1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:17,680 Speaker 1: Jonathan strick Lind. I'm an executive producer with I Heart 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:21,040 Speaker 1: Radio and I love all things tech. And recently I 5 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: covered in a tech News episode that A T and 6 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:28,319 Speaker 1: T is looking to jettison Warner Media and have it 7 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:32,720 Speaker 1: merged with Discovery Communications. And in that episode, I talked 8 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:36,320 Speaker 1: about how the Warner Media group of companies has a 9 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:40,640 Speaker 1: pretty complicated lineage. Well, today I thought we'd start down 10 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:43,919 Speaker 1: the road to talk about the various companies that make 11 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:47,519 Speaker 1: up Warner Media kind of unravel at all. And this 12 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:49,199 Speaker 1: is gonna be a heck of a story because it 13 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:53,599 Speaker 1: includes several influential media companies that had their own distinct 14 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 1: histories before coalescing into Warner Media. But it also includes 15 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: companies that are not media companies at all, like funeral 16 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:07,520 Speaker 1: homes for real. Now, when I say complicated, I'm not kidding. 17 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 1: Our story includes a window washing company, parking company, and 18 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:19,360 Speaker 1: online service provider company, UM, few magazine publishers and more. 19 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 1: There are mergers, there are acquisitions, there are spinoffs, there's 20 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:29,040 Speaker 1: family betrayal, and lots of other stuff. So where the 21 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: heck do I get started? Well, I suppose I should 22 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:34,959 Speaker 1: talk about the core components and then work to the 23 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,120 Speaker 1: point where they all come together. And I could start 24 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:41,600 Speaker 1: pretty much anywhere, because there's so many different pieces to 25 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:45,119 Speaker 1: the story, But I'm going to begin with Time because 26 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 1: it's on my side, Yes it is. Henry Loose and 27 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:54,000 Speaker 1: Britton Haddn't had a lot in common. They both attended 28 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: Yale University, they both worked as reporters for the Baltimore News, 29 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: and both of them were in their early twenties back 30 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty two, and they also both wanted to 31 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 1: try something that was a new idea. Newspapers were a thing, obviously, 32 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: but Luce and Haddn't had the idea for a news magazine. 33 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:18,400 Speaker 1: They decided to try and create one because no one 34 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:21,679 Speaker 1: had really done it before, and they raised more than 35 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 1: eighty thousand dollars, which was a princely sum in nineteen 36 00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:28,000 Speaker 1: twenty two, and they quit their jobs to found a 37 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:32,720 Speaker 1: company called Time Incorporated and a magazine called Time. It 38 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: would publish weekly starting in March of nineteen twenty three. 39 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:41,080 Speaker 1: Luce served as the business manager for the young publishing 40 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:44,960 Speaker 1: company and Hadden was editor in chief, and together they 41 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:49,840 Speaker 1: found success with this weekly magazine format. Seven years later, 42 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 1: haddn't passed away suddenly after an illness had developed into sepsis. 43 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 1: Loose pressed on becoming editor in chief and launching other 44 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:02,919 Speaker 1: magazines like Fortune, which launched just as the Great Depression 45 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:07,040 Speaker 1: was settling in. So that's kind of ironic timing. He 46 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: also published Life, which I think already existed as a 47 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:15,240 Speaker 1: as a different kind of publication, but he essentially acquired 48 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:18,359 Speaker 1: it and then relaunched it under a new format, effectively 49 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 1: making a new magazine, and then much much later magazines 50 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 1: like Sports Illustrated. He also, according to some accounts, essentially 51 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: erased Hadden's contributions to the company time Inc. Was becoming 52 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:38,040 Speaker 1: a giant publisher. Moreover, Loose oversaw the launch of other 53 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:42,160 Speaker 1: forms of media content. In nineteen thirty one, the company 54 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:45,960 Speaker 1: sponsored a radio news series that aired on CBS Radio, 55 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:50,840 Speaker 1: and in nineteen thirty five the company expanded this to newsreels, 56 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,120 Speaker 1: which were these things that we play in movie theaters 57 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: between pictures. So instead of you know, just watching a movie, 58 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 1: you might actually see a ten or fifteen that segment 59 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:04,560 Speaker 1: about the latest news or kind of a documentary or 60 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:08,360 Speaker 1: a highlight of something. The newsreels were slightly different from 61 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: others at the time. They had a longer format and 62 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: the inclusion of stuff like re enactments. The concept was 63 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:19,840 Speaker 1: to make a newsreel that was the cinematic sibling of 64 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:24,919 Speaker 1: Time magazine or Life Magazine, something that was akin to those. 65 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:29,520 Speaker 1: The March of Time series would end up receiving several awards, 66 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: including an Honorary Academy Award. This made Time Incorporated a 67 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: multimedia company, publishing and newsreels and radio. It was one 68 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:44,160 Speaker 1: of the earliest examples of such a thing. Luce was 69 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:47,800 Speaker 1: editor in chief until nineteen sixty four, and he passed 70 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 1: away just three years after that. But the publisher, the 71 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,400 Speaker 1: company that is continued to grow over the years, and 72 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:57,880 Speaker 1: by the late nineteen eighties it was poised to play 73 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: a bigger part in our story. But now we're going 74 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,800 Speaker 1: to switch over to another company. Because really, when you 75 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:08,479 Speaker 1: get to it, Times story is really one of publishing 76 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:12,359 Speaker 1: and growing a company over time. Uh. It doesn't have 77 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:14,520 Speaker 1: a whole lot to do with with tech, apart from 78 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:18,800 Speaker 1: the fact that obviously technological advancements can mean smoothing out 79 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:24,240 Speaker 1: the processes of a company's operations like from printing to distribution. 80 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:27,440 Speaker 1: But I don't really think that that's worthy of us 81 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:30,400 Speaker 1: really diving into here. So we're gonna switch over to 82 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 1: Warner Brothers Entertainment Incorporated, or the old w B. Now, 83 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:40,159 Speaker 1: the Warner family immigrated to the United States from Poland 84 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:43,839 Speaker 1: in the early eighties, and in fact, three of the 85 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:47,479 Speaker 1: four Warner brothers referenced in the name of the company 86 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:51,120 Speaker 1: We're born in Poland, those being Harry, who was the eldest, 87 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:55,520 Speaker 1: and then Albert and Sam. Now some sources ice I've 88 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:58,840 Speaker 1: seen suggest that Albert and Sam were born in North America. 89 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:02,520 Speaker 1: But a to a guy who was hired by Warner 90 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: Brothers to come in and do research on this kind 91 00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 1: of stuff, that wasn't the case. Jack, the youngest of 92 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: the four Warner brothers, was born in North America. He 93 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:16,080 Speaker 1: was born in Canada. And they also had other siblings 94 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:18,000 Speaker 1: as well. This was a big family. I think there 95 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:21,560 Speaker 1: were nine of them total, so that wasn't all of them, 96 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:26,080 Speaker 1: but those were the four brothers of the Warner Brothers fame. Now, 97 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 1: this family wasn't exactly impoverished, but it was a lot 98 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:32,440 Speaker 1: of work to make ends meet. So the brothers worked 99 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:34,920 Speaker 1: in all sorts of lines of work in the Midwest. 