Harry Morris Warner (born Hirsz Mojżesz Wonsal ; December 12, 1881 – July 25, 1958) was an American studio executive , one of the founders of Warner Bros. , and a major contributor to the development of the film industry . Along with his three younger brothers ( Albert , Sam and Jack ), Warner played a crucial role in the film business and establishing Warner Bros., serving as the company president until 1956.
162-693: Warner was born Hirsz Mojżesz "Wonsal" or "Wonskolaser" to a family of Ashkenazi Jews from the village of Krasnosielc , Poland (then part of Congress Poland within the Russian Empire ). He was the son of Benjamin Wonsal, a shoemaker born in Krasnosielc, and Pearl Leah Eichelbaum. His given name was Mojżesz (Moses), however, he was called Hirsz (Anglicized to Hirsch) in the United States. In October 1889, he came to Baltimore, Maryland with his mother and siblings on
324-476: A Jewish diaspora population that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE . They traditionally speak Yiddish , a language that originated in the 9th century, and largely migrated towards northern and eastern Europe during the late Middle Ages due to persecution . Hebrew was primarily used as a literary and sacred language until its 20th-century revival as
486-437: A cerebral occlusion . Some people close to Harry, however, believed he died of a broken heart; Harry's wife Rea even stated, after Harry's funeral took place, that "he didn't die, Jack killed him." He left an estate valued at $ 6,000,000 with 50% bequeathed to his wife and 25% to each of his daughters, Doris and Betty (married to producer Milton Sperling ). For his contributions to the motion picture industry, Harry Warner has
648-470: A monopoly . The company would, however, suffer a minor financial blow during the year after Motley Flint, the longtime banker for the studio, and by now also a close friend of the Warners, was murdered by an angry investor. In the latter part of 1929, much to Harry's dismay, younger brother Jack would hire sixty-one-year-old actor George Arliss to star in the studio's film Disraeli . To Warner's surprise,
810-432: A stroke that impaired his walking ability and forced him to use a cane for the rest of his life. Six days after his stroke, he left the hospital and decided to sell 42 of his thoroughbred racehorses. This subterfuge proved too much for Warner and he and his family never spoke to Jack again; when Jack made a surprise appearance at Harry's San Fernando ranch, to attend Harry's 1957 wedding anniversary to Rea Levinson, nobody in
972-583: A 1,100-acre ranch in the San Fernando Valley . During 1936, the studio's film The Story of Louis Pasteur was a success at the box office. In addition to the film's box office success, Paul Muni won the Oscar for Best Actor in March 1937 for his performance as the title role. The studio's film The Life of Emile Zola (1937), also starring Muni, gave the studio its first Oscar for Best Picture. Warner occupied
1134-762: A bicycle shop in Youngstown, Ohio with his brother, Abraham. Eventually, Harry and Abe also opened a bowling alley together. The bowling alley failed and closed shortly after it opened. Harry eventually accepted an offer to become a salesman for a local meat franchise, and sold meat in the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania. However, by his nineteenth birthday, Harry was reduced to living in his parents' crowded household. In 1903, Harry's brothers, Abe and Sam, began to exhibit The Great Train Robbery at carnivals across Ohio and Pennsylvania. In 1905, Harry sold his bicycle shop and joined his brothers in their fledgling film business. With
1296-451: A big problem for Harry after she, and a number of her colleagues, departed from the studio after completing the film Beyond the Forest . By 1949, the studio's net profit had fallen to $ 10,000,000.00, and the studio would soon suffer more losses with the rise of television. In 1949, Warner, seeing the threat of television grow, decided to shift his focus towards television production. However,
1458-775: A brief period of stability and unity in Francia . This created opportunities for Jewish merchants to settle again north of the Alps. Charlemagne granted the Jews freedoms similar to those once enjoyed under the Roman Empire . In addition, Jews from southern Italy, fleeing religious persecution, began to move into Central Europe. Returning to Frankish lands, many Jewish merchants took up occupations in finance and commerce, including money lending, or usury . (Church legislation banned Christians from lending money in exchange for interest.) From Charlemagne's time to
1620-461: A buffer between the two, father Benjamin Warner, died on November 5, 1935. Following Benjamin's death, Jack and Harry were now barely on speaking terms, and were merely just business partners to one another. Jack's marriage to Ann was also arguably a huge turning point in the two brothers' fragile relationship as well; Harry's arguments with Jack were now practically on a daily basis. By the early 1950s,
1782-597: A central place in the Hollywood-Washington wartime propaganda effort during the Second World War , and by the end of 1942, served as a frequent, anti-Axis spokesman for the movie industry. Despite his conservative viewpoint and longtime affiliation with the Republican Party, Warner was also a close friend of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and supported him during the early 1930s. During Roosevelt's fight for
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#17330853893421944-505: A close friendship, Warner never really accepted Zanuck as a friend. After establishing Warner Bros., the studio had unfortunately overdrawn $ 1 million (the amount which Warner had borrowed from Flint) and Warner decided to pay off the debt by expanding the studio's operations further. In the process, Warner acquired forty theaters in the state of Pennsylvania. In 1924, Warner Bros. would produce two more successful films, The Marriage Circle and Beau Brummell . In 1924, after Rapf departed
2106-661: A common language in Israel. Ashkenazim adapted their traditions to Europe and underwent a transformation in their interpretation of Judaism. In the late 18th and 19th centuries, Jews who remained in or returned to historical German lands experienced a cultural reorientation. Under the influence of the Haskalah and the struggle for emancipation, as well as the intellectual and cultural ferment in urban centres, some gradually abandoned Yiddish in favor of German and developed new forms of Jewish religious life and cultural identity . Throughout
2268-637: A figure of one million Jews living in Egypt. Brian McGing rejects Baron's figures entirely, arguing that we have no clue as to the size of the Jewish demographic in the ancient world. Sometimes the scholars who accepted the high number of Jews in Rome had explained it by Jews having been active in proselytising . The idea of ancient Jews trying to convert Gentiles to Judaism is nowadays rejected by several scholars. The Romans did not distinguish between Jews inside and outside of
2430-416: A gold cross at a dinner he attended with Western Electric brass. After this, Harry signed a partnership agreement with Western Electric to use Bell Laboratories to test the sound-on-film process. The success of Warner Bros.' early talkie films ( The Jazz Singer , The Lights of New York , The Singing Fool and The Terror ) catapulted the studio into the ranks of the major studios. Flush with cash,
2592-604: A judge until 1911. Under President Woodrow Wilson , Gerard served as the American Ambassador to Germany from 1913 to 1917. In 1914 , Gerard was the Democratic ( Tammany Hall ) candidate for U.S. Senator from New York . He defeated the Anti-Tammany candidate, Franklin D. Roosevelt , in the Democratic primary, but lost the election to James W. Wadsworth, Jr. At the outbreak of World War I , in 1914, Gerard assumed
2754-514: A large group of independent film-makers assembled in Milwaukee to challenge the monopoly the Big Three had over the film industry. Harry and the other independent film-makers at the Milwaukee convention agreed to spend $ 500,000 in newspaper advertisements; this action would help benefit Warner Bros. profits. With help from a loan supplied by Goldman, Sachs head banker Waddill Catchings, Warner would find
2916-561: A member of the Warner clan. When Jack and Ann officially got married in January 1936, Harry and the rest of the Warner family refused to attend the ceremony. In a letter Harry sent to Jack on his wedding day to Ann, Harry stated "the only thing that could come from this day was that our parents didn't live to see this." Throughout the early years of the studio's existence, various people, including Warner's younger brother Sam, had served as buffers between Harry and Jack. The last person to serve as
3078-408: A move against Germany.' Well, I told him that that might be so, but that we had five hundred thousand – and one – lamp posts in this country, and that that was where the reservists would be hanging the day after they tried to rise." Upon returning to the U.S., Gerard went back to practicing law. He remained heavily involved in Democratic politics. He was the treasurer for
