Barney Balaban

Barney Balaban (June 8, 1887 – March 7, 1971) was an American film executive and innovator in the film industry who was president of Paramount Pictures from 1936 to 1964, and honorary chairman until his death.

Life and career alt=front row, left to right: Barney Balaban, Paramount; Harry Cohn, Columbia Pictures; Nicholas M. Schenck, Lowe's; Will H. Hays, and Leo Spitz, RKO. Back row: George Schaefer, United Artists; Sidney Kent, 20th Century Fox; Nathan J. Blumberg, Universal; and Albert Warner, Warner Bros. in 1938 At the White House, front row, left to right: Barney Balaban, Paramount; Harry Cohn, Columbia Pictures; Nicholas M. Schenck, Loew's; Will H. Hays; Leo Spitz, RKO. Back row, left to right: George Schaefer, United Artists; Sidney Kent, 20th Century Fox; Nathan J. Blumberg, Universal; Albert Warner, Warner Bros., in 1938 Barney Balaban was the eldest of the seven sons of Bessarabian-Jewish immigrants Augusta "Goldie" (née Mandebursky, later Levin) from Odesa and grocery store owner Israel Balaban, from Tiraspol. His siblings in order were A. J., Leah, Ida, John, Max, Dave, Harry and Elmer.

Balaban worked as a messenger boy and a cold storage company employee until 1908, when he was persuaded, at age 21, to go into the cinema business. According to a 1945 article in Forbes magazine, his mother came home from her first picture show and commented, "The customers pay before they even see what they're paying for! There'll be money in that business."

Balaban and his younger brothers rented the 100-seat Kedzie Theater. From there, Balaban's innovations changed the industry. In 1910, Balaban built the Circle Theatre, the first cinema to have a balcony. After his sister Ida married Sam Katz (1892–1960), the two brothers-in-law made plans for a chain of cinemas in the Midwest, the Balaban and Katz Theatre Chain. Barney's brothers John, Dave, Abe ( A. J.), and Max all worked for Balaban and Katz. Brothers Elmer and Harry owned their own theater concern called H & E Balaban.

The first link in the chain, the Central Park Theatre in Chicago, opened in 1917. Balaban and Katz set about to create the first air-conditioned movie theater. Their first theater cooling system combined a large fan blowing over cakes of ice in a washtub. Not only was the system noisy, it occasionally blew a shower of water onto the patrons.

In 1929, Balaban married Tillie Urkov; they had three children, film producer and director Burt Balaban (predeceased in 1965), actress and author Judith R. Balaban (who was married and divorced from Jay Kanter, Anthony Franciosa, and Don Quine) and American jazz tubist and sousaphonist Leonard "Red" Balaban. He then became chairman until the 1966 takeover by Gulf and Western. The Balaban and Katz trademark is the property of the Balaban and Katz Historical Foundation. He was the uncle of actor Bob Balaban.

Depiction in media Balban appears in the season 2 episode "Hollywoodland" of the NBC series Timeless, portrayed by Josh Randall.

Barney Balaban (portrayed by Richard Portnow) was also a featured character in the movie Hitchcock, about Alfred Hitchcock and his struggle to get Psycho made.