100 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:38,880 Speaker 1: They worked in the meat industry, they worked at bowling alleys, 101 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:41,240 Speaker 1: They did all sorts of stuff, and they were all 102 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:44,360 Speaker 1: looking for ways to be a success, and gradually they 103 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:48,200 Speaker 1: built up a little money. In nineteen o three, the 104 00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:52,920 Speaker 1: four brothers rented a vacant store in Newcastle, Pennsylvania, and 105 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 1: they wanted to turn it into a film exchange in 106 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:58,799 Speaker 1: a movie theater that they had also acquired a film 107 00:06:58,839 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 1: projector now obvious sleeve. This was in the extremely early 108 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:05,800 Speaker 1: days of cinema. The brothers mainly focused on getting hold 109 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 1: of films and making them available to other theaters in 110 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:13,400 Speaker 1: the region, thus the film exchange business. They were kind 111 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 1: of a go between between the movie studios and the 112 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:21,080 Speaker 1: movie theaters. And it turned out that motion pictures weren't 113 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 1: just a fad. Also turned out that it was a 114 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:28,320 Speaker 1: really shady business. There were a lot of um criminal 115 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:32,280 Speaker 1: types who got interested in stuff like film exchanges. I 116 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:37,200 Speaker 1: have no idea how involved the Warners were, if at all, 117 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 1: in that side of life, but it was definitely a 118 00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:43,240 Speaker 1: thing that was going on. Not turned out that since 119 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:45,720 Speaker 1: motion pictures were so popular, you know, I feel pretty 120 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:49,800 Speaker 1: confident saying motion pictures were a success, you know, from 121 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 1: the perspective of one the brothers business was also successful, 122 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:57,520 Speaker 1: and they began to, you know, use the money that 123 00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:01,280 Speaker 1: they made to open more theaters and expand by n 124 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:05,480 Speaker 1: they decided that they would branch out from the business 125 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:08,280 Speaker 1: of exhibiting films and get into the business of making them, 126 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:11,400 Speaker 1: because one of the downsides of this is that you 127 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 1: couldn't guarantee the quality of the movies that were being 128 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 1: sent to you, and a lot of the movies were 129 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:20,600 Speaker 1: on the not so great side, like either they were 130 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:25,880 Speaker 1: just poorly made or they frequently involved material that was 131 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 1: considered risk a or worse. So movies had a really 132 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:35,199 Speaker 1: bad reputation in the early days, and the brothers kind 133 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:38,480 Speaker 1: of wanted to have more control over the whole process, 134 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:42,840 Speaker 1: so they decided to create their own movie studio. Jack 135 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:46,240 Speaker 1: Warner would be in charge of movie production. He oversaw 136 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:49,480 Speaker 1: the film operations side of things. Harry handled all the 137 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:52,600 Speaker 1: business operations for the company. He was effectively the head 138 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:57,080 Speaker 1: of Warner Brothers, and Sam was in charge of securing 139 00:08:57,120 --> 00:09:01,640 Speaker 1: and maintaining technical equipment, and Alb would work with other 140 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:05,760 Speaker 1: theaters to handle distribution of the Warner Films. The four 141 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:10,840 Speaker 1: opened up Warner Brothers Studio in Hollywood, California, in nineteen eighteen, 142 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:14,760 Speaker 1: originally on Sunset Boulevard, which at the time was considered 143 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 1: a seedy part of of Hollywood. Um, I don't know 144 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:22,960 Speaker 1: if it still is. I actually kind of like Sunset Boulevard, 145 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:26,480 Speaker 1: but maybe it's because I'm a seedy guy. Anyway. They 146 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:30,319 Speaker 1: incorporated as Warner Brothers Pictures in nineteen twenty three. By 147 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:33,680 Speaker 1: that time, they had already produced several films, and the 148 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:38,400 Speaker 1: first really big success for them was a series of pictures, 149 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:42,680 Speaker 1: that is, movies that started a four legged actor that 150 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:47,080 Speaker 1: being rentin Tin. Uh. That's a dog for those of 151 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:50,199 Speaker 1: you who have never seen a rentin Tin picture. And 152 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:52,600 Speaker 1: the dog was learning like a thousand bucks a week, 153 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: which was, you know, quite the princely pooch. I would 154 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,280 Speaker 1: imagine that's a lot of money back in those days, 155 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 1: not a not a small shake of these days. Warner 156 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:05,680 Speaker 1: Brothers was an independent studio back then and was facing 157 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:09,239 Speaker 1: off against three much more established companies. There was Paramount, 158 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:12,640 Speaker 1: there was MGM, and there was a company called First National. 159 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:17,640 Speaker 1: Warner Brothers was scrappy compared to those three and Sam 160 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:20,040 Speaker 1: had a vision for what could help set the studio 161 00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:24,880 Speaker 1: apart and change the industry forever. See this was again 162 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:27,800 Speaker 1: the era of the silent film. Movies would play in 163 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 1: movie houses and typically you would have like a house 164 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:32,520 Speaker 1: musician who would play along with the film on on 165 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:36,040 Speaker 1: an oregon or something, and all dialogue would be represented 166 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:39,840 Speaker 1: in little interstitial cards that would pop up, which created 167 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:42,600 Speaker 1: a certain interesting style of cinema, like you could make 168 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:46,679 Speaker 1: really compelling movies this way, but it also clearly limited 169 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:50,800 Speaker 1: the actors range. Sam wanted to synchronize sound with the 170 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:53,720 Speaker 1: images on screen, and he wanted the company to pioneer 171 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:58,400 Speaker 1: the technologies and the installations that would allow for talking pictures. 172 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:01,960 Speaker 1: He initially met with some resistance from Harry, who was like, 173 00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 1: why the heck do we need to hear the actors talk? 174 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:07,360 Speaker 1: But the studio hit a bit of a rough patch, 175 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: and maybe in desperation, Harry ended up giving Sam the 176 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:14,000 Speaker 1: green light. Warner Brothers then purchased a company that had 177 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:17,719 Speaker 1: spun off from Western Electric. This company was called the 178 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:23,080 Speaker 1: Vitograph Company. The Vitogram system was a film sound recording system, 179 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:26,840 Speaker 1: but it wasn't recording sound to film the way we 180 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:31,760 Speaker 1: do it today. Instead, this system used sixteen inch discs 181 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:36,000 Speaker 1: like records, they had a groove recorded in them, representing 182 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:38,960 Speaker 1: a soundtrack. So this is like a vinyl album, and 183 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:43,000 Speaker 1: it included everything like music and sound effects and eventually 184 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:47,440 Speaker 1: dialogue and vocals, though originally Harry did not want that included. 