Photos of once lovely resorts captured by Marisa Scheinfeld
Posted on 07/12/2021 1:13:23 AM PDT by nickcarraway
The Borscht Belt is an indelible part of American Jewry’s legacy, but it may never have come about without these industrious immigrants – and the antisemitism that motivated them
The Nosher via JTA — Many home cooks this past year, in an Instagram-inspired spirit, upped their challah-baking game with new braiding patterns, interesting flavors and vibrant colors. Yet it was a more standard ingredient that unwittingly connected many to their roots.
If you used Fleischmann’s yeast for your challah, you leavened your dough with the essence of American Jewry.
The Fleischmann family’s story echoes the experience of many other immigrant Jews. They built on their experience from Europe, using it to fully integrate into American society. Without routines to hinder them, innovative business practices brought them success. Finally, they used their power to benefit their community.
Hungarian brothers Charles and Max Fleischmann were part of the mid-19th century wave of Central European Jews arriving in America. They settled in Cincinnati where they became yeast manufacturers in 1868. Charles had learned the process in Prague and Vienna, eventually overseeing production on a noble’s estate. The origin tale of Charles bringing a single vial of pure yeast to America is likely fabrication, but he probably did see America’s poor-quality baked goods as a business opportunity.
Soon, the Fleischmanns were mass-producing pressed cakes of yeast. Many claim theirs was the first commercially produced version of this product. But while Charles did hold some production patents in America, the main steps were invented decades earlier in Vienna. His genius lay not in inventing a new product, but in clever distribution and marketing techniques.
The compressed yeast could only survive a few days, so reaching customers quickly became essential. Cincinnati was a hub of transportation routes, and Fleischmann’s also built a network of production and distribution centers in order to reach most of the country. Delivery improved in the 1880s with the invention of refrigerated railcars.
With supply taken care of, however, demand for the unfamiliar product lagged. Fleischmann’s had to familiarize America with compressed yeast. Unfettered by preconceptions on “proper” business practices, Fleischmann’s found out-of-the-box solutions.
The company’s first major marketing coup was at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, where it featured a Vienna Model Bakery to demonstrate its product. The fair attracted 10 million visitors, many of whom stopped to sample the delicious bread. Soon compressed yeast became the preeminent solution for home bakers. Another early marketing effort featured a promotional cookbook giveaway. Fleischmann’s followed others in using this fairly new medium, continuing well into the 20th century. The company also offered wrapper premiums — customers could trade in yeast package labels for free kitchen utensils.
Fleischmann’s Yeast Advertisement, 1915. (Chris Hellier_Corbis/Getty Images via JTA) But Fleischmann’s most significant contribution to consumer marketing was in what we now call branding. From the start, Charles Fleischmann guarded the company’s name and image, zealously warning his customers against cheap imitators. Fleischmann’s branding was so successful that by the late 1920s it controlled over 93% of their market.
Fleischmann’s also joined other Jewish immigrants via their expanding product line. In the 2012 book “Jews and Booze,” Marni Davis highlights the disproportional representation of immigrant Jews within American alcohol businesses in the late 19th century. Within just a few years of starting the company, Fleischmann’s added distilled spirits to their offerings, using the grain alcohol that was a major byproduct of yeast production. Adding juniper berries and other botanicals, they produced America’s first distilled gin, with other hard liquors soon to follow.
While this all ties the family into the American Jewish experience, their greatest related legacy is also their least recognized. The late 1800s saw prominent antisemitic discrimination aimed at wealthy American Jews. More than once, the Fleischmanns were denied entry at fancy hotels and resorts. Charles Fleischmann used his amassed fortune to beat the antisemites at their own game. Purchasing 60 acres in Griffin’s Corner, New York, he created a resort village specifically for Jews. Eventually incorporated as Fleischmanns, New York, the town grew to include mansions, summer homes and hotels (many with kosher food to accommodate Orthodox customers).
Fleischmanns was no budget-level bungalow colony, either. The luxurious features included heated swimming pools, a golf course, a deer park, a stocked trout pond and an artificial lake from which they could harvest ice in the winter. This famous resort town launched a classic 20th century Jewish phenomenon: vacationing in the Catskill Mountains, the so-called Borscht Belt that is indelibly linked with American Jewish popular culture.
Without Charles Fleischmann’s pre-immigration experiences in Europe, he might not have started his company, and with deeper roots in the country, he might never have broken new ground to reach success. His family story prominently reflects that of broader American Jewry.
Although Fleischmann’s is no longer a family-owned company, there may be no more appropriate ingredient to put in your challah than Fleischmann’s yeast. And for an extra dose of Jewish pride, have a Fleischmann’s gin and tonic after kneading the dough.
