-S'IiJ .)o a ,rl l:J,:{,'l JJ-J+-J-t\J n't di. -J esoli'\ , j ) ) u$93S srffro;,9* Dl l$fiiNlG TIAR,S n rl n FEATURES B6 :: :l ' fj,' ? t s' t u0 t ) I I /N c h I r l CEMBER 2oos VOLUME S+ Ff,-@ l, Y f)f Y O N T H EC O V E R -otography:Su*n AndersonPhotography 'str and makeup: Jules Holdren/Cloutieragency.com :iyl6f:Anne Ross -t odels: David May/ L.A. Models,Ellyn Daniels ^tf l-. 17 | C L A S S I CC I T Y r , ; , . , ' , ' ; - n , r u o , , . orsr n r r r r c B r q Shouldcrs.add shaclers of Sinatra, and presto! You'r.econjured a picture of post$'ar Chicago. Much fiom that cra ha-svanishecl, but the classicciq'sunives in placeslike Unior-r Station; in the recollections o1'Dzrnrtr.Neuman; in aband ofblues all-starsl:rnclin a scoreofother people, places,and thing-s. LO4 f,::'.lH3"J f,?,'mn :Hl Ebert has racked up national recognition nhile staling true to his neu.spaperand l-risciq: Friends and colleaguesgive him hvo thumbs qr. bl Cu o1Fe'1scrrtfial NUMBER rz I I O3,1;,il H3J"ll;llL*,.*" ;"1; has been creeping torvard Chicago from the coasts, a^sperformance artists and jaded club kids revive the campyjoys of old-fashioned striptease.Meet "Toots" Michelle L'amour, the city's reigning queen of bump-and-grind. by Stuart J. Rosenberg l\4if; Xj;13"1"1'.'"1J4 *,,"" l"refbund Bob Lunn, a smooth-talking money master connected to a who's who of Chicago'sbiggest inr.estors.Now, after an ugly dispute, Lunn is bankrupt and out of business,and Pippen is still wondering how much he'll ever seeof the millions he saysLunn cost him- by Shane Tritsch D E C E M B E2RO O 5 c H I c A G O 1 3 CONTRIBUTORS (\-,/,t' ho0 ?rn^^tfo[f,&,u" THE ONLY SHOE COLLECTION P E R S O N A L I Z E DW I T H THE CHILD'S NAME. iT'S THE DEFININC FEAI'URE EXCLUSIVE For A Lile in L4rsvi<,s, tlte u,ritcr chi,,n;;;.i,,, ii; i,""',ijiii';]li',Ti, fi; *:.,.]si:ill::_i: :rfin.h,,t co*mor.wi,r.,r,o,ru o,r.";ff i::l':]::il.:l::11 ;;;li:ili ofsingtcs,,a j H:.1ff r.,ur.r,*ffi;il ;;i;il fi.f ,T l,::l':r'_:ll re_ other ,.1,pF.i i""'o,Jrir".iijl,":"ilij,Ji:li :i:;:1,:llill,,.3,,-1,,-".N-o j. tr #i il, A#i ili :,";;:", *:*t:..:i ls isrrsch.ol.s.x Iif; F"i,.;,"t j,1'5lll.i,l;il,ll1,1ex"anc1..'t,"ii.il;f ;r,""dffii'iJ,T:i ;1,.1,.i:if for a writer of profiles,makefor " ar"rlrl.iU"".]r:; L, TO THIS COLLECTION 'Joe Silverberg wanted to ca.llhis ga.llery ar saysTHOMASCONNORS(,,TheDealer R would think it was a place to get their nails r it for a typical gallery. Or Supercuts.,,Conno is the author of Meet Me in the Bar: Classic "The Custom design your own sugar shock got a rittle intense,"says New Media editor DEB.RAH wrLK about her research into the city's ever-growing offering of cupcakes(,.Let Them nut c,rpl*..; "This i' Arena)' assignmentyas certainly un eight-year-ord,s dream come true. But instead of skateboarding in the park, I used the o...-. "rr.rgy,o clean my house.,, "By the time I became aware of bosom prayboymagazine s, had appeared on the scene,,, sayssruART J. RoSENBERG(oh, t'amouiD. one ofthis magazine,smusic writers.As a child taking violin lessonsat the Fine Art. g"ildl"g, h" *.uld passthe burresque houses on south wabash, then in their last "The days. live"musicthat wafted out would catch my ear-and the posters of the performers wourd catch my eye,,,he says..They were so differ_ ent than the playboylook, and while practicing p;gu.ri.ri I wourd contemprate their pasties"'Today'sneo-burlesque sceneoffersa colo.ful bienai.rg orp".rorrJ ;[rl.rr"" -a cultural traditions' Rosenberg says, and "performers rike Michete 'u-o..r. i" uiracting nearly as much attention ilom academi.. i.rt"r"rt"d in gender studies, cultura.l anthro_ pologr, and performance studies as they are iio_l.opt" ort for a good time.,, on our website 3# if*:::jl,::'t:l_11 , *oo on.thefeudbehveen theformerBuusgreat 2 F F ; z a;; i;; ;;;:,,,#T#::ff :: F z F z LESTERhMPERI 57 EAST OAK STREET CHICAGO ILLINOIS €io6rr 3r2 944.6888 8oo 228 9436 F notnlng to do q'ith hint Sonrcultere along the way, waY' some_ thing went horribll rir.on3^. I 20 c H I c A G O D E C E M B E2RO O 5 o RogerEbert was an eageryoung man fresh from lJrbanawhen he startedrevie,ring moviesfor the ChicagoSun-Tin?esmore than threedecadesago.His interveningyears havefeaturedunimaginedsuccess, abiding friendships,too much booze(for a time), the death of a colleague,bouts with cancel and (ratherlate) lastinglove.Today,his passionfor film hasmadef,bert a biggerstar than many of the peoplehe writesabout i } \ C A R O L F E L S E N T I I , \ I , i ' i I { ) ' I0 ( ; I i , \ I ' I I B Y A N N A K N O T T 'l'he rrrl mo\necritic Rogerfbert has often said he would never leave his cherished Chicago SunTrnles or his beloved ciq'. Yet, in 1968, he was ready to do just that. In a letter to his mentor Daniel Curley, an English professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the young newspaperman confided th at The New Yotk Tt'meswanted him to travel east to talk about becoming its second-string drama and movie critic. Ebert complained that his military draft status would preclude such "If Tie NewYork ?inres summons one only once in a career move. a lif'etime, then I blew it," he wrote. But something else Eberi re"I vealed in the letter suggestshis state of mind at the time. contin"I ue to write about the movies,"he noted. think a lifetime of such work would make [one] a moron." Today, at 63, Ebert still writes about movies for the Srrn-Tr'meg and hardly anyone would call him a moron (well, maybe he would hear that from Rob Schneider,who speculatedthat one ofthe reasons Ebert had panned his Deuce Big'alowmovieswas that the crit"never had sex in high school"). Rather, a lifetime of reviewic had ing movies has made Ebert a number of other notable things. He's rich-a multimillionaire whose latest contract is said to give him $3 million from his s}'ndicated TV show. At the Sun-?ihles alone, he rnakes $5oo,ooo a year. He's famous-"more recognizablethan most of the movie stars he writes aboutj' saysthe ,9un-Tr'mescolumnist Richard Roeper,his "I've seen him walk into Holllnvood parties, current TV partner. and the stars are turning toward himl' And his opinions carry enormous influence in the world of movies. He long ago transcended his newspaper. In Hollyrvood, "'What did Tfie New York Tintes nervous studio executives ask, 'Wlrat did USA Today say?''What did Ebert say?"' It is not say?' even a question any longer, says Michael Cooke, formerly of the Sun-Trirresand now the top editor of the New York Daily Newq of "He's a brand, like Coke." how good or bad he is as a critic. journalism and Hollpvood-two busiRemarkably, working in nessesnot known for their generosity of spirit-Ebert has attained this successfor the most part without making enemies. Although some people do question the quality of his reviews, it is hard for a diligent reporter to tum up anyone who has a bad word to say about him personally, even in private. Rather, acquaintances cite his loyalq,, his sweetness,his benevolence-and, of course,his vast store of knowledge and enthusiasm about movies and my'riad other subjects. The road to becoming the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize (1975) and the first to be awarded a star on the Holly'r''ood Walk of Fame (last summer) was paved with Ebert's hard work, his ability to write at qping speed, and his unflagging optimism and cheer, even in the face of obstacles:his father's death when Ebert was a fieshman in college; a serious drinking problem; the writing of a ridiculed soft-porn screenplay;the death {iom brain cancer of his close professional colleague,Gene Siskel; his own repeated bouts with cancer. It's