Chicago – Award winning documentary filmmaker Aviva Kempner is making an appearance in Chicago on behalf of her latest film – co-directed with Ben West – on the continuing controversy regarding sports teams named after Native American tribes and images. “Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting” will screen at the Gene Siskel Film Center, with Aviva Kempner and Ben West in attendance on Friday, April 21st, 2023. Click Imagining for tickets and more information.
The film is an illuminating examination of the movement to end the misappropriation of Native culture. Documenting the origins of the words, images, and gestures that many Native people and their allies find harmful, Aviva Kempner and Ben West (Cheyenne) powerfully chronicle the impact that marginalization of history has had on those peoples, and the social movements to force sports teams at all levels – including locally the Chicago Blackhawks – to change their offensive names.
Directed by Aviva...
The film is an illuminating examination of the movement to end the misappropriation of Native culture. Documenting the origins of the words, images, and gestures that many Native people and their allies find harmful, Aviva Kempner and Ben West (Cheyenne) powerfully chronicle the impact that marginalization of history has had on those peoples, and the social movements to force sports teams at all levels – including locally the Chicago Blackhawks – to change their offensive names.
Directed by Aviva...
- 4/21/2023
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
It’s such fun flashing back to Emmy ceremonies of yesteryear, and it’s interesting to see how they have evolved over time, and reflect on how much TV has grown and changed. In the early years, the categories were much different, with no distinction between dramatic and comedic performances; instead, there was a category for “Outstanding Continued Performance” (which came from ongoing series) and a separate one for “Outstanding Single Performance”. Going back six decades, there were only three networks competing, but some of the biggest names in the history of the medium were on the ballot, and some legendary performers presented, when Johnny Carson, Bob Newhart and David Brinkley hosted the 14th Emmy Awards on NBC on May 22, 1962. Read on for our Emmys flashback 60 years ago to 1962.
Newhart was already making a name for himself in these early days of television. His variety series “The Bob Newhart Show...
Newhart was already making a name for himself in these early days of television. His variety series “The Bob Newhart Show...
- 7/14/2022
- by Susan Pennington
- Gold Derby
This review of “Lucy and Desi” was first published on Jan. 22, 2022, following the film’s Sundance premiere.
There were a lot of scenarios in which Amy Poehler’s affectionate documentary “Lucy and Desi” might never have existed. As Lucille Ball herself recounts via wonderful vintage interviews, the future superstar couldn’t even make it as a showgirl in the early years. She was kicked out of drama school and canned from various chorus lines. “I was a dud. A real nothing,” she admits, adding that at one desperate point she changed her name to Dianne Belmont, pretended she was from Montana (instead of New York) and gave herself the nickname “Two Gun.”
By Ball’s own modest account, it wasn’t talent but unrelenting hard work that pulled her up a few rungs, until she’d done enough low-budget studio movies that she was considered “Queen of the Bs.” Her...
There were a lot of scenarios in which Amy Poehler’s affectionate documentary “Lucy and Desi” might never have existed. As Lucille Ball herself recounts via wonderful vintage interviews, the future superstar couldn’t even make it as a showgirl in the early years. She was kicked out of drama school and canned from various chorus lines. “I was a dud. A real nothing,” she admits, adding that at one desperate point she changed her name to Dianne Belmont, pretended she was from Montana (instead of New York) and gave herself the nickname “Two Gun.”
By Ball’s own modest account, it wasn’t talent but unrelenting hard work that pulled her up a few rungs, until she’d done enough low-budget studio movies that she was considered “Queen of the Bs.” Her...
- 3/4/2022
- by Elizabeth Weitzman
- The Wrap
“You know, being together every week is getting to be a very, very nice habit. I hope you’ll keep it up, will ya?”
This was Betty White’s line at the end of each episode of her very first sitcom, Life with Elizabeth, in which she and Del Moore played a married couple who kept stumbling into various hijinks. White first played Elizabeth in a series of sketches in Hollywood on Television, a local Los Angeles talk show that debuted in 1949. (When the sketches spun off into their own show in the early Fifties,...
This was Betty White’s line at the end of each episode of her very first sitcom, Life with Elizabeth, in which she and Del Moore played a married couple who kept stumbling into various hijinks. White first played Elizabeth in a series of sketches in Hollywood on Television, a local Los Angeles talk show that debuted in 1949. (When the sketches spun off into their own show in the early Fifties,...
