Gertrude Berg debuts in "The Goldbergs" November 20, 1929
Gertrude Berg's popular radio program, The Goldbergs, about an
upwardly mobile American Jewish family debuted on NBC radio on
November 20, 1929. Berg developed the kernel of the show as a
series of live sketches to entertain guests at her family's
Catskills hotel. It was produced in recurrent runs as a daily
15-minute program on NBC and other networks for nearly two
decades before shifting to television in January, 1949. On both
radio and TV, Berg served as the sole writer, producer, and star
of one the nation's most popular programs. Throughout its 30
years on radio and television, as well as in presentations on
Broadway and on film, The Goldbergs dealt explicitly with Jewish
life in the United States, joking about the cultural differences
between "old world" immigrants and their American-born
offspring. Berg's Molly became a cultural touchstone, a figure
combining old world wisdom, new world common sense, and a
mother's humanity in confronting the pe