As Cagney’s status had turned from new kid on the block to major star, his $400 per week had been raised to $1,400. Warner was holding firm at that salary and asked, “Now does a man need more than $1,400 a week to live?”

in the early 1930s the studio solidified a house style to “reflect the cultural tensions of newspaper headlines, taking the dross of the daily grind and transforming it into entertainment gold.”

Warner Bros. continued to produce headline-driven material, which was often controversial and regularly caught the attention of censors and moral crusaders.

Now the challenge was to convince audiences, who were also familiar with the long, failed history of talking pictures, to open their minds to this new technology.

Jack also ensured that all films came in on budget, which kept the company running smoothly and the stockholders happy.

All their earnings went into a shared fund that supported them all, and they confronted both success and failure together as a family.

Once again, the brothers split up to maximize opportunities around the country.

Jack tried to maintain his jovial personality, but after selling the studio he became lonely. He and his wife were living more or less separate lives, although they traveled together when invited to the Nixon White House. When Jack relinquished his power at the studio, he lost all personal connections. His weekend tennis parties were poorly

Hollywood was running the risk of federal intervention if the movie business could not get its act together. Just as baseball found its commissioner after the 1919 Black Sox scandal (a rigged World Series), movies found their czar.