The Brothers Warner
About the Film
The Brothers Warner, an AMERICAN MASTERS presentation premiering nationally Thursday, September 25, 2008 on PBS (check local listings), is an intimate portrait and epic saga of the four film pioneers who founded and ran the Warner Bros. studio for over 50 years.
Narrated by family member Cass Warner Sperling (Harry Warner’s granddaughter), the 60-minute film gives an insider look at these original Hollywood independent filmmakers and their varied personalities and business sense: the little-known major player, Harry Warner; Albert or “Honest Abe”; visionary Sam; and volatile Jack. Rare archival footage, family photos, and documents trace their scrappy rise from nothing, along with the personal tragedies and professional battles they overcame along the way.
From opening their first storefront theater by hanging a sheet on the wall and borrowing chairs from a funeral parlor to creating one of the top studios in America, these four brothers built an empire on a dream and revolutionized Hollywood, and were the first to use mass media to “educate, entertain, and enlighten.”
Visit Warner Sisters online to learn about Cass Warner Sperling’s production company.
To order The Brothers Warner on DVD, call 1-800-336-1917.
Filmmaker interview: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/the-brothers-warner/filmmaker-interview-cass-warner-sperling/450/
Go here to see clips from the film: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/the-brothers-warner/video-scenes-from-the-film/430/
This article is from: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/the-brothers-warner/about-the-film/441/
Showing posts with label the brothers warner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the brothers warner. Show all posts
Friday, October 31, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
PBS's "American Masters" puts a spotlight on Hollywood history
http://www.scrippsnews.com:80/node/36464
Spotlighting the Warner brothers
Submitted by SHNS on Fri, 09/19/2008 - 13:23.
By ROB OWEN, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
television
PBS's "American Masters" puts a spotlight on Hollywood history next week, specifically the Warner Bros. studio and its 85-year legacy.
"You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story" (9 p.m. EDT Tuesday through Thursday) offers a five-hour chronicle of the studio and its films.
At a July PBS news conference in Beverly Hills, "American Masters" executive producer Susan Lacy called Warner Bros. "a media dynasty that would come to reflect and critique America's cultural and social trajectory through the 20th century and beyond."
In addition to "You Must Remember This," written and directed by Richard Schickel ("The Men Who Made the Movies") and featuring studio stars such as Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Jack Nicholson and George Clooney, a more intimate second program looks back at the Warner brothers themselves.
Airing as a one-hour version of her 90-minute documentary, Cass Warner Sperling's "The Brothers Warner" (10 p.m. Thursday, PBS) tells the story of the brothers from Youngstown, Ohio.
Sperling, granddaughter of Harry Warner, doesn't dwell on the brothers' origins, instead focusing on the studio they built and the clashes between figurehead Jack Warner and older brother Harry. Brother Albert is the family peacekeeper and Sam served as a producer on Warner Bros. films, including Al Jolson's "The Jazz Singer."
"I was fortunate enough to have my grandfather in my life for the first 10 years of my life," Sperling said last month during a conversation at the WQED station in Pittsburgh. "There's always somebody in your life who you don't just forget and who creates some kind of impression on you, and he was that for me."
Sperling's father, Milton, worked on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Calif., as a writer/producer and he'd share stories around the dinner table about the brothers' battles. At the time, filmmaking went on six days a week, and Sperling would go to the lot with her father on Saturdays.
"I would see this incredibly booming, creative empire going on," she said. "How is it that two guys -- Jack and Harry, who really appear not to like each other very much -- are running this business? It always fascinated me."
Sperling said no one else in the family made a point of chronicling the family history.
Documentaries about individual Warners have been made in the past, including Sperling cousin Gregory Orr's 1983 doc "Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul," but Sperling said this is the first film to look at the family.
In "The Brothers Warner," Sperling even uncovers their real last name, which was simplified to "Warner" when the family immigrated to America.
Sperling, 60, first wrote a book, now titled "The Brothers Warner," that was first published in 1993 as "Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story." Now she's made this documentary -- the full 90-minute version is available for purchase at WarnerSisters.com -- and is developing a dramatic film based on this family tale of clashing personalities and betrayal.
(Contact TV editor Rob Owen at rowen(at)post-gazette.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Spotlighting the Warner brothers
Submitted by SHNS on Fri, 09/19/2008 - 13:23.
By ROB OWEN, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
television
PBS's "American Masters" puts a spotlight on Hollywood history next week, specifically the Warner Bros. studio and its 85-year legacy.
"You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story" (9 p.m. EDT Tuesday through Thursday) offers a five-hour chronicle of the studio and its films.
At a July PBS news conference in Beverly Hills, "American Masters" executive producer Susan Lacy called Warner Bros. "a media dynasty that would come to reflect and critique America's cultural and social trajectory through the 20th century and beyond."
In addition to "You Must Remember This," written and directed by Richard Schickel ("The Men Who Made the Movies") and featuring studio stars such as Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Jack Nicholson and George Clooney, a more intimate second program looks back at the Warner brothers themselves.
Airing as a one-hour version of her 90-minute documentary, Cass Warner Sperling's "The Brothers Warner" (10 p.m. Thursday, PBS) tells the story of the brothers from Youngstown, Ohio.
Sperling, granddaughter of Harry Warner, doesn't dwell on the brothers' origins, instead focusing on the studio they built and the clashes between figurehead Jack Warner and older brother Harry. Brother Albert is the family peacekeeper and Sam served as a producer on Warner Bros. films, including Al Jolson's "The Jazz Singer."
"I was fortunate enough to have my grandfather in my life for the first 10 years of my life," Sperling said last month during a conversation at the WQED station in Pittsburgh. "There's always somebody in your life who you don't just forget and who creates some kind of impression on you, and he was that for me."
Sperling's father, Milton, worked on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Calif., as a writer/producer and he'd share stories around the dinner table about the brothers' battles. At the time, filmmaking went on six days a week, and Sperling would go to the lot with her father on Saturdays.
"I would see this incredibly booming, creative empire going on," she said. "How is it that two guys -- Jack and Harry, who really appear not to like each other very much -- are running this business? It always fascinated me."
Sperling said no one else in the family made a point of chronicling the family history.
Documentaries about individual Warners have been made in the past, including Sperling cousin Gregory Orr's 1983 doc "Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul," but Sperling said this is the first film to look at the family.
