By: Hellen Zaboulani

Jewish comedic legends like Jerry Lewis, Jackie Mason, Joan Rivers, Henny Youngman, and Jerry Seinfeld will be honored at the new Borscht Belt Museum opening this summer in the Catskills.

As reported by the NY Post, the new museum will hold its ribbon cutting ceremony this Wednesday, and is slated to open to the public July 28th, in a former bank in Ellenville, NY.  “We are going to have a Borscht Belt Festival weekend. We’ll have comedians, movies and talks. It will be the building of a larger project,” said author and archivist Allen J. Frishman. “There is a new interest in the Catskills from the younger generation.” The museum will celebrate the birthplace of modern stand-up comedy one liners and the cultural heritage of the Jewish city dwellers who spent summers at hotel resorts and bungalow colonies across Sullivan, Orange and Ulster counties.  “We want to show people this piece of history that is being lost continuously here,” Frishman told The Post of the museum.

The golden era of the Borscht Belt began in the early 20th century when Jewish travelers would flock to the hotels, making them a mecca for the “chosen people.”  In those early days, which followed World War II, the Jews were not welcome in other hotels, and so they made their own resorts similar to today’s all-inclusive ones, with nightly live entertainment, unlimited food and childcare.  “I think it really started with the need for comedy to relieve everyone after the war,” said Frishman.

Per the Post, the museum will be immersive with events and recorded music with hopes of recapturing the spirit of the humor that was enjoyed on those summer nights, and which in many ways shaped the face of modern comedy.  “There were so many comedians who started their careers here, testing out their material and grew to be so big,” said Frishman.  “This is preservation. It’s so important to save this part of Americana. It was the comedic entertainment capital.”   A lot of the memorabilia which will be on display at the museum was sourced from Frishman’s private collection, which he amassed while working as a plumber and building inspector for the town of Fallsburg, which once housedseveral Catskills hotels.  As the resorts were torn down, Frishman would collect relics and remembrances, like phone booths and barber chairs.

Comedians including Jerry Lewis, Mel Brooks, Henny Youngman, Sid Caesar, Joan Rivers, Jackie Mason, Carl Reiner and Jerry Seinfeld had graced the stages with their sharp witted one-liners at large hotels like the Concord, Kutsher’s, Grossinger’s, and the Nevele. Most of the humor was self-deprecating and aimed inwards, though no ethnicities were spared as the comedians got their openings. Favorite topics often featured overbearing wives and physical ailments.