Do Any Of You Remember Molly Goldberg? Or Eleanor Roosevelt's Margarine TV Ad
I just saw a wonderful documentary by film maker Aviva Kempner. Her previous work was the "Life and Times of Hank Greenberg," which was also terrific.
This film "Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg" is the story of Gertrude Berg who created a character, Molly Goldberg, that was featured in a huge radio and television hit show for almost 30 years. The show "The Goldbergs" was a family sitcom, only the family was Jewish and first-generation.
The film not only tells the story of the first woman to conquer both radio and television as actress, writer and producer but of a very different time in American life. There was lots of good (the show confronted racism and intolerance) but also bad (Berg's co-star was driven to suicide after being blacklisted).
I like documentaries, in general, and I have seen quite a few. But this is one of the best. I walked into the theater worrying about those insane racists who are disrupting Congressional town meetings because of their hate for Obama and left the theater remembering that this same country elected Obama.
Of course, it was the polyglot America of the Goldbergs (the America of African Americans and immigrants and gays) that put Obama over the top.
This film reminds the viewer that the 1950's version of America, where everyone was supposed to be white, Christian, and straight is now history. That is why the rightwingers are crying "I want my country back."
But it's gone and it did not just disappear. Pioneers whose names we all know from MLK to Milk to Friedan to Jackie Robinson to Eleanor Roosevelt made it happen. So did Gertrude Berg, whose name we should learn and whose memory, like those others, we should honor.
It's a great story and a very entertaining film.
Here is the story of the film and a directory of theaters showing it.
BONUS: Eleanor Roosevelt pitching margarine. She's in the film too.
I object to part of your comments about old WASP America. Many of the old WASP elite (for example, the late George Ball) would have voted for Obama. The majority of Palin's hardcore supporters would not have been the old line WASP elite. Certainly, some of the elite were horrible, but not all. Remember, many of the abolitionists came from that elite.
August 7, 2009 7:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good point. I'll change. My apologies.
August 7, 2009 8:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
MJ...be careful. Someone might accuse you of being an anti-goyist. ;~{)
August 7, 2009 9:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
I remember the show from when I was a little kid! Good stuff!
August 7, 2009 7:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
So... the right-wingers crashing the healthcare townhalls are WASPs upset at the dissolution of "their" America, their privileged station, their Pilgrim house, a-shinin' on the hill?
Wow. How compact a vision is that? How simple you make it all seem.
Look. Let's cut through the bullshit here, and be honest: Why do Jews hate WASPs?
What's the deal? This bizarre vision of WASPs sitting in spotless sitting rooms, sipping port, and worrying about the reins of power slipping away from them - what will we do when the servants desert us? When they run away to find themselves in astronomy and city planning?
That vision exists only in your head. Not many of us grew up in a Shirley Temple movie. Our privileges extend to the next paycheck. And things are tight.
But on the bigger issue, what's the big stinger you have for us? Why is our history recounted in only the most extremely condemnatory terms?
It's not like the country we created is that big a nightmare. It has always been, and even still is, the most popular destination of immigrants from all points of the globe. After all, human nature runs from The Beast, not to it.
WASPs lost dominance of this country long ago. Have the nation's profound problems disappeared? Have all non-WASPs joined hands down by the riverside? Are we a more-perfect union?
If not, how good is your case that WASPs are the root of all our evils?
August 7, 2009 9:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
What the hell are you talking about.
August 7, 2009 10:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
He's taking what you wrote too literally. It might be better to substitute "White Privilege" for "WASP."
Isn't that the point? All these Birthers with the Pleasantville, Beaver Cleaver image of the "real America" are increasingly rattled by the reality of President Obama and Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor.
To paraphase America's Smartest Commentator, John Stewart: Tthey want their country back. You know, the segregated one!
August 8, 2009 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
One of the crazy bits of white backlash since the civil rights revolution is that there are actually straight white anglo-saxon male protestants who actually believe that they are some downtrodden group. They are like Israeli Jews who say that the Arabs are not the victims around here.
August 8, 2009 1:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
MJ, we are downtrodden. We're losing our exemption from the race "tax." You know, that informal burden that every Black America starts paying at birth?
A "color blind" America is a lot tougher for our fellow White Mediocrities. Whenever I hear some Good Ol' Boy whining about Affirmative Action, I like to ask them this question: "Hey, do you think that your kid would get into Yale with a C-average, and then get into Harvard Busines School after 'achieving' a C-average at Yale? No? Then how do you explain Dubya's two admissions, except for 'white-legacy' affirmative action?
We Whities have had affirmative action for centuries. We call it "connections."