a life worth its own screenplay-the tale of a movie-obsessedboy from central Illinois who made very good. THE NATURAL While still an undergraduate at the University of lllinois, Roger Ebert had l"riseye on big-city journalism; he was selling freelance stories to both the Chicago Daily New's and the Chicago Sun-Times. In September 1966, James Hoge, then the ciq' editor of the Srrn- 106 c H ] C A G O D E C E M B E2RO O 5 Tr'mes,took him to lunch at Riccardo'son Rush Street, the ersatz commissary'1brthe cif's newspapers,and hired him as a rwiter for Midwest, the Sun-?r'mes's Sunday magazine. (Ebert continued pursuing a Pir.D. in English at the University of Chicagofor another year before fin:ill1' quitting.) It was a livel1'tirne to work at the tabloid, the sister publication of the high-toned afternoon broadsheet, the Chicago Daily News. "We were like the steelworking sons who work so we can send our bright brother to collegej' says Paul Ga-lloway,another Sun-Times reporter. Looking for young readers and hoping to inject personality into his paper, Hoge also hired Bob Greene, Ron Powers, and Roger Simon; a.llof them went on to wide recognition as writers. As the features editor, Robert Zonka nurtured the bunch. Fourteen years Ebert's senior, Zonka was a charismatic teddy bear who loved to party and drink and recognizeda soul mate in Ebert. When the papers film critic, Eleanor Keene, a former socieq/reporter, retired in April 1962 Hoge and Zonka asked Ebert to take her beat. He grabbed the chance to cover what he later described as the greatest art form ofthe 2oth century His timing was perfect. At The New Yorker, Pauline Kael had just started "to blow the library dust offwriting about filmsj'recalls David Elliott, then the critic atthe Chicago Da.ilyNews. The city had four newspapers in those days, each with its own film critic-Ebert; "Pco1-rle likeclRoger ahr-avs l'rekr-rer\solrttlch;' becairse r" I -Trl saVSit ll'l('ll(1. I llc eilse i , 1 r . I L I \\rtll \\'lll('ll lle \\11)te rtls() l , r L I rtt'c\\ il-le e\-('-LIll(l Ille I / ' l ' l I ' ( )TIIS ('()lleirllllcs. Elliott (now at the San Diego rJnion-Tribune); Mary Knoblauch at Chicago Today; and Gene Siskel, a rookje reporter who had maneuvered his way into the job althe Tribune. The most intense competition was between Ebert and Siskel,who, Ebert says,was hired'to knockmeoffl' "Before the late sirties, when we all came along,"recalls Knoblauch, "old fogiesj'who wrote as ifthey movie criticism was in the hands of worked for the studios' publiciry offices.The social sea changes of "the film the 196os and t97os brought with them what Ebert calls Hudson roRock generation moment." Doris Day comedies and in Paris, and Last Tango gave Easy Nder, way to mantic dramas Bonnie and Clyde. Attending his first New York Film Festival in 1962 Ebert met Kael, and afterward he sent her some of his "the best film criticism being done in columns. She called them American newspapers today," he says.A few years later, he took Knoblauch to meet Kael at her apartment, where they sat around "People always liked Roger the kitchen table talkir.rgabout movies. becausehe knew so much," saysKnoblauch. The remarkable easewith which he wrote also caught the eyeand the ire-of his colleagues.The public-relations consultant Connie Zonk4 then married to Bob, recalls Ebert strolling in on Thursday evenings, a ha-lf-hour before deadline for the Sunday paper, while "Roger the theatre and music critics sat agonizing over their copy. would walk aror.rnd.tell some really terrible iokes, sit down at his t)pewriter, ding;,diry'. ding:, ding, dhg-and he finished his piecel' ersatz :'iterfor rtir"rued anothlication r l/ews. r'nd our t-Times ,r'sonal,rs, and ntefs. ir Four.'ar rvho : \\'nen tr beat. I as the .ricl had recalls .,it| had -L,bert; < 7-," * :t lauch at nlaneuompetiriled'to oblauch, r.sifthey iLngesof the film lson rorrig and stival in e of his done in he took : iu'ound .d Roger hc eyernt Con:r Thurs,er',rvhile . Roger in at his prece." o z DAYS OF WINE AND I].OSES Alter work, the gathering place in those days was a bar called O'Rourke's (on Norlh Avenue,just west of Wells Street), a hangout with the look of a shabby Irish pub. O'Rourke'shad photographs of Brendan Behan and William Butler Yeatson its walls, a coal stove, a polished oak bar, and a sign adverlising a bonelesschicken dinner "We for 15 cents (i.e., a hardboiled egg). thougl"rtof ourselvesas bohemians or antiestablishment,"Eberl recalls. The lpical slogwent from the newspaperoffice to Riccardo'sfbr' dinner and drinks, to O'Rourkesuntil closingaI2 a.m.,then domr North Avenue a block to the Old Town Ale House, which stal'ed open until four. The trek became known as the Bermuda Triangle. "Night after night, year after year, all the tirne," says Ebert, nl.rose drinking crew included Zonka, Galiou'ay;and John McHugl.r, a fbr'mer Daily News reporter whom Ebert calls his "oldest frier.rd ir.r Chicago."Although known for being glegarious, Ebert hin.rselfad- >> Breakingaway:(left to right, from top) baby Rogerin 1942,high-school graduationin 196O,early days at the Sun-Times, taking chargeat a cousin's farm, with his 1957Studeb a k e rG o l d e nH a w ki n M i c h i gan, marrying Chaz in 1992, with family at WrigleyField about 2OO2,receiving his star on the Hollywood Walk of Famein 2005 mits to a certain shlness, and his colleague Robert Feder, the Sun-Trines's "inherently radio and TV columnist, calls him a shyyoung man in a great celebrity persona." But whatever shyness remained was washed away by the alcohol. Sometimes Ebert would interview stars at O'Rourkes-Jane Russell, John Wayne, Mel Brooks, or Clint Eastrvood. Although Ebert's rules required the stars to be treated like anyone else,one night an O'Rourke's regular screamed "My at Charlton Heston, God, it's Moses!" and he cheerfully autographed her bra. Eber1,wl'ro drank Johnnie Walker Black Label Scotch,could finish off a bottle by himself. Later, r,r'henhe worried that he might be drinking too much, he told Galloway that he had his drinking under control-the night before, he had consumed only 15 highballs. D E C E M B E2RO O 5 C H I c A G O 1 0 7 "He might just The more Ebert drank, the jollier he became. who Rosenthal, Marshall recalls poem," a reciting or start singing Ebert News' Dai'ly Chicago at the a reporter as working was then and McHugh would quote Yeats,sometimes in unison, and Ebert would also composelimericks' When he stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a rumpled carbon copy,the regulars knew that he was about to read them his review for the nert day. Becausehis social life centered on O'Rourke's, Ebert met the women he dated there. For two years,he saw a nurse named Sarah Nance, who was divorced and the mother of three children' They talked about marriage, but looking back, Ebert says, he was not "marriageable."In1975 at O'Rourke's'he met Ingrid Eng, an exotically beautiful mother offour. After her divorce, they dated, althoug'h not exclusively, well into the next decade. Ebert became close to her "copy kid" children and helped one ofher daughters,Monic4 get a "I don't Tnbune' for the job at the Sun-Times.Today she is a reporter think I d be in journalism if it werent for himj'she says' 'the ultimate Ebert remembers that they used to call O'Rourke's go home alone"' and with somebody go there you'd singles bar: papers in a and with books cluttered apartment a rental rvas Home three-flat at 2437 Norlh Burling Street. The drinking did not seemto impair Ebert's writing' He was an alcoholic when he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1975, but