Partner acts have long been an indelible staple of American show business. From Laurel & Hardy to Abbott & Costello to Key & Peele, many show biz folks will always be best remembered as being part of a team.
Chicago also had its very own legendary show business team: Siskel and Ebert. Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were both well-known and highly esteemed as the film critics for the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times, respectively. Ebert was especially accomplished in his film scholarship, was a long-time teacher of film, and was the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize.
But it wasn’t until they teamed up in 1976 to take their film criticism to an even wider audience through the medium of television that Siskel and Ebert became household names across the country and around the world. As detailed in the new book “Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever,” the two became a mega-celebrity team by weighing in weekly on the latest film releases.
Siskel and Ebert appeared in a series of three different programs produced over more than two decades. But regardless of which program they were on, their formula was always the same. Spirited — and at times rancorous — debating became a popular act in its own right, often proving far more entertaining than the movies they were dissecting.
Yet, in spite of the fact that Siskel and Ebert are best remembered as a team, the team has yet to be reunited in the most obvious way in Chicago — specifically, in the name of the Film Center of the Art Institute of Chicago. For roughly the past 20 years, it has gone by the name of the Siskel Film Center, with its prominent sign across the street from the Chicago Theater becoming a familiar beacon on State Street.
As a long-time and frequent patron of the Center, I can attest that it is one of the greatest resources anywhere in the world for students and fans of films, both highbrow and low. Yet, it has long struck me as a massive civic oversight that the name of the center has not been altered to include the name of Roger Ebert.
It has now been 10 years since Ebert’s passing in 2013 after a long, brave and very public battle with cancer, which ultimately robbed him of his ability to talk but never diminished his voice or passion for cinema.
Siskel and Ebert were very different personalities, but both of them left us much too soon following battles with cancer. Siskel was only 53 at the time of his shocking death in 1998. It was altogether fitting that the Film Center would have included Siskel’s name after it moved to its new and expanded State Street facility in the early 2000s. According to a Chicago Reader article published in 2000, Ebert was the honorary chairman of the capital campaign.
Including Ebert’s name at that time would have not been appropriate, as he was still very much alive and active at the time of the Film Center’s move to its new and greatly improved facilities at 164 N. State St.
But now, 10 years since Ebert’s passing and with renewed focus on the men and their impact, it seems only logical and appropriate to reunite the team in lights on State Street. Leaving Ebert off the marquee is not only a disservice to the accomplishments and memory of Roger, but also to the memory of his unique and enduring partnership with Gene Siskel.
In short, the team needs to be reunited for posterity.
I believe the legions of Siskel and Ebert fans would all give this idea a big thumbs up!
John Holden is a lifelong Chicagoan and movie fan.
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