Thursday, August 15, 2002

COOPERSVILLE -- A bit of movie magic momentarily transformed a small stretch of Coopersville's Main Street into a scene from 1961.

Gone were the compact cars and minivans that frequent downtown, replaced by a bevy of classics, including a spit-polished '57 Chevy, a snazzy red-and-white '61 Impala and even a steel-gray '52 DeSoto.

Likewise, Abercrombie &Fitch gave way as the streetwear of choice to poodle skirts, and the pompadour made a comeback.

At the center of it was Joe Glickman, a New York musician and filmmaker who arrived with a 25-member crew to shoot a music video for his remake of Del Shannon's song "So Long Baby."

Born Charles Westover in 1934, Shannon grew up in Coopersville, graduated from high school there, then took the airwaves by storm in 1961 with his No. 1 hit single, "Runaway." Later that year, he followed with the song Glickman recently re-recorded as Joe G and the Zippity Doo Wop Band for a national tribute album.

Perched on curbs and lounging in lawn chairs, a crowd of about 100 spectators lined the street to watch as Glickman brought the story of the unfaithful lovers to life over the course of about five hours.

Shot during three days in New York and three days in West Michigan, Glickman said the key to making the video -- which he hopes to release in October and screen locally -- is having a keen vision of what to shoot and where.

"When you see it on screen, these aren't just people who happen to be driving by or walking by," he said. "Everything was a coordinated effort."

A cast of 25 local extras and two dozen classic-car owners were more than willing to help.

For Jaime Smoes, who will be a senior at Coopersville High School this fall, the chance to appear in Glickman's video was an opportunity not to be missed.

"My grandpa graduated with him (Shannon) and knew him, so I thought it would be a good idea to do this," she said.

Wearing a soft yellow dress, Smoes strolled down the sidewalk arm-in-arm with her boyfriend, Eric Zattlin, a Grand Haven High School graduate, cast a nasty stare the musician's way, then continued on.

"It was kind of hard not to laugh," Smoes said between one of the several takes done for each scene.

Unlike Smoes, who asked to be in the video, Ryan Martini, 21, of Standale was invited to participate after his uncle, John Merryman of Holland, who was in charge of arranging the cars, signed up the family's 1957 Chevy and suggested Martini also would be good.

"My nephew still lives in the '60s, so that works out great," Merryman said.

Dressed in his everyday clothes -- a rolled-up pair of blue jeans, a black striped T-shirt and a black jacket -- Martini said he grew up listening to Shannon's music.

"I always thought it was kind of neat that someone famous was from a little town not far from me," he said.

"This is just so exciting," mother Heidi Martini said as she watched her son perform his part.

As her boyfriend, Ben Twa of Grand Haven, mingled with other extras between takes, Kelsey Sheffield couldn't help but comment on the make-over.

"He looks so cute," she said. "He looks like Richie from 'Happy Days.'"

The extras and their families and friends weren't the only ones excited about the filming.

"When we got this car, we had no idea the places it would get us into," Dennis Wheat of Wyoming said as he stood alongside his DeSoto and reminisced about Shannon's music and the times with Edwin Oosterink of Jenison, whose Impala stood next to his.

After wrapping up the filming, Glickman talked enthusiastically about shooting the police-chase scene outside Coopersville.

He said the work went better than expected, with good weather and an enthusiastic crowd.

"Honestly, we probably could have used any town," Glickman said. "But it's more than visuals -- I want it to mean something. It means a lot to shoot in Del Shannon's home town."

© 2002 Grand Rapids Press. Used with permission