he never missed a deadline and was never late for an appointment' Still, he was beginning to recognize that it was a dead end, says William Nack, Ebert's friend since college. Legend had it that one night, home from O'Rourke's,he threw his bowl of ice cream against the "It was taking over my life," Ebed recallstoday' wall. By then, he had embarked on the television show with Gene Siskel, and Ebert worried about being hung-over during the tapings, at the time every other week. He would stop drinking trvo or three days before. In the summer of 1978he saw a doctor, who recommended Alcoholics Anon)'mous. Ebert said no, and the doctor told him to come back every month for a year to seehow he was doing.'At the end of the year, I hadn't made any improvement, so he suggestedseeinga counselor,"Ebert says.She refused to talk to him unless he went to AA. Ebert will not talk about AA directly or even confirm for publication that he ever belonged to the organization, but friends say that he attended his first meeting in August 1979, and he has beensoberever since. Onewoman, who casuallydatedEbert, encounteredhim at anAA meeting the first week of his sobriety. It was a hot day; the door was open, and she glanced out at a Sun-Times delivery truck that had Ebert's picture plastered on its side and realized that the man in the row in front of her was a cohost of the television show about movies then distributed nationally by the Public Broadcasting Service' For the gregarious Ebert, AA became another O'Rourke's, and people he met there have remained his close {?iends' In the beginning he went to meetings every day, sometimes more than once a day, and he eventudly persuaded Paul Galloway to join (today Galloway credits Ebert with saving his life). After meetings they would go out for ice cream. Ebert describeshimself as an agnostic,but Father Andrew Greeley,the novelist and columnist, recalls Ebert once saying that'his AA meeting was his Massl' A STAR IS BORN Growing up in the 194os and 195os,an adored only child in a modest house in Urbana, Illinois, Roger Ebert enioyed a childhood that IO8 C H I C A G O D E C E M B E2RO O 5 seemed lifted 1i'om the pages of The Satutday Evening Postthe rare dinners out at Steak n Shake; elementary school at St' Maryt; sening as an altar boy; secondary school at Urbana High, his parents'alnta mater. Television came late to Urbana, and Ebert "lifeinstead found ne*'spapers and books; he calls the latter his long consolation." Neither ofhis parents had gone to college,but theyboth encouraged their son's bookishness. His father, Walter, worked at the university as an electrician. He was determined that Roger not follow "I was over at the English building working tohim into his trade: "and I saw the professors with their feet up day,"Walter told his son, pipes and reading their books' Boy, their on their desks, smoking Annabel, grew up on a farm and job mother, you." His for the that's worked most of her life as a bookkeeper. She was tiny and always wore a suit or a dress. Ebertwits an nlcoholicw'hen lre n on thc'PulitzerPrize in 1975,but he ne\rermissecl a deacllineancl\\'asnever latefor an appointment. As a boy, Ebert was especially close to his mother's sister, Marth4 a nurse who never married and who loved movies' He remembers her takinghim to seesuch adultfareasAStar Is BomandlWantto Live' Ebert grew to resemble Martha so strongly that, his friend Sally Sin"ifyou put aV-neck sweateronher and gaveher a short hairden says, cut and a pair ofround glassesj'they would have looked exactly alike' In grade school Roger published lhe Washington Street trtrewg named for the street where he lived; in high school he published a science fiction fanzine and was the editor in chief ofthe school newspaper and the president of his senior class.He had become enamored with the novelist Thomas Wolfe and wanted to go to Harvard as Wolfe had, but his father said the family could not afford it' "You just thank your luckT stars that you were born in Urbana," "becauseif you were born in Bloomington, you'd Walter told him, be going to Normal lnow Illinois State University]"' Staying home and going to the University of Illinois meant that Ebert could continue to make extra money-less than a dollar an hour-at The News-Gazette in Champaign, where, during high school, he had held ajob as a bylined reporter working 25 to 3o hours "Theyhiredyou to turn out lots of copy real fasti' Ebert recalls' aweek. Shortly before Walter Ebert, a smoker, died of lung cancer in 1960, Roger-stilt a high-school senior-beat out adults by winning first place in the Illinois AssociatedPresssportswriting contest' His "I've never seen father, Ebert says,knew that his son was on his way' anybody grow up as fast as he did when his father died," recalls Betsy Hendrick, who worked with Ebert on The News-Gazefte' He also started to gain weight. Ebert continued to rvork at The News-Gazetlte,but in the end he hitched his star lo The Dai\y IllinL, becoming a general columnist, then night editor, news editor, and editor in chief his senior year, 1963-64. His coileagues remember in near reverential terms the paper that Ebert put out after John Kennedy's assassination' William Nack, the sports editor under Ebert, says that a veteran journalist "could r.rothave put out a better paperl' ung Pta:lrai er L bana lltF - ad F.brrr '1it'r hr-. oth encqrat tlre to' : not fo{lcr ,rrcrliing to heir t'ert rp brloLs. Bft a farm and and ahrar I l I er. \Iartha embersher 'antto LircI Sallv Sinshorthairiacdv alilie. reef -hlegs. rublished a the school |ecomeengo to Harrt afford it. r Urban4" ;ton, youd neant that r dollar an rring high o 3Ohours prt recalls. cancer in rywinning rntest. His never seen ecalls Bet're. He althe end he :olumnis! )ruor yeax, terms the ;sination. a veteran After college, Ebert applied tobecome an intern to James Reston, thentheWashingtonbureau ctrief of TheNewYork fimes. In aletber of rejection, Reston, himseHa graduate of the University of Illinois, "I *rote, have decided . . . to hire ayoung man from Hawardl PULP FICTION In 1968, The WalI Street Joumal published a letter from Ebert praisingthe director RussMeyer,whosesoft-porn movies-Faste4 Pussycat!Kill! Ki1ll, for example-were widely held in low regard. The men becamefriends. Always looking for lively talent, Meyer talked to Ebert about writing the script for his next movie. Ebert, then 26, did not acceptthe offer.Besides,he wrote Dan Curley,he had qualmsaboutworking with "the king of the nudies.. . . It would be unwiseto get mixed up with moviesat that level." In January 1969, Ebert had failed his physical for the draft (at 2O6 pounds he was nine pounds overweight) and kept reviewing. The next month, without disclosing their friendship, Ebert gave "skin Meyer's movie l4,ren three stars and called Meyer the flick' "only genre's artistl Several months later, when Meyer was signed to make his first major studio film, Ebert accepted a $15,OOOoffer to wdte the script for Beyond the Valley ofthe Dolls, about a female rock-h'-roll band struggling to make it in Hollywood. He took a leave from the ,SunTimes and moved to Hollywood. Connie Zonka has a frank explanation for Ebert's attraction to "Roger Meyer, who died last year, and his movies: was crazy about "and women with big titsj' she says, Russ Meyer filmed women with big titsJ Every moming Meyer would pick Ebert up at the Sunset Marquis and drive him to the 2oth Cenhrry Fox lot where he was ex'When pected to writ€ nonstop. Russ didnt hear the typewriter, hed "Russ say,What3 the matter?"'Ebert recails. seemed