Jack Warner

Jack Warner
Born	August 2 1892(1892-08-02) London, Ontario
Died	September 9 1978 (aged 86) Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Known for	Warner Brothers Studios

This article is about Jack Warner, the head of Warner Brothers. For other people named Jack Warner, see Jack Warner (disambiguation).

Jack Leonard "J.L." Warner (August 2, 1892 – September 9, 1978), born Itzhak Eichelbaum in London, Ontario, Canada of a Polish-Jewish family, was the president and driving force behind the highly successful development of Warner Brothers Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. As co-head of production at Warner Bros. Studios, Jack Warner worked closely with his brother, Sam, to develop the film industry's premier "talking picture". After Sam's death, Jack Warner often argued with his surviving elder brothers, Harry and Albert Warner. He assumed complete control of the film production company in the 1950s, when he secretly purchased the shares of his elder brothers–a move that left him estranged from many of his relatives.^[1] A controversial figure who was feared by many of his own employees, Warner nevertheless received much of the credit for Warner Bros.' rise to the level of a major Hollywood film studio.

Contents 1 Formative years 2 Early film career 3 Formation of Warner Bros. 4 Depression era 5 Prelude to war 6 War years 7 Postwar era and beyond 8 Later years 9 See also 10 Notes 11 References

Formative years

The other Warner brothers were Harry Warner (1881–1958), Albert Warner (1883–1967), and Sam Warner (1887–1927), members of a Yiddish-speaking Jewish family from Krasnosielc, Poland. A cobbler named Benjamin Warner (probably Varna), had married Pearl Leah Eichelbaum in 1876. The couple had three children, one of whom died at age four. Desiring a better future for his family and himself, in 1883 Benjamin made his way to Hamburg, Germany, and then took a ship to America.^[2] The two surviving children, Hirsch (later Harry) and Anna, and wife Pearl joined him in Baltimore less than a year later. The rest of the Warner brothers (and two sisters) were born in the United States, except for Jacob (later Jack), who was born in London, Ontario, Canada, in 1892.

After two arduous years in Canada, Benjamin Warner and his family made the long trek back to Baltimore.^[3] 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.^[4] Jack Warner, who spent much of his youth in Youngstown, indicated in his autobiography that his experiences there shaped his early sensibilities. Warner wrote: "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".^[5]

Early film career

In Youngstown, the Warner brothers made their momentous leap into the movie business, albeit in a limited manner. In the early 1900s, Sam Warner took a job as a projectionist at Idora Park, a local amusement park.^[6] He quickly persuaded the family of the new medium's possibilities and arranged the purchase of a Model B Kinetoscope from a projectionist who was "down on his luck".^[7] The enterprising brothers screened a well-used copy of The Great Train Robbery throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania before seizing the chance to purchase a small theater in 1906.^[8] That year, the brothers purchased the Cascade movie palace in New Castle, Pennsylvania, a business they maintained until moving into film distribution in 1907.^[9] The Warner brothers established the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement Company, which proved lucrative until the advent of the Motion Pictures Patent Company, which charged distributors exorbitant fees.^[10]

Formation of Warner Bros.

In 1910, the Warner brothers pooled their resources and moved into film production.^[11] When Warner Bros. was formed in 1918, Jack became co-head of production along with elder brother Sam.^[12] Sam died in 1927 (just before the premiere of the first "talking" picture, The Jazz Singer), and Jack became sole head of production.^[13] Sam's death left Jack unconsolable. As biographer Bob Thomas writes, "Throughout his life, Jack had been warmed by Sam's sunshiny optimism, his thirst for excitement, his inventive mind, his gambling nature". ^[14] Sam had also served as a buffer between Jack Warner and his stern eldest brother, Sam.^[14] In the decades to come, Jack ran Warners' Burbank studio with an iron hand. In the wake of his brother's death, he became increasingly difficult to deal with and inspired the hatred of many of his employees.^[15]. Meanwhile, Jack also earned a reputation as a womanizer.^[15] The subsequent success of The Jazz Singer helped to establish Warner Bros. as a major studio. Although the studio invested only $500,000 in the film, it reaped $3 million in profits.^[16] Hollywood's five major studios, who controlled most of the nation's movie theaters, initially attempted to block the growth of "talking pictures".^[16] Neverthless, Warner Bros. produced 12 "talkies" in 1928 alone.^[16] The following year, the newly formed Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences recognized Warner Bros. for "revolutionizing the industry with sound"^[17]