3240-406: A music subsidiary-Warner Bros. Music- and buying out additional radio companies, acquiring foreign sound patents, and adding a lithograph company as well; he even was able to produce a Broadway musical Fifty Million Frenchmen . By the time the 1st Academy Awards took place, Warner was recognized as the second most powerful figure in the movie industry, just behind MGM head Nicholas Schenck . In
3402-632: A number of push and pull factors . More Jews moved into these communities as a result of wars, persecution, unrest, and for opportunities in trade and commerce. Jews migrated to southern Europe from the Middle East voluntarily for opportunities in trade and commerce. Following Alexander the Great 's conquests, Jews migrated to Greek settlements in the Eastern Mediterranean, spurred on by economic opportunities. Jewish economic migration to southern Europe
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#17330853893423564-483: A profit. Between the years 1919 and 1920, the studio did not turn a profit. During this time, banker Motley Flint, who was, unlike most bankers at the time, not anti-semitic , helped the brothers pay off their debts. The four brothers then decided to relocate their studio from Culver City, California , to the Sunset Boulevard section of Hollywood. During this time, Warner decided to focus on making only dramas for
3726-504: A result of Judeo-Latin language contact with various High German vernaculars in the medieval period. It is a Germanic language written in Hebrew letters, and heavily influenced by Hebrew and Aramaic , with some elements of Romance and later Slavic languages . Historical records show evidence of Jewish communities north of the Alps and Pyrenees as early as the 8th and 9th centuries. By
3888-486: A right to criticize, to boycott a nation which reverts to the horrible persecutions of the Dark Ages, we have a right to form a blockade of public opinion about this misguided country," he wrote. Gerard concluded, "It is with sadness, tinged with fear for the world's future, that we read Hitler's hymn of hate against that race which has added so many names to the roll of the great in science, in medicine, in surgery, in music and
4050-405: A short time, and the case was never reopened. One problem that remained for Warner, however, was the studio's projectionist labor union, which had fallen under Mafia control. In 1935, the studio's revived musicals would also suffer a major blow after director Busby Berkeley was arrested after killing three people while driving drunk one night. During the studio's union crisis, Warner received
4212-483: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6441 Hollywood Boulevard . In 2004, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania dedicated a film institute to him. The university also hosts an annual Harry Warner film festival. Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews ( / ˌ ɑː ʃ k ə ˈ n ɑː z i , ˌ æ ʃ -/ A(H)SH -kə- NAH -zee ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim ) constitute
4374-562: A success, and stockholders maintained confidence in the Warners. The first year of the Great Depression , 1930, did not damage the studio badly, and Warner was even able to acquire more theaters for the studio in Atlantic City . During this time, Warner was also engaged in a lawsuit with a Boston stockholder who accused him of trying use money from the studio's profitable businesses to try to purchase his vast 300 shares of stock and create
4536-610: A telegram addressed personally to Wilson that declared that Belgian neutrality "had to be violated by Germany on strategical grounds." At the request of a high German official, the telegram was not made public as the Kaiser had wished but was sent privately to the President. After the sinking of the RMS Lusitania with many U.S. residents on board, on May 7, 1915, Gerard's position became more difficult. The German government asked him to leave
4698-673: A threatening phone call from a union member, stating that he would seize Warner's daughter Betty and adopted daughter Lita within forty-eight hours. Warner then agreed to accept the union's demands, and the kidnapping threat ended. However, 1935 also saw some relief for Harry as the studio rebounded with a year-end net profit of $ 674,158.00. Around this time, a depressed Warner—seeing that the newly recovered business no longer needed loans to pay off debts—decided to move to California, and acquired 3,000 acres (12 km) of ranch land just northwest of Hollywood in Calabasas, California . He later moved into
4860-581: A top studio star, and also got audiences in the United States to question the country’s legal system. However, they would begin to feel the effects of the Depression in 1931. As ticket prices became unaffordable, the studio would lose money. By the end of 1931, the studio suffered a net loss of reportedly $ 8,000,000.00, During this time, Warner rented the Teddington Studio in London, England. To help fight off
5022-574: A trained German Shepherd named Rin Tin Tin in 1923. The canine made his starring debut in Where the North Begins , a film about an abandoned pup who is raised by wolves and befriends a fur trapper. According to one biographer, Jack Warner'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." The trained dog proved to be
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5184-539: A very different lifestyle to that of their neighbours; all of these tendencies increased with every outbreak of antisemitism . In parts of Eastern Europe, before the arrival of the Ashkenazi Jews from Central Europe, some non-Ashkenazi Jews were present who spoke Leshon Knaan and held various other Non-Ashkenazi traditions and customs. In 1966, the historian Cecil Roth questioned the inclusion of all Yiddish speaking Jews as Ashkenazim in descent, suggesting that upon
5346-531: A very high toll of life and enslavement. The First Jewish-Roman War (66–73 CE) resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple . Two generations later, the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–136 CE) erupted. Judea's countryside was devastated, and many were killed, displaced or sold into slavery. Jerusalem was rebuilt as a Roman colony under the name of Aelia Capitolina , and the province of Judea
5508-627: A way to successfully respond to the growing concern the Big Three Studios further induced to Warner Bros., and expanded the company's operations further by purchasing the Brooklyn theater company Vitagraph . Because of this, Warner Pictures now owned theaters in the New York area. Around this time, Warner purchased a home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Hancock Park , where he remained until 1929. In
5670-579: Is also believed to have occurred during the Roman period. In 63 BCE, the Siege of Jerusalem saw the Roman Republic conquer Judea, and thousands of Jewish prisoners of war were brought to Rome as slaves. After gaining their freedom, they settled permanently in Rome as traders. It is likely that there was an additional influx of Jewish slaves taken to southern Europe by Roman forces after the capture of Jerusalem by
5832-402: Is gone," Warner exclaimed, upon hearing of the deal. Shortly after doing this, Jack took a long vacation in southern France. The brothers' fragile relationship had reached a new low. In May 1956, the brothers announced they were putting Warner Bros. on the market. Jack, however, had secretly organized a syndicate , headed by Boston banker Serge Semenenko, which purchased 90% (800,000 shares) of
5994-646: The Saquliba or Slavic territories , and such usage covered also the lands of tribes neighboring the Slavs, and Eastern and Central Europe. In modern times, Samuel Krauss identified the Biblical "Ashkenaz" with Khazaria . Sometime in the Early Medieval period, the Jews of central and eastern Europe came to be called by this term. Conforming to the custom of designating areas of Jewish settlement with biblical names, Spain
6156-741: The Cimmerians . The Biblical Ashkenaz is usually derived from Assyrian Aškūza ( cuneiform Aškuzai/Iškuzai ), a people who expelled the Cimmerians from the Armenian area of the Upper Euphrates ; the name Aškūza is identified with the Scythians . The intrusive n in the Biblical name is likely due to a scribal error confusing a vav ו with a nun נ . In Jeremiah 51:27, Ashkenaz figures as one of three kingdoms in
6318-711: The Crusaders as Ashkenazim. Given the close links between the Jewish communities of France and Germany following the Carolingian unification , the term Ashkenazi came to refer to the Jews of both medieval Germany and France. Like other Jewish ethnic groups , the Ashkenazi originate from the Israelites and Hebrews of historical Israel and Judah . Ashkenazi Jews share a significant amount of ancestry with other Jewish populations and derive their ancestry mostly from populations in
6480-525: The Hays Code boundaries; and refusing to restore Zanuck’s salary, which had been reduced as a result of the financial woes the studio temporarily faced from President Roosevelt's bank holiday - let alone raise it in the wake of the New Deal's economic rebound. Following Zanuck's resignation, studio director Hal B. Wallis took his place as the studio's executive producer, and Harry—who, along with his brother Jack,