to believe that tlping andwritingwerethe same thing." Meyerb biographer, Jimmy >>Thumbs up: (left to right, from top) with Charles Bukowski and FayeDunaway on the set of Barfly in 1987, with Russ Meyer about 1969, Emmy winners Ebert and Gene Siskel with producer Thea Flaum,with Gena Rowlands and John Cassavetes about 198O.then and now partners Siskel and Roeper, at Juanita Jordan's birthday party in 2OOl with Chaz and BillClinton McDonougfr, wrote in Big Bosoms and Square Jaws that Ebert re' quired good booze and good food . . . [and] at the end ofthe week he would have to have a girl with outrageous proportionsi'McDonough claims that Meyer clamped down on the brysts until the script was completed. Ebert finished it in six weeks. (In the book, Ebert con"I tends, did not require a girl at the end of every wee\ nor, for that matter, did I get one.") Later, writing in the highbrow magazine Film Commenf Ebert claimed that the X-rated Dolls, which was released in 1970, was'a satire of Hollywood conventions." His colleagues were not im'A pressed: cesspool on film," wrote Gene Siskel (Ebert recalls that "offered Meyer to throw Gene out of [a] hotel window). Stanley Kauffrnarrn, The New Republr'c3 critic and a man whom Ebert ad"utter mired, called it garbage." Ebert's friends claim that he shrugged offthe bad reviews, but, arcordingto McDonough, he was feeling rejected until Meyer came to Chicago with Edy Williams, who was both his third wife and the movie's star. They took Ebert to the Roosevelt Theater in the Loop, "where the trio watched the picture with a live audience. When the (continued on page 178) crowd went wild, Roger felt redeemedl' D E C E M B E2RO O 5 c H I c A G O I O 9 ALTEE TNTLOV1ES gontinued from page 1o9) "cult classic" Today, Ebert cals Dolls a at Oford shown and boasts that it has been he time every that He claims and Harvard. disome Festival, Film the Sundance goesto rector praises the movie. Mary Knoblauch, though, says she suspects that Ebert regrets "The great thing about these trvo guys was, it wasn't an act," says Harvey Weinstein, who with his brother headed Mirama.:r,also "When they disagreed, owned by Disney. they sure did disagree,and they were both incredibly opinionated and strong-willed. But the thingtheyboth had in common was' havingwritten it. theywere champions of movies." Jim Hoge told Ebert that he had to At the beginning, that was about all they choose between reviewing movies and writhad in common. Ebert was convivial; beStill, ing them, and he chose reviewing. private. Siskel loved sports; Ebert, Siskel, to contributed Ebert tween 1974 and 1979, {iiend, could not name three proone says Beneath one, projects; only Meyer five more fessional athletes unless they had appeared the VaJleyof the Ata Vxens, rn'hich Ebert in movies. Ebert was an intellectual about sayshe wrote in five days,was ever produced. movies; Siskel,a brilliant repofter, especialHe later told an interviewer fot Playboy"'I ly in analyzing the economics of the indusdont believe that a film critic has any busitry. Ebert was a lightning-fast writer who, ness having his screenplays on the desks at saysLarry Dieckhaus, one of Flaum's rnany five those the studios." Today, he clarifies: "would go back and rnaybe successors, withindependents, projects were all done as make a comma change; Gene would sit out studio backing. He did explore one more and sweat bloodl'Ebert was competithere he 1978. In however. production. big-studio tive, but mildly so compared with Siskel, worked on what he and Meyer hoped would who, saysMarshall Rosenthal, Siskel'sprobe a 2oth Century Fox feature about the "was probablythe most band the Sex Pistols. The band's manager' ducer at\AIBBM{V, rvho was to be the movie's producer, had seen competitive guy I ever knewl' Ebert traveled to film festivals and watched movies from Dolls]rSOtimes, and Ebert and Meyer went "Movies were Roger's morning until night. stars, Pistols' to London to meet the Sex "They Iifebloodi'says Gary Dretzka, a former ediactuJohnny Rotten and Sid Vicious' tor at the Tribune. Siskel soon had a wife removiej'Ebert on that shooting started ally "before the Sex Pistols management and children and preferred to stay home calls, with them. Siskel was the more skillful dewentbroke andthe plugwas pulledl' bater, the better wisecracker; Ebert had more tender feelings. THE ODD COUPLE Flaum insisted on a set with a balcony; make The idea for the show that would stars sometimes had their backs to the her came famous Ebert and Siskel rich and as they looked at the film clips, camera proa the time at Wald, from the late Eliot agree, were central to the show's all which, anBut \&TIW. television's public at ducer slrccess.She forbade them to wear ties; other producer there, Thea Flaum, made sometimes she would take them shopping. the program work. She insisted on pairing She demanded a simple yes or no response the fiercely competitive critics at the two morning papers, even though they could to each film; for the first year, she also refused to let Ebert include the small and subnot stand each other. Ebert later told the "We "I had to get titled films he championed. of us each Tribune's Rick Kogan, think going weren't we us-that to trust viewers want the we didn't yes because initially said stratoin the off public television, to be already was Siskel it first." guy to do other sphere discussing a foreign film that they reviewing movies forWBBM-TV, and Ebert h a d d o n e a 2 o - p a r t i n t r o d u c t i o n t o t h e didn't care about," she says.(Once the show was established, Flaum relented on the films of Ingmar Bergman for WTTW and egghead films.) She also decreed that a hadiust won the Pulitzer' canine, Spot the Wonderdog, later trained Opening' Soon at a Theater Near You and Sparky,would jump onto the balDaisy title The first aired in September 1975. the Dog of the Week. The to introduce cony to WTTW from moved changed as the pair "that we saysFlaum, the message, sent dog Buena to Entertainment Tribune PBS to weren't discussingthe cinema: we were Vista Television, a division of Disney, but the idea remained the same: tlvo newspaper critics, one fat, one bald, dressedin casual clothes, talking, often arguing, about the movies. There were no celebrity interviews, no gossip, no visits to movie sets. 1I8 c H I C A G O D E C E M B E2RO O 5 talking about the movies." By the end of the first season,Ebert ar.rd Siskelwere on more than 1oO public television stations.In 1978 the show. renattted SneakPreviews, moved to PBS. It aired ir.r 18o markets and was, according to Televi"the highest-rated entertainsion Week, ment show in the history of public broadcasting."stations in NewYork and Los Angeles picked it up, which put an end to the "Who are these Midwest bumpquestion kins to talk to us about film?" PBS decided to cash in by spdicating "theywantit commercially, Ebert says,but ed to continue to pay us PBS salaries"'At WTTWthey had been making in the lower three figures per show. They ended their time at PBS making about $8/,ooo each per season,with no share ofthe profits. By then they were both represented by the same lawyer and agent, Don Ephraim, reducing the chances for a split. Ebert recalls "Ifwe have sepaxateagents, Siskelwarning, it'll end in bloodshed"' Ephraim thought he had a done deal with WTT\4|PBS when the networkhired a Hollyvood lawyer who presented an unacceptable deal and told Ephraim his clients "take it or leave itl'He took the shorn could to Joe Antelo, an executive with what became the Tribune Entertainment Company' Antelo eventually offered each