Newspaper Page Text
“Rge III
Ml IlirillN ISIAEUII
Friday, October 14, 1966
Tribute to the late, wonderful
MOLLY
by BEN G. FRANK
(A Seven Art* Feature)
NEW YORK — Back in the
1930’s, a Broadway writer re-
LOVELY FABRICS
Imported Trim* - Pattern*
Complete Drapery Dept.
CHAS. N. WALKER
ROOFING CO.
JAckton 2-5747
• 41 Houston S* , N t , Atlanta, Ga
OUR SLOGAN
Rats-Roaches-Bedbugs
YOU GOT ’EM —
WE’LL GET ’EM
TR. 5-8378
York Pest Control
NEW LOCATION
1011 Ponce de Leon Ave., N.E.
Atlanta, Ga. 30306
“Nearly Right Won’t Do”
TUXEDO
PLUMBING
& HEATING
• Service • Repair
• Installation
305 Pharr Road N.E.
237-5556
members that when he walked
to night school in the Bronx, it
would take him about a half
hour, moving along Tremont Ave.
It was in the summer just shortly
after the dinner hour.
From nearly every home along
that route, said Felix Leon, a
writer of the play “The Zulu and
the Zayda,” the “sound wfcs none
other than the voice of Gertrude
Berg, who as Molly Goldberg be
came one of history’s most be
loved theatrical mothers.’’ She
died last month (September) at
the age of 66.
But not only did she capture
the heart of the Bronx, but the
whole nation; people from all
walks of life including a group
of nuns who “gave her up” for
Lent.
And that story is true, for the
man who played Uncle David in
the show, Eli Mintz, confirmed
the incident in an interview
shortly after Molly passed away
of heart failure.
Mr. Mintz, who with Molly,
Rosalie and Sammy, filled out the
main characters in the ever-pop-
ular show, said that her greatest
feat was that the Molly on the
radio or television screen was
really herself. “An actor,” he said,
“in essence plays him or herself.
You can be a little exaggerated,
a little repetitious, but you can’t
get away from yourself."
During the television era,
whole families watched the pro
gram. It was not uncommon in
many American homes for the
whole family—including the kids,
to sit around the television screen
and watch “The Goldbergs.” She
and her program were a family
institution.
Molly, who was the mother of
two, of course, first portrayed the
Jewish mother from the Bronx
on radio. The program, entitled
“The Rise of the Goldbergs,” pre
miered in 1929 and became one
of radio’s most successful pro
grams running for 17 consecu
tive years.
Readers certainly remember
some of the trademarks ot this
woman who was married to
Lewis in 1918.
This radio show began as a
once-a-week program. “Later,”
Mrs. Berg once told a reporter,
“we were on both NBC and CBS
five times a week—we’d some
times run from the studio of one
THE
POWERS
formerly Juliette Boutique
• McMullen
• Lent
• Forman And Cocktail*
a Imported Knit*
network to the other."
Mrs. Berg wrote all the scripts
herself. She said she got the ideas
for the plots from observing her
neighbor's daily lives.
Eli Mintz said he recalls that
usually when the actors for “The
Goldbergs” show got together
they would read her script. But
one particular day, she herself
didn’t like the story and all of a
sudden, Molly blurted out: "All
right children, leave for an hour
and come back.”
“When we returned,” continued
Mr. Mintz, “there was a whole
new script. She had a good
instinct, good dialogue and she
knew what she wanted to do."
Mr. Mintz added somewhat to
how good her real-life back
ground was. “Her parents,” he
said, “had a hotel in the moun
tains. The hotel was struggling
and the guests were poor, middle-
aged people. As a young girl, she
fixed firmly in her mind the
people who frequented the hotel.
“That’s where she got her
ideas. The people on radio or the
screen weren’t screen people;
they were real, with realistic
lives,” said Mr. Mintz, who today
performs for various Jewish
organizations.
Molly, of course, was not the
director of the show. And yet
she was. “She knew what she
wanted to do,” repeated Mr.
Mintz. She often would call the
real director aside and tell him
what she wanted. In essence, Mrs.
Berg was the director. “She had
the last word.”
But she always helped other
actors. He recalls when he was
in a workshop with her, she
would call aside another actress
and say, “you’re saying that line
a little too fast, you’ll kill the
laugh.”
Contrary to some reports, Mr.
