Film Review: The Brothers Warner (2008 Documentary)
Written by Gary Sweeney
If you could spend a day asking people what they thought when they heard “Warner Brothers”, you’re likely to get answers ranging from Bugs Bunny to Elmer Fudd. The WB logo has become synonymous with memorable personalities, unforgettable characters, and timeless films. What you’d be hard pressed to find, however, is someone who can name all four original brothers, or any of them for that matter. That’s exactly what Cass Warner, the granddaughter of Harry Warner, did as part of her new documentary, The Brothers Warner. In an almost comical fashion, she took to the streets with a microphone and questioned random strangers. The tongue-in-cheek approach was effective, yet a solemn reminder that few people of today understand the vision of those early film pioneers.
This 90-minute look at the humble beginnings of Warner Brothers gives new meaning to the word determination. Four brothers (Harry, Jack, Abe, and Sam) saw opportunity in the growing popularity of moving pictures. Their personalities, while very different, worked well in combining the various elements which would comprise their ultimate success. The film traces their childhood, upbringing and their ambition in a changing world through photographs and Cass Warner's heartfelt narration. Harry Warner's authentic love for his work is evident in the following quote: "It is not the challenge of dollars, it is the challenge of ideals and ideas. If the producers of pictures see only the dollar, I believe, those production efforts will fail". In those few words, he manages to capture the essence of every great classic released by the studio in its long history. The Brothers Warner is an intimate look at an empire, and four young men who caught lightning in a bottle.
Click here to purchase the documentary on DVD!
From: http://www.midnightpalace.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=199
Saturday, October 11, 2008
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
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
An inside look into the Brothers Warner
By Ashlee Fairey
Sun Staff Writer
“The Brothers Warner,” a special presentation featured in the Aspen FilmFest, is a documentary portraying the four famous Warner brothers who founded the Warner Brothers Studio and transformed the silver screen.
It is about the “close-knit band of brothers (who) proved in their pioneering efforts to use mass media to ‘educate, entertain, and enlighten’ while being commercially successful.” The brothers’ motto echoes that of the Aspen FilmFest and can be seen as the embodiment of the festival’s ideals.
The film comes from a new voice: It is the first film by director Cass Warner, granddaughter of Harry Warner. As a child Cass Warner was very close to her grandfather. “He was a fine, kind human being,” she recalls. “He would come home with tales of behind of scenes.” These fantastic tales would create a lasting impression on the young, eager granddaughter.
When she reached her 20s, Warner realized those family legends were unrecorded and slowly slipping into murky memory. She took it upon herself to become the family archivist, a role that was essentially the first move towards the making of the movie. In 2003 she authored a book entitled “The Brothers Warner,” the namesake for the future film. The book was a rags-to-riches story that compiled the photographs and letters that Warner uncovered in her archival efforts.
Those same family archives were used in the film. The never-before-seen footage includes audio interviews with deceased family members, photographs and old home movies. These reveal, as Warner puts it, “guys who came from nothing, who never quit until they made their dream a reality. They made a fantastic team.” The director wanted the film to highlight their conscience, a rare virtue for filmmakers. Harry Warner once said, “It is not the challenge of dollars, it is the challenge of ideals and ideas. If the producers of pictures see only the dollar, I believe, those productions will fail.” They understood that “film is a powerful tool,” as his granddaughter says, and they used it wisely.
Considering director Cass Warner created a documentary on her own family, objectivity may seem an elusive outcome. But Warner describes herself as a fair person who concentrates on offering different points of view. She certainly basks her characters in a light of praise, but she feels the film also conveys character flaws. “I was raised on character-driven films,” Warner explains. “I want to know what makes them tic and why they do things.” The result: “a thorough, deep look at (the Warner brothers) as people.”
Directing a film about one’s own family can have great benefits as well. The making of “The Brothers Warner” was not only a journey through the lives of four extraordinary men, but became a self-exploration. “It helped me to understand my roots and myself,” she noted. “Through osmosis you get certain traits that you were witness to,” and through the camera lens Cass Warner was able to peer into a mirror. The road to the documentary’s creation was not smooth or speedy. “It has taken a long time to make. I have gambled everything,” the director said. The buzz of positive reviews, however, seems to have made it all worth while.
Cass Warner is also the niece of Lita Warner Heller, the honoree of a celebration dinner benefiting the Emerging Filmmaker Fund, and as Warner calls her, “a true lover of the arts.”