of them $125,ooo plus 10 percent of the show's profits. He sold the deal to his bossby arguing that the clips cost nothing-the studios happily gavethem for free-and Ebert and Siskel starred in and wrote the show themselves. For the first l3-week cycle, Antelo signed 87 stations and quickly sold out the advertising. The next cycle he more than doubled the number of stations. Six months later, he says, it was a major hit. That year, 1982, with the show's name changed to At the Movies,Antelo recalls, Ebert and Siskel made half a million dollars each. Four years later, in 1986, they were readl to renew with Ttibune Entertainment, but the manwhowas supposedto handlethe de"It was a big bootails let the matter slide' boo," saysAntelo. Jamie Bennett, a formet WBBM-TV executive who had moved tc Disney's Buena Vista, offered the pair $1 milIion each, twice what they were getting al Tribune Entertainment. Sr'ske1&Ebert & tht Moiesbecame Buena Vista's first s1'ndicat ed show. Along with the name change camt the switch to thumbs up and thumbs down an idea that Ebert claims ashis own. The Tribune retaliated against Siskel charging that it was a conflict ofinterest fo: him to work for Disney when the companr also made movies that he would revies Ebert lobbied the Sun-fi'mest editor to hirr " Siskel, and the paper made him an offer. ALIEE IN MO]LIES ' The glamour of the Far East . Decades ofeasy-care beaufz ' Total customer satisfaction Olar 60,()0(),rquare.f'eeto.f nrg,,. Dccttr)etof .fatrti/y .rtyte httrc built a btt,rine,r.r.IY/e cu.tt()nrcrf)dre of orcr 100,000 paopte.At litt;7p,,t'|,rte ,tff'erner, tami-antitlue anr) ttntique ntq,t .fivnt ,tnwnr) the rrrtrl). Any,tt3, ,,hape,coL,r ,tn) r)etiqn.All 1,r,nr) ttrtnrc,,,ut) cu,ttrtttttntt)e n\q.t, We BuY'Sell'RePair . Restore . Clean Appraise Hwy. 25 South Northwest Palatine, IL 60067 Inter section of Palatine Rd & Rt l4 (Hicks Rd) nl-I" 10-8Sat l0-6 Sun 12-5 (847)202-0600 (BBB)nucPoRr 7 8 4 7 6 7 8 I2O C H I c A G O D E C E M B E2RO O 5 has the usual tabs for news, sports, and business, but it also has a tab rnarked "Ebert." which, since October 2Oo4',has taken the browser to Ebert's own Web site, rogerebert.com. It carries all his reviews "It's and other writing dating back to 1967. rny archive, mylife's work," he saYs. John McHugh liked to argue that Ebert had wasted himself on the movies and that he was born to be a serious political writer in the mold of a Walter Lippmann. But the Sun-Tr'meshas also served as a soapboxfor Ebert's liberal opinions-against his paper s endorsement of George W. Bush in 2ooo, for example. At what other paper does the film critic get to offer political or socialcom"Everymentary whenever he feels like it? "He has never thing gets in," says Barron. anl'thing." been turned down on Ebert's unwavering liberalism defines him as much as his opinions on film. He ly enjoyed itJ' by his politics natura\ Both of his of comes sort While they would never be the parents were Democrats-his father was a others each out at friends who would hang "I of the Internationa.l Brothproud member there him, and loved Ebert says, houses, were times when I hated him. There were erhood of ElectricalWorkers. Atthe Univertimes when he infuriated me, yet we were sity of lllinois, Ebert was almost passedover for the top job on The Daily Illinibeca:use good liiends." some members of the board feared he was a radical. (He was a member of SDS-StuPRIMARY COLORS "l:efore dents for a Democratic Society-but the In the early 198os, Kathaxine Graham, they started making bombs,"he says.) owner of Tfie Washington Post and a movie "Nou,; Ebert's sympathiesare so strong, and his I office. to her Ebert buff, summoned position at the paper so secure,that in the just want to know one thing," she asked him. "Do you fall of zooq, when the Chicago Newspaper like the movies? Because the critic Guild reached an impasse with managerve have now he doesn't seem to like them ment, he wrote an open e-mail to the pubvery rnuch." She told Ebert that she didn't lisher, John Cruickshank, pledging to walk care ifhe continued to live in Chicago as long out with his colleaguesif a new agreement as he was a presence at Washington cocktail not struck. Ebert explained to a rewas he as parties and openings. He said no,just porter that his father would haunt him if he the including papers, did to several other a picket line. crossed ever editor an bythen Knoblauch, Tibune.Mary In an e-mail back, the paper's former there, says that she was asked more than chief executive,Conrad Black-who bythen once to approach him. "No had been removed from his position beEbert cherishesthe Sun-Times. cause of alleged financial shenanigansmatter who owned it, no matter who "proletarian posturing" dragged it in the gutter, savaged it, ravaged chided Ebert for his "Roger a year always be- while hauiing in more than $5OO,OOO itj'says John McHugh, Tibune the that sure made Black pain salary. was the best lieved that the Sun-Trines saw a copy of the e-mail. Ebert countered, per in Chicago."Friends sayhe loves it for its "For years my reviervs and other writings underdog status, its griry urban, workinghave represented more than half the total man feel. When Rupert Murdoch bought hits on the Sun-TrirresWeb site." the paper in late 1983, Ebert calmed colToday, Ebert does not have much bad to leagues who said they could not work for "It's sayabout Black ("more of a Tory than he was my paper," he told the media mogul: "He an American right winger") or about the forSurronly owns itj'The current them. "our' mer publisher David Radler ("a charming Ebert calls Barron, Trirreseditor, John best-known asset,the guy who really helps guy, a good conversationalist"), also removed, in his casefor {iaudulent dealings. us to sell newspapers." The bar at the top of the paper'sWeb site Nigel Wade. a for- continued on page 124) dont think Gene would ever have conle to the Sun-Times. I think he just used that as leverage,"Ebert says.In the end, Siskel lost his movie criticb title, kept a tie to the Tribune as a high-priced fleelancer, and picked up other, more lucrative work, such as appearing regularly on CBS This Motttittg. The trvo men really did disagree u'ith "There! a line you don't lvant to each other. "People are uncomcrossj'Flaum explains. fortable watching real enmiq', real hostiliq', 'Yott real anger.Every once in a while I d say, Let's do know what? That was unpleasant. heat."' it again with a little less As their careers blossomed, their economic interests converged, and they realized they needed each other. The hostility "It was just became more feigned than real. "They were sport," says Larry Dieckhaus. like people fencing or sparring; they actual- A LTFE IN ItrOV]ES (continued {ront Page 12o) mer editor of the Srrrr-Tinles.saysthe r''vo Canadian businessmen did not return "Conrad and David had no Ebert's affections. taste at all for his Guild s1'mpathies-especially since they lr,ere paying him so well," "Neither trusted him and rvould sa1'sWade. have replaced him with someone cheaper if they had thought they couldi' MOONSTRUCK In 1985, Ebert hired a friend, Sally Sinden, the unmarried mother of a baby son, to watch over the renovation of his recently purchased three-story Victorian house at 2114,North Cleveland Avenue. Although she was younger than Ebert, she describes "alrvayslike the big sister."The herself as house itself wasn't the only thing that needed renovating. When Ebert returned liom trips, he rvould dump the contents of his suitcaseson a long Victorian fainting couch in his bedroorn. The pile crept higher as he