Stage Talk with Rick Koster
Where every show has something to say.
In anticipation of our Aug. 13 screening of We Met at Grossinger’s, the documentary about the landmark Bortsch Belt hotel and resort that closed in 1986, we reached out to speak with Mitchell Etess. The retired CEO of Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment, Mitchell was literally born into the hospitality business as a fourth-generation member of the iconic Grossinger family. At the age of 26, he was the resort’s last general manager.
Over the subsequent course of his career, Mitchell served as general manager of Holly Inn in Pinehurst, NC; senior vice president of hotel operations and senior vice president of marketing at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City; vice president of marketing at Players Island Resort in Nevada; and Mohegan Sun.
Mitchell, who excels at golf and lives with his wife Karen and a revolving cast of rescue dogs in Old Lyme, never expected to become a movie star at this point in his life.
In fact, he’s still not a movie star. But he’s one of many insightful interview subjects in We Met at Grossinger’s, and we wanted his thoughts on the history of his family’s business as captured in this remarkable documentary.
In conversation, Mitchell is funny, thoughtful and seems at times very moved by the scope of a film that goes well beyond biography and spans the entire scope of the 20th century Jewish experience in America.
Garde: Let’s get this out of the way first. Do you like bortsch?
Mitchell: I don’t like borscht, although it’s possible I would like it – but I’ve never tried it because I could never bring myself to try it. So, although I am a Bortsch Belt denizen, I have never tried borscht or could to get myself to try it. There’s just something about its appearance that, um, frightened me.
Garde: I haven’t had it, either. But what if I – a Texan who’s eaten menudo and lived to tell about it — arranged for us to go to lunch and eat bortsch would you do it?
Mitchell: No. It’s something I’m never going to try.
Garde: In conversations we’ve had over the years since COVID, you would casually mention that someone was working on a documentary about the journey of your grandmother and the evolution of the Grossinger’s hotel and property. And my inference – at first, anyway – was that you weren’t necessarily sure about the depth of the project or if it would even get made.
Mitchell: The original focus, I think, was on my grandmother, who had a sixth-grade education and was working in a sweatshop in the garment district in New York. And years later she’s featured on the iconic television show This is Your Life with Ralph Edwards, right? That’s just an incredible story, and an important story, so it seemed worthy of a documentary. And people reached out but nothing happened.
At the same time, over the years, I can’t say how many people approached my family wanting to do various Broadway-type shows about Grossinger’s, and they never happened, either.
That’s why I might have been a little, you know, uh, skeptical going into this project because there have been a lot of reasons for skepticism. As the shooting started and everything began happening, it was clear that (director) Paula Eiselt had something.
Garde: And the film blossomed from a focus on your grandmother and mother and their accomplishments at Grossinger’s to a much larger work — sort of using remarkable family and the property as a microcosm of the entire Bortsch Belt and all that implied.
Mitchell: Yeah, exactly. I mean, once the film was actually in production, I got to see various iterations, and of course my sister and mother and I were interviewed for it. So I started to have an idea of the scope and the vision. When we finally saw the final product, I realized Paula had taken a great story and turned it into an important film. And I really felt that was the big difference in my expectations – it’s so much more powerful. It started with my grandmother and grew into a story about the whole impact of anti-Semitism and the refuge of the Catskills. It’s an incredible story.
Garde: There are several themes within the narrative of the film. One thing that almost overwhelmed me was how Paula captures the immensity of Grossinger’s as a destination. It was a vast property with an all-encompassing approach to comfort, entertainment and activities, food, fellowship and more. It certainly rivalled any other American resort in that context.
Mitchell: Yes. Grossinger’s was remarkable in terms of the amenities. I mean, you know, 27 holes of golf, like 16 outdoor tennis courts, indoor tennis courts. The most amazing outdoor pool you’ve ever seen in your life. There was skiing. The first snowmaking ever done anywhere was at Grossinger’s, and interestingly, the snowmaking machine was invented in Connecticut. (laughs). There was, you know, a toboggan ride on the grounds. I mean, we had 300 rooms just for the staff and 600 rooms for guests. The whole property was 800 acres.
