In 1925, the studio expanded its operations and acquired the Brooklyn-based theater company Vitagraph. Later that year, Sam Warner urged his brother, Harry, to sign an agreement with Western Electric to develop a series of talking "shorts" using the newly developed Vitaphone technology. Sam died of pneumonia in 1927 (just before the premiere of the first feature-length talking picture, "The Jazz Singer"), and Jack became sole head of production. Sam's death left Jack inconsolable. One biographer writes, "Throughout his life, Jack had been warmed by Sam's sunshiny optimism, his thirst for excitement, his inventive mind, his gambling nature. Sam had also served as a buffer between Jack and his stern eldest brother, Harry. In the years to come, Jack ran the Warner Bros. Burbank studio with an iron hand. Following his brother's death, he became increasingly difficult to deal with and inspired the resentment of many of his employees.