[Leica] Roger Ebert

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

I grew up on the north shore of Chicago in the sixties. Northfield. Next to
Winnetka on the east. The Gillikins to the north.
On my street, Riverside Drive there was about forty houses and they all had
blue plastic Chicago Tribune newspaper tubes  attached  to their mail boxes
at the end of their newly blacktopped driveways. You should see them all
lined up as you looked down each side of the street with its newly planted
trees and Hamilton, Lexington, Arlington (split level) and Concord freshly
built houses. We lived in a Hamilton reversed. I played in all the houses as
they built them. 
At the end of our driveway our mail box was the only one which was not blue
and ours said "Sun Times" on it.
As we were the only Democrats on the block.
Going to the movies was a very big deal for me then as now and I'd read the
review written by the new young skinny guy they had working for them - Roger
Ebert.
He seldom let me down if it said it was a good flick it was a good flick.
Later  from critics I got the opposite of that.
The Trib readers voted for Nixon or Goldwater and read Siskel.
The Sun Times readers voted for Kennedy or Johnson and read Ebert.
Siskel by the way was very ok.

Later Ebert was the first critic to win the Pulitzer prize and became by far
on the order of a million the most influential film critic in the history of
the universe.
And we knew him when.

He wrote Beyond the Valley of the Dolls which is widely known to be the
greatest movie every made in all time. I have the black Centurion edition of
it a hand signed limited edition.  (it really is good)

By the way the last time  I saw my Blow up DVD I listened to Ebert's voice
in the background instead of the usual and it was amazing his insight into
the whole thing. But no technical camera advice.


[Rabs]
Mark William Rabiner