It’s not clear what NYC’s Katz’s Delicatessen is more famous for: having some of the world’s best pastrami (and, to a slightly lesser extent, corned beef) or being the setting for a classic, and sometimes imitated, movie scene in which Meg Ryan loudly feigns an orgasm while Billy Crystal watches. Needless to say, this moment hails from When Harry Met Sally…, which is about to turn 30 this summer.
What better way to celebrate than by asking rom-com fans to make deafening and violent sex noises in spitting distance of salami? That’s the idea hatched by Katz’s top brass, who, on July 12, will open their doors, and their ears, to people competing in an honest-to-god orgasm contest, to see who can top Ryan’s iconic wail.
Contestants will sit at the very table at which Ryan and Crystal once sat, which the legendary deli has long celebrated, complete with a sign above it that reads, “Hope you have what she had!” — a cheeky reference to the scene’s famous punchline, which was uttered by no less than director Rob Reiner’s mother. According to Entertainment Weekly, their moans of ecstasy will be evaluated by a to-be-announced group of judges that will “include notable New Yorkers and special guests.”
When Harry Met Sally… — written by the late Nora Ephron, and about friends who take a dozen years to realize they’re a perfect match — hit theaters on July 21, 1989, making a mint during a crowded summer movie season that also included the first Tim Burton Batman, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Lethal Weapon 2, and Ghostbusters II. Crystal has said Ryan is responsible for the idea of a fake, very public climax, which she wounded up heroically repeating for hours in front of a sea of extras consuming prime deli meat.
(Via EW)
