Albert Warner - Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

Warner Bros' first film, Where the North Begins, drew success for the brothers not seen since My First Four In Germany. The film also made the dog Rin Tin Tin the studio's first star. Newcomer director Darryl Zanuck's career was also greatly boosted because of his productions of Rin Tin Tin as well. Zanuck would eventually become a top producer for the studio as well, and between 1928 and 1933, served as Jack Warner's right-hand man and executive producer, a position whose responsibilities included the day-to-day production of films.

After establishing Warner Bros. Pictures, the studio had, unfortunately overdrawn $1,000,000.00 (the amount which Warner had loaned from Flint). At this, Albert convinced Harry not to purchase the screenrights to the hit play Rain Harry then decided to help ease the company's financial status by acquiring forty theaters in the state of Pennsylvania

More success would also come for the studio after the brothers hired German director Ernst Lubitsch as the head director for the studio as well; Rapf had departed the studio and accepted an offer to work at MGM. Lubitsch's first film at the studio, The Marriage Circle, became the studio's most successful film of 1924, and was also on the New York Times Best list for the year as well. The studio's 1924 film Beau Brummel also made John Barrymore a top star at the studio as well. Despite the success the brothers now had, they still could not compete with the Big Three studios (First National, Paramount, and MGM)

In 1925, Albert's older brother Harry and a large group of independent film-makers assembled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin 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 $500,000.00 in newspaper advertisements; this action would help benefit Warner Bros. profits. With help from a loan supplied by Golddman, Sachs head banker Waddill Catchings, Warner would find 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 buy purchasing the Brooklyn theater company Vitagraph. through this purchase, the Warners now had theaters in the New York area.

In 1925, Sam Warner had also acquired a radio station, KWBC, After acquiring this radio station, Sam decided to make an attempt to use synchronized sound in future Warner Bros. Pictures. Harry Warner, however had initial reservations about the idea, in which he is memorably quoted as saying "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" when his brother, CEO Sam Warner proposed the idea to him. Under Warner and his brothers leadership, the company came to own and operate some 250 theaters in which to screen its films, and, more importantly, was a successful pioneer of the sound film industry and the company still thrives today. By the February 1926, however, the brothers' radio business had failed, and the studio was suffered a net loss of $333,413.00.

After a period of refusing to accept the usage of sound in the company's films, Harry Warner now agreed to use synchronized sound in Warner Bros. shorts, as long as it just for usage of 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. on problem that occurred for the Warners though was the fact that the high-ups at Western Electric were anti-Semitic. Sam, though, was able to convince the high-ups to sign with the studio after his wife Lina wore a gold cross at a dinner he attended with the Western Electric. After which, Harry signed a partnership agreement with Western Electric to use Bell Laboratories to test the sound-on-film process.

After the agreement was signed, Vitaphone was established. and Sam and Jack decided to take a big step forward make Don Juan. The film began with eight Vitaphone features filmed in sound. Despite the success it had at the box office, the film was not able to match its expensive budget. Harry was now further convinced not to use any more sound in Warner Bros. pictures.

With Harry now refusing to allow further Vitaphone productions, Paramount head Adolph Zukor took advantage of the situation and tried to offer Sam a deal as an executive producer for his studio if he brought Vitaphone with him. Sam easily accepted Zukor's offer, but the offer died after Paramount lost money in the wake of Rudolph Valentino's death in late 1926. By April 1927, the Big Five studios (First National, Paramount, MGM, Universal, and Producers Distributing) had put the Warners in financial ruin, and Western Electric renewed the Warner's Vitaphone contract with terms that it was no longer exclusive and that other film company's could test sound with Western Electric as well; the Warners were even forced to sell some of their stock to Harry Cohn, the head of the independent film company Columbia Pictures. Eventually, Harry agreed to accept Sam's demands to continue with Vitaphone productions, and the studio soon began production of the first talkie, The Jazz Singer; soon after its release, The Jazz Singer would indeed help establish the Warners as the arguably the three most importa figures in the film industry. On October 5, 1927, Sam would die and younger brother Jack was granted with the power to head all of the studio's production, despite the fact that Jack still did not have as much power over the studio as Harry did, as he was only the studio's Vice President.