The first issue of Variety appeared on the 16th of December 1905, but its existence was born from a moment of professional rebellion. Sime Silverman had been fired from The Morning Telegraph for writing a scathing review of an act that had paid $50 for an advertisement. Rather than accept defeat, Silverman borrowed $1,500 from his father-in-law and launched his own publication with a radical promise: it would never be influenced by advertising. This decision created a unique position in the media landscape, allowing the magazine to critique the very industry that paid for its existence without fear of losing revenue. The original front cover featured a sketch by scenic painter Edgar M. Miller, who refused payment for his work, and included photographs of the editorial staff, including Silverman's son Sidne, who was only seven years old. Sidne, known as Skigie due to his childish lisping, wrote the first review in the inaugural issue, claiming the title of the youngest critic in the world. The magazine faced immediate competition from established players like The New York Clipper and the New York Dramatic Mirror, yet Silverman's independence allowed it to carve out a distinct identity focused on the raw reality of theater and vaudeville.
The Silverman Dynasty And The Daily Split
For decades, the fate of Variety was inextricably linked to the Silverman family, a dynasty that spanned three generations of publishers and editors. Sime Silverman acquired The New York Clipper in 1922, spending $100,000 to merge its features into his own publication, though he eventually folded the competitor after a dispute with Billboard's William Donaldson. The family's grip on the company tightened when Sime's son Sidne took over as publisher, only to contract tuberculosis in 1936 and step back from daily operations. During Sidne's illness, editor Abel Green and treasurer Harold Erichs ran the paper, a partnership that would define the magazine's golden age. When Sidne died in 1950, his son Syd Silverman became the sole heir, with Erichs serving as his legal guardian and eventually taking the presidency. The family's influence extended to the creation of Daily Variety in 1933, a Los Angeles-based edition launched to cover the motion picture industry. This split created a dual structure where the Weekly focused on U.S. and international coverage while the Daily concentrated on Hollywood news. The Silverman era ended in 1990 when Syd Silverman stepped down, succeeded by Gerard A. Byrne on the Weekly and his great-grandson Michael Silverman on the Daily, marking the transition from a family business to a corporate entity.The Secret Language Of The Trade
Variety developed a unique linguistic culture known as slanguage or Varietyese, a form of headlinese that became the industry's secret code. Terms like boffo, payola, and striptease were attributed to the magazine, and the Oxford English Dictionary cites Variety as the earliest source for about two dozen terms, including show biz. The publication's influence was so profound that founder Sime Silverman was listed in Time magazine in 1934 as one of the ten modern Americans who had done the most to keep American jargon alive. The most famous headline, Wall St. Lays An Egg, appeared during the 1929 crash, while the phrase Sticks Nix Hick Pix became a cultural touchstone, even appearing in the 1942 film Yankee Doodle Dandy. This linguistic legacy extended to the use of four-letter pen names, or sigs, by reviewers who identified their work with abbreviations like Abel, Army, and Chic rather than their full names. The practice of using sigs stopped in August 1991, but the culture of the trade remained deeply embedded in the magazine's identity. The language reflected the spoken words of actors and industry insiders, creating a barrier between the trade and the general public while fostering a sense of community among those who understood the code.