6642-473: The Holocaust . The answer to why there was so little assimilation of Jews in central and eastern Europe for so long would seem to lie in part in the probability that the alien surroundings in central and eastern Europe were not conducive, though there was some assimilation. Furthermore, Jews lived almost exclusively in shtetls , maintained a strong system of education for males, heeded rabbinic leadership, and had
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6804-622: The Isthmus of Corinth in Greece. Jewish slaves and their children eventually gained their freedom and joined local free Jewish communities. Many Jews were denied full Roman citizenship until Emperor Caracalla granted all free peoples this privilege in 212 CE. Jews were required to pay a poll tax until the reign of Emperor Julian in 363 CE. In the late Roman Empire, Jews were free to form networks of cultural and religious ties and enter into various local occupations. However, after Christianity became
6966-642: The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission , claimed that the five integrated studio-theater chain combinations restrained competition. The Supreme Court heard the case in 1948, and ruled for the government. As a result, Warner and four other major studios were forced to separate production from exhibition. In early 1953, the brothers finally fulfilled their end of the bargain and sold their theater chain to Fabian Enterprises. In 1948, Bette Davis, now fed up with Jack Warner, would serve as
7128-654: The Minhag of Ashkenaz and Poland. According to 16th-century mystic Rabbi Elijah of Chelm , Ashkenazi Jews lived in Jerusalem during the 11th century. The story is told that a German-speaking Jew saved the life of a young German man surnamed Dolberger. So when the knights of the First Crusade came to siege Jerusalem, one of Dolberger's family members who was among them rescued Jews in Palestine and carried them back to Worms to repay
7290-545: The Republican Party , while Conservative, Reform, and non denominational ones tend to support the Democratic Party. Religious Jews have minhagim , customs, in addition to halakha , or religious law, and different interpretations of the law. Different groups of religious Jews in different geographic areas historically adopted different customs and interpretations. On certain issues, Orthodox Jews are required to follow
7452-848: The SHuM cities of Speyer, Worms, and Mainz. The cluster of cities contain the earliest Jewish settlements north of the Alps, and played a major role in the formation of Ashkenazi Jewish religious tradition, along with Troyes and Sens in France. Nonetheless, Jewish life in Germany persisted, while some Ashkenazi Jews joined Sephardic Jewry in Spain. Expulsions from England (1290), France (1394), and parts of Germany (15th century), gradually pushed Ashkenazi Jewry eastward, to Poland (10th century), Lithuania (10th century), and Russia (12th century). Over this period of several hundred years, some have suggested, Jewish economic activity
7614-673: The Statute of Kalisz of 1264. By the 15th century, the Ashkenazi Jewish communities in Poland were the largest Jewish communities of the Diaspora. This area, which eventually fell under the domination of Russia, Austria , and Prussia (Germany) following the Partitions of Poland , and was later largely regained by reborn Poland in the interbellum , would remain the main center of Ashkenazi Jewry until
7776-465: The 11th century, Hai Gaon refers to questions that had been addressed to him from Ashkenaz, by which he undoubtedly means Germany. Rashi in the latter half of the 11th century refers to both the language of Ashkenaz and the country of Ashkenaz. During the 12th century, the word appears quite frequently. In the Mahzor Vitry , the kingdom of Ashkenaz is referred to chiefly in regard to the ritual of
7938-473: The 11th century, Jewish settlers moving from southern European and Middle Eastern centers (such as Babylonian Jews and Persian Jews ) and Maghrebi Jewish traders from North Africa who had contacts with their Ashkenazi brethren and had visited each other from time to time in each's domain appear to have begun to settle in the north, especially along the Rhine, often in response to new economic opportunities and at
8100-611: The Democratic National Committee (1924–1932) and played a leading role in the nomination of Roosevelt for president in 1932. After an unsuccessful campaign for U.S. president in 1920, Gerard ceased active pursuit of elected office but accepted a central role in U.S. Democratic Party politics as a public speaker, fundraiser, consultant, and mass media contributor. In 1933, Gerard reviewed Adolf Hitler 's Mein Kampf for The New York Times Book Review . His critique occupied
8262-401: The Democratic nomination in early 1932, the Warners made an effort to make his name known throughout the state of California. After Roosevelt was nominated, the three brothers asked their friends to contribute to his campaign. Jack Warner even staged a "Motion Picture and Electrical Parade Sports Pageant" at L.A. Stadium in Roosevelt's honor in 1932. During Roosevelt's 1932 campaign, Warner and
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#17330853893428424-479: The Federal Communications Commission would not allow Warner to do so. After an unsuccessful attempt to convince other movie studio bosses to switch their focus to television, he abandoned his television efforts. As the threat of television grew in the early 1950s, Warner's younger brother, Jack, decided to try a new approach to help regain profits for the studio. In the wake of United Artists' successful 3-D film Bwana Devil , Jack decided to expand into 3-D films with
8586-409: The Hellenized parts of the Roman Empire. The excavations suggest they first lived in isolated enclaves attached to Roman legion camps and intermarried with other similar oriental families within the military orders of the region. Raphael Patai states that later Roman writers remarked that they differed little in either customs, manner of writing, or names from the people among whom they dwelt; and it
8748-399: The Holocaust. These included 3 million of 3.3 million Polish Jews (91%); 900,000 of 1.5 million in Ukraine (60%); and 50–90% of the Jews of other Slavic nations, Germany, Hungary, and the Baltic states, and over 25% of the Jews in France. Sephardi communities suffered similar devastation in a few countries, including Greece, the Netherlands and the former Yugoslavia. As the large majority of
8910-418: The Middle East, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe. Other than their origins in ancient Israel, the question of how Ashkenazi Jews came to exist as a distinct community is unknown, and has given rise to several theories. Beginning in the fourth century BCE, Jewish colonies sprang up in southern Europe, including the Aegean Islands, Greece, and Italy. Jews left ancient Israel for a number of causes, including
9072-461: The Responsa of Isaac ben Sheshet (numbers 193, 268, 270). In the Midrash compilation, Genesis Rabbah , Rabbi Berechiah mentions Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah as German tribes or as German lands. It may correspond to a Greek word that may have existed in the Greek dialect of the Jews in Syria Palaestina , or the text is corrupted from "Germanica". This view of Berechiah is based on the Talmud (Yoma 10a; Jerusalem Talmud Megillah 71b), where Gomer,
9234-683: The United States after the war. Following the Holocaust, some sources place Ashkenazim today as making up approximately 83%–85% of Jews worldwide, while Sergio DellaPergola in a rough calculation of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews , implies that Ashkenazi make up a notably lower figure, less than 74%. Other estimates place Ashkenazi Jews as making up about 75% of Jews worldwide. Jews of mixed background are increasingly common, partly because of intermarriage between Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi, and partly because many do not see such historic markers as relevant to their life experiences as Jews. Religious Ashkenazi Jews living in Israel are obliged to follow
9396-461: The Warner Bros. studio. Together, the couple gave Harry two grandchildren, Warner Lewis LeRoy (1935-2001) and Linda LeRoy Janklow (b. 1939) (married to Morton L. Janklow ). On one occasion, in the late 1930s, Doris read a copy of Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind and became interested making a film adaption of the book for the studio as well; Doris then offered Mitchell $ 50,000 for the book's screen rights. However, Uncle Jack refused to allow
9558-522: The Warner brothers reorganized Sam's will under New York statutes, while Sam died while living in the state of California, where, at the time of Sam's death in 1927, laws gave widows a larger share in their husband's wills. The lawsuit eventually ended when Basquette settled for a $ 100,000 trust fund from Harry's fortune. Warner's daughter, Doris, was married to director Mervyn LeRoy on January 3, 1934. Because of their wedding, Warner, with no male heir to his studio after Lewis died, made LeRoy his new heir to
9720-400: The Warner family attending the event spoke to Jack. All Warner was now dedicated to doing was raising horses. Shortly after this, when Jack was away one day, Warner made one last visit to the studio to take US$ 6,000,000 (equivalent to about $ 63,363,320 in 2023) out of his old studio account. He gave $ 3 million to his wife Rea, and $ 1.5 million each to his two daughters Doris and Betty. In