The showing of “The Brothers Warner” will be on Friday, Sept. 26, at 5:30 p.m. For tickets call 920-5770 or visit aspenshowtickets.com.
Sun Staff Writer
“The Brothers Warner,” a special presentation featured in the Aspen FilmFest, is a documentary portraying the four famous Warner brothers who founded the Warner Brothers Studio and transformed the silver screen.
It is about the “close-knit band of brothers (who) proved in their pioneering efforts to use mass media to ‘educate, entertain, and enlighten’ while being commercially successful.” The brothers’ motto echoes that of the Aspen FilmFest and can be seen as the embodiment of the festival’s ideals.
The film comes from a new voice: It is the first film by director Cass Warner, granddaughter of Harry Warner. As a child Cass Warner was very close to her grandfather. “He was a fine, kind human being,” she recalls. “He would come home with tales of behind of scenes.” These fantastic tales would create a lasting impression on the young, eager granddaughter.
When she reached her 20s, Warner realized those family legends were unrecorded and slowly slipping into murky memory. She took it upon herself to become the family archivist, a role that was essentially the first move towards the making of the movie. In 2003 she authored a book entitled “The Brothers Warner,” the namesake for the future film. The book was a rags-to-riches story that compiled the photographs and letters that Warner uncovered in her archival efforts.
Those same family archives were used in the film. The never-before-seen footage includes audio interviews with deceased family members, photographs and old home movies. These reveal, as Warner puts it, “guys who came from nothing, who never quit until they made their dream a reality. They made a fantastic team.” The director wanted the film to highlight their conscience, a rare virtue for filmmakers. Harry Warner once said, “It is not the challenge of dollars, it is the challenge of ideals and ideas. If the producers of pictures see only the dollar, I believe, those productions will fail.” They understood that “film is a powerful tool,” as his granddaughter says, and they used it wisely.
Considering director Cass Warner created a documentary on her own family, objectivity may seem an elusive outcome. But Warner describes herself as a fair person who concentrates on offering different points of view. She certainly basks her characters in a light of praise, but she feels the film also conveys character flaws. “I was raised on character-driven films,” Warner explains. “I want to know what makes them tic and why they do things.” The result: “a thorough, deep look at (the Warner brothers) as people.”
Directing a film about one’s own family can have great benefits as well. The making of “The Brothers Warner” was not only a journey through the lives of four extraordinary men, but became a self-exploration. “It helped me to understand my roots and myself,” she noted. “Through osmosis you get certain traits that you were witness to,” and through the camera lens Cass Warner was able to peer into a mirror. The road to the documentary’s creation was not smooth or speedy. “It has taken a long time to make. I have gambled everything,” the director said. The buzz of positive reviews, however, seems to have made it all worth while.
Cass Warner is also the niece of Lita Warner Heller, the honoree of a celebration dinner benefiting the Emerging Filmmaker Fund, and as Warner calls her, “a true lover of the arts.”
The showing of “The Brothers Warner” will be on Friday, Sept. 26, at 5:30 p.m. For tickets call 920-5770 or visit aspenshowtickets.com.
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!
Monday, September 8, 2008
THE BROTHERS WARNER, AN AMERICAN MASTERS PRESENTATION
THE BROTHERS WARNER,
AN AMERICAN MASTERS PRESENTATION
Thursday, September 25, 2008
10:00-11:00 p.m. ET
– Intimate Look at the Men Behind the Lights, Cameras and Action of the Warner Bros. Studio; Film By Harry Warner’s Granddaughter Includes Home Movies, Rare Footage and Recollections From Family And Colleagues –
Harry, the little-known major player. Albert, the “Honest Abe.” Visionary Sam. Volatile Jack. Together, this band of brothers started a movie business that revolutionized Hollywood. They did this with no education, a lot of chutzpah and the belief that if they were told they couldn’t do something, they knew they were on the right track. Their history unfolds in THE BROTHERS WARNER, AN AMERICAN MASTERS PRESENTATION, airing Thursday, September 25, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings).
“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. It beautifully dovetails with our other AMERICAN MASTERS presentation, ‘You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story’.”
Narrated by filmmaker and author Cass Warner Sperling (Harry Warner’s granddaughter), the film gives an insider look at the four original Hollywood independent filmmakers, their disparate personalities and their canny business sense. Industry icons Norman Lear and Roy Disney Jr.; actors Dennis Hopper, Debbie Reynolds, Angie Dickinson and George Segal; film historians,; and family members all contribute to this extraordinary story.