185 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:51,880 Speaker 1: He just wanted, you know, music and sound effects on there. Uh. 186 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:54,840 Speaker 1: A side of a desk would run for about eleven 187 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 1: minutes when played back at an RPM of thirty three 188 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:00,880 Speaker 1: and a third. Eleven minutes was about the same amount 189 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:03,080 Speaker 1: of time it took to project through a thousand feet 190 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:06,280 Speaker 1: of film. And you know, in those early days you 191 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:10,040 Speaker 1: would end up just having about a thousand feet per 192 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:13,440 Speaker 1: real of film, and so one side of the record 193 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:15,720 Speaker 1: would typically have a groove on it, the other side 194 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:18,600 Speaker 1: would be blank, and each record would go with a 195 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:21,880 Speaker 1: single reel of film, and you were just supposed to 196 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:25,120 Speaker 1: keep them two of them together. So with a setup, 197 00:12:25,559 --> 00:12:27,920 Speaker 1: you would have a projectionist who would use a special 198 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:31,960 Speaker 1: piece of equipment that was part projector part record turntable, 199 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: and they would feed the film into the projector they 200 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:38,360 Speaker 1: would set the little needle or stylus of the record 201 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:41,360 Speaker 1: player on the beginning of the recording, which from what 202 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:44,360 Speaker 1: I understand, was actually at the center of the disk. 203 00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:47,320 Speaker 1: And you know most records, you know, you put the 204 00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:50,800 Speaker 1: needle on the outside of the record and it follows 205 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:55,559 Speaker 1: the groove gradually all the way to the inside. Apparently, 206 00:12:56,040 --> 00:12:59,959 Speaker 1: with the vitaphone system, you would put the needle at 207 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:02,120 Speaker 1: the center of it, and because the way that the 208 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:04,920 Speaker 1: record turned and the way the groove was laid out, 209 00:13:05,040 --> 00:13:09,120 Speaker 1: it would actually go outward to the outer edge starting 210 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:12,760 Speaker 1: the projector would mean that the film and soundtrack playback 211 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:16,959 Speaker 1: would be synchronized at least, you know, theoretically. The first 212 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:20,840 Speaker 1: Warner Brothers film using a vitophone soundtrack was Don Juan, 213 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:25,480 Speaker 1: but the piece had already been filmed. The soundtrack included 214 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:28,240 Speaker 1: the score for the movie and some sound effects, but 215 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:33,360 Speaker 1: no dialogue, so Don Juan was still largely a silent film. 216 00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:37,400 Speaker 1: The first talkie was The Jazz Singer, a film with 217 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:40,440 Speaker 1: a recorded sound all the way through, so there was 218 00:13:40,520 --> 00:13:44,280 Speaker 1: dialogue and singing within the film itself. Now I'm going 219 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:47,280 Speaker 1: to leave it to film historians to talk about the movie, 220 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:49,720 Speaker 1: which has elements in it that I think are, you know, 221 00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:54,480 Speaker 1: to put it charitably, challenging, but from a technical perspective, 222 00:13:54,559 --> 00:13:57,720 Speaker 1: it was marking a new era, and this was also 223 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:02,199 Speaker 1: an era that would go without it's early champion. Sam Warner, 224 00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:05,640 Speaker 1: who had pushed so hard to incorporate sound into movies, 225 00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:09,800 Speaker 1: died the night before the premiere of The Jazz Singer. 226 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:14,280 Speaker 1: The narrative goes that he worked himself to death, though 227 00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:18,480 Speaker 1: author David Thompson suggests that perhaps there were some other 228 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:22,600 Speaker 1: underlying health conditions that contributed to his early demise. But 229 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:26,240 Speaker 1: now the Warner Brothers were three. Now Warner Brothers, the 230 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:30,160 Speaker 1: company would stick with vitaphone for a few years, but 231 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 1: even when The Jazz Singer came out, the writing was 232 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:36,200 Speaker 1: already on the wall. The future of sound on film 233 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:40,160 Speaker 1: wasn't with separate recorded discs, but a methodology that would 234 00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:44,920 Speaker 1: allow filmmakers to actually record sound directly onto film itself. 235 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:48,240 Speaker 1: I've covered how this works in previous episodes of Tech Stuff, 236 00:14:48,600 --> 00:14:50,920 Speaker 1: so I'm not going to go into it here. But 237 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:53,800 Speaker 1: what it really meant for Warner Brothers was that the 238 00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:56,840 Speaker 1: company would eventually have to come around to adopting the 239 00:14:56,920 --> 00:15:01,720 Speaker 1: industry standard and abandoning the vitaphone of coach. The Jazz 240 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:04,880 Speaker 1: Singer was a huge hit for Warner Brothers, and the 241 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:08,520 Speaker 1: company was able to afford new digs, so they relocated 242 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:12,280 Speaker 1: off of Sunset Boulevard and they purchased land to build 243 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: a studio in Burbank, California, setting out a whole new 244 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:19,640 Speaker 1: studio there, and the company also acquired the Stanley Company 245 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:23,000 Speaker 1: of America, a business that owned more than two hundred 246 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,160 Speaker 1: movie theaters across the United States. This gave the Warner 247 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:30,040 Speaker 1: Brothers a distribution channel for the company's movies, and it 248 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:32,000 Speaker 1: would also be one of the big elements that would 249 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:34,280 Speaker 1: prompt the US government to take a closer look at 250 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:37,160 Speaker 1: the film industry. So to be clear, I should really 251 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:40,280 Speaker 1: point out this was something that every major movie studio 252 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:43,840 Speaker 1: was doing. It was pretty much common practice for companies 253 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:47,520 Speaker 1: like MGM and Paramount to have their own movie houses 254 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:51,120 Speaker 1: across the US, and it created a pretty rough environment 255 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:55,760 Speaker 1: for independent theater owners. In the nineteen thirties, Warner Brothers 256 00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:59,160 Speaker 1: began to produce cartoons for movie theaters, and that's when 257 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 1: we got the Loon It Tunes, characters like Bugs, Bunny, 258 00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:07,160 Speaker 1: you know, they rabbit in space, Jam, Filthy Young People. 259 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:11,080 Speaker 1: It's also when Warner Brothers turned to producing a lot 260 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:16,080 Speaker 1: of gangster movies, like a lot of them. These were 261 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:19,680 Speaker 1: the studio days when companies would sign directors and stars 262 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:23,520 Speaker 1: to long term contracts which made them exclusive talent for 263 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:26,480 Speaker 1: that studio. Same was true for film cruise too, so 264 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:29,960 Speaker 1: people would go in day after day working with the 265 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:33,520 Speaker 1: same group of folks. Sometimes from one picture to the other. 266 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:35,200 Speaker 1: You might not even really be able to tell what 267 00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:38,240 Speaker 1: movie you're working on, just because you're always around the 268 00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:41,680 Speaker 1: same people in the same studios. James Cagney became the 269 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:44,760 Speaker 1: top star for the company, and Humphrey Bogart, who was 270 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:47,840 Speaker 1: on the company payroll, was held back because Harry Warner 271 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:51,920 Speaker 1: wasn't convinced that Bogart was star material. Talk about a 272 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:58,080 Speaker 1: a wrong take anyway. Warner Brothers also acquired another company 273 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:03,239 Speaker 1: called Cosmopolitan Films, which was formerly owned by the newspaper 274 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:07,600 Speaker 1: giant William Randolph Hurst, who perhaps has the tackiest home 275 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:11,679 Speaker 1: I've ever seen. The Hearst Castle is just a monument 276 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:16,720 Speaker 1: to gaudiness. Anyway, the company kept on growing. In nine four, 277 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:20,600 Speaker 1: most movie studios, including Warner Brothers, signed onto the Motion 278 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:25,040 Speaker 1: Picture Production Code also known as the Haze Code, after 279 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:28,440 Speaker 1: the then president of the Motion Picture producers and distributors 280 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:32,359 Speaker 1: of America Will h Code. Now I'm just kidding. It 281 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:34,639 Speaker 1: was Will H. Hayes. That was his name, and the 282 00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:38,840 Speaker 1: Haze Code was meant to perform triage on Hollywood's image. 