Samuel Warner (August 10, 1887 – October 5, 1927) was a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Warner Brothers film company. The other Warner brothers were Harry Warner (1881–1958), Albert Warner (1883–1967), and Jack L. Warner (1892–1978). Samuel Eichelbaum was born in Baltimore, Maryland, not long after the arrival of his Polish-Jewish parents in the United States. In the early 1900s he worked as a movie projectionist at an amusement park in Youngstown, Ohio, and convinced Harry Warner of the new medium's possibilities. He has been hailed as the most visionary of the group for his experiments with talking pictures. His interest in film came after seeing Thomas Edison's The Great Train Robbery while working as an employee at Cedar Point Pleasure Resort in Sandusky, Ohio. Sam Warner can be credited as the brother who brought sound to Warner Brothers theaters, after tricking his brother Harry into attending a convention on the matter. When Warner Bros. was incorporated in 1923, Sam was appointed the company's chief executive officer (CEO). In 1926, he formed a subsidiary, Vitaphone, in association with Western Electric to develop a sound-on-disc system for motion pictures. Its initial releases, a series of musical shorts and the feature-length "Don Juan" (which had a synchronized music track), met with a tepid response and Harry grew increasingly opposed to the venture. But Sam pushed ahead with a new Vitaphone feature, based on a Broadway play and starring Al Jolson. The Jazz Singer broke box-office records, established Warner Bros. as a major player in Hollywood, and single-handedly launched the talkie revolution. Sadly, Sam did not witness the history he had made. Sam died the day before The Jazz Singer made its debut in New York City and he never saw his creation come to the theater, nor for that matter the enormous impact it had on the motion picture business. He died at 42 from complications of a sinus infection, the day before The Jazz Singer premiered. For all Sam Warner's reputation as pioneer, it should be noted that he envisioned sound in movies not for dialogue but for music and effects only, in order to cut the costs of having live musicians in Warner theatres. And within a few years his Vitaphone was replaced by the technically superior Movietone (sound-on-film) system, which became the industry standard. Nevertheless, his determination forever changed the way motion pictures are made. He is interred in the Home of Peace Cemetery in East Los Angeles, California. His tombstone [1] shows his birth year to be 1885. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Sam Warner has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6201 Hollywood Boulevard.
