Vitaphone: When Sound Came to the Screen

The Warner Brothers — Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack — began in the film industry in 1907, but it was in 1912, when they moved to the West Coast, that their output beared notice. Their first important feature, “My Four Years in Germany,” was produced in 1918. In 1925 Warners acquired the Vitagraph Company for $735,000, which gave the brothers studios in Brooklyn and Hollywood, as well as Vitagraph’s thirty-four exchanges. The Vitagraph name continued to be used as a trademark by the studio through the 1950’s.