283 00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:42,200 Speaker 1: Like I said, the movie business was seen as something 284 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:45,000 Speaker 1: of a seedy thing, especially because around this time there 285 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:51,040 Speaker 1: were some really nasty scandals that were surrounding Hollywood. Uh, 286 00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:54,199 Speaker 1: scandals that involved stuff like sex and death. It was 287 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:58,280 Speaker 1: not a not a good thing too to have if 288 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:02,800 Speaker 1: you're trying to put forth the the aura of respectability. 289 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:05,400 Speaker 1: So the movie business was no stranger to scandal, both 290 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:08,280 Speaker 1: on and off screen, and the US government was kind 291 00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:10,760 Speaker 1: of starting to think about ways that they might censor 292 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:13,800 Speaker 1: the film industry. So rather than have the government come 293 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:16,359 Speaker 1: in and regulate the movies, the goal was to create 294 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:20,000 Speaker 1: a code of standards of what was and wasn't suitable 295 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:23,320 Speaker 1: to show in movie theaters and head off the US 296 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:26,399 Speaker 1: government at the past and have movie studios sign on 297 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:30,719 Speaker 1: to you know, produce films under this code. For the record, 298 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:33,639 Speaker 1: this is something that has happened numerous times in American 299 00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:38,199 Speaker 1: history with industries that range from comic books to film 300 00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:41,359 Speaker 1: to video games. We've seen it happen again and again. 301 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:47,000 Speaker 1: The Haze Code was extremely restrictive. Movie studios weren't forced 302 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:49,879 Speaker 1: to comply to the Haze Code, but generally speaking, it 303 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:51,560 Speaker 1: was best to play the game if you wanted your 304 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:55,639 Speaker 1: films to get played in theaters. Warner Brothers scrapped the 305 00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:58,720 Speaker 1: gangster film genre pretty much, as it would be pretty 306 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:01,359 Speaker 1: challenging to make a compel in gangster movie while still 307 00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:04,560 Speaker 1: holding true to the restrictions of the Haze Code. And 308 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:07,680 Speaker 1: that's where we're going to leave off for our first break. 309 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:09,919 Speaker 1: When we come back, we're going to skip forward a 310 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:12,119 Speaker 1: little bit in time to talk about some other changes 311 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:15,520 Speaker 1: at Warner Brothers that lead up to the birth of 312 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:18,240 Speaker 1: Warner Media. We still got a long way to go, 313 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:20,880 Speaker 1: so let's take a quick break and we'll be right back. 314 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:32,200 Speaker 1: So the Haze Code would hold true in Hollywood until 315 00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:35,680 Speaker 1: the late nineteen sixties. Warner Brothers continue to make lots 316 00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:39,200 Speaker 1: of movies and cartoons in that time. And this isn't 317 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:41,280 Speaker 1: a pop culture podcast, so I'm not going to go 318 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:45,080 Speaker 1: into all of them here. It would just be, you know, ridiculous. 319 00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:48,359 Speaker 1: But Warner Brothers continued to make films in the nineteen 320 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:51,639 Speaker 1: forties during World War Two. They didn't stop, and after 321 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:54,960 Speaker 1: the war, television, which had been development for decades but 322 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:59,480 Speaker 1: had largely been paused during the war, debuted in earnest. 323 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:02,919 Speaker 1: The movie industry as a whole was not too happy 324 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:06,080 Speaker 1: about television. They were fearing that people would purchase a 325 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:09,160 Speaker 1: TV set and then just elect to stay home rather 326 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:13,080 Speaker 1: than head out for a night at the movies. Now, gradually, studios, 327 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:17,719 Speaker 1: including Warner Brothers, would expand their operations to include TV productions, 328 00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:20,840 Speaker 1: but at first it was as if you had like 329 00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:24,879 Speaker 1: one giant predator suddenly spotting a totally different predator in 330 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:27,800 Speaker 1: its home turf and things get real tense. That was 331 00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:30,720 Speaker 1: kind of how it was between movie studios and television 332 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:34,640 Speaker 1: at the time. In the late nineteen fifties, Warners established 333 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:38,400 Speaker 1: a subsidiary company called Warner Brothers Records, later known as 334 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:42,000 Speaker 1: just Warner Records and then later still Warner Music Group. 335 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:45,760 Speaker 1: This was the recorded music division of the movie studio 336 00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:49,640 Speaker 1: business and largely focused on producing recordings of the various 337 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:54,000 Speaker 1: soundtracks to Warner Brothers movies, as well as securing their talent. 338 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:57,600 Speaker 1: One of the things that Warner Brothers executives were upset 339 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:01,000 Speaker 1: about was that Occasionally, an actor in one of their 340 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:04,080 Speaker 1: films would record a song and it would get released 341 00:21:04,119 --> 00:21:07,200 Speaker 1: on some other record label, and that meant that Warner 342 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:10,879 Speaker 1: Brothers suddenly didn't have total control over the talent that 343 00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:15,040 Speaker 1: was signed to them, and they hated that. They wanted 344 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:18,040 Speaker 1: to make sure that if if that person who was 345 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:21,040 Speaker 1: signed to a contract was gonna make money by gully, 346 00:21:21,119 --> 00:21:23,159 Speaker 1: Warner Brothers was gonna get a cut of it. So 347 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:26,640 Speaker 1: that was really the reason why they created a records division. 348 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:30,280 Speaker 1: Also in the nineteen fifties, Warner Brothers was forced to 349 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:34,280 Speaker 1: divest itself of its theater chains. This was the consequence 350 00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:37,199 Speaker 1: of a legal battle between the US government and the 351 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:40,239 Speaker 1: film industry in the United States, and the issue at 352 00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:43,280 Speaker 1: the heart of all this was anti competitiveness. So movie 353 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:47,320 Speaker 1: studios had been buying up all aspects related to movie production, 354 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:50,679 Speaker 1: from the actual companies that would process film to the 355 00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:54,320 Speaker 1: content creation side, you know, the actual movie studios, to 356 00:21:54,720 --> 00:22:00,720 Speaker 1: the movie theater side, so everything from production, processing and distribution. 