Window card printed on rectangular, cream-colored cardstock with narrow margins on three sides, and a wide margin at the top. In the center of the card is a square illustration featuring a large, red book with a cartoon illustration of a soldier emerging from the pages. To the right of the cartoon are two smaller illustrations of a soldier holding up a bayoneted rifle over his head, and a soldier hanging from a barbed wire fence by the seat of his pants. The illustrations are overlaid on a yellow glow, which is emanating from the book. The area to the left and above the book are not touched by the book’s radiance, and are colored in black. Above the illustrations are the name of the main actor and two lines of advertising copy, printed in yellow and red. On the book’s cover is the name of the movie studio and film title, printed in white and yellow. In the bottom left corner of the square are the names of additional actors, and in the bottom right corner are additional film credits and a circular studio logo. At the bottom of the card is an empty, light red rectangle. Copyright and printing information are in black in the bottom margin. The edges of the card are discolored and worn, with some creasing throughout. There is a piece of paper tape along the back, bottom edge. Depicted: Edward G. Robinson as Wilbert Winkle
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The window card was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Ken Sutak and Sherri Venokur.
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.
Overall: Height: 22.000 inches (55.88 cm) | Width: 10.000 inches (25.4 cm)
Window card for the American feature film, “Mr. Winkle Goes to War,” released by Columbia Pictures in July 1944. Window cards were mass-produced promotional materials used until the mid-1980s. They included a blank section at the top for individual theaters to write in dates and show times, and were placed in locations outside of the theaters. “Mr. Winkle” is centered on a humble, former bank clerk who is drafted into the Army and shipped overseas. The film was adapted from Theodore Pratt’s novel, which was serialized in the New York Post. The film’s star, Edward G. Robinson, was a child when his Jewish family fled Romania due to antisemitic persecution. The family immigrated to the United States in 1904. In the years leading up to World War II, Robinson became increasingly liberal and joined anti-fascist groups, which put him under scrutiny by the U.S. government. In the 1950s, he was investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee for possible communist affiliations. Robinson had to testify before the committee three times before his name was finally cleared. 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.
Window card for the film “Mr. Winkle Goes to War” (1944)