bought new underwear, socks, and other staples, wore then, and tossedthen-ron top. Sinden took it upon herself to unpack his suitcasesand r'vashand put away his clothes. She organized another mountain, t h i s o n e c o m p o s e d o f P a P e r s ,b o o k s , "He was like this records, and magazines. brilliant absent-minded professor,"she says.Then she tackled his refrigerator. "There were things in [there] that were just scaryl-'She starled doing his grocery shopping, paying his bills, feeding his cats, taking phone calls, making travel anangements, and transcribing taPes. Sinden transformed the job into that of a firll-tirnepersoualassistantto a man who appeared to be a confirmed bachelor. Still, f iends knew he was aching to find someone; that as busy as he was, he was lonely, especially when he was traveling. He said often that what he adrnired most about Gene Siskel was his devoted marriage and his obvious love for his wife and children. Ebert's mother, Anr-rabel,presented "She didn't want something of an obstacle. rne to marry a divorced woman with three kids,"Ebert says.Friends believethe thought of her son taking responsibilig' for another man's children bothered her most-more even than defying the teachings of the Catholic Church. For a short time, Ebert dated an Israeli woman, whom Annabel "The girl was Jewish,"Ebert says,'but liked. that wasn't a problem becauseshe was single" and childless. At parties in Chicago, recalls Ebert's 1 2 4 c r r c A G oD E c E I \ 42BoEoR5 "Annabel l'as alrvays friend Regan Burke, 'Do you pulling us aside and whispering, think Roger will ever get married? Do yott think he'sever going to lose weight?"' "After the funeral, he better get his ttxeone fi:iend used to joke, meaning ready," do that Ebert would not get married until his mother died. She died in 1987 and, a year iater, Ebert met an attorney, a strikingly attractive "Chaz" HarnAfrican American, Charlie mel-Smith, a divorced mother of two. The marriage proposal, Chaz recalls, came during the Grand Prix in Monte Carlo while they were sitting outside eating ice cream' She does not remember if she said yes im- mediately. They were married in July 1992 at the Fourth Presbyterian Church; the reception was held at the Drake hotel, across MichiganAvenue. Regan Burke describesit "something out of a Merchant/Ivory as -the was filled with white lilies; room film the chairs were covered in white. Among the guests were Eppie Lederer (a.k.a. Ann Landers), Mike Royko, and Russ Meyer. Roger was 50; Chaz, in her early 4,os (she will not specify her age). "I'll never be lonely again," Roger said, toasting Chaz at the reception. When he u'as sick with cancer, she was at his side. Last summer at the ChicagoCultural Center dur'ing Roger Ebert Day in Chicago,when Chiu paid tribute to her husband from tl.re stage. he rose from his front-row seat, with his arms ertended, asifto hug his wife of 13years. The second youngest of nine children, Chaz Hamrnel grew up on the Near West Side ofChicago and graduated from Crane High School. Her late father worked in the stoclTards and, after they closed, drove "Big a taxi. Her late mother, nicknamed Mama," was a spiritualist minister and a Democratic precinct captain. Chaz eloped "very early," she says. She graduated from the University of Dubuque in 1973 and earned a law degreefrom DePaul.Admitted to the bar in1977, she describesher career as having been a mir of private and public practice, including environmental and civil rights litigation and work as a trial lawyer for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. After her marriage to Ebert she stopped practicing law and gaveup her license. Today she holds the title of vice president of The Ebert ComPanY. Chaz likes to write and would like to write for publication. But she recalls once going to their Michigan house with Roger and putting their computers back to back "flying in the upstairs study. Roger'sfingers "I across"the keyboard distracted her. got "I so frustratedj' she says, wanted to take his computer and throw it out the window." An enthusiasticDemocrat.shesupported Bill Clinton, volunteered in both the Gore and Kerry campaigns, and has organized two fundraisers for Hillary Clinton. Friends saythat Chaztakes care ofEbert '1ess boisand has made him, McHugh says, terous, not asbig a party animal." Joe Ante"saving Roger's life belo credits her with causeshe got him offthe junk food; he was the world's worst eateri' (Pre-Chazhe would diet all day, then eat a Tombstone pizza and ice creamjust before going to bed.) Chaz admits that she has gained significant weight "I was small when since their marriage. saYs. got togetherj'she I and Roger She has also given this only child whose close relatives, including his beloved Aunt Martha. are all dead a ready-made familya Chaz'sson and daughter and four grandchil- * "He is so gratefirl to have a familyj'says dren. MarshaJordan, his producer aIWIS-TV (for which he reviews and reports regularly)' "This woman came along at a time when she brought exactly what he needed." He and Chaz often take the children and grandchil- ; dlen on long Europeanvacations:recently they sailed on abarge in France. S o m e o l d f r i e n d s , i n c l u d i n g m a n Yo f Ebert's former drinking buddies, do not see n.ruchof him these days and, when they do, it ).l R l'r ti f h F it tl tt b l a I ( I I I I a is usually when Chaz is away. The Fourth of July parties at the house in Michigan have stopped. Regan Burke reminisces about how "invite Roger would all kinds of misfits to parties on the weekends in the summer, so they could enjoy something they d never otherwise be able to enjoy, and then Chaz takes him out ofthat." Ebert counters that the Fourth of July parties, run by Chaz, became such a'hot ticket" that they grew out ofcontrol and it was time to move on. An Anglophile since traveling to London to visit Dan Curley in the mid-r96os, Ebert once favored ratty corduroyjackets with elbow patches; now he has a tailor from Hong Kong who comes every yeax on a U.S. tour and custom makes his suits. During a meeting with this reporter at the University Club, Ebert sported a straw hat and English wingtips and later volunteered that he was interested in British toiletries. His beachfront stone mansion in Berrien County, Michigan, resembles an Eng"When lish country house. we get there, the look on Roger's face changes," says Chaz. "He absolutely and totally relaxes there in a way that he doesn't anlnvhere else."Ebert t 13]'ea'". t hildren, icar West ,m Crane orked in .ed, drove "Big rned tcr and a rz eloped Ltedfrom 1973 and .