Newsletter of the Catskills Institute
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IN THE MOUNTAINS NEWSLETTER OF THE CATSKILLS INSTITUTE An Organization to Promote Research and Education on the Significance of the Catskill Mountains for American Jewish Life NUMBER 20 JULY 2008 SELL OUT PREMIERE OF FOUR SEASONS LODGE DOCUMENTARY By Andrew Jacobs me to stick around. I was immediately surrounded by an eager coterie “Four Seasons Lodge,” a documentary by New York Times journalist Andrew Jacobs, of dance partners whose ribald humor and giddy joie de vivre were includes cinematography by Albert Maysles, the renown documentarian behind such astounding. Later, when the music stopped, I was beset by eager classics as “Gimme Shelter” and “Grey Gardens.” Its world premiere in June 2008 at the story tellers, many of whom had never revealed the details of their SilverDocs film festival in Washington D.C., sold out its screenings and received en- harrowing pasts. There was Joseph Fox, a Warsaw ghetto escapee thusiastic press. In the coming year it will make the rounds of the film festival circuit; who joined a group of partisans that blew up Nazi supply trains, and once distribution is secured, the film will begin appearing in theaters across the coun- Helga Grunberg, a survivor of several death camps who explained try, and hopefully, on television. why so many refugees like herself were drawn to the company of They come together to cook, gamble, fight and flirt. On Saturday other survivors. “We can’t help but talk about the past” she said. nights, they dress in formal wear and tango late into the night. They “And American people don’t like to hear our stories because it’s too endured the worst of humanity, but every summer they return to a much for them.” bungalow colony in Ellenville to celebrate life, and confront the When I learned the next summer would be their last, I decided I had memories of their horrifying pasts. From the darkness of Europe's to do something more. Although I had never made a film before, I death camps to the lush mountains of the Catskill mountains comes realized only a documentary could capture their astonishing embrace the modern story of a band of survivors who trumped Hitler's Final for life and a haunting darkness that shadowed the residents even Solution. “This is our revenge on Hitler. To live this long, this well, is when they were doubled over in laughter. The summer of 2006 was a victory,” says Fran Lask, 82, a Lodger and survivor of Bergen- magical, heart-breaking but in the end eminently inspirational. We Belsen. planned to film over a few weekends but ended up spending nearly In 2005, I discovered and wrote about the Lodge for a New York three straight months among the lodgers. We came away with a valu- Times series on Catskills summer life. When I pulled up to the Four able lesson: that even people who had endured unspeakable atrocity Seasons Lodge that Saturday evening, I came upon astonishing scene: can find happiness, even if that joy is book-ended by sorrow. And There, dressed in crisp evening wear, where 100 men and women people in their 80s and 90s, we discovered, can flirt, find new ro- dancing to disco classics, old school fox trots and pre-war, Polish- mance and resolve 40-year-old rivalries. flavored tangos. “Four Seasons Lodge” is the story about Holocaust survivors who One of the first people I met was Hymie Abramowitz, the colony’s vice president, unpaid custodian and unofficial godfather, who invited (Continued on page 7) SPECIAL CALL FOR FUNDS AFTER 13 GREAT YEARS, We are putting out a special call for monetary do- nations to the Catskills Institute. We are at the CATSKILLS CONFERENCE TAKES A BREAK point where our work requires a regular paid staff person, at least half-time, and our goal is to raise enough funds by September to support that posi- Given the large effort our archiving/website project takes (see accompa- tion. In addition to the many tasks of archiving and nying story this issue), we are suspending the Annual History of the Cats- updating our materials, we have considerable re- kills Conference for the time being. After 13 years in a row, this is a diffi- search needs that continue to crop up: conducting cult decision, but we hope those of you who would have attended will oral histories, acquiring new archival material, pho- understand. Our energy will be better served on the larger projects that tographing remnants and ruins in the Catskills, and will serve many more people than the number who attend the conference. conducting new research on a multitude of topics. The long run of conferences has brought together many people, generated We are a 501 (c) (3) organization, so all contribu- much research, spurred many reunions, and helped build our Catskills tions are tax-deductible. Institute. PAGE 2 IN THE MOUNTAINS THE END OF AN ERA: LONGTIME CATSKILLS VETERAN JACK LANDMAN RETIRES By Jack Landman with my father. And I worked there suc- that had nicer amenities. cessfully until 1941 when I went into the In 1923, when I was about 6 years old, The following summer, 1949, I left West service. When the war was over in 1946, we went on vacation to the Catskills for Shore and bought into another neighbor- I returned to the Catskills and was the the first time . My father sent my mother, ing hotel, Luxor Manor. Doris, my wife, head waiter at West Shore until 1948. my three brothers and I up for the sum- was in charge of the linens, and I did mer, and he joined us on weekends. When I returned to West Shore, it was at whatever else had to be done. That’s a time when most of the hotels were do- what happens when you are the owner. If Six summers of vacationing later, my ing only 3 weeks of capacity – the 3rd & 4th the chef got sick – I cooked. If the MC father decided to invest in the Catskills wk of July and 1st wk in August. They was hoarse – I announced. I was quite and bought The West Shore Country Club were the only three weeks the hotels literally the Jack of all trades. Although I in Kauneonga Lake. I was 12, and I was could count on to make money. was breaking my back trying to keep this no longer allowed to vacation – I was put hotel on its legs, the Catskill gods had to work. I became a caddy on the golf Now by this point I had a wife and child, another fate in mind for me. course that summer - a job I held proudly and I couldn’t understand how young men for several years before I was able to work back from the service with families As luck would have it, Kutsher’s Country in the dining room. wouldn’t want to spend the entire sum- Club, a resort in Monticello, had just fired mer away from the city. Not just 3 their maitre d’ and was looking for a re- Around the time I turned 16, I felt I was weeks, but full 8 week vacations. placement. I met Milton Kutsher at his old enough to get off of caddy duty and home in Monticello, and it was an instant waiter in the dining room. My brother So I sat down with my father and pro- kinship. With a mere handshake, I began Ben, however, refused to let me waiter posed an idea. “Suppose I could sell 8 a relationship with Kutsher’s Country because he was afraid that the clientele week vacation packages, Pa. How would Club that would last for 58 years – a Cats- wouldn’t tip a waiter who was the you price them?” “Give ‘em last week kills record I am told. owner’s son. And in those days we free,” he answered. So, at end of summer pooled our tips. So in an act of great defi- 1947 I took my pop’s mailing list and In the summer of 1950, I began work as ance, I left West Shore and took a job as a started making phone calls. I advertised 8 the maitre d’ of Kutsher’s main dining busboy at Hotel Glass in Fallsburg. week vacations where the kids could go to room. But I was an athlete and a teacher, a day camp right at the hotel. I guess I and I longed to use those skills. Fortu- One Memorial Day weekend after the was onto something because when my nately for me, in the summer of 1952, last meal, the waiters all walked out in father came back from Florida after the activity director Red Auerbach, also the protest. They refused to clear the tables winter, I handed him a bank book with coach of the Boston Celtics, decided to because they didn’t like the way they $11,000 in deposits from all the vacations write a book and needed time away from were being treated. I didn’t join their I had sold! the hotel to do that. I saw my open- protest. I didn’t feel I was being treated ing…and I grabbed it. I proudly held the unfairly. It was normal for me. We were That summer went well. People were job of activity director at Kutsher’s from being treated the same way my father happy with the vacations and the camp, 1952 – 2008. treated his staff. When they walked out, but people weren’t happy with the rooms only another young man and I were left.