Gene Wilder: A Man of Pure Imagination

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

Holy gobstoppers, Gene Wilder is deceased.

Gene Wilder (originally born as Jerome (“Jerry”) Silberman) has passed on August 28^th, 2016 in Stamford, Connecticut at the age of 83 due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He hadn’t informed the public of his condition because he didn’t want children to sadly view him for his illness, but rather happiness for all the joy he brought them.

My heart has been punched severely by this news and still aches as I write this entry.  So much so that I needed longer than usual to craft an entry that at best would convey my feelings for the man and to do it in a proper fashion. Even so, I’m still tearing up at “Pure Imagination” as it plays in my head.

In a sense, I feel as though I’ve grown up with Gene Wilder. We first met during my childhood with “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”. The movie terrified me greatly, but as an adult I appreciate it and adore it dearly especially with its trivia. Did you know that the first time Wilder ever appeared to the cast was when he rolled out to them upon opening the factory? And that the reactions of everyone during the boat scene were completely genuine? The director had informed the cast they were going on a boat ride, but didn’t mention the horrific images or Wilder’s improvised lines (“There’s no earthly way of knowing which direction they are going…”). In fact, most of the reactions in this movie were genuine – even down to the final scene where Charlie confronts Willy Wonka in his office.

Wilder returned to me in my teen years where I fell in love with “Saturday Night Live” especially the older, original cast including Gilda Radner.  It was during this time that I had learned that he had married Gilda Radner and when she died from breast cancer, he created Gilda’s Club. Gilda’s Club was a non-profit charity to help those with cancer. The notion of Wilder wanting to continue breast cancer efforts despite her passing and his suffering from it was beyond immeasurable and imaginable for me. The mere amount of heartbreak he must have endured had to be ungodly.

Following me through my adolescence and adulthood, Wilder thrilled me with “The Producers” (Pre-Nathan Lane/Matthew Broderick (though he loved their Broadway version)), “Blazing Saddles”, and “Young Frankenstein” (“FRONKensteen!”) both produced by Mel Brooks. Gene Wilder had met Mel Brooks in his early stage career and the two housed a wonderful friendship and partnership.  He was nominated for an Oscar for his role in “The Producers” which caused him to be a highly demanded actor which secured his iconic role as Willy Wonka.

It’s been about a week since Wilder passed and my chest still throbs terribly in knowing we lost a great man. In knowing I lost someone who I seemingly grew up with, who would always wind his way back into my life. For every moment he visited, I learned to love more of his work as well as life. Thank you Gene Wilder, for somehow secretly always being there and being a wonderful person.

Thank you for reading tonight’s entry. If you enjoyed it, feel free to share, subscribe, critique, and comment.

So tell me, what did you like Wilder in the most?

Crossing the Streams

Good evening everyone and welcome to a rather tragic entry of The Magical Mystery Blog.

Dearly beloved, we gather around our screens tonight to bid a fond farewell to the late, great Harold Ramis.

comicbook.com

Harold Ramis was an actor and director born in 1944 in Chicago, Illinois. He wrote parody plays in college and was heavily inspired by the famous Marx brothers. In his college years, he freelanced for the Chicago Tribune and even Playboy. After attending the Washington University in Wisconsin, he worked in a mental institution in St.Louis for seven months, and claimed that it prepared him for the madness of Hollywood.

Upon returning to Second City in 1972, he discovered that Belushi took his place as a comedic king, and became his deadpan foil. Belushi then led Ramis, Bill Murray, and other Second City performers to New York to work on the radio program, The National Lampoon Radio Hour. These actors along with Gilda Radner, Christopher Guest, and Joe Flaherty went on to perform in The National Lampoon Show, the successor to National Lampoon’s Lemmings; a show similar to Woodstock only filled with comedic sketches, great music, and Belushi’s best impersonation of Joe Cocker.

Ramis then went on to become an actor and the head writer of Second City TV. He declined working for Saturday Night Live and chose to work with SCTV for its first three years.  After the three years, Ramis left SCTV to pursue a film career; his first project was a script he wrote with National Lampoon magazine which later became National Lampoon’s Animal House. It was the highest grossing and raunchiest film of its time.

Ramis and Murray teamed up and produced some of the greatest films ever such as Meatballs and five others.  Not only did Ramis write them, but he propelled Murray to his superstar status. Ramis also co-wrote with Dan Aykroyd and created Ghostbusters and Ghostsbusters 2. Ramis also created popular movies such as National Lampoon’s Vacation, Analyze This, Caddyshack, Analyze That, and other classics. He also acted in a great deal of his works and other movies like Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Stealing Home, Baby Boom, As Good as it Gets,Stripes, and many more.

In 2004, he was inducted into the St.Louis Walk of Fame. The following year he received the Distinguished Screenwriter Award from the Austin Film Festival. In 2009, he stated that Ghostbusters 3 would be in theaters by Christmas 2012 – regretfully, this did not occur because he contracted vasculitis in 2010.

Vasculitis develops when the immune system goes against veins and arteries. It can starve organs, cause harmful tissue damage, and can possibly lead to aneurysms. It left Ramis immobile for a while, but he gained his ability to walk. However, in 2011 he suffered a relapse from this disease, and ultimately caused his death on February 24^th, 2014.

He died at the tender age of sixty nine as a fantastic director, an extraordinary writer, a terrific actor, and the grandfather of two grandchildren. Harold Ramis will go down in cinema history as a man who brought smiles to our faces by way of his particular style of tongue in cheek pep talks, sloppiness and improv, and rage, curiosity, and sloth in a high articulated voice.

Even though he is deceased, we will still call on you Harold Ramis, to make us laugh with your Twinkie analogy, to brighten our days with the crazy antics of Mr. Griswold, and to make us smile by just being you. May you rest in peace, Mr. Ramis and enjoy the company of your good friends in the clouds overhead.