9882-561: The Warner-LeRoy stable was able to acquire a valuable racehorse named "Stepfather." Warner had a bitter rivalry with his brother Jack over the years, particularly due to Jack's longtime infidelities (as Jack had been engaged in affairs with a wide range of various women since Warner Bros. Inc. was established in 1923) and waste of the Burbank studio's money. In the 1930s Harry, like most of his relatives, also refused to accept Jack's second wife, actress Ann Paige - with whom Jack had an affair while still married to his first wife Irma Solomon - as
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#173308538934210044-454: The Warners abandoned their old location in the Poverty Row section of Hollywood and acquired a big studio in Burbank, California . As a result of this success, Warner was able to acquire the Stanley Company of America (founded by Jules E. Mastbaum ), which controlled most of the first-run theaters on the East Coast. This purchase gave them a share in rival First National Pictures , of which Stanley owned one-third. After this purchase, Warner
10206-408: The Warners expanded the business further and purchased fifteen theaters in Pennsylvania. Harry, Sam, and Albert then formed a new film exchange company, The Duquesne Amusement Supply Company, and rented an office in the Bakewell building in downtown Pittsburgh. Harry sent Sam to New York to purchase, and ship, films for their Pittsburgh exchange company, while he and Albert remained in Pittsburgh to run
10368-444: The Warners returned to Baltimore. Two more children, Sadie and Milton, were added to the household there. In 1896, the family relocated to Youngstown, Ohio , following the lead of Harry, who had established a shoe repair shop in the heart of the emerging industrial town. Benjamin worked with Harry in the shoe repair shop until he secured a loan to open a meat counter and grocery store in the city's downtown area. In 1899, Harry opened
10530-419: The Warners sold the family 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". After they sold their business, Harry and his three brothers joined forces with independent filmmaker Carl Laemmle 's Independent Motion Picture Company , and began distributing films from his Pittsburgh film exchange division. In 1912,
10692-424: The arrival of Ashkenazi Jews from central Europe to Eastern Europe, from the Middle Ages to the 16th century, there were a substantial number of non-Ashkenazim Jews already there who later abandoned their original Eastern European Jewish culture in favor of the Ashkenazi one. However, according to more recent research, mass migrations of Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews occurred to Eastern Europe, from Central Europe in
10854-464: The arts, in literature and all uplifting human endeavor." Gerard's final book was an autobiography, My First Eighty-Three Years in America (1951). Gerard's wife, the former Mary Augusta Daly (called “Molly”), was the daughter of copper magnate Marcus Daly , head of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company that developed the mines of Butte, Montana , and built the town of Anaconda, Montana . They had no children. After both of Mary's parents died, she
11016-475: The authority of the chief Ashkenazi rabbi in halakhic matters. In this respect, a religiously Ashkenazi Jew is an Israeli who is more likely to support certain religious interests in Israel, including certain political parties. These political parties result from the fact that a portion of the Israeli electorate votes for Jewish religious parties; although the electoral map changes from one election to another, there are generally several small parties associated with
11178-481: The brothers earned a $ 1,500 profit with the film Dante's Inferno . In the wake of this success, Harry and the brothers broke with Laemmle and established their own film production company. They named their new company Warner Features. Once Warner Features was established, Harry acquired an office in New York with his brother Albert, sending Sam and Jack to run the new corporation's film exchange divisions in San Francisco and Los Angeles. In 1917, Harry won more capital for
11340-409: The brothers' long-simmering feud had risen to new heights, as Jack began spending a lot of his time in France, occasionally ignored managing the studio in favor of vacationing, gambling, and socializing with royalty, and spent studio money lavishly on 3-D films . On one occasion during this period, studio employees claimed they saw Harry Warner who was very furious at his brother Jack chase him through
11502-460: The business. In 1909, the brothers sold the Cascade Theater and established a second film exchange company in Norfolk, Virginia. Harry agreed to let younger brother Jack be a part of the company, sending him to Norfolk to serve as Sam's assistant. A serious problem threatened the Warners' film company with the advent of Thomas Edison 's Motion Picture Patents Company (also known as the Edison Trust), which charged distributors exorbitant fees. In 1910,
11664-542: The care of British interests in Germany, later visited the camps in which British prisoners were confined, and did much to alleviate their condition. His responsibilities were further increased by the fact that German interests in France, Britain, and Russia were placed in the care of the American embassies in those countries, which made the American embassy in Berlin become a sort of clearing house. From first-hand knowledge, he settled
11826-597: The centuries, Ashkenazim made significant contributions to Europe's philosophy , scholarship, literature , art , music , and science . As a proportion of the world Jewish population , Ashkenazim were estimated to be 3% in the 11th century, rising to 92% in 1930 near the population's peak. The Ashkenazi population was significantly diminished by the Holocaust carried out by Nazi Germany during World War II which killed some six million Jews, affecting almost every European Jewish family. In 1933, prior to World War II,
11988-625: The company's stock; Harry had at first rejected Semenenko's earlier offer to purchase his stock in February 1956, but later accepted the offer after Semenenko increased his bid and agreed to make Simon Fabian—the head of Fabian Enterprises who had also become a friend of the Warners—the new Warner Bros. President. After the three brothers sold their stock, Jack (through his under-the-table deal with Sememenko) joined Semenenko's syndicate and bought back all his stock, which consisted of 200,000 shares. The deal
12150-763: The country in January 1917. Diplomatic relations were broken off on February 3, and he left Germany. He was detained for a time because of rumors that the German ambassador in America was being mistreated and that German ships had been confiscated. When the rumors were disproved, he was allowed to depart. He retired from diplomatic service in July 1917. He took up the practice of law in New York City . The George H. Doran Company of New York City published two books Gerard wrote on his experiences, My Four Years in Germany , released in 1917, and
12312-406: The couple would also give Warner four more grandchildren, Susan (b. December 4, 1941), Karen (b. April 8, 1945), and Cass (b. March 8, 1948), and Matthew. The two remained married for twenty-four years. In 1964, Betty married Stanley Sheinbaum . His granddaughter, Cass Warner Sperling, and her husband, actor Wings Hauser , are the parents of actor Cole Hauser . Warner died on July 25, 1958, from
12474-490: The cradle of Germanic tribes, as early as a 6th-century gloss to the Historia Ecclesiastica of Eusebius . In the 10th-century History of Armenia of Yovhannes Drasxanakertc'i (1.15), Ashkenaz was associated with Armenia, as it was occasionally in Jewish usage, where its denotation extended at times to Adiabene , Khazaria , Crimea and areas to the east. His contemporary Saadia Gaon identified Ashkenaz with
12636-635: The culture of the Babylonian Talmud that underlies it became established in southern Italy and then spread north to Ashkenaz. Numerous massacres of Jews occurred throughout Europe during the Christian Crusades . Inspired by the preaching of a First Crusade, crusader mobs in France and Germany perpetrated the Rhineland massacres of 1096, devastating Jewish communities along the Rhine River, including
12798-459: The customs of their ancestors and do not believe they have the option of picking and choosing. For this reason, observant Jews at times find it important for religious reasons to ascertain who their household's religious ancestors are in order to know what customs their household should follow. These times include, for example, when two Jews of different ethnic background marry, when a non-Jew converts to Judaism and determines what customs to follow for
12960-561: The deal to take place, after seeing how expensive the film's budget would have been for the studio. The couple would later divorce on August 12, 1945, and Warner was left without an heir again. Two months after her divorce from LeRoy, Doris would marry director Charles Vidor . Together the couple had three sons, Michael, Brian and Quentin. The two remained married until Vidor's death in 1959. In 1936, Betty Warner began an affair with one of Darryl F. Zanuck's assistants Milton Sperling . The two would marry on July 13, 1939. Through this marriage,
