The pressbook cover 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.
Double-sided cover, printed on rectangular, off-white paper, removed from a pressbook. On the front, the top half of the page is covered by black-and-white photographic images depicting two soldiers in field uniforms, running, and carrying rifles with bayonets. In a smaller scale below them and between the two lines of title text, is a line of six tanks, decreasing in size from right to left. Overlaid on the image is the title, printed in large, red-and-black text. Above the tile, in upper left corner, is a shield-shaped frame with several lines of black text inside. At the bottom of the page are several lines of black text containing credits, production information, and copyright information. On the back are three rectangular, black-and-white examples of advertisements for war bonds available for purchase. One advertisement is large, filling the top and center of the page, while the other two are printed much smaller in the two bottom corners. The page has a horizontal crease across the center and a bar of brown staining across the top edge, which is heavier on the back of the page.
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Overall: Height: 17.000 inches (43.18 cm) | Width: 11.000 inches (27.94 cm)
Cover removed from a pressbook for the documentary film, “At the Front in North Africa,” (also known as “At the Front”) shot by the U.S. Army Signal Corps in November and December 1942, and released to the public in March 1943. “At the Front” documented the early Allied campaign in Algeria and Tunisia. Darryl F. Zanuck, 20th Century-Fox production head and an Army colonel, led the Signal Corps unit that shot the footage, while Hollywood director, John Ford, directed the Navy unit. The film was heavily criticized for its lack of a storyline and overall poor quality, in comparison to other wartime documentaries. Zanuck argued that the film was intended to be viewed as a newsreel report more than a documentary, which he equated with skillfully edited propaganda that included staged reenactments and intended to impart a particular message. 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.
Pressbook cover for the film “At the Front in North Africa” (1943)