The Goldbergs (broadcast series): Difference between revisions

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{{short description|American radio and television comedy-drama program}}

[[Image:Riseof.jpg|right|350px|thumb|1931 book by Gertrude Berg with an introduction by [[Eddie Cantor]]]]

{{for|the sitcom that aired on ABC|The Goldbergs (2013 TV series)}}

'''''The Goldbergs''''' was a [[situation comedy]] which ran on [[United States|American]] [[radio]] from 1929 to 1950 and then on [[television]] from 1949 to 1956.

{{more citations needed|date=December 2019}}

{{Use American English|date = October 2019}}

{{Use mdy dates|date = October 2019}}

{{Infobox radio show

|show_name = The Goldbergs

|image = TheGoldbergs.jpg

|imagesize = 200px

|caption = Original television series DVD-release cover

|other_names = ''The Rise of the Goldbergs''

|format = Daytime serial drama: Weekly (1929), Daily (1931)

|runtime = 15 minutes (12-13 minutes excluding ads), 30 minutes (24-26 minutes excluding ads)

|country = [[United States]]

|language = [[English Language|English]]

|home_station =

|syndicates = [[NBC Radio|NBC]], [[CBS Radio Network|CBS]]

|television = The Goldbergs

|presenter =

|creator = [[Gertrude Berg]]

|starring = [[Gertrude Berg]]<br>[[Philip Loeb]]<br>[[Harold J. Stone]]<br>[[Robert H. Harris]]<br>[[Eli Mintz]]<br>Larry Robinson<br>[[Arlene McQuade]]

|announcer = [[Bud Collyer|Clayton "Bud" Collyer]]

|writer = Gertrude Berg, Cherney Berg

|director = Wess McKee,<br>Henry Salinger

|senior_editor =

|editor =

|producer =

|exec_producer =

|narrated =

|rec_location =

|first_aired = November 20, 1929

|last_aired = 1956

|num_series =

|num_episodes =

|audio_format = Mono

|opentheme = [[Enrico Toselli]]'s "Serenade"

|othertheme =

|endtheme =

|sponsor = Duz<br>[[Oxydol]]<br>[[Pepsodent]]<br>[[Sanka]]<br>Vitamin Corp. of America<br>[[Radio Corporation of America|RCA]]<br>Rybutol<br>Ekco Flint

|website =

|podcast = [https://archive.org/stream/goldbergsOTRKIBM Stream Radio Program]<br> from Archive.org

}}

'''''The Goldbergs''''' is a comedy-drama broadcast from 1929 to 1946 on [[United States|American]] [[radio]] and from 1949 to 1956 on American television. It was adapted into the 1948 play ''[[Me and Molly]],'' the 1950 film ''[[The Goldbergs (film)|The Goldbergs]]'', and the 1973 Broadway musical ''[[Molly (musical)|Molly]]''. It also spun off a comic strip from June 8, 1944, to December 21, 1945, with art by [[Irwin Hasen]], a comic book artist who worked on various DC Comics titles and later did the ''[[Dondi]]'' comic strip.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/h/hasen_irwin.htm | title=Irwin Hasen |website=lambiek.net}}</ref>

=="Yoo-hoo! Is anybody?"==

The program was devised by writer-actress [[Gertrude Berg]] in 1928 and sold to the [[NBC]] radio network the following year. It was a domestic [[comedy]] featuring the home life of a [[Jew]]ish family in [[New York City]]; in addition to writing the scripts and directing each episode, Berg starred as bighearted, lovingly meddlesome matriarch Molly Goldberg. The show began as a portrait of Jewish tenement life before later evoking such growing pains as moving into a more suburban setting and struggling with assimilation while sustaining their roots.

==Radio==

''The Goldbergs'' began as a weekly 15-minute program called '''''The Rise of the Goldbergs''''' on [[November 20]], [[1929]], going daily in 1931. The series moved to [[CBS]] in 1936 with the title shortened to ''The Goldbergs''. Like other 15-minute comedies of the day such as ''[[Amos 'n' Andy]]'', ''[[Lum and Abner]]'', ''[[Easy Aces]]'', ''[[Vic and Sade]]'' and ''[[Myrt and Marge]]'', ''The Goldbergs'' was a serial offering with running storylines. And Berg's usual introduction---in character as Molly, hollering, "''Yoo''-hoo! Is ''anybody''?"---became an instant [[catch phrase]]. In the 1940s it was followed by future [[television]] game host [[Bud Collyer]] warbling, "There she is, folks--that's Molly Goldberg, a woman with a place in every heart and a finger in every pie."

