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Polish village honours link with Hollywood’s Warner Brothers

11.04.2023 09:00
The central Polish village of Krasnosielc has commemorated the Hollywood movie moguls Warner Brothers, who originated from Krasnosielc before conquering America, according to local media.
The four Warner Brothers (clockwise from top left): Harry, Albert, Jack, and Samuel.
The four Warner Brothers (clockwise from top left): Harry, Albert, Jack, and Samuel.Unknown photographer, Warner Bros., publisher, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Officials have unveiled memorial plaques in honour of Harry, Sam, Albert and Jack Warner in the village park, local outlet Tygodnik Ostrołęcki has reported. 

A special mural commemorating the Warner brothers has also been launched, according to local media. 

During the event, volunteers from a local school entertained the audience dressed as characters from Warner Bros. cartoons, officials said.

The ceremony took place on April 4, exactly 100 years after the creation of the Warner Brothers film studio in Hollywood, Tygodnik Ostrołęcki reported.

‘Proof that nothing is impossible in life’

Paweł Ruszczyński, head of the Krasnosielc municipality, told the gathering: “We can all be proud that residents of our village went on to create one of the biggest film ventures in the world. Their productions are known across the globe. I am happy that we have made a small contribution to this.”

Ruszczyński urged the people of Krasnosielc “to use the success of the Warner Brothers, their hard work, as inspiration, as proof that nothing is impossible in life, that limitations exist only in our heads.” 

“My wish for you is that you find the same strength and belief that we can achieve the goals we have set for ourselves,” the official said. 

The Warner Brothers

The father of the famous four brothers, Benjamin Wonsal—whose last name may have also been Eichenbaum, Wonskolaser or Wrona, according to various sources—was a Polish-Jewish shoemaker based in Krasnosielc, who emigrated to America in the 1880s in search of better economic prospects for his growing family, Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper has reported.  

Upon arrival in New York, Benjamin changed his name to Warner, and the names of his children were subsequently also anglicised, it said. 

According to various sources, Harry, "and possibly also Sam and Albert," were born in Poland, while Jack was born "in Canada or London," Gazeta Wyborcza reported.  

On April 4, 1923, the four Warner brothers established the eponymously named film studio, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Among the brothers, Harry was the “stoic businessman and proud immigrant,” Sam was “the technical visionary,” Albert was “a loyal ambassador to the family brand” and Jack was “the wild child, the entertainer, the sometimes unpredictable one,” The Hollywood Reporter wrote.

The Warner brothers became “mavericks of the film industry” who “not only created some of Hollywood’s greatest movies and film stars,” but were also “pioneers behind the innovative technology of the Vitaphone that synchronised sound and put them in the forefront as major players in Hollywood,” the Deadline website reported.  

Bonnie & ClydeBatman, Harry Potter

In its 100-year history, Warner Bros. has produced a vast portfolio of diverse films that exceeds 2,500 titles, including such classics as Rebel Without a Cause, Bonnie & Clyde and A Clockwork Orange, as well as contemporary franchises The Matrix, Harry Potter and Batman, and TV shows including Friends, the Deadline noted.

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Source: to.com.pl, tvn24.pl, plock.wyborcza.pl, deadline.com, The Hollywood Reporter