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Northlight Theatre is preparing to debut a new play, The First Lady of Television, which tells the story of Gertrude Berg, a major figure in American broadcasting during the 1930s and 1940s. Artistic Director BJ Jones was inspired to pursue this project after viewing the documentary Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg in 2009.
“In 2009, on a rainy afternoon in New York, Candy and I decided to keep dry by going to a movie at a movie theatre near Lincoln Center. I saw an ad in the Times for a documentary called Yoo Hoo Mrs. Goldberg, a film about Gertrude Berg, one of the most famous women in broadcasting in the ’30s and ’40s, whose radio program was wildly successful and uplifting in a post depression era stretching into the war years. I remembered seeing her television version of the program as a very young child. I thought it would be a terrific play about the time frame, exposing the House Un-American Activities Committee and the antisemitic attitudes of the time,” Jones said.
Jones initially worked with a local playwright but later brought Jim Sherman onto the project after being impressed by his work on another play. “I reached out to a local playwright and commissioned them after a talk on my vision of the piece. Some time later, they delivered a treatment, which we then discussed changes to. For whatever reason, the changes didn’t emerge, and the project lay fallow for some time, until I saw Jim Sherman’s play Chegall in School. I admired the work, so I took Jim to coffee to discuss his interest in various projects, including the Gertrude Berg project. He seemed keen on the idea, and after doing some research, including seeing the documentary, he delivered a script some months later that aligned with the original vision for the piece I had hoped for in 2009,” he explained.
Sherman also connected with Aviva Kempner—director of Yoo-hoo Mrs.Goldberg—and even appeared in her next documentary during his research process for writing The First Lady of Television.
Jones shared that Cindy Gold was always considered for portraying Gertrude Berg: “I always had Cindy Gold in mind for Gertrude Berg, even all the way back to 2009. When this version arrived, I knew we had to produce it.” Northlight secured support from organizations such as The Steinberg Foundation and workshopped an early version at last year’s Colorado New Plays Festival with what will be largely its final cast.
According to Jones: “What’s truly fascinating is how prescient the piece is, given what is happening in our world today. The first speeches feel as if they were written this morning, but in truth they echo Gertrude Berg’s own opening monologues as rendered by Jim’s own gifted writing.”
Aviva Kempner recounted her motivation behind making her documentary: “I saw an exhibit about famous followers of Judaism on television at the Jewish Museum… And she had stood up for her stage husband Philip Loeb who was victim of blacklist… And she wrote all shows’ scripts and her husband typed them.”
Kempner noted that while much of Berg's work faded from public memory over time due to changing media landscapes and social circumstances—including blacklisting during anti-communist campaigns—Northlight Theatre aims to introduce her story anew.
The First Lady of Television opens September 11 at Northlight Theatre.
