Publicity photographs of Eleanor Roosevelt for the movie “Pastor Hall” (1940)
Extent and Medium
.1: Height: 9.000 inches (22.86 cm) | Width: 7.125 inches (18.098 cm)
.2: Height: 9.000 inches (22.86 cm) | Width: 7.125 inches (18.098 cm)
Creator(s)
- Grand National Pictures (Distributor)
- Ken Sutak (Compiler)
- United Artists Corporation (Distributor)
- Charter Film 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 photographs were 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
Set of two publicity photographs featuring First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, for the British feature film “Pastor Hall,” released in the United States on September 13, 1940. “Pastor Hall” was an adaptation of the 1938 play written by Ernst Toller, a Prussian Jewish veteran of World War I. After Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Toller was declared an enemy of the state and immigrated to England, and moved again to the United States in 1936. In the film, a Lutheran minister resists the Nazification of German Protestant churches, and is imprisoned in a concentration camp as a result. He manages to escape, but is eventually killed. It equates Hitler with the Antichrist, bent on destroying not only the Jewish people, but Christianity as well. The protagonist is based on Rev. Martin Niemöller, who was arrested in 1936 and sent to Dachau concentration camp. ”Pastor Hall” was brought to the United States by James Roosevelt, son of First Lady Eleanor and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The producers had to cut 5 minutes of the most brutal scenes before it was given approval by the American censors. The First Lady recorded a prologue to the film, informing the American viewers that it was representative of actual events. 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
1: Black-and-white photograph of Eleanor Roosevelt, who is sitting in an armchair, legs crossed at the ankles. She is smiling and looking slightly down to the right at a man with glasses, who is kneeling next to the chair while holding a white booklet in front of Eleanor. The back of the photograph has a piece of folded brown paper with faint, typewritten text adhered to the top. A large, tilted block of text is stamped in the center in purple ink. In the bottom left corner, a date is stamped in smaller text in blue ink. The edges are worn and there is a pinhole at the top center. The folded paper on the back is loose and there are discolorations on the reverse of the image. Left to right: Eleanor Roosevelt and James Roosevelt .2: Black-and-white photograph of Eleanor Roosevelt, wearing a dress with a large white collar and holding a sheet of white paper in her hands. She is standing in three-quarter left profile, looking at a man in a white suit, facing her in right profile. He is smiling at her and is holding makeup containers and brushes in his hands. The back of the photograph has a piece of brown paper with typewritten text taped to the top. In the center is a large, tilted block of text, stamped in purple ink and an inverted date stamp. Adhered to the left edge is a small, white label with text printed in black ink. The top right corner of the photograph is torn off, and the edges have yellowed with age. There are several creases along the margins and small tears in the left and right edges. The back is discolored throughout. Left to right: Ed Senz and Eleanor Roosevelt
.1 back, brown paper, typed, black ink : [565619(?)] / FIRST LADY TO APPEAR IN PROLOGUE OF MOVIE / NEW YORK CITY – MRS. FRANKLIN D. [R]OOSEVELT / DONNED MAKE-UP AND APPE[A]RED BEFORE THE CAMERAS / IN THE FOX MOVIETONE STUDIOS IN NEW YORK CITY / TODAY FOR THE FILMING OF HER PART IN THE / PROLOGUE TO AN ANTI-NAZI MOVIE, “PASTOR HALL”, / FOR WHICH HER SON, JAMES, HAS SECURED THE / AMERICAN RIGHTS. THIS PHOTO SHOWS THE FIRST / LADY GOING [OV]ER HER SCRIPT WITH HER SON, JAMES, BEFORE THE [FI]LMING. / [CREDIT LINE (ACME)] 7-17-40 / (JO) .1 back, center stamped, purple ink : PHOTO BY / ACME NEWSPICTURES [INC] / [220 E.] 42nd STREET, NEW YORK [CITY] / Please Credit “Acme P[hoto] / THIS PICTURE IS SOLD TO YOU FOR YOUR / PUBLICATION ONLY AND MUST NOT BE LOANE[D] / [SY]NDICATED OR USED FOR ADVERTISING PURPO[SES] / WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM US .1 back, bottom left corner, stamped, blue ink : AUG 6 – 1940 .2 back, brown paper, typed, black ink : 565618 / FIRST LADY TO APPEAR IN PROLOGUE OF MOVIE / NEW YORK CITY – MRS. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT / DONNED MAKE-UP AND APPEARED BEFORE THE CAMERAS / IN THE FOX MOVIETONE STUDIOS IN NEW YORK CITY / TODAY FOR THE FILMING OF HER PART IN THE / PROLOGUE TO AN ANTI-NAZI MOVIE, “PASTOR HALL”, / FOR WHICH HER SON, JAMES, HAS SECURED THE / AMERICAN RIGHTS. HERE IS THE FIRST LADY / TALKING WITH ED SENZ AFTER HE MADE HER UP FOR / HER APPEARANCE BEFORE THE CAMERAS. / CREDIT LINE (ACME) 7-17-40 / (JO) / (FULL DJH MH MIL) .2 back, center, stamped, purple ink : PHOTO BY / ACME NEWSPICTURES, INC. / [220 E.] 42nd STREET, NEW YORK CITY / Please Credit “Acme Photo / THIS PICTURE IS SOLD TO YOU FOR YOUR / PUBLICATION ONLY AND MUST NOT BE LOANED / [SY]NDICATED OR USED FOR ADVERTISING PURPO[SES] / WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM US .2 back, center, stamped, purple ink : [inverted] 2 – SEP 1940 .2 back, left center, label, printed, black ink : hac 1405
People
- Toller, Ernst, 1893-1939.
- Hicks, Seymour, 1871-1949.
- Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962.
- Goring, Marius, 1912-1998.
- Niemöller, Martin, 1892-1984.
- Roosevelt, James, 1907-1991.
- Pilbeam, Nova, 1919-2015.
- Lawson, Wilfrid, 1900-1966.
Corporate Bodies
Subjects
- Film adaptations.
- Political violence in motion pictures.
- Great Britain.
- United States.
- Foreign films.
- Nazis in motion pictures.
- Anti-Nazi movement in motion pictures.
- Clergy--Crimes against.
- Imprisonment in motion pictures.
- Germans in motion pictures.
Genre
- Publicity photographs.
- Photographs
- Object