Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Yoo-Hoo, Ms. Kempner!

Filmmaker Aviva Kempner lives one block from this blogger, and her new film Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg!, a film biography of Gertrude Berg, is playing two blocks away. Our local diner has a large billboard promoting the film, and the Avalon movie theatre gives us a discount as members. So, why not go and see for ourselves? Which someone I know and myself did. We both enjoyed the film, nostalgia for my Bronx (Yoo-Hoo, Ms. Sotomayor!) and our New York City days...we had a friend who lived across our airshaft (Yoo-Hoo, Mr. Horowitz!). Molly Goldberg reminded me of my Grandma Minnie. There were some wonderful interviews (Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg saying that Justice Marshall addressed her as "Mrs. Goldberg" when she pled before the Supreme Court as an attorney...she took it as a compliment), as well as some not-so-great moments (Susan Stamberg, apparently channelling Lauren Bacall, declaring that Molly Goldberg did not have a Yiddish accent--cut to a clip of Molly with a Yiddish accent). But overall enjoyable, nostalgic, and most important of all--not mean-spirited for a moment...

So, why not go?

In the meantime, here's the trailer:

Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg Trailer from Aviva Kempner on Vimeo.