In "The Brothers Warner," Sperling even uncovers their real last name, which was simplified to "Warner" when the family immigrated to America.
Sperling, 60, first wrote a book, now titled "The Brothers Warner," that was first published in 1993 as "Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story." Now she's made this documentary -- the full 90-minute version is available for purchase at WarnerSisters.com -- and is developing a dramatic film based on this family tale of clashing personalities and betrayal.
(Contact TV editor Rob Owen at rowen(at)post-gazette.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Friday, October 24, 2008
BROTHERS WARNER - Washington Times
Tuning In
Tuesday, September 23, 2008 Washington Times
Legacy explored
PBS' "American Masters" puts a spotlight on Hollywood history this week with an in-depth look at the Warner Bros. studio and its 85-year legacy.
"You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story" (at 9 tonight through Thursday, WETA-Channel 26 and WMPT-Channel 22) offers a five-hour chronicle of the studio and its films. Oscar winner Clint Eastwood narrates tonight's opening installment, titled "You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet (1923-35)," about the movie studio's first years, when its top star was a dog named Rin Tin Tin, and its gradual move into gritty fare.
In addition to "You Must Remember This," written and directed by Richard Schickel ("The Men Who Made the Movies"), PBS also will air Cass Warner Sperling's "The Brothers Warner" (10 p.m. Thursday), an intimate 90-minute look at the four brothers from Youngstown, Ohio.
Miss Sperling, granddaughter of Harry Warner, doesn't dwell on the brothers' origins, instead focusing on the studio they built and the clashes between figurehead Jack Warner and older brother Harry. Brother Albert — who was born in Baltimore — is the family peacekeeper, and Sam served as a producer on Warner Bros. films, including Al Jolson's "The Jazz Singer." Sam Warner was the first brother to die, at age 40, the day before the landmark film was released.
"I was fortunate enough to have my grandfather in my life for the first 10 years of my life," Miss Sperling told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
• Compiled by Robyn-Denise Yourse from Web and wire reports
Tuesday, September 23, 2008 Washington Times
Legacy explored
PBS' "American Masters" puts a spotlight on Hollywood history this week with an in-depth look at the Warner Bros. studio and its 85-year legacy.
"You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story" (at 9 tonight through Thursday, WETA-Channel 26 and WMPT-Channel 22) offers a five-hour chronicle of the studio and its films. Oscar winner Clint Eastwood narrates tonight's opening installment, titled "You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet (1923-35)," about the movie studio's first years, when its top star was a dog named Rin Tin Tin, and its gradual move into gritty fare.
In addition to "You Must Remember This," written and directed by Richard Schickel ("The Men Who Made the Movies"), PBS also will air Cass Warner Sperling's "The Brothers Warner" (10 p.m. Thursday), an intimate 90-minute look at the four brothers from Youngstown, Ohio.
Miss Sperling, granddaughter of Harry Warner, doesn't dwell on the brothers' origins, instead focusing on the studio they built and the clashes between figurehead Jack Warner and older brother Harry. Brother Albert — who was born in Baltimore — is the family peacekeeper, and Sam served as a producer on Warner Bros. films, including Al Jolson's "The Jazz Singer." Sam Warner was the first brother to die, at age 40, the day before the landmark film was released.
"I was fortunate enough to have my grandfather in my life for the first 10 years of my life," Miss Sperling told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
• Compiled by Robyn-Denise Yourse from Web and wire reports
Thursday, October 23, 2008
From Ohio to Hollywood
COLUMBUS DISPATCH feature/interview with Cass
Warner Bros. studio rooted in plan hatched in Youngstown
Tuesday, September 23, 2008 3:18 AM By Jeffrey Sheban
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
The vindicator (youngstown)
The entrance to the opulent Warner Theatre in Youngstown, shortly after it opened in 1931
Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar
Harry
Jack
Albert
Sam
Inside the Edward W. Powers Auditorium in Youngstown
For the Warner brothers, the road to Hollywood was paved more than a century ago in Youngstown.
Around the family dinner table back in 1903, three of the boys tried to persuade their immigrant parents, Ben and Pearl Warner, to help them buy a used "moving picture" projector and a grainy print of The Great Train Robbery.
Harry, Sam and Albert (later joined by Jack) saw silent films as potentially more profitable than the market, bicycle store and shoe-repair shop that the Warners operated in the booming steel town.
Harry, the eldest son, and Sam, a mechanical wizard, had fallen in love with picture shows at a small nickelodeon theater (admission: 5 cents) in nearby Pittsburgh.
They hoped to get a secondhand Kinetoscope projector, invented by Thomas Edison, and show short films in tents and storefronts in Youngstown and neighboring communities.
Their father, a Polish Jew who had arrived in America in 1883, agreed to pawn a gold watch and the family horse to help his sons raise the $950 they needed.
"As long as you stand together, you will be strong," he told his ambitious offspring.
Soon, the Warner brothers were showing movies in Ohio (Youngstown, Niles and Warren) and western Pennsylvania (New Castle, Erie and Sharon).
Two new documentaries from the American Masters series on PBS tell the story of the brothers (who ultimately didn't heed their father's advice) and their influential movie studio -- which made household names of Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney and Bette Davis, not to mention Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.
One of the documentaries, The Brothers Warner, is based on a 1994 book by Cass Warner Sperling, granddaughter of Harry.
The writer-producer penned Hollywood Be Thy Name (reissued this year as The Brothers Warner) in part to preserve the legacy of her grandfather, who in later years lost a power struggle to Jack.
"I was very close to my grandfather for the first 10 years of my life," said Sperling, 60, of Santa Barbara, Calif. "For me, I felt something was passed to me to carry on."
Sperling hadn't seen Youngstown before she wrote the book, which is based on family stories and her research, but she made a short visit before filming the documentary.
She met the mayor and toured the Edward W. Powers Auditorium, which opened in 1931 as one of the more opulent Warner theaters built in cities nationwide.
Her great-grandfather Ben remained a grocer in town and died across the street from the theater while playing cards; he was buried in Los Angeles.
"Anywhere my family has been, I feel something," Sperling said. "Powers Auditorium really moved me."
Armed with their used projector, the Warner boys traveled the trolley lines connecting Youngstown and other communities to screen short films.
