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55-549: Since 1989, the CFCA has given out annual awards that recognize the best films in a variety of categories. These awards are noted in the established print media such as Variety and The Hollywood Reporter . The association has also hosted the annual Chicago Critics Film Festival since 2013, which intends to bring a number of feature and short films to a larger audience. The Chicago Film Critics Association restricts its membership to professional film critics, who have been employed in

110-422: A jargon called slanguage or Varietyese (a form of headlinese ) that refers especially to the movie industry, and has largely been adopted and imitated by other writers in the industry. The language initially reflected that spoken by the actors during the early days of the newspaper. Such terms as "boffo", "payola", and "striptease" are attributed to the magazine. In 1934, founder Sime Silverman headed

165-759: A 31-story office building on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile area. The building was dubbed the Variety Building because a red, illuminated " Variety " sign graced the top of it. In 2013, PMC, the parent company of Variety , announced plans to move Variety's offices to their new corporate headquarters at 11175 Santa Monica Blvd. in Westwood. There, Variety shares the 9-story building with parent company PMC, Variety Intelligence Platform, and PMC's other media brands, including Deadline.com , Rolling Stone , Vibe , Billboard , Robb Report and

220-582: A bigger part of the film discussion here in Chicago, and we wanted to bring the discussion about these films to the community. It was an idea that was floating out there until we had the means to pull it off. It's really expanded far beyond what we expected." The inaugural event was held from April 12–14, 2013 at the Muvico Theater in Rosemont . The festival showcased over 20 films that would have had

275-407: A film producer, believed to be George Kleine , that they were wasting space criticizing moving pictures and others had suggested that favorable reviews brought too strong a demand for certain pictures to the exclusion of others. Despite the gap, Variety is still the longest unbroken source of film criticism in existence. In 1930 Variety also started publishing a summary of miniature reviews for

330-570: A list in Time magazine of the "ten modern Americans who have done most to keep American jargon alive". According to The Boston Globe , the Oxford English Dictionary cites Variety as the earliest source for about two dozen terms, including "show biz" (1945). In 2005, Welcome Books published The Hollywood Dictionary by Timothy M. Gray and J. C. Suares, which defines nearly 200 of these terms. One of its popular headlines

385-504: A low distribution in a bid to expose them to a larger audience. Films shown included The Spectacular Now and The Dirties . The event also featured Q&A sessions with directors William Friedkin and Sarah Polley . The second festival was expanded to a week, beginning May 9, 2014 at the Music Box Theatre . Variety (magazine) Variety is an American trade magazine owned by Penske Media Corporation . It

440-418: A review by Silverman's son Sidne , also known as Skigie (based on the childish lisping of his name) who was claimed to be the youngest critic in the world at seven years old. In 1922, Silverman acquired The New York Clipper which had been reporting on the stage and other entertainment since 1853, in an attempt to attract advertising revenue away from Billboard , following a dispute with William Donaldson,

495-759: The 1906 San Francisco earthquake , through Arab Spring in 2012, and argues that the entertainment industry needs to stay aware of changes in politics and tastes since those changes will affect their audiences. In a foreword to the book, Martin Scorsese calls Variety "the single most formidable trade publication ever" and says that the book's content "makes you feel not only like a witness to history, but part of it too." In 2013, Variety staffers tallied more than 200 uses of weekly or Daily Variety in TV shows and films, ranging from I Love Lucy to Entourage . In 2016, Variety endorsed Hillary Clinton for President of

550-438: The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike has been considered Variety 's largest competitor in online showbiz news. In October 2012, Jay Penske , chairman and CEO of PMC, announced that the website's paywall would come down, the print publication would stay, and he would invest more into Variety ' s digital platform in a townhall . In March 2013, owner Penske appointed three co-editors to oversee different parts of