\dmitted :rer career :rd public I and civil ral lawyer i)ortunity to Ebert 1\e up her le ofvice ..d like to . alls once ith Roger k to back ':r's''flying ltf. I gol . d to take sindow" r suppolTboth the riis organ'llnton. ^s{V(for :gularly). ri'henshe He and :riurdchilrecently rnany of io not see they do, it THE SECOND TIME AROUND When Roger and Chaz were house hunting in the early nineties, Gene Siskel, a maven of real estate, advised them on which house to "They buy. absolutely cared what each other thought," Chaz saysof the two old rivals and "more colleagues, than they cared what anyone else thought about anythingJ' Ebert first realized that Siskel was ill in early May 1998. In a limousine en route to Miele 54 Yqcuum series. :'eof Ebert 'less bois.loeAntels life be,d: he was r he would pizzaand Chaz adint weight rall when rild whose ,red Aunt ..f'amily:'iurdchil.:lilyl'says and Ingrid found the property shortly before he met Chaz. He paid $600,000 for it "You've in 1989. probably heard that he likes it better than I doj' Chaz says.But she made countless suggestions, her husband recalls, during the almost yearlong renovation. There is no mistaking Chaz'spleasure in their house in Lincoln Park, for which 'We they paid $1.85 million in 1992. found it together; we decorated it together," she says. The five-story place is dramatic, with a stunning atrium that shows offthree large paintings by the British abstract expressionist Gillian Ayres; there is an elevator, a l4,-seat screening room, and an exercise room at the top. the Rosemont Theatre to tape The Tonight Showwith Jay I-enq Siskel complained of a "I headache. want you to carry the ball," he "and told Ebert, I'll just go along with you." "He was obviously in terrific pain," Ebert recalls. Five days later, Siskel had emergency surgery to remove a growth on his brain. TWoweeks later, he was on the show by telephone from his hospital bed, then liom his apartment. By mid-June he was back at the studio, and he continued to appear there until shortly before his death eight months "Roger later. was magnificent," says the Sun-Tl'mescolumnist Robert Feder,a close "Gene's speech and his {iiend of both men. performance were a.ffected,but Roger was somehow able to make it work without diminishing him in the process." Ebert was at his Michigan house on the Saturday that Siskel died. The show's executive producer at the time, Stuart Cleland, "Rog, you've lost your called and said, fiiend." Ebert wrote a tribute for the Sunday "I paper. wept when Gene died," he says. 1{nd I miss him all the time." Richard Schickel, Time magazine's film critic, was one of manywho wondered aloud Presentingthe next generotionof Miele vocuums,the oll-new54 Goloxy series. Exhilorotingin design ond performonce, thismodelof precision Germonengineering offersenduringquolityond durobility. With its powerful Vortex Motor'" ond odvonced HEPA filtrotion system, the 54 provides lighweightond moneuveroble 'out this of world' core for your flooringwhether it be delicote oreq rugs, newly instolledhordwood floors or intricote corpeting. F z F Visit Best Vocuum todoy to explore the q Mielecon moke. difference 773-348-4500 Ave. 2646 N. 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'I assume that if it didn't make money it be on the airj' says Ebert, who adwouldn't onedid' he does not know about profits. mits that going, show Ebert decided to keep the to the current ratings, at about points He He hosts. parade ofguest and so began the (each point equals 1.096 million rating 2.3 includpartners, 38 auditioning up ended television households), better than they ing David Ansen of Newsweek, Kenneth Turan of The Los Angeles Times, Jeff have been in five years. Still, the long-term decline has been dramatic: in 198/, Buena Greenfield of CNN, the online critics David Vista drew an audience of eight million; in Poland and Harry Knowles, and Janet 1999, it claimed e.g million. Maslin and Elvis Mitchell, both former crit"Who watches the show?" asks the forperone ics for Tfie NewYork Tr'mes.Only "Seven mer Tribune editor Gary Dretzka. son declined the opportunity: Manohla people in Nebraska" What he means is that Dargis, currently of ?ft e New York Times. the time slots are poor in NewYork (11am. One morning as they were walking on on Sunday) and in Los Angeles (6:30 p.m. their treadmills and watching the Sunon Sunday). Other cities have even worse Times columnist Richard RoePer on WFLD's Fox Thing in the Morning, Chaz times, such as 2 a.m. on Sunday in Cincin'But he and I nati; even in Chicago, the air times on suggested that Ebert try him. are not ideal-Saturday at 10:35 WI-S{V protested. work for the same paperi' Roger "So on Sunday at 1o:3o a.m. repeated p.m. and Roeper Ebert and what?" Chaz replied. is out hustling adverifhe as Sounding friends. personal not were "We got 6'5 a tising, Ebert told this reporter, Roeper, now 46, who writes a column rating in Detroit. On a recent Sunday night often focused on pop culture, had not sought the job. When the call came, he says in Boston, we were the top-rated show on that station from sign-on to sign-off." (Actoday, he thought,'Aone-shot deal, land it] would be a really fun tape to have forever." cording to a Buena Vista sPokesman, "There was no instance in the current seaWhen he kept getting asked back, he says, son where Ebert & Roeper outperformed he knew he might be tapped. "Everyone privately sidled up to me and all other programming during any day in "There was Boston.") Ebert claims five or six times as recalls. guy,"'Ebert the said,'He's many viewers as Fox News's O'Reilly Facan easiness and a rapport and a quickness for; consistently the highest-rated of cable's right out of the starting gate." Two other fipolitical screamers. (The spokesman pegs nalists stayed in the race: Joyce Kulhawik, the number at almost two times ursmany an enterlainment reporter for WBZ{V in viewers.) Today, Ebert & Roeper airs on Boston, and Michaela Pereira ofZDTYs In2OOstations. Still, not even an optimist like TV anchor temet Tonight, now a morning Ebert could claim that the numbers are multiple appeared in Los Angeles. Both how Ebert would ever replace Siskel. They had an'Xfactor"thatwould make it difficult for Ebert to find a new parbrer, he said on the PBS show The News Hour with Jin I'ehrer. "It's like Myrna Ioy and William Powell or Abbott and Cosbello.There are some combinations that simply work And I think that times, and Buena Vista's then executive vice president, Mary Kellogg, was in negotiations with Kulhawik. But Ebert insists that "it had to be Disney executives told him that somebody I wanted to work with," and Roeper was his first choice. When Roeper's selection was announced in July 2ooo, Ebert volunteered that he was partial to selecting a man because he would not feel comfortable beating up on a woman on the air. Given that, critics askwhythere are "Richard and I have never not more sparks. really been angry with each other in the last 'l'{ow we go in, we do five years,"says Ebert. the show, we have lunch, we plan nert week's show.There'sbeen five years ofpeacel' headed in the right direction. HEAVEN CAN WAIT Larely,when people seeEbert on television, some are alarmed by his appearance. In the past few years, he has dropped about loo pounds with the assistance of the Pritikin Longevity Center & Sp4 formerly in Santa Monica-"Chaz took me there the first time kicking and screaming," Roger says-and by adhering to the 1o,Ooo-steps-a-dayprogram. He keeps a pedometer attached to his waistband and works out with a trainer three days a week. Gone is the box ofGood & Plenty that he used to eat during screenings-replaced by a Pritikin sandwich and , cral peoa.seven at ,r reaSOnS ri doesn't 'til execu' money it : rvho ad,rt profits. at about rti million han they ortg-term \; Buena rillion; in . the for"Seven .r 1nsis that \ (ll a.m. j:jio p.m. ,'n worse :r Cincinllneson rLt1O:35 r:jioa.m. :rg adver,lot a 6.5 ,lav nig'ht .how on -,rti."