Then, in 1905 or so, they opened the Cascade Theatre in a former penny arcade just across the Ohio-Pennsylvania border in New Castle. A sheet was hung on the wall and chairs were borrowed from a funeral parlor nearby.
The book and documentary describe the transition from traveling nickelodeon shows to film distribution and production, then to movie- theater construction, starting with the first permanent Warner Theatre -- built in 1922 in Niles, about 10 miles northwest of Youngstown.
The famous Warner Bros. Studios, still in operation as a division of Time Warner, was established in 1918 in a little-developed part of Los Angeles called Hollywood.
Movies from the studio's early days focused on working-class struggles and mobsters with heart -- two themes that pretty much described their hometown, which was filling up fast with Irish, Italian and eastern European immigrants plus Southern blacks in search of factory jobs.
"There was discrimination and tension, and absolutely they were influenced by the whole cultural milieu," said John Russo, co-author of Steeltown U.S.A.: Work & Memory in Youngstown. "Their films reflected that."
The decision to leave Youngstown for Hollywood resulted in part because of pressure from Edison, who wanted to enforce his patents on the Kinetoscope and limit the number of film exhibitors east of the Mississippi River.
Although the so-called Edison Trust almost succeeded in driving the Warner brothers out of business, it also opened doors.
Real success for the studio came in 1927 with the release of The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson -- credited as the first feature film with synchronized dialogue. (The death of Sam the day before the premiere kept Harry, Albert and Jack from attending.)
The Warner Theatre in Youngstown, built as a memorial to Sam, was heralded as "the finest theater ever built."
The 114-room movie house with five levels cost $1.5 million; it opened May 14, 1931. Decorative touches included marble, Carpathian elm, Italian olive wood, Australian and African cherry, Madagascar ebony and burled English walnut.
It closed as a movie theater in 1968 with a final showing of Bonnie and Clyde.
In the wake of a yearlong refurbishing, it has since housed the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra.
Faring less well is the old Warner neighborhood, north of downtown, where many of the houses have been torn down or abandoned.
No marker tells passers-by that Hollywood history was made inside 1351 1/2 Elm St.
Sperling hopes someday to visit the street where the brothers lived -- something for which she didn't have time during her first trip.
"I'd really like to come back," she said. "This whole journey has been about discovering my roots."
jsheban@dispatch.com
On television
The Brothers Warner -- premiering at 10 p.m. Thursday on WOSU-DT1, a digital cable channel -- provides a more personal look at the family and its Youngstown roots as told by writer-producer Cass Warner Sperling, granddaughter of Harry Warner.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/life/stories/2008/09/23/1_WARNER_BROS.ART_ART_09-23-08_D1_78BBTUK.html?sid=101>
Warner Bros. studio rooted in plan hatched in Youngstown
Tuesday, September 23, 2008 3:18 AM By Jeffrey Sheban
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
The vindicator (youngstown)
The entrance to the opulent Warner Theatre in Youngstown, shortly after it opened in 1931
Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar
Harry
Jack
Albert
Sam
Inside the Edward W. Powers Auditorium in Youngstown
For the Warner brothers, the road to Hollywood was paved more than a century ago in Youngstown.
Around the family dinner table back in 1903, three of the boys tried to persuade their immigrant parents, Ben and Pearl Warner, to help them buy a used "moving picture" projector and a grainy print of The Great Train Robbery.
Harry, Sam and Albert (later joined by Jack) saw silent films as potentially more profitable than the market, bicycle store and shoe-repair shop that the Warners operated in the booming steel town.
Harry, the eldest son, and Sam, a mechanical wizard, had fallen in love with picture shows at a small nickelodeon theater (admission: 5 cents) in nearby Pittsburgh.
They hoped to get a secondhand Kinetoscope projector, invented by Thomas Edison, and show short films in tents and storefronts in Youngstown and neighboring communities.
Their father, a Polish Jew who had arrived in America in 1883, agreed to pawn a gold watch and the family horse to help his sons raise the $950 they needed.
"As long as you stand together, you will be strong," he told his ambitious offspring.
Soon, the Warner brothers were showing movies in Ohio (Youngstown, Niles and Warren) and western Pennsylvania (New Castle, Erie and Sharon).
Two new documentaries from the American Masters series on PBS tell the story of the brothers (who ultimately didn't heed their father's advice) and their influential movie studio -- which made household names of Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney and Bette Davis, not to mention Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.
One of the documentaries, The Brothers Warner, is based on a 1994 book by Cass Warner Sperling, granddaughter of Harry.
The writer-producer penned Hollywood Be Thy Name (reissued this year as The Brothers Warner) in part to preserve the legacy of her grandfather, who in later years lost a power struggle to Jack.
"I was very close to my grandfather for the first 10 years of my life," said Sperling, 60, of Santa Barbara, Calif. "For me, I felt something was passed to me to carry on."
Sperling hadn't seen Youngstown before she wrote the book, which is based on family stories and her research, but she made a short visit before filming the documentary.
She met the mayor and toured the Edward W. Powers Auditorium, which opened in 1931 as one of the more opulent Warner theaters built in cities nationwide.
Her great-grandfather Ben remained a grocer in town and died across the street from the theater while playing cards; he was buried in Los Angeles.
"Anywhere my family has been, I feel something," Sperling said. "Powers Auditorium really moved me."
Armed with their used projector, the Warner boys traveled the trolley lines connecting Youngstown and other communities to screen short films.
Then, in 1905 or so, they opened the Cascade Theatre in a former penny arcade just across the Ohio-Pennsylvania border in New Castle. A sheet was hung on the wall and chairs were borrowed from a funeral parlor nearby.
The book and documentary describe the transition from traveling nickelodeon shows to film distribution and production, then to movie- theater construction, starting with the first permanent Warner Theatre -- built in 1922 in Niles, about 10 miles northwest of Youngstown.
The famous Warner Bros. Studios, still in operation as a division of Time Warner, was established in 1918 in a little-developed part of Los Angeles called Hollywood.
Movies from the studio's early days focused on working-class struggles and mobsters with heart -- two themes that pretty much described their hometown, which was filling up fast with Irish, Italian and eastern European immigrants plus Southern blacks in search of factory jobs.
"There was discrimination and tension, and absolutely they were influenced by the whole cultural milieu," said John Russo, co-author of Steeltown U.S.A.: Work & Memory in Youngstown. "Their films reflected that."
