Blum, Leonard

Leonard Solomon Blum was born in Toronto in 1951, and raised in Toronto, Montreal and Toronto. He spent his youth playing in rock bands, including The Brass Union which had some success with a 45 rpm single (“It Won’t Be Long”). Among Blum's fellow students in high school was Dan Goldberg, who later became a scriptwriter with whom Blum was to collaborate on many projects. In 1972, Blum enrolled at McMaster University, where he worked on student film projects with Ivan Reitman, an older student who had already established himself as a budding filmmaker. Blum graduated from McMaster with a degree in sociology in 1975. He initially pursued a career in music, working as a session guitarist and producer with the Sound Canada Recording Studio in Toronto. He also wrote commercial jingles for clients such as The Bay, Chrysler, Pepsi and Labatt’s.

In 1977, Blum wrote a two man cabaret, Midnight Opera, which was produced at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto. In 1978, he wrote After the Opera, which was produced by Theatre Passe Muraille. Also in 1978, Blum was contacted by Reitman to devise a scenario for a film about a summer camp. The resulting film, Meatballs, was shot in Haliburton, Ontario, with a script by Blum, Goldberg, Janis Allen, and Harold Ramis. It turned out to be an immensely popular film, setting records for the revenues it grossed, and the writers won a Genie Award for their screenplay. Blum was invited to work on Reitman's next project, Stripes, whose screenplay Blum co-wrote with Goldberg and which starred Harold Ramis and Bill Murray. At the same time, Blum and Goldberg wrote the script for Reitman's Heavy Metal, a futuristic animated film. In 1983, Goldberg and Blum began work on a script called GMen, which became the film Feds. To develop the project, they moved to Los Angeles (although Blum's wife, Heather, continued her studies in Canada). In 1986, Blum returned to Canada, while Goldberg opted to stay in the U.S. Although Blum and his family moved back to Los Angeles briefly in 1991 so that Blum could work on the Disney picture Beethoven's 2 nd ( another Ivan Reitman film), they soon returned to Canada. In 1995, Reitman asked Blum to adapt the autobiography of the controversial American radio host Howard Stern. The resulting film, Private Parts, was released in 1997. A number of other films (including The Pink Panther, Over the Hedge, and Grass) followed. In later years, Blum occasionally wrote under the pseudonym ‘Solomon Vesta’.

Between 1998 and 2001, Blum wrote a weekly Arts column (‘Going to the Movies’) for The National Post. In 2003, he became a certified Yoga teacher, and in 2005 he opened the United Yoga Studio in Montreal and he now works there fulltime. Also in 2005, Blum received a Distinguished Alumni Award from McMaster Univerity. Blum currently lives in Montreal with his wife, Dr. Heather Munroe-Blum (Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University). They have one daughter, Sydney.

Toronto, Haliburton

Created on Mar. 19, 2015

• English

Library and Archives Canada Biography: http://collectionscanada.gc.ca

Ackerman, Marianne. “From films to yoga—what a stretch!” The Gazette (January 22,
2010): A.2.

Glinter, Ezra. “Meatballs recipe for success.” McGill Tribune (February 6, 2007)