August 8, 2009 2:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
To quote Mr. Rosenberg, what the hell are you talking about? My objection to his post was defining the all-purpose nemesis as WASP America. You're burbling on about an America that's long disappeared, if indeed, it ever existed beyond the framework of neat, subjective labelling. Beaver Cleaver... please. It's not a matter of being "put upon"; it's a matter of rejecting the idea of being defined by rigged standards and blinkered agenda.
August 8, 2009 6:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
The first thing to know is MJ shoots from the hip. He writes with passion, but not always accurately. So you sometimes have to squint to see his larger point and forget some of his careless asides--that's what I do in any event.
As to whether the Leave It To Beaver world ever existed, no, it did not, but the rules and the semi-official storyline were rigged as if it did. Many groups who existed never saw their lives reflected back to them in the media or in the rules governing society or in the opportunities available to them.
This "long lost world" is still alive in some people's minds as something they want to "return" to and it sends them on strange journeys to, for the first time in history that I'm aware of, question the birth certificate of the president. Is it an accident that this is happening to our first black president--who doesn't fit our stereotype of "a president"--who knows.
Interestingly, there were some questions about McCain's place of birth and they were quashed by Senators Obama and Clinton.
August 9, 2009 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Quashed effectively, I'd say. In all fairness to McCain, he did try, as I recall. But like so many of the republican plans and approaches, it was ineffective.
They are truly the inept party, if ever there was one.
August 9, 2009 11:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hi...not sure I'm getting your meaning here.
McCain tried to do...what?
In what way are they the "inept" party?
Just not following you...
August 9, 2009 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was referring to your last paragraph. I was thinking of this incident:
Hillary and Obama managed to effectively silence the "wing-nuts" going after McCains citizenship. Why was McCain unable to return the favor?
It just strikes me as interesting that the Republicans aren't able to use any sort of rational argument to quell their own wing-nuts, they have really become inept in many ways. But as they really did work on the fears and insecurities of their base, it isn't really so surprising. Perhaps that is why things have turned out like this.
Just off on a tangent. I'm sorry.
August 9, 2009 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Okay, I see what you're saying. I think, as you, they are playing a cynical game. They need the wingnuts to be whipped up, only because they are the only ones providing any juice for the party. They are the diehards.
It's like I said to someone on FB who said she was in favor of enforcing the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance in school. I asked why. Someone else rejoined, "Why not? It's the folks who ask questions, not the ones who provide answers, who don't know what they believe."
So they stoke the birthers and give them plenty of rope and then try to rein them in, hoping to get their energy while being able to distance themselves from the far out positions. Even Coulter has done this.
August 9, 2009 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tintin:
If you have not noticed none of the sitcoms represent how life really is. Especially not the so-called "reality shows".
These media inventions are aimed at exemplifying some kind of "geepers-isn't-it-the-way-things-are?" vision to the majority of people who are not prone to be more observant about what goes on in life than sit-com entertainment. The Honeymooners was an example of a more realistic view of ordinary working class wasp life, but it certainly was not a sociological study of that group in its entirety. Neither are any of these other engines of opinion making that pass themselves off as "entertainment" shows for the masses. And in a democracy, the cultural perceptions of the masses have a great influence on public policy.
So no, you are still guilty of judging wasps as if they were at some time ALL privileged and that there needs to be transfer of power from the wasps to...African American Latino Gay Women or some such nonsense. Curt has it right. The struggle is about Classes of people not ethnoreligiousgenderd groups.
August 9, 2009 3:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
If someone ever were foolish enough to create a sitcome about how--on the average day--life is really like, he would not even be able to get his wife to sit through the first episode.
August 9, 2009 11:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Andrew, to be honest, I'm having a hard time understanding what you're saying about TV shows and how what you're saying differs from what I said. I, too, agree that sitcoms did not and do not reflect reality as it is. Beyond that, I'm not sure what you're saying and/or how it differs from what I'm saying.
I don't think anyone's talking about a "transfer" of power or privilege, but rather an equalizing of same. I guess if there's a sharing where there was none before, then there's some transfer. If so, so be it. The birthers and immigration folks want to go back to a time when Americans weren't so polyglot.
If your complaint is against stereotyping as in "all Wasps are this or that," I'm in agreement, and I think I said so. But there's no question that there was discrimination against folks who weren't Wasps and that the media (largely Jewish run!) portrayed an American norm that was largely Wasp, even if it didn't reflect the full range of Wasp "life" in America. They were the "real" Americans and the folks with funny accents and names and customs were not. To some degree, I think this sorting out of groups into "been here since the beginning" and "greenhorns" is normal and inevitable.