The decision to leave Youngstown for Hollywood resulted in part because of pressure from Edison, who wanted to enforce his patents on the Kinetoscope and limit the number of film exhibitors east of the Mississippi River.
Although the so-called Edison Trust almost succeeded in driving the Warner brothers out of business, it also opened doors.
Real success for the studio came in 1927 with the release of The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson -- credited as the first feature film with synchronized dialogue. (The death of Sam the day before the premiere kept Harry, Albert and Jack from attending.)
The Warner Theatre in Youngstown, built as a memorial to Sam, was heralded as "the finest theater ever built."
The 114-room movie house with five levels cost $1.5 million; it opened May 14, 1931. Decorative touches included marble, Carpathian elm, Italian olive wood, Australian and African cherry, Madagascar ebony and burled English walnut.
It closed as a movie theater in 1968 with a final showing of Bonnie and Clyde.
In the wake of a yearlong refurbishing, it has since housed the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra.
Faring less well is the old Warner neighborhood, north of downtown, where many of the houses have been torn down or abandoned.
No marker tells passers-by that Hollywood history was made inside 1351 1/2 Elm St.
Sperling hopes someday to visit the street where the brothers lived -- something for which she didn't have time during her first trip.
"I'd really like to come back," she said. "This whole journey has been about discovering my roots."
jsheban@dispatch.com
On television
The Brothers Warner -- premiering at 10 p.m. Thursday on WOSU-DT1, a digital cable channel -- provides a more personal look at the family and its Youngstown roots as told by writer-producer Cass Warner Sperling, granddaughter of Harry Warner.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/life/stories/2008/09/23/1_WARNER_BROS.ART_ART_09-23-08_D1_78BBTUK.html?sid=101>
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
TV Preview: PBS show spotlights Warner Bros. dynasty
Sunday, September 21, 2008
By Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Lake Fong/Post-Gazette
PBS's "American Masters" puts a spotlight on Hollywood history this week, specifically the Warner Bros. studio and its 85-year legacy.
"You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story" (9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, WQED) offers a five-hour chronicle of the studio and its films.
At a July PBS news conference in Beverly Hills, "American Masters" executive producer Susan Lacy called Warner Bros. "a media dynasty that would come to reflect and critique America's cultural and social trajectory through the 20th century and beyond."
In addition to "You Must Remember This," written and directed by Richard Schickel ("The Men Who Made the Movies") and featuring studio stars such as Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Jack Nicholson and George Clooney, a more intimate second program looks back at the Warner brothers themselves.
'American Masters:You Must RememberThis -- The Warner Brothers Story'
When: 9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, WQED.
Narrator: Clint Eastwood.
'American Masters:The Brothers'
When: 10 p.m. Thursday, WQED.
Narrator: Cass Warner Sperling.
Airing as a one-hour version of her 90-minute documentary, Cass Warner Sperling's "The Brothers Warner" (10 p.m. Thursday, WQED) tells the story of the brothers fromYoungstown, Ohio, who opened their first movie theater in New Castle.
Cass Warner Sperling, granddaughter of Harry Warner, made "The Brothers Warner."
Sperling, granddaughter of Harry Warner, doesn't dwell on the brothers' origins in Western Pennsylvania, instead focusing on the studio they built and the clashes between figurehead Jack Warner and older brother Harry. Brother Albert is the family peacekeeper and Sam served as a producer on Warner Bros. films, including Al Jolson's "The Jazz Singer."
Because of the Warner Bros. connection to Western Pennsylvania -- Harry once worked at the Kaufmann's Downtown -- Sperling developed a connection with WQED when she created a film festival at Slippery Rock University in 2000. She brought "The Brothers Warner" to WQED before "American Masters" picked up the documentary for national airing last month.
"I was fortunate enough to have my grandfather in my life for the first 10 years of my life," Sperling said last month during a conversation at WQED in Oakland. "There's always somebody in your life who you don't just forget and who creates some kind of impression on you, and he was that for me."
Sperling's father, Milton, worked on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Calif., as a writer/producer, and he'd share stories around the dinner table about the brothers' battles. At the time, filmmaking went on six days a week, and Sperling would go to the lot with her father on Saturdays.
"I would see this incredibly booming, creative empire going on," she said. "How is it that two guys -- Jack and Harry, who really appear not to like each other very much -- are running this business? It always fascinated me."
Sperling said no one else in the family made a point of chronicling the family history. Documentaries about individual Warners have been made, including Sperling cousin Gregory Orr's 1983 "Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul," but Sperling said this is the first film to look at the family.
In "The Brothers Warner," she even uncovers their real last name, which was simplified to Warner when the family immigrated to America.
Sperling, 60, wrote a book, now titled "The Brothers Warner," that was first published in 1993 as "Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story." Now she's made this documentary -- the full 90-minute version is available for purchase at WarnerSisters.com -- and is developing a dramatic film based on this family tale of clashing personalities and betrayal.
Contact TV editor Rob Owen at rowen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1112.
First published on September 21, 2008 at 12:00 am
By Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Lake Fong/Post-Gazette
PBS's "American Masters" puts a spotlight on Hollywood history this week, specifically the Warner Bros. studio and its 85-year legacy.
"You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story" (9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, WQED) offers a five-hour chronicle of the studio and its films.
At a July PBS news conference in Beverly Hills, "American Masters" executive producer Susan Lacy called Warner Bros. "a media dynasty that would come to reflect and critique America's cultural and social trajectory through the 20th century and beyond."
In addition to "You Must Remember This," written and directed by Richard Schickel ("The Men Who Made the Movies") and featuring studio stars such as Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Jack Nicholson and George Clooney, a more intimate second program looks back at the Warner brothers themselves.
'American Masters:You Must RememberThis -- The Warner Brothers Story'
When: 9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, WQED.
Narrator: Clint Eastwood.
'American Masters:The Brothers'
When: 10 p.m. Thursday, WQED.
Narrator: Cass Warner Sperling.
Airing as a one-hour version of her 90-minute documentary, Cass Warner Sperling's "The Brothers Warner" (10 p.m. Thursday, WQED) tells the story of the brothers fromYoungstown, Ohio, who opened their first movie theater in New Castle.
Cass Warner Sperling, granddaughter of Harry Warner, made "The Brothers Warner."
