Before ‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘Animal House,’ Ivan Reitman was ‘centre of gravity’ at McMaster

Long before he lit the fuse on a certain brand of cinematic comedy with Animal House" and Ghostbusters," Ivan Reitman gave Hamilton an early preview of his zany, playfully volatile energy.

Those who knew the great film director/producer/screenwriter when he was at McMaster University in the late 1960s knew he would be somehow making much louder noises on a much larger stage at some point.

They were right.

Ivan Reitman exploded' onto the campus," remembers Tam Nolan (known to many as Tammy Paikin, a senior editor, reporter and popular columnist with The Hamilton Spectator for many years.)

Reitman, who died Saturday at 75, came to McMaster from Toronto, where he lived, to study music but he did so much more.

I can just picture him striding around at Wentworth House (where Mac Radio, the McMaster film board and publication offices were)," says Nolan.

It was an amazing time at McMaster." The university was crackling with new and wild ideas and talents that were finding expression through the campus film board, the McMaster Dramatic Society and other outlets, including the student council, all centre at Wentworth House. Aside from Reitman, the campus boasted such famous-to-be performers and creators as Eugene Levy and Dave Thomas.

Nolan and her husband, Hamilton lawyer Dermot Nolan, were in the thick of it.

Reitman burst on to that scene and in short order founded something called Proscenium, a musical theatre club, says Nolan, says Nolan, who was on the student executive.

Before that we had a very active dramatic society," she explains, but no musical theatre. He was an unknown quantity but had grand ideas and in no time he put on an unbelievable production." It was L'il Abner," she remembers.

Then he quickly moved on to film. Orientation' was his first student film at Mac."

It was, she says, on often hilarious account of a young man's orientation week at university and his education of another kind. She remembers it involving one scene where the young man is eating strawberries off the whipped cream-covered body of a naked woman.

When he wasn't stirring things up with movies of his own he was creating enormous controversy by bringing in the censor bait films of others.

Reitman screened Columbus Of Sex" on campus in the summer of 1969, and the Hamilton police were called in to shut it down. Reitman was fined $300 and sentenced to a year's probation.

Ivan was a going concern," says Nolan, of his whole time at McMaster. He became the centre of gravity." Yet, she adds, for all his energy and experimentation, he was a lovely, gentle, unassuming guy. He had this way of getting things done and had the energy and vision to do it.

He drew people to him. We knew he was going places," even then.

She lost touch with him over the years as his career in movies soared. When she and others from those days would hear about his enormous successes in Hollywood in a way we couldn't believe but in a way we really could."

Reitman, who died peacefully in his sleep at his home in California, staged a 1975 off-Broadway production called National Lampoon Show" and it starred such actors/comedians as Bill Murray, John Belushi, Brian Doyle-Murray, Gilda Radner and Harold Ramis, who would all go on, like Dan Aykroyd, to fame and star in Reitman's later movies.

His breakthrough came with National Lampoon's Animal House in 1979." He went on to produce and/or director such hits as Meatballs," Ghostbusters," Twins," Stripes" and Kindergarten Cop." His son Jason is a famous filmmaker in his own right, best known for Thank You For Smoking," Juno" and Ghostbusters: Afterlife."

I'm glad he (Ivan) lived to see his son do that," says Nolan.

News of his death prompted much action on social media, a measure of his impact.

Mindy Kaling posted, Ivan Reitman was old school in the best way, and kind. I loved working with him. It's sad he's gone, it makes me feel older and like my childhood movies are more faraway than ever. RIP"

And director Judd Apatow: Opening night of Ghostbusters at UA Plainview was like a rock concert. The place exploded with joy. It was one of the most memorable moments of my childhood. Ivan Reitman influenced everything we all love about film comedy. A true legend."

Jeff Mahoney is a Hamilton-based reporter and columnist covering culture and lifestyle stories, commentary and humour for The Spectator. Reach him via email: jmahoney@thespec.com