I only got the chance to catch two entries at the 3rd annual Borscht Belt Film Fest, held Nov. 6-8 in the heart of the Catskills in Ellenville, N.Y. One, Egg Cream, was a tasty little gem; the other was a heartfelt look at a worn-out comedian (a great Jerry Stiller) contemplating the end of his career as a classic Borscht Belt tummler (Pair of Jokers).
Egg Cream is about the Lower-East-Side-born drink that, famously, has neither eggs nor cream in it. Everyone agrees that the three actual ingredients are milk, U-Bet chocolate syrup (Hershey’s in a pinch) and seltzer, preferably delivered by one of those old-fashioned bottles with the gizmo on top for releasing the shpritz. Variations include the order you put the ingredients in the glass and whether non-canonical additions like whipped cream and additional chocolate syrup are, you should pardon the expression, kosher.
For a short film (16 minutes), it packs in a lot. Egg creams are praised as a refreshing break from days spent in sweltering tenements and sweatshops, providing “a very uptown drink at a downtown price,” as one interview subject says. As with anything connected to the Jewish-immigrant experience, there’s pain as well – but also a vital connection with the past.
The film has a built-in nostalgic kick: Much of the footage was shot when co-director Nora Claire Miller was a tween, assisted by her filmmaker father Peter Miller, and then completed about a decade later. (The younger Miller is now a poet.)
Explaining the gap during a talkback following the screening, Miller attributed it to his daughter’s entry into parent-detesting adolescence: “There were about 12 years from when we filmed and when she finally stopped hating me — and then we had a ball,” finishing the movie. The father-and-daughter reunion meant that, “instead of a movie by a 12-year-old, it was a movie by a 24- or 25-year-old looking back at being a 12-year-old, and what it means, and so it was lovely,” said the elder Miller.
The 1990 Pair of Jokers is also nostalgic, taking place at the tail end of the Catskills’ tenure as a live entertainment hub. The storied hotels in the area (Brown’s, Grossinger’s, and The Pines, where Jokers was shot) featured so many Henny Youngman/Jackie Mason-style comedians over the decades that “Borscht Belt comedian” can instantly conjure up a tux-clad image for those of a certain age. These sometimes combative comedians were beloved by their audiences; even if the jokes they told were a little stale, they were all part of the warm embrace Jews felt in these environs, far from the anti-Semitism that affected even the most prosperous.
The 42-minute Pair of Jokers follows Scully Wexler (Stiller in a performance without the slightest shred of vanity) as he makes his way to a gig at the Pines’ Persian Room. But Scully doesn’t find much in his life that’s funny any more. He’s tired and burnt out, but still knows that the show must go on.
Buy Stiller & Meara – Ed Sullivan Presents The Last Two People in the WorldScully’s decline is contrasted with the story of Jerry Pinkowitz (Ned Eisenberg), a funny counterman at the Red Apple Rest deli. Through a few too many coincidences, Pinkowitz, now dubbed Jerry Pickles, gets a chance to show his stuff. As you might expect, he bombs, but there are a few graceful notes to hit after that.
People who only know Jerry Stiller from his comedic performances on sitcoms like Seinfeld and The King of Queens will be stunned by how fully he inhabits this part. Like all great comedians, he knows the pain that goes into making people laugh. The kernel of reality he provides unfortunately makes the improbable story around him seem even more phony.
By the way, the audience at the Film Fest – which included family members from the now-closed Pines hotel – ate this movie up with a spoon, as they did the delicious Egg Cream. What else are you going to do in the Borscht Belt but eat? There’s a reason it’s named after a food.
