The four Warner brothers, who created the studio celebrating its centennial this month. The Jazz Singer, the first popular talking film, single-handedly changed motion pictures forever. My Four Years in Germany was a post World War I film that foreshadowed World War II Germany.

This article was written by Martin Cooper, President of Cooper Communications, supervised public relations for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for 10 years. It was published in the Warner Center News in Woodland Hills, California.

It started like most fairy tales…

Once upon a time, there were four Wonsal brothers, Hirsz Mojżesz, Aron, Shmul and Izaak. The first three were born in Krasnosielc, a largely Jewish village north of Warsaw; the youngest was born in Canada.

Their father, Benjamin, fleeing anti-Semitism and economic privation, left Poland in 1888 for Baltimore, changing his name to Warner. The four brothers changed their first names to Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack.

That is just the beginning of the fairy tale of the four Warner Bros.

Sam found a job as a projection operator at an amusement park in Ohio; he soon saw the possibilities of motion pictures. Purchasing a projector and a portable screen, the brothers traveled around Ohio and Pennsylvania, presenting screenings of The Great Train Robbery and other films.

In 1903, they opened their own moving picture theatre, the Bijou (some histories said the theater name was the Cascade), in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and, a few years later, began producing their own films. Like so many others, the lure of Southern California’s weather and its distance from Thomas Edison’s license fee demands that his company be paid a royalty on every film screened, was irresistible.

In 1918, from their new Culver City production facility, they released their first full-length motion picture, My Four Years in Germany; it was the precursor to anti-German and socially conscious films for which Warner Bros. became known during World War II.

The semi-documentary is based on the experiences of the American a m b a s s a d o r to Germany from 1913 to 1917, James W. Gerard. The opening shot sets the tone: A Prussian officer in full regalia sits in his office and looks up at a framed slogan on his wall that reads “Nothing can confer honors and fame upon a Prince except the Sword.”

In a prescient c o m m e n t foretelling the Blitzkrieg of World War II, the German Foreign Minister explains why his country cannot negotiate: “We cannot surrender our greatest asset, sudden and overwhelming assault.”

While the nearly two[1]hour silent film is dated by today’s standards, the Los Angeles Daily Times review of May 21, 1918, included: “My Four Years in Germany is the motion picture of the hour, of the century. It is momentous history, with almost the power and grip of life itself. It will be treasured in our archives. It will mold millions of Americans into heroic stature…”

Made for $50,000, this film grossed a surprising $1.5 million; it was the first hit for the brothers Warner. Its success encouraged them to concentrate on film production rather than distribution and provided the funds for them to purchase a studio in Hollywood.

And so, on April 4, 1923, Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc., was formally established, 100 years ago this month. (Happy centennial birthday, Warner Bros.!)

In 1927, Warner Bros.’ enjoyed a financial windfall from the first talkies: The Jazz Singer, followed by The Singing Fool. If one film can be said to have changed motion pictures more than any other, it would be The Jazz Singer. It cost $422,000 to make and grossed $2.6 million… and put Warner Bros. on the map.

Both films starred Encino resident Al Jolson and provided the studio the funds to buy a majority of First National Pictures.

The year before The Jazz Singer premiered, in 1926, First National purchased 62 acres of farmland in Burbank and built its own studio. As part of its acquisition of First National, Warner Bros. decamped from Hollywood to the First National studio lot, and the San Fernando Valley has been its home ever since.

Under the agreement, Warner Bros. gained access to First National’s chain of affiliated theaters, while First National acquired the rights to use Warner Bros.’ Vitaphone sound system. A number of Warner Bros. films were branded First National Pictures until July 1936, when First National Pictures, Inc., was dissolved. In the decade 1930-1939, Warner Bros. produced more than 575 pictures…a staggering record: many classic hits, many so-so features, and more than a few duds. The studio didn’t shy away from near-salacious titles during this decade: Playing Around, Loose Ankles, She Couldn’t Say No, and The Flirting Widow (1930); The Naughty Flirt, Other Men’s Women, Misbehaving Ladies, The Hot Heiress, and Compromised, (1931); and, in 1932, Street of Women, Ladies They Talk About, and Beauty and the Boss, to name but a few.

Perhaps it’s better to focus on the truly wonderful cinematic offerings the Burbank studio brought forth during the decade, one film per year: The Dawn Patrol (1930); Little Caesar (1931); I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932); Lady Killer (1933); Here Comes the Navy (1934); Captain Blood (1935); The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936); The Life of Emile Zola (1937); Jezebel (1938); and Dark Victory (1939).

The fairy tale of the four Warner brothers continued into the following decade.

 …And they lived happily ever after (except they didn’t, as we’ll see next month).