Magazine advertisement for the film, “Tomorrow- The World!” (1944)
Extent and Medium
Overall: Height: 14.125 inches (35.878 cm) | Width: 10.375 inches (26.353 cm)
Creator(s)
- Lester Cowan Productions, Inc. (Production Company)
- United Artists Corporation (Distributor)
- Ken Sutak (Compiler)
Biographical History
The Cinema Judaica Collection consists of more than 1,200 objects relating to films about World War II and the Holocaust as well as Jewish, Israeli, and biblical subjects, from 1923 to 2000, from the United States, Europe, Israel, Canada, Mexico, and Argentina. The collection was amassed by film memorabilia collector Ken Sutak, to document Holocaust-and Jewish-themed movies of the World War II era and the postwar years. The collection includes posters, lobby and photo cards, scene stills, pressbooks, trade ads, programs, magazines, books, VHS tapes, DVDS, and 78 rpm records. Sutak organized these materials into two groups, “Cinema Judaica: The War Years, 1939–1949” and “Cinema Judaica: The Epic Cycle, 1950–1972” and, in conjunction with the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum (now the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum in New York), organized exhibitions on these two themes in 2007 and 2008. Sutak subsequently authored companion books with the same titles.
Archival History
The advertisement was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Ken Sutak and Sherri Venokur.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ken Sutak and Sherri Venokur
Scope and Content
Magazine advertisement for the film, “Tomorrow- The World!” released by United Artists in December 1944. The film was based on a popular 1943 Broadway play of the same name, and centers around a 12-year-old member of the Hitler Youth who moves to the United States to live with his American uncle. Despite his parents’ deaths in a concentration camp, the young boy is entrenched in Nazi ideology, and is arrogant, insulting, and outwardly antagonistic towards his uncle’s Jewish fiancée. The adults debate over the best way to handle the boy, and by extension, Nazi Germany. After a more physical tactic ends in disaster, the characters find that a compassionate and loving approach breaks through. This serves as a metaphor for how to treat the ordinary German citizens living under the brutality of the Nazi regime. “Tomorrow, the World!” carries an underlying message that they were unwillingly forced into the Nazi ideology, and the film promotors even suggested that local discussions should held. This object is one of more than 1,200 objects in the Cinema Judaica Collection of materials related to films about World War II and the Holocaust as well as Jewish, Israeli, and biblical themes.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Restrictions on use. Copyright status is unknown.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Double-sided, off-white sheet of paper, removed from a magazine, with a white margin on all sides. The front features a full-page advertisement, printed in blue and black ink. The top half features several lines of advertising copy and the film title in white, overlaid on an image of Earth from space, surrounded by small stars. In the bottom left of the page, the film cast and credits are printed in black, with a small rectangular box in the corner containing the face of one of the actors. In the bottom right corner is a larger-scale illustration of a man and woman embracing, depicted from the shoulders up. On the left, the woman is leaning slightly backwards, with her eyes half closed and her right hand on the man’s shoulder. On the right, the man also has his eyes partially closed and is leaning slightly forwards. Overlaying the image are a circular wreath made of two, blue, leafed branches, with black text in the center, and a narrow blue ribbon, containing white text. In the background, across the bottom, is an illustration of a village landscape. The back of the sheet contains two columns filled with advertising images and text, unrelated to the front. The paper is discolored, and there are a multiple, small tears along the edges of the sheet. Depicted: Skip Homeier as Emil Bruckner, Betty Field as Leona Richards, Fredric March as Mike Frame
People
- March, Fredric, 1897-1975.
- Moorehead, Agnes, 1900-1974.
- Homeier, Skip.
- Carroll, Joan, 1931-2016.
- Field, Betty, 1918-1973.
Subjects
- National socialism in motion pictures.
- Germans in motion pictures.
- Film adaptations.
- Anti-Nazi movement in motion pictures.
- Jewish women in motion pictures.
- Discrimination in motion pictures.
- United States.
- Youth in motion pictures.
Genre
- Books and Published Materials
- Promotional materials.
- Object