Albert Warner of Thomas Edison's Motion Picture Patents Company (also known as the Edison Trust), which charged distributors exorbitant fees. In 1910, the Warners sold 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". After selling their business, the brothers found work distributing films for Carl Laemmle's Independent Motion Picture Company in Pittsburgh. In 1912, Sam Warner would help the brothers earn a $1,500 profit by distributing the Italian film "Dante's Inferno" in the United States. Harry Warner, encouraged by the success of "Dante's
Samuel Cupples Samuel Cupples Samuel Cupples (September 13, 1831 – January 6, 1912) was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to James and Elizabeth (Bingham) Cupples. His parents were both from County Down, Ireland and came to the United States in 1814. James Cupples was an educator and established a school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When he was 15, Samuel moved to Cincinnati and began working for Albert O. Taylor in a woodenware business. Cupples moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1851 and established his own woodenware business under the name of Samuel Cupples & Company. In 1858, Cupples partnered with Thomas Marston and the