Old-time Catskills entertainment lives on

There are no mountains or even foothills at Five Towns College. The terrain surrounding the Dix Hills Performing Arts Center on campus is as flat as the parking lot in front.

But that didn't stop Marty Cohen, a Five Towns vice president, from producing "The Catskills in Dix Hills," a three-Saturday-night barbecue-and- shtick festival subtitled "entertainment the way it used to be."

"No one was addressing this kind of show -- cabaret and the Vegas-style comedy," says Cohen. "How many times can you go to a Doobie Brothers reunion concert?"

The format is familiar to anyone who remembers Saturday evenings at such Catskills resorts as Grossinger's, Kutshers, the Pines and the Concord. At 5 p.m., there's an all-you-can-eat barbecue buffet outdoors. At 6 or so, the party moves indoors as a warm-up act in the Catskills tradition begins. Bob Stern leads a game of Simon Says, as he did for years at the Concord. "That was the most popular, audience-requested activity," says Cohen. "It beat canasta."

By 6:30, Arnie Gruber and his band play dance numbers in the '40s tradition, ballroom-style. And you're expected to dance with your partner.

Then at 7:30 you settle down for the show. Each night's entertainment card features a comedian and a crooner or torch singer.

GOOD OLD DAYS Cohen was a Catskills pianist-vocalist who worked in the '60s and early '70s. "My competition back then was a 16-year-old Natalie Cole." He says the Dix Hills campus is "an ideal setting. The pines," Cohen adds, "remind me of the Catskills. Back in the '40s and '50s, everybody who was anybody played the mountains."

Stern recalls introducing Frank Sinatra at the Concord. The Borscht Belt comics -- from Jackie Mason to Rodney Dangerfield, and before them Jack Benny -- all played the top resorts.

"It's on life support now," Cohen says of the old Catskills scene. "No more big names."

THE LINEUP The opening headliner for the Dix Hills series is Karen Oberlin, a MAC cabaret award-winning singer and a regular at the Algonquin's Oak Room who interprets the Great American Songbook in her classic pop style. She shares the bill with comedian and impersonator Tom LaGravinese, who favors Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, Dean Martin and such comic heroes as George Burns and Jerry Lewis.

Eddie Brill, a comedian and writer who is talent coordinator for "Late Show With David Letterman," tops the July 23 bill of fare. Jamie Lynn of Bellmore sings her selection of Broadway's greatest hits.

Anchoring the series Aug. 6 is singer Lou Villano, whose career stretches back decades to the Catskills heyday. Maureen Langan, a regular at Carolines in Manhattan, has opened for Joy Behar, Steven Wright and Rosie O'Donnell.

Dinner, dancing and a show is an expensive night out, right? In the old days at Catskills, $50 might be a fortune. Today, not so much.

WHAT "The Catskills in Dix Hills"

WHEN | WHERE Dinner starts at 5 p.m., dancing at 6:30, the show at 7:30 tomorrow; July 23, and Aug. 6, Dix Hills Performing Arts Center, Five Towns College, 305 North Service Rd. of the LIE, Dix Hills

INFO One show: $25-$30; show, dinner and dancing: $45-$50; three shows, dinner and dancing: $114-$129; three shows and dancing: $54-$69 (some prices require advance purchase); dhpac.org, 631-656-2148