{{more citations needed section|date=January 2013}}

The program was devised by writer-actress [[Gertrude Berg]] in 1928 and sold to the [[NBC]] radio network in 1929. It was a domestic comedy featuring the home life of a [[Jew]]ish family, supposedly at 1038 East Tremont Avenue in [[the Bronx]]. In addition to writing the scripts and directing each episode, Berg starred as bighearted, lovingly meddlesome, and somewhat stereotypical Jewish matriarch Molly Goldberg. The show began as a portrait of Jewish tenement life before later evoking such growing pains as moving into a more suburban setting and struggling with assimilation while sustaining their roots.

''The Goldbergs'' began as a weekly 15-minute program called '''''The Rise of the Goldbergs''''' on November 20, 1929, going daily in 1931. The series moved to [[CBS]] in 1936 with the title shortened to ''The Goldbergs''. Like other 15-minute comedies of the day, such as ''[[Amos 'n' Andy]]'', ''[[Lum and Abner]]'', ''[[Easy Aces]]'', ''[[Vic and Sade]]'' and ''Myrt and Marge'', ''The Goldbergs'' was a serial with running storylines. Berg's usual introduction (in character as Molly, hollering); "''yoo''-hoo! Is ''anybody''...?" became a [[catchphrase]]. In the 1940s, this was followed by [[Bud Collyer]] announcing; "here she is, folks: that's Molly Goldberg, a woman with a place in every heart and a finger in every pie".

The show was so popular for many years that fans wrote letters to the show's characters, as well as the performers. When Gertrude Berg missed a couple of weeks due to illness, stations carrying the show were flooded with get-well mail. At the height of the show's popularity, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' wrote:

:For millions of Americans, listening to ''The Goldbergs''... has been a happy ritual akin to slipping on a pair of comfortable old shoes that never seem to wear out.

When Gertrude Berg missed a couple of weeks due to illness, stations carrying the popular show were flooded with get-well mail.<ref>[http://www.museum.tv/eotv/goldbergsth.htm "The success of this slice of specifically ethnic, but far from atypical, American experience resulted in eighteen thousand letters pouring into NBC's office when Berg's illness forced the show off the air for a week."]</ref> At the height of the show's popularity, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' wrote: "for millions of Americans, listening to ''The Goldbergs''... has been a happy ritual akin to slipping on a pair of comfortable old shoes that never seem to wear out".<ref>''Life'', April 25, 1949, pg. 59</ref>

Berg seems to have been very much aware of that image and was extremely careful not to allow abrupt changes to the show during its long radio life. Of the 15-minute serials, only ''Amos 'n' Andy'' enjoyed a longer radio life than ''The Goldbergs''. She even resisted recasting the role of husband Jake Goldberg after James R. Waters, the actor who played the role on radio, died suddenly in 1945. Berg simply had Molly refer to Jake, occasionally setting up dialogue involving her addressing him but him not having to reply.

In ''The Big Broadcast 1920–1950'', radio historians Frank Buxton and Bill Owen say the series (which they consider a soap opera as much as a comedy) "differed from most of the other 'soaps' in that its leading characters lived through relatively normal situations. Even though it was the story of a poor Jewish family in the Bronx, New York, it had identification for a wide segment of listeners". Of the 15-minute serial comedies, only ''Amos 'n' Andy'' enjoyed a longer radio life than ''The Goldbergs''.

==The serious side==

[[Image:Goldbergsstrip.gif|350px|thumb|''The Goldbergs'' was also a 1944 comic strip written by Gertrude Berg]]

But she wasn't averse to addressing serious real-world issues that affected Jewish families. One 1939 episode addressed [[Kristallnacht]] and [[Third Reich|Nazi Germany]] (including a rock through the family window as the Goldbergs made their [[Passover]] Seder); other [[World War II]]-era episodes alluded to friends or family members trying to escape the [[Holocaust]]. But these were sporadic deviations from the show's main theme of family, neighbourhood, and the balance between old world values and new world assimilation.

The role of husband Jake Goldberg was originally played by [[Himan Brown]] and later by James R. Waters. When Waters died suddenly in 1945, Berg resisted recasting the role. Instead, she simply had Molly refer to Jake, occasionally setting up dialogue in which his reply was not heard when she spoke to him.

''The Goldbergs'' was so popular that performing stars in other arts sought to appear on it. Berg consented, for example, to cast [[Metropolitan Opera]] star [[Jan Peerce]] almost annually to sing on [[Yom Kippur]] and [[Passover]]; another famous singer of the day, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, asked Berg directly if she could appear, and Berg wrote her into three episodes. As ethnically-rooted as it was, ''The Goldbergs'' had universal appeal during the years of the [[Great Depression]] and beyond; their situations were normal enough even with the family's distinctly Jewish absurdism.

