Sime Silverman

Simon J. Silverman (May 19, 1873 – September 22, 1933) was an American journalist and newspaper publisher. He was the founder of the weekly newspaper Variety in New York City in 1905, which gave theatre and vaudeville reviews and the Hollywood-based Daily Variety magazine in 1933, focusing on the emerging motion picture film industry.

Early life Silverman was born to an American Jewish family on May 19, 1873, in Cortland, New York. His father, Louis J. Silverman, was a businessman. Silverman decided that he would have to start his own paper in order to be able to tell the truth.

With a loan of $1,500 from his father-in-law, Alderman George Freeman of Syracuse, he launched trade newspaper Variety as the publisher and editor. In 1934, he topped a list in Time magazine of the "ten modern Americans who have done most to keep American jargon alive".

In 1920, Silverman purchased an old brownstone building at 154 West 46th Street in New York, which became the company's headquarters until its sale and demolition in 1988. In 1922, Silverman acquired the entertainment newspaper the New York Clipper. They lived at The Langham at 135 Central Park West in Manhattan.

Silverman suffered from a bronchial condition and, for health reasons, had travelled to California for the two winters before his death. He was 60 years old. His body was found by casting director Ben Piazza and the editor of Daily Variety, Arthur Ungar, who suffered a mild heart attack on finding the body.

His son Sidne Silverman, known as Sid or "Skigie", succeeded him as publisher of both publications. His grandson Syd became the third publisher of Variety.

Silverman was the subject of a biography by Dayton Stoddart in 1941.