Depression era

The studio weathered the Wall Street Crash of 1929 relatively intact and produced a broad range of films including elaborate musicals. Warner Bros. became best known, however, for its hard-hitting social dramas, which Jack Warner tended to support.^[18] Such films included gangster classics like Little Caesar and Public Enemy as well as the critically acclaimed I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, starring Paul Muni.^[19] In the 1930s, Jack took an active role in recruiting talent. In 1930, for instance, he spotted future stars James Cagney, Joan Blondell, and Frank McHugh in the cast of a New York play called Penny Arcade.^[20] While Cagney proved to be Jack's greatest prize, he also turned out to be his greatest challenge.^[21] While arguing with Jack, Cagney often resorted to screaming the Yiddish obscenities he learned during his upbringing in the Hell's Kitchen district of New York City.^[22]

Prelude to war

As the decade came to a close, Jack, along with brother Harry, became increasingly alarmed over the rise of Nazism.^[23] At a time when most Hollywood studios sidestepped this issue, fearing the loss of European markets, Warner Bros. produced films openly critical of Hitler's regime.^[23] In 1939, the studio released Confessions of a Nazi Spy, starring Edward G. Robinson.^[23] Recommended to Jack by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, the film project drew on the real-life experiences of agent Leon Turrou, who had worked as an undercover agent.^[23] Upon its release, the film created a firestorm. Critic Pare Lorentz wrote, "The Warner brothers have declared war on Germany with this one".^[23] Meanwhile, the German ambassador issued a protest to U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull, and German dictator Adolf Hitler, who screened the film at Berchtesgaden, became enraged.^[23] Under the guidance of Jack and Harry, Warner Bros. continued to produce films with an anti-Nazi message, including Underground, All Through the Night.^[24] In 1940, the studio produced shorts that documented the devastation wrought by the German bombing raids on London.^[24] Meanwhile, the studio celebrated the exploits of the Canadian Air Force, with films such as Captain of the Clouds.^[24]

War years

In line with Jack and Harry's early opposition to Nazism, Warner Bros. produced "more pictures about the war than any other studio.^[25] Apart from films that covered every branch of the armed services, the studio produced patriotic musicals such as This is the Army and Yankee Doodle Dandy.^[25]

Postwar era and beyond

In 1956, Jack, Harry and Al announced they were putting Warner Bros. on the market. Jack secretly put together a syndicate that bought control of the company. By the time Harry and Al learned of their brother's dealings, it was too late.^[1] The three brothers had gotten into numerous arguments over the past decades-especially Jack and Harry, who once chased Jack with a 2 x 4 throughout the Warner Bros. Studio, threatening to kill him^[15], but this subterfuge was too much even for Harry and Al; they never spoke to Jack again.^[1] Comedian Jack Benny, who once worked at Warner Brothers, quipped, "Jack Warner would rather tell a bad joke than make a good movie."^[26] Furthermore, animation director Chuck Jones claimed in his autobiography, Chuck Amuck, that Jack Warner was not aware of what his own company's animation department produced, citing a incident where Warner said that all he knew of that department was they made cartoons of Mickey Mouse, the flagship character of the competing company, Walt Disney Productions.

Later years

Jack was the second chief to also serve as company president, after Columbia Pictures' Harry Cohn, but could not keep up with changes in the industry. He sold his 1.6 million shares of studio stock to Seven Arts Productions in 1967, after producing the film adaptation of Lerner & Loewe's Camelot. The sale, which constituted one-third of Warner Bros. stock, netted Warner about $24 million, after capital gains taxes.^[27] Eight months after the sale, Warner quipped, "Who would ever have thought that a butcher boy from Youngstown, Ohio, would end up with twenty-four million smackers in his pocket"?^[27] Warner remained active as an independent producer until the early 1970s. Among his last productions was another film adaptation of a Broadway musical, 1776.^[28] For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Jack Warner has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6541 Hollywood Blvd. He also has a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto, which honors outstanding Canadians from all fields.

See also: Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood

See also

• Albert Warner (1883-1967)
• Harry Warner (1881-1958)
• Sam Warner (1887-1927)

Notes

References

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