==Behind the scenes==

The radio cast also included Roslyn Silber and Alfred Ryder as children Rosalie and Sammy, [[Menasha Skulnik]] as Uncle Davis, [[Arnold Stang]] (later famous as the voice of [[Top Cat]] as Seymour Fingerhood, [[Garson Kanin]] as Eli Edwards, and Zina Provendie as Sylvia Allison, among others. In 1948, Berg wrote and staged a theatrical version of the show on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]], ''Molly and Me.'' A year later, she brought ''The Goldbergs'' to television.

Berg was not averse to incorporating serious real-world issues affecting Jewish families. One 1939 episode addressed [[Kristallnacht]] and [[Nazi Germany]] (including a rock through the family window as the Goldbergs had their [[Passover]] Seder); other [[World War II]]-era episodes alluded to friends or family members trying to escape the [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]]. But these were sporadic deviations from the show's main theme of family, neighborhood, and the balance between old-world values and new-world assimilation. Molly demonstrates to the audience the strong matriarch she is by constantly helping others with their dilemmas and proving to be the hero time and time again.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hoberman|first=J.|title=Entertaining America: Jews, Movies, and Broadcasting|year=2003|publisher=Princeton|___location=Princeton}}</ref>

''The Goldbergs'' was so popular that performing stars in other arts sought to appear on it. Berg cast [[Metropolitan Opera]] star [[Jan Peerce]] almost annually to sing on [[Yom Kippur]] and [[Passover]]. Another famous singer of the day, [[Ernestine Schumann-Heink]], personally asked Berg to appear, and Berg wrote her into three episodes. Regina Resnik (an international soprano and later mezzo who had an international career, including at the Met) starred in a TV episode. The radio cast included Roslyn Silber and [[Alfred Ryder]] as children Rosalie and Sammy, [[Menasha Skulnik]] as Uncle David, [[Arnold Stang]] as Seymour Fingerhood, [[Garson Kanin]] as Eli Edwards, and Zina Provendie as Sylvia Allison.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

==Small screen, big headache==

The [[television series|television version]] ran on [[CBS|CBS Television]] from 1949 to 1951 and co-starred [[Philip Loeb]] as Jake Goldberg. He and Gertrude Berg reprised their roles in a 1950 film of the same name. The show almost didn't get to the small screen at all: CBS executives were uncertain that the show would work on television as well as it did on radio. Berg prevailed, however, and picked up [[General Foods]] as its sponsor.

===Moves into stage and television===

''The Goldbergs'' was destined to spend almost a decade on television---but not without disruptions. In 1950, Philip Loeb was [[Hollywood blacklist|blacklisted]] and pressure was placed on Berg (who owned the television version as she had the radio original) to fire him. When she refused, CBS dropped it from their schedule by June 1951.

In 1948, Berg wrote and staged ''Me and Molly'', a [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] version of the show. A year later, she brought ''The Goldbergs'' to a national audience on television.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-goldbergs/|title=The Goldbergs|website=My Jewish Learning|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-25}}</ref>

==Television==

Eight months later, however [[NBC]]---the show's original broadcasting home---picked up the series for the 1952-53 season (with another re-naming, to ''Molly'', in due course), with [[Harold Stone]] and then Robert H. Harris replacing Loeb as Jake. The rest of the television cast included Eli Mintz as Uncle David, Tom Taylor as Sammy, Arlene McQuade as Rosalie, Betty Bendyke as Dora Barnett, Susan Steel as Daisy Carey, and Jon Lormer as Henry Carey. On radio, Sammy and Rosalie had grown up and gotten married; on television, the characters were revived as teenagers.

[[File:Gertrude Berg Philip Loeb Molly and Jake Goldberg 1949.JPG|thumb|200px|left|Gertrude Berg and [[Philip Loeb]] (1949)]]