But I agree with Curt that the Wasp elite don't have the hold on power they once did. I'd say they did back in Molly Goldberg's day--one reason the show was so groundbreaking--but today, Molly would be an anachronism even to most Jews. So again, I'll say, MJ's post is mostly a look BACK and a slap at some people who yearn for the days when America was largely a Wasp scene. That era most certainly did exist, even if a lot of Wasps weren't living high off the hog.
August 10, 2009 12:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'll side step this little ethnic kerfuffle...
It's a GREAT movie. I know Aviva, and she's a great person.
Don't worry about Curt...he gets touchy when HIS ethnicity gets flagged.
August 7, 2009 10:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
And... you don't?
August 7, 2009 10:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm getting used to it.
August 8, 2009 12:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
When has your ethnicity been flagged?
August 8, 2009 1:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh gosh, plenty of times in my life.
Junior high school...High school...college...my early work life.
August 8, 2009 4:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I remember the show from my yute, and remember it fondly. It wasn't the only show featuring first generation "ethnics" either. I Remember Mama is one I remember fondly--of course, I'm Scandinavian. There was an Italian one, too, I think a transfer from radio--but I forget the name. The lead character was Guiseppi. "Mama" would have been my grandmother. My parents were born in this country. What ever happened to shows like those? Were they too sentimental a syrup to please the jaded tastes of today?
August 7, 2009 11:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
About WASPs as the dominant group/paradigm:
Franklin Roosevelt was a good but not perfect man, a perfect illustration of Paul Krugman's mantra of perfection as the enemy of the (doable)good. His two most trusted and valuable political advisers were Henry Morgenthau, a Jew, and James Farley, a Catholic. One day he said to them, no doubt in his genially dominating patrician manner (to paraphrase), 'You know, you Jews and Catholics are fortunate that we Protestant Americans tolerate you and allow you to participate in the body-politic, as we do.' One of the good things about contemporary America is how unlikely a statement that now is.
In the decades after WWII, if you were a white American male and followed the rules, a certain level of success and prosperity was almost guaranteed, and only determined idiots couldn't at least tread water. Today our position has receded back closer to the rest of the body politic. White males who viewed that post WWII sinecure as an entitlement view themselves as the 'new put-upon.' C'est l'vie.
August 8, 2009 3:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes.
August 9, 2009 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
From my childhood, I remember "Ronzoni, sono buoni!" and "Man oh Maneshevitz, what a wine!" I seem to recall another slogan, "Reach for Rokeach!" And in my vague recollections, I associate it w/ Molly Goldberg. Can any readers affirm or correct these remembrances of things past?
August 8, 2009 3:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
My fave: Mrs. Roosevelt's margarine ad. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HY8vxYX78s
Actually, growing up in her neighborhood, she did all kinds of radio ads for local business. I remember that.
August 8, 2009 5:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
One of the things I don't like at the Cafe is how people tend to run in packs, like wolves. When someone defects from the "wisdom de jour" it is snarling and attack time. I found Curt's comments eminently reasonable and on the mark. You can see it everywhere in our "run with the pack" culture. It is open season on the white protestant male. Just look at the white kids on that credit report.com commercial. They are all made to look goofy and dumb. I can go on, and it would be an exercise in observational skill to discern what is permissible to trash and what is not. Not that it stops people form trashing each other anyway. It is the apparently sanctioned trashing that MJ participates in on a regular basis and Curt points out that is so uncalled for.
What does Eleanor Roosevelt doing margarine commercials have to say about anything? Nothing, Zippo, but the suggestions does not escape the notice of most people: "there they are the privileged white protestants acting snotty again".
That's not the America I grew up in. I'm white protestant and male and I did not have it easy and I did not go around talking in an affected upper-class accent. So spare me your prejudices MJ and get with the program.
August 8, 2009 6:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
People also get attacked in packs, Andrew, so they huddle.
Lots and lots of generalities about countries, for example, and the people who live in them.
While it's undeniably true that being a WASP did confer certain real privileges--for example, want ads in the NY Times used to specify this requirement--it's also true that many, if not most, WASPs didn't live a terribly privileged life.
Look at Appalachia, to take an extreme example. Or many farming communities. Or fishing villages.
In fact, as I recall, one of the regrets of MLK and the parts of the left was that poor whites and poor blacks were never able to see they were in the same boat and had more in common than what separated them.
August 9, 2009 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ronzoni Sono Buoni was ubiquitous. But I don't remember Rokeach ads.
I often think of Junket Renet (?) Custard. That was big.
August 8, 2009 8:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Eleanor Roosevelt was the antithesis of affected. She was also just about the greatest person of the 20th century.
I do have to say that some of you out there read everything I write as "the Jew" speaking. That's fine. I'm proud to be Jewish but, as is evidenced by my politics on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I am not the most representative Jew around.
