charles sercombe

Sep 04, 2008

Thursday ramblings ...

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Whenever I’m on foot in the city I always notice something new, quirky or odd.

By Charles Sercombe – September 4, 2008

Whenever I’m on foot in the city I always notice something new, quirky or odd.

This is Hamtramck after all where all of the above usually happens all at once, meaning it’s probably quirky as well as odd.

You’d think with about two months to go in the presidential election, you’d see more campaign signs around town. Hamtramck is traditionally a Democratic stronghold, but I’ve see few signs supporting Barack Obama. But I noticed recently these Obama T-shirts in the front window of K.N. Beauty Supplies on Jos. Campau, just south of Caniff.

I’m not sure how much they go for or whether they are weird enough to be collector’s items. But with this being a historical election, they might be worth snatching up.

Down the street in front of Pope Park, someone pasted up a mug of what looks like now former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, looking all thuggish. You get the feeling Kwame’s troubles are far from over?

I wonder how long it will take for Detroit to shake off this scoundrel’s misdeeds.

(It's now a few weeks since this post and readers will notice a comment from Melody about who this is. It's a dead rapper, not Kwame. So much for my knowledge of pop culture. One good thing, Kwame is now finally gone.)

You know, getting evicted is always a sad sight, but this is a new low. I was told a woman was kicked out of an upstairs apartment on Caniff, and this is how the landlord handled it.

For the record, landlords can’t dump the possessions of an evicted tenant onto the ground. This was done on Wednesday – before the rainstorm. The city requires possessions to be placed in a container, something like a dumpster, to make sure nothing gets wrecked or stolen.

You don’t see it in this photo, but there were pieces of clothing hanging out of an open window in the apartment. I was told they threw her clothes out the window. Nice, real nice.

Aug 26, 2008

Remembering the film, "Polish Wedding"

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The last time a Hollywood movie was made here, a whole lot of folks were bitterly disapointed.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

By Charles Sercombe – August 26, 2008
The making of the movie “Whip it” – well, at least two small scenes – in Hamtramck this week got me to thinking about the last big-time Hollywood film crew that set up here in town.

Back in 1997, hometown gal Theresa Connelly was given the chance to direct her first feature, called “Polish Wedding.”
Now for some who have seen the movie, just that title alone makes them cringe. The movie was bitterly criticized by Polish-Americans as being offensive and even blasphemous.

I thought the critics were too harsh and were lacking in humor. But then, I’m not Polish so I saw the movie in a different light. But Polish friends here in Hamtramck also agreed with me.
In fact one woman said scenes of the movie were right from her youth.
In its own way, it’s a sweet coming of age story. It was shot largely in Hamtramck, and it was amazing to see so many locations of Hamtramck featured. Heck, parts of it even looked lush and other-worldly.

I remember watching those Hamtramck scenes and getting goose bumps. A pride for Hamtramck swelled up in me, and frankly I was surprised how emotional I felt. After all, I thought, the whole world will have a chance to see this film and get a glimpse of Hamtramck. That was truly special.

The movie had some big names: Lena Olin, Claire Danes and Gabriel Byrne.
The title of the movie is a pretty sly joke and some folks didn’t even get it. The plot of the movie is the Claire Danes character is a beautiful young teen who starts to have an affair with a young cop.

She gets pregnant by the cop and her brothers set out to force the young man to do the right thing and marry her.

OK, I’m going to divulge why the title is a joke – so consider this a SPOILER ALERT.
You see, the teen’s mother also had been an out of wedlock pregnant teen and had to get married. So, the point is, a Polish wedding means the girl is likely pregnant.

I can see why Poles would be offended by that, but remember Theresa Connelly is Polish and she said the story was about her growing up here.

I don’t think Polish women are truly anymore likely to be pregnant at the time of their wedding than any other ethnicity. I don’t think Connelly seriously meant that. I just think she was having a little fun.

No matter, decide for yourself and rent the movie sometime – especially if you live here or once did. You’ll at least like picking out all the Hamtramck locations.

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