357 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:04,560 Speaker 1: This was not necessarily great for the average consumer who 358 00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:06,760 Speaker 1: might find themselves with no way to see the latest 359 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:10,520 Speaker 1: pictures from movie studio A because the one theater in 360 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:13,280 Speaker 1: their town happened to be owned by movie studio B 361 00:22:14,359 --> 00:22:16,639 Speaker 1: and for actors and directors, there was the issue of 362 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:20,879 Speaker 1: getting locked into contracts that made them exclusive talent, and 363 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:22,879 Speaker 1: it meant that the actors wouldn't really have much of 364 00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:26,120 Speaker 1: a say about what projects they pursued. And in addition, 365 00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:29,720 Speaker 1: studios would sometimes barter with other studios and use talent 366 00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:33,080 Speaker 1: as a kind of you know, bargaining chip. It wasn't 367 00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:36,360 Speaker 1: super cool. Uh. There were a lot of other considerations 368 00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:39,040 Speaker 1: too that would into this, but ultimately the important point 369 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:41,480 Speaker 1: is that the big movie studios all had to spin 370 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:44,720 Speaker 1: off their movie theater holdings. They couldn't keep them any longer. 371 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:47,520 Speaker 1: They also weren't allowed to have talent agencies and stuff 372 00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:50,439 Speaker 1: like that, and so this was sort of the beginning 373 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:53,320 Speaker 1: of the end of the big studio era, although studio 374 00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:56,000 Speaker 1: contracts would still be kind of a thing for a bit. 375 00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:59,919 Speaker 1: And yet another development in the nineteen fifties, Jack more 376 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:02,199 Speaker 1: Or saw an opportunity, but it would mean doing some 377 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 1: underhanded stuff. So you see, Harry Warner was technically in 378 00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:09,480 Speaker 1: charge of the company, but Jack Warner was the guy 379 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:12,040 Speaker 1: who was kind of making stuff happen on the studio level. 380 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:16,360 Speaker 1: Also not very well liked Mr Jack Warner. A lot 381 00:23:16,359 --> 00:23:21,439 Speaker 1: of his stars positively hated the man. Jack wanted to 382 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:25,439 Speaker 1: lead the company, but Harry essentially said, over my dead body. 383 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:30,520 Speaker 1: So Jack one day approaches his brothers, Harry and Albert, 384 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:33,160 Speaker 1: and he essentially says, Hey, you know what we're all 385 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:36,400 Speaker 1: getting on in years, we're all getting older. We should 386 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:39,880 Speaker 1: sell our company off. We had a great run. Let's 387 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:42,280 Speaker 1: sell it off while we're still on top. We'll make 388 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:45,040 Speaker 1: a ton of money and we can retire in comfort. 389 00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:48,360 Speaker 1: And the elder brothers agreed, and the studio was quote 390 00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:51,480 Speaker 1: unquote sold but low and behold. A couple of weeks later, 391 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:54,360 Speaker 1: Jack Warner is revealed as the new president of this 392 00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:58,600 Speaker 1: new Warner Brothers company, which was kind of only new 393 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:02,879 Speaker 1: on paper. Really, Harry would not last very long. He 394 00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:05,840 Speaker 1: actually died not too long after this happened. And of 395 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:09,640 Speaker 1: course that narrative is that Jack Warner broke his brother's 396 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:13,320 Speaker 1: heart and that's what killed Harry Warner. There was definitely 397 00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:16,720 Speaker 1: a schism in the Warner family at this point. This 398 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:19,320 Speaker 1: was also around the same time that Warner actually created 399 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:23,840 Speaker 1: its television division called Warner Brothers Television Studios in nineteen 400 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:28,080 Speaker 1: fifty five, Jack Warner's son in law, William t Or, 401 00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:31,520 Speaker 1: would head up that division. One of their early major 402 00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:36,359 Speaker 1: productions was the first one hour television Western series called Cheyenne. 403 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,000 Speaker 1: The studio would go on to produce lots of other 404 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:44,440 Speaker 1: shows like Maverick is another great example. In the nineteen sixties, 405 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:48,840 Speaker 1: the studio began to produce a bunch of movie musicals. 406 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:53,320 Speaker 1: These were lavish, expensive productions, and they helped convince people 407 00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:56,240 Speaker 1: to you know, leave their homes, leave their televisions behind 408 00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:58,520 Speaker 1: to see these films that they could only see in theaters. 409 00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:02,720 Speaker 1: So they included movies like The Music Man, uh Anti Name, 410 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:07,480 Speaker 1: and Gypsy. These were all adaptations of Broadway musicals. But 411 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,600 Speaker 1: it was My Fair Lady, which debuted in nineteen sixty four, 412 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:14,520 Speaker 1: that proved to be a truly enormous success, as did 413 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:18,520 Speaker 1: the movie's soundtrack, which really helped establish Warner Brothers Records. 414 00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:21,240 Speaker 1: That will come back to Warner Brothers Records a little 415 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:24,400 Speaker 1: bit later on, but let's stick with My Fair Lady. 416 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:27,160 Speaker 1: There was one big drawback on that deal. So when 417 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:31,520 Speaker 1: Jack Warner purchased the rights the film rights to make 418 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:34,680 Speaker 1: My Fair Lady, it cost him five and a half 419 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:37,760 Speaker 1: million dollars. This was before they had shot even a 420 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:41,560 Speaker 1: foot of film. The rights to the film, however, reverted 421 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:47,160 Speaker 1: to CBS after seven years because CBS was the company 422 00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:51,679 Speaker 1: that had actually financed the original Broadway production that My 423 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:56,040 Speaker 1: Fair Lady was based off of. So once those seven 424 00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:58,879 Speaker 1: years were up, CBS got the rights, which means that 425 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:01,280 Speaker 1: while My Fair lay He was a Warner Brothers film, 426 00:26:01,359 --> 00:26:05,360 Speaker 1: it's not in the Warner Brothers library today. In nineteen 427 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:10,280 Speaker 1: sixty six, Jack Warner decided to sell Warner Brothers for 428 00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:13,560 Speaker 1: real zies. This time he kind of faked it out 429 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:16,920 Speaker 1: the decade earlier, and now he's actually doing it. He 430 00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:19,720 Speaker 1: sold off his controlling shares of the company to another 431 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:23,640 Speaker 1: company called Seven Arts Productions for thirty two million dollars. 432 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:29,000 Speaker 1: He stayed on with with the Warner Company in various roles, 433 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:31,920 Speaker 1: um but he irritated the heck out of the Seven 434 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,399 Speaker 1: Arts Productions folks. So let's talk about Seven Arts for 435 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:37,800 Speaker 1: a second. Seven Arts Productions made movies, but did not 436 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:43,040 Speaker 1: distribute movies. So instead Seven Arts Productions would make films 437 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:46,560 Speaker 1: and then partner with other studios for their release. Three 438 00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:49,720 Speaker 1: film professionals had founded the company in nineteen fifty seven, 439 00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:52,040 Speaker 1: and they were able to make films using a more 440 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:56,040 Speaker 1: independent studio approach. So like one of those films was 441 00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:59,280 Speaker 1: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, which they made on behalf 442 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:03,159 Speaker 1: of Warner Brothers. Warner Brothers actually distributed that film. The 443 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:06,520 Speaker 1: studio films were successful enough to give the owners the 444 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:09,040 Speaker 1: cash they needed to buy out Jack Warner in nineteen 445 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:13,280 Speaker 1: sixty six. So this new company was called Warner Brothers 446 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:17,240 Speaker 1: Seven Arts, and the logo changed to the W B 447 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,720 Speaker 1: shield was now a stylized combination of the letter W 448 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:23,439 Speaker 1: and the number seven. So if you've ever seen a 449 00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:27,520 Speaker 1: really weird looking Warner Brothers logo, it might be that one. 450 00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:31,040 Speaker 1: To be fair, there's been a few weird Warner Brothers logos. 