But, hey, a lot of people don't like us Jews. I know that. But like African-Americans, gays, Latinos, women, Palestinians or whatever, we aren't going back in the closet.
Those who want us to can just head over to their Congressman's next town meeting and demant "my America" back."
August 8, 2009 8:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
I did not mean to associate myself with the implication that your being Jewish has anything to do with your tendency to diss white protestant males. Why some of the most virulent anti Wasps are Wasps themselves...kinda like self--immolation. It causes me to wonder why so many WASP's have such poor self esteem. The answer is not hard to find: because it is politically correct to diss white protestant males (it is the "in thing" everywhere in the media (not the racist media like Fox) but it is absolute taboo to diss for example white Jewish males, or black Baptist males, of catholics, or women, and on and on goes the list of who it is taboo to diss EXCEPT white protestant males. It is open season on us and we don't like it. Your being Jewish has nothing to do with my reprimand although I think Curt makes that implication. So chill out
Just stop dissing white protestant males; except for the "protestant" you are part of the group which it is ok to denigrate. It is bad for white young Christian boys to grow up in this toxic atmosphere and you should know better than contribute to this situation. Peace
August 8, 2009 9:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for clarifying. I understand.
August 9, 2009 12:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
As it evolved over the 20th century, the American Left defined conflict between groups as important a strategy as battles over issues. Not surprising, since the key facet of American reality was race, more than class; at least, it was the most obvious, given racial division and a wildly disparate and unequal racial divide.
However, it's difficult to see issues like healthcare, the economy and our burdensome overseas imperial project as keyed to race, ethnicity or lifestyle. Surely, they impact different groups differently, but any solutions or programs engaging these issues can't be parsed out to micromanage each group as separate entities. Answers must be broad. Inclusive, if you will.
"African-Americans, gays, Latinos, women, Palestinians or whatever" have been out of the closet for some time now, and the closet should be closed forever. It's ridiculous to hang all America's shortcomings on one group. WASPs are convenient simply because at one time they were the dominant culture, and they never object to the opprobrium. Part of that is cultural - if we don't know someone who's denegrating us, we don't care what they think. Individualism has its pluses.
And no, it's not a matter of claiming victimhood here. But as much as progressives maintain the group-vs.-group mentality, the uglier it seems, and the more dangerous its implications could be.
August 9, 2009 11:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, and I just have to say it, Curt, you're being a bit hard on the beaver.
Apropo of nothing. Of course.
August 9, 2009 11:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
and that's apropo of my observation that WASP's tend to be harder on themselves and their cultural icons (beaver, etc) than most.
btw I'm not talking about the country club wasps who exhibit contempt not so much for other groups as for the demos in general including wasp demos. Why they even have a charming name for them "white trailer trash".
August 9, 2009 3:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's no need to object to the opprobrium if, at the end of the day, you hold the cards. Or if you are the majority and the society as a whole reflects you. Then you're at ease. The minority group, by contrast, is never at ease, is always striving in some way, trying to fit in in some way.
I agree with your basic point, though: Things have moved on from the time when WASPs held all the economic cards. And it's a little silly, and possibly dangerous, to hold out WASPs as the all-purpose scapegoat.
MJ's point stands though: Some minority groups have caught up, but it's not as though the roles or economic circumstances of the groups have been reversed. And WASP protests here are a little silly, because it's not as if they are TRULY put upon, or truly disadvantaged. Folks like the birthers are mostly pining for the advantages they USED to have in spades.
Part of the reason this thread went off the rails is that MJ was taking a look BACK. And he was taking a crack at the birthers and their ilk as hoping for a return to the way it was. I think he's largely right on that score.
August 9, 2009 12:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
The birthers are just wasps who are challenged in the maturity department. That type has been around since ancient time and they come in all races, religions, genders, sexual preferences......and so on.
You are under the illusion (as Curt colorfully points out) that once those nasty uneducated hysterical wasps are put in their place the rest of us will hold hands down by the riverside. Good luck with that thesis.
August 9, 2009 10:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Andrew, all I can say is, you're reading a different post from the one I wrote. Or the one MJ wrote.
For one thing, MJ certainly didn't say what you're claiming here. He made a comment about the birthers with which you seem to agree--they're whacked. So what's the beef?
And you certainly can't be claiming that MJ thinks there are no crackpots amongst the Jews, can you? MJ spends all his days detailing the sins of the Jews. So the notion that he is claiming that Wasps are "the" problem is ludicrous.
And where you see your last paragraph in ANYTHING I wrote just above it is beyond me.
August 10, 2009 1:04 AM | Reply | Permalink