13122-564: The degree and sources of European admixture , with some focusing on the European genetic origin in Ashkenazi maternal lineages, contrasting with the predominantly Middle Eastern genetic origin in paternal lineages. The name Ashkenazi derives from the biblical figure of Ashkenaz , the first son of Gomer , son of Japhet , son of Noah , and a Japhetic patriarch in the Table of Nations ( Genesis 10 ). The name of Gomer has often been linked to
13284-505: The duration of the war these included Casablanca , Yankee Doodle Dandy , This Is the Army and the controversial film Mission to Moscow . At the premieres of Yankee Doodle Dandy (in Los Angeles, New York and London), audiences for the film would purchase a total of $ 15,600,000.00 in war bonds for the governments of England and the United States. By the middle of 1943, however, it became clear that audiences were tired of war films. Despite
13446-539: The early Middle Ages, some Jews assimilated into the dominant Greek and Latin cultures, mostly through conversion to Christianity. King Dagobert I of the Franks expelled the Jews from his Merovingian kingdom in 629. Jews in former Roman territories faced new challenges as harsher anti-Jewish Church rulings were enforced. Charlemagne 's expansion of the Frankish empire around 800, including northern Italy and Rome, brought on
13608-455: The early modern period. During the 16th century, as conditions for Italian Jews worsened, many Jews from Venice and the surrounding area migrated to Poland and Lithuania. During the 16th and 17th centuries, some Sephardi Jews and Romaniote Jews from throughout the Ottoman Empire migrated to Eastern Europe, as did Arabic-speaking Mizrahi Jews and Persian Jews . In the first half of
13770-529: The economy, media, and politics of Israel since its founding. During the first decades of Israel as a state, strong cultural conflict occurred between Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews (mainly east European Ashkenazim). The roots of this conflict, which still exists to a much smaller extent in present-day Israeli society, are chiefly attributed to the concept of the " melting pot ". That is to say, all Jewish immigrants who arrived in Israel were strongly encouraged to "meltdown" their own particular exilic identities within
13932-636: The emancipation, Zionism developed in central Europe. Other Jews, particularly those in the Pale of Settlement , turned to socialism . These tendencies would be united in Labor Zionism , the founding ideology of the State of Israel. Of the estimated 8.8 million Jews living in Europe at the beginning of World War II , the majority of whom were Ashkenazi, about 6 million – more than two-thirds – were systematically murdered in
14094-540: The entire front page of the section and continued inside. "Hitler is doing much for Germany," Gerard began, citing "his unification of the Germans, his destruction of communism, his training of the young, his creation of a Spartan State animated by patriotism, his curbing of parliamentary government, so unsuited to the German character; his protection of the right of private property," which he said "are all good". But he went on to condemn Hitler's anti-Semitism . "We have all of us
14256-488: The estimated worldwide Jewish population was 15.3 million. Israeli demographer and statistician Sergio D. Pergola implied that Ashkenazim comprised 65–70% of Jews worldwide in 2000, while other estimates suggest more than 75%. As of 2013 , the population was estimated to be between 10 million and 11.2 million. Genetic studies indicate that Ashkenazim have both Levantine and European (mainly southern European) ancestry. These studies draw diverging conclusions about
14418-471: The extraction of an infected, impacted wisdom tooth, which led to sepsis and then double pneumonia . Following Lewis' death, Warner, who was now left without a recognized heir to his empire, descended into an extreme state of depression. The following year, the Warners donated a theater in Lewis' honor to Worcester Academy , Lewis' alma mater . Warner also felt his brother Sam's widow, actress Lina Basquette ,
14580-456: The fall of 1938, Warner had gradually helped block the distribution of Warner Bros. films in Nazi Germany and its ally Italy. Prior to the war's beginning in Europe, Warner supervised the production of two anti-German feature films, The Life of Emile Zola (1937) and Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939). He spent large sums of money to get many of his relatives and employees out of Germany when
14742-507: The far north, the others being Minni and Ararat (corresponding to Urartu ), called on by God to resist Babylon. In the Yoma tractate of the Babylonian Talmud the name Gomer is rendered as Germania , which elsewhere in rabbinical literature was identified with Germanikia in northwestern Syria, but later became associated with Germania . Ashkenaz is linked to Scandza/Scanzia , viewed as
14904-411: The father of Ashkenaz, is translated by Germamia , which evidently stands for Germany, and which was suggested by the similarity of the sound. In later times, the word Ashkenaz is used to designate southern and western Germany, the ritual of which sections differs somewhat from that of eastern Germany and Poland. Thus the prayer-book of Isaiah Horowitz , and many others, give the piyyutim according to
15066-504: The favor. Further evidence of German communities in the holy city comes in the form of halakhic questions sent from Germany to Jerusalem during the second half of the 11th century. Material relating to the history of German Jews has been preserved in the communal accounts of certain communities on the Rhine, a Memorbuch , and a Liebesbrief , documents that are now part of the Sassoon Collection. Heinrich Graetz also added to
15228-488: The film Disraeli would go on to be a success at the box office, Arliss won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and Warner was convinced to make him a top star for the studio as well. During the Depression era, the studio also produced a series of gangster films; Warner Bros. soon became known as "gangster studio." The studio's first gangster film Little Caesar was a great success at the box office. Following Little Caesar,
15390-505: The financial problems the Depression gave the studio, Warner Bros was now focused on making films for the London market and Irving Asher was appointed as the Teddington Studio's head producer. Unfortunately, the Teddington studio could not bring in additional profit to the Warners, and the Burbank studio would lose an additional $ 14,000,000 in 1932 as well. In 1934, Warner officially bought out
15552-476: The first time, or when a lapsed or less observant Jew returns to traditional Judaism and must determine what was done in his or her family's past. In this sense, "Ashkenazic" refers both to a family ancestry and to a body of customs binding on Jews of that ancestry. Reform Judaism , which does not necessarily follow those minhagim, did nonetheless originate among Ashkenazi Jews. James W. Gerard James Watson Gerard III (August 25, 1867 – September 6, 1951)
15714-602: The following year, Face to Face with Kaiserism . My Four Years in Germany was filmed in 1918. Gerard was of major incidental importance in the rise of Warner Brothers movie producers as his book My Four Years in Germany was the source of the Warner's first nationally syndicated film of the same name. Gerard once said in a speech, "The Foreign Minister of Germany once said to me 'your country does not dare do anything against Germany, because we have in your country five hundred thousand German reservists [emigrants] who will rise in arms against your government if you dare to make
15876-438: The forces of Herod the Great with assistance from Roman forces in 37 BCE. It is known that Jewish war captives were sold into slavery after the suppression of a minor Jewish revolt in 53 BCE, and some were probably taken to southern Europe. Regarding Jewish settlements founded in southern Europe during the Roman era, E. Mary Smallwood wrote that "no date or origin can be assigned to the numerous settlements eventually known in
16038-494: The general social "pot" in order to become Israeli. As of 2020, 63% of American Jews are Ashkenazim. A disproportionate amount of Ashkenazi Americans are religious compared to American Jews of other racial groups. They live in large populations in the states of New York, California, Florida, and New Jersey. The majority of American Ashkenazi Jewish voters vote for the Democratic Party , although Orthodox ones tend to support
16200-486: The growing pressure to abandon the topic, Warner continued to produce them, losing money in the process. Eventually, in honor of studio contributions to the war cause, the United States Government would name a Liberty Ship after the brothers' father, Benjamin Warner, and Warner would be given the honor of christening the ship. By the time the war ended, $ 20,000,000.00 worth of war bonds would be purchased through
16362-459: The history of German Jewry in modern times in the abstract of his seminal work, History of the Jews , which he entitled "Volksthümliche Geschichte der Juden." In an essay on Sephardi Jewry, Daniel Elazar at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs summarized the demographic history of Ashkenazi Jews in the last thousand years. He noted that at the end of the 11th century, 97% of world Jewry
