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Old Time Radio Researchers GroupMama Bloom's Brood - Single Episodes

MAMA BLOOM'S BROOD

This early series (circa 1934) combines elements of the soap opera with those of the situation comedy. The episodes are fifteen minutes long and serialized as well as having a domestic focus, tending to place the show in the soap opera genre. But the treatment of plot and character is light-hearted and humorous, similar to what is found in the myriad of sitcoms that sprang up during radio's golden age.

Papa Bloom (Jake) has reached retirement age, and with some astute help from Mama (Becky) sells his kneepants factory at a nice profit. Together with their "brood" -- daughters Yetta and Sarah and sons-in-law Harold and Sidney -- they embark on an automobile trip to Hollywood to enjoy their first vacation in twenty-five years. The party has various adventures along the way. They stop at a resort hotel in Michigan, where Jake stuns even himself by proving to be a fantastically lucky bridge player. In the Arizona desert they are terrified by "Indians" (actually movie actors), but escape with scalps intact and soon reach their destination. There Jake, who Becky says is never happy unless he is worrying about something, invests in the motion picture business even though he knows nothing about it.

Mama Becky Bloom is a delightful character, much like Molly in "The Goldbergs," with which this series has been compared. She speaks with a heavy Yiddish accent and has trouble with both American English and history. In the desert, she tells Jake that they probably won't see any Indians because she's pretty sure that General Custer killed all of them! She also peppers her speech with fractured platitudes like "you can't make a zebra change his spots" and "you shouldn't go to the well with the same bucket once too many times."

The program was syndicated about 1934 by Broadcasters Program Syndicate/Bruce Eells and Associates.


From the Old Time Radio Researcher's Group. See "Note" Section below for more information on the OTRR.

This audio is part of the collection: Old Time Radio
It also belongs to collection: Radio Programs

Artist/Composer: Old Time Radio Researchers Group
Keywords: OTRR; Old Time Radio Researchers Group; Old Time Radio; OTRR Single Episodes; Mama Bloom's Brood; Mama Blooms Brood; Serial; Soap Opera; Comedy; OTRR - 2008-02

Creative Commons license: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States

Notes

OLD TIME RADIO RESEARCHER'S GROUP

This is a production of the Old Time Radio Researchers Group located at Old Time Radio Researchers Website and the Old Time Radio Researchers Group.

It contains the most complete and accurate version of this series in the best sound possible at the time of creation. An updated version will be issued if more episodes or better sounding ones become available.

If you are interested in preserving old time radio, you may wish to join the Old Time Radio Researchers Group at Yahoo.


This is the Single Episode Page. The Certified Set includes extras not found here. It is located at OTRR Certified Set. This page is provided in case you want to sample the shows.

Note that in many cases, file names have been modified from the original OTRR names to conform to archive.org naming requirements.


Relax, listen, and enjoy!

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OTRR Definitions:

OTRR Certified Accurate -- A series that is Certified Accurate indicates that all the episodes are properly identified and labeled but that the series does not contain all known extant episodes.

OTRR Certified Complete -- A series that is Certified Complete is the highest level of certification available under the OTRR Certified Standards. This certification level implies that all the files in the series are Certified Accurate but also indicates that the series is as complete as possible – it includes all extant episodes.

Individual Files

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Reviewer: Dee_Grooovy - - April 14, 2011
Subject: This is cute!
Very funny, very charming series - will definitely put a smile on your face :D

Reviewer: Seto-Kaiba_Is_Stupid - - August 18, 2008
Subject: Very Nice
Very nice and charming soap opera. Sound quality is good. I'm glad so many episodes have survived.