A couple days I saw a long, half-hour video of a reunion of sorts of many cast members from the 1993 movie “Groundhog Day.” It was because the City of Chicago named Feb. 2 to be "now, forever more, in perpetuity, over and over again, “Harold Ramis Day” and had a big event about it. (In the late 1990s, Ramis moved back to Chicago, where he was born. In fact, he specifically moved to Glencoe -- not where he born, where I grew up…) The celebration started in the city at 6 AM, when participating radio stations all played “You Got Me, Babe.” The main event too place on Navy Pier, where a bunch of restaurants there played the movie. Bill Murray was there and many others from the cast, including his brother Brian Doyle Murray (who played 'the Mayor'), Marita Gerighty ('Nancy'), Robin Duke (who was the waitress) and others, as well as videos sent in by some cast who were unable to make it, like Chris Elliot and Stephen Tobolowsky, who played the annoying insurance man 'Ned Ryerson.' U.S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois spoke, as did Harold Ramis's widow Erica, as well, who made a very nice, short speech. And Alderman Brendan Reilly makes the city's official proclamation. The event concluded with "Mayor" Brian Doyle Murray calling out the groundhog to find out if it saw its shadow. One thing I found notable is that when the emcee introduced Brian, he was stopped by Bill who said he wanted to go before him. The sense I got from his subsequent comments was that he wanted to be the one to introduce his brother, which he does simply, but with very loving words. If you're interested, here is 30 minutes from the event. It's filled with overflowing affection. But I'm going to do this is two videos, because the main one leaves out the very opening, which is worth seeing. I did find a much shorter video though that has it, so after about 30 seconds, when the host says, "Thank you Richard Henzel. You probably recognize Richard, he's one of the original D.J. voices you heard over and over and over and over again in 'Groundhog Day'" -- you can then stop and click over to the main video. And here's the main event --
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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