User:Joey657

Joseph G. Giacalone was born in Palermo, Sicily. Immigrated to Watertown, NY at the age of five with his father Antonio on October 5, 1955. At the time his mother Carmela along with the older brother Frank were already established in Watertown where Carmela had a cousin Tony Surdi who owned a popular family restaurant. Frank worked there weighing tables and washing dishes, when the restaurant closed after the summer was over, Frank worked as a tailor he was very good. Carmela worked as a seamstress, to support the family. After living a year in Watertown unable to find a job because he spoke no English, Antonio decided to write to his cousin in Brooklyn, NY. and asked him for help, if we all could temporary move to his home until he found an apartment to live in. He said no problem and we all packed and moved to our new location in Dyker Heights a very nice section in Brooklyn. To our amazement it was like almost being back in Italy, practically everyone spoke Italian. Carmela was glad, because she spoke no English, even though she was a native American born in Baltimore, MD. She was taken back to Italy by her parents at the age of 3. She found a job as a seamstress where they spoke Italian so she was a very happy and a hard worker too. Antonio found a job as a welder through with the help of his cousin who was connected. Frank found a job as a tailor in a very exclusive men's store in Manhattan. And I went to elementary school, which was a horrible time. I was teased by other students because I could not speak english well. But I made a promise to myself to learn english well and lose the Italian accent, so that I would never be teased again. When I was in the fourth grade after a few months I skipped to the 5th grade. While going to school from the 5th grade and up I found that I had a natural passion for film making. My parents bought me an 8mm camera and an 8mm projector to make home movies. The only thing missing was a film editor to splice the film. My parents eventually bought one for me and that's how I got started in the film business.