Campaign underway to build sculpture honoring Siskel & Ebert

Yeah, they were the top movie reviewers of their time, Siskel and Ebert. They were movie critics that were before their time. They were the ones that inspired me to do what I do. Now there's a fundraising campaign to honor legendary Siskel, Gene Siskel, and Roger Ebert with a permanent public statue. I'd like to Pam Casper is the project director, and Pam joins us live this morning. Pam, first of all, thanks for taking the time. Oh sure, thanks for having me. Let's talk about exactly what's happening. It's a statue because I had the honor, I review movies, I have a show called Critically Speaking, I review movies for Fox 2 here in Detroit. And they are the guys that inspired me. I got to share some movie space with them when I was a young reporter. One of them was very generous. Talk about what you're hoping to have happen for the statue. Well, we're hoping to raise enough money to have it built, first of all. But once it's unveiled at Prudential Plaza in Chicago, I'm hoping that not only will it be a great place to go and visit and take a picture, a great tourist spot to walk over from Michigan Avenue or from Millennium Park and sit down and put your thumbs up with Roger and Jean and take a picture, but also to give them a lasting, permanent tribute in the city that they never left. They became nationally, if not globally, famous and were the voice of film criticism. But they always stayed in Chicago. Gene always kept his job at the Tribune. Roger never left the Sun-Times. And it's time now to give back a little to them. Now, let's talk about what you're hoping to do. There's going to be an auction. Explain exactly what's going to happen and when it is. The auction is going on right now, and it goes until Saturday. We have over 300 pieces of movie memorabilia, a lot of them signed, a lot of them recently donated by studios and stars. We're partnering with Heritage Auctions, and you can go to our website, which is siskelandebertstatue.org, and if you click on Hollywood memorabilia, you can view the over 300 items that we have. And it's not just movie posters or lobby cards. But we also have experiences, for example, a 30-minute Zoom with the head writer and executive producer of The Office, if you're a fan of the show. Also a 30-minute Zoom with Henry Winkler. Wow. Yes, you can tour the Brady Bunch house that they recently renovated to look just like the set. You can tour it with Peter Brady, Christopher Knight. Wow. Yeah. Yes, Sven Gulli has donated. If you're a horror movie fan, you can come to Chicago and watch it. And some of these posters, and you say it's not just posters, but the posters. Yes. Signed by the stars. Yes. We looked at Harrison Ford. Yes. Robert De Niro. Yes. Some of these are classics. And hard to get too. Robert De Niro, we had five posters donated to us by a collector and they were unsigned and we got word to his office and within a day he wrote back, of course, because he knew what Siskel and Ebert meant to them. Yeah. Julie Andrews also, we have a... Beautiful Sound of Music poster that was signed by everybody but Julie. And we asked if she would sign it. She said, of course, I'd be delighted to. So people know Spike Lee, whose career was really supported by Gene and Roger, also sent us a signed piece. So Hollywood has really stepped up to celebrate them as well. You're going to get a great piece of Million Dollar Baby and be part of a statue that will be in Chicago. Give us that website one more time, Pam. SiskelandEbertStatue.org There it is, you see it right on your screen as well. We appreciate the time. Pleasure to chat with you and good luck with your efforts. Thank you so much. Absolutely. Thanks very much. Absolutely. Bye. All right, we'll be right back.