- 12/31/2021
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Rollingstone.com
How lucky it was to be Ed Asner’s friend. I left every conversation always feeling politically fired up while nursing a sore belly from laughing so hard at his running commentary.
I first encountered Ed while we both were working against Central American dictators. For that solidarity work and his grand union organizing, Ed was honored at an L.A. dinner sponsored by a Latin organization that he invited me to attend. Ed came up with absolutely the funniest line ever said at a podium. He retorted, “Thanks for tonight’s award at the biggest gathering between Latins and Jews since the Spanish Inquisition” to great laughter.
From his earliest years, Ed had to walk a careful line growing up Jewish in the Midwest town of Kansas City. In his interview for my film about TV sitcom pioneer Gertrude Berg, creator of “The Goldbergs,” he admitted his ambivalence towards...
I first encountered Ed while we both were working against Central American dictators. For that solidarity work and his grand union organizing, Ed was honored at an L.A. dinner sponsored by a Latin organization that he invited me to attend. Ed came up with absolutely the funniest line ever said at a podium. He retorted, “Thanks for tonight’s award at the biggest gathering between Latins and Jews since the Spanish Inquisition” to great laughter.
From his earliest years, Ed had to walk a careful line growing up Jewish in the Midwest town of Kansas City. In his interview for my film about TV sitcom pioneer Gertrude Berg, creator of “The Goldbergs,” he admitted his ambivalence towards...
- 8/30/2021
- by Aviva Kempner
- The Wrap
Years ago, when I was working on a documentary on sitcom television pioneer Gertrude Berg, aka Molly Goldberg, I attended a reception at the French ambassador’s residence in Washington, DC. I spotted Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by the desserts and decided to make a bold casting move.
I went up to Justice Ginsburg, whose opinions I so admired, and on a whim asked her if she had listened to “The Goldbergs” in her youth. She answered in the affirmative, and then I requested if she would be willing to be interviewed for “Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg.” Without missing a beat, she said enthusiastically yes.
We filmed her interview at the Supreme Court, for which she wore a beaded collar that she proudly explained had been given to her by women in South Africa.
Turns out that Gertrude Berg, who wrote, produced, and starred in “The Goldbergs” on radio and television,...
I went up to Justice Ginsburg, whose opinions I so admired, and on a whim asked her if she had listened to “The Goldbergs” in her youth. She answered in the affirmative, and then I requested if she would be willing to be interviewed for “Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg.” Without missing a beat, she said enthusiastically yes.
We filmed her interview at the Supreme Court, for which she wore a beaded collar that she proudly explained had been given to her by women in South Africa.
Turns out that Gertrude Berg, who wrote, produced, and starred in “The Goldbergs” on radio and television,...
- 9/24/2020
- by Aviva Kempner
- The Wrap
In the past decade, African American actors and actresses made several inroads with the annual Emmy Awards. Among the winners: Donald Glover took home Best Comedy Actor in 2017 for FX’s “Atlanta,” as well as for directing the “B.A.N” episode that year. Sterling K. Brown won for his supporting role in the FX limited series “The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” in 2016 and then Best Drama Actor the next year for NBC’s “This Is Us.” And the openly gay Tony Award winner Billy Porter won that latter award in 2019 for FX’s “Pose.
Five years ago, Viola Davis made history as the first African American to win Best Drama Actress for ABC’s “How to Get Away with Murder.” Regina King, who will probably be nominated again this year for HBO’s “Watchmen,” won for her supporting role in the ABC’s limited series...
Five years ago, Viola Davis made history as the first African American to win Best Drama Actress for ABC’s “How to Get Away with Murder.” Regina King, who will probably be nominated again this year for HBO’s “Watchmen,” won for her supporting role in the ABC’s limited series...
- 5/20/2020
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Here’s a quick trivia question for you. Who won the first Best Actress Emmy?
If you were thinking Loretta Young, Lucille Ball or even Imogene Coca, you’d be far off the mark.
