Word: borscht
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...simple pleasures of the koch alain (cook alone) bungalows, the overgrown farmhouses, the adult camps that catered to the hungry garment workers, the marriage-minded Manhattan secretaries of the '205 and '303. In those days, when the whole area was happy to be known as the Borscht Belt, the camps and hotels spawned their own entertainers. Danny Kaye, Moss Hart, Dore Schary, Phil Silvers-all served their apprenticeships, responding manfully to the boss's frantic cry: "Make the guests happy...
Despite all the planned activity, the biggest attraction of the Borscht Belt is still the opportunity it provides for generating togetherness. At Grossinger's, Hostess Karla Grossinger serves as matchmaker-psychologist, introduces couples with practiced skill. The weekly hotel newspaper (delivered to more than 100.-ooo alumni) proudly reports all marriages that can be traced back to a romance at the G. At the Concord, just inside the mammoth dining room, a wooden pegboard records who is sitting where-pink pegs for women, blue for men. Lighter and darker shades indicate relative ages. Thus the maitre d'hotel...
Robert Merrill, 40, baritone. Before he reached the Met in 1945 via the Auditions of the Air, Brooklyn-born Bob Merrill crooned with bands on the borscht circuit, made a famous recording of The Star-Spangled Banner for Fox Movietone News (from which he got the nickname "The Star-Spangled Baritone"), pitched a few seasons of semi-pro baseball. He still sings regularly in Las Vegas nightclubs, once explained his devotion to opera: "I'd like to be a comedian, but their material wears out so fast. Me, I've got the best writers in the world writing...
Back in the borscht belt, Jennie Grossinger sorrowed: "Debbie is adorable and so is Eddie. Two nicer people they don't come. I hope it'll blow over like little grey clouds." But the clouds kept darkening-as far away as Miami. There, Artist Ralph Cowan was stuck with a life-size portrait of Debbie that she had ordered for Eddie's birthday. "Now she doesn't want it," said Cowan. He also had a portrait of Liz on hand. "The man who ordered it never finished the payments." So Cowan shipped it to an eager...
Aspiring opera singers in the U.S. are in a predicament similar to that of aspiring comedians; they have a hard time getting onto a musical borscht circuit where they can develop their vocal patter. A year ago, an opera-loving Cincinnati adman named John L. Magro decided to remedy the situation, organized American Operatic Auditions, Inc. Its purpose: to hunt down fresh operatic talent for a summer of seasoning in Italy. Winners would get round-trip fare to Italy and a living allowance, free coaching in Milan and a crack at singing professionally on Italian opera stages. Last week five...