The television version ran on [[CBS|CBS Television]] from 1949 to 1951 and co-starred [[Philip Loeb]] as Jake Goldberg. He and Gertrude Berg reprised their roles in the [[The Goldbergs (film)|1950 film of the same name]]. The show almost did not get to the small screen at all: CBS executives were uncertain that it would work on TV as well as it did on radio. But Berg prevailed, and picked up [[General Foods]] ([[Sanka]] coffee) as its sponsor. Berg, who continued to write every episode, insisted that no [[studio audience]] be used and made sure everyday events formed the basis of the stories;<ref name="bianculli">David Bianculli. "McCarthyism killed laughter of 'The Goldbergs', ''The Augusta Chronicle'' (reprinted from ''New York Daily News''), January 14, 1999, page B3.</ref> she was once quoted as saying she avoided "anything that will bother people ... unions, fund raising, [[Zionism]], [[socialism]], intergroup relations. ... I keep things average. I don't want to lose friends."<ref name="rudin">A. James Rudin. "Ugly stereotypes of Jews on television threaten pluralism" (opinion column), ''The Dallas Morning News'', December 30, 2000, page 5G.</ref> In 1950, Berg won the first Best Actress [[Primetime Emmy Award|Emmy Award]] for her role as Molly on ''The Goldbergs''.

''The Goldbergs'' spent almost a decade on television—but not without disruptions. In 1950, Philip Loeb was [[Hollywood blacklist|blacklisted]] and pressure was placed on Berg (who owned the TV version as she had the radio original) to fire him. When she refused, [[General Foods]] canceled its sponsorship, and CBS dropped it from their schedule by June 1951.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/stream/sponsor51sponno2#page/n813/mode/2up|title=Sponsor|pages=78–79|date=October 8, 1951|access-date=September 2, 2015}}</ref>

In 1954, the show moved to the faltering [[DuMont Television Network|DuMont]] network for a summer run. The shows were live, but a final version was filmed in 1955, moving the Goldbergs from the Bronx to the New York suburb of Haverville. That same year, Philip Loeb, beset by depression and unable to find other work, committed suicide.

But eight months later, [[NBC]]&mdash;the show's original broadcasting home&mdash;picked up the series for the 1952–53 season, on the condition that Loeb not remain with the series. Berg gave in, and the series reappeared in a twice-weekly, early-evening 15-minute format (with another change in title, to ''Molly'', in due course), with [[Harold J. Stone|Harold Stone]] and then [[Robert H. Harris]] replacing Loeb as Jake, though Berg quietly continued to pay Loeb a salary.<ref name="wxel">Paul Lomartire. "Have I got news for you about Molly," ''The Palm Beach Post'', June 18, 1994, page 1D.</ref> After ''The Goldbergs'' ended its CBS run, Tom Taylor replaced Larry Robinson in the role of Molly's son, Sammy. The rest of the television cast included [[Eli Mintz]] as Uncle David, [[Arlene McQuade]] as Rosalie and Betty Bendyke as Dora Barnett. On radio, Sammy and Rosalie had grown up and gotten married; on television, the characters were revived as teenagers. During this time, Gertrude Berg and Arlene McQuade appeared as their characters of Molly and Rosalie, respectively, when they guested on NBC-TV's ''[[Buick-Berle Show]]'' starring [[Milton Berle]].

In 1954, the show reverted to a weekly half-hour, moving to the [[DuMont Television Network|DuMont]] network for a run from April to October. The series was originally intended to run for six months on DuMont, but, due to financial difficulties, the network was unable to fulfill the $5 million contract, despite [[Nielsen ratings]] estimated at ten million viewers.<ref name="Smith">{{cite book| last =Smith| first =Glenn D. Jr.| title =Something on My Own: Gertrude Berg and American Broadcasting, 1929–1956| year =2007| publisher =Syracuse University Press| isbn =978-0-8156-0887-5}}</ref> The DuMont shows were aired live.

A final version, aired in [[broadcast syndication|syndication]], was filmed in 1955 and aired on local stations until 1956. This version moved the Goldbergs from the Bronx to the New York suburb of Haverville. In a way this mirrored the real life journey of many Jewish families from the Bronx to the suburbs and other parts of New York during this period. However, this was considered the death knell of the show, as it was felt that the Goldbergs were only the Goldbergs in the Bronx. Also in 1955, Philip Loeb, beset by depression and unable to find other work, committed suicide.<ref name="bee">{{cite news |first=Bob |last=Wisehart |title=How golden were the '50s? |work=The Sacramento Bee |date=May 24, 1985}}</ref> In 1957, Gertrude Berg made her last two appearances as Molly Goldberg: first on an episode of the NBC-TV variety series ''[[Washington Square (TV series)|Washington Square]]'' with [[Ray Bolger]], and then on a [[Kate Smith]] special that aired on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC-TV]].

