The Terrible Catsafterme

SEASON 1 – CBS

Created by Gertrude Berg

This series is the continuations of the radio series that began in 1929 as “The Rise of the Goldbergs”, changing the title to “The Goldbergs” in 1936 when it moved from NBC to CBS.

Theme song: “Serenade” by Enrico Toselli

NOTE: The first two seasons of the series aired on CBS between January 17, 1949 and June 18, 1951 on Monday evenings. It is not known how many episodes aired during this period, but only 7 episodes from this era are known to exist, 6 of them from Season 1. All episodes in this list are numbered according to existing episodes only.

• 001. The Distinguished Guest – 8/29/1949
  • Jewish couple Molly and Jake Goldberg (Gertrude Berg, Philip Loeb) have just returned to their home in Bronx with their children Sammy (Larry Robinson) and Rosalie (Arlene “Fuzzy” McQuade) and their Uncle David Romaine (Eli Mintz). They have met a number of prestigious people at their resort “Pincus Pines” and were given a dog named Pinky that the owner claimed to be a thoroughbred. Molly recommends to her neighbors a real estate agent and attorney that were recommended to her at the resort by their proud parents. Jake has met a powerful businessman named Alex Wrightman who promises to make Jake a silent partner in his garment business. Wrightman is coming for dinner and Jake calls up Molly’s cousin J.B. Simon (Harry Lascoe), because Simon is also a big shot in the garment industry and Jake wants to impress him with his new acquaintance. Wrightman shows up and is called away to leave suddenly, seemingly after hearing Simon’s name…and borrowing some cash from the family. Molly and Jake then find out that the real estate agent and lawyer were actually only a rent collector and a student, and furthermore Pinky was only a mongrel. They realize everyone exaggerates at Pinkus Pines, including David who told folks that his son Sully was a specialist and professor, instead of just a doctor. However, when Simon shows up and sees a picture of Jake with Wrightman, he report that in fact is in fact a big shot and that Jake, who had almost lost faith in his new job, is as good as made. Molly makes her pitch to the audience for Sanka Coffee. 10/18/14

• 002. The New Landlord – 9/5/1949
  • The tenants in the Goldbergs’ building have a new landlord named Mr. Peach, and they go on the offensive right away to make demands that he improves the building using Molly as their spokesperson. Peach is quite compliant and agrees to paint each apartment but notes that it will be quite a hardship. Everyone is appreciated until one of the painters tells the Goldbergs that this will mean that Peach can file a petition to have the rent raised citing a ‘hardship’. Jake berates Peach, and the neighbors all are angry at Molly. She gets the idea to throw Mr. Peach a birthday party, forego having her apartment painted, and getting everyone to voluntarily raise their own rent by $2 a month. Peach is extremely appreciative and tells them he had no intention of raising their rent but was only stating that it would be a ‘personal hardship’ to make the improvements. Everyone is angry at Molly again. 10/18/14
• 003. Cousin Simon – 9/12/1949
  • Jake is annoyed by the selfishness of Molly’s successful cousin Simon, but Molly invites him for dinner while Simon’s family is vacationing in California. While Jake and Simon are arguing, Simon has chest pains, and a doctor insists that he not move from the Goldbergs’ home while he undergoes testing on his heart. As they care for him, Simon realizes his selfishness and vows that if he recovers, he is going to be more generous, telling Jake he will be his right-hand man if he recovers, and he has his secretary Debbie (Betty Walker) bring him checks made out to his family members, also offering to double her salary. But once he is simply diagnosed with over-eating Molly’s noodle pudding, he decides to go join his family in California…but goes back on all his promises. Doro Merande played the nurse. 11/1/14
• 004. Family Photograph – 9/26/1949
  • The Goldbergs get a letter from relatives in Europe requesting a family photo. Molly begins deciding what they will wear for the picture, and Jake suggests that Natalie Felson, his floor lady at work, is an expert on hats and can make Molly one. He raves about Natalie and arranges a lunch for Molly to meet her so that she can design a hat for her. At lunch Jake continues bragging about her, so much so that Molly begins to suspect an affair. Molly receives the hat and then invites Natalie over to make adjustments to it, dropping hints all through the visit that anyone who breaks up a happy home is terrible. Natalie leaves crying and leaves a message to give to Jake that she can’t see him any longer. Molly is relieved, and Jake is apologetic when he gets home…but Molly learns that Jake actually had been convincing Natalie to go home to her husband. The family goes to get their portrait. 11/1/14
• 005. The Model Parents – 10/10/1949
  • Rosalie is writing a composition for school titled My Family, but when she won’t let her family read it before she submits it, they fear that it speaks ill of them. This is further solidified in their minds when Rosalie’s friend Janet’s mother reports that her daughter labeled her as over-protective in her composition. Jake and Molly decide that the family better adapt their behavior before Rosalie turns in her composition, so Molly tells her she doesn’t need to practice piano and also gives up the time gossiping -“Yoo-Hoos!”- with the neighbors, Jake offers to take her on a stroll and be her friend, Sammy does the dishes for her, and Uncle David stops being so possessive of their dog Pinky. This causes Rosalie to go to Janet’s house to amend her composition and give the first one to her family to read. Before they get a chance to read it, Janet’s mother comes over and tells them that she eavesdropped and found out that Rosalie is presenting them in a somewhat negative light in the second version. Rosalie comes home and changes her mind and says she’ll submit the first one. When they read it, they find that everything in it is positive. 11/29/14
• 006. Mrs. Cramer Lends Her Apartment – 4/3/1950
  • When the Goldbergs’ neighbors the Cramers head to Florida for vacation, Mrs. Esther Cramer (Betty Walker) offers their apartment to her hair stylist Violet Green over the objections of her husband. Violet’s mother (Bertha Belmore) is coming from the British Isles to visit her, and Violet has left her husband as he became for dedicated to life in college in Pennsylvania. She doesn’t want her mother to know, so she decorates the Cramer apartment as if it is theirs. Molly hosts Violet and her mother as well as other mothers visiting from Britain for coffee and cookies. Violet’s mother decides to stay to meet her son-in-law, but when Molly – with the help of Mrs. Cramer – gets hold of his roommate, she finds out that he’s actually headed to England for more college courses. Molly fakes receiving a telegram telling Violet and her mother that he is in England so that they can all go back there. The visiting British mothers help Molly advertise Sanka. 11/29/14

SEASON 2

NOTE: Only one episode from the Season 2 is known to exist.

• 007. Episode aired 3/19/1951
  • Molly’s cousin Hannaleia (Bertha Walden) and her daughter Freida (Florence Anglin) comes to visit the Goldberg family. Hannaleia tends to get on everyone’s nerves because she constantly breaks down crying because Freida hasn’t gotten married and furthermore, Hannaleia refuses to have her gall stones dissolved for fear of undergoing an operation while Freida is single. Jake, David, Rosalie, and even the neighbors get involved in matchmaking. Freida ends up with four suitors at once over at the apartment, which she graciously accepts. Later Freida berates Molly and everyone else and demands that they stop playing matchmaker. When the landlord stops by the apartment to talk about painting, Freida refuses to even meet him. However, the landlord takes an immediate interest in Freida and asks for her number. Dora Weissman and John Van Dreelan also star. 1/12/15

SEASON 3 – NBC

NOTE: The series aired on NBC in a fifteen-minute format during the 1952 season on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Two episodes from this season are known to exist.

• 008. Episode aired 2/13/1952
  • After Molly talks about the need for her neighbor to have Ekco Flint knives, the Goldbergs anxiously prepare for an upcoming trip to Florida after her cousin Simon offered to let her divvy up four weeks at his Florida home to the family. Molly brings the family over and they quickly snatch up all four weeks, so Molly gets hold of Simon and he gives them a fifth week. The family then borrows all of the Goldbergs’ purchases for their Florida trip since they’re not going until the fifth week. But alas, Molly realizes that the examination for her night school classes will be during the fifth week, so they will not be going to Florida after all. Harold J. Stone takes over the role of Jake. 1/14/15
• 009. Episode aired 8/18/1952
  • With Rosalie’s help, Molly pitches Rybutol vitamins. Their neighbor Tante Elka (Sarah Krohner) is getting ready to become a grandparent, but she is upset because her son Georgie (Michael Morris) and his wife Joyce have selected names for the baby and chosen not to name it after Elka’s parents. Although the Goldbergs argue among themselves, they all try to convince Elka that the name doesn’t matter. She is unconvinced… until Georgie convinces her that the names they’ve selected are derivative of her parents’ names. 3/7/15

SEASON 4

NOTE: The series was returned to a 30-minute format on NBC during the 1953 season. There were 13 episodes during this season. Only one is known to exist.

• 010. Episode aired 8/7/1953
  • Molly talks about the RCA Exhibition Hall that she visited, and introduces a commercial for the Magic Monitor Circuit System hosted by John William Streeter. Jake’s (now played by Robert H. Harris) favorite uncle Berish (Menasha Slulnick) comes to visit. David immediately thinks he is getting more attention so Jake foregoes taking him to the theater and takes Molly instead. While they are gone, Berish and David get into an argument over whether Berish’s dentist son is truly a doctor. When Jake and Molly return, they are bombarded with questions about dentists and doctors, which causes Jake and Molly to get into an argument. Both Berish and David are packed and ready to leave until they realize that it will cause a rift between Molly and Jake, so they decide to stay. Berish privately tells Molly that a dentist is a doctor. Molly chats with the audience about RCA’s room conditioner and encourages the audience to send a postcard to RCA Victor requesting the book How to Beat the Heat. 3/8/15

SEASON 5 – Dumont

NOTE: The series was moved to the DuMont Television Network and aired between April 13, 1954, and October 19, 1954, for a total of 28 episodes. 22 of them survive.

