Edwin Silverman
Edwin Silverman was an American businessman who co-founded the Essaness Theatres chain and founded WSNS-TV.
Biography
Silverman was born to a Jewish family in Chicago. He worked as a poster clerk at the First National Pictures Corp. where he eventually became general sales manager of Warner [Bros.] 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, founder of the Spiegel 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 WSNS-TV channel 44 in Chicago. He retired to Palm Springs where he was a supporter of the Desert Hospital.
By 1984, the chain operated 86 movie screens in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.