Arts & Entertainment

Pickwick Owner Remembers Ebert Filming There

Dino Vlahakis remembers the time Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel filmed the intro to their "At the Movies" at the Pickwick Theater.

 

Dino Vlahakis remembers the day when Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel came to the Pickwick Theater in Park Ridge to film the introductory segment for their show At The Movies. 

Crews came out beforehand to replace the "Pickwick" sign on the marquee with one that said, "At the Movies." Watch the video attached to this story to see it.

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The shoot showed both film critics buying their tickets at the Pickwick's box office, getting concession-stand items--Ebert's is a reporter's notebook from a vending machine--and proceeding to the balcony.

"During the breaks, I had the opportunity to meet them," said Vlahakis, the Pickwick owner. 

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"They were probably the most influential movie critics in the country, but they were very approachable, friendly and nice. I remember sitting my my office talking with them like they were old college buddies."

Vlahakis recalls the shoot as taking place in the early 1980s, but it was most likely 1982, because At the Movies ran from 1982 to 1986 on WGN-TV and in Chicago Tribune syndication, according to Wikipedia.

It was the second of the three shows Siskel and Ebert filmed together. Their first show, Sneak Previews ran on PBS from 1975 to 1982 (it had a different name for the first two years; the show continued with other critics after they left), according to Wikipedia.

The third show, Siskel & Ebert, began in 1986 and was produced by the Disney Company, according to Wikipedia. Siskel died in 1999. 


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