• 011. Molly Learns to Rhumba – 5/4/1954
  • Molly goes along to formal dance with her family and Sammy’s (now played by Tom Taylor) girlfriend Dora Barnett (Pat Breslin) and her parents Joe (Somer Alberg) and Carrie (Ruth Yorke). Because she doesn’t know the modern dances like the Rhumba, the Samba, and the Creep, she feels like a wallflower. She privately takes dance lessons from Rickey & Veda (Rickey & Vera Fernandez) Dance Studio. Molly then teaches David the dances, and he comes along on their next outing. Jake bribes the orchestra to only play waltzes so that Molly doesn’t have to sit out the entire time, while she grows restless and wants to show off her new dances. David then bribes the orchestra to play a Samba, which she and David dance to. This surprises and delights Jake who then joins her in the dance. Molly attributes the energy she gets to dance to Rybutol vitamins. The show also promotes Juvenal for children. 5/24/15 
• 012. Episode aired 5/11/1954
  • Jake is getting concerned that Sammy and Dora are getting too serious because of all of the time they are spending together, and he is adamant that Sammy finishes college before they get married. Her parents however do not want Dora to have to wait until he finishes school, and Joe plans to groom Sammy in his shoe business. The parents plan to meet for a game of Scrabble, and although both have agreed to not bring up the kids, the Scrabble words lead to a discussion and argument about their marriage, with the Barnetts storming out in the end. Jake starts to lecture Sammy, but Sammy assures him that their plans will neither match her parents – nor his – but that since he is now a man, they will make their own decisions, hoping that he makes his father proud. The Goldbergs and the Barnetts resume their game of Scrabble. Dora Weissman’s character is identified as Mrs. Herman. 5/24/14
• 013. Music Lover – 5/25/1954
  • The Goldbergs’ neighbor Mr. Varga (Ben Astar) has invested in his daughter Eva’s (Regina Resnik) opera singing lessons, but now that she is married, her husband Vernon does not want her to sing professionally. Despite Jake’s objections, Molly gets involved and asks Vernon for permission to let her sing at a Ladies Auxiliary concert which is attended by music critic Mr. Nottingham (Eugene Leonard). Her father is able to get Eva an audition with an important impresario and asks Molly to give Eva his number, while he goes to speak to Vernon, who ends up saying that Eva can do as she wishes. Before Molly or Varga can give Eva the number, they hear her singing lullabies and realize that she is going to have a baby. Mr. Varga tears up the phone number. 7/12/15
• 014. The Hobby – 6/1/1954
  • Molly starts to get jealous when Sammy brings home a painting that his girlfriend Dora’s mother Carrie created and gave him. She tries to argue that making food is an art form, but both Carrie and Jake remind her that one day she will no longer have kids to cook for. She takes an art class taught by Mr. Tobak (Jacob Mestel) but can’t come up with anything. Mrs. Herman introduces her to painting by numbers and she and Uncle David replicate some famous artwork. Jake thinks that the painting is Molly’s original and invites Carrie over to see it, but then realizes that it is a paint-by-numbers. However Molly has finally created her own artwork: a painting of a plate of food which is going to be exhibited in the local school. 7/15/15
• 015. Episode aired 6/8/1954
  • Jake has plans to buy Molly a birthday present that is the engagement ring that she never got when they got married. After looking for a bit, he purchases the ring as a surprise. Meanwhile the Goldbergs’ neighbor Mrs. Jerome (Jane Rose) laments to Molly that her son Eddie (Fred Sadoff) has become a dentist in the neighborhood but is about ready to pack up and leave because he isn’t getting any business. Molly recommends him to Mrs. Herman and Mrs. Glanz (Beatrice Pons), as well as her own entire family. The Goldbergs all go to the dentist and discover that they each need so much work done that Jake will have to return the ring in order to pay for it all. Molly and Jake agree to give each other their dental work for their birthdays. Eddie stops by the Goldbergs and show them the engagement ring that he bought for his fiancee after getting so much business. 9/8/15
• 016. Episode aired 6/15/1954
  • The week before the Goldbergs are planning a vacation at Pincus Pines, Molly’s cousin Elka pleads with her to allow her son Joe’s (Judith Malina) two girls Jacqueline and Roberta to stay with them since Joe’s wife Sylvia is about to go into labor with her third child. A day passes with Molly trying to take care of the girls who are disrupting the house. Constant noise from their bickering, Molly telling the story of Little Red Riding Hood, and the girls watching The Lone Ranger is driving Jake crazy. Sylvia then shows up when the doctor sends her home and asks if she can stay in the Goldberg house as well. The smell Molly’s cooking makes her sick, so Jake has to take his cabbage soup and eat it at Mrs. Herman’s place. While a doctor is visiting to tend to Jacqueline’s fever, Sylvia goes into labor and has the baby. Jack thinks his vacation will never come. Carl Don is Sylvia’s husband Joe. 9/8/15
• 017. Baby Naming – 6/22/1954
  • Molly’s cousin Elka is upset that her son Joe is not going to name the baby after her mother. Jake gets a call from Joe and finds out that there are bigger worries since Joe just lost his job and now has three children to support. Although Cousin Simon (Louis Sorin) is generally the rich outcast of the family, Molly decides to go visit him to see if he might have work for Joe. Simon tells Molly he is thinking of quitting the business since he has no heir, and implies if someone would name their baby after his mother Chana Beana, he would do anything for them. Elka is still inconsolable that Joe and Sylvia have no plans to name the baby after her mother. Molly labors over this and thinks there is no way to appease the situation. However, Molly convinces Joe to name the baby Bonnie Anne, which is derivative of both Chana Beana and Shana Anna, thus pleasing both parties and ensuring Joe of getting a job. Joseph Leberman is Hickstein. 12/7/15
• 018. Episode aired 6/29/1954
  • Jake is furious at his partner Mendel and is becoming serious about quitting the dress business. Meanwhile Mr. Pincus (Joseph Buloff), the proprietor of the Catskills resort Pincus Pines is coming for a visit. His cook Katie (Lilia Skala) comes ahead of him lamenting that since Pincus is now planning to open Pincus Palms resort in Florida, he is looking for a new partner which she fears will leave her out of a job. When Jake becomes aware of the opening, he takes interest and tries to persuade Pincus that he’d be right for the job. This all makes Molly nervous, so she brings Katie over for dinner so that Jake can hear about all of the hard work it will take for their family to run the hotel. She also fakes a phone call to Katie that indicates that she is being courted by another business called Wise Acres. This results in Pincus changing his mind about taking on a partner, and presumably proposing to Katie. 12/8/15
• 019. Episode aired 7/13/1954
  • The Goldberg family is on vacation at the Pincus Pines resort. Sammy has stayed home, but Rosalie has come with her family is out of her mind with boredom since there are no other young people at the resort. A former resort employee named Kenneth Sellinger (Phil Arthur), who is now a successful doctor, arrives for some rest and relaxation. Although he is not interested in being set up with any young women, he take an instant liking to Rosalie and the attraction is mutual. Molly ends up bragging about the doctor to some of the other women at the resort, Mrs. Safler (Frances Adler), Mrs. Marcus (Nancy Pollack), and Mrs. Silver (Luba Kadison), who then all send for their daughters Francis, Doris, and Wendy and insist to Mr. Pincus that he seat Kenneth at their tables. Rosalie is devastated when she finds out that Pincus plans to move Kenneth away from their table but is then pleasantly surprised when he refuses and happily stays with her. Pincus blames Molly for the now-unhappy guests, so Molly sets up each of the daughters with members of the band Tom, Dick, and Harry who are playing at the dance. Jake becomes a little concerned with the romance that is brewing between Kenneth and Rosalie, but Molly realizes that their little girl has grown up. Ann Teeman is resort receptionist Stella. 2/8/16
• 020. Woman to Woman – 7/20/1954
  • Mr. Pincus becomes concerned that several of the women are going to leave Pincus Pines before the big masquerade ball because they catch wind that the playful vamp Mrs. Lucille Nevins (Vilma Kurer) is coming to the ball. Pincus pleads with Molly to allow Mrs. Nevins to sit at their table and to allow Jake to keep her occupied so the women won’t leave. Jake seems to enjoy hiking and swimming with Mrs. Nevins quite a bit which starts to make Molly, and even David, uncomfortable. Jake even takes an interest for the first time in going to the ball in costume. Then Molly finds out that Jake and the other husbands are all coming as Don Jose opposite Mrs. Nevins’ Carmen. To retaliate Molly instructs all the wives to dress up like Carmen, which she also does herself. As the women enter, all of the ‘Don Joses’ approach them and get paired off with their own wives. This embarrasses Mrs. Nevins, who decides to leave the next day – much to everyone’s delight. 2/9/16
• 021. Episode aired 8/3/1954
  • The Goldbergs decide to extend their stay at Pincus Pines by another week. A millionaire named Anton Kugelmas (Mikhail Rasumny) and his wife Masha (Celia Adler) show up for a stay, and Molly can’t help but feel she has seen Masha before. Anton is quick to give out business and financial advice, and based on his success, Pincus decides to upgrade the furnishings in his resort, Jake gives his partner Mendel direction to buy up brocades, and David invests in uranium. Later it is revealed that Anton can barely afford the cigars he is passing out. Masha finally admits that she went to school with Molly, and confesses that it is actually their son who is a millionaire, and that Anton likes to pretend he is rich while on vacation. Although Molly is concerned about the money everyone poured into their investment, all of them prove to be beneficial in the end. As the Kugelmases leave Pincus Pines, only Molly knows the truth. 5/6/16
• 022. Episode aired 8/10/1954
  • The Goldbergs are getting ready to leave Pincus Pines, but before they do, Molly becomes involved in a domestic dispute between Pincus and his wife – and the resort’s cook – Katie. She wants Pincus to give her four sons Lotzi (James Lipton), Martzi (Arthur Storch), Poli (Cy Chermak), and Joszi (Irving Winter) a chance to work in the resort. He maintains that it would be too expensive to house them and two of their wives there, and that they tried to modernize the place the last time he gave them a chance. Molly convinces Pincus to let the boys manage the Pincus Palms resort in Florida during the winter, and Pincus becomes attracted to the notion of vacationing in Paris with Katie during that time. However Katie plans to work as a cook to help get the boys established at Pincus Palms. Molly helps Katie convince Pincus that as much as she’d love to go to Paris, she is willing to sacrifice on his behalf so that the resort won’t lose money. 5/6/16
