevelt today, a group of motion picture company executives, led by Will LCCN2016877943.jpg, Paramount; Harry Cohn, Columbia Pictures; Nicholas M. Schenck, Lowe's; Will H. Hays, and Leo Spitz, RKO. Back row: George J. Schaefer, United Artists; Sidney Kent, 20th Century Fox; N.J. Blumberg, Universal; and Albert Warner, Warner Bros. in 1938]]

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.{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|pages=75, 76|isbn=0-07-064259-1}} 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. This move proved to be a success, and stockholders maintained confident in the Warners. In late 1929, Jack Warner would hire sixty-one-year-old actor George Arliss to star in the studio's film Disraeli.Thomas (1990), p. 77. To everybody's surprise, the film Disraeli was a success, 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.

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.{{cite news|url = http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/books/08/24/mob.movies/index.html |title = CNN.com – The mobster and the movies – Aug 24, 2004 |accessdate = 2008-07-09 | date=August 24, 2004}} The studio's first gangster film Little Caesar was a great success at the box office.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 184. And Edward Robinson was cast a star in many of the wave of gangster films the studio produced after Little Caesar.Thomas (1990), pp. 77–79. The studio's next gangster film, The Public Enemy,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 185 would also make James Cagney arguably the studio's new top star,Thomas (1990), pp. 81. and the Warners were now further convinced to make more gangster films as well.

Another gangster film the studio produced was the critically acclaimed I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, starring Paul Muni.Thomas (1990), pp. 83. In addition to Cagney and Robinson, Paul Muni was also given a big push as one of the studio's top gangster stars after appearing in the successful film I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 186. The film got audiences in the United States to question the legal system in the United States,{{cite magazine|url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,744829,00.html |title = Fugitive |accessdate = 2008-07-09 |date = December 26, 1932 | magazine=Time |url-status = dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114074634/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,744829,00.html |archive-date=January 14, 2009}} and by January 1933, the film's protagonist Robert Elliott Burns – who was still imprisoned in New Jersey – and a number of different chain gang prisoners nationwide in the United States were able to appeal and were released.{{cite magazine|url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,847110,00.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090114112539/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,847110,00.html |url-status = dead |archive-date = January 14, 2009 |title = Fugitive Free |accessdate = 2008-07-09 |date = 1933-01-02 | magazine=Time}} In January 1933, Georgia chain gang warden J Harold Hardy – who was also made into a character in the film – sued the studio for displaying "vicious, untrue and false attacks" against him in the film.{{cite magazine|url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,744920,00.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090114103950/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,744920,00.html |url-status = dead |archive-date = January 14, 2009 |title = Sued|magazine=Time |accessdate = 2008-07-09 |date = 1933-01-16 }} After appearing in the film The Man Who Played God, Bette Davis would also become a top star for the studio as well.Thomas (1990), pp. 82–83. In 1933, the studio's very successful film 42nd Street would revive the studio's musicalsSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 194. Most these new musicals featured Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell as the stars, and were mostly directed by Busby Berkeley.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 192.

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.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 160. In 1931, the studio would reportedly suffer a net loss of $8,000,000.00. The following year, the studio would suffer an additional $14,000,000.00 net loss as well.

In 1933, relief for the studio came after Franklin Roosevelt became US president in 1933 and US economy rebounded due to the New Deal;Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 161. because of this economic rebound, box office profits for Warner Bros. existed once again. However, this same year, the studio's long time head producer Darryl F. Zanuck quit, because: 1) Harry Warner's relationship with Zanuck became strained after Harry was strongly against allowing Zanuck film Baby Face to step outside the Hays Code boundaries;{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,745754-2,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114103955/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,745754-2,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 14, 2009|title=Musicomedies of the Week|date=1933-07-03|magazine=Time|page=2}} and 2) the studio reduced Zanuck's salary as a result of the financial woes the Great Depression gave the studio's net profits,{{cite book|last=Warner-Sperling|first=Cass |author2=Millner, Cork|author3= Warner, Jack|author4= Warner, Jack Jr.|title=Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|pages=182, 183|isbn=0-8131-0958-2|year=1998 }} and Harry still refused to raise his salary in the wake of the New Deal's rebound.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,847255,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114084127/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,847255,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 14, 2009|title=New Deal in Hollywood|date=1933-05-01|magazine=Time|page=2}} Zanuck produced his letter of resignation to Jack Warner,Behlmer (1985), p. 12. and went on to establish his own company. In the wake of Zanuck's resignation, Harry Warner agreed to again raise the salary for the studio's employees.