451 00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:33,880 Speaker 1: So if it looks like there was a number seven 452 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:37,399 Speaker 1: merged onto the end of a W, that would be 453 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:41,800 Speaker 1: this era. And the deal included Warner Brothers Studios, all 454 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:45,680 Speaker 1: of the black and white Looney Tunes catalog, and Warner Records. 455 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:49,040 Speaker 1: So why just the black and white Looney Tunes catalog. Well, 456 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:52,600 Speaker 1: that's a really complicated story all by itself. It mostly 457 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:56,280 Speaker 1: involves how Warner Brothers handled the rights to various cartoons 458 00:27:56,760 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 1: during the early era of television. The company originally made 459 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:02,879 Speaker 1: these cartoons to play in movie theaters, not for TV, 460 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:06,879 Speaker 1: and Warners didn't have an established television studio in the 461 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:11,800 Speaker 1: early nineteen fifties, so the company sold television distribution rights 462 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:15,240 Speaker 1: to a few different companies, including one that was called 463 00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:17,560 Speaker 1: Guild Films. That was the one that got the black 464 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:21,159 Speaker 1: and white ones. But Guild Films would go bankrupt, and 465 00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:25,520 Speaker 1: then Seven Arts Productions acquired that company's assets. So technically 466 00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:28,719 Speaker 1: the distribution rights to the black and White ones already 467 00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:32,000 Speaker 1: belonged to Seven Ages Productions, but now they also owned 468 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,919 Speaker 1: the company that made it. The distribution rights to the 469 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:37,560 Speaker 1: other cartoons belonged to other companies. And I'm not going 470 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:41,200 Speaker 1: to get into all that because wolf y'all, this is 471 00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:45,680 Speaker 1: already complicated enough as it is. The company did also 472 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:49,560 Speaker 1: acquire Atlantic Records, which joined the Warner Records label as 473 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:53,600 Speaker 1: a music label owned by this bigger media company. So 474 00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:57,360 Speaker 1: Warner Brothers Seven Arts was a new movie and record 475 00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:02,440 Speaker 1: company that lasted all of nearly three whole years. Why 476 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:06,120 Speaker 1: is that, Well, partly it's because the company overextended itself 477 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:08,760 Speaker 1: with all these acquisitions, which is something we see way 478 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:13,040 Speaker 1: too frequently in business and partly well it's because of 479 00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:17,320 Speaker 1: the mob and parking lots and window cleaners plus a 480 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:21,200 Speaker 1: funeral home. All right, hear me out, because things are 481 00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:25,280 Speaker 1: about to get way more bizarre. Okay, So for this 482 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:28,040 Speaker 1: part of the story, we gotta go way way back again, 483 00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:33,640 Speaker 1: back before time. Not not you know, time is in space, 484 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:36,560 Speaker 1: time or the experience or whatever. I mean, time incorporated. 485 00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:41,600 Speaker 1: So we're gonna go back to eighteen six. That's when 486 00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:46,520 Speaker 1: Max Swag founded a window cleaning company that he called 487 00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:50,440 Speaker 1: National Window Cleaning and House Renovating Company, and it was 488 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:54,080 Speaker 1: in New York City. A guy named Louis Frankel joined 489 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,160 Speaker 1: the company in the early nineteen hundreds and the name 490 00:29:57,240 --> 00:30:01,000 Speaker 1: changed slightly to National House and Window Cleaning Company. In 491 00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:05,320 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty seven, Max passed away, Frankel ended up leading 492 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:09,680 Speaker 1: the company. Uh Frankel died a decade later in nineteen seven, 493 00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:13,800 Speaker 1: and his son, William Frankel took over the company. At 494 00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:16,360 Speaker 1: that point, the name of the company changed again and 495 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:21,720 Speaker 1: became the National Cleaning Contractors, Incorporated. William Frankel would oversee 496 00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:25,040 Speaker 1: operations at the company until nineteen sixty six, which is 497 00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:29,040 Speaker 1: when a different company swoops in to acquire it, and 498 00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:34,520 Speaker 1: that company was Kinney Service Corporation. Now, for some reason, 499 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:38,400 Speaker 1: the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department opposed this merger. 500 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:42,480 Speaker 1: I think I know why, but I couldn't find anything 501 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:46,160 Speaker 1: like firm about it. However, I do know that Kinney 502 00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:50,640 Speaker 1: Service Corporation was let's say, it was creative in the 503 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,040 Speaker 1: way it did business, So I'm gonna switch over to 504 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:57,000 Speaker 1: them now. So, while the cleaning company was doing business 505 00:30:57,040 --> 00:31:00,160 Speaker 1: in New York City in the nineteen forties, you at 506 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:04,040 Speaker 1: another company that was taking shape over in New Jersey. 507 00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:08,600 Speaker 1: This one was founded by Sigmund dornbush Manny Kimmel and 508 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:14,840 Speaker 1: mob boss Abner's Willman. Now, I'm sure you've heard that 509 00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:18,720 Speaker 1: the mob was involved in Hollywood to some extent, but 510 00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:20,800 Speaker 1: I'm not sure that you guessed it came from a 511 00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:24,920 Speaker 1: parking lot company in New Jersey, huh. Anyway, the three 512 00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:30,200 Speaker 1: of them founded the Kenny Parking Company. Anyways, Willman is 513 00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:33,200 Speaker 1: not really part of our story here because the merger 514 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:35,800 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about happen in nineteen sixty six. 515 00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:42,320 Speaker 1: Willman died under potentially controversial circumstances. In nineteen fifty nine, 516 00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:46,920 Speaker 1: he was found hanged, but some argued that it was 517 00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:50,480 Speaker 1: suicide and some argued that it was murder. I don't 518 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:53,000 Speaker 1: know what the truth of the matter is, but anyway, 519 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:57,160 Speaker 1: in the early sixties, the parking Company formed a partnership 520 00:31:57,160 --> 00:32:01,920 Speaker 1: with a rental car company owned by Edward Rosenthal. And yeah, 521 00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:06,600 Speaker 1: this is getting more complicated. I'm sorry. The partnership worked well. 522 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:09,920 Speaker 1: It was the Abbey rent a Car Company, and a 523 00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:12,920 Speaker 1: couple of years later, these two companies, the parking Company 524 00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:15,920 Speaker 1: and the rent a car company, decided that, hey, this 525 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:20,000 Speaker 1: works so great, let's merge and make a single company. Now. 526 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:23,280 Speaker 1: In that process, Rosenthal decided he would bring in some 527 00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:25,840 Speaker 1: of his other concerns, some of his other companies that 528 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:30,400 Speaker 1: he owned, which included a funeral home called Riverside Memorial 529 00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:36,080 Speaker 1: Chapel and another company called the City Service Cleaning Contractors incorporated. 530 00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:42,840 Speaker 1: This collection of rag tag companies became the Kinney Service Corporation, 531 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:45,600 Speaker 1: which I mean, I guess you've got to call it 532 00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:48,480 Speaker 1: something and and it is hard to come up with 533 00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:51,240 Speaker 1: a name for a company that has divisions that specialize 534 00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:56,040 Speaker 1: in parking lots, window cleaning, rental cars, and funeral homes. 