• 023. Episode aired 8/17/1954
  • The Goldbergs pack up and get ready to leave their Pincus Pines vacation, reflecting on the great time they had. Mr. Pincus says his goodbyes and tells Molly that Mrs. Pincus has gone to tend her son the hospital with pneumonia. Molly regrets that they will miss the Annual Benefit for the Kitchen Help show that everyone is rehearsing for. The pastry chef Maurice Durand (Marcel Hillaire) takes over the job as chef, but when Pincus yells at him when too many customers send back their chicken ala king, Maurice walks out. Molly agrees to stay on and act as chef while Jake heads home. Before the rest of the family can leave, they also lose the pantry man, the waitress, and the vegetable man. David, Sammy, and Rosalie agree to stay on and help. Jake comes to visit just as the dishwasher quits when he is yelled at for juggling dishes. Jake steps in to assist as well… including performing the song The Guest Is Always Right with family and the kitchen help as part of the benefit. Ann Teeman is event organizer Stella. Ludwig Roth is Willie Schoenholtz, who rehearses Shakespeare in German for the show. 8/7/16
• 024. Episode aired 8/24/1954
  • Traveling home from Pincus Pines, Molly finds out that Sammy never sent the laundry out before he came up to Pincus Pines, so Molly worries about what condition the house will be in once they get home. When they arrive Molly is surprised to find the house completely cleaned and the table set. After trying to figure out who was kind enough to do it, they learn that it was Tante Elka, who didn’t have any vacation of her own as she was taking care of her own grown kids. Jake agrees to pay the money for Elka to take two weeks at Pincus Pines herself, but Molly knows she will never accept the gift. Molly fakes winning a raffle for the two weeks, and Elka agrees to use them… but then changes her mind when her doctor tells her that the altitude in the mountains is not good for her blood pressure. She then gets the idea to have Mrs. Herman pretend that she had given up her last two weeks at the seashore in favor of the mountains, so she convinces Elka to take her two weeks at the seashore. 8/7/16
• 025. Episode aired 8/31/1954
  • Molly receives an ad from Consider Yourself reducing school, which is sent to her by her friend Nellie, who tries to recruit her to join her class. Acknowledging that she has gained some weight at Pincus Pines, Molly goes along with it and attends the school, meeting the manager Mrs. Willoughby, who gives her a pep talk. Molly takes the class seriously and restricts herself to eating lettuce while the rest of the family – and Nellie – enjoys her cabbage rolls. When she starts to clean up the leftovers alone, she can’t resist dipping into the meal. Back at school, Molly remains in the steam spa while most of the other women do calisthenics. Molly is nervous about the final weigh-in and graduation from the four-week class. When she comes home, she only has a then-and-now photo to show, which are exactly the same. Although she has failed, her family is supportive and offers her ice cream. 10/18/16
• 026. Episode aired 9/7/1954
  • When David feels snubbed by Mrs. Herman and skips her party, he is visited by Tante Elka, who rouses him to irritation when she insults his son Solly (Gilbert Green) because he has moved his family into a new nine-room house and hasn’t offered him a room. Molly invites Solly over for dinner and tips him off to tell David that there’s always a room for him at his house. When Elka suggests that Solly was only being polite, David decides to move in with him right away. With the family always busy, David often finds himself lonely in the new luxurious surroundings, despite being waited on hand and foot by the maid. Molly gets wind of how from Elka how lonesome he is and invites him over for dinner, where Elka is present as well. David brags about how he is treated like a king, while Molly tells him how lonesome they are without him. Molly calls Solly’s house but can only get hold of the maid and pretends that she is pleading with Solly to send David back home. David finds out that it is only the maid on the phone, but goes along with the ruse so that he can come back and still save face with Elka. 10/20/16
• 027. Episode aired 9/14/1954
  • Jake dreads seeing his cousin Muttel (Michael Rosenberg) because he knows he will ask a favor of him, and when Molly invites him over, sure enough he asks for a job. Jake ends up giving him a job in his garment company, but he soon makes a ship and brings Molly an outfit meant for one of Jake’s best customers, causing Jake to lose two accounts. Jake is set to fire him, but Muttel presents Molly with a washing machine that he won in a contest that for which they had all bought raffle tickets from Mrs. Suddergreen (Hilda Bruce), and Molly talks him into giving Muttel another chance. Mendel keeps calling Jake at home to report various mistakes that Muttel is making, and Jake’s further rage is further provoked by everyone coming in and out of the apartment to use the washing machine. Muttle thinks he is doing Jake a huge service by working for him and doesn’t want to leave him high and dry, and when they find out that David has won a washing machine, Jake offers for him and Mendel to buy him two more and start a washing business. It works well until the landlord puts washing machines in the building. 1/19/17
• 028. Episode aired 9/21/1954
  • David has his old friend Moishe Sandoval over for a visit and is surprised when he arrives with his hair dyed. He attributes it to his new girlfriend Jenny Greengrass, whom he met at his wife’s funeral. Moishe brings along a letter in French from his girlfriend’s former brother-in-law, which Sammy translates to be a warning that Jenny will put him into an early grave by making demands on him, like she did his brother. Moishe chooses to ignore the warning and brings Jenny to meet David and his family, but David is intent on stealing her away from him to protect him. David starts to have success wooing her, and soon Moishe realizes that Jenny really is a golddigger and now wants to protect David. Jake convinces Moishe that David is only trying to help, but David then ends up really falling in love with Jenny. David won’t listen to reason, until he finds out that Jenny has talked to David’s son Solly about all of her big plans. Molly helps get rid of Jenny by telling her that she and David will nearly squeak by with their social security. 1/24/17 
• 029. Episode aired 9/28/1954
  • There is excitement in the Goldberg house because Jake is going to be interviewed for a who’s-who book about the dress business, thanks to his firm Goldberg and Mendel having revolutionized half-sizes. Problems arise however when Jake and Mendel (Bruce Gordon) can’t agree on who actually came up with the idea, leading to an argument between the two that they can’t seem to resolve. David recalls that Molly actually thought of the idea and told it to Jake. Then when Mrs. Minerva Mendel (Viola Harris) arrives, she recalls that she actually came up with it and told it to Mendel. When Tante Elka comes over, she puts forth the final resolution that it was her that came up with the idea, and told it to Molly, who told it to Jake. She gives Jake and Mendel permission to jointly claim it… from an idea suggested by her. 5/5/17
• 030. Episode aired 10/5/1954
  • The Goldbergs and their neighbors prepare for temple for the Yom Kippur holiday. As Molly asks for forgiveness from her friends Mrs. Ellenbogen (Anna Berger) and Mrs. Herman as the holiday dictates, complications arise when David is upset when his son Solly chooses to go to temple with his father-in-law instead of him, and Jake receives the wrong suit, which is too small, back from the cleaners. Molly goes to talk to Solly and finds out that actually Solly’s baby Marilyn is sick with a high-grade fever and Solly doesn’t want to worry David. When Mr. Ellenbogen (Carl Don) comes over to walk with them, Jake realizes that he has received Jake’s suit, but when he carries on about how great it is to wear a nicer suit, Jake doesn’t tell him that it is his. After David talks to Solly and gets even more upset that he doesn’t want David to even stop by, Molly is forced to tell him the truth. The family solemnly attends the Yom Kippur service, and before it ends, Solly shows up to tell David that the baby is alright. 5/7/17
• 031. Episode aired 10/12/1954
  • With Molly’s family circle coming to the Goldbergs’ house, Molly tries to get Jake out of a bad mood as he scrutinizes the bills and finds out that someone made a phone call to Miami. David thinks that it was made during the last family circle visit. As the guests arrive, Jennie (Nancy R. Pollock), Sheah (Maurice Shrog), Bella (Beatrice Pons), and Johanna (Dora Weissman) are all questioned, but they all agree that it must’ve been Mottel (Michael Rosenberg) since his wife Yente is staying Miami. Everyone except Molly has a list of grievances against Mottel, but when he shows up out of breath, he reveals that he has a heart condition. Everyone agrees to put their problems aside and take care of Mottel, who moves in with the Goldbergs. Even though Sollie the doctor thinks he is getting better, Mottel doesn’t want to leave, but thrives on the love of his family. They all try desperately to get him a job and refuse to finance any further business ventures of his, deciding instead to all chip in and retiring him on $27 a week for life. Mottel flat out refuses and swears that all of the money he took will be paid back. Jake finally asks him about the call to Miami, and Mottel, who claims to be a man of principle, pulls out the amount for the call from a fruit bowl that he had left after making the call. 12/26/17
• 032. Episode aired 10/19/1954
  • Molly is beside herself with grief after being excluded from a luncheon with her friends, but Jake and the family knows that they are all meeting to discuss nominating Molly to be president of the Ladies Auxilliary. She refuses to speak to any of the women at first, but her family manages to get her onto the phone with Mrs. Jerome, who notifies her of the nomination, which has been approved by all of the women. Molly practices her acceptance speech, works on her diction, and studies parliamentary procedures. As she is ready to play the record she made of her speech, the widow Mrs. Brandt (Frieda Altman) stops by and asks Molly to decline the nomination, because she feels that her current beau Mr. Honig (Edgar Franken) will ask her to marry him if she should become president. When Molly listens to her own speech in which she promises to act as a humble servant to her fellow women, she decides to step aside. David and the family are incredulous and demand an explanation, and try to talk her out of declining the nomination. Mr. Honig stops by and tells Molly about his private displeasure in Mrs. Brandt’s constant involvement with the club. When Molly tells this to Mrs. Brandt, she gives up the club… which is what he has been waiting on to ask her to marry him. 12/26/17

