Before he became the comic genius behind some of America’s favorite movies, Harold Ramis was a fraternity member at Washington University, where he learned to love theater and got into enough scrapes to inspire one of his hit films, Animal House.
On Tuesday, more than a year after his death, Ramis’ fraternity brothers in Zeta Beta Tau will screen a special showing of another of Ramis’ big hits, Ghostbusters, to raise money for the disease that led to Ramis’ death at 69, autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis. The screening starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Tivoli Theater.
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“I think a lot of people just aren’t aware of the disease,” says Sam Shapiro, the fraternity’s alumni chair. “The goal is to raise awareness for vasculitis and also to raise money.”
See also: Remembering Comedy Legend and Wash. U. Grad Harold Ramis
Proceeds from each $10 ticket to the Tuesday night showing will benefit the Vasculitis Foundation, based in Kansas City. Across the street, popular Loop restaurant Three Kings is also donating 20 percent of proceeds to the foundation Tuesday night.
Shapiro says the fraternity planned to hold a similar screening and fundraiser immediately after the death of the famous alum, but complications with the organization’s house distracted them. The house’s pipes had frozen in the month before Ramis’ death, and after continuing structural issues, University City earlier this month condemned the off-campus house that has housed ZBT members since 1948.
“This is kind of the one year anniversary,” says Shapiro, who admits the fundraiser would ideally have been back in late February, when Ramis died. Shaprio says the timing is good for Washington University students, many of which have classes that are easing up as the semester ends.
ZBT is still working actively with University City to have the condemnation order removed from the fraternity house, but Shapiro says Tuesday’s fundraiser is a sign the fraternity is making its charitable work a priority.
“We don’t want to let our other values and things we care about, like raising money, fall in the background,” Shaprio tells SLM. The fraternity is also raising money for the Children’s Miracle Network along with ZBT chapters across the country.
Want to see a very special screening of Ghostbusters? The show starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 28. Tickets are $10.
