our stages, called Prologues and Productions", recalled Balaban. "When properly grouped together, these combined as a well-balanced vaudeville bill".) By August 1929, when Balaban and family were ready to depart for Manhattan, the City of Chicago threw a Citizen's Dinner in his honor that befitted the showman's impressive career, as well as the high regard and affection held for him personally. In an article in the August 14, 1929, edition of the Chicago Evening American, columnist Rob Reel wrote, "The leave-taking of A.J., called by this columnist 'the beloved Balaban,' is quite an event in Chicago's history, as he will from now on no longer be concerned intimately with movie exhibition problems here. The head of the Balaban brothers, who is in large measure responsible for the entrance of the family in the picture business, and whose affiliation with Sam Katz so many years ago resulted in establishing an entertainment epoch, will go to New York to be placed in complete charge of all Publix stage presentations and the production of all Paramount talkie shorts. This dinner is really a nice gesture on the part of the community as well as the industry. The accommodations are limited to 1,600, and already reservations are pouring in so fast that it looks as though many friends and acquaintances of A. J. will be disappointed." Two hundred musicians, culled from all of the individual B&K theatre orchestras, created for the evening one giant ensemble. The Balabans moved into an apartment at the Dorset Hotel on West 54th Street. Balaban was able to walk to work in the Paramount Building in Times Square. His wife, Carrie, described his schedule: "My husband usually left for the Long Island Studios at 8 o'clock where he spent the morning. At two, he returned to his Paramount office to remain until late in the afternoon. Between 5:30 and six he would dash in to catch a glimpse of his babies and to snatch a bite of supper. Invariably he ate in silence, falling asleep on the couch immediately afterwards. ... Frequently it was necessary to awaken him because a ten-minute picture sequence or an act on Broadway had to be reported on by seven o'clock. He'd return from that, finish his nap, and dress for the theatre. Every play had to be seen, every picture opening attended; every café entertainer watched before or after theatre. There was never