Sperling, granddaughter of Harry Warner, doesn't dwell on the brothers' origins in Western Pennsylvania, instead focusing on the studio they built and the clashes between figurehead Jack Warner and older brother Harry. Brother Albert is the family peacekeeper and Sam served as a producer on Warner Bros. films, including Al Jolson's "The Jazz Singer."
Because of the Warner Bros. connection to Western Pennsylvania -- Harry once worked at the Kaufmann's Downtown -- Sperling developed a connection with WQED when she created a film festival at Slippery Rock University in 2000. She brought "The Brothers Warner" to WQED before "American Masters" picked up the documentary for national airing last month.
"I was fortunate enough to have my grandfather in my life for the first 10 years of my life," Sperling said last month during a conversation at WQED in Oakland. "There's always somebody in your life who you don't just forget and who creates some kind of impression on you, and he was that for me."
Sperling's father, Milton, worked on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Calif., as a writer/producer, and he'd share stories around the dinner table about the brothers' battles. At the time, filmmaking went on six days a week, and Sperling would go to the lot with her father on Saturdays.
"I would see this incredibly booming, creative empire going on," she said. "How is it that two guys -- Jack and Harry, who really appear not to like each other very much -- are running this business? It always fascinated me."
Sperling said no one else in the family made a point of chronicling the family history. Documentaries about individual Warners have been made, including Sperling cousin Gregory Orr's 1983 "Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul," but Sperling said this is the first film to look at the family.
In "The Brothers Warner," she even uncovers their real last name, which was simplified to Warner when the family immigrated to America.
Sperling, 60, wrote a book, now titled "The Brothers Warner," that was first published in 1993 as "Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story." Now she's made this documentary -- the full 90-minute version is available for purchase at WarnerSisters.com -- and is developing a dramatic film based on this family tale of clashing personalities and betrayal.
Contact TV editor Rob Owen at rowen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1112.
First published on September 21, 2008 at 12:00 am
Friday, September 26, 2008
Cass saw the history of social activism that has run through her family.
Story,” into her first film, “The Brothers Warner.”
The movie shows today, at 5:30 p.m., at the Wheeler Opera House, as part of Aspen Filmfest, with Warner expected to attend. The screening will be followed by a dinner celebrating Aspenite Lita Warner Heller, a cousin of Cass’ who is featured in the film. Proceeds from the dinner will go to Aspen Film’s new Emerging Filmmakers Fund.
“Brothers Warner,” made through Cass Warner’s Warner Sisters company, plays partly as a personal reflection. Through home images and the memories of Warner and other family members, the film tells of the Polish-Canadian Jewish siblings who became fascinated with the emerging film technology and built a chain of theaters. It is another version of the American dream tale: immigrants taking extreme risks, dreaming big, and succeeding in expanding the business and artistic landscape.
“Being close to my grandfather, working to do something in his honor — that was a big purpose,” said Warner, whose late father, Milton Sperling, was a film producer and screenwriter. “I think it’s a great saga of family who had a dream and didn’t quit until they made it happen. You can’t quit if you have a dream, and every barrier is an incentive not to stop, to keep going.”
The documentary also works as a tale of ego and family strife. Jack Warner, the youngest of the studio founders, is recalled as a flamboyant figure, the brother most closely associated with the studio, and a back-stabber who acquired exclusive control in Warner Brothers after convincing his brothers to sell their stock in a sham business deal.
Cass Warner learned from this episode that film can be a potent tool not only for the viewer, but for the maker.
“He’s an interesting character,” she said of her great-uncle Jack, who died in 1978, “and I learned to love him as well as the rest of the family. I felt good about including him and forgiving him, rather than making him the enemy. I’ve always been interested in evaluating information for myself, to uncover who these characters were. Why they made these decisions was fascinating to me.
“Power is an interesting state of existence, and it’s a very delicate and potentially dangerous tool if you don’t know how to control it.”
Warner, the mother of four and grandmother of three, is intent on using her newfound power as a filmmaker. She has two projects in the works. “A Shade of Grey” she describes as a “To Kill a Mockingbird”-like story, seen through the eyes of two children. The project has several well-known actors attached to it whom Warner would not publicly identify. The other is “Dog Stories,” a four-person coming-of-age story which she might direct herself.
The documentary “The Brothers Warner” shows at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the Wheeler Opera House as part of Aspen Filmfest.
stewart@aspentimes.com
The movie shows today, at 5:30 p.m., at the Wheeler Opera House, as part of Aspen Filmfest, with Warner expected to attend. The screening will be followed by a dinner celebrating Aspenite Lita Warner Heller, a cousin of Cass’ who is featured in the film. Proceeds from the dinner will go to Aspen Film’s new Emerging Filmmakers Fund.
“Brothers Warner,” made through Cass Warner’s Warner Sisters company, plays partly as a personal reflection. Through home images and the memories of Warner and other family members, the film tells of the Polish-Canadian Jewish siblings who became fascinated with the emerging film technology and built a chain of theaters. It is another version of the American dream tale: immigrants taking extreme risks, dreaming big, and succeeding in expanding the business and artistic landscape.
“Being close to my grandfather, working to do something in his honor — that was a big purpose,” said Warner, whose late father, Milton Sperling, was a film producer and screenwriter. “I think it’s a great saga of family who had a dream and didn’t quit until they made it happen. You can’t quit if you have a dream, and every barrier is an incentive not to stop, to keep going.”
The documentary also works as a tale of ego and family strife. Jack Warner, the youngest of the studio founders, is recalled as a flamboyant figure, the brother most closely associated with the studio, and a back-stabber who acquired exclusive control in Warner Brothers after convincing his brothers to sell their stock in a sham business deal.
Cass Warner learned from this episode that film can be a potent tool not only for the viewer, but for the maker.
“He’s an interesting character,” she said of her great-uncle Jack, who died in 1978, “and I learned to love him as well as the rest of the family. I felt good about including him and forgiving him, rather than making him the enemy. I’ve always been interested in evaluating information for myself, to uncover who these characters were. Why they made these decisions was fascinating to me.
“Power is an interesting state of existence, and it’s a very delicate and potentially dangerous tool if you don’t know how to control it.”