535 00:32:57,240 --> 00:32:59,960 Speaker 1: I'm drawn a blank here, so I guess Kinney Service 536 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,520 Speaker 1: Corporation it is. The company also bought up nine more 537 00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:06,720 Speaker 1: funeral homes too. They really took service to a new, 538 00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:13,720 Speaker 1: really weird level. Edward Rosenthal's daughter Carol, married a man 539 00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:18,600 Speaker 1: named Steve Ross, and in nineteen sixty six, Kenney Service 540 00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:24,280 Speaker 1: Corporation merged with the National Cleaning Contractors, the one that 541 00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:28,000 Speaker 1: was founded in eighteen six. And I'm guessing that the 542 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:31,400 Speaker 1: Department of Justice was worried that the cleaning National Cleaning 543 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:35,240 Speaker 1: Contractors and the the City Service Cleaning Contractors that were 544 00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:39,800 Speaker 1: part of Kinney could have represented an anti competitive monopoly 545 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:43,840 Speaker 1: in cleaning. That's the only thing I can guess. Anyway, 546 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:46,840 Speaker 1: whatever the beef was, the merger still happened, and the 547 00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:50,600 Speaker 1: new company had the name Kinney National Company, and Steve 548 00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:53,560 Speaker 1: Ross took the helm. We'll talk a little bit more 549 00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:57,000 Speaker 1: about Kinney National Company and what happened next after this 550 00:33:57,120 --> 00:34:08,200 Speaker 1: quick break. In nineteen sixty seven, the Kinney National Company 551 00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:13,279 Speaker 1: purchased a publishing company called National Periodical Publications. But you 552 00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:18,319 Speaker 1: probably know that company better as d C Comics. Yep, 553 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:22,279 Speaker 1: this is how d C Comics would eventually become part 554 00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:25,760 Speaker 1: of the Warner Brothers family. By way of a funeral 555 00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:31,759 Speaker 1: home slash window cleaning slash parking lot company, you know, naturally. So, 556 00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:35,239 Speaker 1: just so we're clear, Warner Brothers didn't so much as 557 00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:39,759 Speaker 1: acquire d C Comics, as both DC and w B 558 00:34:40,120 --> 00:34:43,759 Speaker 1: got gobbled up by the same company. Steve Ross, the 559 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:46,160 Speaker 1: head of Kinney National Company, must have had a real 560 00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:49,640 Speaker 1: love of the movie industry, because he, in short orders 561 00:34:49,640 --> 00:34:52,800 Speaker 1: set about using the newly merged companies assets to acquire 562 00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:56,440 Speaker 1: companies in the business that is show. He bought a 563 00:34:56,520 --> 00:35:00,520 Speaker 1: talent agency, and he bought the Cabra and Lynn company 564 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:04,719 Speaker 1: Pana Vision, and he had his eye on Warner Brothers. Now, 565 00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:08,600 Speaker 1: as I mentioned earlier, Seven Arts Productions purchased Warner Brothers 566 00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:11,040 Speaker 1: from Jack Warner for thirty two million dollars a few 567 00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:15,720 Speaker 1: years earlier. Then they went and purchased Atlantic Records, and 568 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:19,160 Speaker 1: they ended up being a little strapped for cash. Ross 569 00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:21,560 Speaker 1: was given a hot tip about it from the owner 570 00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:24,600 Speaker 1: of the talent agency they had acquired, and so he 571 00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:29,560 Speaker 1: made an offer to the heads of Warner Brothers seven Ages, 572 00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:34,440 Speaker 1: and they accepted it. The offer was for sixty million 573 00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:38,680 Speaker 1: dollars for four hundred million dollars. Honestly, I found a 574 00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:41,880 Speaker 1: lot of conflicting information about this um. I tend to 575 00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:44,440 Speaker 1: believe the sixty million more than the four hundred million, 576 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:48,200 Speaker 1: but I kept coming up against different amounts. Anyway, the 577 00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:53,320 Speaker 1: companies ended up merging, and consequently Kenny National Company would 578 00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:57,200 Speaker 1: sell off its talent agency because otherwise that would be 579 00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:01,279 Speaker 1: seen as being anti competitive to have both movie studio 580 00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:03,960 Speaker 1: and a talent agency, not just a movie studio, a 581 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:09,120 Speaker 1: television studio too. Ted Ashley, who had previously overseen said 582 00:36:09,239 --> 00:36:12,760 Speaker 1: talent agency, would become the head of the new Warner 583 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:17,359 Speaker 1: Brothers Incorporated. Around this time, Jack Warner officially retired from 584 00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:21,280 Speaker 1: Warner Brothers, but he continued to work with the company 585 00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:24,400 Speaker 1: in some respect for nearly another decade until his death. 586 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:27,759 Speaker 1: As for the new Warner Brothers Incorporated, it ran into 587 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:30,680 Speaker 1: some trouble before too long, but for once it wasn't 588 00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:33,000 Speaker 1: because of the movie side of the business, at least 589 00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:38,040 Speaker 1: not overtly. Rather, there was a price fixing scandal that 590 00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:42,879 Speaker 1: focused on the parking operations of the company, and so 591 00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:46,880 Speaker 1: in an effort to kind of salvage operations, the company 592 00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:50,680 Speaker 1: leaders decided that they needed to split this company into two, 593 00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:54,800 Speaker 1: so in one company would be all the entertainment assets 594 00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:58,720 Speaker 1: such as the Warner Brothers Movie Studio, the television studio, 595 00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:03,439 Speaker 1: the record studios, cetera. The other company would be everything else, 596 00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:06,960 Speaker 1: you know, window washers and funeral directors and parking lots 597 00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:09,400 Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff. So what we got 598 00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:13,800 Speaker 1: was Warner Communications on one side and the Kinney National 599 00:37:13,880 --> 00:37:17,319 Speaker 1: Company on the other side. So now we can say 600 00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:22,200 Speaker 1: goodbye to Kenny and we'll stick with Warner. Okay. So 601 00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:25,960 Speaker 1: at this point we've got Warner Communications, which serves as 602 00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:30,560 Speaker 1: a parent company, and its subsidiaries include Warner Brothers Studios. 603 00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:34,399 Speaker 1: That's the movie studios, h the Warner Music Group, which 604 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:39,080 Speaker 1: included not just Warner and Atlantic, but also record companies 605 00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:44,759 Speaker 1: like Asylum, Elektra and more. Then we've got Dimension Pictures, 606 00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:47,960 Speaker 1: which is a film production company or was a film 607 00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:50,759 Speaker 1: production company that was largely known for making movies in 608 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:56,480 Speaker 1: the exploitation categories. So that includes classics like Dolomite, Returned 609 00:37:56,480 --> 00:38:00,000 Speaker 1: to Boggy Creek, which MST. Three K did an episod 610 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:04,360 Speaker 1: it on oh In Satan's Cheerleaders, you know, real classics, 611 00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:08,600 Speaker 1: and the company also owned d C Comics and Mad Magazine. 612 00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:14,920 Speaker 1: Warner Communications would make several more acquisitions. In ninety nine, 613 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:18,760 Speaker 1: it partnered with American Express to create a joint venture 614 00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:24,480 Speaker 1: called Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment, which oversaw cable channels like 615 00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:29,680 Speaker 1: MTV and Nickelodeon and the movie Channel YEP. Those started 616 00:38:29,680 --> 00:38:33,640 Speaker 1: out as Warner Brothers Concerns or I guess Co. Warner 617 00:38:33,719 --> 00:38:38,560 Speaker 1: Brothers Concerns and Warner Communications also purchased a little company 618 00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:42,799 Speaker 1: called Atari in nineteen seventy six. Now I covered this 619 00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:46,399 Speaker 1: in my episodes about Attari several years ago, but let's 620 00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:49,960 Speaker 1: go over a real quick version. So Nolan Bushnell, who 621 00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:53,240 Speaker 1: was leading a Torii when it was a private company, 622 00:38:53,480 --> 00:38:56,160 Speaker 1: had a problem. He was about to launch a video 623 00:38:56,200 --> 00:39:00,920 Speaker 1: game console to the home market. But producing hardware is expensive. 