It was none other than Gertrude Berg. The actress/writer/producer/creator was named best actress for her beloved sitcom “The Goldbergs” at the 1951 Emmy Awards. In fact, she had played the role of the warm matriarch of the Jewish immigrant family for nearly two decades when she picked up the statuette. The year before, the series was nominated for best kinescope show but lost to “Texaco Star Theater” hosted by Uncle Miltie.
Of course, these days Berg is nearly a forgotten figure. And audiences only know of the popular ABC series “The Goldbergs” about a Jewish family in the 1980s. Aviva Kempner, the director of the well-received 2009 documentary “Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg” told me for a L.
If you were thinking Loretta Young, Lucille Ball or even Imogene Coca, you’d be far off the mark.
It was none other than Gertrude Berg. The actress/writer/producer/creator was named best actress for her beloved sitcom “The Goldbergs” at the 1951 Emmy Awards. In fact, she had played the role of the warm matriarch of the Jewish immigrant family for nearly two decades when she picked up the statuette. The year before, the series was nominated for best kinescope show but lost to “Texaco Star Theater” hosted by Uncle Miltie.
Of course, these days Berg is nearly a forgotten figure. And audiences only know of the popular ABC series “The Goldbergs” about a Jewish family in the 1980s. Aviva Kempner, the director of the well-received 2009 documentary “Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg” told me for a L.
- 5/7/2020
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
In Washington, D.C., we are blissfully recovering from Monday night’s game when the Nationals beat the Dodgers to tie up the playoff series 2-2. We are hoarse from yelling and need serious manicures from all the nail biting innings.
East Coast Jewish fans are religiously thrilled our match-up will begin on Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. Et because the start time comes after sundown of our holiest Day of Atonement. We are supposed to observe the holiday by praying in synagogue, not eating or drinking, and not watching baseball.
It’s not fair to those Jewish fans living on the West Coast as the game starts there at 5:30 p.m., which is before sundown. Although I want my home team Nats to win, I do feel empathy for those Jewish Dodgers fans who are confronting religious dilemmas about watching the game during Yom Kippur.
It’s...
East Coast Jewish fans are religiously thrilled our match-up will begin on Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. Et because the start time comes after sundown of our holiest Day of Atonement. We are supposed to observe the holiday by praying in synagogue, not eating or drinking, and not watching baseball.
It’s not fair to those Jewish fans living on the West Coast as the game starts there at 5:30 p.m., which is before sundown. Although I want my home team Nats to win, I do feel empathy for those Jewish Dodgers fans who are confronting religious dilemmas about watching the game during Yom Kippur.
It’s...
- 10/9/2019
- by Aviva Kempner
- The Wrap
1970: The Doctors' Julie stirred up trouble at Hope Memorial.
1976: Ryan's Hope's Faith realized what Kenneth was up to.
1981: Another World's Mac pleaded with Mitch for help.
2006: General Hospital's Bobbie threatened Tracy."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."
― Anselm Kiefer
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1939: Time magazine published a story about radio soap creators, Frank and Anne Hummert, explaining their prolific serial production operation (Blackett-Sample-Hummert Inc.). "By hiring dialogue writers, and not creators, the Hummerts save lots of money. Most serial writers in radio command $200 to $400 a week. For The Goldbergs, Gertrude Berg...
1976: Ryan's Hope's Faith realized what Kenneth was up to.
1981: Another World's Mac pleaded with Mitch for help.
2006: General Hospital's Bobbie threatened Tracy."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."
― Anselm Kiefer
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1939: Time magazine published a story about radio soap creators, Frank and Anne Hummert, explaining their prolific serial production operation (Blackett-Sample-Hummert Inc.). "By hiring dialogue writers, and not creators, the Hummerts save lots of money. Most serial writers in radio command $200 to $400 a week. For The Goldbergs, Gertrude Berg...
- 1/23/2019
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
1970: The Doctors' Julie stirred up trouble at Hope Memorial.
1976: Ryan's Hope's Faith realized what Kenneth was up to.
1981: Another World's Mac pleaded with Mitch for help.
2006: General Hospital's Bobbie threatened Tracy."Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results."
― Machiavelli
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1939: Time magazine published a story about radio soap creators, Frank and Anne Hummert, explaining their...
1976: Ryan's Hope's Faith realized what Kenneth was up to.
1981: Another World's Mac pleaded with Mitch for help.
