Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg (2009)

Director:

Aviva Kempner

Release Date:

10 July 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Tagline:

"The Most Famous Woman in America You've Never Heard Of"

Plot:

A documentary on television pioneer Gertrude Berg. She was the creator, principal writer, and star of...

Plot Keywords:

Abbreviation In Title | Radio Program | Period In Title | Blacklist | TV Program

Cast

Ruth Bader Ginsburg	...	Herself
Gertrude Berg	...	Herself (archive footage)
Lewis Berg	...	Himself (archive footage)
Sara Chase	...	Laura (voice)
Viola Harris	...	Herself
Norman Lear	...	Himself
Madeline Lee	...	Herself (as Madeline Guilford)
Arlene McQuade	...	Herself
Margaret Nagle	...	Herself
Susan Stamberg	...	Herself
Betty Walker	...	Mrs. Bertha Kramer (archive footage)
Roberta Wallach	...	Effie (voice)

Runtime:

USA:92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color | Black and White

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Ciesla Foundation

Movie Connections:

References The Goldbergs (1950)

The Famous Lady That Time Forgot

Gertrude Berg was a force to be reckoned with. In 1929,she produced, wrote & acted as the head of a Jewish American household,by the name of Tilly Goldberg,in a series called,The Goldbergs (how original!). Five times a week,America tuned in on the original Jewish mama,and her family. The series made it to early television in 1949,and was a runaway hit.Gertrude Berg even wrote the commercials that intertwined with the episodes (one minute Tilly would be talking about recipe's,then seamlessly segueing into an ad for coffee). Aviva Kempner (The Life & Times Of Hank Greenburg)directs a pleasant enough documentary of a pioneer of early television,who by the end of the 1950's,was pretty much forgotten in the wake of Lucille Ball,etc. During it's initial run (1949-1951),the show experienced an unpleasant run-in with the goon squad that was the House Of Unamerican Activities Commitee (H.U.A.C.),due to the fact that co star,Phillip Loeb was an accused Communist sympathizer. When sponsors started pulling out funding for the show,Berg was forced to replace Loeb with another actor to play her beloved husband (only after the show went on a brief hiatus). When the show was revived (on another television network),the letters of protest over Phillip Loeb being replaced flooded the network, but it was already too late (I won't spoil it by revealing what happened).The series would continue to run until 1955,when it was eventually phased out. The film gets support from spoken testimonies from such personae as Supreme Court Justice,Ruth Bader Ginsburg,and producer,Norman Lear (creator of 'All In The Family','Maude' & 'The Jeffersons'). The film also gets some nice mileage from original grainy black & white kine scopes of 'The Goldbergs',as well as the one off feature film,'Molly'(also known as 'Meet The Goldbergs')from 1950 (basically an extended 90 episode,minus the commercials). This film will be of interest to anybody who follows early television,or obscure pop culture. Not rated,but contains absolutely nothing to offend even the most blue-nosed prude.