Renaming Gene Siskel Film Center to include Roger Ebert wouldn’t honor their partnership

The sentiment behind renaming the Gene Siskel Film Center to include Roger Ebert, as proposed in a recent op-ed by John Holden, is sincerely appreciated by a fellow fan of the two’s work.

However, renaming the center is the wrong way to go about honoring the partnership. Indeed, though Siskel’s name hovers over State Street, one could look down on the pavement in front of the Chicago Theatre and already discover a tribute to Ebert — a plaque dedicated to him by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 2005.

Though Siskel and Ebert were certainly a legendary Chicago partnership, we should not posthumously add Siskel to Ebert’s Pulitzer Prize, nor should we combine the two’s separate State Street monuments. They were individual men and individual columnists, as emphasized by their many disagreements.

It is true, however, that Chicago ought to do more to honor these two legendary writers. A statue of the Urbana native Ebert was unveiled in Champaign in 2014. Chicago, the place where Siskel and Ebert came together, would benefit from having a similar public display featuring both critics. Perhaps the Chicago Museum of Broadcast Communications, currently in the process of moving, would benefit from having such an installation outside its new location.

Or, to commemorate the history of “At The Movies,” ABC7-Chicago could install a pair of statues outside of the State Street studio in which Siskel and Ebert recorded the majority of their television episodes. Regardless of location, Chicago shouldn’t be hesitant to further honor their great figures.

Ebert may have been correct when he said of his friendship with Siskel, “No one else could possibly understand how meaningless was the hate, how deep was the love.” Regardless, this city should aim to understand it in a way that doesn’t retread upon the monuments of old. Until then, see you at the movies.

Connor Wielgos, Arlington Heights