[6] Balaban's parents owned a grocery store on Maxwell Street in Chicago where his father often extended credit to people.
[7][8] The five eldest brothers and their brother-in-law, Sam Katz (married to sister Ida), pooled their money and leased the Kedzie Theater; although the theater at the time consisted of a bunch of loose chairs and a sheet for a screen, they still employed a violinist to give an aura of class.
[5] Their venture was successful and they reinvested their profits and built the 700-seat Circle Theater which featured a pipe organ, a four-piece orchestra, and booked popular vaudeville performers such as the Marx Brothers, Eddie Cantor, and Jack Benny.
[5] They differentiated their offerings by showing both Hollywood blockbusters as well as films from independent and foreign studios; the firm eventually grew to 125 movie theaters.
[5] In the mid-1950s, Balaban sold the movie theaters and used the profits to purchase some 45 television and radio stations mostly in Dallas, St. Louis and Hartford.