Catskill Comedy Special: "Ten Cents a Bagel" Yiddish Sketch From "Catskill Honeymoon"

Catskill Honeymoon is a raucous marriage ceremony between Yiddish-American cinema and the Borscht Belt. Billed as a “Yiddish-American Musical Revue,” it was one of the very last Yiddish-language films to premiere on Broadway. Its success demonstrated that by 1950 the center of Jewish-American entertainment had moved from New York City to the Catskill resorts of upstate New York . 

With its performers, emcee, and audience often filmed separately and awkwardly intercut, Catskill Honeymoon has the airless feel of “canned vaudeville,” as critic J. Hoberman put it. Nevertheless, it became one of the longest-running Yiddish films.

Up to the late 1970s, it was still a favorite in elderly and rehabilitation homes, having outlasted the Yiddish theatre scene and Young’s Gap Hotel, which closed in 1967. Increased social mobility and assimilation doomed the Catskills resorts, but not before they introduced performers such as Danny Kaye, Mel Brooks, Sid Caesar, and Jerry Lewis. Catskill Honeymoon preserves the performances of a grab-bag of entertainers from this tradition, allowing viewers to enjoy a night in the mountains.

Here is a classic sketch from the film set in a Catskills lunchroom in which the three actors, Max Bozyk, Henrietta Jacobson, and Julius Adler, standing on principle, gradually throw all their possessions out the window.

The black and white movie clip is in Yiddish with English subtitles. Enjoy!

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