Mintz said that Mrs. Berg spoke
a fluent Yiddish and she also
knew some Hebrew expressions.
The American-born actress could
adlib and had an instinct which
told her that if the show was not
going too well, she had to pull
off a good laugh. She usually did.
Mr. Mintz, who also has per
formed on Broadway and the
Yiddish theatre agreed that she
knew how to play on her audi
ence. In 1947, she brought Molly
to the Broadway stage in the hit
show, “Molly and Me.”
Other shows in which she
starred included “A Majority of
One” with Sir Cedric Hardwicke
and “Dear Me The Sky Is Fall
ing” on Broadway and at the
Tappan Zee Playhouse In Nyack,
N.Y. She also appeared in sev
eral motion pictures and wrote a
cookbook and an autobiography.
But she also found time to help
Jewish causes and membership
rallies for B’nai B’rith, Hadassah
and Pioneer Women.
There was, of course, something
unique about the Molly Goldberg
that millions of Americans saw
and revered. She knew how to
play a “lovable woman and
portray the problems and joys of
motherhood. And above all, hu
man life and nature.”
Mr. Mintz recalls one show in
particular:
“I (Uncle David) had an argu
ment with Tante Elka who said
my Sollie the Doctor really
didn’t want me around his house.
That I was old; that he never
came around to see me. To prove
Tante Elka wrong, I packed up,
left Molly and went to my Sollie
the Doctor. And it was hard. I
was an old man and as the story
developed I couldn’t even find
a place in my own son’s home.
It was the tragedy of a lonely,
old man. And so in the end, I
went back to Molly, and it was
less tragic. And Molly promised
she would make sure that Tante
Elka no longer bothered me.”
As one Broadway actor and
Yiddish theater veteran put it:
“Molly and the Goldbergs were
so simple, so direct and so
hamish.”
Extend CorJbaf UJe/ t
to visit Atlanta’s OLDEST Genuine
Chinese & American Restaurant
DMO HO
ENGLISH TRANSLATION: “The Very Best!”
264 CAIN ST., N.E. JA. 2-6706
Half Block East ot Hen tv Grady Hotel
• Authentic Cantonese Chinese Food
• Delicious American Food
Daily 11 A.M. to 11 P.M.—Sundays 12 NOON to 11 P.M.
This may well be the booklet
you need to help create a
better future for your family
This new 20-page booklet, “How To In
vest For Your Family’s Future” tells how
you can plan now to reach six basic goals:
1) building a cash reserve — 2) buying a
home—3) educating your children—4)
owning your own business — 5 ) traveling
and enjoying life — 6) preparing for a dig
nified retirement
These are goals and, naturally, no plan or
program can assure you of achieving them.
But this valuable booklet does explain a
simple, effective plan for budgeting and
investing the fortune you will earn during
your lifetime. It offers basic facts on sav
ings and insurance ... gives you a future-
income analysis chart... reveals the hard
and startling truth about “easy credit.”
You will also learn how you can take
steps now to combat the dollar-wasting effects of possible
inflation.
Our booklet also explains about the costs, risks and advantages
of a practical method of investment you can start today. For
your free copy, just mail the coupon below.
Name
Address Tel
HWTA
GOODBODY A CO,
UTAMJSHU 1*n
Ma mb art at landing Stack mad Cammadtty trmbmmgaa
TOM AIHIR MU*MAN WAPMKM
FULTON NATIONAL BANK BLDO.. ATLANTA. *77 IB*
OUR 7(TH VIA* OF SIRVICI TO INVESTORS
REXALL—SEMI-ANNUAL lc SALE
YOU CAN BUY TWO ITEMS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE-
PLUS A PENNY.
• One gallon Vaporizer 2 for $8.96
• Children’s Asperin 50’s—2 for 40c
• ASPERIN—5 Grain 100’s 3 for $1.19
• Vitamins for every member of the family—
Bonus Buys Not available on lc sale—but
excellent values
• A PROCTOR-SILEX Steam Dry iron $9.77
• BOBBY PINS Card of 60—2 for 26c
10 GREAT DAYS—OCTOBER 13th THRU
OCTOBER 22nd—DON’T MISS IT!
wendel smith “Th e Northside’s Finest Pharmacy”
BRETT DRUG COMPANY
3736 ROSWELL ROAD, N.W. 233-4491
(POWERS FERRY SHOPPING CENTER)