Tuesday, June 26, 2012

MAY WE HAVE WHAT SHE HAD: After a six year stuggle with leukemia, Nora Ephron died earlier today.  Of course, her best-remembered works are When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless In Seattle, and You've Got Mail, which still shape romantic comedies today, but her first film--This Is My Life--the story of a mother (played by Julie Kavner in one of her few live action roles) trying to make it as a standup comic and how that changes her relationship with her daughters--is a small gem that's unfortunately not available much of anywhere.  Her influence will continue to be felt, and the Times does a better job than we ever could of talking about her accomplishments.

25 comments:

  1. The Pathetic Earthling11:21 PM

    You shouldn't stand so close to the frozen food section.

    And why is that?

    Because you could melt.  All.  This.  Stuff.

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  2. Joseph J. Finn11:35 PM

    As Phil Rosenthal from the Tribune put it, may Baby Fish Mouth sweep the nation.

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  3. If by "what she had" you mean acute myeloid leukemia, I will respectfully pass.  (Also, trivia note:  She didn't write "I'll have what she's having.")

    But yes, RIP to Nora Ephron, who may not have felt good about her neck, but had good reason to feel good about her work.  I find myself quoting (and hearing people quote) WHMS more frequently than just about any other movie.  

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  4. Baby Fish Mouth was the favored exclamation among my friends in college. Yes, we were dorks, but at least we memorized some good movies.

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  5. Baby Fish Mouth was the favored exclamation among my friends in college. Yes, we were dorks, but at least we memorized some good movies.

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  6. Baby Fish Mouth was the favored exclamation among my friends in college. Yes, we were dorks, but at least we memorized some good movies.

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  7. Baby Fish Mouth was the favored exclamation among my friends in college. Yes, we were dorks, but at least we memorized some good movies.

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  8. When I was in college a friend passed on a second- or third-hand, well-worn copy of Crazy Salad.  I can still remember how it opened my eyes to this writer, a woman so wise, funny and true.  So although I enjoyed so much of her film work, it's the essays I loved first.

    And because I'll never be as witty as Ephron, I'll just say:  Dammit.  Cancer sucks.  RIP.

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  9. She was such a prolific and smart and funny writer across so many mediums. And TPE, so glad you quoted My Blue Heaven, which is so underrated and so wonderfully funny. This just makes me so sad. R.I.P.

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  10. Marsha1:12 AM

    Count me in on the love for My Blue Heaven. Such a fun little movie. (And now I believe I know how to merengue, even though I don't.) I particularly love the scene where Rick Moranis and Joan Cusack are dancing, and Bill Irwin is dancing wonderfully all by his loopy self. Sigh.

    RIP Nora Ephron. Your movies gave me a great deal of happiness, and useful quotations for nearly every situation. (My most used is likely either "the law firm of "That's Mine, This is Yours"" or "(c) trapped under something heavy" - both of which I used just in the last 24 hours.) Your voice will very much be missed.

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  11. Add me to the lovefest for My Blue Heaven.  I think I need to go rewatch that nw...

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  12. When I lived in Long Island City, I had an apartment that faced the skyline and the street below.  She was filming Julie and Julia in my neighborhood and I had a few days of just seeing her popping around the set and the area.  It was really cool.

    I loved her writing and she was a great example of how to age relevantly.

    Thankfully, she knew how the book she was reading ended.

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  13. Chuck9:02 AM

    I was going to post exactly this.  "You could melt all this stuff" is one of my favorite lines, ever.

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  14. I love the fact that she and her husband spent all those hours with Henry Hill, and he came up with Goodfellas and she, My Blue Heaven.

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  15. I'm going to miss her strong, female, comedic voice. I can't believe how much of WHMS I still quote to this day. "Why is this necessary in life?" "Mr. Zero knew." "You're right. You're right. I know you're right."

    Count me in on the My Blue Heaven love, too. I watched it over and over again the weekend I got my wisdom teeth out. 

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  16. Emily W12:54 PM

    My personal favorite: "Waiter, there is too much pepper in my paprikash. But I would be proud to partake of your pecan pie."

    We've been reminiscing all night and morning on my alumnae community on facebook (she was class of 1962), as she's always been a favored alum and most of us have very fond memories of her books and films. I immediately went back to read her 1996 commencement address; she manages so well to balance her humor with some true observations about how the world has changed since she graduated from college: http://new.wellesley.edu/events/commencementarchives/1996commencement

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  17. Emily: That's my favorite scene also, but I don't think she wrote it. I think that was all improv by Billy Crystal. You can kind of tell when Meg Ryan laughs, looks off camera and says something like No. 

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  18. Genevieve1:52 PM

    I don't know anything about My Blue Heaven, but now I have to rent it and enjoy it in memory of Nora Ephron.

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  19. Nancy6:30 PM

    "Is one of us a dog in this scenario? I am, aren't I? I'M the dog!"

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  20. lisased6:44 PM

    My husband still says this to me.

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  21. Strangely, there may be no better testament to her singular talent than the mediocre list of movies that Netflix recommends when you add Sleepless in Seattle to your queue.

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  22. Emily W9:27 PM

    If that's the case, well, someone somewhere decided Billy Crystal was the right guy to play a part she had written! I'll take comfort in that....

    Can I offer up my 2nd favorite part?: "You're the worst kind; you're high maintenance, but you think you're low maintenance."

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  23. Marsha10:00 PM

    I don't want to build it up too much - it's a very silly, very quotable, very fun movie, but it's not brilliant or profound or anything like that. It's just a really good time.

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  24. Genevieve4:01 PM

    I like silly, fun, and quotable.  My impression when it first came out was that it was just the first of those three (and I didn't catch that it was Ephron), so I didn't see it.  I'm happily surprised to hear that it's more than that, and I will enjoy it.

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  25. Lena Dunham wrote a beautifully moving tribute to Nora int he New Yorker, who she got to know a bit in the last couple of years.
    Check it out if you haven't read it.
    http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/06/lena-dunham-remembers-nora-ephron.html

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