16524-409: The idea that Jews had the know-how and capacity to jump-start the economy, improve revenues, and enlarge trade seems to have played a prominent role. Typically, Jews relocated close to the markets and churches in town centres, where, though they came under the authority of both royal and ecclesiastical powers, they were accorded administrative autonomy. In the 11th century, both Rabbinic Judaism and
16686-458: The interests of religious Ashkenazi Jews. The role of religious parties, including small religious parties that play important roles as coalition members, results in turn from Israel's composition as a complex society in which competing social, economic, and religious interests stand for election to the Knesset , a unicameral legislature with 120 seats. Ashkenazi Jews have played a prominent role in
16848-505: The invitation of local Christian rulers. Thus Baldwin V, Count of Flanders , invited Jacob ben Yekutiel and his fellow Jews to settle in his lands; and soon after the Norman conquest of England , William the Conqueror likewise extended a welcome to continental Jews to take up residence there. Bishop Rüdiger Huzmann called on the Jews of Mainz to relocate to Speyer . In all of these decisions,
17010-741: The land of Israel/Judaea. They collected an annual temple tax from Jews both in and outside of Israel. The revolts in and suppression of diaspora communities in Egypt, Libya and Crete during the Kitos War of 115–117 CE had a severe impact on the Jewish diaspora. A substantial Jewish population emerged in northern Gaul by the Middle Ages, but Jewish communities existed in 465 CE in Brittany , in 524 CE in Valence , and in 533 CE in Orléans . Throughout this period and into
17172-447: The later part of 1925, Harry's younger brother Sam had also acquired a radio station, KFWB . After acquiring his radio station, Sam decided to make an attempt to use synchronized sound in future Warner Bros. Pictures. Harry had initial reservations about the idea; when Sam first made this suggestion, Harry wanted to focus on background music before delving into people talking on screen. Harry responded, "We could ultimately develop sound to
17334-504: The legal guardians of Lita through a $ 300,000 settlement in Lita's trust fund. Basquette was never financially able to take care of or regain custody of Lita and in 1931, she tried to commit suicide by poison. Following her suicide attempt, Basquette would only see her daughter on two occasions in the next twenty years. In 1947, Basquette filed for a large share of Sam's estate, which was by now worth $ 15,000,000 in stocks alone. Basquette claimed that
17496-559: The majority of the American Jewish community since 1750. In the context of the European Enlightenment , Jewish emancipation began in 18th century France and spread throughout Western and Central Europe. Disabilities that had limited the rights of Jews since the Middle Ages were abolished, including the requirements to wear distinctive clothing, pay special taxes, and live in ghettos isolated from non-Jewish communities and
17658-659: The meantime, he sold a large portion of the remaining studio stock he had to Semenenko and made sure he would never come near the Burbank studio ever again. On August 23, 1907, Warner married his girlfriend, Rea Levinson. It has been reported by family members that Harry dedicated a huge chunk of his life to make Rea happy. Together, the couple also had three children: Lewis Ethan (b. October 10, 1908), Doris (b. September 13, 1913), and Betty Leah (b. May 4, 1920). Harry and his family were also very faithful to Jewish customs and traditions. On April 5, 1931, Warner's son Lewis, whom he appointed as head of Warner Bros. Music, died following
17820-457: The mid-first century became widely accepted, including by Louis Feldman . However, contemporary scholars now accept that Bar Hebraeus based his figure on a census of total Roman citizens and thus included non-Jews, the figure of 6,944,000 being recorded in Eusebius' Chronicon . Louis Feldman, previously an active supporter of the figure, now states that he and Baron were mistaken. Philo gives
17982-475: The migration patterns of Jews from Southern and Western Europe to Central and Eastern Europe. In 1740, a family from Lithuania became the first Ashkenazi Jews to settle in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem. In the generations after emigration from the west, Jewish communities in places like Poland, Russia, and Belarus enjoyed a comparatively stable socio-political environment. A thriving publishing industry and
18144-575: The money Harry made from selling the bicycle shop, the three brothers were able to purchase a building in New Castle, Pennsylvania. They would use this building to establish their first theater, the Cascade. The Cascade was so successful that the brothers were able to purchase a second theater in New Castle. This makeshift theatre, called the Bijou, was furnished with chairs borrowed from a local undertaker. In 1907,
18306-484: The movement was by no means a singular, centralized event, and a Jewish diaspora had already been established before. During both of these rebellions, many Jews were captured and sold into slavery by the Romans. According to the Jewish historian Josephus , 97,000 Jews were sold as slaves in the aftermath of the first revolt. In one occasion, Vespasian reportedly ordered 6,000 Jewish prisoners of war from Galilee to work on
18468-460: The net losses that the studio was now given at the box office Within a few years, Warner, who was accustomed to dealing with actors in a high-handed manner, provoked hostility among emerging television stars like James Garner , who filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. over a contract dispute. Jack Warner was angered by the perceived ingratitude of television actors who seemed to show more independence than film actors, and this deepened his contempt for
18630-500: The new medium. Through this success, Warner began to be known as the "Strategic Generalissimo" by his employees. By 1956, the studio's profits had dropped to new lows. Warner and Jack's tumultuous relationship worsened when Warner learned of Jack's decision to sell the Warner Bros.' pre-1949 films to Associated Artists Productions for the modest sum of $ 21 million. "This is our heritage, what we worked all our lives to create, and now it
18792-409: The new television medium, providing ABC with a weekly show, Warner Bros. Presents . Warner Bros. Presents was not a success. In 1955, the studio was able to debut a very successful western television drama, Cheyenne The studio then followed up with a series of Western dramas such as Maverick , Bronco and Colt .45 . The studio's television westerns would, indeed, help compensate for
18954-1080: The official religion of Rome and Constantinople in 380 CE, Jews were increasingly marginalized. The Synagogue in the Agora of Athens is dated to the period between 267 and 396 CE. The Stobi Synagogue in Macedonia was built on the ruins of a more ancient synagogue in the 4th century, while later in the 5th century, the synagogue was transformed into a Christian basilica. Hellenistic Judaism thrived in Antioch and Alexandria , and many of these Greek-speaking Jews would convert to Christianity. Sporadic epigraphic evidence in gravesite excavations, particularly in Brigetio ( Szőny ), Aquincum ( Óbuda ), Intercisa ( Dunaújváros ), Triccinae ( Sárvár ), Savaria ( Szombathely ), Sopianae ( Pécs ) in Hungary, and Mursa ( Osijek ) in Croatia, attest to
19116-452: The point where people ask for talking pictures" The company also began acquiring theaters. Eventually, Warner Bros. came to own and operate some 250 theaters. By February 1926, however, the brothers' radio business had failed, and the studio was facing a net loss of $ 333,413.00. After a long period of refusing to accept the usage of sound in the company's films, Warner now agreed to use synchronized sound in Warner Bros. shorts, as long as it
19278-530: The possible exception of Trier and Cologne , the archeological evidence suggests at most a fleeting presence of very few Jews, primarily itinerant traders or artisans. Estimating the number of Jews in antiquity is a task fraught with peril due to the nature of and lack of accurate documentation. The number of Jews in the Roman Empire for a long time was based on the accounts of Syrian Orthodox bishop Bar Hebraeus who lived between 1226 and 1286 CE, who stated by
19440-506: The presence of Jews after the 2nd and 3rd centuries where Roman garrisons were established. There was a sufficient number of Jews in Pannonia to form communities and build a synagogue. Jewish troops were among the Syrian soldiers transferred there, and replenished from the Middle East. After 175 CE Jews and especially Syrians came from Antioch , Tarsus , and Cappadocia . Others came from Italy and
19602-507: The present, Jewish life in northern Europe is well documented. By the 11th century, when Rashi of Troyes wrote his commentaries, Jews in what came to be known as "Ashkenaz" were known for their halakhic learning , and Talmudic studies . They were criticized by Sephardim and other Jewish scholars in Islamic lands for their lack of expertise in Jewish jurisprudence and general ignorance of Hebrew linguistics and literature. Yiddish emerged as