Old footage, family photos and personal documents trace the brothers’ scrappy rise to fortune from their meager immigrant beginnings as working-class Russian Jews. The personal tragedies and professional battles they overcame are an integral part of the story. From opening their first storefront theater by hanging a sheet on the wall and borrowing chairs from a local funeral parlor in 1907, these four brothers built an empire on a dream, transformed Hollywood and created one of the top studios in America.
“THE BROTHERS WARNER is a well-made, fascinating documentary,” said Barry Meyer, chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. “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.”
Underwriters: National Endowment for the Arts, Rosalind P. Walter, The Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation, Jack Rudin, The André and Elizabeth Kertész Foundation, Public Television Viewers, PBS and Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Producer: Warner Sisters. Producer/director/writer: Cass Warner Sperling. AMERICAN MASTERS producer: Thirteen/WNET New York. Creator and executive producer: Susan Lacy. Format: CC Stereo Letterbox/HD-Upconverted where available. Online: pbs.org
– PBS –
CONTACT: Donald Lee, Thirteen/WNET, Tel.: 212-560-3005; leed@thirteen.org
Donna Williams, Thirteen/WNET, Tel.: 212-560-8030; williamsd@thirteen.org
■ To take AMERICAN MASTERS beyond the television broadcast, the companion Web site (pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters) offers interviews, essays, photographs, outtakes and other resources.
AN AMERICAN MASTERS PRESENTATION
Thursday, September 25, 2008
10:00-11:00 p.m. ET
– Intimate Look at the Men Behind the Lights, Cameras and Action of the Warner Bros. Studio; Film By Harry Warner’s Granddaughter Includes Home Movies, Rare Footage and Recollections From Family And Colleagues –
Harry, the little-known major player. Albert, the “Honest Abe.” Visionary Sam. Volatile Jack. Together, this band of brothers started a movie business that revolutionized Hollywood. They did this with no education, a lot of chutzpah and the belief that if they were told they couldn’t do something, they knew they were on the right track. Their history unfolds in THE BROTHERS WARNER, AN AMERICAN MASTERS PRESENTATION, airing Thursday, September 25, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings).
“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. It beautifully dovetails with our other AMERICAN MASTERS presentation, ‘You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story’.”
Narrated by filmmaker and author Cass Warner Sperling (Harry Warner’s granddaughter), the film gives an insider look at the four original Hollywood independent filmmakers, their disparate personalities and their canny business sense. Industry icons Norman Lear and Roy Disney Jr.; actors Dennis Hopper, Debbie Reynolds, Angie Dickinson and George Segal; film historians,; and family members all contribute to this extraordinary story.
Old footage, family photos and personal documents trace the brothers’ scrappy rise to fortune from their meager immigrant beginnings as working-class Russian Jews. The personal tragedies and professional battles they overcame are an integral part of the story. From opening their first storefront theater by hanging a sheet on the wall and borrowing chairs from a local funeral parlor in 1907, these four brothers built an empire on a dream, transformed Hollywood and created one of the top studios in America.
“THE BROTHERS WARNER is a well-made, fascinating documentary,” said Barry Meyer, chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. “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.”
Underwriters: National Endowment for the Arts, Rosalind P. Walter, The Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation, Jack Rudin, The André and Elizabeth Kertész Foundation, Public Television Viewers, PBS and Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Producer: Warner Sisters. Producer/director/writer: Cass Warner Sperling. AMERICAN MASTERS producer: Thirteen/WNET New York. Creator and executive producer: Susan Lacy. Format: CC Stereo Letterbox/HD-Upconverted where available. Online: pbs.org
– PBS –
CONTACT: Donald Lee, Thirteen/WNET, Tel.: 212-560-3005; leed@thirteen.org
Donna Williams, Thirteen/WNET, Tel.: 212-560-8030; williamsd@thirteen.org
■ To take AMERICAN MASTERS beyond the television broadcast, the companion Web site (pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters) offers interviews, essays, photographs, outtakes and other resources.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
PBS is airing THE BROTHERS WARNER!
THE BROTHERS WARNER is airing on PBS/KCET as an American Masters show on September 29th at 9pm,
“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."
The DVD is now avalable for purchase! Click: http://www.warnersisters.com/brotherswarner.html
“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."
The DVD is now avalable for purchase! Click: http://www.warnersisters.com/brotherswarner.html
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