John Candy Archives - chimesfreedom

The Babe Ruth Story (and Funeral)

The great baseball player George Herman “Babe” Ruth, Jr. passed away on August 16, 1948 at the age of 53. Ruth, who was born in Baltimore on February 6, 1895, died from cancer, which had been diagnosed two years before his death.

Ruth’s Funeral

After Ruth’s death, his body lay in state at the entrance of Yankee Stadium (“The House That Ruth Built“) for two days. During that time, fans lined up to pay their last respects.

This video shows people lined up outside Yankee Stadium to Ruth one last time. It also includes scenes from Babe Ruth’s funeral, as well as some archival footage of the Sultan of Swat. Check it out.

Ruth Movies

In the month before Ruth’s death, Allied Artists released a bio-pic about the slugger, The Babe Ruth Story (1948), starring William Bendix as Ruth. Many critics have called the film, which includes scenes of Ruth healing sick children (a legend parodied by John Candy on SCTV), one of the worst movies of all time.

Regarding The Babe Ruth Story, people also note that the film could not even get little things right. For example, Bendix plays baseball as a right hander. Ruth was a lefty.

But if you watch The Babe Ruth Story with the right attitude and do not expect a realistic biography, you might have some fun. You can check out the trailer below.

Perhaps Ruth was so larger than life and so well known that it is difficult to make a good film about him. Like The Babe Ruth Story, 1992’s The Babe — with John Goodman in the title role — generally received poor reviews.

One of my favorite Babe Ruth movies was not really about Babe Ruth. Pride of the Yankees (1942) tells the story of Lou Gehrig’s career through the discovery that he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), what became known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.”

In Pride of the Yankees, Gary Cooper pays Gehrig and Ruth plays himself. What I always admired about Ruth’s self-portrayal is that he took part in a scene that makes Gehrig look much better than he does.

In the scene, Ruth visits a sick kid surrounded by reporters covering his visit. Then Gehrig visits the kid in private, showing his sincere concern and promising to hit two home runs for the child during the 1928 World Series. Reportedly, the Gehrig incident never took place and is loosely based on when Ruth promised a home run during the 1926 World Series to a hospitalized boy.

The movie’s version of the story makes Ruth look bad in comparison to Gehrig. But his generosity in playing the scene in tribute to his former teammate says a lot about the The Bambino as a person. Unfortunately, that scene is not available on Youtube (although another scene featuring Ruth is available on the Turner Classic Movies website).

Baseball would not be the same had Babe Ruth not come along, and there will never be another one like him. Thanks Babe.

What is your favorite Babe Ruth story? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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Harold Ramis: The SCTV Years

Take the Baseball Movie Quote Quiz!

Limitless Barry Bonds in the Asterisk Nation

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(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

Harold Ramis: The SCTV Years

Harold Ramis had a distinguished movie career as an actor, director, and writer. And he was also amazing for his work on Second City Television.

We were sad to hear when writer-director-actor Harold Ramis passed away from autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis. Only a day earlier, I had watched one of my favorite movies, Groundhog Day (1993), which Ramis directed and co-wrote. I first saw Groundhog Day in the movie theater when it came out in 1993. At the time, I liked the movie but it was with repeated viewings over the years that made it a classic for me. Some previous Chimesfreedom posts discuss Groundhog Day, and for other fans of the movie, make sure to check out this touching tribute to Ramis by Stephen Tobolowsky, who played Ned Ryerson in the movie.

Of course, Ramis also played a role in other classic films. For example, he co-wrote and starred in Stripes (1981) and Ghostbusters (1984). His role as Russell Ziskey in Stripes will always be one of the first things that comes to my mind when I think of him. He wrote and directed Caddyshack (1980), National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983), and other films. Before those movies, he was one of the screenwriters for National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978). I think of these movies when I think of Ramis, but reading his obituaries made me realize that I had forgot that I grew up watching him on a television show.

Prior to working on Animal House, Ramis appeared on (and became head writer of) the comedy television series Second City Television (SCTV) during its first years in the late 1970s. The Canadian television show, which started in 1976 and spun off from Toronto’s Second City stage show, centered around a fictional small TV network. In addition to Ramis, the series featured John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Catherine O’Hara, and Dave Thomas. Thomas recently talked to the Huffington Post about working with Ramis.

Ramis’ characters on SCTV included Mort Finkel, here advertising his “Do-It-Yourself-Dentistry” kit.

On the show, Ramis provided public service announcements as Officer Friendly.

Ramis also starred in SCTV‘s presentation of the western movie “A Fistful of Ugly.” And he accepted phone calls from “viewers” as SCTV station manager Maurice “Moe” Green.

In the last several days, a number of colleagues (including Bill Murray who had a famous “feud” with Ramis) have come out to say wonderful things about Ramis as a director, screenwriter, actor, and human being. We wish he were still around to give us more great work, but we are happy we can watch these SCTV clips and the movies. And I will keep watching Groundhog Day every year too, even though next time it will be with a little extra sadness. RIP.

What is your favorite Harold Ramis movie or character? Leave your two cents in the comments.