Rise and Fall of the Borscht Belt
Rise and Fall of the Borscht Belt

Rise and Fall of the Borscht Belt

September 14, 1986 | 81 min

At its peak, one million New York Jews spent their summers in the Borscht Belt, the birthplace of Jewish-American iconoclastic humor. This film shows how these Catskills communities were run by women, and how class divisions were reflected in the resort hotels: upwardly-mobile hotel guests were entertained by a who's-who of talent, while in the bungalows, do-it-yourself burlesque and vaudeville reigned among the blue-collar families. This film is happy, humane, ironic, and, finally, bittersweet, as we see that today's Jews no longer share the tastes or aspirations of their parents.

Genres

Documentary

Cast

Naomi Scott

Joseph Wiseman

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