605-637: The Daily in Hollywood. Bart had worked previously at Paramount Pictures and The New York Times . Syd remained as publisher until 1990 when he was succeeded on Weekly Variety by Gerard A. Byrne and on Daily Variety by Sime Silverman's great-grandson, Michael Silverman. Syd became chairman of both publications. In April 2009, Bart moved to the position of "vice president and editorial director", characterized online as "Boffo No More: Bart Up and Out at Variety ". From mid-2009 to 2013, Timothy M. Gray oversaw

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660-621: The Variety Movie Guide containing a collection of 5,000 abridged reviews edited by Derek Elley . The last edition was published in 2001 with 8,500 reviews. Many of the abridged reviews for films prior to 1998 are published on Variety.com unless they have later posted the original review. The complete text of approximately 100,000 entertainment-related obituaries (1905–1986) was reprinted as Variety Obituaries , an 11-volume set, including alphabetical index. Four additional bi-annual reprints were published (for 1987–1994) before

715-571: The Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle . The Chicago Critics Film Festival was founded in 2013 and is held annually. It is the only film festival in the country that is entirely programmed and produced by a film critics association. Of the decision to host a film festival, Erik Childress, the festival's producer and CFCA board member stated, "We really wanted to be

770-523: The Weekly on U.S. and international coverage. Silverman passed on the editorship of the Weekly Variety to Abel Green as his replacement in 1933. He remained as publisher until his death later that year, soon after launching Daily Variety . Silverman's son Sidne succeeded him as publisher of both publications but upon contracting tuberculosis in 1936 he could no longer take a day-to-day role at

825-412: The 1970s started to contain republication of the film reviews published during the year. Older back issues of Variety are available on microfilm . In 2010, Variety.com allowed access to digitized versions of all issues of Variety and Daily Variety with a subscription. Certain articles and reviews prior to 1998 have been republished on Variety.com . The Media History Digital Library has scans of

880-489: The Chicago Flames) have been held annually since 1988 and recognise achievement in film making and acting performances. The first awards were compiled by the CFCA's founders and were not presented in a ceremony. In the past, winners received a glass Chicago Flame trophy, which featured an etching of the Chicago skyline created by artist Josef Puehringer. In 2019, following the death of longtime CFCA member Milos Stehlik,

935-582: The Hollywood-based Daily Variety in 1933 with Arthur Ungar as the editor. It replaced the Variety Bulletin issued in Hollywood on Fridays as a four-page wraparound to the Weekly . Daily Variety was initially published every day other than Sunday but mostly on Monday to Friday. The Daily and the Weekly were initially run as virtually independent newspapers, with the Daily concentrating mostly on Hollywood news and

990-816: The United States , marking the first time the publication endorsed a candidate for elected office in its 111-year history. Variety 's first offices were in the Knickerbocker Theatre located at 1396 Broadway on 38th and Broadway in New York. Later it moved to 1536 Broadway at the 45th and Broadway corner until Loew's acquired the site to build the Loew's State Theatre . In 1909, Variety set up its first overseas office in London. In 1920, Sime Silverman purchased an old brownstone building around

1045-508: The West Coast offices of WWD and Footwear News . On January 19, 1907, Variety published what is considered the first film review in history. Two reviews written by Sime Silverman were published: Pathe 's comedy short An Exciting Honeymoon and Edison Studios ' western short The Life of a Cowboy directed by Edwin S. Porter . Variety discontinued reviews of films between March 1911 until January 1913 as they were convinced by

1100-449: The archive of Variety from 1905 to 1963 available online. The first issue of Variety sold 320 copies in 1905. Paid circulation for the weekly Variety magazine in 2023 was 85,300. Each copy of each Variety issue is read by an average of three people, with an estimated total readership of 255,900. Variety.com has 32 million unique monthly visitors. For much of its existence, Variety 's writers and columnists have used

1155-473: The beginning of January, normally with a review of the year and other charts and data, including, from 1938 onwards, lists of the top performing films of the year and, from 1949, the annually updated all-time rental chart. The editions also contained many advertisements from show business personalities and companies. The 100th anniversary edition was published in October 2005 listing Variety 's icons of

