The Goldbergs: The New Landlord was produced by CBS Television. The Main Characters are Molly Goldberg, her husband Jake, and their children, Rosalie and Sammy along with her uncle David. In the episode Molly, wants to ask the new landlord Mr. Peach if she can paint her apartment. Jake advises her against it, saying that the answer will be “no”. Their kids and neighbors come in to tell them that the elevator is broken and a myriad of things that are wrong with their apartments. Jake who was writing out the rent check tells Molly that he will pay the rent when things are fixed. Molly decides to take a more diplomatic approach and invite Mr. Peach over to discuss the tenant’s issues as well as asking if she can paint.
The meeting is a success. Mr. Peach agrees to make the requested improvements even though he says it will be a hardship. Later when the painter comes to do their apartment, he tells them that what Mr. Peach meant by hardship was that he was going to claim a hardship with the housing department in order to be reimbursed for the money he spent in renovations and the tenant’s rents were going up. The other tenants become angry with Molly as they blame her for their situation. The painter returns the next day and puts splashes of paint on the walls so that Molly can choose a color, but she has a headache and is not interested. She then remembers that it is Mr. Peach’s birthday and decides to get the tenants together for a quick birthday party. When Mr. Peach comes he is surprised that Molly would do such a nice thing. Jake comes in and the animosity between the two men is clear. Mr. Peach excuses himself, but before he can leave Molly then tells him that they know what “hardship” means and that they are going to raise their own rent 2$. Mr. Peach tells them that it was going to be a hardship because he was not going to raise their rents, but since they offered he would accept. The episode ends with the other tenants angry at Molly again.
In the episode all of the men wear suits as was the fashion of the time. This was something that was done not only by the adult males, but also by the youths. When we are introduced to Molly and Jake’s son Sammy, who is in high school in the episode he is wearing a casual suit, with a bow tie and a hat to go out. Both his father, Uncle Frank and Mr. Peach are dressed similarly. The only person who was not wearing a suit was the painter and he was wearing a dress shirt with painter overalls. This showed that dressing this way was not just the fashion for going to work or on a date rather it was the typical way that men dressed during this time. Men also kept their hair relatively short and well groomed.
Even though the Second World War had ended before the show aired. It was still suggested that Americans continue to ration themselves in order to help the government pay for the cost of the war. Immediately after the war men’s suits were either black with white pinstripes or basic black, white or grey. They tended to be made out of wool. The women wore very conservative dresses of drab colors that are knee length and button at their collarbone. The reason for the drabness of the fashions at the time was that the chemicals that were used to make bright colors were needed for the war. The formal, conservative trend worn by men and women would continue on television into the late 1950’s
Molly Goldberg (Google images)
Works Cited
Classic TV and Radio. "The Goldbergs- The New Landlord (1949)." YouTube. N.p., 15 Jan. 2013. Web. 26 July 2016.
Google Images. "Molly Goldberg." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 July 2016.
