Comedy · Syndicated
Mama Bloom's Brood
· 76 broadcasts
Mama Bloom's Brood is a quarter-hour Jewish-American family comedy serial, syndicated on transcription discs around 1934 -- prerecorded in Los Angeles by Broadcasters Program Syndicate and leased to stations one at a time, which is why it carries no network and no broadcast dates.
Papa Bloom, a retirement-age kneepants manufacturer, sells his factory at a tidy profit and, with shrewd Mama Becky at his side, packs the whole brood -- daughters Yetta and Sara and their new husbands Harold and Sidney -- into the car for a cross-country trip to Hollywood, where a retired garment man somehow talks his way into a controlling interest in the movie business. Becky, warm and quick and cheerfully at war with American idiom, is the show's center, an affectionate cousin to Molly Goldberg; the humor comes from inside the community it portrays, right down to Papa humming 'Hatikvah' under his breath.
Overshadowed in its day by The Goldbergs it was clearly patterned on, the show survives far better than its famous model: almost all 76 installments exist in good sound, a small, listenable window into 1930s Jewish-American radio. Its cast and writers, sadly, went unrecorded and remain unknown.
Collection status:
76 of 76 held (100% complete)
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Episode Spine
undated
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New Dresses
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Abe Morgenstern
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Girls Are Late
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Sidney Comes to Dinner
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A Picnic Proposed
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The Picnic Planned
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Finding a Place
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Jake's Lawsuit
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Gold Mine Investment
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Yetta's Lesson
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Jake Buys a New Car
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Planning an Afternoon Party
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Engagement Announced
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Sidney Goes to Work for Jake
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Red Uniform Profit
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Where's Sidney
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(MP3)
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One Hundred Seventy Five Dollar Dress Bargain
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Making the Wedding List
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Sidney's Visit at Night
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Sara Is Jealous
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Honeymoon in Europe Rumor
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Mrs Fink Told Off
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Blank Checks
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The Day Before the Wedding
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The Wedding Day Arrives
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Another Engagement
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New Furniture
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(MP3)
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Yetta and Harold Elope
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(MP3)
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Out of Honeymoon Money
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Harold Becomes a VIP
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Should Papa Retire
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(MP3)
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Papa Wants a Vacation
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Travel Plans Changed
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Should Sam Retire
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First to Hollywood
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Grandparents Soon
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Mr Greenville's Offer
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Eighty Thousand Dollar Price
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The Hollywood Trip Begins
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The Bridge Game
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Indian Trouble
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In the Pictures
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Papa Buys In
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Sidney and Harold Are Also In
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A Controlling Interest
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Getting Used to It
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Learning the Ropes
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(MP3)
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A Quiet Evening At Home
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Marsha Valle's Temper Tantrum
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Back to Normal
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One Hundred Suits of Armor
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One Hundred More Arrive
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A Super Picture
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Movie Premier
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(MP3)
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Mama Is Homesick
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(MP3)
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Yascha Bloomakoff
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New Name Accepted
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Shooting Gallery
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Papa's Dancing Partner
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(MP3)
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Sara Is Jealous
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New Neighbors
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Movie Plot Problem
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Sara Has Twins
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Going to the Hospital
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Getting to Sleep
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Shopping for a New Suit
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Picking Baby Names
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Naming Party
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The Fortune Teller
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Arthur S Mollington
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Almost Caught at Pinochle
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To the Restaurant
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The Magician's Show
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Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollar Super Picture
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(MP3)
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Sneak Preview
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(MP3)
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Retirement
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(MP3)
The Story
Mama Bloom's Brood is a quarter-hour Jewish-American family comedy serial, syndicated on transcription discs around 1934 -- prerecorded in Los Angeles by Broadcasters Program Syndicate and leased to stations one at a time, which is why it carries no network and no broadcast dates.
Papa Bloom, a retirement-age kneepants manufacturer, sells his factory at a tidy profit and, with shrewd Mama Becky at his side, packs the whole brood -- daughters Yetta and Sara and their new husbands Harold and Sidney -- into the car for a cross-country trip to Hollywood, where a retired garment man somehow talks his way into a controlling interest in the movie business. Becky, warm and quick and cheerfully at war with American idiom, is the show's center, an affectionate cousin to Molly Goldberg; the humor comes from inside the community it portrays, right down to Papa humming 'Hatikvah' under his breath.
Overshadowed in its day by The Goldbergs it was clearly patterned on, the show survives far better than its famous model: almost all 76 installments exist in good sound, a small, listenable window into 1930s Jewish-American radio. Its cast and writers, sadly, went unrecorded and remain unknown.
Full story — coming soon while it's being curated.
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