2006: General Hospital's Bobbie threatened Tracy."Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results."
― Machiavelli
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1939: Time magazine published a story about radio soap creators, Frank and Anne Hummert, explaining their...
- 1/23/2018
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
After winning two Emmys last week, Allison Janney said something that should be considered a truism but isn't. Explaining her successful return to TV after a sojourn in movies, the 54-year-old told Variety, "Television is a woman's medium."
Since "The West Wing" went off the air eight years ago, Janney has landed a number of supporting character roles in movies, mostly mom parts. Back on TV, however, she won Emmys this year (her fifth and sixth) for stretching to play two very different parts: a woman trying to salvage a difficult marriage in the premium-cable drama "Masters of Sex," and a recovering alcoholic whose daughter and granddaughter have followed in her reckless footsteps on the network sitcom "Mom."
Janney certainly seems to be an example of how television is friendlier to 54-year-old actresses than film is. But is television really "a woman's medium"?
Actually, you could argue that television has...
Since "The West Wing" went off the air eight years ago, Janney has landed a number of supporting character roles in movies, mostly mom parts. Back on TV, however, she won Emmys this year (her fifth and sixth) for stretching to play two very different parts: a woman trying to salvage a difficult marriage in the premium-cable drama "Masters of Sex," and a recovering alcoholic whose daughter and granddaughter have followed in her reckless footsteps on the network sitcom "Mom."
Janney certainly seems to be an example of how television is friendlier to 54-year-old actresses than film is. But is television really "a woman's medium"?
Actually, you could argue that television has...
- 9/5/2014
- by Gary Susman
- Moviefone
With a week of Doc NYC kicking off tonight, Indiewire's latest curated selections for Hulu's Documentaries page spotlights past films with indelible New York characters. Watch these and other docs now for free!Aviva Kempner introduced a new generation to Gertrude Berg in "Yoo Hoo, Mrs Goldberg," whose popular programs made a mark in early radio and TV programming, and brought a positive representation of Jewish family life to broad audiences. For a look at another acclaimed, multi-talented Jewish celebrity, check out Dori Berinstein's "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love" at Doc NYC. Though unassuming, the subject of Richard Press' "Bill Cunningham New York," has been documenting street fashion for The New York Times for decades. There are several photographer focused films at Doc NYC, including John Maloof and Charlie Siskel's "Finding Vivian Maier" and Tomas Leach's Saul Leiter portrait, "In No Great Hurry.""Herb and Dorothy" by Megumi Sasaki famously.
- 11/14/2013
- by Basil Tsiokos
- Indiewire
Every year the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announces its Golden Globe nominations, and every year we wonder why this rococo freakshow matters. In years past, clunkers like The Tourist and Burlesque have been nominated for Best Picture, and to the HFPA's credit, neither of those ridiculous movies ended up winning Best Picture. Unfortunately, the five I've listed below either won Best Comedy/Musical or Best Drama, and you'll likely agree that these embarrassments remain stinky all these years later.
Here they are, the five worst movies to win the biggest Golden Globe of the night.
5. Evita
I'm obviously an elite-level Madonna fan, but I'm also the first to admit that Evita is un-special. Madonna's performance is serviceable and Antonio Banderas' is a bit better, but to me Andrew Lloyd Webber's rather muted spectacle is the least interesting thing about Madonna in the '90s. And yes, I remember "Nothing Really Matters.
Here they are, the five worst movies to win the biggest Golden Globe of the night.
5. Evita
I'm obviously an elite-level Madonna fan, but I'm also the first to admit that Evita is un-special. Madonna's performance is serviceable and Antonio Banderas' is a bit better, but to me Andrew Lloyd Webber's rather muted spectacle is the least interesting thing about Madonna in the '90s. And yes, I remember "Nothing Really Matters.
- 12/14/2012
- by virtel
- The Backlot
At the SXSW Festival 2012, HBO rolled out the red carpet, screened three episodes of Lena Dunham's Girls, and viewers wandered into a bona fide hit. Whose time, incidentally, had come.
What writer/actress/director, Lena Dunham has written is good and true. At least in my opinion as a single person perpetually amazed by cutting-edge social and romantic horrors.
Mostly, Girls makes me glad.
