Cast of ‘Groundhog Day' reunites at Navy Pier for first time since movie...
Thank you, Richard Hensel you you probably recognise Richard is one of the original D.J. voices you heard over, and over, and over, and over, and over again in Groundhog Day
Welcome, Campers to this yeah to uh to this the inaugural inaugural Harold Ramis Day here in Chicago, with a special celebration for the film Groundhog Day for which Harold co-wrote the script directed and acted-in, playing The Neurologist; he even co-wrote the opening song 'Weatherman'....
I'm David pasy I was I was in the film just a little bit more than you uh I also got to know Harold working on other stuff with him on stage with me here today are many of the actors you remember from Groundhog Day and today is the first time we've officially reunited since the film premiered in 1993 I can't think yeah right I can't think of a better occasion uh to get together than this hero haral RIS Harold yeah yeah this was a great film but we're here for Harold uh Harold was a writer actor producer and director he was and still is a comedy Legend it's hard to believe that a decade has gone by since he died in 2014 a native of the city Harold loves Chicago one of his first jobs was writing for the Chicago Daily News and then was hired as Playboy magazines joke editor yeah Harold got his comedy chops training at the renowned SE City Theater uh with with this fell uh he excelled in improvisation and went on to be a mainstage performer later sharing the stage with John Belushi and this fella uh eventually writing and starring onv the Emmy winning sketch show Harold's first screenplay Animal House was one of the highest grossing comedies of all time followed by a collaboration with this fell Brian Doyle Murray on the script for catty Shack which would be one of the first of 11 films that Harold directed he and briyan even created a role for Brian's little brother Bill after his success in Hollywood with movies like Stripes Ghostbusters in Groundhog Day Harold relocated his production offices and his family back to Chicago while still creating his films and directing television shows like the office always work from the top of your intelligence was one of the Second City mantras Harold lived by today we are here to honor Harold from the top of his intelligence gave us so much laughter joy and so many quotable lines like
don't cross the streams
be the ball
never hit anyone in Anger unless you're absolutely sure you can get away with it and
0.0
Also today with us is Harold's wife Erica man hand [Applause] Rings just do that um hi it's really great to see everybody oh my god um and I would like to thank all of you and all the actors who came today because it just makes Harold live on and on and on and um I would like to also thank Grant deporter and uh his team here at Harry car's and Marilyn Gardner and her team at Navy Pier and the Sable Hotel um and also Senator Durban and the alderman that came it it's really made this a very very special day um I have a surprise letter that came at the last minute from Barack Obama President Obama and I'd like to read it to everyone gathered to celebrate Harold Ramis and Groundhog Day as a chicagoan and a fan of great movies I'm so glad that this is how you've chosen to spend Harold re's day Harold's movies make us laugh but they also do more than that they encourage us to root for the underdog to identify with the outsider and to remember that we are always capable of changing for the better so enjoy the festivities that's what Harold would have wanted and who knows maybe you'll wake up tomorrow and get to do it all over again I have one more thing to say I I met the drummer from the movie Inside Rio and he told me some memories about Harold and one thing he said was he was a scrable master and Harold would have loved to have heard that today so thank you Rio thank you Erica that was lovely uh and how about that uh that was a president of the United States of America um next I would like to welcome Senator Dick Durban to share a few words about Harold oh come on he's a local come on it's an honor to be here and the reason I'm here is not just because of a great fan of Harold Ramis and all of his work but because of a little coincidence we politicians can tell you that the newspapers often publish our birthdays and ages and I noticed every time my birthday showed up there was a fellow right next to me named Harold whus and I eventually figured it out we were born on exactly the same day so I use that as an excuse to meet him here at Navy Pier for the first time and I said we ought to get together for dinner thinking it would never happen but it did happen ER Letta Harold and I went out to dinner several times and enjoyed the friendship he was a wonderful guy a funny guy uh he told me a lot of stories about Bill Murray I'm sure some of them are true and he told me about his directorial debut Erica in cattyshack when he stood out there and decided he was going to pick the setting for the camera and whoever was advising him said then we're going to have to chop down that bush and move that car he said what do you suggest over here he said that's exactly where we're going he said he had to learn it on the job uh he was a great fun and a great inspiration