Edwin Silverman (1898 – February 12, 1970) was an American businessman who co-founded the Essaness Theatres chain and founded

WSNS-TV WSNS-TV (channel 44) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the Spanish-language Telemundo network. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group alongside NBC outlet WMAQ-TV (c ...

Biography

Silverman was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

.Desert Sun: "Edwin Silverman Services Set Saturday in Chicago
Number 163, 12 February 1970 He worked as a poster clerk at the First National Pictures Corp. where he eventually became general sales manager of

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

after it took control of First National Pictures. In 1929, he co-founded the Essaness Theatres Corporation in Chicago with Sidney M. Spiegel Jr., grandson of

Joseph Spiegel Joseph Spiegel (1840–1918) was the founder of the Spiegel catalog, a Civil War veteran, the younger brother of Union Army Colonel Marcus M. Spiegel, and patriarch of the Spiegel family. Biography Spiegel was born to a Jewish family, the son o ...

, founder of the Speigel catalog. The name is a play on the founder's last names Silverman & Spiegel with S&S becoming ESS-AN-ESS. The company eventually owned 33 theaters in the Chicago area. He was also the founder of

channel 44 in Chicago (SNS mirrors the pronunciation of "Essaness"). He retired to

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land ...

where he was a supporter of the Desert Hospital. By 1984, the chain operated 86 movie screens in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Personal life

He had one daughter, Susan, and two sons, Jack and Alan, both executives of Essaness. He was buried at the

Rosehill Cemetery Rosehill Cemetery (founded 1859) is an American garden cemetery on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois, and at , is the largest cemetery in the City of Chicago. According to legend, the name "Rosehill" resulted from a City Clerk's error – the ar ...

in Chicago.

References

External links

Chicagology: "Essaness Theatres"
retrieved December 19, 2017 {{DEFAULTSORT:Silverman, Edwin 1898 births 1970 deaths American theatre managers and producers American Jews People from Chicago Film exhibitors Warner Bros. people