FIND MOVIES
Movie List
Loading ...
or
Find Theaters and Movie Times
or
Search Movies

Review: Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

The woman behind the big heart
By BETSY SHERMAN  |  August 4, 2009
3.5 3.5 Stars

The Goldbergs debuted in 1929 as radio's first domestic sit-com; it moved to TV in 1949. As part of her series on Jewish heroes, Aviva Kempner (The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg) spotlights the show's star, Gertrude Berg, who few realized was its writer/producer.

Seizing opportunity in the young medium, Berg was a shrewd businesswoman as well as a creative dynamo. Among those who recount fond memories of zaftig Bronx housewife Molly Goldberg is Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Kempner profiles the woman behind the big-hearted Molly, who caught the show-biz bug organizing theatricals at her father's Catskills resort.

The real world intruded into the Goldbergs' happy home when Molly's TV husband, Philip Loeb, was branded a subversive by an anti-Communist rag; his was one of the most tragic stories of the blacklisting era. In the years since the show's demise, TheGoldbergs has been dismissed as schmaltz. Kempner convinces that it deserves better, as does its groundbreaking creator.

  Topics: Reviews , Entertainment, Media, Television,  More more >
| More


Most Popular
ARTICLES BY BETSY SHERMAN
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   REVIEW: SOMEWHERE BETWEEN  |  October 18, 2012
    Upon her adoption of a Chinese baby girl, filmmaker Linda Goldstein Knowlton wondered how, in years to come, her daughter would view her racial identity.
  •   REVIEW: BELOVED/LES BIEN-AIMÉS  |  September 11, 2012
    For the musical drama Beloved , writer-director Christophe Honoré's melodramatic excesses are tempered by the subtle performances of his leading ladies.
  •   REVIEW: PLANET OF SNAIL  |  September 04, 2012
    Patience is a necessity in the lives of Young-chan, a man who's been deaf and blind from a young age, and his wife Soon-ho, a woman who despite her own physical challenges helps him accomplish tasks both modest and awe-inspiring.
  •   REVIEW: ROBOT & FRANK  |  August 21, 2012
    Frank Langella adds to his string of understated, riveting performances in this gentle, incisive comedy.
  •   REVIEW: SIDE BY SIDE  |  August 14, 2012
    Chris Kenneally's documentary about the inexorable rise of digital as the medium in which films are being shot and disseminated is a must-see for AV geeks and cinephiles — even die-hard celluloid fans.

 See all articles by: BETSY SHERMAN