(Ackt'sman, 'rcnt sea,,rfbrmed l day in trmes els tillv Fac, ,f cable's nan pegs iLSnany : 2llrson i nrist like :lte1g 21aa Ir'rision, .' In the ,,rut lOO Pritikin .n Santa :lrst time ,r s-and lav pro:,,dto his , trainer ,it'Good _ scleeni ich and diet peach Snapple. Between m<x'it's.he walks around the block. He is liustrated that people do not believe that the weight losswas deliberate and hard won; that they think it is relatcclto his three bouts with cancer-once thl.roid and twice salivary gland. Repeated surgeries in the neck and chin are4 alI'ecting the rnuscles, have causedthe left side of his mouth to droop, and someviewers saythey rvonder ifhe has had a stroke. Ebert is certain that he knows the cause of his cancers-radiation for an ear inf'ection when he was a child. (In the 195Os,radiation was used on children to treat such common conditions as acne. dandruff. and tonsillitis.) In December 2oo3, when he had his second bout ofsalivary gland cancer, he went, for a month, to a state-of-theart neutron radiation facility at the University of Washington in Seattle. His radiologist told him that the dose he was getting was 1 percent as strong as what he had received as a child. Side effects ofthe treatment included an inability to eat solid food for four months (he lived on Ensure Plus), fatigue, insomnia-he read all of Willa Cather's novels during his wakeful periods-dry mouth, a numb tongue, and a "I hoarse voice. never missed a single show or a single reviewi'he saysproudly, explaining that he watched movies in Seattle and wrote from his hotel suite. In March zOO+,Nancy De Los Santos,his freelance field producer for the Academy Awards, was impressed that Ebert continued to cover the event, although alter the red carpetsegmentshejoinedhim and Chazin their hotel suite, where they watched the show on "I television. did wonder then why he needed "and maybe it to do iC'De l-os Santos says, was to prove to himself that he was OIC' By the time of the 2oo5 Oscars, she "running found herselfwith him down Hollyrvood Boulevard at 1O:15at night, trying to find our cameraman."They had to be live "He was right there in Chicago by 10:25. with me." Celebrities in their gowns and tuxedos stared at them, De Los Santos recalls, asking, Isn't that Roger Ebert? "at An MRI shows no sign of cancer the present moment," Ebert says.But he knows from experience that salivary gland cancer, slow growing and generally not lethal, could come back. Recommended in the Julq ZOtr5 i55ue of fhil agn magd./rnF ) Technician Eomputer Services Inc. Servire All MDdEls Pf & MAf Hame & Offire fomputer Repdir . Virus REfnovdl 5pUWare Removdl . SPruritu . Ddtd Barkup ' lipqrddeg fomputEr SEt Up . HDmp & Office NEtwDrk 5Et ljp fail us dbout d qudrterlu EASY RIDER When Ebert and Siskel signed with Disneli there was no hiding the obvious conllict of i n f D @f o m D U t E r t e f hn if idnsErvif E s -t r o m nrdintpndnrE fDntrart' IA47) B=E-47?l D E C E M B E2RO O 5 c H l c A G O I 2 7 rv A LIf E IN MOVIES rumjnate .l.I{1.]l).\Y Someliierrdshaveheardhim o.REMAINS to the Englishcountrysideto signedby." T4r:, havingtheir paychecks s 58trrconf'er- aboutmor"rng "t ^.1'1" colorado of theuJ"r.ity At At the neverhear him talking write a "ouJ' studiowhosemoviesthey-reviewed. "rr""oJ*oriaAffairsinBoulder',Ebertantl aboutthatan)'T norel'saysMarshaJordanof : r':l .orutime,theypointedoutthataclauseintheir "l think he'sjttst too ousy' ..completeindepend- Argy;"",kO th" srn-firrr"rir t..rr wIS-TV' a Tell to contractguaranteed How entitled panel more pro.emuin, in ,rir,, *^o" u Still''his Anglophilia seems \r enceand autonomyi,rnut ciau.e u"t' otrth" tt'p of for a time ,w" h"* ;; talked " J"k" ;;;t*o mudea $zo he a'd .ec"iued nouncedthan ever' ;; i"';; Eberr,scontract. ,"ii * "He's ,o would Ebert obsessedl' his h;, ., orr"", of buying^a flat in London' perhapsrr"'r, .i"*""* single call {iom any _"*0". photographer' ,b"";;*;;;;ation. a Lane' oirrr"v u Jack or fiie'rd g"ih. rr"i ,oyr his managementaboutany .J"* "ur,-,"up a few .rr"r,. d*r'," firmj,Ebertsayr. cJlaboration in 1985with ^ferl nndon'" N o b o d y o f f e r s a n y e v i d e n c e , o n o r o f f t Nack' h e t hwho e ' p wa: ackedauditoriur..H o v e s wAa l k i n g ; h e l o v e s t h e b o o k s t o r e s william treatrecord,that Ebert has given special ' relishes we ,"t"*i.lrn" reason mentto a Disnev of of conflicts havent had any *".rrutiorr. "is becausenobody's ever says, interestj,he Cleland claims been able to find onel' Stuart who makes that Ebert does not even notice rep one ;; d-, il."reens. still, purist w he understands why a Ebertstill il!:"fl11ff:Tti'X-"""J'*"J carpet at the Academl appears' t"-11:i^::: a commotron w :a:ses to get his attenti trying hows. "Howdo you, the conflicthuge. i comPanYthat makes movies theirpay,rollandbeacnticandaj and cr How do you write about that of r And movies? company,s for sure whelhpetitors? How can you say th" .o-"trrlrrg er you would huu" ,# the /k-a "harming guide-to ,rite spots, replete with ]iteraV shortal references. Curley died would ,oot opp"ur"d, but Ebert : something like it again' ,i*ilj your date?,, Ebert Foxj'she said. ,,What o"""o *"u- trtt'"a""^tp"i:w"u' ,"" tt-," 61"'urr;' noa,r, to yoo irtioi.,". "r ",. vi"i* e. asked. the ridsomething sameway?" i t He has taught -u, in the continuing-educaof chicago tton progra;, in" u,rlu"ttiry was His nost recent course i"":.tn9t voraciously-rereads Fassbinder at 60' He Bellow's Ravcent\ Don Quixoteand saul Bowl (again)' Golden Tlte as e1st""r,as well never He skips episodic television-"I've *"ffi"ififr:':r*ff'::ieg?Nor- --)t;il;:'*ttiTfT::"rl;:H"""fi ffii"Y"1'}3:}iT':*'Tli "3i*in*:li',;:H;:;:;lq ;:lidlfiJ"lJ;";:fi-*;::"{t', tti"" ' learrsinge;r"i ",rid"rr"" of urrr"r, a*"r-ith's a division of Disney,as recent ""#;ttt:; the uJ ry*ra daughter, his independence. il'" "d;;;;il;;" "'li' il;;?;;;' is Ebert of rhe other commoncriticism arrutr-ri.prott J"ni", trurn', ,,Formy taste, n-"r,'."r, "sincehisinn".r-*.*".a * that he is too easyto please. ,k #;;;",, ."" *ia";, *r, he,sgotthe do". .n"";;;;; Ebert'seditor ,#'i"tdffit{::t:::::'l*;';'ryt"lit' David Elliotr. Laura Emerick, *"i"*' .l"ii, ;;;; since his careerhe wrote 125 that thinks at the sun_Times, pflfu"ffi'# i".*:s-1,?fiil;i";r,#:".#l** that have a renoticed a soft spot tot n-' such as overcoming alcoU"*naa" ""* holism or social injustice' having Ebert has "o qttul*t about The Sandler's Adam awarded three stars to some admits he LongestYard, although when-he went to Cannes n""it "t regret "thatwere really swinging films and saw 25 how limited t"trt^a i and fences, for the deadline tributes to died on July 1' 199 who died the next moviesa week; wht sees three times a; more than 30 bool in the Showcase I Timescelebritiesrep its Roger' Roger' Rt has heard Ebert critic for the Daitl Ne.' "si-ror seventimes evesaythat getspaid ]le -o"i"' He'svery proud of vtinllhe 1""'o print in the that'" Ebert's reviewsare in on wLSsrrr. T1nes,on Ebert & Roepe,r'. and antrrologies'on his web site' w' ln lris universarPresssyndicatethey throughthe B':l;""T:i:l;iH:tiiilil". '';it-$h*Ti:t".};:*"1'i*;: :'i-T:i:*;*','T":1il'*T, ltrH{::i:i:J}:}*;i"nngers oa-uoread Barbaw" reiru metlmes we read literature and som"titr'es ra vine." "Helikes more mainstream movies than Reader's I do," complai"' ;;;li""go .,I adds, read who Rosenbaum, Jonathan lot. His name French film magazines a He's like a one-man wrre s( he pla ns t'*"at have heard him say"Ithat *'ould often to give up the television show Ebert thatj' like tJrt" Ut' announcements films smaller the of *v., *Jth* lists yme audiwide a to brought has tilut tt-," show ;;;x:x":::*;tlrf^';:; *Ti*;ffir';T}$i::ilt**jff:T-"rili *, r spend .ii""r""*^. Ebert and critic a. u "ritic, himself scribes Ebert o#,*ur.i,,,""n:T*ilffit|Oi'*o public.Ebert asa critic for the generarpublic' wouldbeflatte'"0'-*"t"'ut 128 2OO5 CHICAGODECEMBER memorrs t has agreecl to write his becausel'montelevisionj'headds' o"r" - hlve n1 ed to sr explain says-c growil chr'no'ne'r'h'se wri'ing the with close il:'!:",",'in often that stories tt" togi"aL en-dofacareer'Heseesseveralchaptersre I maininginhis'
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