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.