I'm a student of sitcom (and, all right, sometimes a teacher of its evolution). World War II, coming conveniently near the beginning of popularly available television programming, allowed room for a Gertrude Berg (in 1949 the writer, star & producer of television's first sitcom, The Goldbergs); an Ethel Waters (The Beulah Show, 1950); and a Lucille Ball (who in 1951 set sitcom standards still in use by many: shoot film, 3 cameras, live audiences).
Meanwhile the guys were back from war (not that there's anything wrong with that), but the...
What writer/actress/director, Lena Dunham has written is good and true. At least in my opinion as a single person perpetually amazed by cutting-edge social and romantic horrors.
Mostly, Girls makes me glad.
I'm a student of sitcom (and, all right, sometimes a teacher of its evolution). World War II, coming conveniently near the beginning of popularly available television programming, allowed room for a Gertrude Berg (in 1949 the writer, star & producer of television's first sitcom, The Goldbergs); an Ethel Waters (The Beulah Show, 1950); and a Lucille Ball (who in 1951 set sitcom standards still in use by many: shoot film, 3 cameras, live audiences).
Meanwhile the guys were back from war (not that there's anything wrong with that), but the...
- 4/16/2012
- by Suzanne O'Malley
- Aol TV.
Betty White cannot believe her recent run of luck, winning a fifth primetime Emmy last year for hosting "SNL" and being a strong contender this year for her supporting roles on the sitcom "Hot in Cleveland" and the telefilm The Lost Valentine." Chatting by phone with senior editors Rob Licuria and Chris Beachum she admitted, "I'm going to be 90 next January, and I'm blessed with good health for which I'm deeply grateful. To have all this good stuff happen, and I'm still having the same kind of fun I've had for the last 63 years in the business. You've got to taste that and appreciate it." White earned the first of her 16 Emmy bids back in 1951 for the laffer "Life with Elizabeth." She lost to Gertrude Berg who was reprising her radio role as Molly Golberg on "The Goldbergs." White went on to win back-to-back Comedy Supporting Actress for "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (1975, 1976). White wa.
- 6/9/2011
- Gold Derby
They say history is written by the winners, but that's not always accurate. Sometimes, the winner's circle gets a little too crowded, and a few good apples get pushed into obscurity. Gertrude Berg, born Tilly Edelstein, 'the most famous woman in America you've never heard of' unfortunately became one of those apples.
Her influence was and still is unmistakable. Year's before the second wave of the Women's Liberation Movement, Berg managed to build a successful broadcast and television career by playing according to her own rules. Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, an Aviva Kempner documentary, illustrates the magnitude of her accomplishments and the effect that it held on American society. Filled with commentary from various sources, as well as vintage clips and interviews, Berg is portrayed in various lights, mainly as the amicable Jewish persona but most importantly as the shrewd business woman with intense business savvy.
Kempner's documentary is as engaging as it is informative.
Her influence was and still is unmistakable. Year's before the second wave of the Women's Liberation Movement, Berg managed to build a successful broadcast and television career by playing according to her own rules. Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, an Aviva Kempner documentary, illustrates the magnitude of her accomplishments and the effect that it held on American society. Filled with commentary from various sources, as well as vintage clips and interviews, Berg is portrayed in various lights, mainly as the amicable Jewish persona but most importantly as the shrewd business woman with intense business savvy.
Kempner's documentary is as engaging as it is informative.
- 9/12/2010
- by Simone Grant
- JustPressPlay.net
The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the Fred Weekend Shopping Guide - your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…
(Please support Fred by using the links below to make any impulse purchases - it helps to keep us going…)
Bundled together for easier fan purchase (and because the boys claim that there will be no more) Flight Of The Conchords: The Complete Collection (HBO, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 Srp) brings together the pre-existing 1st and 2nd season releases, with all of their bonus features intact, and adds the previously unreleased 30-minute One Night Stand performance that launched it all.
Oh, I’m a sucker for a novelty instrument.
(Please support Fred by using the links below to make any impulse purchases - it helps to keep us going…)
Bundled together for easier fan purchase (and because the boys claim that there will be no more) Flight Of The Conchords: The Complete Collection (HBO, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 Srp) brings together the pre-existing 1st and 2nd season releases, with all of their bonus features intact, and adds the previously unreleased 30-minute One Night Stand performance that launched it all.
