Radio and television mirror (July-Dec 1951)

for them. She furnished it completely, even to putting a chicken in the refrigerator. Then she had me bring the old folks to their new home. 'Til this day Gertrude continues to pay their rent. Actors and actresses in need turn to her — and never go away empty-handed. Why should they is her philosophy. She has been known to pay some members of her cast in advance because they needed the money. And just about everyone who ever works on the show must spend at least one week-end at her home in Bedford Hills, New York. Gertrude's own family has been treated as tenderly and generously as the family on Tremont Avenue. Despite her career, she's a wife and mother first. Of primary concern to her is her children's happiness. Both have finished college and mean to have careers in radio. Cherney is interested in music, Harriet in writing. And Mr. Berg, though nothing like the irascible Jake, is just as adoring of his wife and children. t'ertrude writes from memory and I incorporates into her scripts what has happened in her own life. It was she who first put the bicarbonate of soda in the cake that so distressed Molly. But Gertrude commits no such culinary errors when making her famous gef ulte fish or kreplach — nor would she allow Molly to! Gertrude doesn't mouth those famous malapropisms of Molly's either. But she does write them and the Princeton University Library honored her a few years ago by requesting sample Goldberg scripts "as representatives of one of the best serials on the air." Scholars of the future will come across such typically Molly expressions as "So tell me what's revolving in the world . . . I'm slightly better dear, extremely slightly . . . I'm putting on my bathrobe and condescending the stairs" and, of course, her famous "grosgrain headache." One Mollyism in particular should delight that eminent Princeton resident, Dr. Albert Einstein: "You can't stop evolution. It's the law of gravity." Last summer Paramount Pictures asked Gertrude to come out to Hollywood and make a picture for them. Everyone in the cast went. Gertrude took eight days to write the script, and nineteen days later the entire picture was finished. Experts and executives in Hollywood were amazed. But Molly's creator was modest when asked how long it had taken to write the film. "Eight days," she replied. "No, say ten days. I don't want to sound like a show-off." Critics, reviewers and reporters have tried to put their fingers on the keys that spell out Gertrude's success. They have tried to analyze Molly's appeal and to understand why the public loves her. I've tried, too, because I'm so very fond of her. It may not be the same reason that distant audiences have. But to me she is human and it is her humanity that draws me to her. It may also be what my son, Howard, once said about her. "Mother," he told me, "Gertrude Berg and Molly are four dimensional human beings. The fourth dimension is reflection — people see themselves mirrored in Molly." Maybe he has something. After all, he was the one who discovered her for me. Too, it may be as an admirer wrote: "There's no one quite like Molly. She's such a good person." I don't think anyone doubts that! "I can fairly see the dirt walk off by itself!" writes Mrs. Robert J. Burns of New Brunswick, N. J. Thank you, Mrs. Burns, for this quotable quote. Like any woman who washes for a big family, you've been tempted to try other laundry products. And like these other women, you have found no substitute for Fels-Naptha. \ Fels-Naptha's mild golden soap and gentle, active naptha plus the new "sunshine" ingredients make white clothes whiter and colored fabrics brighter. May you and all Fels-Naptha's friends live long and prosper— and may Fels-Naptha always make your washdays lighter and shorter. *■ Always use Improved Fels-Naptha — the only laundry product that gives you— 1. Mild, golden soap. 2. Gentle, active naptha. 3. Finer "sunshine" ingredients for extra, brilliant whiteness and clearer, brighter colors. Fels-Naptha Soap BANISHES "TATTLE-TALE GRAY" 81