Garde: Given those figures, another thing that staggered me about We Met at Grossinger’s was that, while your resort was certainly the flagship of the Bortsch Belt resorts, there were over 500 hotels — not to mention boarding houses and bungalows — in the Catskills serving primarily Jewish clientele. And it’s clear in the film that this all happened because of antisemitism.
Mitchell: I mean, historically, you know, there was always a lot of the antisemitism. People did not like Jews. And, you know, that’s why there were non-Jewish country clubs, and there were a lot of places Jews couldn’t go, and, you’re right, that is really, really pointed out in the movie. I think, and the reason it was so important to the film is that, that is the reason the Borsch Belt was born, essentially, was for there to be a place where the Jews could feel safe and comfortable and go and enjoy themselves and do things that they couldn’t do in the other places because they weren’t allowed.
They came because of all the things they could do and, you know, be themselves. And I think that’s, that was one of the things the director brought out in the movie that really might not have been one of the original intentions.
But I think that as Paula started working, it coincided with the whole October 7th thing (when Hamas launched a large-scale attack in Israel). And as antisemitism has spiked up again, Paula delved into what made the Bortsch Belt and I think she integrated that aspect and it became a real meaningful part of the movie.
Garde: Let’s go back to your grandmother and your mom. They broke all sorts of barriers in terms of what women could do and accomplish in the hospitality business, and by expansion their influence was huge in business and culture. Is that accurate?
Mitchell: Yeah, I think it’s really true. My grandmother was just an incredible story about how, again, she went from the sweatshops to hanging out with Governor Rockefeller and Vice President Rockefeller, Jackie Robinson, the Eisenhowers and so on. I will say that, in the movie, you know, my mother kind of falls under the radar.
Once she decided to come into the hotel business, she became the first president of the New York State Hotel Association and the first president of the American Hotel Association. She really kind of broke a glass ceiling. There didn’t used to be a tremendous amount of female hotel general managers and now there’s a lot. She traveled around the country to every hotel school and hospitality seminar and had a huge impact on getting more women in the senior level of hospitality.
Garde: At Grossinger’s there was a grand piano, and your grandmother had the foresight to have all the famous entertainers and celebrities that came sign the instrument. Where the hell is that piano and can I have it?
Mitchell: That’s a great question. That piano had been residing in my mother’s house in Florida until she recently passed away. Yeah, there’s some big names in there. I mean, you know, Al Jolson’s in there. Jule Stein is in there. You know, obviously Eddie Fisher, George and Ira Gershwin. A lot of more recent people.
Anyway, my sister and I decided that, rather than liquidate it — or give it to you — we’d donate it to the Borsch Belt Museum, which recently opened in Ellenville, New York. It’s an amazing and valuable place, so that piano is, I believe, is right now in St. Louis en route to being delivered to the Borscht Museum. Our hope is that a lot of people will go to the museum and of course get to see the piano.
Garde: Last question. Being that you grew up in one of the coolest resorts in history, did you ever just run amok?
Mitchell (laughs): No. My parents were very strict about that. They made very sure about we were not going to be hotel brats.
Garde: Are “hotel brats” a thing?
Mitchell: Oh, definitely. You know, the brat kids of owners — like the grandson in Dirty Dancing. And by the way, Grossinger’s was the inspiration for Dirty Dancing because Eleanor Bergstein, who wrote the script, grew up vacationing at Grossinger’s. But the point is, we were not allowed to run amok.
I did do one thing once. I went down to the health club, booked a massage and took a massage. I was a kid and I don’t even remember how old I was. I just, you know, signed for it and charged it and I definitely got in trouble for it. And that was the end of my running amok.