Roger and Me, Part I

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by Gary Meyer

I was privileged to have known Roger Ebert for 35 years. I think it is fair to call Roger a “mensch.” Leo Rosten, the author of The Joys of Yiddish wrote, “A ‘mensch’ is someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character. The key to being ‘a real mensch’ is nothing less than character, rectitude, dignity, a sense of what is right, responsible, decorous.”  What more can one say? A lot it turns out. I am going to offer some of my memories of Roger with links to a number of his writings.

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Editor’s Pick: Errol Morris & Philip Kaufman on Roger Ebert

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Roger Ebert was the distinguished recipient of the Mel Novikoff Award at the 53rd edition of the San Francisco International Film Festival (2010).  The presiding theme that ran throughout the celebratory evening held at San Francisco’s historic Castro Theatre was that—at a time when (as Jason Sanders stated it in his tribute essay) “the future of film criticism remains a real question”—Ebert had proven by example that film criticism’s role in championing the work of new filmmakers kickstarted many a career and encouraged others to hone their craft. Continue reading →