Early Warner Bros. Studios

Since 1928, Warner Bros. has produced thousands of films and television shows at the studio's 110-acre “film factory” in Burbank, California. A new pictorial book, Early Warner Bros. Studios, tells the story of this remarkable locale.

This collection of evocative images concentrates on the Warner Bros. studio from the late 1920s through the 1950s, when such timely and timeless classics such as Captian Blood (1935), Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939, with Francis Lederer), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1942), and East of Eden (1955) were made. It also looks at WB's earlier homes during the silent era along Hollywood's "Poverty Row," the site of WB's pioneering marriage between film and sound in the 1920s, and the birthplace of Looney Tunes.

There are hundreds of pictures in this book – including dozens of pictures of various historic buildings as well as favorite film stars including Rin Tin Tin - the canine “mortgage lifter” who helped keep studio doors open in the silent era, and Al Jolson - the star of the groundbreaking sound film The Jazz Singer (1927). There are also rare images of silent and sound era stars like John Barrymore, Marion Davies, Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, Peter Lorre, and Humphrey Bogart.

Along the way, Early Warner Bros. Studios also tells the tale of the four brothers - Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner – who founded and built the studio which carried their name. As scions of a Polish Jewish immigrant family, they rose from the most humble of origins to become Hollywood moguls of enormous and lasting influence.

At 127-pages, Early Warner Bros. Studios is a quick insider tour that takes the reader through the sets, soundstages, backlots and backrooms of Warner Brothers’ history. Each image features a richly detailed caption which relates the stories, lore, legends and trivia of the famous studio.

Early Warner Bros. Studios is co-authored by E.J. Stephens, a former WB Studios worker as well as newspaper columnist and film-series host. He currently volunteers with his wife as a docent for the Warner Bros. Museum.

The book’s co-author is the well-known film historian and consultant Marc Wanamaker, a founder of the Hollywood Heritage Museum who established Bison Archives in 1973, one of Southern California's most notable repositories of entertainment heritage. Wanamaker is a prolific author, and his earlier Arcadia books include Early Hollywood with Robert W. Nudelman, Theatres in Los Angeles with Suzanne Tarbell Cooper and Amy Ronnebeck Hall, and Hollywood: 1940-2008. Forthcoming from Arcadia is Location Filming in Los Angeles, with Karie Bible and Harry Medved.

As is evident from this new book, both of its authors share a passion for the studio that produced so many classics films. Their access to archival images has resulted in a book certain to appeal to both serious film buffs as well as the casual fan enamored with old Hollywood and its history.

For more info:  Additional details regarding Early Warner Bros. Studios can be found on the Arcadia website. The book is available through online retailers as well as select independent bookstores.

Thomas Gladysz is an arts journalist and author. Recently, he wrote the introduction to the new “Louise Brooks edition” of Margarete Böhme's classic book, The Diary of a Lost Girl (PandorasBox Press). Gladysz lives in San Francisco, and loves watching and reading about old movies. More at www.thomasgladysz.com.