Warner, the mother of four and grandmother of three, is intent on using her newfound power as a filmmaker. She has two projects in the works. “A Shade of Grey” she describes as a “To Kill a Mockingbird”-like story, seen through the eyes of two children. The project has several well-known actors attached to it whom Warner would not publicly identify. The other is “Dog Stories,” a four-person coming-of-age story which she might direct herself.
The documentary “The Brothers Warner” shows at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the Wheeler Opera House as part of Aspen Filmfest.
stewart@aspentimes.com
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Cass on NPR!
Did you hear Cass on NPR? She was interviewed by Larry Mantle on Friday, September 19th, 2008, and you can hear it by clicking this link:
http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/listings/2008/09/airtalk_20080915.shtml
(Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will hear her interview!)
Enjoy!
http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/listings/2008/09/airtalk_20080915.shtml
(Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will hear her interview!)
Enjoy!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Aspen Filmfest reels 'em in - Aspen Times Staff Report
ASPEN — Aspen Film has announced the partial program for next month’s Filmfest. The 30th annual festival, with American features, documentaries, international movies and special events, is set for Sept. 24-28, with events in Aspen and Carbondale.
The opening night film is “Flash of Genius,” the first feature by director Marc Abraham. Based on a true story, the film stars Greg Kinnear as an inventor trying to win back the rights to his invention, for the intermittent windshield wiper, from a car manufacturer.
Aspenite Lita Heller will be honored with a new Aspen Film award for community service to the arts. The award ceremony will be held in conjunction with a screening of the documentary “The Brothers Warner,” a look at the four siblings who founded the Warner Bros. studio. Director Cass Warner, granddaughter of movie mogul Harry Warner, is scheduled to attend.
Commemorating the 45th anniversary of “Peter Pan,” Filmfest will show the classic in its family-oriented segment. The screening will be an exclusive Colorado engagement, and will feature a new print.
Also in the features category is “Ballast,” a comic-drama about a broken family in the Mississippi Delta that earned Lance Hammer the best director award at Sundance. Foreign titles include “Teddy Bear,” by Czech director Jan Hrebejk; “Lemon Tree, an Israeli film that earned the Audience Award at the Berlin Film Festival; another Israeli film, “Waltz with Bashir,” a documentary of soldiers recalling the 1982 war in Lebanon; and the French drama “I’ve Loved You So Long,” starring Kristin Scott Thomas as a woman reunited with her family.
Documentaries include “Crimes Against Nature,” based on Robert Kennedy Jr.’s book about the Bush administration’s record on the environment; “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” about the women’s movement in Liberia; and “Stranded,” with survivors of a 1972 plane crash in the Andes recalling their experience.
Filmfest tickets go on sale Sept. 15. For further information, go to aspenfilm.org.
The opening night film is “Flash of Genius,” the first feature by director Marc Abraham. Based on a true story, the film stars Greg Kinnear as an inventor trying to win back the rights to his invention, for the intermittent windshield wiper, from a car manufacturer.
Aspenite Lita Heller will be honored with a new Aspen Film award for community service to the arts. The award ceremony will be held in conjunction with a screening of the documentary “The Brothers Warner,” a look at the four siblings who founded the Warner Bros. studio. Director Cass Warner, granddaughter of movie mogul Harry Warner, is scheduled to attend.
Commemorating the 45th anniversary of “Peter Pan,” Filmfest will show the classic in its family-oriented segment. The screening will be an exclusive Colorado engagement, and will feature a new print.
Also in the features category is “Ballast,” a comic-drama about a broken family in the Mississippi Delta that earned Lance Hammer the best director award at Sundance. Foreign titles include “Teddy Bear,” by Czech director Jan Hrebejk; “Lemon Tree, an Israeli film that earned the Audience Award at the Berlin Film Festival; another Israeli film, “Waltz with Bashir,” a documentary of soldiers recalling the 1982 war in Lebanon; and the French drama “I’ve Loved You So Long,” starring Kristin Scott Thomas as a woman reunited with her family.
Documentaries include “Crimes Against Nature,” based on Robert Kennedy Jr.’s book about the Bush administration’s record on the environment; “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” about the women’s movement in Liberia; and “Stranded,” with survivors of a 1972 plane crash in the Andes recalling their experience.
Filmfest tickets go on sale Sept. 15. For further information, go to aspenfilm.org.
Aspen Filmfest reels ‘em in - Vail Daily News - Vail,CO
ASPEN — After yet another summer of superheroes, super-villains and characters plucked from television’s past, Aspen Filmfest arrives — at the speed of light, in the nick of time, to save the day!
Aspen Film’s annual fall festival, set for Sept. 24-28, scales things back to human size. “It sounds like a cliché — but it’s ordinary people doing extraordinary things,” said Laura Thielen, executive director of Aspen Film. “Whether they’re documentaries or features, it’s normal people doing things that are kind of extraordinary.”
The festival takes no time getting to that theme. The opening night film is “Flash of Genius,” a feature based on the true story of Bob Kearns, an inventor whose signature creation, the intermittant windshield wiper, has been swiped by a Detroit automaker. In a performance that Thielen says has lready generated Oscar buzz, Greg Kinnear stars as the little guy who takes on the U.S. auto industry in an effort to get his due. The film, by first-time feature director Marc Abraham, co-stars Alan Alda and Dermot Mulroney.
On the documentary side are several films that have regular people making tremendous achievments, or facing extraordinary circumstances.
In the former category is “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” director Virginia Reticker’s look at how an improbable women’s movement brought enormous political changes to Liberia; and “Pressure Cooker,” the story of a culinary program in a run-down Philadelphia high school that has yielded impressive results for its participants. (The film’s co-directors, Mark Becker and Jennifer Grausman, are both expected to be in attendance.)
In the category of people dropped into extraordinary circumstances is “Stranded,” a documentary about the Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes in 1972. The film features survivors recounting for the first time in public about their experience.
Additional documentaries include the U.S. premiere of director Angus Yates’ “Crimes Against Nature,” based on Robert Kennedy, Jr.’s book about the Bush administration’s dismantling of the Environmental Protection Agency; and “The Brothers Warner,” the story of the four siblings who founded the Warner Bros. movie studio, as told by Cass Warner, granddaughter of mogul Harry Warner.
Among the features that tell human-scale tales is “Ballast,” a drama set in the Mississippi Delta about how a suicide ultimately brings a broken family back together. The film earned a best director award at the Sundance Festival for Lance Hammer in his first feature-length effort.
