The Man Who Would Be Polka King (2009)

Directed by Joshua Brown and John Mikulak

Starring Jan Lewan

Runtime 70minutes - Not Rated

3 Stars (out of 4)

"The Man Who Would Be Polka King" is part of my Quirky Documentary series and is available on Netflix Instant.

Jan Lewan came to America from Poland in search of the fabled "American Dream". He believed that he would find that dream through his musical talents. At first he was a failure. There wasn't much audience for the music he was singing. Then he found polka. I didn't know that Pennsylvania had such a large Polish-American population and I certainly didn't know that they loved polka music. Jan Lewan found out though, and he started a multimillion dollar polka empire. Well, sorta.


Lewan was beloved by the senior citizen polka fans not so much for his music, but for his personality. He was lively and had an old-fashioned sense of humor. There was plenty of archival video of him in the crowd dancing and singing at the same time. He won their confidence with each performance. It's what he did with that confidence that's troubling.

A promissory note is basically a fancy IOU. It's a way for entrepreneurs to receive private investments. The money is given in exchange for a note that legally promises something like interest or dividends. It's not against the law to sell promissory notes as long as you register with the proper government commisions.

Jan Lewan sold promissory notes to his fans; retired and often wealthy people who trusted in completely. They believed they were investing in his polka kingdom. He was opening a gift shop related to his live shows that would sell imported amber and other jewelry. Amazingly, he was offering these fans a 12% return on their money, much higher than average. That's what made it such powerful bait to seniors. If you're 70 years old you're not looking for a 20 year investment. The problem is that he wasn't registered. His notes were illegal. The government ordered Lewan to cease selling the notes and he stopped immediately.

Lewan was determined and crafty. The government had ordered him to stop taking notes for a specific company. No reason he couldn't change the name and keep taking money right? So he did. This time he got away with it for a lot longer. He had spread his business to include tours around the world: Paris, Rome, London. In fact, he often took his patrons to have private audiences with the Pope himself. People thought he knew the Pope, but they all had a different story on how the two met. His family claims the large bags of cash that he took to the Vatican had nothing to do with the exclusive access. It was on these tours that Jan would mention his promissory notes. I mean, with the Pope to vouch for you who could say no?

Jan was making his 12% return payments on time for a while. His music tours made little money and he operated his other businesses at a loss. It was the investors that kept him afloat. He would use the money from new investors to pay the 12% to his old investors. It was a classic Ponzi Scheme.

I thought that was the whole story. A polka singer cons some old people. There was more. His wife, Rhonda, was former beauty queen and hoped to be one again. She signed up to compete in the Miss Pennsylvania pageant even though she was a little past her prime. She was completely sure that she would win but the other contestants were surprised when she actually did. Unfortunately, so were the judges. An investigation revealed that the scores had been changed before the results were read. According to the original scores, she would have placed dead last. Who might have changed them? There was never an official ruling, but Jan was hosting the pageant.

There are plenty of interviews with Jan Lewan's family and former friends. Most of his true friends don't deny that he swindled people, but they also sympathize with him. His family blindly believes it's all just some misunderstanding. I was saddened, at first, by some of his son's comments. His son thinks that Jan never meant to swindle anyone and would have made everything right if given a chance. He also swears that Jan donated to the Vatican but never made any bribes. I began to mellow when I put my self in Jan's shoes. If I were to ever be caught in some scheme I'd be grateful to have a family that believed in me no matter how naive they might appear to others.

(Spoilers)
Many of the marks that Jan took advantage of make terrible remarks. An incident is recalled where Jan is nearly killed in jail and some of his former fans say they wish the attacker would've cut deeper. I understand that the guy is conman and a thief, but wishing a painful death on him just seems to be too much. On the flipside of that coin, there are those who believe he was sentenced to harshly for his crimes. He got five years in jail. Three of them were to be served in a federal prison while the other were at a nicer facility that hosts white-collar criminals. If you get caught smoking pot three times you might be in prison for life. Jan Lewan steals millions and gets five years. Harsh? I don't think it's harsh enough. 
(End Spoilers)

I was really surprised by the depth of this story. There are many details I didn't include that I'm still thinking about. Jan Lewan was like two different people. There's the person he projected; bright, funny, sincere - and the person he hid; plotting, greedy, criminal. I suppose there's a similar dichotomy to everyone's personality, but rarely are the halves so different. An epilogue tells us that Jan is currently planning his return to polka. I can only hope for a sequel.