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1210-422: The century. Along with the large anniversary editions, Variety also published special editions containing lots of additional information, charts and data (and advertising) for three film festivals: Cannes Film Festival , MIFED Film Market, and American Film Market Daily Variety also published an anniversary issue each October. This regularly contained a day-by-day review of the year in show business and in

1265-509: The company as publisher of both the Weekly Variety in New York and the Daily Variety in Hollywood. Thomas M. Pryor, former Hollywood bureau chief of The New York Times , became editor of Daily Variety in 1959. Under Pryor, Daily Variety expanded from 8 pages to 32 pages and also saw circulation increase from 8,000 to 22,000. Green remained editor of Variety until he died in 1973, with Syd taking over. In 1987, Variety

1320-494: The corner at 154 West 46th Street in New York, which became the Variety headquarters until 1987, when the publication was purchased. Under the new management of Cahners Publishing, the New York headquarters of the Weekly Variety was relocated to the corner of 32nd Street and Park Avenue South. Five years later, it was downgraded to a section of one floor in a building housing other Cahner's publications on West 18th Street, until

1375-508: The direction of self-proclaimed "Real Estalker" Mark David, which later expanded to its own stand-alone site in 2019. October 2014 Eller and Wallenstein were upped to Co-Editors in Chief, with Littleton continuing to oversee the trade's television coverage. In June 2014, Penske Media Corporation entered into an agreement with Reuters to syndicate news from Variety and Variety Latino-Powered by Univision to distribute leading entertainment news to

1430-662: The entertainment newspaper the New York Clipper . Silverman married Harriett Freeman in 1895. 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 died on September 22, 1933, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, from a lung hemorrhage. He

1485-519: The films reviewed that week and in 1951 the editors decided to position the capsules on top of the reviews, a tradition retained today. Writing reviews was a side job for Variety staff, most of whom were hired to be reporters and not film or theatre critics. Many of the publication's reviewers identified their work with four-letter pen names ("sigs") rather than with their full names. The practice stopped in August 1991. Those abbreviated names include

1540-508: The following: Variety is one of the three English-language periodicals with 10,000 or more film reviews reprinted in book form. These are contained in the 24-volume Variety Film Reviews (1907–1996). Film reviews continue to be published in Variety . The other two periodicals are The New York Times (as The New York Times Film Reviews (1913–2000) in 22 volumes) and Harrison's Reports (as Harrison's Reports and Film Reviews (1919–1962) in 15 volumes). In 1992, Variety published

1595-399: The front. The old front-page box advertisement was replaced by a strip advertisement, along with the first photos published in Variety since Sime gave up using them in the old format in 1920: they depicted Sime, Abel, and Syd. For 20 years from 1989, Variety ' s editor-in-chief was Peter Bart , originally only of the weekly New York edition, with Michael Silverman (Syd's son) running

1650-658: The international news agency's global readership. This dissemination comes in the form of columns, news stories, images, video, and data-focused products. In July 2015, Variety was awarded a Los Angeles Area Emmy Award by the Television Academy in the Best Entertainment Program category for Variety Studio: Actors on Actors , a series of one-hour specials that take viewers inside Hollywood films and television programs through conversations with acclaimed actors. A second Los Angeles Area Emmy Award

1705-407: The key cities in the U.S. in the future and initially also reported results for ten other cities including Chicago and Los Angeles. They continued to report these grosses for films until 1989 when they put the data into a summarized weekly chart and only published the data by theatre for New York and Los Angeles as well as other international cities such as London and Paris. As media expanded over

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1760-623: The majority of operations were moved to Los Angeles . When Daily Variety started in 1933, its offices were in various buildings near Hollywood Blvd. and Sunset Blvd. In 1972, Syd Silverman purchased a building at 1400 North Cahuenga Blvd. which housed the Daily's offices until 1988, after which its new corporate owners and new publisher, Arthur Anderman, moved them to a building on the Miracle Mile on Wilshire Boulevard . In late 2008, Variety moved its Los Angeles offices to 5900 Wilshire ,

