.1 Lobby card with illustrated images printed on rectangular off-white paper from the film “Four Sons.” The movie title is printed across the top in large, yellow letters with black borders. In the foreground, on the left side of the card, is a woman in three quarter right profile and shown from the waist up, wearing a white bonnet and black dress while clutching her hands and gazing upwards. Behind her shoulder, in the center, are the faces of three men who are being embraced from behind by the skeletal hands of a dark, ghostly silhouette of a soldier in a helmet. Below them is an illustration of a farmhouse on rolling hills dotted with trees. Slightly separated on the right side of the image is the face of a young man in a white collared shirt. The top half of the card has a green background, with the suggestion of three warplanes on the right side. The film credits are printed across the bottom in red and green ink on a yellow background. Small, blue text containing the copyright information is printed in the bottom margin. There are some smudged areas from ink transfer along the left margin, and on the back. Left to right: Eugenie Leontovich as Frau Bern, Alan Curtis as Karl, Robert Lowery as Joseph, Don Ameche as Chris, and George Ernest as Fritz .2 Lobby card with a photographic image printed on rectangular off-white paper from the film “Four Sons.” The card depicts an interior scene of a woman in black dress, holding a small medal, surrounded by four, dark-haired, younger men in long-sleeve collared shirts and vests. They are seated at a table with a pink tablecloth, teacups and saucers, and a small wooden box. The film title and credits are printed in a small box with a yellow background in the lower left corner. Small, blue text containing the copyright information is printed in the bottom margin. There are some smudged areas from ink transfer along the margins, and on the back. A piece of wide, brown tape is adhered to the center of the back, bottom edge. Left to right: Don Ameche as Chris, Alan Curtis as Karl, Eugenie Leontovich as Frau Bern, George Ernest as Fritz, and Robert Lowery as Joseph .3 Lobby card with a photographic image printed on rectangular off-white paper from the film “Four Sons.” The card depicts an interior scene of a woman standing in between two taller men, all shown from the waist up. The woman wears a dark dress with a white bonnet, and the two men are in dark suits with ties and white collared shirts. The men are staring at each other, while the woman is looking at the man on the right, with her hand on the arm of the man on the left. The film title and credits are printed in a small box with a yellow background in the lower left corner. Small, blue text containing the copyright information is printed in the bottom margin. A small, red triangle with interior text is stamped in the bottom right corner. There are losses across the surface of the image and margins, especially in the upper right quadrant. There is a pinhole in each corner and several additional ones in the margins. The margins are slightly discolored and there is ink transfer and residue on the back. Left to right: Alan Curtis as Karl, Eugenie Leontovich as Frau Bern, and Don Ameche as Chris .4 Lobby card with a photographic image printed on rectangular off-white paper from the film “Four Sons.” The card depicts an interior scene with five men and two women. On the far left, a man in a green sweater is pointing a pistol at a man on the right, who is wearing a white collared shirt and pointing a shotgun back at him. A young woman is standing on the far right, while an older woman and three men are grouped in the center, looking at the man with the pistol. The film title and credits are printed in a small box with a yellow background in the lower left corner. Small, blue text containing the copyright information is printed in the bottom margin. There is a torn section on the center right portion of the image, where the young woman stands. There are multiple pinholes in the corners and margins, and ink transfer on the back. Left to right: Alan Curtis as Karl, unidentified, Sig Rumann as Newmann, Eugenie Leontovich as Frau Bern, George Ernest as Fritz, Don Ameche as Chris, and Mary Beth Hughes as Anna .5 Lobby card with a photographic image printed on rectangular off-white paper from the film “Four Sons.” The scene depicts two tall men in green military uniforms and helmets being embraced by a smaller, older woman. The film title and credits are printed in a small box with a yellow background in the lower left corner. Small, blue text containing the copyright information is printed in the bottom margin. There are several pinholes in the margins and image in the upper corners, as well as in the top and bottom center. Left to right: Alan Curtis as Karl, Eugenie Leontovich as Frau Bern, and Don Ameche as Chris .6 Lobby card with a photographic image printed on rectangular off-white paper from the film “Four Sons.” The outdoor scene depicts four soldiers in uniform confronting a young, blonde woman wearing a green sweater and black skirt outside of a building. The film title and credits are printed in a small box with a yellow background in the lower left corner. Small, blue text containing the copyright information is printed in the bottom margin. There are pinholes in the center left margin and image, and some ink transfer on the back. On right: Mary Beth Hughes as Anna, others unidentified .7 Lobby card with a photographic image printed on rectangular off-white paper from the film “Four Sons.” The scene depicts two women inside their home, surrounded by Nazi officers in their black uniforms. The older woman on the right is covering the mouth of the younger, blonde woman (on the left) with her hand. One of the Nazi officers is standing behind the young blonde woman, while another is gripping the shoulder of the older woman. Three other officers are standing at attention, on the far right of the image. The film title and credits are printed in a small box with a yellow background in the lower left corner. Small, blue text containing the copyright information is printed in the bottom margin. There are pinholes in the corners and a tear in the left end of the bottom margin. On the back, there are red smudges along the lower edge and some ink smudges. Left to right: Mary Beth Hughes as Anna and Eugenie Leontovich as Frau Bern. Others unidentified. .1 back, top right, handwritten, pencil : NC / N .2 back, top right, handwritten, pencil : 20’ / NC .3 front, bottom right corner, stamped, red ink : [within triangle] NOT / SUITABLE / FOR / GENERAL / EXHIBITION .3 back, top right corner, handwritten, pencil : 4 .3 back, top right corner, sticker, printed, black ink : $20.00 .6 back, center, handwritten, black crayon: 1554
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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.
The lobby cards were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Ken Sutak and Sherri Venokur.
.1: Height: 11.000 inches (27.94 cm) | Width: 14.000 inches (35.56 cm) .2: Height: 11.000 inches (27.94 cm) | Width: 14.000 inches (35.56 cm) .3: Height: 11.000 inches (27.94 cm) | Width: 14.000 inches (35.56 cm) .4: Height: 11.000 inches (27.94 cm) | Width: 14.000 inches (35.56 cm) .5: Height: 11.000 inches (27.94 cm) | Width: 14.000 inches (35.56 cm) .6: Height: 11.000 inches (27.94 cm) | Width: 14.000 inches (35.56 cm) .7: Height: 11.000 inches (27.94 cm) | Width: 14.000 inches (35.56 cm)
Set of lobby cards for the American feature film “Four Sons,” released by 20th Century-Fox in June 1940. Lobby cards are promotional materials placed in theater lobby windows to highlight specific movie scenes, rather than the broader themes often depicted on posters. The film was a remake of a 1928 film by the same name, set in Bavaria before and during World War I. The 1940 remake was set during the late 1930s in the Czechoslovakian region along the German border known as the Sudetenland. It focuses on a mother and her four sons, who have divided political loyalties. One son enlists in the Czech army and clashes with his brother who joins the Nazis. A third brother is drafted by the German army after the Sudetenland was annexed in 1938, while the fourth brother, an artist, escapes the same fate by immigrating to the United States. Three of the four brothers are killed as a result of the war, and the mother, her daughter-in-law, and grandson set out to immigrate to the United States. Advertising for “Four Sons” was the first to use imagery of the “specter of death,” a common theme of interventionist political cartoons and editorials. This led to threats on the studio from the German consul-general. 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.
Set of seven lobby cards for the film “Four Son" (1940)