Jack Leonard Warner (born Jacob Warner;Foster, Charles. Once Upon a Time in Paradise: Canadians in the Golden Age of Hollywood, Dundurn (2003) p. 990 August 2, 1892 – September 9, 1978) was a Canadian-born American film executive, who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Warner's career spanned over 55 years, surpassing that of any other of the pioneering Hollywood studio moguls.Thomas (1990), p. 4.
As co-head of production at Warner Bros. Studios, Warner worked with his brother, Sam Warner, to procure the technology for the film industry's first talking picture, The Jazz Singer (1927).Thomas (1990), pp. 52–62. After Sam's death, Jack clashed with his surviving older brothers, Harry and Albert Warner. He assumed exclusive control of the company in the 1950s when he secretly purchased his brothers's shares in the business after convincing them to participate in a joint sale of stocks.
Although Warner was feared by many of his employees and inspired ridicule with his uneven attempts at humor, he earned respect for his shrewd instincts and tough-mindedness. He recruited many of Warner Bros.' top starsThomas (1990), pp. 45–49. and promoted the hard-edged social dramas for which the studio became known.Buhle and Wagner (2002), p. 59. Given to decisiveness, Warner once commented, "If I'm right fifty-one percent of the time, I'm ahead of the game."
Throughout his career, Warner was viewed as a contradictory and enigmatic figure.Thomas (1990), pp. 4–7. Although he was a staunch Republican, he encouraged film projects that promoted the policies of Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He also opposed European fascism and criticized Nazi Germany well before the United States' entry into World War II,Buhle and Wagner (2002), p. 68. An opponent of communism, after the war Warner appeared as a friendly witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee, voluntarily naming screenwriters who had been fired at the time as suspected communists or sympathizers.Buhle and Wagner (2002), pp. 377–378. Despite his controversial public image, Warner remained a force in the motion picture industry until his retirement in the early 1970s.
Early years Jacob Warner (as he was named at birth) was born in London, Ontario, Canada, on August 2, 1892. His parents were Polish-Jewish immigrants from Congress Poland (then part of the Russian Empire), who spoke mainly Yiddish. He was the fifth surviving son of Benjamin WarnerSperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 20. (originally "Wonsal" or "Wonskolaser"),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. a cobbler from Krasnosielc, and his wife, the former Pearl Leah Eichelbaum.In the United States Census of 1930, Jack L. Warner identified the birthplace of both of his parents as Russia. "Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930", enumeration date April 23, 1930, "Beverly Hills City", Los Angeles County, California. Digital copy of original enumeration page at FamilySearch, retrieved August 8, 2017. Following their marriage in 1876, the couple had three children in Poland, one of whom died at a young age;Thomas (1990), pp. 9–10. another was Jack's eldest brother, Hirsch (later Harry).Warner and Jennings (1964), p. 18.
In 1888, Benjamin made his way to Hamburg, Germany, and took ship for the United States. In New York City, Benjamin introduced himself as "Benjamin Warner", and the surname "Warner" remained with him for the rest of his life. Pearl Warner and the couple's two children joined him in Baltimore less than a year later. There the couple had five more children, including Abraham (later known as Albert) and Sam Warner.Warner and Jennings (1964), p. 20.
In the early 1890s, Benjamin Warner decided to move to Canada, following a friend's advice that he could make an excellent living bartering tin wares with trappers in exchange for furs. Sons Jack and David were born in Ontario.Thomas (1990), p. 11. David Warner, after contracting sleeping sickness while in the military in WWI which left him an invalid for some 25 years, would die in 1939, at age 45.
After two difficult years in Canada, the Warners returned to Baltimore,Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 23–24. where two more children were born, Sadie and Milton. In 1896, they relocated to Youngstown, Ohio, following the lead of the eldest son Harry, who had established a shoe repair shop in the burgeoning steel town.Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 24–25. Father and son worked in the repair shop until Benjamin secured a loan to open a downtown meat and grocery store.Thomas (1990), pp. 12–13.
Jack spent much of his youth in Youngstown, and wrote of his formative experiences there in his autobiography: "J. Edgar Hoover told me that Youngstown in those days was one of the toughest cities in America, and a gathering place for Sicilian thugs active in the Mafia. There was a murder or two almost every Saturday night in our neighborhood, and knives and brass knuckles were standard equipment for the young hotheads on the prowl."Warner and Jennings (1964), p. 29. Warner said that he briefly belonged to a street gang in Westlake's Crossing, a notorious neighborhood west of downtown.Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 35–36. Meanwhile, he started performing professionally, singing at local theaters and partnering with another aspiring song-and-dance man.Thomas (1990), pp. 17–18. During his brief career in vaudeville, he officially changed his name to Jack Leonard Warner.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 23. Jack's older brother Sam disapproved of these youthful pursuits. "Get out front where they pay the actors," he advised Jack. "That's where the money is."Thomas (1990), p. 18.
