Any Way You Cut It, Roger Ebert's Surgery Rolling

Who Maimed Roger Ebert? We know he's not well. But all he seems to do nowadays is go in for and come out of surgery. He's in. He's out. He's in. He's out.

Roger Ebert is recovering at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago after surgery to repair a minor hip injury. He tripped and fell at the Pritikin Center in Florida, where he had gone to continue physical therapy in preparation for his film festival.

"The show must go on!" Ebert says. "I am doing fine and if the doctors clear me, I will be there." The Roger Ebert Film Festival (Ebertfest) is sponsored by the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign April 23-27.

Had doctors not liked the end result, perhaps Ebert would have been bedpanned.

[ABC7Chicago.com]

Roger Ebert 2: Return to the Silent Battle

To review: Roger Ebert had surgery earlier this year. His hope was always to return to the movies. Now he's letting his readers know when to expect him back in the grandstand.

I am at last returning to the movie beat. After my current stay at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, I’m looking forward to opening night of my annual film festival at the University of Illinois on April 23, and I will resume writing movie reviews shortly thereafter.

Are you as bored with my health as I am? I underwent a third surgery in January, this one in Houston, and once again there were complications. I am sorry to say that my ability to speak was not restored. That would require another surgery.

So we'll see a return to the era of silent film reviews.

[Chicago Sun-Times]

Two Thumbs Up May Soon Be All Roger Ebert Has Left

Movie critic Roger Ebert goes into surgery Thursday that he hopes will free him of complications from previous operations related to his bouts with cancer, Chicago Sun-Times media columnist Robert Feder reported.

Quoting from a blog entry Ebert is expected to post on Wednesday, Feder reported that some movie reviews in the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic's absence will be written by Jim Emerson, editor of his Web site, rogerebert.com."On Jan. 24, I'll have another surgery, which I hope will solve some problems I've still been living with," Ebert's entry said. "I'll be in a hospital for a while (nothing like last time, I trust!). I have written a lot of advance reviews, Great Movies and even Answer Man columns for use during my absence. I plan to return full-time as soon as possible."

It's been over five years since Ebert was first diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Since having that cancer successfully removed, however, he's faced several surgeries for cancer of the salivary gland and had an artery burst. A tracheotomy in 2006 has also left him with voice difficulties, requiring him to speak through a computerized voice system.

We have to think that the surgeon performing this operation will finish up with his patented line "This surgery is closed."

[Editor & Publisher]