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The first incarnation of the Balaban and Katz Theatre corporation appeared in 1916 in Chicago by A.J. Balaban, Barney Balaban, Sam Katz, and Morris Katz. It held its first meeting as a Delaware corporation on January 21, 1925. The company was officially dissolved as an Illinois corporation on July 31, 1970.

Balaban and Katz chose to build their theatres—many designed by famous architects Rapp and Rapp—in rapidly growing outlying districts, convenient for the middle class population which provided the bulk of their patrons, as well as downtown Chicago. The company is notable for being the first to offer air conditioning in its theatres and for including lavish stage shows. It built the Chicago, Uptown, and Central Park Theatres in Chicago. The Company merged with Famous Players-Lasky Corporation in 1926.

Chicago-area theatres once built, owned, or operated by the Balaban and Katz company, as indicated on an old ticket book,¹ include:

North: Belmont, Century/Diversey Theatre, Cine, Covent, Granada, Howard, Lakeside, Norshore, Nortown, Pantheon, Riviera, and Uptown.

Northwest: Admiral, Alba, Belpark, Biltmore, Congress, Crystal, Drake, Gateway Theatre, Harding, Luna, Portage, Terminal, and Will Rogers.

South, Maryland, Regal, Southtown, Tivoli, Tower.

West: Central Park, Iris, Manor, Marbro, Paradise, Senate, and State.

Loop: Apollo, Chicago, Garrick, Oriental, Roosevelt, State-Lake, and United Artists.

Suburban Chicago: Berwyn, Coronet, La Grange, Park, Valencia, and Varsity.

Sam Katz, a vice president at Balaban and Katz became president of The Publix theatres group, a division of Famous Players Lasky. Its secretary, Barney Balaban eventually became president of Paramount Pictures. At its peak, the Balaban and Katz circuit operated more than 100 theatres in the Midwest, some of the world's largest among them. A complete listing is available on the company's official website, listed below.

Beginning in 1939, Balaban and Katz, along with parent company Paramount, was involved in the development of television braodcasting. The company owned several experimental television licenses, and in 1943 began broadcasting over WBKB (now WBBM-TV), the first commercial television station in Chicago.[1]

Today, the trademark for the company is owned by a historical foundation called the Balaban and Katz Historical Foundation. The foundation was founded by descendants of the original Balaban brothers. Its collection of B and K corporate documents is located in New Jersey. Theatre Historical Society, in Elmhurst, Illinois, maintains an extensive collection of architectural blue prints and large format pictures of many Balaban and Katz theatres. Additional historic photos and theatre information can be found at Cinema Treasures and Compass Rose. In 2006, a documentary, Uptown: Portrait of a Palace, featured one of Balaban and Katz's most famous theatres, the Uptown. 2006 also saw the publication of a book on many of the B&K theatres, titled The Chicago Movie Palaces of Balaban and Katz, written by David Balaban and published by Arcadia Publishing.

• United Paramount Theatres

• Balaban, David. "The Chicago Movie Palaces of Balaban and Katz," Arcadia Publishing, 2006.
• Balaban and Katz Historical Foundation Official Website of Balaban and Katz. Photos of Balaban and Katz Theatres and corporate information.
• ¹ Histories and Photos of Balaban and Katz Theatres.
• Encyclopedia of Chicago