Professional career Early business ventures
In Youngstown, the Warner brothers took their first tentative steps into the entertainment industry. In the early 20th century, Sam formed a business partnership with another local resident and took over the city's Old Grand Opera House as a venue for "cheap vaudeville and photoplays". The venture failed after one summer. Sam then secured a job as a movie projectionist at Idora Park, a local amusement park. He convinced the family of the new medium's possibilities, and purchased a Model B Kinetoscope for $1000 from a projectionist "down on his luck".Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 49–50. Jack contributed $150 to the venture by pawning a horse.
The enterprising brothers screened a well-used copy of The Great Train Robbery throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania before renting a vacant store in New Castle, Pennsylvania.Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 54–55. This makeshift theatre, called the Bijou, was furnished with chairs borrowed from a local undertaker. Jack, who was still living in Youngstown, arrived on weekends "to sing illustrated song-slides during reel changes".
In 1906, the brothers purchased a small theater in New Castle, which they called the Cascade Movie Palace.Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 54–57. In 1907, the Warner brothers established the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement Company, a distribution firm that proved lucrative until the advent of Thomas Edison's Motion Picture Patents Company (also known as the Edison Trust), which charged distributors exorbitant fees.Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 65–66. In 1909, Harry agreed to bring Jack into the family business, sending him to Norfolk, Virginia, where Jack assisted Sam in the operation of a second film exchange company.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 42. Later that year, the Warners sold their 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"Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), pp. 45–46 (equivalent to $ today).
Formation of Warner Bros. The Warner brothers pooled their resources and moved into film production in 1910.Warner and Jennings (1964), p. 73. In 1912, they supported filmmaker Carl Laemmle's Independent Motion Picture Company, which challenged the monopoly of the Edison Trust. That same year, Jack acquired a job as a film splicer in New York,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 47. where he assisted Sam with the production of Dante's Inferno.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 48. Despite the film's box office success, Harry still feared competition from the Edison Trust. He subsequently broke with Laemmle and sent Jack to establish a film exchange in San Francisco, while Sam did the same in Los Angeles.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 54. The brothers were soon poised to exploit the expanding California movie market.Thomas (1990), p. 29.
In 1917, Jack was sent to Los Angeles to open another film exchange company.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 59. 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 depicting German wartime atrocities, and the film adaptation became a commercial and critical success.Thomas (1990), pp. 34–35. The four brothers established a studio,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), pp. 65–66. with Jack and Sam as co-heads of production.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), pp. 100–101. As producers, the two solicited new scripts and story lines, secured film sets and equipment, and found ways to reduce production costs.
In 1919, the fledgling Warner Bros. Studios followed up the success of My Four Years in Germany with a popular serial titled The Tiger's Claw. That same year, the studio was less successful in its efforts to promote Open Your Eyes, a film on the dangers of venereal disease that featured Jack's sole screen appearance.Thomas (1990), p. 37. During this period, the studio earned few profits,Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), pp. 71–73. in 1920 the Warners secured a bank loan to settle their business debts. Shortly thereafter, they relocated the film studio from Culver City, California, to Hollywood, where they purchased a lot on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Bronson Avenue,Thomas (1990), p. 38. known today as Sunset Bronson Studios. The new location and upgraded facilities did not significantly improve the studio's image, which remained defined by its low-budget comedies and racy films on declining morality.Thomas (1990), p. 39.
In 1923, the studio discovered a trained German Shepherd named Rin Tin Tin. The canine made his debut in Where the North Begins, a film about an abandoned pup who is raised by wolves and befriends a fur trapper.Thomas (1990), p. 42. According to one biographer, Jack's initial doubts about the project were quelled when he met Rin Tin Tin, "who seemed to display more intelligence than some of the Warner comics." Rin Tin Tin proved to be the studio's most important commercial asset until the introduction of sound.Behlmer (1985), p. 4. Screenwriter Darryl F. Zanuck produced several scripts for Rin Tin Tin vehicles and, during one year, wrote more than half of the studio's features.Thomas (1990), p. 45. From 1928 to 1933, Zanuck served as Jack's right-hand man and executive producer, with responsibilities including day-to-day production of films.Behlmer (1985), p. xii. Despite the success of Rin Tin Tin and other projects, Warner Bros. was still a poor cousin to Hollywood's "Big Three" – Paramount, Universal, and First National studios.
In 1925, the studio expanded its operations and acquired the Brooklyn-based theater company Vitagraph.Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 86 Later that year, Sam urged Harry to sign with Western Electric to develop a series of talking short films using the new Vitaphone technology.Thomas (1990), 52–55.