Funeral services for Sime Silverman, founder and owner of the theatrical weekly, Variety, who died in Hollywood, Friday night, will be held at the Riverside Memorial Chapel, 76th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, immediately upon the arrival of the body from California Wednesday. Other details of the interment have not yet been decided upon. Mr. Silverman was 61 years old when he died in a Hollywood hotel from a lung hemorrhage.
Variety is one of the best-known weeklies in the country, being read not only by all actors who regard it as their professional journal, but by many outsiders who liked the pungent language and sturdy independence of the magazine. Variety is the handbook, directory of Broadway and a glossary of its slang.
The effect of his personality was the production of a paper that became unique. He would never allow his advertisers to interfere with the policy of the paper. In time, Variety came to speak with authority about the show business.
Silverman was a fixture at theatrical first nights and the livelier of the night clubs and at the restaurants where the Broadway crowd gathered. Countless legends and stories have grown up around Silverman, and numerous articles have been written about him.
Sime Silverman was born in Cortland, N. Y., on May 19, 1872, the son of George and Rachel Silverman. He attended grammar school in Cortland and Syracuse, and then went to business school. He then left for New York, where he embarked on his journalistic career, through the medium of a job on the Morning Telegraph. According to legend, he lost his job when he wrote a stinging review of a current theatrical production. He was told that he could never get along that way.
Shortly afterward he founded Variety with two partners and a borrowed capital of $1,500.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