Oh, I’m a sucker for a novelty instrument.
- 8/27/2010
- by UncaScroogeMcD
This week's DVD/Blu-Ray/VOD release list includes a film nominated for the Foreign Language Oscar, George A. Romero's latest, a box set of three from Josef Von Sternberg, and a profile of radio/early TV star Gertrude Berg. Aviva Kempner, who directed the Berg flick, "Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg" (criticWIRE rating: B), took her film across the country to Jewish film fests and marketed the film to audiences that would have nostalgia for Berg ...
- 8/24/2010
- Indiewire
A look at what's new on DVD today:
"$5 a Day" (2008)
Directed by Nigel Cole
Released by Image Entertainment
A refugee of the bankrupt Capitol Films, this dramedy starring Christopher Walken as a raconteur who claims he's able to live a full life on the titular Lincoln bill is finally seeing the light of day after premiering at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. Alessandro Nivola co-stars as his son who drives him to New Mexico when he falls ill. Sharon Stone and Amanda Peet are along for the ride.
"2:22" (2008)
Directed by Phillip Guzman
Released by Inception Media Group
A quartet of thieves scheme to rob a boutique hotel on New Year's Eve, but find out that what's waiting for them on the inside is even colder than the snow-caked streets outside. Just as he did for his 2006 crime thriller "Played," star/co-writer Rossi called upon famous pals Gabriel Byrne and Val Kilmer...
"$5 a Day" (2008)
Directed by Nigel Cole
Released by Image Entertainment
A refugee of the bankrupt Capitol Films, this dramedy starring Christopher Walken as a raconteur who claims he's able to live a full life on the titular Lincoln bill is finally seeing the light of day after premiering at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. Alessandro Nivola co-stars as his son who drives him to New Mexico when he falls ill. Sharon Stone and Amanda Peet are along for the ride.
"2:22" (2008)
Directed by Phillip Guzman
Released by Inception Media Group
A quartet of thieves scheme to rob a boutique hotel on New Year's Eve, but find out that what's waiting for them on the inside is even colder than the snow-caked streets outside. Just as he did for his 2006 crime thriller "Played," star/co-writer Rossi called upon famous pals Gabriel Byrne and Val Kilmer...
- 8/24/2010
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the Fred Weekend Shopping Guide - your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…
(Please support Fred by using the links below to make any impulse purchases - it helps to keep us going…)
I’ve spoken to a few of his contemporaries in the past, and all of them described the drive and determination related in Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story (Vivendi, Not Rated, DVD-$26.97 Srp), a documentary which uses the comedian’s build up to his most recent world tour to explore his life and comedy. It’s a brilliant, brilliant portrait of a brilliant comic mind. Bonus...
(Please support Fred by using the links below to make any impulse purchases - it helps to keep us going…)
I’ve spoken to a few of his contemporaries in the past, and all of them described the drive and determination related in Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story (Vivendi, Not Rated, DVD-$26.97 Srp), a documentary which uses the comedian’s build up to his most recent world tour to explore his life and comedy. It’s a brilliant, brilliant portrait of a brilliant comic mind. Bonus...
- 3/13/2010
- by UncaScroogeMcD
Plays Nearly 3 Months in NYC, Now Out in Cities Across U.S. No one was more surprised than I to see the documentary Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg enter its third month at the Quad Cinema in New York City while it played simultaneously at the Westhampton Theater in Richmond, Va, just a few miles from where I grew up. Being a classic film junkie, there's nothing I like more than a large helping of nostalgia. Obviously, there is something similar audiences currently feel as they embrace the character of Molly Goldberg in this fascinating documentary. The irresistible nostalgia of Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg as depicted in its theatrical poster. Aviva Kempner's film covers the life of the scriptwriter and actress Gertrude Berg. This skilled director imparts a deeply personal story, masterfully juxtaposes it with U.S. social history--crossing the...
- 9/19/2009
- by Penelope Andrew
- Huffington Post
Most of us adults now have some memory of watching family-oriented television sitcoms growing up. For every era, there was a popular family show on TV that many of us gathered around the tube to watch. For me, there was Wonder Years, The Cosby Show and Family Ties. For generations before me, there was Leave It To Beaver and Father Knows Best. But, where did it all begin?
Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg is a new documentary from Aviva Kempner (The Life And Times Of Hank Greenberg) that tells the story of Gertrude Berg. The tag-line of the film is “the most famous woman in America you’ve never heard of” and this couldn’t be more true. Gertrude Berg was a radio and television pioneer. She created a character by the name of Molly Goldberg and the radio program called The Goldbergs. This radio serial would be incredibly popular in the 20’s and 30’s,...
Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg is a new documentary from Aviva Kempner (The Life And Times Of Hank Greenberg) that tells the story of Gertrude Berg. The tag-line of the film is “the most famous woman in America you’ve never heard of” and this couldn’t be more true. Gertrude Berg was a radio and television pioneer. She created a character by the name of Molly Goldberg and the radio program called The Goldbergs. This radio serial would be incredibly popular in the 20’s and 30’s,...
- 8/28/2009
- by Travis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Earlier, when I asked Program Director Nancy Fishman which program out of this year’s edition of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (Sfjff) she was most anticipating, she didn’t miss a beat in highlighting the salute to Gertrude Berg; a program consisting of four archival episodes from The Goldbergs television series, followed by Aviva Kempner‘s documentary Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg (2009). In tandem with Sfjff’s presentation of the 2009 Freedom of Expression Award to Kempner, a Q&A session following The Goldbergs program, and a panel discussion following Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, the program was leant considerable charm by the participation of Dr. Glenn D. “Pete” Smith, Jr., author of Something On My Own: Gertrude Berg and American Broadcasting, 1929-1956 (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2007). Perhaps it was his Mississippian drawl, or his enthused (and contagious!) scholasticism, or the intriguing disconnect between his youthful interest in a subject...
- 8/12/2009
- by Michael Guillen
- Screen Anarchy
Quick — who was the first woman to appear in a network sitcom?
No, not Lucille Ball, but that would’ve been my guess.
Here’s a hint. She also won the first Emmy for Best Actress. I’ll even show you a picture.
Still no clue, I bet. Her name is Gertrude Berg. Wait, who?
Exactly. That’s why Aviva Kempner’s new documentary, Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, is so important.
Berg was sort of the Oprah of her era — and she paved the way for women in the entertainment industry. Her radio show, The Goldbergs, premiered the week after the 1929 stock market crash and every day for 17 years, Berg rose at 6 a.m., wrote that day’s script, then went to the studio to produce the show and perform her role, Molly Goldberg.
In 1949, Berg brought The Goldbergs to television, where it was the first character-driven domestic sitcom. (When the...
No, not Lucille Ball, but that would’ve been my guess.
Here’s a hint. She also won the first Emmy for Best Actress. I’ll even show you a picture.
Still no clue, I bet. Her name is Gertrude Berg. Wait, who?
Exactly. That’s why Aviva Kempner’s new documentary, Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, is so important.
Berg was sort of the Oprah of her era — and she paved the way for women in the entertainment industry. Her radio show, The Goldbergs, premiered the week after the 1929 stock market crash and every day for 17 years, Berg rose at 6 a.m., wrote that day’s script, then went to the studio to produce the show and perform her role, Molly Goldberg.
In 1949, Berg brought The Goldbergs to television, where it was the first character-driven domestic sitcom. (When the...
- 7/20/2009
- by thelinster
- AfterEllen.com
When I first heard about Gertrude Berg a couple of years ago when I was working on a documentary, after my initial shock dissipated, I got angry. How could it be that such a towering figure in radio and TV history could just... disappear? Well, the good news is that Berg is back, hopefully for good. Aviva Kempner has put together the documentary Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg (disclaimer: I am consulting on outreach for the film) that restores Gertrude Berg to her rightful prominence as one of the leading figures of early TV. Berg was the creator of the radio series The Goldbergs which morphed into the first family sitcom on TV The Goldbergs. The show introduced the country to a Jewish family in the years right after the Holocaust. This very Jewish family was welcomed into homes all across...
- 7/10/2009
- by Melissa Silverstein
- Huffington Post
As a wee lad growing up in an Italian- American family in Boonton, NJ, I always enjoyed watching "The Goldbergs," a sitcom about a Jewish-American family in The Bronx.
