The Brothers Warner Page #9

Oh, well, now...

...I Wouldn't do that.

I mean, Well, no, l....

I had made Rebel Without a Cause...

...and then I went into Giant

with James Dean.

Jimmy and I were having lunch...

...and suddenly Jack Warner and

Serge Semenenko were walking toward us.

And Mr. Warner said,

"Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy.

I want you to meet someone.

Serge Semenenko."

And Serge Semenenko reached out his hand

to shake hands with Jimmy.

Jimmy reached into his pocket

and pulled out a bunch of change...

...and threw it at their feet

and walked off.

And I sort of went...and followed him like--

I'm 18 years old.

I followed him like a little puppy dog,

saying, "What was that all about?"

Harry got stabbed in the back

by his brother.

Shortly after the studio sale

hit the trade papers...

...Grandpa suffered a debilitating stroke.

It was his 50th Wedding anniversary...

...and they were having a big celebration...

...out at the ranch.

Harry now is completely isolated,

a prisoner in his own body...

...and down in the yard in the tent

are all the family.

I was in the room alone With Harry,

Who couldn't speak...

...and just sat looking out of the window.

And my father pops through the door

all cheery and bright with jokes.

Poor Harry, some tears came down

his cheek and rolled down his cheek.

There was only one way

he could get away from this man...

...Who he hated,

Who had done terrible things...

...so he closed his eyes.

At this time, my father

was in the south of France...

...and I immediately sent him a cable

that Harry had died.

They hadn't planned the funeral...

...that we were gonna wait to hear

about Jack coming back.

He didn't communicate With me...

...but evidently sent a cable

that he couldn't come back.

Jack was in a terrible car

accident about five or six days later.

Had he come home to his brother's funeral,

this might not have happened.

He was seriously injured and didn't return

to the studio for about six months.

We used to think

Jack Jr. Would take over.

Everybody there liked the guy.

Before Jack came back

to the lot, he had an attorney fire his son...

...for supposedly giving the press

the impression that he was dying.

Said I'm terminated, as of then,

and I will be paid for six months.

And I said, "Why?"

Then he took me aside and was like:

"Every time he looks at you he sees Irma."

That's my mother.

They changed the locks,

my name was gone.

All, boom, like that.

As I'm leaving, they're putting up

a sign over the main entrance...

...that says, "Welcome back, Jack."

You know,

you always wonder about film...

...whether it's mirroring what's going on

or leading what's going on.

What was going on

the year prior to the sale...

...was the production of the film

East of Eden...

...a family drama about rival brothers.

Your son, Aron,

he' s everything that' s good.

James Dean played

the unappreciated son.

James Dean's next role was a lonely,

discontented rebel without a cause.

You' re tearing me apart!

Finally on his own, with no

older brother looking over his shoulder...

...Jack took creative risks with films like:

Who's afraid of Virginia

Woolf? Virginia Woolf. Virginia Woolf.

Who's afraid of Virgin--?

He said, "Wexler, Mike Nichols wants

you to shoot Virginia Woolf."

And I said--

I don' t know whether I said "sir "or not...

...but I certainly felt "sir,"

and at that time it was--

And I said I was signed up

to do A Fine Madness with Kershner.

Jack Warner did not waste much time.

He said:

"You're gonna do Mike Nichols' picture."

He said the famous lines about

not working in Hollywood again.

There was a feeling when Nichols arrived

with this group...

...and this kind of material and Haskell,

things would-- Jack understood that.

That things Were now changing.

You still look like you have a good body

too. Is that right? Have you?

- Martha, decency forbids--

- Shut up.

Is that right? Have you kept your body?

- It's still pretty good. I Work out.

- Do you?

- Yeah.

- Yes.

Warner Bros. did

Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?..

...Which was a very bold movie...

...that no other studio

would have touched at the time.

And he was the one who approved it

and got it made...

...and stood behind it, so landmark movies

continued to be made by Warner Bros...

...until Jack Warner

was finally put out to pasture.

Camelot.

Camelot.

Camelot is a big romantic

musical produced by Jack L. Warner...

...who brought My Fair Lady

to the screen.

He personally supervises the project.

It's fascinating to me

that Camelot was Jack's last studio film.

Lines like "Happiness is a virtue,

but no one can be happy and wicked.

They can be triumphant but not happy."

And then there's:

"'Blood is thicker than water'

was invented by undeserving relatives."

The same thing happened

when Seven Arts came in.

They bought Warner Bros. from Jack...

...as I recall, a figure of $32 million.

Amazing to think of today in--

$32 million.

Of course, they said,

"Well, you'll have an office.

You'll still be Jack Warner,

head of the studio, "you know.

He had nothing to do,

no papers crossed his desk, you know...

...and in a year, he was gone.

I know everything everyone said

about Jack...

...and I could see, you know,

but I understood it.

He had dreams of What

he Would liked to have been...

...of what he would have done

if he could have and so forth.

But those are the things that I-- I--

Made me fond of Jack...

...because I saw the longing in him

to be something that he wasn't.

The key to the real Jack Warner...

...may be hidden on the back of an unsent

postcard I found buried in an old box.

On it, written in his handwriting,

are these words:

"I have made a new resolution

not to speak.

Never, never say a word.

Not to utter more

than absolutely essential...

... to erect barricades and walls of silence

between myself and the world.

One has to be a cobblestone

or a diamond...

...not to be shattered

by the hardness of most people.

Perhaps it is much harder to struggle

against oneself than against fate."

Mr. Warner was relieved

of his being the frontman...

...and all of a sudden,

he had a lot of powerful lawyers...

...telling him what to do,

which didn't sit very well.

I just know everybody was terribly upset

and that Mr. Warner went home.

He Went home to his big house.

It was an honor to be

under contract at Warner Bros.

It wasn't sort of--

It wasn't a little thing.

It was like going into the major leagues,

you know? It was--

You know, it was the Yankees

and the Dodgers all combined for me.

This was a place you belonged to.

It was a family.

You were part of a family.

And for that privilege

of being a part of that family...

...you did what they told you to do.

- Hello.

- Hi, is this Bette-Ann?

- Yes.

- It's your grandfather?

My grandfather and the Warner Brothers'

father were brothers.

So you know what

the real Warner last name is?

Yes, I do. I think my sister and I

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