The Goldbergs is one of the first, if not the first, Family Title Sitcoms, revolving around a Jewish family, the titular Goldbergs, living in the Bronx. It starred Gertrude Berg as the family matriarch Molly. The series originated many of the sitcom tropes, including the Generational Saga: while Molly and her husband Jake were thickly accented Alter Kocker parents, their daughter Rosalie was a fully Americanized teen. The show began much like The Honeymooners, as a series of sketches on a radio variety show in 1929. The fifteen-minute segments, called The Rise of the Goldbergs, proved so popular that the concept was expanded to a half-hour series.
The sitcom was revolutionary in another way: it depicted Jews as a normal immigrant family living in New York, defying many of the stereotypes which had plagued Jews. Gertrude Berg recognized this, and used the show to depict how anti-Semitism affected normal lower-class families, as one famous episode had a brick smashing through their window during a Passover seder, which was a reaction to Nazi Germany and the Kristallnacht. Later episodes made subtle references to The Holocaust.
The show ended when Berg produced a stage play, Me and Molly, after which it made a successful transition to television in 1949. By this point the Red Scare was in full force, however, and Philip Loeb, who played Jake, was blacklisted in 1950. Berg refused to fire him despite pressure from the sponsor, General Foods, and so the series was canceled by CBS. NBC picked it up, but refused to air it unless Berg fired Loeb, which she reluctantly did, although the show did continue to pay Loeb a salary under the terms of a settlement. A despondent Loeb subsequently committed suicide (an act that was later referenced in the 1976 film The Front, in which Loeb's friend Zero Mostel played a Loeb expy named Hecky Brown).
The show's television run lasted until 1955. In 1973, a musical based on the characters, Molly, ran on Broadway for a year. A 2009 documentary, Yoo-hoo!, Mrs. Goldberg! looked at the historical impact of the series.
Not to be confused with the 2013 sitcom of the same name, The Goldbergs.
The Goldbergs provides the following tropes:
- Alter Kocker: Most of the Goldbergs, who are first generation immigrants.
- Catchphrase: Molly's "Yoo-hoo! Mrs. Bloom!"
- Drop-In Character: Recognized as one of the Trope Codifiers, as seen in the page quote.
- From New York to Nowhere: The show moved from a low-income apartment building in the Bronx to a New York suburb thanks to Executive Meddling.
- Generational Saga: The series in all its formats dealt with Molly's large, extended family.
- I Am Not Leonard Nimoy: Gertrude Berg was so unique a personality as Molly, everything she did would make it seem like an Expy of Molly — see Mrs. G Goes to College.
- Long Runner: The show ran on radio to stage to television from 1928 to 1955.
"Yoo-hoo! Mrs. Goldberg!"