SEASON 6 – Syndicated

NOTE: The sixth and final season of the series was filmed by Guild Films for syndication. Some episodes were titled “Molly” rather than “The Goldbergs” during the lead-in credits. 

• 033. Moving Day – 9/22/1955
  • Molly is thrilled that Jake is starting up a new wedding gown business and that the Goldberg family is going to move to a nice house in the suburbs in Haverville, New York. The rug is pulled from her when Jake tells her that he wants to use the $1500 down payment on the house and filter it into the business as it gets off the ground. With Jake working away from home, Molly gets the idea to sell all of the furniture in the apartment in order to raise the down payment money. She sells much of the furniture to neighbors, but despite many offers is too sentimental to sell the piano, even though Rosalie often hedges on taking her lessons or practicing. David finally overrules her and sells the piano to Mrs. Herman for $400. Molly tells the landlord Mr. Classens (Neil Fitzgerald) that he can go ahead and rent the apartment and gets ready to head out and put down the payment. Before she leaves, Jake comes home and says that with Simon out of town, he doesn’t know where he will get an additional $2000 that he needs. Molly reluctantly turns over all of the money she made. Jake is thrilled, but Molly and David are left home with no furniture and new tenants on the way. David sends a telegram to Molly asking her to come to see him immediately. Fearing the worst, the family takes the train, where Sammy picks them up and takes them to the fully furnished house that Molly always wanted. This turned out to the reason that Jake had needed the money. 8/29/18
• 034. Social Butterfly – 9/29/1955
  • All settled into their new home, Molly waits patiently at home hoping to meet the neighbors, whom she expects will come to welcome them to the neighborhood. Only volunteer firefighter Mr. Hamilton (Carl Frank) shows up selling tickets and inviting Jake and David to join them, and a wreath from the old Bronx neighborhood. The next day everyone heads out to work hoping Molly won’t be lonesome. While she is doing laundry outside she meets a little boy named Billy Stevens (John Studer) and encourages him to send his mom over for her cookie recipe, and her next-door neighbor Mrs. Daisy Carey (Susan Steel), whom Molly inadvertently offends when she remarks that they both have eating problems. She meets the other neighbor Mrs. Julie Peterson (Paula Trueman), whom she also irritates when she offers her wholesale wares when Mr. Peterson works retail. Mrs. Lucy Stevens (Florida Friebus) visits and berates Molly for giving Billy chocolate cookies when he is allergic to them. Depressed, a phone call from Mrs. Herman inspires Molly to ‘commune with herself’ by cooking in the kitchen for Mrs. Carey, offering to pay for any doctor bills for Jimmy, and buying a dress from Mr. Peterson. Meanwhile Jake goes to pick up Mrs. Herman as a pleasant surprise for Molly. Shortly after she arrives, Mrs. Carey, Mrs. Stevens, and Mrs. Peterson all visit the house to make friends, and invite her to various clubs. Mrs. Herman, who had skipped her grandson’s birthday because she heard that Molly was lonely, sees Molly’s cup overflowing, and heads home for her grandson’s birthday, promising to tell Molly’s Bronx friends that her calendar is now full. 8/29/18
• 035. Picnic – 10/6/1955
  • Molly is in charge of planning a picnic for the Ladies Auxiliary, but Daisy and Julie advise Molly that she should uninvite one their members Myra Penman (Marian Sweet), insinuating that she is a flirt with men ever since her husband died. Molly doesn’t think their gossip is cause for her not to come. Myra surprises everyone by showing up by showing the picnic and gets the cold shoulder from most of the ladies. Molly doesn’t want Myra’s feelings hurt, and asks Jake to give Myra some attention so her feelings aren’t hurt. The ladies all interpret this as Myra and Jake flirting, and soon it begins to bother Molly as well. Unbeknownst to Molly, Myra has told Jake that she is going to be married. When the weather starts to turn bad, Jake rides with Myra, and then doesn’t come home for hours. Molly is beside herself with worry, and Daisy tries to comfort her. As Molly tries to call Myra, Jake finally comes home and Molly reads him the riot act. He claims he is innocent and was only trying to do what she asked him to. After Myra calls and tells Molly that Jake should tell her the whole story, Molly is even more distraught. Jake tells her that she is marrying a man whose wife has been dead less than a year, and consequently is afraid her friends will scorn her. Molly agrees to trust Jake and not ask any more questions, leaving the several hours he was gone unaccounted for. Jon Lormer is Henry Carey. 5/21/19
• 036. Beauty Parlor – 10/22/1955
  • Molly, Daisy, and all of their friends manipulate their schedules so that they can get an appointment with Vera (Mary Alice Moore) at Antonio’s run by her and her husband Tony (Eugene Francis). Meanwhile their employee Madeline (Marge Redmond) is relegated to doing nails, but longs for the chance to get a following as a hairdresser. Vera on the other hand is completely stressed by her demanding schedule and longs for a baby and family life. Molly steps in and lets Madeline do her hair and she gives her a terrific Empress Weave that is the envy of all of her friends. Molly and Daisy spread the word, and soon it is Madeline who is in constant demand. Vera is thrilled, Tony is happy with the business, and Molly is given the credit and Vera invites the Goldbergs to dinner. Things turn sour though when Madeline decides to quit and open her own salon across the street. When the Goldbergs show up for dinner, Tony blows his stack and blames the situation on Molly. She comes up with yet another plan to promote the current nail girl Yvette the same way she did for Madeline, who confides to Molly that she is glad she was getting her deposit back and how she can’t understand why her success was fleeting. Molly promises that she will use Madeline exclusively. 5/23/19
• 037. Rosie’s Nose – 10/27/1955
  • With Rosie’s birthday coming up, she announces to the family that she would rather the cash equivalent rather than gifts. Molly is appalled at the notion, but Sammy explains that it is because Rosie wants to have a nose job. Molly blames herself for not building up Rosie’s confidence, so the entire family starts issuing confidence, but she quickly catches on when Jake keeps referring to the unimportance of a nose. Jake decides he won’t give his permission for the surgery, but Molly prefers to approach it differently by going to see the surgeon George Harris (Joe Graham) to have him talk her out of it. Jake finally recants and gives permission, but when Molly takes her to the appointment, Rosie tells her that she knows she’s coached Dr. Harris already and won’t be talked out of the procedure. However when a woman (Anna Minot) in the waiting room tells her that she regrets the nose job she had because now she is expecting a baby, which may have her nose and cause her husband to leave her. This changes Rosie’s mind and she leaves the doctor’s office. Molly thanks the doctor, but tells him that whatever he said wouldn’t have helped, but the lady’s story made Rosie change her mind. The doctor then tells Rosie that the lady is actually his wife, and the cooked up the whole scheme. Later Rosie celebrates her birthday with gifts from the family, and tells them all that she realized there is nothing wrong with her nose, but that it is her hair that needs cut off. Jack tries to forbid it, but Molly reminds him that hair, unlike a nose, will always grow back. 2/8/20
• 038. Desperate Men – 11/3/1955
  • On a rainy night Molly is left alone at home when all of her family each goes out for various reasons. The radio announces two escaped convicts named Dutch Gunther (Frank Sutton) and Wee Willie Wingate (Jess Cain) are on the loose in the area. Molly doesn’t hear the announcement, so when they bust into the house, she assumes they are fraternity boys engaged in an initiation prank. They play along with this, even after Jake comes home, but Rosie knows who they are when she arrives as she has heard the radio broadcast. They plead with the boys to continue pretending they are college boys when Uncle David arrives home as not to frighten him, which they do for a while, but then let it slip who they actually are. Molly makes an attempt to disarm them with the vacuum cleaner and David attempts to hold them at bay with a toy gun, but both efforts fail. When Sam calls home, Molly rages at him as if he were a suitor of Rosie’s. This tips him off that something is wrong so he phones the police. Dutch and Willie tie up the family and head out, but are arrested by officers who have been waiting outside with Sam. 2/10/20
• 039. Molly’s Dreams – 11/10/1955
  • The Goldbergs’ neighbor Lucy Van Est is majoring in psychology in college, and her mother (Dorothy Sands) fancies herself an expert as well, especially in the area of dream interpretation. Molly relates her dream of walking on top of the globe while doing chores, with it continuing to spin faster under her feet. She advises Molly that she is carrying too much burden, so Molly asks if she can have her maid for one more day a week. She later relates that she has a dream that she is trying to play piano and no sounds are coming out, so Mrs. Van Est interprets that she needs a creative outlet. Thus Molly begins piano lessons. Finally Molly has a dream that she vacuums up her family, so Mrs. Van Est tells her that she must subconsciously hate them. Molly begins to worry that it is true, especially when her family makes various remarks pertaining to Molly trying to ‘kill’ them. Meanwhile Mrs. Van Est is also interpreting dreams for the neighbors Daisy  and Julie, and she has Daisy trying to focus on music and losing interest, and buying an inordinate number of hats. Daisy’s husband Henry discusses this problem with Jake and David, and David comes up with an idea. With Molly in need of interpreting her feelings about her family, she runs to Mrs. Van Est’s house. Jake stops by there and asks if she will interpret his dream with Molly present. He describes breaking free from shackles, strangling and killing Molly, and the calling out for his bookkeeper Martha. Mrs. Van Est interprets it that he is in love with Martha… but this is laughable to Molly because she is an old woman. She decides to end her sessions with Mrs. Van Est, and Jake advises her not to meddle in the neighborhood women’s lives. Molly re-interprets the vacuum dream to simply mean she needs a new vacuum cleaner. 5/17/20
• 040. Brief Encounter – 11/17/1955
  • Molly has both fallen arches and a toothache, which is causing her to feel old and depressed. Jake insists that she go see a dentist in the city and makes her an appointment. On the way there, she meets a widower named Bernard Welkin (Jon Richards) on the train. They discuss life their former lives in the Bronx and poetry. Molly comes home feeling refreshed and giddy, and asks David to read her some poetry by Shelley, but Jake begins taking it lightly and Molly feels she is being made fun of. She has to return to the dentist on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for treatment and looks forward to seeing Bernard. On one occasion they have coffee together and it begins to be obvious that Bernard is becoming extremely fond of her. Her friend Daisy sees them holding hands in the coffee shop and confronts Molly and expresses in a gentle manner that she understands but strongly cautions her. Molly beings to feel she doesn’t know herself and questions her own intentions. She considers not taking the train or even switching her dentists altogether for her next and final trip to the dentist. On that Friday, Jake begins to worry when Molly is late getting home, and becomes even more concerned when he calls the dentist and finds that she never showed up. She also receives flowers which gets everyone curious. When Molly come home late, she lies and says she was at the dentist so Jake confronts her about it. She admits she lied and that she went to the movies by herself and for a walk to think. She relates that she feels unloved because Jake never says it. In response he reads her love poems from Byron. Molly opens the card on the flowers from Bernard, which states that he missed seeing her on the bus. She tears up the note. 5/18/20
• 041. Reach for the Moon – 12/15/1955
  • Molly and the family gather around the TV to watch the quiz show Reach for the Moon, and Molly plays right along with the contestant Mrs. Wiggins (Ann Teeman), and answers all the questions that earn her $20,000. Rosalie and Sammy think she would make a good contestant and send in an application for her. She is accepted and agrees to be on the show in New York City, and chooses the food category. Molly starts off and wins $200, and gradually works her way up to $10,000. The episode ends and Molly is put up in a hotel in the city. Jake is a nervous wreck all the way through the show, and then speaks to Molly and tells her not to go for the $20,000. Several of her local friends, all of whom seem to be suffering with money issues, Miss Johnson (Cindy Cameron), Bernard (Maurice Shrog), and Bessie (Nancy R. Pollock) all make her promise she won’t try to ‘reach the moon’. Before going on, she tells the model that she’s not going to go for it. However when the M.C. Bill (Bernie Grant) asks for her for her decision, she thinks about the friends she visited with and all of the financial problems they’ve been having, she decides to go for it so that she can help them. She gets a question about how many calories a group of four foods will contain. She doesn’t know the answer and merely says she knows how to cook calories, but not how to count them. When she gets home, Jake is angry with her, but she explains how she wanted to help everyone. She also tells him that she took her consolation mink coat and sold it for $5000, and took the money and loaned it all to her friends. In fact she needs an additional $200 from Jake to get everyone. 9/1/20
