Elmer Balaban

Elmer Balaban (May 1, 1909 – November 2, 2001) was an American theater owner and early cable television provider.

Biography Balaban was born to a Jewish family, the youngest child of Bessarabian Jewish immigrants Augusta "Goldie" (née Mandebursky, later Levin) from Odesa and Israel Balaban, from Tiraspol. His siblings in order were Barney, A.J., sister Ida, John, Max, Dave, and Harry. Balaban's parents owned a grocery store on Maxwell Street in Chicago where his father often extended credit to people.

The family decided to get into the movie theater business after his mother returned home from seeing her first picture show and commented, "Boys, that's the business you ought to get into. It's a great business. Why think of it -- people paying money before they even know what they were going to get!". The five eldest brothers and their brother-in-law, Sam Katz (married to sister Ida), pooled their money and leased the Kedzie Theater; although the theater at the time consisted of a bunch of loose chairs and a sheet for a screen, they still employed a violinist to give an aura of class. They had three children: Nancy Balaban Magidson, Bob Balaban, and Susan Balaban Flaxman. Balaban died on November 2, 2001, in his hometown in Chicago, Illinois. His wife acted under the name Eleanor Barry.