David Shanske (david.shanske.com)I spent some time in the last few days watching the second season of the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I’ve always enjoyed period pieces, especially 20th century ones. This is set in 1959. I can’t pretend I was a Jew in New York in the 1950s…my parents were though, although certainly not the economic...
I couldn’t help but think about the 80’s movie Dirty Dancing when watching this particular episode. The quirky part is that this version seemed to portray the entire process as a far more silly and frivolous affair instead of something people genuinely did for fun and relaxation. I can’t imagine that there was as much tongue-in-cheek snark in the 50’s when trips to the Catskills were in vogue.
Of course I’ve got worse complaints about the show’s characters and the seeming non-differentiation of their individual voices…
I also watched Diner earlier in the week, and while very far from being my favorite film, it had a more nuanced portrayal of 1959 culture than Maisel has had. Of course Barry Levinson (b. 1942) actually had the experience of living through the 50’s compared with Amy Sherman-Palladino (b. 1966) who didn’t. She obviously has a drastically different lens.
I spent some time in the last few days watching the second season of the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I’ve always enjoyed period pieces, especially 20th century ones. This is set in 1959.
I can’t pretend I was a Jew in New York in the 1950s…my parents were though, although certainly not the economic level of the characters in the show. There are things I question. I’m sure I’m not the only member of an ethnicity who thinks that they did not quite get my culture right.
In the second season, the title character and her family go to Steiner’s Mountain Resort in the Catskills. The actual scene was filmed at Scott’s Oquaga Lake House in Deposit, NY. I’ve been through Deposit, although not familiar with this place.
Summers like the one pictured on the show were common, as the city was hot, air conditioning wasn’t really a thing, and flying was a much more costly affair than it is today. There were hundreds of Jewish resorts in Sullivan, Orange, and Ulster Counties.
The Concord Hotel, a setting on the show, and apparently close to where Steiner’s is supposed to be, is a place that I am familiar with, having been a guest there as a kid. I remember spending time at the Stevensville Hotel, and when it closed, the Brown’s Hotel, and only recall one time at the Concord. I also spent time at Kutscher’s.
The show tries to recapture the idea of it. By the 80s and 90s when I experienced these hotels, it was a very different time, but the things featured on the show brought back some memories. By today, that part of history is all gone. I still go up to Sullivan County, and I’ve driven or walked past the remnants of old Catskills resorts.
I would have liked to experience it in its heyday.
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