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More on Harold Ramis and Yiddish
by Hershl Hartman
READERS OF BLOG-SHMOG may recall that, on March 5, 2014, following the death of Harold Ramis, I wrote about coaching him and John C. Reilly in Yiddish for a brief scene in the otherwise unmemorable film, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. There have been curious developments of that scene in the film’s history on pay television.
The first time I caught it on Starz, the scene played as it did on theater screens. The next time, it was cut down to seconds: Reilly saying “Rehab?” and Ramis, in unexplained khsidish (Hasidic) regalia, replying: “Rehab!” No Yiddish.
The next time I viewed it (nothing else interesting was on), the scene had been cut completely.
Now, in late June, 2016, Ramis has disappeared in the film, his place taken by a young man sans regalia, in the same two-word exchange: “Rehab?…Rehab!”
One can only conjecture about the behind-the-scenes intrigues involved. Conspiracy theorists are invited to ponder my best, admittedly paranoiac, guess: Hasidic or Jewish Establishment influences have prevailed.
To see the original scene in its unedited entirety, click here.
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