Abstract
Ethel Rosenberg was not the most famous Jewish woman of the
early 1950s, though she came close. That honor must go to Molly Goldberg,
the Yiddish-accented immigrant heroine of the long-running hit radio and
TV series The Goldbergs. Although a fictional character, Molly was played
with such verisimilitude by Gertrude Berg-in fact an American-born middle-class Jew-that the public easily confused the mythical Molly with her
real-life impersonator. As we shall see, Berg, who created the character of
Molly Goldberg as well as acted it, lived a very different life from that of her
character. Yet Molly/Gertrude was powerful in popular culture precisely
because she ostensibly represented-and existed in-reality. Molly's character, tied to Gertrude Berg, not only mobilized the cultural power of a historical, "real" person but in some senses, became a real person.