Dirty Dancing in the Borscht Belt
HISTORY This Week
The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios
4.5 • 4.2K Ratings
🗓️ 15 August 2022
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
August 17, 1987. On the red carpet in New York City, it’s the premier of a new movie: Dirty Dancing. The story is set in the sunburnt Shangri-La of New York’s Catskills resort region. The movie will introduce millions to the place that some call the Jewish Alps. "Disneyland with knishes." The Sour Cream Sierras. The Borscht Belt. Ironically, Dirty Dancing arrives as the heyday of the Catskills resort is ending. But how does its culture live on? And how did its signature style of Jewish humor make the leap to Hollywood, where it would fundamentally change American comedy?
Special thanks to our guests: Julie Budd, John Conway, Jeremy Dauber, Elaine Grossinger Etess, Bill Persky, Larry Strickler, and Alan Zweibel. You can learn more about Jewish humor in Dauber’s book, Jewish Comedy: A Serious History.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The History Channel, original podcast. |
| 0:05.0 | History this week, August 17, 1987. |
| 0:10.0 | I'm Sally Helm. |
| 0:18.0 | Flash bulbs on the red carpet in New York City |
| 0:21.0 | for the premiere of a new movie, Dirty Dancing. |
| 0:25.0 | It's a very 80s scene. |
| 0:29.0 | Star Jennifer Gray wears an off-the-shoulder dress |
| 0:32.0 | for the Big Black Belt, the Buckle Fronten Center. |
| 0:35.0 | Patrick Swayze is in a Bolo tie. |
| 0:38.0 | Their low-budget movie is making a surprisingly big splash. |
| 0:42.0 | People are starting to call it a sleeper hit. |
| 0:45.0 | There's a big party tonight at the legendary Roseland Ballroom |
| 0:49.0 | and another two days later in LA. |
| 0:52.0 | Share attends that one in a hip leather jacket. |
| 0:55.0 | People dance on the bar top and drink champagne straight from the bottle. |
| 0:58.0 | Finally, on Friday, the whole country gets to see the movie. |
| 1:03.0 | They sit down with their popcorn to watch the opening sequence. |
| 1:07.0 | Dancers moving their bodies in grainy slow motion. |
| 1:10.0 | And then, they're taken to a highway in New York State |
| 1:16.0 | where Francis Baby Houseman is on her way to a family vacation at a resort. |
| 1:22.0 | That was the summer we went to Calamance. |
| 1:25.0 | When the family pulls up at Calamance, |
... |
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