• 042. Molly’s Pocketbook – 12/29/1955
  • Molly heads out for a weeklong trip to see her friend Elka, taking along the new pocketbook that Jake got for her. On the bus she chats with a woman named Mrs. Jones (Jane Moultrie) who has the same pocketbook. When Molly gets off the bus at a diner for a rest stop, she puts her purse in her suitcase. The bus driver (William Pierson) announces that there will be a delay while a bridge up ahead is checked, so Mrs. Jones returns to the bus to get her money for the juke box… and discovers her purse has been stolen. The driver checks the bus and then calls the police. Molly suggests that she and Mrs. Jones use her detective skills to figure out which passenger is the culprit. Molly chats with an out-of-work dancer  named Delyse (Louise Hoff) who is moving back home. Molly gives her a warning that if the purse is returned, all would be forgiven, but this prompts an angry response. A singing cowboy named Wally (Jared Reed) stops singing when he sees that Delyse is upset and goes to chat with her. When he mentions being broke, Delyse insinuates that he might have taken it, but he gently denies it and she believes him. She and Miss Jones the interview Mr. Foster (Len Doyle), who had previously been irritated by the ladies’ yakking. He is more friendly in the cafe and welcomes their conversation, but when they ask him if he stole the purse, he tells them how much he resents it. He speaks for everyone and asks the driver to search all of the bags. Naturally when he searches Molly’s bag, he finds the missing pocketbook. No one on the bus will believe Molly, especially since she seems to have lost her bag. Molly is arrested and taken to the courthouse, where she phones home to Jake. Just as he receives the phone call, Molly’s pocketbook is delivered by the bus company. Jake hops on a plane to meet Molly and bring the bag. The judge (John Seymour) asks Mrs. Jones to identify her pocketbook and she chooses Molly’s. When she realizes this, she withdraws the charges and apologizes to Molly, who laments to Jake that she nearly had a record. 9/1/20 
• 043. Bad Companions – 1956
  • The Goldbergs are anxious to see what odd item David comes home with from the auction he attended, and after he returns and measures the basement, he reveals that he purchased a pool table. Once the table arrives, he realizes that no that he knows has any idea how to play, and he was relying on someone to teach him. He heads down to the local pool hall where he meets Stosh (Herbie Faye) and his friends Big Louie (Mike O’Dowd) and Little Louie (Oggie Small) and offers them money to teach him to play. They tell him that they can teach him on his table, but he’ll have to pay extra for them to come there. They also insist that he feed them, so Molly is kept busy making them all sandwiches. David has a hard time catching on to the game, Stosh suggests that he just watch. They take advantage of getting to play free, and getting waited on hand and foot at the same time. They also begins making and taking calls from bookies to place gambling bets. When Jake finds out what is going on, he throws the entire party out of the house while David has gone to buy more chalk. When David returns, he is hurt that Jake sent his friends away. He goes to the pool hall to apologize and ask them to train him there, which they agree too, even though there will be a surcharge. Molly and Jake start to worry when Jake doesn’t come home at night, and after trying to find him at the pool hall, they get a call from the police and tell them to come to the courthouse. The judge (Gene Leonard) chastises Molly and Jake for not providing him with a suitable home and recreation, forcing him to hang out with these undesirable elements. David eventually teaches Molly to play pool, and the two of them play together. 12/18/20
• 044. Die Fledermaus – 1956
  • After a particularly poor showing at Ladies Club luncheon that Molly was hosting, she discusses with the president Mrs. Carey and Mrs. Peterson doing a musical fundraiser. They decide to try the opera Die Fledermaus and the bring in Mr. Strunzel (LeRoi O’Perti) to conduct. Playing the piano is Myra Fuller (Patricia Ripley), who has just had to call off yet another engagement after being dumped, which caused her mother Mrs. Fuller (Katharine Raht) to miss the luncheon. After auditioning most of the ladies, who are relegated to the chorus much to the amusement of Jack and David, they finally find an acceptable lead in Mrs. Belasco. Mr. Strunzel notifies them that they need to find a bartone for the musical to work. The butcher Oscar Stanley (George Irving) seems to be the best candidate, and as a bonus, he is a bachelor. Molly and David go to see him and order lots of meat, before asking him to sing in the show. He agrees, and comes to the house to rehearse, meeting and falling for Myra. The evening is interrupted when Charlie (Charles Mendick) the butcher comes to complain that Oscar stole all of his business from the ladies. Oscar tells him that he can have his customers back, and he is singing because he loves to, not because he wants them as customers. Then Mrs. Fuller shows up to take Myra home because she doesn’t want her daughter marrying a butcher. Oscar is offended and leaves, and withdraws from being in the musical. Molly gets the idea that Oscar should sing for a living since that is what he loves, and books him gigs with her friends all over town at paying gigs. Mrs. Fuller finds this more impressive, and Oscar books Myra to be his escort at all of his gigs… leaving a date open in June for a wedding. 12/18/20
• 045. Molly the Juror – 1956
  • Molly gets a special delivery letter indicating that she has jury duty. She crams up on her Civics book and the goes for her examination with the clerk-of-courts and passes with flying colors. She is made the foreman of the jury of the case against Frank Clark (John Hamilton), who is accused of pickpocketing a man and then depositing his wallet in an ash can. The District Attorney (John Greggs) presents a compelling case, but the Defense Attorney (Ken Harvey) maintains that it is all circumstantial evidence as no one actually saw Clark with the wallet. Molly not only uses logic, but compassion and intuition to declare him not guilty, even though eleven other jurors disagree with her. Eventually Molly is able to persuade them all, and they present the judge (Frank M. Thomas) with the verdict of ‘not guilty’. Back home, Molly pontificates on her experience and expresses her regret that she never went into law, patting herself on the back for convincing eleven jurors to change their mind, for which Jake is incredulous. That night Frank Clark stops by the house to thank her, but some of his actions seem suspicious: asking for the other jurors’ names and addresses, asking Jake about where he works and if he makes a lot of money. Molly invites Daisy over to meet Mr. Clark, but while they are having dessert and coffee, Molly realizes her watch is missing. Jake decides to call the police, while Molly wants to try and talk it out of him. Sure enough she gives him a rousing speech about honesty and the commandment not to steal, and Clark finally hands over a watch. Molly rushes him out before the police come, even though Jake thinks she is doing a disservice to the community, and says women shouldn’t be let on the jury. Then the garbage man comes to the door and says he found Molly’s watch in the trash. Molly then opens the package with the watch that Clark gave her, and it came with a note thanking her for giving him the gift of time by keeping him out of jail. 4/12/21
• 046. Is There a Doctor in the House? – 1956
  • David is getting Molly and Rosalie’s nerves with his stubborn ways, and when Jake’s Uncle Sam (Reuben Wendorff) comes to stay with the family, sparks immediately start to fly. The bickering starts over small things, Sam’s constantly telling his parrot “everybody loves me,” as well as the fuss everyone seems to be making over Sam. The arguing is occasionally interrupted by small acts of kindness, such as Sam sharing the last slice of lemon with David, and David sharing the last lump of sugar with Sam. Jake has two tickets to the theater for that night and Molly originally suggests that he take Sam, but knowing how David will react, they decide to go together and leave Rosalie at home to babysit the Uncles. The two play checkers late into the night, but after Rosalie goes to bed, they begin to argue about whether a dentist is actually a doctor or not. This is relevant to them because David’s son Sol is a doctor, while Sam’s son Marvin is a dentist. This boils over so much, that each uncle packs their bags and is ready to leave. They overhear Jake and Molly come home, arguing about the exact same thing, with Jake saying that a dentist is a doctor, and Molly saying they are separate professions. This time the Uncles try to diffuse the situation by taking the opposite sides, much to everyone’s surprise. Then when the parrot says “everybody loves me,” they all have a good laugh. 4/12/21
• 047. Seymour Story – 1956
  • A boy named Seymour Sheppard (Arnold Stang) who used to work for Jake in New York, sends a note to Molly pleading for her to advocate for him to come to Haverville to work for Jake again. He is resistant since Seymour seemed to only work half of the week because he was too busy going to doctor appointments or taking his mother (Judith Malina) to one. Nevertheless, Jake finally agrees to hire him, and right away Mrs. Sheppard starts calling Molly to make sure he is taken care of properly. The more Molly tries to put him up in the guestroom, feed him his meals, and generally take care of him, the more Seymour resists any help. He is so pleased to finally be away from and free of his mother’s clutches. Molly sees that Seymour seems to be losing weight because he won’t take his lunch hours, and works harder than anyone in the plant. Molly suggests that Jake give him an office job so he doesn’t have to work too hard, but Seymour insists that he doesn’t want any special attention. Mrs. Sheppard keeps calling Molly to complain about how sickly Seymour is getting and insisting that Molly look after him. Finally, Seymour decides to quit and go work at a hardware store so he can make it on his own. He also decides to ask Rosalie out on a date. She isn’t really interested, but agrees to go out with him casually. Mrs. Sheppard then calls Molly and drops the bomb that Seymour plans to ask Rosalie to marry him. She declines, mainly because she is planning to go to college, but Seymour won’t take no for an answer. She tells her parents she doesn’t know how to get out of it, so Molly and Jack start pampering him even more, while Rosalie also starts bossing him around and telling him that they should live with her parents after marriage. Seymour can’t bear the though of having two mothers fawning all over him, so he decides that if he’s going to be mothered, it may as well by by his real mother, so he calls her to make arrangements to come back home, much to the relief of Molly and the rest of the family. 8/6/21
• 048. Treasury Book – 1956
  • One afternoon a mustached salesman (Charles Mendick) comes to the door selling ‘Treasury Books’ full of $150 worth of free coupons for just $4.98. Molly is excited to show the others, but when David comes in from cutting the grass and Jake returns from getting a haircut, they find that they’ve all three bought one. The next day, the family goes shopping and brings home their wares to show Jake. He is disappointed and irritated when he finds out that everyone has cased in coupons… but have bought additional items to go with them. Molly and David explains that they feel bad for accepting free items without buying something as well. Molly says Jake would do the same thing, but to prove the point, he makes an appointment to get family photos taken, vowing not to buy any additional portraits. Before they arrive, the photographer Mr. Doolittle (Calvin Thomas) laments to his wife (Dortha Duckworth) that while other merchants are making lost of incremental sales with the coupons, his customers only seem to be taking the free single portrait. David and Jake decide to use their coupons to each get an individual portrait of themselves. Doolittle does a terrific job, but Jake holds fast to his promise to buy nothing additional. When the photos arrive at the house, Molly and David both lament that there are no extras to give to friends and family. When Jake arrives home, Molly starts in on him again, but he still won’t budge. Molly finally decides to order more regardless, but when she does, Doolittle mentions that Jake had actually bought many extras to send to his family and associates. Molly finds an enlarged, framed portrait in the close that Jake had brought home. She brings it up once again to Jake, and this time he agrees to let her buy more if it means so much to her. She suggests that he sent the photos to all of the same people that Doolittle had told her that he was already shipping on Jake’s behalf, and they both laugh knowingly. 8/7/21
• 049. The Inheritance – 2/23/1956