624 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:04,160 Speaker 1: You have to pay the manufacturing costs, and then there's 625 00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:07,840 Speaker 1: issues like supply chain, both before when you're just getting 626 00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:10,440 Speaker 1: all the parts to put together and after when you're 627 00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:13,759 Speaker 1: shipping the finished units out to retail outlets. It was 628 00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:17,200 Speaker 1: going to require more money than the company had on hand, 629 00:39:17,520 --> 00:39:20,040 Speaker 1: and so Bushnell made the decision to see if some 630 00:39:20,239 --> 00:39:24,120 Speaker 1: other company would be willing to buy Atari and essentially 631 00:39:24,520 --> 00:39:28,719 Speaker 1: foot the bill for production. Warner Communications turned out to 632 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:33,960 Speaker 1: be that company. In nineteen Warner Communications acquired Attari for 633 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:37,520 Speaker 1: the princely sum of twenty eight million dollars. It took 634 00:39:37,560 --> 00:39:40,520 Speaker 1: some time for that investment to actually pay off. Early 635 00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:44,319 Speaker 1: issues with manufacturing caused delays, which cost the company a 636 00:39:44,360 --> 00:39:47,640 Speaker 1: lot of money, but things turned around fairly quickly, and 637 00:39:47,680 --> 00:39:51,920 Speaker 1: the success of Atari helped Warner Communications offset some shortfalls 638 00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:55,960 Speaker 1: that the company was experiencing in their movie and music divisions. 639 00:39:56,960 --> 00:40:00,320 Speaker 1: Of course, anyone familiar with the home video game market 640 00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:04,239 Speaker 1: knows what ultimately happened. While the industry was writing high 641 00:40:04,239 --> 00:40:08,520 Speaker 1: in the late seventies and early eighties, sometimes literally, as 642 00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:11,680 Speaker 1: I understand, companies like Atari sometimes resembled more like a 643 00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:15,520 Speaker 1: rock star party than a media company. Anyway, it all 644 00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:20,800 Speaker 1: came crashing down in a glut of consoles and cheap 645 00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:25,120 Speaker 1: games had saturated the market, and consumers were drifting away 646 00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:29,640 Speaker 1: from consoles and toward a new technological wonder, the personal computer. 647 00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:34,319 Speaker 1: The entire industry had a massive collapse, and Atari was 648 00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:37,320 Speaker 1: essentially at the center of it. By the end of 649 00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:41,279 Speaker 1: nineteen eight three, Warner Communications was hurting. Its film and 650 00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:44,560 Speaker 1: music divisions weren't performing so well, and the video game 651 00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:48,000 Speaker 1: division was now in shambles. Warner sold off the parts 652 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:52,120 Speaker 1: of Atari associated with consumer products, which included stuff like 653 00:40:52,239 --> 00:40:56,440 Speaker 1: consoles and computers and game development, and sold it to 654 00:40:56,520 --> 00:41:00,520 Speaker 1: Jack Tramiel, the former CEO of Commodore. I've done episodes 655 00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:04,480 Speaker 1: about Tramuel in the past. It's kind of a vindictive guy. 656 00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:08,000 Speaker 1: But that's off topic for our discussion about Warner. Warner 657 00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:12,479 Speaker 1: retained the arcade game division of Atari, so they sold 658 00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:14,960 Speaker 1: off the home market stuff, but they kept the arcade 659 00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:18,960 Speaker 1: market stuff. They renamed that Atari Games. So this was 660 00:41:19,040 --> 00:41:22,839 Speaker 1: the great split of Atari into two different entities, and 661 00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:26,279 Speaker 1: it would fracture further from there. And if you listen 662 00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:29,080 Speaker 1: to my episodes about Midway, you might have heard that 663 00:41:29,120 --> 00:41:32,719 Speaker 1: this division of Atari would ultimately shift over to Williams 664 00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:37,480 Speaker 1: slash Midway Games, and Atari Games would eventually become Midway 665 00:41:37,560 --> 00:41:42,680 Speaker 1: Games West. So Warner Communications was in some financial trouble. 666 00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:47,960 Speaker 1: In Warner bought out American Expresses Steak in the Warner 667 00:41:48,040 --> 00:41:52,680 Speaker 1: Amex satellite entertainment company. It's the one that owned cable channels, 668 00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:57,200 Speaker 1: and then in Night five, Warner sold this company off 669 00:41:57,280 --> 00:42:01,520 Speaker 1: to Viacom, which has its own incredbly complicated history, but 670 00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:04,960 Speaker 1: for now we'll just say that Warner's brief fling and 671 00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:08,640 Speaker 1: owning cable companies had come to an end for now, 672 00:42:09,680 --> 00:42:13,040 Speaker 1: with Viacom assuming a big chunk of debt from Warner 673 00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:17,040 Speaker 1: as part of this deal. And now finally we get 674 00:42:17,080 --> 00:42:22,000 Speaker 1: to the merger between Time Incorporated and Warner Communications. So 675 00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:25,239 Speaker 1: Time announced in March of nine nine that it was 676 00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:28,600 Speaker 1: going to merge with Warner Communications and thus create a 677 00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:32,560 Speaker 1: new company called Time Warner. But at that same time, 678 00:42:32,920 --> 00:42:36,840 Speaker 1: a company called Gulf and Western later known as Paramount Communications, 679 00:42:37,239 --> 00:42:42,200 Speaker 1: attempted a hostile takeover of Time. And these hostile takeovers 680 00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:44,719 Speaker 1: really big in the eighties, So I guess i'll go 681 00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:48,080 Speaker 1: over that really quickly, just to explain what they are. So, 682 00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:51,720 Speaker 1: typically you have the board of directors of a company 683 00:42:51,760 --> 00:42:54,759 Speaker 1: that makes decisions on behalf of a company, and those 684 00:42:54,800 --> 00:42:58,880 Speaker 1: decisions include whether or not to accept some other companies 685 00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:02,640 Speaker 1: acquisition offer. So if it's a private company that this 686 00:43:02,719 --> 00:43:05,080 Speaker 1: is just These are the people who make all the decisions. 687 00:43:05,120 --> 00:43:07,520 Speaker 1: What they say goes. If they don't want to sell, 688 00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:12,320 Speaker 1: no one sells. But for publicly traded companies like Time Incorporated, 689 00:43:12,680 --> 00:43:16,440 Speaker 1: it's different. So in a publicly traded company, it's possible 690 00:43:16,480 --> 00:43:21,680 Speaker 1: to convince shareholders to agree to an acquisition against the 691 00:43:21,719 --> 00:43:25,160 Speaker 1: wishes of the board of directors. The acquirer has to 692 00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:29,520 Speaker 1: convince enough shareholders to vote for the measure, and then 693 00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:33,040 Speaker 1: even if the Board of directors disagree, the acquisition goes through. 694 00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:35,640 Speaker 1: One way to do this is to appeal to the 695 00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:39,600 Speaker 1: greed of shareholders and promise higher share prices than whatever 696 00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:43,480 Speaker 1: the market currently values them at. Time raised its bid 697 00:43:43,520 --> 00:43:47,440 Speaker 1: for Warner Communications and rushed to complete the merger. Now, 698 00:43:47,480 --> 00:43:51,000 Speaker 1: at this point, the deal was valued at nearly fifteen 699 00:43:51,040 --> 00:43:54,720 Speaker 1: billion dollars, and there were a couple of court cases 700 00:43:54,719 --> 00:43:59,040 Speaker 1: that Paramount Communications brought against this, but Time ended up 701 00:43:59,160 --> 00:44:02,480 Speaker 1: winning those time and time again, and thus the Time 702 00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:07,880 Speaker 1: Warner merger finally got greenlit and we got ourselves emerged company. 703 00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:11,560 Speaker 1: This is a good place for us to wrap up. 704 00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:14,360 Speaker 1: When we come back for the next entry into this series, 705 00:44:14,719 --> 00:44:18,240 Speaker 1: we'll learn more about the business of Time Warner, which 706 00:44:18,480 --> 00:44:22,320 Speaker 1: was pretty complicated and got into things like amusement parks 707 00:44:22,680 --> 00:44:26,120 Speaker 1: and and other things. We'll talk about how a O 708 00:44:26,280 --> 00:44:29,440 Speaker 1: L would fit into all of this not well, by 709 00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:32,600 Speaker 1: the way, and all the messy stuff that would follow 710 00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:37,640 Speaker 1: leading up to the modern take on Warner Media and 711 00:44:37,680 --> 00:44:41,640 Speaker 1: what is going on with the proposed merger with Discovery Communications. 712 00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:44,680 Speaker 1: But that's for the next episode. If you have suggestions 713 00:44:44,680 --> 00:44:47,080 Speaker 1: for other things I should cover on tech Stuff, reach 714 00:44:47,080 --> 00:44:49,440 Speaker 1: out to me on Twitter the handle I use as 715 00:44:49,520 --> 00:44:52,760 Speaker 1: Text Stuff hs W, and I'll talk to you again 716 00:44:53,640 --> 00:45:02,200 Speaker 1: really soon. Tech Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. 717 00:45:02,440 --> 00:45:05,239 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the i 718 00:45:05,360 --> 00:45:08,600 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 719 00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:09,560 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.