Samuel Warner, The Warner Brothers, And His Place In The History of Communication

When looking at the history of communication and even the history of the telephone, it is hard to overlook the role of film and Hollywood in the communication industry. An instrumental figure in communications long history is Samuel Louis Warner. Warner was an established film producer who co-founded Warner Bros. Studios. Although he worked with his brothers, Harry, Albert, and Jack, Sam is credited with acquiring the technology that allowed the company to produce the first talking picture, The Jazz Singer.

Warner was born in part of the Russian Empire. He was son of a shoe maker. Following his father, Warner moved with his mother and siblings to Baltimore Maryland in October 1889. The family struggled to make enough money to provide for itself. Harry Warner moved to start his own shoe repair business to provide for himself and the family.

Sam was the first member of his family to enter into the entertainment industry. He formed a partnership while living in Ohio and took over the city’s Old Grand Opera House. He and his partner turned it into a venue for photoplays and vaudeville.

Although the business failed, Sam continued to find business in the entertainment industry. With the help of his family, Sam bought a Model B Kinetoscope to work with in film. Harry’s money from various business adventures allowed for he, Sam, and Albert to purchase a building in New Castle, Pennsylvania , which they named The Cascade Movie Palace. The theater brought in a lot more money than expected and the brothers were able to purchase another theater as well. In 1909, the brothers sold the Cascade Theater for $40,000 and opened up their second film exchange in Norfolk, Virginia. The last brother, Jack, then joined the bunch. The Warner family sold their business to the General Film Company for $52,000. The first major film able to be produced for the family came in 1918, when they won the rights for My Four Years in Germany. They opened up a studio near Hollywood, California and began to film.

In later years, the company partnered with Western Electric where Sam formed a side business known as Vitaphone. The studio released a series of musical shots with Vitaphone. Sam was then made Vice President of Warner Bros. Paramount had offered Sam a deal as an executive producer for their studio and Sam brought Vitaphone with him. Sam accepted the deal, but it later failed because Paramount had lost money in the wake of Rudolph Valentino’s death.

The Warner Bros. Company was not doing well until Harry accepted Sam’s innovative idea of filming The Jazz Singer. This feature single-handedly launched the talkie revolution.

Samuel Warner died on October 5, 1927, the day before the premiere of The Jazz Singer. As the family grieved over Sam’s sudden passing, the success of The Jazz Singer helped establish Warner Bros. as a major studio. Without Sam’s idea, the Warner Bros. would not be the amazing studio that we know today. Movies, the entertainment industry, and tracking its evolution are important in tracking the history of modern communications. Samuel Warner opened cinemas, was a pioneer in "talking pictures", and will always be seen as an instrumental figure in the history of phone communications.