  • Molly’s cousin Harold (Harvey Lembeck) works for Jake, and seems to suffer a constant crisis of confidence and self esteem issues. Although he is a fine worker, he always thinks he is doing everything wrong. One day after assisting a customer named Elsie Stern (Doris Becker), he is called in by Jake and invited to dinner. He even believes this makes him a nuisance, and he promises to leave early. Molly wants him to come over so she can deliver the sad news that his 102-year old Uncle Harvey has passed away. After Harold arrives the house and turns down an invitation from Sammy to go to a party with him, Molly and David give him the news. Harold’s sister Stella calls and gives him some more news: Uncle Harvey was rich and has included Harold in his will. Harold is thrilled that his Uncle thought so much of him, and suddenly his confidence takes an upturn. The next day at work, he tells Jake that he plans to move on and try to follow his dream to become a dentist. He even asks if he can make the delivery to Elsie, since he had developed a crush on her. The Goldbergs invite them both over for dinner again, but Harold surprises everyone when he shows up with a more beautiful girl named Tina (Midge Ware), who was Elsie’s cousin. Molly is concerned that she is a gold digger and doesn’t have much faith that they will work out. While they are having dinner, Stella calls with more news: Harold’s trust fund will be just $10 a week. Molly calls Harold in to give him the news, and warns him that he had better tell Tina that he won’t be a millionaire as she had expected. Harold says that he still has his confidence now, and plans to go forward with his plans to become a dentist. What’s more, he tells Molly that he had never even mentioned his money or any inheritance, and that Tina simply loves him for who he is. 2/6/22
• 050. The Car – 1956
  • One night Molly and Jake are visiting with their friend the Ferries. Rosalie, Sammy, and Uncle David realize that it is getting late and they’re not home yet. Uncle David and Sammy try to keep Rosalie calm, but they are getting worried too. Uncle David finally calls the Ferries when the kids are out of the room, and finds out that that Jake and Molly left quite some time ago. Meanwhile, Jake and Molly’s car has broken down in the rain. They eventually get it towed to a garage, and find out it will take a lot of work to repair. Although Molly blames Jake for not taking care of it, Jake blames it on the car manufacturer, but still pays to have it fixed, even though the repairman tells him that it might happen again. Jake is fed up and decides to purchase a new car and trade in the old one. When the car dealer Mr. Stampler (Joe Silver) gives them a fair price for trade-in, Molly starts to feel guilty since she realizes the next owner could have the car break down. The family thinks she is being over-cautious since Jake did his due diligence to have it fixed, and it has been checked out the dealership they traded it into. Molly is up all night worrying that they might impact someone who needs to get to the hospital or a pharmacy. Rosalie starts to agree with Molly, and Jake gives in and decides to go back and notify Stampler. When they do, he is impressed by their honesty, but tells them that there was nothing to fix on the car and that they had sold it to a man named John Crawford (Kort Falkenberg). Molly calls him and finds out that he is getting married and they are taking the car on their honeymoon. Jake and Molly rush to the church just as the copy finishes their wedding, and convinces them that they need to Jake’s new car on the honeymoon. When Molly and Jake try to leave in the old car, it won’t start. Jake becomes furious that Molly only thought of others and not their own family, should they need the car in an emergency. However, the next day they get a letter from the car manufacturer that offer to replace the first car. Since the Crawfords now own the car, they will get the new one, Molly and Jake will get the one they just bought, and Jake has proven to Molly that the problem with the car was not caused by him, but by the manufacturer. 2/6/22
• 051. The Engagement Ring – 1956
  • Sammy’s girlfriend Dora Barnett’s (now played by Betty Bendyk) mother Carrie calls Molly to break that news that Sammy has proposed to Dora. Molly’s feelings are hurt since Carrie knew before she did. She also laments to Jake that he never bought her an engagement ring, and it wasn’t until years later that he finally gave her diamond earrings. When Sammy gets home, he beats around the bush to tell his family about the engagement, and it doesn’t take long before Molly’s tongue slips and she reveals that she knows. When Sammy mentions that he doesn’t intend to buy a ring, Molly is disappointed, remembering how she felt not getting one, while Jake thinks it is very sensible not to start out in debt. Molly wonders how Dora feels about it, but Dora is at home telling her parents she won’t be getting an engagement ring. Her father Jerome (formerly Joe) thinks it is sensible, but Mrs. Barnett is the most upset of all, and thinks that if a boy won’t give an engagement ring, he isn’t ready to marry. Molly calls to invite the Barnetts over for an engagement lunch, and Mrs. Barnett makes it relatively clear how she feels. Molly feels the same but tries to smooth it over. Carrie decides that Nora will have a ring if she has to make it from her own broach. Molly decides she will take one of her earrings and set it into an engagement ring to give to Sammy as well. Even though Dora wants to hold fast to their vow to each other not to buy a ring, Sam is starting to change his mind in order to make the families happy. He and Dora even come to the point of bickering about it, but ultimately agree to get a ring after all. On the day that the families all gather, both families plan to slip Sammy the ring so he can put it on Dora’s finger, but he surprises them all when he gives Dora a ring with a nice big stone in it. Both mothers are ecstatic about it, while Jake thinks it was a foolish move to spend so much before Sam is even out of college. As they eat, Jake can’t help but bring up the ring, and tells him that he might have helped find a cheaper diamond. Sam then tells everyone that he doesn’t have the money for a diamond, so he gave her a $26 Zircon ring instead. Jake then presents Molly with the engagement ring that she never had… the one made from her earring. 6/14/22
• 052. Obituary – 1956
  • Uncle David is getting ready to take a trip to the Bronx to attend a meeting of the society of which he has been President for years. Before he leaves, Molly receives a letter from Louis P. Sampson (Edgar Stehli), one of the group’s members, who sends his condolences to the family because of the death of Uncle David. Apparently, another person with David’s name has passed away and think that it is their David. Since all of the members are older, David is afraid that if he shows up or calls any of them, he will give them a heart attack. Molly offers to call Louis, but when she calls, she winds up getting Louis’s sister Mrs. Kellner on the phone. She also thinks David is dead and tells Molly that Louis is on his way to Haverville to hold Memorial services for David. Molly finds the whole situation amusing and likes it to the story of Tom Sawyer. She puts out settings for the eighteen remaining society members that they expect. When Molly runs out to pick up some silverware from the neighbor, while David paces nervously at the house waiting for the guests. Louis shows up with their other club member Albert Greene (Joe E. Marks). David nearly shocks the guys when he tells them to come in. Molly returns and they are surprised to see that Molly is not wearing anything formal and appears to be in a jolly mood and ready to throw a party. Finally she tells them the news by relating the story of Tom Sawyer. The men are surprised and thrilled to see David when he makes his reappearance. However, David soon realizes that only two people have shown up for his wake, and then becomes insulted and angry. The Goldbergs then begin getting calls from other members of the society of folks who have been delayed by missing the train and others who went to the cemetery. Eventually all of the members show up and they have a celebration of David’s life. David says he plans to plant flowers on the other David Romaine’s grave, because thanks to him, he now knows how many friends he has and how they love him. 6/14/22
• 053. Simon’s Maid and Butler – 1956
  • Uncle David is getting ready to go visit his son for a few weeks, when Molly’s rich cousin Simon (Lew Sorin) calls and wants to come for a visit. David has no interest in seeing him, and predicts that if he’s coming, it is because he wants something. Both Jake and Rosalie agree with David. However, when Simon shows up, he not only brings them a housewarming box of candy, he tells them that he is going to be moving while they tear down his apartment building, but in the interim he is going to spend four weeks in Europe. He has to continue to pay the salary of his maid Mignon (Lilyan Cahuvin) and butler/chauffer Francois (Jacques Aubuchon), and offers their services to Jake and Molly while he is gone. They think it is a terrific idea, but Molly feels she needs to clean the house before they arrive. Molly plans to have them stay in David’s room, but when they arrive they insist they need bigger sleeping quarters and two beds. Molly then gives them her and Jake’s room, and plan to sleep in David’s room. However, David returns unexpectedly when his grandson gets the croup, leaving Molly and Jake to sleep in the living room. Francois and Mignon then take inventory of the food and tell Molly they need to go shopping for the meals, which include expensive meats and wine to prepare meals Molly can’t even pronounce. For their first meal, the food is all unusual to them, but Jake and Molly have a grand time, especially after multiple glasses of wine, while David thinks it is all overkill. After two weeks of high living, driving around in the chauffeured car with nowhere to go, and huge bills rolling in for the expensive food and wine, Molly has had enough of it. Jake has his hand full at work when his bookkeeper Harry (David Opatoshu) tells Jake that his workers are about to mutiny since Jake seems to be flaunting his new wealth, and further Harry wants a raise too. Molly gets the idea to offer to send them to them mountains for vacation for their last two weeks until Simon returns, and they wholeheartedly accept. Jake himself wants to go off to Pincus Pines, but the only room left is the Bridal Suite. Even though it is expensive, Molly insists on sending Mignon and Francois, and Jake concurs when Molly reminds him how much they are costing in meat and wine. 10/5/22
• 054. Rosie the Actress – 1956
  • Famous stage actress Blanche Marlowe (Blanche Yurka) comes into town with her traveling play Antony and Cleopatra. She arranges some scouting at the local school drama clubs, and chooses Rosalie to play the small part of Charmion in the play. She is beside herself with excitement and thinks acting might be her calling. The opening night at the play goes quite well, and everyone in the family is impressed. Ms. Marlowe meets the Goldberg family and tells them all how good Rosalie is. Her parents return for the next several performances, but Jake can only see the same play over and over so many times. Although he thinks Rosalie was fine in the play, Jake gets annoyed at Molly for calling all her friends to brag about her acting. He insists that it is Molly’s freely given compliments that causes Molly to want to attend the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts instead of going to Haverville College as she had planned. She tells her folks that Ms. Marlowe is going to help her get a scholarship, which can be earned by an audition with the college board. Molly believes it is a long shot, but Jake is concerned that she will go through with it. One night she goes to the library to research the history of the theater at Ms. Marlowe’s suggestion. While she is out, a telegram comes, and Jake insists on opening it. They find out that Rosalie has won the scholarship, and he fears she will make a big mistake. While at the library, Rosalie meets a student named Richard Keller (Jay Easton) who is studying to become a general practitioner doctor and will be going to Haverville. When Rosalie comes home an hour and a half after the library closes, Jake shows her the telegram and asks to speak to her alone. He gives her a lecture on how difficult life in the theater can be and tells her about many young actresses he met who were moonlighting at odd jobs, who were probably just as good as Rosalie. She quickly agrees with him and tells him that she will fill out her Haverville application the next morning. Then Rosalie goes into the kitchen and tells Molly all about Richard, and how he might be the boy she will eventually marry. She talks about going through the nursing program and Haverville so that she can work side-by-side with him. Molly laughingly gives all credit to Jake for talking her out of going to the dramatic college. 10/5/22
• 055. In-laws – 1956
  • Sammy’s fiancé Dora goes shopping with Molly and Rosalie, and when they return for dinner, Molly will not stop talking about all of her suggestions for what they should be buying and how they should be paying for it. It eventually drives her to tears, and soon after, Sammy makes the announcement that he might not be taking the engineering job he’s been offered in Haverville, and instead taking a job out of town to put some distance between them. Sammy and Dora then visit Dora’s parents and tell them that Sammy has been offered a job in New York City, and immediately, Dora’s mother Carrie starts insisting that they take an expensive apartment with a doorman located a few blocks away. Soon, Dora is telling her parents that Sammy might not be taking that job after all. Both Jake and Dora’s father Jerome are sympathetic to the kids’ feelings. Molly comes over to talk to Carrie and offer her the advice to let them make their own decisions, as she has learned it the hard way. Sammy then tells them all that he was offered a job in the Belgian Congo in Africa. Dora bristles at this and says she would never be able to move there. Sammy tells her that if she really loved him, she would follow him anywhere and then walks out on her. He tells his mother that he had no intention of taking that job, but she showed how she felt when she refused to entertain the notion. By the time he gets home, Dora has tried to call multiple times to apologize and tell him that she’d go to the ends of the earth with him. He admits he was as stubborn as she was and hadn’t gotten the chance to tell her that he’d never move there either. Later, the Goldbergs host the Barnetts for dinner, and everyone reminds Molly to let them make their own decision as to whether they live and work in New York or in Haverville. When they arrive, they tell them all that both places would be great places to live, but they now have another offer to entertain…in Oklahoma. They do not reveal their choice, but Jake and Jerome remind everyone that it is only a four-hour plane trip to from New York to Oklahoma. 1/31/23 
