SOLOMON DIARIES PERFORMANCE
SOLOMON DIARIES AT HURLEYVILLE PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE, JULY 21, 3:00 PM
Sam Sadigursky is a member of the Philip Glass Ensemble, has released 11 albums and tours with musicians such as David Byrne, Bruce Hornsby and Tom Jones. Sadigursky has performed at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Newport Jazz Festival, among others.
The immersive SOLOMON DIARIES is a series of 3-albums written by Sadigursky inspired by the Borscht Belt. The music blends klezmer, jazz, American folk, and Middle Eastern rhythms in a “compelling musical remembrance of a bygone era.”
At HPAC the albums will be played as an intimate duo between Sadigursky on clarinet and Nathan Koci on accordion juxtaposed with images from The Borscht Belt. Koci, an accordionist and multi-instrumentalist, has played with the LA Opera, SF Opera, and was musical director of the acclaimed Broadway productions of Hadestown and Oklahoma!
PURCHASE TICKETS HERE:
catskilland: billboards of the borscht belt
July 21, 12:30 - 4:00 pm
Our Happening in Hurleyville will feature special slideshow premiering on Sunday, July 21 entitled CATSKILLAND: BILLBOARDS OF THE BORSCHT BELT during our HAPPENING IN HURLEYVILLE!
Set to a musical backdrop curated by Havurah Arts, this fascinating slideshow will transport you on a literal road trip through the mountains! Grab a seat and enjoy the ride as you pass by iconic Sullivan and Ulster County billboards and landscapes from the 1940s through the early 2000s. Documented for over 60 years by Keller Signs and now part of the collection of the Sullivan County Historical Society & Museum, we’re thrilled to partner with the SCHS and unearth these delightful images.
On view: July 21 from 12:30 - 4:00 pm at the Collaborative College High School, 202 Main St, Hurleyville, NY 12747
Mel Brooks and the Borscht Belt
Born Melvin Kaminsky on June 28, 1926 in Williamsburg, Mel Brooks is an icon of comedy who began his career in the Borscht Belt in the 1940’s.
The Emmy, Grammy, Tony, and Oscar winner is the youngest of four children. A trip to see a Broadway show with his uncle at age 9 opened Brooks up to the world of entertainment and the arts. He’d soon discover his first love - the drums - and meet an early mentor, an actor named Don Appell, who helped him land a job one summer at the Butler Lodge in Hurleyville!
In the summer of 1941, at age 14, Brooks trekked to the Catskills to bus tables during the day and drum by night at the Butler Lodge. At the hotel, he ventured into stand-up comedy for the first time. One fateful night he stepped in for an actor, ended up ad-libbing, and received a room full of laughs.
Later in the Catskills, Brooks worked as a tummler (emcee), stand-up comic, social director and befriended budding comedian Sid Caesar. In Slide 2, Brooks recalls Don Appel, his early days at the Butler, Sid Caesar, and jam sessions in Liberty running jokes.
Brooks’ career skyrocketed in 1950 when he became a writer on Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows.” The popular variety series translated vaudevillian comedy for the small screen and featured satirical sketches with talent such as Neil Simon, Carl Reiner, Brooks and later, Woody Allen. The series changed the nature of TV humor, setting a standard for shows such as Saturday Night Live, Mad TV, The Carol Burnett Show and The Muppet Show.
Brooks went on to have an illustrious career as a film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor, and producer. Some of his iconic films include The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, The Naked Gun, Spaceballs, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. He is currently filming Spaceballs 2.
HURLEYVILLE, THE MORNINGSIDE AND JIM HENSON
JIM HENSON
In June of 1963, Jim Henson (Yes, Jim Henson of the Muppets) ventured to the hamlet of Hurleyville for the Puppeteers of America. The annual festival, held at the New Morningside Hotel. The festival included five days of meetings, workshops, screenings, and performances gathering puppeteers from around the country. The event was a veritable “who’s who” of puppeteers and featured works by an eclectic array of performers and technicians, including Jim and his wife Jane.
Co-organized by Henson, the association’s president, along with local puppeteer Earl “Bud’ Wertheim, it’s never been exactly clear how or why Henson chose the New Morningside, but is speculated that Wertheim, a long-time resident of Sullivan County, played a role.
The New Morningside Hotel had grown out of an early 20th century Jewish boarding house—and was one of the first in the area. The hotel advertised the 1963 Puppeteer Festival to the public, with a display ad in the Liberty Register’s June 20th edition announcing afternoon and evening performances. Admission was 50 cents for children and $1 for adults in the afternoon and 75 cents for children and $1.25 for adults in the evening.
Following the New Morningside, Henson began work on a series of experimental films, numerous variety shows, and “Sesame Street,” developing new characters and honing his existing Muppets. The introduction of The Muppet Show in 1976 was a phenomenal success, reaching 235 million viewers in more than 100 countries and winning three Emmys in its five-year run. A series of Muppet movies followed starting with The Muppet Movie in 1979 whose iconic song, Rainbow Connection, sung by Henson as Kermit, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song the following year. Throughout the 1980’s, Jim explored new directions in television and film, developing the series Fraggle Rock, along with new characters and technologies for the award-winning The Storyteller, The Jim Henson Hour, Dinosaurs and for his groundbreaking fantasy films, The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.
Henson's untimely passing in May 1990 was met with a worldwide outpouring of love and renewed appreciation of his imagination and artistry. He endures as much of an American icon as his creations. We are so excited to honor the Morningside and Hurleyville’s extraordinary history on July 21. We hope you’ll join us!
-- Excerpts from the May 17, 2019 RETROSPECT by John Conway and The Jim Henson Archive. Images courtesy of The Jim Henson Company