I love the smell of yeast cakes, though I haven’t seen anything but dry yeast in years. When I was a kid my mother baked homemade bread 2 or 3 times a week. She would make sandwiches of it for my school lunches. I was so embarrassed to pull my obviously homemade bread sandwiches out of my brown paper bag. I wanted Wonder Bread like the other kids had.
I would give anything to have my Mom’s bread spread with homemade black raspberry jelly right now.
bookmark
Interesting.
A man called his mother in Florida
“Mom, how are you?”
“ Not too good,” said the mother. “I’ve been very weak.”
The son said, “Why are you so weak?” She said, “Because I haven’t eaten in 38 days.”
The son said, “That’s terrible.
Why haven’t you eaten in 38 days?”
The mother answered,”Because I didn’t want my mouth to be filled with food if you should call.”
I love the smell of yeast and of homemade bread. I used to bake a lot of bread of all types. But some years ago I worked at a company that was just down the road from the Red Star Yeast plant in Baltimore. OMG! You’d think it would smell wonderful, but it didn’t. Some days, especially if it was humid, I’d feel a lump in the back of my throat, would feel nauseous.
Now when I worked down the road from McCormick’s, that was different except for the days they were making garlic powder.
bkmk
‘Humid’ and Baltimore are synonymous.
The manager in “Dirty Dancing” sums up the problem well; the tourism industry up there was doomed by the availability of airline tickets to average Joes.
If you head up the Hudson Valley today, you’d be shocked by how much of it is “ghetto in the woods” and Hispanics maintaining a faux economy with wealth transfers/public assistance. Very sad, and very broke...
Mel Brooks got his start in the Catskills. He tells the story of how he started using the “third wall”(?) that he used in his various movies - like the big brawl in Blazing Saddles where they ended up in the cafeteria and the Broadway show.
He was a waiter as a very young kid in the Catskills, but also the backup for some guy in the play. The guy got sick so Mel puts on a suit and a beard to play the part.
The crowd gives him a tough time. He pulls down his beard and says something like “What dah ya want? I’m twelve!”
They all laughed and he continued the role.
Photos of once lovely resorts captured by Marisa Scheinfeld
I lived in NJ years ago and would go up there for vacations. Used to go cross-country skiing on trails surrounding a huge old resort. I forget the name of it - but it was a huge stone building like 4 stories tall - maybe 200 feet in length or more. It must have been quite the place back in the day (1920’s??)
It was all closed down, but there was a ski rental place operating out of a out-building on the site. We went there several years and there were always rumors that the place would be remodeled and open up again. But I doubt it.
I bet my wife would remember the name of the place - who knows - maybe they turned it into Condos for all of those fleeing NYC!?
works great in septic tanks as well...
I’ve never seen Fleischmans gin. I’ll have to look for it.
L
Worked Kutsher’s Sports Academy in 1977 and had a wonderful time. What was amazing was how good the food was for the campers, so much better than other places.
Myron Cohen was a client of my grandfather, who was a stockbroker and eventual partner of Newberger & Loeb. Not bad for an 8th grade drop out who went to work in the Depression. Myron ended up getting his brokerage license because he loved the challenge of investing so much. Back then (I used to visit the office as a kid in the mid 60’s) the branch offices had a small ‘visitor's room’ up front where clients could sit and watch the ticker, with one old-fashioned Quotron machine to use.
Myron was the first feature act at the Kutsher’s Hotel the first night of summer camp and I took a few of the other counselor's who had the night off to see him.
The Concord had this great golf course that was once rated as difficult as pretty much any in America. Grossinger’s was basically the hotel that was the model for Dirty Dancing.
Wilt Chamberlain considered the Kutsher family his second parents and there is a neat ESPN 30 for 30 short video on his experience there. The then-Lew Alcindor also worked a summer there as a bell hop.
Red Auerbach was the summer basketball coach there when that summer ball was the best around (hotels would play each other and recruit college ballplayers to work the summer).
Kutsher’s also hosted the Maurice Stokes Charity event each summer and many NBA players would show up to play to raise the funds.
It's memories only at this point as these places lay abandoned.
Makes good 8% Finnish beer with Juniper instead of Hops.
The article linked to by the OP is not the original source for this story. If you want the actual author to get credit for you reading it, it’s here:
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/the-nosher/how-fleischmanns-yeast-built-the-jewish-catskills/
We just moved to the great western Catskills, Delaware County. Our address is Arkville, one town west of Fleischmans on Route 28. We have not had a chance to check it out yet, but this is a timely article.
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