Yoo Hoo Mrs. Goldberg (Aviva Kempner, 2009)

Yoo Hoo Mrs. Goldberg, a new documentary by Aviva Kempner, above all serves as a reminder of the importance of recorded media in preserving the American pop culture.

While TV programs such as I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners are still known and watched by audiences around the world every day, Gertrude Berg's pioneering situation comedy, The Goldbergs, has largely been forgotten by the public. Kempner's documentary explores the history behind Berg's landmark series. Berg's characters were a Jewish family, presented in a straightforward and matter-of-fact light.

Berg (1899-1966) began her career writing and recording commercials on radio. She launched her show "The Goldbergs" in 1929, which ran on the radio throughout the next twenty years before making the transition to television, as so many radio programs did. In the 1950s, however, the show was torn apart by changing tastes in humor, as well as the blacklisting of actor Philip Loeb, whose eventual resignation from the show left a void that was never to be filled.

Kempner does a good job of recording the memories of listeners (and later, viewers) who grew up on the show, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Ed Asner. It's astounding to think of the popularity of the program in its time, and how few people are even aware of it today. Berg, a media pioneer, is nearly forgotten today when compared with Lucille Ball, say. In excerpts from a "Person to Person" interview with Edward R. Murrow, we see the absolute all-consuming devotion that Berg brought to her show (writing nearly a script a day!)

The documentary indirectly stresses the importance of preserving recorded media. The Kinescope recordings of the TV's early years are a reminder of how much has been lost to time, and even that which survives is often in less-than pristine condition. Kempner has done a good service to Berg's legacy, helping to keep her work in the public consciousness and emphasizing Berg's innovation and contributions to early television.