to all of us with a genuine sense of humor and caring I'm sorry the speech isn't a little better it'll get better tomorrow and it'll even better the day after it's great to be here with you thank you thank you Senator um we uh I I was up there for a little while and I remember the was such everybody talks about how how funny and smart Harold was but I'm here to tell you he was also very kind uh and that was the thing that I remember going up there I I like like I'm I'm in one scene but he brought me around and introduced me to everybody as though I was uh he made me feel like a part of it and uh he that was whenever I worked with him it always felt like that you always he made you feel like you were an integral part of whatever you were doing um and we're going to hear from from other folks about uh their experiences up or with Harold uh and right now uh Nancy Taylor from the film Marita g hi I'm so happy that I was invited to be here to celebrate Harold I worked with a lot of nice people but I never worked with anyone like Harold he was so so warm he was so welcoming he was calm even though he was creative there was just nobody like him and working with him acting in the movie was wonderful he was a wonderful director the set had a wonderful Vibe but I wanted to tell you about a story that I remember more than the acting which is one day at lunchtime Harold was playing his guitar so no stress he's calm enough to be playing his guitar and he shared with me that he was practicing a song that he was going to surprise his wife with I think their anniversary was coming up yes and we talked about her on multiple occasions and I've never had a director who was busy leading movie share so much about someone in his family that he loved so he ruled the game he was a writer director actor extraordinaire and he kept his family and those he loved in his heart and gave them equal weight and that's what I remember most about him so Erica was wonderful thank you and uh Robin Duke uh Doris the waitress ladies and gentlemen Rob Mark coffee hun what a great line to have I just have to say that you know working with Harold every time was a gift and I still feel like I'm receiving gifts from Harold uh being here today the lovely hotel room that I'm in I always feel like he's around and in my life and it was such a joy to know him and to laugh so much with everything I did with Harold there was always laughter around I particularly remember being in the van with Brian and Chris Elliot and just laughing on the way to set and on the way home and during uh you know during my performance in front of the camera so and Harold was always there but you never really knew he was there he was just so calm like who's directing this movie he never he was the best and and I'm just so happy to have been a part of his life and uh thank you all right more coffee hunt thanks very much Robin and uh Kenny Campbell Kenneth uh Hudson Campbell uh you may remember him as man in the hallway but in reality so much more morning off Che the groundhog think it's going to be an early spring I think it is um you know Hollywood's great because you get to work sometimes with your Heroes and couple people people right here who are my heroes and Harold was certainly one of my heroes and a chance to work with him was uh unbelievable one I couldn't pass up um he changed my name in The Script it was chubby man and I said Harold it's going to be chubby man on my resume for the rest of my life could you please change it and he changed it to man in Hall which I think I could do now I think I could be man in hall now so he changed it for me and I really appreciate that um and if you happen to see the musical Groundhog Day the musical which I know bill was there it's beautiful it was fantastic from what I hear and I know he was a big fan but he was credited as chubby man in the music CL I just want to point that out but um they had trouble casting a man in the hall it's true it's true um but uh but Harold was just what like everybody's saying he was wonderful and uh I was happy to be there was happy to get the chance and uh well just thanks to him and thank you very much and everybody who's here today great um there was a a lapse Pam Casper true force of nature uh needs to be thanked and recognized thanks for everything uh very uh a very big part of all we're doing today um and now uh hey uh Peggy roer our piano teacher the most fun I ever had on a a set was with Harold RIS doing this movie uh because of his kindness his uh the fact that there was no stress he just kept telling me to do it bigger and bigger and bigger which is not usually what you hear in a movie it's always smaller smaller smaller and he loved anything comic and he kept encouraging that I think in all of us and so it was great fun and I'm forever grateful to him yeah so um yeah uh and now it's time for a ceremony right yeah I think it's time to -- Brian, do you have something to say...?
Bill :
Oh yeah let me go before Bri --
Master of Ceremonies :
.....okay then, Bill
Bill :
I'm -- [Applause] [Music] -- sorry.... uh,
you know we've heard a lot about Harold;
Let's Talk about The Weather, okay --
It's it appears that we're going to have a very early spring -- how... (cheers) let's hear it for that! Kind of.