A handful of foreign language films also focus on real-life issues and stories. The French drama “I’ve Loved You So Long” stars Kristin Scott Thomas as a woman trying to reconnect with her family, and herself, after a long prison term. “Waltz with Bashir” and “Lemon Tree” are Israeli films that put the country’s political issues — the 1982 occupation of Lebanon in the former, and the conflict with the Palestinians in the latter — into human perspective. “Lemon Tree” earned the Audience Award at the Berlin Film Festival; “Waltz with Bashir” was well-received after premiering at the Cannes Film Festival. “Teddy Bear” is a comedy/drama about three couples in their 30s; the film is by Czech director Jan Hrebejk, whose last film, “Beauty in Trouble,” showed at last year’s Filmfest.
Amidst all the real-life tales is one very big fantasy: “Peter Pan.” Filmfest will have an exclusive Colorado screening, from a new print, in honor of the film’s 45th anniversary. The 1953 classic hasn’t been featured on the big screen in over 20 years.
Stewart Oksenhorn
Vail CO, Colorado
Aspen Film’s annual fall festival, set for Sept. 24-28, scales things back to human size. “It sounds like a cliché — but it’s ordinary people doing extraordinary things,” said Laura Thielen, executive director of Aspen Film. “Whether they’re documentaries or features, it’s normal people doing things that are kind of extraordinary.”
The festival takes no time getting to that theme. The opening night film is “Flash of Genius,” a feature based on the true story of Bob Kearns, an inventor whose signature creation, the intermittant windshield wiper, has been swiped by a Detroit automaker. In a performance that Thielen says has lready generated Oscar buzz, Greg Kinnear stars as the little guy who takes on the U.S. auto industry in an effort to get his due. The film, by first-time feature director Marc Abraham, co-stars Alan Alda and Dermot Mulroney.
On the documentary side are several films that have regular people making tremendous achievments, or facing extraordinary circumstances.
In the former category is “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” director Virginia Reticker’s look at how an improbable women’s movement brought enormous political changes to Liberia; and “Pressure Cooker,” the story of a culinary program in a run-down Philadelphia high school that has yielded impressive results for its participants. (The film’s co-directors, Mark Becker and Jennifer Grausman, are both expected to be in attendance.)
In the category of people dropped into extraordinary circumstances is “Stranded,” a documentary about the Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes in 1972. The film features survivors recounting for the first time in public about their experience.
Additional documentaries include the U.S. premiere of director Angus Yates’ “Crimes Against Nature,” based on Robert Kennedy, Jr.’s book about the Bush administration’s dismantling of the Environmental Protection Agency; and “The Brothers Warner,” the story of the four siblings who founded the Warner Bros. movie studio, as told by Cass Warner, granddaughter of mogul Harry Warner.
Among the features that tell human-scale tales is “Ballast,” a drama set in the Mississippi Delta about how a suicide ultimately brings a broken family back together. The film earned a best director award at the Sundance Festival for Lance Hammer in his first feature-length effort.
A handful of foreign language films also focus on real-life issues and stories. The French drama “I’ve Loved You So Long” stars Kristin Scott Thomas as a woman trying to reconnect with her family, and herself, after a long prison term. “Waltz with Bashir” and “Lemon Tree” are Israeli films that put the country’s political issues — the 1982 occupation of Lebanon in the former, and the conflict with the Palestinians in the latter — into human perspective. “Lemon Tree” earned the Audience Award at the Berlin Film Festival; “Waltz with Bashir” was well-received after premiering at the Cannes Film Festival. “Teddy Bear” is a comedy/drama about three couples in their 30s; the film is by Czech director Jan Hrebejk, whose last film, “Beauty in Trouble,” showed at last year’s Filmfest.
Amidst all the real-life tales is one very big fantasy: “Peter Pan.” Filmfest will have an exclusive Colorado screening, from a new print, in honor of the film’s 45th anniversary. The 1953 classic hasn’t been featured on the big screen in over 20 years.
Stewart Oksenhorn
Vail CO, Colorado
“I was riveted by this story..."
“I was riveted by this story,” said Susan Lacy, creator and executive producer of AMERICAN MASTERS. “It’s a wonderful, intimate, deeply interesting film about the actual Warner brothers, illuminating the personal history behind the studio."
A Promise Kept – Granddaughter Carries on the Warner Brothers Legacy
“It was an especially hot day at my summer camp. As I stood listening to my father on the phone tell me Grandpa Harry "passed on", a thud happened in my universe. I could feel myself grabbing for fond memories that were turning from color to black and white without the presence of my grandfather in them.
The last time I saw him flashed into my mind: He lay on a perfectly starched bed in an anti-septic smelling bedroom. A mysterious force drew me to him as if he were a candle in the dark. It was a gentle force. His eyes were opened and moved to take me in. A slight smile came across his lips. I watched his hand start to slowly move across the sheet toward mine. My hand immediately wrapped around his. The enormously kind look in his eyes embraced me as it always did. I felt his grip strengthen transmitting and sealing an important request—something of great importance was being entrusted to me. I squeezed back. A promise was made!” -Cass Warner Sperling
THE BROTHERS WARNER a feature-length documentary written and directed by Harry Warner’s granddaughter, Cass Warner Sperling, and produced by her production company, Warner Sisters is a completion of a promise to herself and her grandfather. It's an intimate portrait of the four brothers who pioneered the film industry--an ultimate rags-to-riches story of a family run business and the challenges they overcame to create a major studio with a social conscience.
Barry Meyer, Chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. recently screened THE BROTHERS WARNER. In his own words, “THE BROTHERS WARNER is a well-made, fascinating documentary. Cass has not only honored her grandfather’s legacy with this work, she’s also paid homage to one of the guiding principles of the four Warner brothers who founded the studio by producing a film that will educate, entertain and enlighten audiences.”
The film is based on the family biography, THE BROTHERS WARNER, a book written by Ms. Warner. A special 85th anniversary edition is now available on Amazon.com with twice as many photos and a new introduction, and a pre-released copy of the film is available on DVD on Warner Sisters' website.