<gallery mode="packed" heights="160px">

File:The goldbergs gertrude berg cbs.JPG|Gertrude Berg as Molly Goldberg on the show's set

File:The Goldberg family 1.jpg|Rosalie, Jake and Molly

File:The Goldberg family 2.jpg|Sammy and Dora Barnett

File:The Goldbergs 1954.JPG|Uncle David and Molly with Rosalie at the piano

</gallery>

==Aftermath==

Gertrude Berg returned to television six years later in a situation comedy, ''[[Mrs. G. Goes to College]]'', playing Sarah Green, a Molly Goldberg-like character. Despite being retitled ''The Gertrude Berg Show'' in mid-year, the program was cancelled after one season. Today, ''The Goldbergs'' areis available to collectors and fans in a large number of surviving radio episodes and some surviving television episodes., [http://www.cieslafoundation.orgmany Theof Cieslawhich Foundation]have inlapsed Washington,into DCthe ispublic currently___domain. working[[Aviva on aKempner]]'s documentary about''[[Yoo-Hoo, GertrudeMrs. BergGoldberg]]''s impact(2009) ondeals televisionwith titledthe ''Gertrudeshow, Berg:and America'sto Mollyan Goldberg''extent, directedGertrude byBerg's Avivapersonal Kempnerlife.

Most of the DuMont episodes survive at the [[UCLA Film and Television Archive]], while the 39 filmed episodes survive intact.

==Watch==

*[http://www.mtr.org/archive/webcasts-01.htm Museum of Television & Radio webcast on Gertrude Berg (November 16, 2005))]

Since 2009, the series can be seen on the [[Jewish Life Television|JLTV]] cable network.

==Listen to==

*[http://www.freeotrshows.com/otr/g/The_Goldbergs.html Free OTR: ''The Goldbergs'' (59 episodes)]

==Home media==

== External links ==

In March 2010, [[Shout! Factory]] released ''The Goldbergs: The Ultimate Goldbergs'' on DVD via their retail website.<ref name="shout1">{{cite news |first=John |last=Latchem |work=Home Media Magazine |title=Shout! Factory Maxing Out |url=http://www.homemediamagazine.com/tv-dvd/shout-factory-maxing-out-18578 |date=February 26, 2010 |access-date=February 27, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100301101440/http://www.homemediamagazine.com/tv-dvd/shout-factory-maxing-out-18578 |archive-date=March 1, 2010 }}</ref> The release includes all 71 extant episodes of the television series. Episodes are also available to stream on their ShoutFactoryTV service.

The [[UCLA Film and Television Archive]] digitally restored all of the episodes, as well as provided 12 radio episodes for the DVD release and the pilot for the short lived series ''Mrs. G Goes To College'' (1961). The box set is available from UCLA.<ref>[http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/support/ultimate-goldbergs UCLA]</ref> The UCLA archive also holds 130 [[transcription disc]]s of the radio series, which it has released on [[YouTube]].

==See also==

*[[List of radio soaps]]

*''[[Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg]]''

*[[List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network]]

*[[List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts]]

==References==

{{Reflist|30em}}

==Listen to==

*[https://archive.org/details/goldbergsOTRKIBM Internet Archive: ''The Goldbergs'']

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20081006185938/http://www.shemadeit.org/watch/default.aspx?page=2 Webcast on Gertrude Berg], [[The Paley Center for Media]], "From The Goldbergs to 2005: The Evolution of the Family Sitcom" (November 16, 2005)

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070220101509/http://www.freeotrshows.com/otr/g/The_Goldbergs.html Free OTR: ''The Goldbergs'' (59 episodes)]

*{{cite web |url=http://www.radioechoes.com/?page=series&genre=OTR-Soap&series=The%20Goldbergs |title=The Goldbergs |publisher=[[RadioEchoes]] |date=1935–1945}}

==External links==

{{commons category|The Goldbergs}}

*[http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/G/htmlG/goldbergsth/goldbergsth.htm Museum of Broadcast Communications: ''The Goldbergs'']

*[http://www.tvparty.com/vaultgold.html The Remarkable Gertrude Berg: ''The Goldbergs'']

*[http://www.mollygoldbergfilm.org ''Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg'']: documentary film on Gertrude Berg and ''The Goldbergs''

*[http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/goldbergs/ UCLA Film & Television Archive Goldberg page]

*[https://dumonthistory.com/a1.html DuMont historical website]

*[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041027/ ''The Goldbergs'' (television program) at IMDB]

*[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042510/ ''The Goldbergs'' (1950 feature film) at IMDB]

*[http://www.otrr.org/FILES/Magz_pdf/Radio%20TV%20Mirror/Radio%20and%20Television%20Mirror%204108.pdf Presenting the Goldbergs In Living Portraits (page 19)-Radio Television Mirror-August 1941]

{{US radio soaps}}

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