THE RISE AND FALL OF THE BORSCHT BELT (1987)
Peter Davis, director
During the twentieth century, Jewish immigrants and their descendants created the so-called "Borscht Belt"-an agglomeration of cottages, hotels, and entertainment venues that catered to a Jewish clientele-in the Catskill Mountains of New York. The Rise and Fall of the Borscht Belt, produced and directed by Peter Davis, chronicles the history of this unique corner of American popular culture.
Davis contends that the Borscht Belt emerged from two impulses: the desire of Jews to become American, while at the same time to enjoy recreation sensitive to Jewish culture. In the early decades of the twentieth century, a handful of ...