The last time I saw him flashed into my mind: He lay on a perfectly starched bed in an anti-septic smelling bedroom. A mysterious force drew me to him as if he were a candle in the dark. It was a gentle force. His eyes were opened and moved to take me in. A slight smile came across his lips. I watched his hand start to slowly move across the sheet toward mine. My hand immediately wrapped around his. The enormously kind look in his eyes embraced me as it always did. I felt his grip strengthen transmitting and sealing an important request—something of great importance was being entrusted to me. I squeezed back. A promise was made!” -Cass Warner Sperling
THE BROTHERS WARNER a feature-length documentary written and directed by Harry Warner’s granddaughter, Cass Warner Sperling, and produced by her production company, Warner Sisters is a completion of a promise to herself and her grandfather. It's an intimate portrait of the four brothers who pioneered the film industry--an ultimate rags-to-riches story of a family run business and the challenges they overcame to create a major studio with a social conscience.
Barry Meyer, Chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. recently screened THE BROTHERS WARNER. In his own words, “THE BROTHERS WARNER is a well-made, fascinating documentary. Cass has not only honored her grandfather’s legacy with this work, she’s also paid homage to one of the guiding principles of the four Warner brothers who founded the studio by producing a film that will educate, entertain and enlighten audiences.”
The film is based on the family biography, THE BROTHERS WARNER, a book written by Ms. Warner. A special 85th anniversary edition is now available on Amazon.com with twice as many photos and a new introduction, and a pre-released copy of the film is available on DVD on Warner Sisters' website.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
MIP TV Debut, April 7-11, Planned
NEW DOCUMENTARY: “THE BROTHERS WARNER,” BY FILMMAKER AND GRANDDAUGHTER, CASS WARNER TELLS HER FAMILY DYNASTY’S STORY, BOTH THE GRAND AND THE GRIM!
A band of brothers who rose from immigrant poverty through personal tragedies, persevering to create a major studio with a social conscience
(Los Angeles, Calif., March 25, 2008)--- Warner Brothers was the only family owned and operated studio in Hollywood and today the studio the brothers created 85 years ago remains a giant player in the entertainment industry.
But behind the power of “Casablanca” and reels of Bugs Bunny cartoon classics is an epic saga, the family’s dramatic life story, as told by an insider, Cass Warner, filmmaker and granddaughter of Harry Warner, in a new, 90-minute documentary, “The Brothers Warner,” set to debut April 7th at MIP TV in Cannes.
The Warner Bros. (Harry, Sam, Albert and Jack) started in the picture business in 1903 as exhibitors, showing movies on a bed sheet in Pittsburgh.
By 1918, they were able to open their first studio on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, a few miles from the current location in Burbank.
Their father, Ben, mandated to them when they were children, “As long as you stand together, you will be strong.”
This is an intimate tale that reads like a Greek tragedy of four brothers who created and ran the studio for over 50 years and the disintegration of their relationship, culminating in the subsequent sale of the studio.
Featuring numerous, never before seen images and private movies from the Warner family archives and interviews with Warner luminaries and peers, such as Dennis Hopper, Debbie Reynolds, Norman Lear and Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., “The Brothers Warner” is the first ever film produced by a Hollywood film family member about her own clan’s studio dynasty.
Reaching way beyond the usual studio tributes of film clips and glossy remarks, “The Brothers Warner,” years in the making and based on Cass Warner’s book, “Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story,” peeks behind the curtain and shows the true character of the people who created the Hollywood legacy and mystique.
“For me this documentary is the fulfillment of something special entrusted to me to tell,” says Warner.
Worldwide distribution will be handled by industry veteran Glenn Aveni, whose company Icon Television Music, Inc. will be at MIP TV (stand #15.30). To inquire for rights acquisitions please call (818) 385 0200 x117.
Websites: www.warnersisters.com; www.icontvmusic.com.
###
A band of brothers who rose from immigrant poverty through personal tragedies, persevering to create a major studio with a social conscience
(Los Angeles, Calif., March 25, 2008)--- Warner Brothers was the only family owned and operated studio in Hollywood and today the studio the brothers created 85 years ago remains a giant player in the entertainment industry.
But behind the power of “Casablanca” and reels of Bugs Bunny cartoon classics is an epic saga, the family’s dramatic life story, as told by an insider, Cass Warner, filmmaker and granddaughter of Harry Warner, in a new, 90-minute documentary, “The Brothers Warner,” set to debut April 7th at MIP TV in Cannes.
The Warner Bros. (Harry, Sam, Albert and Jack) started in the picture business in 1903 as exhibitors, showing movies on a bed sheet in Pittsburgh.
By 1918, they were able to open their first studio on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, a few miles from the current location in Burbank.
Their father, Ben, mandated to them when they were children, “As long as you stand together, you will be strong.”
This is an intimate tale that reads like a Greek tragedy of four brothers who created and ran the studio for over 50 years and the disintegration of their relationship, culminating in the subsequent sale of the studio.
Featuring numerous, never before seen images and private movies from the Warner family archives and interviews with Warner luminaries and peers, such as Dennis Hopper, Debbie Reynolds, Norman Lear and Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., “The Brothers Warner” is the first ever film produced by a Hollywood film family member about her own clan’s studio dynasty.
Reaching way beyond the usual studio tributes of film clips and glossy remarks, “The Brothers Warner,” years in the making and based on Cass Warner’s book, “Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story,” peeks behind the curtain and shows the true character of the people who created the Hollywood legacy and mystique.
“For me this documentary is the fulfillment of something special entrusted to me to tell,” says Warner.
Worldwide distribution will be handled by industry veteran Glenn Aveni, whose company Icon Television Music, Inc. will be at MIP TV (stand #15.30). To inquire for rights acquisitions please call (818) 385 0200 x117.
Websites: www.warnersisters.com; www.icontvmusic.com.
###
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
GET INVOLVED! Find out how YOU can be a part of bringing Hollywood history to life!
Cass Warner is currently in postproduction on THE BROTHERS WARNER, her long-in-the-making feature documentary that puts a new and personal spin on the fascinating Hollywood legacies of her family. You can support this effort with a tax deductible donation through the 501c3 non-profit Fiscal Sponsorship of the International Documentary Association (IDA). Please know that Cass and her collaborators appreciate your help in getting the film finished in time for the 85th anniversary of the studio's founding in 2008 - so we're happy to include your name as a thank you in the credits of the film.To make a donation please click here.
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