....and I'm reminded that when we made Groundhog Day we lived in Woodstock and it was (woo-hoo!)-- Hey, can you give me a ride home after...? -- uh, it was the longest winter of Our Lives it was the longest winter ever, it would not end, which was great for the movie, because even in April, we were getting huge like 8 inches of snow and uh they go like wow we can reshoot that scene so we stayed out there in the cold it was freezing it was a very, very long and it's colder in Woodstock than it is in Chicago, believe it or not -- it's slightly higher anyway....
That was all I got to say about The Weather, but I think it's great that we're here and I think it's nice to have, you know -- I don't want to be too Irish, but it's very nice of -- for Harold to make us a nice mild day for today you know he's up there stirring the clouds around and making that low pressure move out Indiana and just drench and ruin those people's lives over there in Indiana.... (polite laughter) but, uh it's warm here and it's beautiful -- it's a beautiful city and --
I got to know Harold through my brother, Brian, they uh --
They took care of me and let me hide out in Oldtown when I was uh just A Troublemaker from the NorthShore so uh they took care of me and uh, -- I learned a lot from from those guys from Brian and Joe flare (?) and Harold Ramis, um and Eugene Ross-leming (?) those people were wonderful to me very kind and it's the kindness of those people that really made it possible for me to um avoid The Penitentiary and to have have, ah some sort of A Life --
Uh, just as my brother used to say How Do You Justify Your Existence?, so I got -- I'm able to keep a job, I'm a Union man come on I'm a union guy, I'm a union guy and I love it it's um --
It's great to be here in the in the greatest city in the United States of America, great -- We should recognise Danny Rubin who, uh -- conceived the screenplay and and and really was a guy who uh who doesn't get enough credit because he lives in The Boondocks, you know if he lived in a big city, but he's a shy fellow but a very talented one; he made it all possible he gave us all the script that we could all all the actors did better than the script didn't we all do better and and that was Harold and Danny who made it possible to be better than the movie is, than the script -- that's your job as an actor, is to take The Work, take what you're given and make it better and we all got to do that --
Harold made it possible but the guy who made it possible for me the most is sitting next to me uh he's The Mayor of Punon Pennsylvania in the film, and uh he's uh one of the greatest people I've ever known in my life he's my brother Brian Doyle.
Well thank you Bill um I'm very happy to be here uh with all of you folks and all these wonderful actors in Erica and uh my friendship with Harold goes Way Beyond uh Groundhog Day we started in the Second City in the workshop in 1968 and then worked on radio stage uh TV movies and uh I learned a lot from him he was the smartest guy I knew the very talented guy and just the sweetest man you'd ever know and uh the most important thing I ever got from him he gave me the opportunity working on Groundhog Day to work with my wife who is a veterinarian now but before she was a veterinarian she was an assistant director in the film business and before that she was a production assistant most notably on ground Haw day so thank you Harold for giving me the opportunity need to meet my life partner I love you thank you all um last but certainly not least please welcome a oh yes we have a few more oh wait a minute thank uh yeah uh we have the drummer from the Groundhog Day party Don Rio McNichols there he is and our cameraman Ary Goan who right there he was the cameraman in the movie for uh and we even have some Ghostbusters here came ready to answer their call and the uh EO mobile wonderful uh there are a few more cast members who were unable to be here in person but wanted to share a few words about Herald on this special day and so we'll watch them listen hi folks I'm Chris Elliot I played Larry the cameraman and ground hard day and I'm sorry I'm not there to reminisce uh with you about Harold and about this incredible movie which I'm so proud to have been part of and uh really proud to hear that the Library of Congress is preserving it that's that is incredible um I'm actually in another movie that's in the