Scene still for the short film “The House I Live In” (1945)
Extent and Medium
Overall: Height: 8.000 inches (20.32 cm) | Width: 10.250 inches (26.035 cm)
Creator(s)
- RKO Radio Pictures (Distributor)
- Ken Sutak (Compiler)
- Frank Ross Productions (Production Company)
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 scene still 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
Scene still for the American short film, “The House I Live In,” starring Frank Sinatra and released by RKO Radio Pictures in November 1945, a few months after the war ended in the Pacific. Scene stills are photographs taken on or off the set of a motion picture and used as marketing and advertising tools. The film received a special award for Tolerance Short Subject at the 1945 Oscars, and a Golden Globe for Promoting International Tolerance. “The House I Live In” was also added to the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress in 2007. Running at just 11 minutes, the narrative is bookended by Sinatra singing two songs. During a recording break, Sinatra steps outside, stops a group of boys from attacking another boy, and teaches them a lesson on religious and ethnic tolerance. The film incorporates aerial combat footage as he tells the story of the partnership between an American Presbyterian bomber pilot, Colin Kelly, and a Jewish American bombardier, Meyer Levin. The pair were part of the plane crew that bombed the first Japanese warship after the attack on Pearl Harbor. At the time, it was believed the ship sunk. However, the ship remained afloat, but the event boosted American morale, which was at a low after the attack on Pearl Harbor. 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
Black-and-white, photographic scene still from the short film, “The House I Live In.” The photograph depicts a young man and a group of 10 young boys in an alley, next to a brick building. One of the boys, dressed in black, is standing on an exterior windowsill, holding onto the central sash. He is looking down at the other people who are clustered around him. The man looks up at the boy on the sill and stands between the boy and the group on the ground. Some of the boys are carrying stacks of books tied together with a strap. There is a white number in the bottom right corner of the photograph. Depicted: Frank Sinatra as himself, others unidentified
People
- Kelly, Colin Purdie, 1915-1941.
- Sinatra, Frank, 1915-1998.
- Levin, Meyer S., 1916-1943.
Subjects
- United States.
- Musical films.
- Armed Forces in motion pictures.
- Short films.
- Antisemitism in motion pictures.
- Heroes in motion pictures.
Genre
- Photographs
- Promotional materials.
- Object