Traces the life and career of the influential producer, shares the impressions of those who worked with him, and surveys Warner Brothers films "Correcting" Jack Warner's whimsical "as told to" autobiography (1964), this (surprisingly) first biography of the subject (1892-1978), written by the ace veteran Hollywood writer/reporter, offers an incisive portrait of the pioneering Hollywood mogul who outlasted his equally legendary contemporaries. Since his life was so entwined with the studio he founded with his brothers and ran for 40-plus years, this is also a concise, informative history of Warner Brothers, from Rin Tin Tin to My Fair Lady. There are few new facts here, but Thomas smartly condenses material from other books and adds anecdotes from a bevy of new interviews. The title's a misnomer: Warner was a habitual but assiduously unfunny jokester. He was also ruthless, cheap, cruel to underlings and his many girlfriends, and blindingly conservative politically, as Thomas shows. He depended on his producers, tolerated directors, resented writers, hated actors, and despised agents. But he also made some great pictures. - David Bartholo mew, NYPL Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.