Mothers of Today (1939)

Mothers of Today features the first motion picture performance of radio star Esther Field best known on the airwaves of the 1930s as the Yiddishe Mama The film exemplifies the Yiddish film genre of shund a brand of popular entertainment which appealed to workingclass JewishAmerican immigrant audiences with broadlydrawn sentimental stories that reflected the daily life and culture of a distinctively American Yiddish community While the shund films were invariably lowbudget and lowbrow affairs these humble productions formed an important part of life in the United States for their audience