THE BORSCHT BELT: MEMORIES OF JEWISH AMERICA'S VACATION EDEN

​The Borscht Belt was the colloquial term for the Jewish resorts and bungalow colonies that dotted the Catskill Mountains in NY, providing a popular vacation spot for New York City Jews from the 1920s through the 1960s. Famously revisited as the setting for Dirty Dancing (1987) and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2018), the Borscht Belt once offered a wide range of options for Jewish families seeking to escape the city during the hot summer months, and kickstarted the careers of legendary Jewish comedians like Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, and Joan Rivers.
​By the late 1950s many began closing, with most gone by the 1970. Left for nature to reclaim, urban photographers came and captured the decay and abandonment.
This lecture explores the history of these resorts within an anthropological and historical context; reconstructs its worlds of leisure, comedic entertainment, and socialization; and examines its cultural effects on film, TV and comedy today.