For some strange reason, one particular scene (involving Uncle David pouring three glasses of milk) has stuck in my mind all these years.
I imagine I'm not the only person who remembers that moment, because it's found in "Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg," Aviva Kempner's fawning and formulaic documentary about Gertrude Berg. The now-forgotten superstar wrote, produced and appeared in the enormously popular show,...
For some strange reason, one particular scene (involving Uncle David pouring three glasses of milk) has stuck in my mind all these years.
I imagine I'm not the only person who remembers that moment, because it's found in "Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg," Aviva Kempner's fawning and formulaic documentary about Gertrude Berg. The now-forgotten superstar wrote, produced and appeared in the enormously popular show,...
- 7/10/2009
- by By V,A. MUSETTO
- NYPost.com
Did you know that Lucille Ball was not the first woman of sitcom television land? In fact, there was another who not only came before the famous redhead, but who should also be counted as one of the pioneers behind the screen? No? I didn't either.
Enter Gertrude Berg, who is the focus of Aviva Kempner's new documentary Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, which is hitting theaters this week in New York City before heading to DC on the 17th and La on the 24th. This isn't your heart-tugging, dramatic art doc, but rather a straight-forward account of someone we should know because, frankly, her success was impressive. (That picture to the right -- that's Berg with her scripts.)
Turns out that before I Love Lucy, there was a show radio show that hit television called The Goldbergs. It was Berg's own creation -- a brainchild she shopped around herself, wrote,...
Enter Gertrude Berg, who is the focus of Aviva Kempner's new documentary Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, which is hitting theaters this week in New York City before heading to DC on the 17th and La on the 24th. This isn't your heart-tugging, dramatic art doc, but rather a straight-forward account of someone we should know because, frankly, her success was impressive. (That picture to the right -- that's Berg with her scripts.)
Turns out that before I Love Lucy, there was a show radio show that hit television called The Goldbergs. It was Berg's own creation -- a brainchild she shopped around herself, wrote,...
- 7/9/2009
- by Monika Bartyzel
- Cinematical
From 1929 to 1956, radio and TV character Molly Goldberg—a cross between Maude, Madea, and June Cleaver—presided over her fictional immigrant family with such warmth and insight that she became one of the most popular people in America. At a time when Jews were commonly portrayed in the media as thick-accented exotics (and at a time when anti-Semitism was sweeping the globe), The Goldbergs depicted a Jewish family as ordinary Americans, set apart from the vast majority of their listening and viewing audience only by a few religious ceremonies. Goldbergs star Gertrude Berg guided her show from radio ...
- 7/9/2009
- avclub.com
Aviva Kempner's Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg is an engrossing nostalgia bath -- if you're of a certain age. If you're younger, it's a window into a bygone world that seems so much simpler and rife with possibilities: the early days of TV, when the medium minted its first superstars, including Liberace, Bishop Fulton Sheen -- and Gertrude Berg. Berg's name rarely gets mentioned as a pioneer, yet as Kempner's film shows, she can lay claim to having invented the situation-comedy with her popular show, The Goldbergs. In her time, she was a force to be reckoned with, writing, producing and starring in her own TV series at the dawn of that breakthrough medium. She won the first Emmy given for best actress. Kempner traces Berg's life as the daughter of an immigrant, writing and performing skits at her father's Catskills resort, through her...
- 7/8/2009
- by Marshall Fine
- Huffington Post
For the past 30 years, my goal has been to make documentaries about lesser-known Jewish heroes that counter negative stereotypes.
My goal is to show them foremost in the cinema, not digital releases. I make films to be shown on big movie screens. My newest film, "Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg," celebrates accomplished Gertrude Berg, the creator of the domestic sitcom.
Talk about an accomplished woman. Gertrude Berg’s radio show, "The Rise of the Goldbergs," debuted in 1929 and was an American favorite for seventeen years. Her t...
My goal is to show them foremost in the cinema, not digital releases. I make films to be shown on big movie screens. My newest film, "Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg," celebrates accomplished Gertrude Berg, the creator of the domestic sitcom.
Talk about an accomplished woman. Gertrude Berg’s radio show, "The Rise of the Goldbergs," debuted in 1929 and was an American favorite for seventeen years. Her t...
- 6/15/2009
- by Michael Speier
- The Wrap
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