1815-691: The media as a "critical voice or staff authority" on the subject of the cinema for six months. Applicants for membership in the CFCA must provide a letter signed by a producer or editor showing they have been in paid employment as a critic, as well as examples of published work. Applicants must also reside in the Chicago area. By 2004, the CFCA had just over 40 members and now comprises over 60. Its membership includes writers for such film-related websites and print media as Ain't It Cool News , The A.V. Club , Chicago Sun-Times , Daily Herald , Consequence of Sound , Paste , RogerEbert.com and eFilmCritic.com. The Chicago Film Critics Awards (also known as

1870-599: The organization's Most Promising Filmmaker award was renamed in his honor to the Milos Stehlik Breakthrough Filmmaker Award. In 2007, the CFCA boycotted all 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight films, as part of a protest over the studio's decision to limit online critics' access to media screenings. A number of critics complained that the late media screenings affected the quality of their reviews. The CFCA's protest garnered support from many other film critics associations, including

1925-470: The owner of Billboard . Silverman folded it two years later after spending $ 100,000, merging some of its features into Variety . The same year, he launched the Times Square Daily , which he referred to as "the world's worst daily" and soon scrapped. During that period, Variety staffers worked on all three papers. After the launch of The Hollywood Reporter in 1930, Silverman launched

1980-422: The paper. Green, the editor, and Harold Erichs, the treasurer and chief financial officer, ran the paper during his illness. Following Sidne's death in 1950, his only son Syd Silverman , was the sole heir to what was then Variety Inc. Young Syd's legal guardian Erichs, who had started at Variety as an office boy, assumed the presidency. Ungar remained editor of Daily Variety until his death in 1950. He

2035-462: The publication as Editor-in-Chief, after over 30 years of various reporter and editor positions in the newsroom. In October 2012, Reed Business Information , the periodical's owner, (formerly known as Reed-Elsevier, which had been parent to Cahner's Corp. in the United States) sold the publication to Penske Media Corporation (PMC). PMC is the owner of Deadline Hollywood , which since

2090-409: The publication's industry coverage; Claudia Eller as Editor, Film; Cynthia Littleton as Editor, TV; and Andrew Wallenstein as Editor, Digital. The decision was also made to stop printing Daily Variety with the last printed edition published on March 19, 2013, with the headline "Variety Ankles Daily Pub Hubbub". In June 2014, Variety launched a high-end real-estate breaking news site, Dirt , under

2145-540: The reprint series was discontinued. The annual anniversary edition published in January would often contain a necrology of the entertainment people who had died that year. Variety started reporting box office grosses for films by theatre on March 3, 1922, to give exhibitors around the country information on a film's performance on Broadway, which was often where first run showings of a film were held. In addition to New York City, they also endeavored to include all of

2200-476: The review mentioned the sketch was n.g. (no good). He was not aware that Mrs. Robson had given the Telegraph an advertising contract for $ 50. Despite suggesting that since the sketch was n.g., that might make the contract n.g., too, as Mrs. Robson wouldn't advertise what she couldn't play, the owner did not like the suggestion. Silverman decided that he would have to start his own paper in order to be able to tell

2255-559: The studios' attempt to reach other Hollywood professionals who will be voting on the many awards given out in the early part of the year, including the Academy Awards , the Golden Globes and various guild award honors. On December 15, 1906, Variety published its first anniversary number that contained 64 pages, double the size of a regular edition. It published regular bumper anniversary editions each year, most often at

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2310-404: The sworn foe of grammar, and the man who never let anyone pay a check." In 1934, he headed 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

2365-489: The time of the company's launch were The New York Clipper and the New York Dramatic Mirror . The original logo, which is very similar to the current design, was sketched by Edgar M. Miller, a scenic painter, who refused payment. The front cover contained pictures of the original editorial staff: Alfred Greason, Epes W. Sargeant (Chicot or Chic), Joshua Lowe, and Silverman. The first issue contained

