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9116 OU9 - Filming in Detroit
We went to Detroit for two things. First of all we went to film the assembly lines at General Motors, for comparison with Japan. In this respect we failed. Although we spent a week in Detroit, waiting to do our filming, we never managed to achieve this part of it -- since the unions were negotiating a new deal and General Motors were worried that our presence on the production lines would jeopardise these negotiations. The other reason was to have a ten minute interview with the head of General Motors outside the US.
We were staying in the hotel in the Renaissance Centre, referred to by everyone as the Ren Centre. This is a very modern building, rising 500-600 feet above the waterfront. My room was pretty near the top and had one wall of glass, in front of which was a desk. Accordingly, I spent most my time in Detroit sitting at this desk writing one of my marketing books -- I suspect it was one of the rewrites of my marketing textbook. It was a very pleasant environment to do this. My window looked out over what is referred to as the Detroit River, but in fact is the St Lawrence wending its way from Lake Huron in the north to Lake Erie in the South. It was fascinating to watch the barges moving up and down the river. Equally interesting was the movement of the crowds on the Plaza, in front of the hotel, with its spectacular fountain. The other side of the river was Windsor, in Ontario in Canada.
I guess I can say I have been to Canada, for I caught the bus through the tunnel under the river and spent a good half-hour walking up and down its very small suburban shopping street -- which was all that there was to Windsor! On the other hand, I was very happy doing my writing -- as I always was -- at the same time as being able to observe the world going by, from something like 500 feet above it.
The Ren Centre was something of a fortress in the middle of Detroit. This was at a time just after the riots in Detroit when much of the rest of Detroit had been burned down. As you travelled around, it was like being in a German city after the last war. Every other house seemed to have been bombed out. Most of the population, certainly most of the wealthy population, had long since moved out to the suburbs. The centre of the city was a very violent area, and every night local television reported two to three murders. Even so, one night when we were returning to the Ren Centre and Hugh was driving a car - and was, as usual, drunk - I found it safer to jump out of the car when he suggested he drive us out into the country for even more drinks. Needless to say, I was very nervous about jumping from the car, especially when I was approached by some panhandlers as I was coming to the Ren Centre, but I felt that it was safer than being with Hugh in the car.
In the absence of any filming, most of the time in Detroit was taken up with sightseeing. One day, we drove north to the Lake that was between Detroit and Lake Erie. On another day we went out from Chicago to Dearborn where Henry Ford had set up a museum close to his factory. It was mainly a transport museum, with some of the enormous steam locomotives that the Americans used in the 20th century, But it also had an eclectic range of other exhibits, especially domestic items, he had collected. Henry Ford was like a magpie, collecting anything that took his interest.
Then, of course, there was the eating. We mostly ate at the Rattlesnake Club, which was one of the two best restaurants there. The first night I started with soft shelled crabs, which I found remarkably unappetising. I suppose, however, it was timescale that was the worst problem. The people of Detroit, like most Americans, sensibly ate early in the evening and by nine o'clock everything was very quiet. But that was when the BBC used to eat. That was bad enough, but my internal clock thought it was about three o'clock in the morning. Consequently I never really enjoyed any of the meals. I knew they were superb meals, and more important even better wines. In the end, the sommelier actually came and sat at our table, since she had never tasted the sort of expensive wines we were drinking. I should point out - in my defence - that this was not on expenses, except in as much as the BBC gave us an allowance; but this allowance was not particularly generous and we were spending considerably more than it in these restaurants.
The saving grace on my third night was that everyone wanted to go to the local baseball game, and I was able to satisfy myself with a hot dog bought from a vendor on the terraces. This was marvellous, after all the midnight food. The game itself was the usual dull baseball game. I suppose it's a short of form of cricket, but like cricket remarkably little happens. I remember once watching a baseball game on television with an American family, and them getting tremendously excited because the pitcher had managed to arrive at a situation whereby the batsman had failed to hit the ball for a significant number of times, and this lack of anything happening was a record for the season!
This fixation with food extended to the whole crew. After much waiting around, we finally got to meet with the Vice President of General Motors; and were booked to do this at two o'clock. I arrived there early, but his PR people became increasingly frantic as the time of advanced to two o'clock and then passed two o'clock. Eventually at half past two the troops turned up. They had been at lunch. I wouldn't have minded, but they decided to stay on for an extra half-hour to have a desert. TV crews are like this, nothing -- not even the Vice President of General Motors -- will keep them away from their food
The vice president was Jack Smith, who not long after became president of General Motors. He was an interesting guy, and did a very good interview in the showroom at their headquarters. But, for that one ten minute interview, we had to spend a whole week in Detroit.
The others left that night, but I hung around until the following morning. In the process I was able to spend another afternoon in Dearborn; but this time in the outside part of Henry Ford's museum. As I said, he collected anything he could. So the outside part was full of buildings he'd transported to Dearborn, including 18th-century mansions set up in their original style. Above all, though, it was fascinating in that he had transported Edison's original laboratories there. As Edison's greatest achievement could be said to be his invention of the modern process of research and development, this really was fascinating. It showed how his mind worked and how he had impacted modern research.
The following day I went off to Ann Arbor where I was due to meet the professor of international marketing who I was hoping would co-author my American edition. In fact he never did. I cannot say the town itself was interesting, in as much as it was just a conventional American town.
I decided to take the easy way back by flying to JFK and then catching the daytime flight. I needn't have bothered, for it meant getting up at three o'clock in the morning to catch the connecting flight!
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