Because I am going to talk about three of them, my descriptions will be much briefer than they should be. I tell you this only so you should not be afraid to read on.

From Russia with Lev. Rachel Maddow was the executive producer of this MSNBC documentary that premiered last night on TV, and that will be (or maybe already is) available for streaming everywhere. It is not accident that this film, which follows the career of Lev Parnas from his upbringing as a hustler both in Odessa and then in Brighton Beach, until he became one of Donald Trump’s closest associates, sent with Rudy Giuliani and Igor Furman to convince Ukraine to find dirt on Joe Biden and (or through) his son Hunter.

It’s a remarkable story of Parnas, who is apparently a born salesman, who integrated himself in the Trump world and was tasked with this important task in order to “make America great again”. And that is what he thought he was doing, until he realized that there was no there there, that there was no evidence of Biden crime or corruption and that in fact he, his fellow travelers and the President himself were the ones who were corrupt.

It was obviously a major change when Zelensky replaced the deposed Poroshenko, and Ukraine was no longer politically acting on behalf of Russia, and no longer willing to go along with an investigation when it appeared there was nothing to investigate. And when Trump told Zelensky that if he did not investigate the Bidens, Ukraine would receive no more defense or economic assistance from the US, it was too much for Parnas.

Parnas kept close records of everything he did and photographed everything. With the help of his wife, everything was backed up into an iCloud, so that when the FBI took Parnas’ phone and computer, they still had copies of everything. It was this evidence that formed the basis for the first impeachment of Donald Trump.

No one, except perhaps for an alcoholic Rudy, comes out as bad in this story as Trump. No surprise there, I guess, and perhaps the most noteworthy act is Trump’s unwillingness to say that he even knew either Parnas or Furman. The evidence that they were not only known to the President, but in his innermost circle, is clear. But once they were targeted by law enforcement, Trump and his other allies, such as Giuliani, professed total lack of connection with them.

There is much more to the story, but for that you have to see the film. It will get, I am sure, a lot of press over the next 45 days, because it could convince someone who is undecided as to their vote to avoid voting for Mr. Corruption.

One more thing. If you watch the film, stick with it until the end. You may think you know how this film will turn out, but there is a fascinating twist at the end. Hint? Okay. It involves Hunter Biden.

Ain’t No Back on a Merry-go-Round. We saw this film this week at the DC Jewish Community Center. It is a Washington-centered documentary, but everyone should see it. It is the story of Glen Echo Park, now an arts and cultural center, but formerly an amusement park in Montgomery County. With an enormous swimming pool, a merry-go-round, and a roller coaster, among other things, it was a center of fun and amusement for kids and teens in the Washington area. Provided they weren’t Black.

The film is the story of the integration of Glen Echo. It involves a group of students at Howard University and a group of homeowners and residents (including children) of the Bannockburn neighborhood, which adjoins Glen Echo. These residents, many (most?) of whom were Jewish, living in a “lefty” part of town, home to people who felt unwelcome in large parts of residential Washington, joined with the Howard students to spend a summer picketing the park.

The connection between the students and the Bannockburn community (two groups who had no previous contact) was fascinating to see develop, as was the connection between the Glen Echo picketers and the larger (much larger) civil rights movement to come. The Glen Echo pickets were in the summer of 1960. The participants included people like Stokely Carmichael, and also many who became freedom riders in the south in subsequent years.

The owners of Glen Echo, two Jewish brothers named Baker, who stayed silent during the summer of the picketing, opened the park the next year on an integrated basis.

Like many amusement parks, Glen Echo’s business decreased. Was this in part because of integration? It’s hard to say. It most certainly was connected to the demise of the DC streetcar lines, which stopped running to Glen Echo in 1962, leaving the facility dependent on private automobile transportation. And there were other entertainment options opening.

The film includes many interviews with those involved in the picketing over 60 years ago, people (White and Black) now in their 80s. Their stories, which I think had largely been forgotten, will now live on.

The Catskills. This is another new film, that had played at the DC Jewish Film Festival this year, and was shown as a special program by the Haberman Institute for Jewish Studies, of which – as you know? – I am still vice president.

This is a very nostalgic film for those whose youth included summer visits to the Catskills (and there are, it turns out, many) but even for those of us mid-westerners who knew no one who ever went to the Catskills, it is an important story. For almost 50 years, these resorts provided an opportunity for Jewish families to escape the cities in the summer and get fresh air. Whether they stayed at one of the large, fancy hotels (and there were many), the small lodges (and there were even more), or the bungalow colonies, the Catskills played a major role in helping Jewish immigrants and their families integrate better into America and play their part in this sector of the “American dream”.

The Catskills of course played another role. It was the birthing place of American stand up comedy, and many or most of the comics whose careers came of age during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s got their starts in the Catskills. Were it not for these Jewish establishments, would these comics (Jewish and gentile) have ever become such an important part of American entertainment? Possibly not.

Eventually the Catskills declined and the old hotels no longer exist. What led to the decline? Many things. Subsequent generations of American Jews felt more American, less alien, and did not need to, or want to, vacation only with other Jews. Jews, who had sometimes not been welcome at other resorts, now found they could stay anywhere they wanted. And air travel changed everything; you don’t have to vacation in Sullivan County, you can fly to Paris.

The film, directed by Lee Gillespie (not Jewish, but with a Jewish wife) is worth seeing. I don’t think you can stream it now. But keep your eyes open. It, like Ain’t No Back on a Merry-go-Round , is making the film festival circuit and will probably be in your neighborhood soon.

SORRY – another day with no time to proofread.