''Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg'' is a 2009 documentary film on the broadcast career of

Gertrude Berg Gertrude Berg (born Tillie Edelstein; October 3, 1899 – September 14, 1966) was an American actress, screenwriter, and producer. A pioneer of classic old-time radio, radio, she was one of the first women to create, write, produce, and star in a ...

and her radio and television serials, '' The Goldbergs.''

Aviva Kempner Aviva Kempner (born December 23, 1946) is a German-born American Filmmaking, filmmaker. Her documentaries investigate non-stereotypical images of Jews in history and focus on the untold stories of Jews, Jewish people. She is most well known for ' ...

directed the film, interviewing family members of Berg, cast members of the Goldbergs and historians of radio and television. She also includes interview statements by non-celebrities, and celebrities, including ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

'' anchor

Susan Stamberg Susan Stamberg (born September 7, 1938) is an American radio journalist. Stamberg was co-host of NPR's flagship program ''All Things Considered'' from 1972 to 1986. In that role Stamberg was the first female host of a national news broadcast. She ...

Supreme Court Justice The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States. Its membership, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869, consists of the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any six of ...

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; Bader; March 15, 1933 – September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until Death and state funeral of Ruth Bader ...

, television sitcom producer

Norman Lear Norman Milton Lear (July 27, 1922December 5, 2023) was an American screenwriter and producer who produced, wrote, created, or developed over 100 shows. Lear created and produced numerous popular 1970s sitcoms, including ''All in the Family'' (1 ...

and '' Mary Tyler Moore Show'' actor

Ed Asner Eddie Asner (; November 15, 1929 – August 29, 2021) was an American actor. He is most notable for portraying Lou Grant on the sitcom ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970–1977) and drama '' Lou Grant'' (1977–1982), making him one of the few ...

Summary

The film follows Berg's early years of marriage, her short period in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, her move to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, to her work in the radio and television renditions of ''The Goldbergs.'' The film devotes attention to the role of ''The Goldbergs'' in helping to present a congenial image of a striving Jewish family to the broader American public, and the tremendous popularity that the radio and television shows experienced. Stamberg deems Berg, "the ''

Oprah Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', broadcast from Chic ...

'' of her day." ''Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg'' addresses developments contemporaneous with the years of ''The Goldbergs,''

Kristallnacht ( ) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilia ...

, the American Nazi

German-American Bund The German American Bund, or the German American Federation (, ''Amerikadeutscher Volksbund'', AV), was a German-American Nazi organization which was established in 1936 as a successor to the Friends of New Germany (FONG, FDND in German) and ...

and right-wing radio lecturer

Father Coughlin Charles Edward Coughlin ( ; October 25, 1891 – October 27, 1979), commonly known as Father Coughlin, was a Canadian-American Catholic Church, Catholic priest based near Detroit. He was the founding priest of the National Shrine of the Lit ...

. It also deals with Berg's struggle against the

McCarthy Era McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United S ...

blacklisters and the influence of ''

Red Channels ''Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television'' was an anti-Communist document published in the United States at the start of the 1950s. Issued by the right-wing journal ''Counterattack'' on June 22, 1950, the pamphle ...

.'' The film ends with the end of the television program and Berg's post-Goldbergs professional career.

Accolades

In 2009, the film won the

San Francisco Jewish Film Festival San Francisco Jewish Film Festival is the oldest Jewish film festival in the world, and currently the largest with a 2016 attendance figure of 40,000 at screenings in San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, San Rafael, and Palo Alto. The three-week summ ...

Freedom of Expression Award.

Reception

It received 93% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

and 69 on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

.Metacritic
/ref>

Notes

External links

* *{{IMDb title, 1334479
Review at ''The New York Times''
Documentary films about Jews and Judaism in the United States 2009 films Documentary films about radio people Documentary films about television people 2009 documentary films American documentary films Films about the Hollywood blacklist Films directed by Aviva Kempner Documentary films about women in the United States 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language documentary films

Summary

Accolades

Reception

See also

Notes

External links