• 056. David’s Cousin – 1956
  • Molly panics when a telegram arrives for David, but it turns out to be from his long-lost second cousin, Benjamin “Boojie” Romaine (Pat Harrington, Sr.). David hasn’t seen him since they were boys and their family suddenly moved away, but they were very close at the time. Boojie and his family moved to Dublin, Ireland where they have run a tailor shop. When Molly’s cousin Simon vacationed in Europe, he ran across the tailor shop and noticed that Boojie and David had the same last name and pointed him in David’s direction. Boojie and David have a very welcome reunion, and soon Boojie starts to talk David into spending six months in Dublin, the way he is vacationing in America. He offers him his home and to have fun like they did when they were kids. After David thinks about it for a while, he decides that he will take the trip. While David is visiting his son Sollie in the city, Boojie offers to take his pair of pants back to the local laundry where they have pressed them incorrectly. Boojie finds that the former tailor’s widow Eva Fisher (Edith Gresham) is running the shop since her helper is temporarily out. Feeling sorry for her, he spends the day there helping her with her workload. The two of them get closer and closer, and after a week, Boojie asks her to marry him. She accepts his offer and is quite willing to move to Dublin with him but doesn’t want to start their honeymoon with David as a houseguest. As much as he loves Eva, he refuses to go back on his word to David, who is quite excited about the trip and has bought a new valise and matching scarves and coats for Boojie and himself. Finally, Molly decides to tell David that Boojie might be ruining his life if David goes to Dublin. Once he hears the explanation, he decides to gracefully bow out of taking the trip. In order to keep Boojie in the dark as to the reason, he pretends that his passport was denied since he didn’t have a birth certificate. He says that it might take a while to iron out, but that Dublin will still be there later a year or two in the future. 1/31/23
• 057. Boojie Comes Home – 1956
  • David’s cousin Boojie’s fiance Eva decides not to move to Dublin to marry Boojie after all. After Boojie leaves America, David tries to comfort Eva and help her at the laundry. Soon David and Eva have fallen in love with each other and David is thinking about getting married to her. Jake and Molly are skeptical since they think she may be on the rebound, but David is sure that it is the real thing. They then receive a telegram from Boojie indicating that he has changed his mind, sold the tailor shop, and now plans to return to New York and marry Eva. David shows the telegram to Eve, but she says that it makes no different and she still wants to marry David. She leaves it up to David to give his cousin the news. When Boojie arrives in Haverfield, David doesn’t have the heart to tell him. That night, Boojie makes arrangements to see Boojie, and David calls Eva to tell her that he hasn’t told Boojie the news yet. David assumes that Eva will tell him, but when David returns several hours later, he acts as if there was nothing wrong. David then tells him that he and Eva are in love and plan to marry. Boojie is initially angry at David, but then decides to return to Dublin and wishes David well. David then feels bad, and decides to give Boojie two weeks to win her back and tells him that he will step out of the picture while he is courting her to make sure that he was not just a rebound. Sure enough, Eve does in fact fall for Boojie again and decides that he is who she wants to marry. Boojie then feels bad and suggest that now he will leave town for two weeks to give David another chance. Molly steps in and tells them that they are playing with her emotions. She notes that Eva obviously likes both of them. The men then propose that they both leave town for two weeks and let Eva make her decision while they are gone. When the two weeks pass, Molly tells both of them that Eva isn’t coming, and that she didn’t pick David… or did she pick Boojie. While they were gone, she fell in love with her laundry presser (Cornelius Frizzell) and now plans to marry him. The cousins note that it is too funny to cry and too sad to laugh… but they laugh anyway. 7/12/23
• 058. Insurance – 1956
  • Jake is being secretive as he tries to get the family out of the house so he can go out with his business partner Mendel to meet Jake’s neighbor Henry Carey, an insurance salesman who is going to sell Jake and Mendel insurance polices on each other. They all meet at the Turkish baths, and Jake and Mendel explain that they get along like brothers and want to make sure each other’s family is taken care of if they should die. Neither Jake nor Mendel want their wives to know what they are doing until they have passed the physical exam, thinking that if they don’t happen to pass, their wives will be worried sick. Henry tells them both to go see Dr. Edward Stratton to get their physicals. When Molly finds Stratton’s name in Jake’s coat pocket, she starts to think that Jake is harboring a secret illness. When Jake doesn’t go to work the next day and tries to have a leisurely, healthy morning, she gets even more worried that he has a secret illness. She calls their own physician Dr. Norton to come and examine Jake. After Jake has breakfast in bed, he heads to the physical, telling Molly that he is going to work. She tries to convince him to stay home, but he heads to the exam. Mrs. Mendel has also found Dr. Stratton’s name in his pocket, so she is worried as well. They call Dr. Stratton again, and this time they find out that they are getting insurance physicals. They all celebrate together with dinner at the Goldbergs, but Jake and Mendel get into a fight when Jake says that it is easier for Mendel to take time off work than it is for Jake. As they argue about their positions at work, and who could do their job better, Henry calls and Molly answers it. She alludes to the fact that neither passed their exam, even though they really did. Her strategy is that two friends will come together when they receive bad news together. Sure enough, Mendel and Jake decide that they must not be as healthy as they thought, so they decide to put aside petty bickering. Molley than tells them that Henry is bringing them their policy to sign. They are both relieved and go back to being best friends again. 7/12/23
• 059. Hobby – 1956
  • Molly is getting upset that Jake is spending so much time at the factory and has been coming home late for dinner. Sammy suggests that if he would get involved with a hobby, it might get his mind off of work for a while. When Jake gets home from work, Molly brings it up to him, but he can only talk about work and his squabbles with his partner Mendel. Molly reminds Jake of how she works on crossword puzzles and David works on his clocks. The next day, the family presents him with a canvas, easel, brushes, and paints and suggests that he tries to do some painting, as his cousin has shown talent with painting, and he might have it too. Jake is in good enough humor to give it a try, and soon he finds that he is enjoying painting a bowl of fruit. However, when Mendel calls for him and Molly tells him that Jake is busy with his painting, Jake becomes furious when Mendel berates him for ignoring an emergency at the plant. He throws the painting aside and says that he’s done with the hobby. Molly tells Daisy her woes, and she suggests that she get someone Jake respects to tell him how great his painting is to get him interested again. She then convinces the art store shop owner Mr. Slaterman to come and tells David that Molly allowed him to hang Jake’s artwork in his store, and a collector paid $25 for the painting. He gives Jake the money, and then Molly pays Slaterman back for the ruse. Jake suddenly becomes excited for artwork again and takes up the hobby again, looking for a new subject. When he searches in a cabinet for a statue to paint, he finds his originally fruit artwork that Slaterman had said he sold. Jake then becomes aware of the ruse, which David verifies. He decides to get revenge and act as if he has now become obsessed with artwork. He works at home around the clock on his paintings, skipping meals, going to the park to paint instead of going to work, and criticizing the color composition of the meal on the kitchen table. He then tells Molly that he is going to art school until late into the night in order to paint real live models. Molly goes to David for advice, but before he can give it, Daisy calls and tells Molly that she is worried because her husband Henry is out playing poker with Jake. Molly then realizes that Jake is only acting with her, and David confirms that she should have told him where she hid Jake’s artwork. When Jake gets home, Molly puts on a star acting job of her own and pretends to be wild with jealousy, slashing up the nude painting that Jake brought home, and telling him that they no longer belong in each other’s worlds. David confides in him that Molly is only acting to get back at him. Jake admits that he borrowed it from the art store and will now have to pay $50 for it, but also admits that it is worth it to be able to finally abandon painting as his hobby. 11/11/23
• 060. Boy Friend – 1956
  • Rosalie has been going out with series of boys, and it makes her parents happy to see her so popular. She has a boy named Stanley Hess (Warren Berlinger) pick her up for one date, and he impresses Jake with his knowledge of business administration. Her next date is Richard Keller (Jay Easton), a pre-med student who gives David some advice on his cough, so David thinks he is the obvious choice. Molly, a true fan of TV and how it works, likes a boy named Michael Robinson (Carleton Carpenter), who is majoring in theoretical physics who is fascinating by the idea of television. Rosalie then becomes distracted as she tries to choose which boy that she will go steady with since all three have asked her. She seeks some advice from Sammy as to when he started going steady with Dora. Her parents and David each interject their advice as to whom to date based on which one they liked best when they met them. Rosalie becomes angry that they are all giving her advice, since it only serves to confuse her more. She decides that she’s not going to tell them anything more about her personal life since they can’t seem to let her make her own decisions without interfering. After two weeks, she hasn’t left the house on any date, but they each vow to keep their mouths shut. Then suddenly, Rosalie has a date with someone, and each one of the elder family members speculate which of the three boys it is based on how she is presenting herself. It turns out to be a completely new man named Jonathan Melton (Tom Helmore), who is 39 years old, has been married twice, and has three kids. The parents are all outraged but try to keep quiet for fear of interfering again. Sammy warns them to keep their mouths shut and let her make her own decisions. When rumor begins circulating that Richard has purchased a ring at the jewelry store, they all are on pins and needles waiting to forbid this relationship. Then Molly gets a call from Richard’s mother, who wants to speak to her in person. Again, they are deathly afraid of a marriage proposal and Jake vows not to let it happen. He insists on speaking with Rosalie before she goes out that night, but when Rosalie’s date shows up and it turns out to be an entirely new and age-appropriate boy named Henry Thomas (Ned Wertimer), they all breathe a sigh of relief. Rosalie tells her mother that Richard’s mother merely wants to talk to her about joining a neighborhood group to put together a community chest. NOTE: Stanley Hess is named ‘Howard Kane’ in the episode credits. 11/11/23
• 061. Molly’s Wedding Plans – 1956
  • Jerome and Carrie Barnett are coming to the Goldberg house to talk about wedding plans, and Molly, Jake, and David are all arguing about who to invite since the Barnetts have requested that they keep it to ten couples per each side of the family. They are worried about anyone feeling excluded, but Jake insists that they stick within the Barnetts’ request. When the Barnett family arrives, Sammy, Nora, and Rosie all go for a drive, leaving the parents to discuss the wedding among themselves. Carrie admits that they are having trouble narrowing the guest list themselves, so she suggests that both side be allowed to add an extra couple. Naturally, Jake, Molly, and David argue over who that couple will be. Likewise, the Barnetts argue among themselves about who their add will include. Eventually, they have raised the guest list to 30 couples. Jerome privately admits to Jake that it will be a financial strain, but he wants Nora to have the wedding she wants, and he wants his wife to be happy. Jake offers to pay for half of the wedding, and although he initially declines, Jerome decides to accept the offer. Elsewhere in the house, the wives have raised the guest list to 60 couples, and now that they’ve outgrown Carrie’s sister’s house to hold the wedding, they agree they need to rent a hall. They also decide to use a caterer now instead of a cold buffet. Carrie and Molly go to the Woodward Hotel to speak to Mr. Sender (Stefan Schnabel) of Avon Limited Catering, where they learn that there are four different levels of packages, each one more intricate and expensive than the last. By the time they are done, Carrie has chosen package #3 which includes a giant cake, fancy appetizers and dinner, a live orchestra, a limousine, and flowers flown in from all over the world. When Molly tells her family, all of them, including Sammy, think it is going way overboard. Jake is also shocked to hear that Carrie has volunteered him to make eight of the bridesmaids’ dresses. Sam and Dora agree to tell her parents that they are spending way too much. They tell her parents that they’d much prefer a down payment on their new house rather than a fancy wedding. All of the parents agree that they are being sensible, and Jake agrees to still offer to pay half of the money. Meanwhile, Molly, David, and Carrie start paring down their list to the original ten couples. However, since they can’t do it without hurting anyone’s feelings, it quickly rises back up to sixty couples. Jake and Jerome head to the bank for a loan and are stunned that they’ve now agrees to the mysterious caterer package #4. 3/19/24
