My Son

Muni Berger, a celebrated Jewish singer in New York, is devoted to his son Benny. Muni is upset that his wife Freda, an actress, is so preoccupied with rehearsals before the opening of her new play, Mother Love , that she has not seen Benny for a week. When she comes home at three in the morning and later misses a party for Muni's thirty-five-year-old sister Malka and her lazy fiancée Lebke, Muni demands that she choose between the play and her family. Freda decides to leave for Chicago even though Benny has a slight cold, and Muni vows she will never see Benny again. While Freda is gone, the doctor tells Muni that Benny needs dry air and recommends California. Muni calls Freda's theater in Chicago, but the manager doesn't let him speak with her. Muni then gives up his own career and takes the boy to California. Four weeks later, at the end of the play's run, Freda discovers that the manager has been holding her telegrams and leaves immediately for New York, where she finds Muni and Benny gone. Although she hires a detective, Freda cannot locate them. Ten years later, Muni's mother Sarah is blind and in a home for the aged, Malka has three children, Benny, who thinks that his mother has died, sings as he sells newspapers, and Muni, who is broke, spends his money on liquor. Freda, meanwhile, has made money and become a success while she has searched Europe, South America and Africa for her child. In New York, Freda protests to her manager that she doesn't want to play a scene involving a baby lying dead in a crib. In the midst of their discussion, Benny delivers a telegram from the detective agency, and Freda, taking a liking to him, gives him two tickets to her play. Meanwhile, Muni sings drunkenly in a Roumanian cellar, and Chiam Green, a singing celebrity, whom Muni helped at the beginning of his career, sees him. When Freda sings "Give Me Back My Child" at a concert at the home for the aged, Sarah interrupts and blames her for ruining her son's life and for her blindness. Freda gets Muni's address from Sarah and visits as Chiam offers Muni a job on radio. Embittered, Muni tells Freda that it is too late for her to get Benny back. Hoping to save Benny from Muni's squalid surroundings, Freda offers him a violin, bicycle and finally, anything he wants, if he will live with her, but he refuses, saying that Muni will have nothing if he goes. Muni, who overhears, promises Benny that he won't drink again and that he will find them a new apartment. When the landlady accuses Benny of stealing $350, Benny confesses that he took the money because Muni needs a doctor. Horrified that his son might grow up to be a liar, thief and loafer, Muni tells Benny that he doesn't love him, so that he will go with Freda. Benny moves in with his mother, who asks the manager to tell Muni that she never saw his telegrams. Chiam then tells her that Muni is extremely sick and that he may die. Benny, meanwhile, has left Freda a note saying that he doesn't want to live without both her and Muni. He tells Muni, who has since learned about the telegrams, that he wants a papa and a mama. Encouraged by Chiam to forgive and understand, Muni proposes a comeback of the husband and wife team, The Great Bergers. Freda refuses, and says she now has a new career as Muni's wife and Benny's mother.