Editing Sam Warner (section)

===Early business ventures===
Samuel Warner was the first member of his family to move into the entertainment industry. In the early 1900s, he formed a business partnership with another Youngstown resident and "took over" the city's Old Grand Opera House, which he used as a venue for "cheap vaudeville and photoplays". The venture failed after one summer.<ref name="vindy-yo-12-30-23">{{cite news
  | title = Heard on the Corner: How the Warner Brothers, Movie Producers, Got Their Start
  | work = The Youngstown Daily Vindicator
  | date = December 30, 1923
}}</ref> Warner then secured a job as a [[projectionist]] at [[Idora Park, Youngstown|Idora Park]], a local amusement park.<ref name="Warner49">Warner and Jennings (1964), p. 49.</ref>  He persuaded the family of the new medium's possibilities and negotiated the purchase of a Model B [[Kinetoscope]] from a projectionist who was "down on his luck".<ref name="Warner50">Warner and Jennings (1964), p. 50.</ref>  The purchase price was $1,000.<ref name="ohiomag-march83">{{cite news
  | first = Bob
  | last = Trebilcock
  | title = A Warner Brothers Production: They parlayed Youngstown nickelodeon into a Hollywood empire
  | work = Ohio Magazine
  | date = March 1985
  | pages = 24–25
}}</ref> Warner's interest in film came after seeing [[Thomas Edison]]'s ''[[The Great Train Robbery (1903 film)|The Great Train Robbery]]'' while working as an employee at [[Cedar Point|Cedar Point Pleasure Resort]] in [[Sandusky, Ohio]]. During this time, Albert agreed to join Samuel and together the two displayed showings of ''The Great Train Robbery'' at carnivals throughout the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania;<ref name="sperling32">Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 32.</ref> Sam Warner would run the film projector and Albert would sell tickets.<ref name="sperling32" />

In 1905, Harry Warner agreed to join his two brothers and sold his Youngstown bicycle shop.<ref name="HBTHYNA33">Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 33.</ref>  Through the money Harry made by selling the bicycle shop, the three brothers were now able to purchase a building in [[New Castle, Pennsylvania]];<ref name="sperling34">Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 34.</ref> The brothers named their new theater The Cascade Movie Palace.<ref>Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 54–55.</ref> The Cascade Movie Palace was so successful that the brothers were able to purchase a second theater in New Castle.<ref name="thomas22">{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|pages=22|isbn=0-07-064259-1}}</ref>  This makeshift theatre, called the Bijou, was furnished with chairs borrowed from a local undertaker.<ref name="variety-09-13-78">
{{cite news
  | title = Jack L. Warner's Death Closes Out Pioneer Clan of 'Talkies'
  | work = Variety
  | date = September 13, 1978
  | page = 2
}}</ref>  They maintained the theater until moving into film distribution in 1907.<ref name="Warner55-57">Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 55–57.</ref> That year, the Warner brothers established the [[Pittsburgh]]-based Duquesne Amusement Company, and the three brothers rented an office in the Bakewell building in downtown Pittsburgh.<ref name="thomas22" />  Harry then sent Sam Warner to New York to purchase, and ship, films for their Pittsburgh exchange company, while he and Albert remained in Pittsburgh to run the business.<ref name="thomas22" />

Their business, however, proved lucrative until the advent of [[Thomas Edison]]'s [[Motion Picture Patents Company]] (also known as the Edison Trust), which charged distributors exorbitant fees.<ref name="Warner65-66">Warner and Jennings (1964), pp. 65–66.</ref> In 1909, the brothers sold the Cascade Theater for $40,000, and decided to open a second film exchange in Norfolk, Virginia;<ref name="sperling42">Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 42</ref>  through this Norfolk company, younger brother [[Jack L. Warner|Jacob]] (known as "Jack,") following Sam's advice,<ref name="thomas18">{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1990|pages=18|isbn=0-07-064259-1}}</ref> officially joined his three brothers' business and was sent to Norfolk by older brother Harry to serve as Warner's assistant.<ref name="sperling42" />  In 1910, the Warners would sell the family business, to the General Film Company, for "$10,000 in cash, $12,000 in preferred stock, and payments over a four-year period for a total of $52,000".<ref name="HBTHYNA424434">Sperling, Millner, and Warner (1998), p. 45-46</ref>