19764-462: The printing of hundreds of biblical commentaries precipitated the development of the Hasidic movement as well as major Jewish academic centers. After two centuries of comparative tolerance in the new nations, massive westward emigration occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries in response to pogroms in the east and the economic opportunities offered in other parts of the world. Ashkenazi Jews have made up
19926-480: The prohibitions on certain professions. Laws were passed to integrate Jews into their host countries, forcing Ashkenazi Jews to adopt family names (they had formerly used patronymics ). Newfound inclusion into public life led to cultural growth in the Haskalah , or Jewish Enlightenment, with its goal of integrating modern European values into Jewish life. As a reaction to increasing antisemitism and assimilation following
20088-524: The question, much disputed among the Germans themselves, as to the official attitude of the German government toward the violation of Belgian neutrality. At the request of Gottlieb von Jagow , after the fall of Liège , Gerard served as intermediary for offering the Belgians peace and indemnity if they would grant passage of German troops through their country. On August 10, 1914, the Kaiser placed in Gerard's hands
20250-432: The steamship Hermann from Bremen, Germany. Their father had preceded them, immigrating to Baltimore in 1888 in order to pursue his trade in shoes and shoe repair. It was at that time that he changed the family name to Warner which was used thereafter. As in many Jewish immigrant families, some of the children gradually acquired anglicized versions of their Yiddish-sounding names. Hirsz became Harry, and his middle name Morris
20412-732: The struggling Teddington Studio. However, relief would come for the studio after Franklin Roosevelt became US president in 1933 and the New Deal revived the US Economy. Moviegoers returned, and during the year the studio was able to make a very profitable picture, 42nd Street , which revived the studio's musical films. However, in 1933, a blow would also occur as the studio's longtime head producer Darryl F. Zanuck would quit over disagreements with Harry Warner, which included Warner being strongly against allowing Zanuck’s film Baby Face to step outside
20574-486: The studio agreed to cast Edward Robinson in a wave of gangster pictures. The studio's second gangster film, The Public Enemy , would also make James Cagney arguably the studio's new top star, and the Warners were now further convinced to make more gangster films as well. Another gangster film the studio released during the Depression era was the critically acclaimed I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang . The film made Paul Muni
20736-411: The studio also contributed $ 10,000.00 to the Democratic National Committee. In the wake of Nazi Germany's rise to power, Warner became a key proponent of US intervention in Europe. Prior to the beginning of the war in Europe, Warner had produced a series of film shorts which glorified America's fight against Germany during World War I; Warner later received an honorary award for producing these shorts. By
20898-467: The studio to accept an offer at MGM, Ernst Lubitsch , the successful director of The Marriage Circle , was also given the title of head producer; Lubitsch would add additional success for the studio's profits. The film Beau Brummel also made John Barrymore a top star at the studio as well. Despite the success the studio now, the brothers were still unable to compete with The Big Three ( Paramount , Universal , and First National ). In 1925, Harry and
21060-477: The studio when he was able to negotiate a deal with Ambassador James W. Gerard to make Gerard's book My Four Years In Germany into a film. In 1918, after the success of My Four Years in Germany , the brothers were able to establish a studio near Hollywood, California . In the new Hollywood studio, Sam became co-head of production along with his younger brother, Jack. They were convinced that they would have to make movies themselves if they were to ever generate
21222-404: The studio with a lead pipe, shouting "I'll get you for this, you son of a bitch". The studio prospered post-war time, and by 1946, company payroll had reached $ 600,000 a week for studio employees, and the studio's net profit would reach $ 19,424,650.00 by the end of the year as well. During this time, Warner hired his son-in-law, Milton Sperling , to head an independent film production company for
21384-410: The studio's film House of Wax (1953). While the film proved successful for the studio, 3-D films soon lost their appeal among moviegoers. After the downfall of 3-D films, Warner decided to use CinemaScope in future Warner Bros. films. One of the studio's first CinemaScope films, The High and Mighty , brought the studio some profit. In 1954, Warner and his brother Jack were finally able engage in
21546-458: The studio's most important commercial asset until the introduction of sound. Prolific 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. Between 1928 and 1933, Zanuck served as the studio's executive producer, a position whose responsibilities included the day-to-day production of films; while Warner's younger brother Jack and Zanuck were able to develop
21708-498: The studio's suspension policy. In 1947, Warner, who was by now exhausted from all his years of arguing with his brother Jack, decided to spend more time at his San Fernando Valley ranch and to expand his interest in horse racing . Along with brother Jack, in 1938, Harry Warner became one of the founders of Hollywood Park Racetrack . In partnership with Mervyn Le Roy, he created the W-L Ranch Co. Thoroughbred racing stable. In 1947,
21870-408: The studio's top star. In 1943, Olivia de Havilland (whom Warner was now loaning to different companies) sued Jack Warner for breach of contract. De Havilland cited that the government laws only required employee contracts to reach a maximum of seven years; When de Havilland won her case many of the studio's longtime actors were freed of their contracts. To help retain them, Harry decided to eliminate
22032-486: The studio, the Red Cross collected 5,200 pints of plasma from studio employees, and 763 studio employees, including Warner's son-in-law Milton Sperling and nephew Jack Warner Jr., served in the U.S. armed forces. Following a dispute over ownership of Casablanca 's Oscar for Best Picture, head producer Hal B. Wallis broke with Warner and resigned from the studio. Following Casablanca , Humphrey Bogart became arguably
22194-487: The studio. In 1947, Harry also tried to move Warner Bros. headquarters from the longtime New York building to the Burbank area, but was unsuccessful. By the end of 1947, the studio had a record net profit of $ 22,000,000.00, although the following year, the studio profits would decrease by 50%. During this time, the studio was a party to the United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. antitrust case. This action, brought by
22356-544: The studio. The studio rebounded in 1921 with the success of the studio's film Why Girls Leave Home ; The film's director, Harry Rapf , became the studio's new head producer. On April 4, 1923, following the success of the studio's film The Gold Diggers , Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. was officially established, with help from a loan given to Harry by Montly Flint. Harry became company president, with Albert as treasurer and Jack and Sam as co-heads of production. Harry and his family moved to Hollywood. The studio discovered
22518-489: The synagogue there, but occasionally also with regard to certain other observances. In the literature of the 13th century, references to the land and the language of Ashkenaz often occur. Examples include Solomon ben Aderet 's Responsa (vol. i., No. 395); the Responsa of Asher ben Jehiel (pp. 4, 6); his Halakot (Berakot i. 12, ed. Wilna, p. 10); the work of his son Jacob ben Asher , Tur Orach Chayim (chapter 59);
22680-413: The time of the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, as many as six million Jews were already living in the Roman Empire, a conclusion which has been contested as highly exaggerated. The 13th-century author Bar Hebraeus gave a figure of 6,944,000 Jews in the Roman world. Salo Wittmayer Baron considered the figure convincing. The figure of seven million within and one million outside the Roman world in
22842-431: The treatment of Marion Davies ; Davies was a longtime mistress of Hearst, and was now struggling to draw box office success. Through the studio's partnership with Hearst, Harry's younger brother Jack was also able to sign Davies to a studio contract as well. However, Hearst's company and Davies' films could not increase the studio's net profits. In 1934, the studio had a net loss of over $ 2,500,000. $ 500,000 of this loss
23004-526: The victims were Ashkenazi Jews, their percentage dropped from an estimate of 92% of world Jewry in 1930 to nearly 80% of world Jewry today. The Holocaust also effectively put an end to the dynamic development of the Yiddish language in the previous decades , as the vast majority of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, around 5 million, were Yiddish speakers. Many of the surviving Ashkenazi Jews emigrated to countries such as Israel, Canada, Argentina, Australia , and
