Here’s a quick trivia question for you. Who won the first Best Actress Emmy?
If you were thinking Loretta Young, Lucille Ball or even Imogene Coca, you’d be far off the mark.
It was none other than Gertrude Berg. The actress/writer/producer/creator was named best actress for her beloved sitcom “The Goldbergs” at the 1951 Emmy Awards. In fact, she had played the role of the warm matriarch of the Jewish immigrant family for nearly two decades when she picked up the statuette. The year before, the series was nominated for best kinescope show but lost to “Texaco Star Theater” hosted by Uncle Miltie.
Of course, these days Berg is nearly a forgotten figure. And audiences only know of the popular ABC series “The Goldbergs” about a Jewish family in the 1980s. Aviva Kempner, the director of the well-received 2009 documentary “Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg” told me for a L.
If you were thinking Loretta Young, Lucille Ball or even Imogene Coca, you’d be far off the mark.
It was none other than Gertrude Berg. The actress/writer/producer/creator was named best actress for her beloved sitcom “The Goldbergs” at the 1951 Emmy Awards. In fact, she had played the role of the warm matriarch of the Jewish immigrant family for nearly two decades when she picked up the statuette. The year before, the series was nominated for best kinescope show but lost to “Texaco Star Theater” hosted by Uncle Miltie.
Of course, these days Berg is nearly a forgotten figure. And audiences only know of the popular ABC series “The Goldbergs” about a Jewish family in the 1980s. Aviva Kempner, the director of the well-received 2009 documentary “Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg” told me for a L.
- 5/7/2020
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
By Lee Pfeiffer
All things come to those who wait. Having somehow inexcusably missed actor/writerJim Brochu's award-winning play "Zero Hour" that depicts the controversial life and career of Zero Mostel, I was able to see the show's most recent revival at the Theatre at St. Clement's which is just off Broadway. The show is presented by the Peccadillo Theatre Company, which specializes in staging worthy productions in the prestigious venue that is just off Broadway. For Brochu, the one-man show is a triumph.. He wrote the script himself and the production is directed with flair by three-time Oscar nominee Piper Laurie. Mostel was a larger-than-life talent and he is played with uncanny skill by Brochu, who somehow makes himself into the spitting image of the iconic actor (he doesn't bare the slightest resemblance to Mostel off-stage). The imaginative scenario finds the entire play set in Mostel's New York painting...
All things come to those who wait. Having somehow inexcusably missed actor/writerJim Brochu's award-winning play "Zero Hour" that depicts the controversial life and career of Zero Mostel, I was able to see the show's most recent revival at the Theatre at St. Clement's which is just off Broadway. The show is presented by the Peccadillo Theatre Company, which specializes in staging worthy productions in the prestigious venue that is just off Broadway. For Brochu, the one-man show is a triumph.. He wrote the script himself and the production is directed with flair by three-time Oscar nominee Piper Laurie. Mostel was a larger-than-life talent and he is played with uncanny skill by Brochu, who somehow makes himself into the spitting image of the iconic actor (he doesn't bare the slightest resemblance to Mostel off-stage). The imaginative scenario finds the entire play set in Mostel's New York painting...
- 6/17/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Earlier, when I asked Program Director Nancy Fishman which program out of this year’s edition of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (Sfjff) she was most anticipating, she didn’t miss a beat in highlighting the salute to Gertrude Berg; a program consisting of four archival episodes from The Goldbergs television series, followed by Aviva Kempner‘s documentary Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg (2009). In tandem with Sfjff’s presentation of the 2009 Freedom of Expression Award to Kempner, a Q&A session following The Goldbergs program, and a panel discussion following Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, the program was leant considerable charm by the participation of Dr. Glenn D. “Pete” Smith, Jr., author of Something On My Own: Gertrude Berg and American Broadcasting, 1929-1956 (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2007). Perhaps it was his Mississippian drawl, or his enthused (and contagious!) scholasticism, or the intriguing disconnect between his youthful interest in a subject...
- 8/12/2009
- by Michael Guillen
- Screen Anarchy
Quick — who was the first woman to appear in a network sitcom?
No, not Lucille Ball, but that would’ve been my guess.
Here’s a hint. She also won the first Emmy for Best Actress. I’ll even show you a picture.
Still no clue, I bet. Her name is Gertrude Berg. Wait, who?
Exactly. That’s why Aviva Kempner’s new documentary, Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, is so important.
Berg was sort of the Oprah of her era — and she paved the way for women in the entertainment industry. Her radio show, The Goldbergs, premiered the week after the 1929 stock market crash and every day for 17 years, Berg rose at 6 a.m., wrote that day’s script, then went to the studio to produce the show and perform her role, Molly Goldberg.
In 1949, Berg brought The Goldbergs to television, where it was the first character-driven domestic sitcom. (When the...
No, not Lucille Ball, but that would’ve been my guess.
Here’s a hint. She also won the first Emmy for Best Actress. I’ll even show you a picture.
Still no clue, I bet. Her name is Gertrude Berg. Wait, who?
Exactly. That’s why Aviva Kempner’s new documentary, Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, is so important.
Berg was sort of the Oprah of her era — and she paved the way for women in the entertainment industry. Her radio show, The Goldbergs, premiered the week after the 1929 stock market crash and every day for 17 years, Berg rose at 6 a.m., wrote that day’s script, then went to the studio to produce the show and perform her role, Molly Goldberg.
In 1949, Berg brought The Goldbergs to television, where it was the first character-driven domestic sitcom. (When the...
- 7/20/2009
- by thelinster
- AfterEllen.com
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