Jack L. Warner

With his brothers 'Harry M. Warner' (qv), 'Albert Warner' (qv), and 'Sam Warner' (qv), he founded Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. in 1923. They released the first motion picture with synchronized sound, _The Jazz Singer (1927)_ (qv) with 'Al Jolson' (qv). In the 1930s they gave employment to a parade of stars, including 'Bette Davis' (qv), 'Errol Flynn' (qv) and 'Paul Muni' (qv), as well as 'James Cagney' (qv), 'Edward G. Robinson' (qv), and a man whose star would eventually rise in the 1940s, 'Humphrey Bogart' (qv). Decades later, the firm's successor, Warner Communications Inc., merged with Time Inc. to become Time Warner Inc., the world's largest media and entertainment company.::Bill Takacs <kinephile@aol.com>