Library of Congress called Cabin Boy and it's 30th Anniversary ceremony so hopefully we'll see you all there too I remember shooting Ground Hog Day I remember laughing in the van with Robin Duke on our way to the set I remember eating a lot of baby back ribs and drinking a shitload of Remy Martin with Brian Doyle Murray apparently the Murr is like alcohol um but even with friends like that I was a little intimidated on the set and uh Harold knew that about me and every morning I would show up and he would give me a huge bear hug um that always made me feel welcomed and made me feel wanted and I've I've never forgotten that it didn't stop them from giving me notes on my performance which you know were usually things like bring it down a little bit
Chris it's going to be on a big screen bring bring it down just a little bit but he was protecting me um I remember when we had wrapped Groundhog Day we were all in San Francisco doing the Press junket and uh I herniated a disc in my back and uh when all was said and done and I was ready to fly home Harold arranged for a bodyguard um who looked a lot like or was Dolph lungren to come to the hospital and take me to the airport and literally carry me onto the plane and uh --
That was Harold, always thinking about Other People and you know, his talent aside -- to me his legacy is his kindness
And uh, in fact -- when I think about Harold and his kindness I think what a piece of s**t I am, so I don't think about him that often but Harold thank you for the memories I love you I miss you God bless you Happy Groundhog Day and uh I'm going to have A Drink because all this talk about Remy Martins triggered me
Hello this is Steven toosi speaking to you from Dallas, Texas I was way late by a family emergency wish I could be with you in Chicago but I still would like to share three memories, thoughts of Harold Ramis if I could,
One my audition --
My audition was terrifying because I read with Harold Ramis himself -- an actor never reads with The Director, it's terrifying -- anyway I later found out after having dinner with Danny Rubin, The Screenwriter of the movie, he said that after I auditioned Harold called him and said "We found our Ned Ryerson -- he's the most obnoxious person I've ever met in my life!"
So, Number Two : Harold Ramis explained something to me about Comedy that I have used ever since the movie, and I want to share this -- We started that first day, that first week shooting the street scene, Bill and I, and I was doing all the -- and I was afraid I was coming across too BIG, it was a little self-conscious and I mentioned it to Harold in between shots, and Harold laughed, and he said :
"Stephen, you don't get it --
You're The Schmalelle, and
Bill is The Schlimazel.
I said, "What are you talking about..?"
He said, "It's The Formula for Comedy,
that it goes back to The Greeks but it's
The Essence of Jewish Comedy,
that to have Comedy,
you only have to have
Two Forces in The World,
You have to have The Schmalelle --
he's The Guy who spills soup
and The Schlimazel, he's
The Guy who gets
soup spilled on -
Those two in this scene,
You are The Schmalelle, so
You could spill soup
all you want to
whatever you want, but Bill
is The Schlimazel, he has to
Be The World --
the next thing I want to bring up why is this movie an evergreen why does it exist forever well it's easy it's a great movie it's a great story it has the touch of Science Fiction it has the touch of redemption but I think the story is great because it is a story about true love and that is because Harold Ramis was a True Believer --and you feel it in every frame he believes in love and he's offered it to us as a gift and we share it year after year after year on this state I now drink the toast to a great man a great comic a great director a great mind a great heart the man who knew the true love is forever Harold Ramis I wonderful uh let us also uh raise a glass to uh rea's favorite drink in Groundhog Day which was inspired by Eric Man rus' favorite drink sweet vermouth on the rocks with a Twist let's raise our glasses into toast to the life and career of Harold Ramis, and to The Groundhog and of course to World Peace everybody raise High over [Applause] here
Wonderful -- and now it's Groundhog-Time! [Applause]
The Groundhog, Chicago Harry refuses to be picked-up --
from elsewhere on the stage, Bill can be heard to yell A Warning -- "They bite....!!!"
