In Heaven There Is No Beer?

In 1978, documentarian Les Blank was honored with a retrospective of his work at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. While there, Blank visited a "polka palace," a large hall where hundreds of people danced to jolly music by polka bands. As Blank's ex-wife and frequent production partner Chris Simon explained in a 2014 interview, the euphoria that people feel while dancing the polka is known as "polka happiness," and Blank was entranced by what he saw. He returned to his California home fired up to make a film on the popularity of polka music in American ethnic enclaves in the Midwest and Northeast. In Heaven There Is No Beer? was shot in 1980 and released four years later. Blank consulted ethnomusicologists, and one of them, a Brown University professor, is seen in In Heaven There Is No Beer? describing the origins and evolution of polka. Later, she shows up at the end of the closing credits in a red bathing suit, joyfully and expertly dancing at "Polkabration," an annual 11-day event held at a Connecticut beach. Polka, the professor explains, probably originated in central Europe, among Poles, Czechs, Bohemians, and Bavarians. Even Spain and France had polka music and dance. Each region had its own distinct style, and immigrants from those areas brought their music with them when they came to the U.S. But it is the music of Polish Americans that has become the dominant American polka. That kind of academic and historical perspective is unusual in a Blank film, and it's only a small part of In Heaven There Is No Beer?. Mostly, the film is about music, fun, and cultural identity. There's even a "polka mass," a Catholic church service with liturgy set to polka music. In the film's defiant finale, a teenage fan says she'd like to take a boom box to school and blast polkas. She says she's sure her fellow teens would like it. A warning: if you're indifferent to polka, or even actively dislike it, the enthusiasm of all those polkamaniacs will win you over. As one of them says early in the film, "It's a jovial kind of music, it takes away all the pressures and strains." And it seems that Blank and his crew are having as much fun as their subjects. Editor Maureen Gosling seen acting out the lyrics of "Who Stole the Kishka?" the classic polka about a purloined Polish sausage, and Blank himself has a couple of Hitchcockian cameos of sorts. Look for him at a community carnival, tossing balls at a dunking booth; and in a closeup of an old-fashioned jukebox, among a selection of classic polkas there's a listing of "In Heaven There is No Beer?" performed by "Les Blank and His Flowers" (Blank's film production company was then called Flower Films). In Heaven There Is No Beer? won a special jury award at the 1985 Sundance Film Festival, as well as best documentary at the Melbourne International Film Festival. New York Times critic Janet Maslin wrote in her review that Blank's "approach to his material involves at least as much warmth as scholarship. The music, as depicted here, becomes a natural, unfiltered reflection of people's lives and values, as well as something that fills them with delight." More than three decades after it was made, there is now also a poignancy about In Heaven There Is No Beer?. It can be seen as an elegy for an American way of life that is fast disappearing: those urban communities of European immigrants and their descendants, who kept the traditions of the old country alive and vibrant while becoming distinctly American. Still, there are signs of a polka resurgence. Connecticut's annual marathon 11-day "Polkabration" faded away years ago. But in 2014, it made a comeback as a weekend-long event, called "Polka Days," and appears to be going strong. Director: Les Blank Producer: Les Blank Cinematography: Les Blank Editor: Maureen Gosling Music: Jimmy Sturr, Eddie Blazonzyck, Walt Solekj, Dick Pillar 51 minutes by Margarita Landazuri