• 062. Partners – 1956
  • Molly is planning on having the Mendels over for dinner, but Rosie takes a message from Mrs. Mendel that cancels the plans. When Molly calls to find out why, Minerva tells her that it is because their husbands are quarrelling again. Molly tells Minerva to send Mr. Mendel over on his own so that they can talk things over away from the shop. When Jake arrives home, he is furious that Molly has invited Mendel over. As the inside man in the business, Jake feels like Mendel keeps the buyers away from him because he feels like he is more cultured than Jake, causing Jake to feel inferior. Before Mendel arrives, Jake has his family bring down the reproduction paintings by Van Gogh and Matisse that they have upstairs, as well as their Beethoven records. When Mendel arrives, they have drinks and listen to classical music during dinner. Mendel suggests that the music isn’t good for dinner, but when Jake tries to act like he is more cultured than Mendel by listening to Beethoven, Mendel then suggests different movements by Beethoven that are less depressing. Mendel also pontificates on the artwork with which Jake has adorned the dining room, making Jake feel angry and inferior all over again. Jake tells Mendel it must be nice that he can spend so much time going to museums while Jake is stuck at the shop all day long. This brings the fight to the surface, and Mendel agrees to switch jobs with Mendel if it will make him stop complaining so much about everything. Jake then takes over the role of schmoozing with the buyers, while Mendel takes over managing production at the shop. This starts keeping Jake out late every night when he’d rather be at home with his family. Likewise, Mendel suffers as he starts losing more customers than he is bringing in. One night, the Mendels stop by the Goldberg house and invite Molly out to the movies while Jake is out with Miss Muralie, an important client. While Minerva is thrilled with the new arrangement since it means she has Mendel home every night, Mendel admits to David that if they keep this up, they are going to go out of business as he isn’t as good as running the operations as Jake is. Since neither Jake nor Mendel will apologize to the other, Molly comes up with a plan to act jealous that Jake is out late at night with Miss Muralie. When Jake is out until the wee hours of the morning, she attacks him when he comes home and acts like a jealous wife. Although Jake knows that she is merely acting, he knows what she wants him to do. He finally agrees to bite the bullet and talk to Mendel about switching jobs back. 3/19/24
• 063. Girl Scouts – 1956
  • Against Jake’s advice, Molly volunteers to become a Brownies troop leader and commits herself to two weeks of boot camp of training from the club leader Mrs. Allen (Barbara Robbins) to be a leader who will introduce young Brownies to the rules and ways of the Girl Scouts so that they can advance in the club. Molly takes this very seriously as she studies everything from astrology to First Aid to the rules and songs of the Brownies, and especially the importance of the Brownie promise. At home, she drives Jake crazy singing Brownie songs, reciting the rules, and playing games that she’ll teach the girls. When the time comes for her to finally take over her troop, she is disappointed with the lack of enthusiasm in the girls, who all miss their former troop leader Mrs. Miller, who has moved out of the area with her husband’s job. Although the girls don’t seem to be interested in anything that Molly had to say, she goes home and tells Jake that they all had a wonderful time and that the girls loved her as a troop leader. One of the girls, Susie (Virginia Gerry), stops over at the house and tells Molly that her mother sent her over to apologizes for her own behavior and the lack of enthusiasm during their first day together. Molly admits to Jake and David that she was a flop and has no idea what to do. Jake suggests that she quit, but Molly decides to try again. Unfortunately, Susie is the only girl who shows up to the next meeting. Molly takes her out for an ice cream soda and asks her what she can do to win over the girls. Every suggestion that Molly makes, Susie tells her that they’ve already done it. The only thing that Susie says will excite the girls is if they go on a night hike and sleepover in the woods. Molly tells her to spread the word that they are going to do just that. However, Molly later gets a call from Mrs. Allen, who tells her that the rules stipulate that the Brownies are not allowed to go out overnight for a hike and sleepover. Furthermore, she tells Molly that they need to have a discussion about her leadership of the girls. Molly is crestfallen, especially since this will mean that she has to break a ‘Brownie promise’ to the girls. She gets an idea as a way to stretch the rules, and later she is outside under the moon, telling the girls of Snow White, and then singing Taps with them as they all climb into their sleeping bags to go to sleep as they thank Mrs. Goldberg for the wonderful time. Just a few yards away, Jake is on the back porch with the girls’ mothers, telling them that they can now all get back to their game of Canasta in the house. 8/6/24
• 064. Molly the Matchmaker – 1956
  • While pitching horseshoes with David, his friend Mr. Frankel (Boris Tumarin) confesses that he would like to get married someday soon, so David offers to have Molly set him up with one of her friends. Molly thinks that Mrs. Herman would be a good match, so she arranges to have her come stay with them from her home in the Bronx. She also arranges a dinner for both of them so that they can meet. Meanwhile, it is revealed while he is chatting with a client named Felix Gorden (Will Scholz) that Frankel’s job is being a marriage broker for men, and this is why he really wants to meet Mrs. Herman. During the dinner, Frankel takes great interest in finding out everything about Mrs. Herman, and Molly believes that romantic sparks were flying. Mrs. Herman and Mr. Frankel make a date for the concert, but then Frankel feigns an illness and sends Felix to take his place on the date. The next day, Frankel calls Mrs. Herman and apologizes for not being at the concert, but he invites her to meet him for a walk the next day. However, this time a man named Alexander Green (Ronald Dawson) shows up and says that Frankel had to babysit his niece. Molly keeps telling Mrs. Herman what a gentleman Frankel is by arranging a substitute date. Frankel comes to see Mrs. Herman again to inquire how she felt about Green, but she doesn’t express any interest. This time, he asks Mrs. Herman to go see the movie The Magic Spell. Since Frankel has now ‘broken his glasses’, he sends Mr. Brown to keep the date this time. David finds out from a friend that Frankel is a professional matchmaker and tells Molly. Instead of telling Mrs. Herman about Frankel, she instead calls Frankel and reveals that she knows his occupation and asks him if he’d like to meet up with another potential woman named Mrs. Fine for his matchmaking pursuits. She sends him tickets to a concert where he can meet Mrs. Fine, but instead she sends Mrs. Herman to take her place. After this date, Molly tells Frankel that she’s like him to meet another friend named Mrs. Barnett… but again, she sends Mrs. Herman to take her place. She repeats this one more time with Mrs. Frelinghauser and again sends Mrs. Herman. Frankel later shows up at the Goldberg house and tells Molly that he recognizes the technique and that she is giving a matchmaker a taste of his own medicine. With that said, he gives Mrs. Herman some flowers and asks her to marry him. However, much to Molly’s surprise, she tells him that they can only be friends. She says now that they’ve actually been going on dates, he became less exciting to her. Frankel is beside himself with grief and tells Mrs. Goldberg that she is an amateur but then tells her that she was so good at matchmaking that she should call him if she ever wants to be business partners with him. 8/12/24
• 065. Where There’s Life, There’s Hope – 1956
  • Molly has her cousin Simon over for dinner, and as he engorges himself on noodle pudding, he is getting on Jake’s every last nerve. Simon makes it a point to criticize the financial decisions of all of his relative including Jake, while both Jake and David gang up on him and remind him of all of the things his relatives did for him on his way up the chain. As they argue, Simon starts to get severe abdominal pains, so Sam goes and brings Dr. Stark (Henry Hamilton) to the house. He says he needs to do some cardiograph tests and advises the family not to move him. He also calls for two nurses to come and watch over him while he runs his tests. David overhears Dr. Stark talking on the phone about another patient and thinks that he is referring to Simon when he mentions numerous heart problems and the fact that he only has a few days to live. The family bends over backwards to follow Nurse Ellis’s (Kathleen Comedys) advice and keep Simon comfortable. Simon, thinking that he is on his deathbed, has a change of heart about his relatives and wants to make sure that they are all taken care of. He offers Jake the opportunity to be his right-hand man in his business and take over once he is gone. He calls in his secretary Debbie Springer (Florence Anglin) to write checks to all of his relatives and then tells her that he is going to double her salary. Everyone is the family begins to see Simon in a new light when Molly calls Tante Elka to give her the good news that none of the family will have to struggle financially any longer. However, when Dr. Stark returns with a prognosis that there is nothing wrong with Simon’s heart, nor his gall bladder, but that he simply overate, he suddenly puts off signing any of the checks, tells Debbie that she will just get the normal five percent raise in January, and tells Jake to put off getting involved in the business for a couple of years. He decides to take a vacation to get some rest, and as he leaves, he scolds Molly for overfeeding him and causing his stomach trouble in the first place. 12/7/24
• 066. The Milk Farm – 1956
  • Due to Molly’s struggle with weight, Jake sends Molly off to a milk farm for two weeks, where they survive on nothing but lettuce and carrots to eat and milk and sauerkraut to drink. Molly arrives and is admitted by the nurse, Miss Grey (Pat Parker), and then introduces to Mrs. Hortense Lang (Natalie Schafer) who checks her in and measures her weight. She then takes her into the dining room and introduces her to the other ladies in the program, where she meets Louise Harper (Nina Varela) and Beatrice (Alice Pearce). Molly has many discussions with these two about various recipes for food, as well as speculating what the smells coming from the staff’s dinners are. All of the ladies work through calisthenics, the steam room, and vibration reducers. During Molly’s first weigh in, she has lost four-fifths of a pound, and all of the other ladies have lost weight as well. When Molly hears about another guest leaving to go to the dentist, she gets the idea to fake a toothache and asks Mrs. Lang for permission to leave. While she is out, she visits a delicatessen and loads up on pastrami, salami, pickles, and bread. When she returns, some of the ladies smell the food she smuggles in with her knitting bag, and soon they are all in her room and getting fed lunchmeat sandwiches. Molly makes several visits to the ‘dentist,’ and soon Mrs. Lang and Miss Grey catch on that the women all seem to be gaining weight on the days following Molly’s visit to the dentist. They decide to search her room and find all of the food. When they confront Molly about her weight gains, she blames it on her metabolism, and then suggests that the milk isn’t really skim. They show her all of the food that they have found, and Mrs. Lang expels her from the Milk Farm. She also sends a telegram home to Jake to explain why she has been expelled. When Molly arrives home, no one says anything to her about it, but she finds the telegram on the kitchen table. She has a meltdown and says that she can’t lose weight on these conditions, and has to do it on her own, not while being babysat. David and Rosalie try to her that they love her as she is and offer her some spaghetti. Molly goes into the kitchen, stuffs a couple of forkfuls of spaghetti in her mouth, and then cuts off a lettuce wedge and grabs a carrot and joins them for dinner. As she eats the carrot, she says she doesn’t need a policeman. 12/7/24

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 8th, 2000 at 2:19 pm and is filed under Television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.