23166-723: The wake of the success of Gold Diggers of Broadway , journalists had dubbed Warner "the godfather of the talking screen." The studio's net profit was now over $ 14,000,000.00. During this time, Warner soon also grew tired of the Hollywood atmosphere and acquired a twenty-two acre ranch in Mount Vernon, New York . Once Warner returned to New York, he and Albert were able to work together once again. Following Albert's advice, Jack and Harry Warner acquired three Paramount stars ( William Powell , Kay Francis and Ruth Chatterton ) for salaries doubled from their previous ones. This move proved to be
23328-480: The war officially began in the latter part of 1939. Before the U.S. officially entered World War II, Warner supervised the production of three more anti-German films: The Sea Hawk (1940), which portrayed Spain's King Phillip II as an equivalent to Adolf Hitler , Sergeant York (1941) and You're in the Army Now (1941). After America's entry into the war, Warner decided to focus on making just war films. During
23490-585: The west, and some may have been founded as a result of the dispersal of Palestinian Jews after the revolts of AD 66–70 and 132–135, but it is reasonable to conjecture that many, such as the settlement in Puteoli attested in 4 BC, went back to the late republic or early empire and originated in voluntary emigration and the lure of trade and commerce." The first and second centuries CE saw a series of unsuccessful large-scale Jewish revolts against Rome . The Roman suppression of these revolts led to wide-scale destruction,
23652-518: The west, who due to high birth rates absorbed and largely replaced the preceding non-Ashkenazi Jewish groups of Eastern Europe (whose numbers the demographer Sergio Della Pergola considers to have been small). Genetic evidence also indicates that Yiddish-speaking Eastern European Jews largely descend from Ashkenazi Jews who migrated from central to eastern Europe and subsequently experienced high birthrates and genetic isolation. Some Jewish immigration from southern Europe to Eastern Europe continued into
23814-543: Was Sephardic and 3% Ashkenazi; in the mid-17th century, "Sephardim still outnumbered Ashkenazim three to two"; by the end of the 18th century, "Ashkenazim outnumbered Sephardim three to two, the result of improved living conditions in Christian Europe versus the Ottoman Muslim world." By 1930, Arthur Ruppin estimated that Ashkenazi Jews accounted for nearly 92% of world Jewry. These factors are sheer demography showing
23976-563: Was a United States lawyer, diplomat, and justice of the New York Supreme Court . Gerard was born in Geneseo , New York . His father, James Watson Gerard Jr., was a lawyer and Democratic Party politician in New York. and his grandfather, also James Watson Gerard, was a noted trial lawyer and civic reformer in New York. He graduated from Columbia University (A.B. 1890; A.M. 1891) and from New York Law School (LL.B. 1892). Gerard
24138-403: Was a notable "penny-pincher"— finally agreed to bring salaries back up to industry expectations once again. In 1933, the studio was also able to bring newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst 's Cosmopolitan films into the Warner Bros. fold. Hearst had previously been signed with MGM , but he ended his ties with the company after a dispute with the company's head producer Irving Thalberg over
24300-482: Was a tramp and not worthy of raising a child with the last name Warner. While Jack didn't mind that Lina was Catholic, Harry and the rest of the Warner family did. They refused to have any part in Lina's life, and did not acknowledge her as a member of the Warner clan. In 1930, Basquette went broke and Warner decided to file for guardianship over Sam and Lina's daughter, Lita. On March 19, 1930, Warner and his wife Rea became
24462-510: Was also indicted , along with six other Hollywood studio figures who owned movie theaters, of conspiracy to violate the Sherman Antitrust Act , through an attempt to gain a monopoly over theaters in the St. Louis area . In 1935, Warner, along with executives at RKO and Paramount, were put on trial for this charge. After a mistrial occurred, Warner sold the company's movie theaters, at least for
24624-592: Was chairman of the Democratic campaign committee of New York County for four years. He served on the National Guard of the State of New York for four years. He served through the Spanish–American War (1898) on the staff of General McCoskry Butt. From 1900 to 1904, he was quartermaster, with the rank of major, of the 1st Brigade of the Guard. He was elected to the New York Supreme Court in 1907, where he served as
24786-479: Was completed in July 1956. Jack, who was now the company's largest stockholder, named himself president. Warner found out about Jack's dealing while reading an article in Variety magazine on May 31, 1956 and collapsed after reading the news. The next day, he checked into Cedars of Lebanon Hospital and doctors told him he had a suffered a minor heart attack the previous day. While at the hospital, Warner also suffered
24948-594: Was denominated Sefarad ( Obadiah 20), France was called Tsarefat ( 1 Kings 17:9 ), and Bohemia was called the Land of Canaan . By the high medieval period, Talmudic commentators like Rashi began to use Ashkenaz/Eretz Ashkenaz to designate Germany , earlier known as Loter , where, especially in the Rhineland communities of Speyer , Worms and Mainz , the most important Jewish communities arose. Rashi uses leshon Ashkenaz (Ashkenazi language) to describe Yiddish, and Byzantium and Syrian Jewish letters referred to
25110-578: Was especially difficult to differentiate Jews from the Syrians. After Pannonia was ceded to the Huns in 433, the garrison populations were withdrawn to Italy, and only a few, enigmatic traces remain of a possible Jewish presence in the area some centuries later. No evidence has yet been found of a Jewish presence in antiquity in Germany beyond its Roman border, nor in Eastern Europe. In Gaul and Germany itself, with
25272-478: Was focused on trade, business management, and financial services, due to several presumed factors: Christian European prohibitions restricting certain activities by Jews, preventing certain financial activities (such as " usurious " loans) between Christians, high rates of literacy, near-universal male education, and ability of merchants to rely upon and trust family members living in different regions and countries. In Poland, Jews were granted special protection by
25434-590: Was likely a version of Mojżesz. In Baltimore, the money Benjamin Warner earned in the shoe repair business was not enough to provide for his growing household. He and Pearl had another daughter, Fannie, not long after they arrived. Benjamin moved the family to Canada, inspired by a friend's advice that he could make an excellent living bartering tin wares with trappers in exchange for furs. Sons Jacob and David Warner were born in London, Ontario . After two arduous years in Canada,
25596-618: Was one of the heirs to the Daly ranch, the Bitter Root Stock Farm, north of Hamilton, Montana , where the couple had frequently visited. Gerard oversaw a number of the legal interests of the Daly family, and he purchased a cattle ranch of his own in the area. Today the University of Montana holds his collected papers. Gerard died on September 6, 1951, aged 84, in Southampton, New York . He
25758-445: Was renamed Syria Palaestina . Jews were prohibited from entering the city on pain of death. Jewish presence in the region significantly dwindled after the failure of the Bar Kokhba revolt. With their national aspirations crushed and widespread devastation in Judea, despondent Jews migrated out of Judea in the aftermath of both revolts, and many settled in southern Europe. In contrast to the earlier Assyrian and Babylonian captivities,
25920-415: Was soon able to acquire William Fox ’s one third remaining share in First National and was now officially the majority stockholder of the company. After success of the studio's 1929 First National film Noah's Ark , Harry Warner also agreed to make Michael Curtiz a major director at the Burbank studio as well. Warner, after purchasing a string of music publishers, diversified the company by establishing
26082-410: Was the result of physical damage to the Warner Bros. Burbank studio that occurred after a massive fire that broke out in the studio around the end of 1934, and destroyed twenty years' worth of early Warner Bros. films. The following year, Hearst's film adaption of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream would fail at the box office and the studio's net loss increased. During this time, Warner
26244-417: Was used only for background music , Harry then made a visit to Western Electric 's Bell Laboratories in New York, (which younger brother Sam had earlier visited) and was impressed. One problem that occurred for the Warners, though, was the fact that the high-ups at Western Electric were perceived as anti-Semitic. Sam, though, was able to convince the high-ups to sign with the studio after his wife Lina wore
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