In 1933, the studio was also able to bring newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan films into the Warner Bros. fold.{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|isbn=0-07-064259-1|page=96}} Hearst had previously been signed with MGM,{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|isbn=0-07-064259-1|page=95}} but he ended his ties with the company after a dispute with the company's head producer Irving Thalberg over the treatment of Marion Davies;{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|pages=95, 96|isbn=0-07-064259-1}} Davies was a longtime mistress of Hearst, and was now struggling to draw box office success. Through the studios partnership with Hearst, Harry's younger brother Jack was also able to sign Davies to a studio contract as well. Hearst's company and Davies' films, however, could not increase the studio's net profits. In 1934, Warner officially purchased the Teddington Studio as well.{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|isbn=0-07-064259-1|page=110}}

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.{{cite book|last=Warner-Sperling|first=Cass |author2=Millner, Cork|author3= Warner, Jack|author4= Warner, Jack Jr.|title=Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=0-8131-0958-2|page=209|year=1998 }} 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.{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|isbn=0-07-064259-1|page=99}} 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.{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|isbn=0-07-064259-1|page=86}} 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.{{cite book|last=Warner-Sperling|first=Cass |author2=Millner, Cork|author3= Warner, Jack|author4= Warner, Jack Jr.|title=Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story|date=January 1998 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=0-8131-0958-2|page=211}}

On November 25, 1947, Albert Warner and other executives in the motion picture industry issued the Waldorf Statement, first promulgating the Hollywood Blacklist. Around this time, Albert also bought a second mansion in Miami Beach, Florida, where he lived for most of the remaining years of his life.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 340. By 1956, the studio was losing money and Albert wanted to retire and live full-time in his Miami Beach house.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 295.

In May 1956, the brothers announced they were putting Warner Bros. on the market.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,808529,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081214112021/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,808529,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 14, 2008|title=Boston to Hollywood|date=1956-05-21|magazine=Time|page=2}} Jack, however, secretly organized a syndicate headed by Boston banker Serge Semenenko that purchased 90% (800,000 shares) of the company's stock.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 303-309. 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. The deal officially completed in July.{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|isbn=0-07-064259-1|page=226}} Now the company's largest stockholder, Jack appointed himself as the new company president. By the time Harry and Albert learned of their brother's subterfuge, it was too late.

Albert read about Jack's dealings while spending time in New York City. 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".

Albert Warner died of a stroke{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RjYuDwAAQBAJ&q=albert+warner+died&pg=PA191|title=Warner Bros: The Making of an American Movie Studio|isbn=9780300231335|last1=Thomson|first1=David|date=8 August 2017}} in 1967 in Miami Beach. A funeral service was held in Los Angeles.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 339. Warner was then interred in Brooklyn, next to his first wife Bessie Krieger. After Albert's second wife Bessie Warner died in 1970 she was interred with him as well in Brooklyn.

In 1908, Warner married Bessie Krieger, in New Castle, Pennsylvania.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 38. Krieger died in 1923 from influenza.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 78. On April 23, 1925, Warner married Bessie Siegal, the widow of his friend,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 88 Jonas Siegal.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 540. The couple remained married until Warner's death in 1967. 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.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 170-173.

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.{{cite web|url=https://midatlantictb.com/index.php/midatlantic-tb/looking-back-utility/952-75-years-ago-march-1945 |title=75 Years Ago: March 1945 |publisher=Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred |date=2020-03-05 |accessdate=2020-04-06}}

Among Warner's best horses, Native Charger won the 1965 Flamingo Stakes[https://www.si.com/vault/1965/03/15/607525/the-bay-and-the-gray-were-a-perfect-parlay Sports Illustrated archives MARCH 15, 1965 article on Warner and Native Charger's Flamingo Stakes win] Retrieved June 30, 2018 and the Florida Derby[https://www.equibase.com/profiles/Results.cfm?type=Horse&refno=342750®istry=T Equibase Profile for Native Charger] Retrieved July 3, 2018 that sent him on the road to the Kentucky Derby, in which he finished fourth to winner Lucky Debonair.[https://www.kentuckyderby.com/history/year/1965 Churchill Downs, Incorporated Kentuckyderby.com – 1965 Kentucky Derby details] Retrieved July 3, 2018

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |author-link=Andrzej Krakowski |last=Krakowski |first=Andrzej |title=Pollywood: jak stworzyliśmy Hollywood (Pollywood. How we created Hollywood)|publisher=Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-7432-0481-1}}
• {{cite book |last= Sperling |first= Cass Warner |author2= Cork Milner|author3= Jack Warner Jr. |title= Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story |year= 1998 |publisher= University Press of Kentucky |isbn=0-8131-0958-2}}
• {{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Bob |title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner |year=1990 |publisher=McGraw-Hill Publishing Company |isbn=0-07-064259-1}}
• {{cite book |last=Warner |first=Jack L. |author2=Dean Jennings |title=My First Hundred Years in Hollywood |year=1964 |publisher=Random Books |id=ASIN: B0007DZSKW}}

{{Warner Bros.}}

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Albert

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