2420-399: 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. He passed the editorship to Abel Green in 1931 but remained as publisher until his death, soon after launching the magazine Daily Variety . During the course of his career, Silverman was known as the "oracle of show business,

2475-476: The week's hits and flops based on the box office results of 25 key U.S. cities. Later that year, a list of All-Time Top Grossers with a list of films that had achieved or gave promise of earning $ 4,000,000 or more in domestic (United States and Canada) rentals was published. An updated chart was published annually for over 50 years, normally in the anniversary edition each January. Sime Silverman Simon J. Silverman (May 19, 1873 – September 22, 1933)

2530-416: The years, charts and data for other media such as TV ratings and music charts were published, especially in the anniversary editions that were regularly published each January. During the 1930s, charts of the top performing films of the year were published and this tradition has been maintained annually since. In 1946, a weekly National Box Office survey was published on page 3 indicating the performance of

2585-432: 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 funeral was held at Congregation Emanu-El of New York on September 28, 1933. 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

2640-620: Was a businessman. Silverman began his career by working for his father. In 1903, he became a journalist for the Daily America and wrote under the pen name "The Man in the Third Row". After the Daily America dissolved, he later joined the New York-based The Morning Telegraph but was fired in 1905 for a notice on a new sketch played by Mrs. Stuart Robson at Proctor's 58th Street theatre where

2695-595: 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. Silverman was born to an American Jewish family on May 19, 1873, in Cortland, New York . His father, Louis J. Silverman,

2750-418: Was awarded in 2016. In June 2019, Variety shut down its Gaming section. A significant portion of the publication's advertising revenue comes during the film-award season leading up to the Academy Awards . During this "Awards Season", large numbers of colorful, full-page " For Your Consideration " advertisements inflate the size of Variety to double or triple its usual page count. These advertisements are

2805-788: Was during the Wall Street Crash of 1929 : " Wall St. Lays An Egg ". The most famous was " Sticks Nix Hick Pix " (the movie-prop version renders it as "Stix nix hix pix!" in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Michael Curtiz 's musical – biographical film about George M. Cohan starring James Cagney ). In 2012, Rizzoli Books published Variety: An Illustrated History of the World from the Most Important Magazine in Hollywood by Gray. The book covers Variety ' s coverage of hundreds of world events, from

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2860-496: Was followed by Joe Schoenfeld. In 1953, Army Archerd took over the "Just for Variety" column on page two of Daily Variety and swiftly became popular in Hollywood. Archerd broke countless exclusive stories, reporting from film sets, announcing pending deals, and giving news of star-related hospitalizations, marriages, and births. The column appeared daily for 52 years until September 1, 2005. Erichs continued to oversee Variety until 1956. After that date, Syd Silverman managed

2915-495: Was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville . In 1933, Daily Variety was launched, based in Los Angeles, to cover the motion-picture industry . Variety 's website features entertainment news, reviews, box office results, plus a credits database, production charts and film calendar. Variety has been published since December 16, 1905, when it

2970-525: Was launched by Sime Silverman as a weekly periodical covering theater and vaudeville , with its headquarters in New York City . Silverman had been fired by The Morning Telegraph in 1905 for panning an act which had taken out an advert for $ 50. He subsequently decided to start his own publication that, he said, would "not be influenced by advertising." With a loan of $ 1,500 from his father-in-law, he launched Variety as publisher and editor. In addition to The Morning Telegraph , other major competitors at

3025-459: Was sold to Cahners Publishing for $ 64 million. In December 1987, Syd handed over editorship of Variety to Roger Watkins. After 29 years as editor of Daily Variety , Tom Pryor handed over to his son Pete in June 1988. On December 7, 1988, Watkins proposed and oversaw the transition to four-color print . Upon its launch, the new-look Variety measured one inch shorter with a washed-out color on

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