Master of Ceremonies :
Sure, once a year the eyes of the nation tune in to watch A Master at work the master Chicago Harry the world's most famous weatherman the groundhog who Legend has it can predict the coming of an early spring so I guess the question we have to ask ourselves today is does Harry feel lucky here to translate what Chicago Harry has to say we have Buster green the president of the groundhog Society take it away [Applause] buster who big fight [Applause] [Music] [Music] this February 2nd Chicago Harry the heral of Heralds the sear of Sears the prognostic prator of prognosticators emerge reluctantly in Chicago Illinois and stated in groundhogeese "I definitely see a shadow." sorry folks six more weeks a [Applause] winner all well who doesn't love winner uh and now to take our minds off Harry's chilling prediction and make it offic and make it officially Harold Rus day please welcome Alderman Brendan Riley afternoon we going to make it official a resolution presented to the city council of the city of Chicago Illinois resolution celebrating Harold RIS day whereas Harold Allen RIS comedy Legend and Native Chicago and passed away on February 24th 2014 and whereas in honor of the 10th anniversary of his passing the cast of brown Hog Day will join Erica man Rus Harold's wife for their first reunion since the film's release fittingly on February 2nd 2024 and whereas the Chicago city council has been informed of this Milestone by The Honorable Brenan Riley otoman of the 42nd Ward and whereas growing up in Rogers Park Harold graduated from s High School and Washington University in St Louis before returning to Chicago and working as a freelance writer for the Chicago Daily News as a writer and editor for Playboy and is a substitute teacher at school serving Robert Taylor homes and whereas moving from the radio waves in the small screen to the Silver Screen Harold embarked on a prolific film career writing directing and acting sometimes all three in Classics such as Groundhog Day National Lampoon's Animal House catty Shack Stripes Ghostbusters National Lampoon Vacation analyze this and of course Grand Groundhog Day and whereas while many of his films remain comedy Classics Groundhog Day in particular would go on to receive widespread popular and critical Acclaim winning the bafta film Award for best original screenplay and being named to the writer Guild of America's 101 greatest screenplays in the American Film institute's 100 funniest movies and whereas in addition to winning the bafta for Groundhog Day Harold's contributions to Comedy have been recognized by the writer Guild of America the Chicago film critics Association the critic Circle the New York film critic Circle The Academy of Canadian Cinema and television the world science fiction society and the Academy of interactive arts and science as well as being awarded honorary doctorates in the Arts from Columbia College and Washington University and whereas at the height of his success Harold left Hollywood and returned to the Chicagoland area to raise his family and gave back to his hometown by serving on the boards of the Goodman Theater after school matters facets multimedia and the institute for psychoanalysis and whereas after a life of plan to the top of his intelligence Harold reis's talent and vision will continue to inspire generations of Comedians and writers to find their own voice as Herold once said my characters aren't losers they're Rebels they win by their refusal to play by anyone else's rules now therefore be it resolved that we the mayor and members of the city council of the city of Chicago hereby declare the second day of February 2024 Groundhog Day now for Forever More in perpetuity over and over again to be Harold RIS day and Via further resolve suitable copy of this resolution prare to present it to The Herald and family and it's a sign of our honor and respect signed mayor Brandon Johnson and Alman Brenan [Applause] Riley thank you thank you so much how about that's a quite a quite a wonderful thing good for the city to recognize the The Genius of Herold um Happy official Harold Ravis day and thank you to everyone who joined us today for this special Groundhog Day ceremony and helping us celebrate Harold RIS day shout out to the many fans that came to embrace Harold by wearing costumes from his other movies uh thank you to Navy Pier for embracing this event if you walk about the pier you will see Groundhog's face in the center of the ferris wheel hear the soundtrack playing throughout the speaker system and see the film being played on the big screen by the crystal Gardens if at the bar at Harry carries is full be sure to check out some of the other restaurants on the pier who have joined in on the festivities reunion Margaritaville and N LCA are all offering Groundhog Day themed food and beverage specials and the Sable hotel is transformed into the Pennsylvanian hotel for the day in honor of the film thank you to the Navy peer team for all your help and a very special thank you to Chicago Harry for joining us today he'll be available until 6:30 p.m. for media hpan interactions and photo ops uh it's been a pleasure to revisit the world of Groundhog Day with you all today I'm not sure if you noticed but that Ice Angel sculpture is is uh is an exact replica of the one that bill made in the movie and we even have a snowman thank you all again and uh may you please turn your attention to Stage Left where Max from noo ice NATO ice is uh live carving a special Groundhog Day ice sculpture as we speak thanks again to everyone and see you tomorrow at 6 o' w
No comments:
Post a Comment