Remembering Jeffrey Slutsky, Who Brought Great Comedy to the Catskills
No one who wasn’t there could ever picture the glitz and glamour of the Catskill hotels, better known as The Borscht Belt, or The Jewish Alps, in their glory days. Hotels like Grossinger’s that had its own airstrip for private planes to land, or The Concord hotel with one of the greatest golf courses of all time known as The Monster, or the oldest of them all which was probably The Nevele Grand Hotel, which is the word “eleven” spelled backwards. It was named by the 11 schoolteachers who discovered a waterfall on the property while picnicking back in the 1800’s and gave it that name. And all the hotels were known for two things. Unlimited food, … you could order everything on the menu if you wanted to, and some people did, and the entertainment. The hotels were home for many comedians in what is often called The Golden Age of Comedy like Milton Berle, Henny Youngman, Sid Caesar, George Burns, and Red Buttons, all of whom I had the pleasure of knowing, and then the younger kids like Jerry Lewis, Jackie Mason, Jerry Stiller, Mickey Freeman, and Dick Capri, and then the even younger kids like Robert Klein and David Brenner.
Charles Slutsky opened the Nevele in 1901 as a boardinghouse at first until it grew into a world class hotel, owned by several members of the Slutsky family. Julius Slutsky had three sons, Jeffrey, who was the oldest, then Richard and David. Jeffrey married Lynn Schweitzer and they were my good friends. I would go there to stay for weekends at their amazing home on the grounds of the hotel and meet the comedians who performed there and at the other nearby hotels like Dick Capri, Dick Lord, Allen & Rossi, and Mal Z. Lawrence to name just a few. But one of the greatest and the most fun for me was Lenny Schultz, a name many of you will not know. Google him. He’s still alive and living in Florida. He was The Bionic Chicken, a regular on the hit show “Laugh-In” from the 70’s, and a favorite of David Letterman, Billy Crystal and Jerry Seinfeld. If you don’t know him, do yourself a favor and Google him. He was the precursor to all the crazy comedy you’ve seen ever since.
The first night I met him was at Catch a Rising Star and I’ll never forget it. Dick Capri, one of the stars of Catskills on Broadway, and the first comic I ever wrote for, introduced me to him, and he was in the midst of having an argument with his shirt. He was also in some pain as he had just challenged a bag of garbage to a wrestling match on stage, and lost. He immediately became my favorite comedian, and when he was on stage he would encourage the audience to egg him on by yelling out “ Go crazy Lenny” which would encourage him to do things like juggle water, set a doll on fire, or smash a grapefruit down his pants. He was also a favorite of Jeffrey and Lynn Slutsky, and when I would come up for a weekend, I would beg Jeffrey Slutsky to book him at the hotel. Because I would literally lose my voice yelling out “Go crazy Lenny”. Jeffrey set me up at a special table with a mic attached to it, so I could yell out as loud as I wanted to and not lose my voice.
This past week Jeffrey Slutsky passed away. His wife Lynn passed away only 14 months before. Their children Jason Slutsky and Vicki Seabrook held a memorial for Jeffrey at a beautiful restaurant called Il Gattopardo in Manhattan. They had one for their elegant Mom in the same place just a year or so ago. Among the many guests were Dick Lord, Freddie Roman, and Cousin Bruce Morrow, the legendary radio personality who was a dear friend of the Slutskys for many years.
R.I.P. Lynn and Jeffrey Slutsky. You were such wonderful people. You are sorely missed and your contribution to the comedy world will never be forgotten.
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