Set of six lobby cards for the movie, “Address Unknown” (1944)
Extent and Medium
.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)
Creator(s)
- Address Unknown, Inc. (Production Company)
- Columbia Pictures Corporation (Distributor)
- Ken Sutak (Compiler)
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 lobby cards 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 six lobby cards for the American feature film, “Address Unknown,” released in the United States on June 1, 1944. 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 based on the 1938 novella of the same name in “Story” magazine by Kressmann Taylor (penname for Katherine Taylor), and it was nominated for the Academy Awards for Art Direction and Music in 1944. The film tells the story of two German business partners in the United States, whose friendship and families are destroyed when one of them returns to Germany, and succumbs to the Nazi regime and its propaganda. When the businessman in Germany turns his back on the woman who is both his Jewish partner’s daughter and his own son’s fiancée, leading to her death, he begins receiving a series of incriminating letters from the U.S. The original novella became so popular that a shortened version of it was reprinted in “Reader’s Digest” in 1939, printed in hardcover in 1940, and was reissued in the late 20th century as an international bestseller. 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 Lobby card printed on rectangular, off-white paper. The card has a white exterior border on all four sides and features a collage of images. At the top of the card is a tagline, printed in two lines of blue text. Extending in a diagonal line from the top left corner, increasing in size from left to right, are headshots of eight men in suits. At the far right of the line, overlaid on a black square, is a larger-scale headshot of a blonde woman with red cloth over most of her hair. Below the images, on a red background, are several lines of yellow, blue, and black text listing the stars, film title, and credits. In the lower left corner is an image of an envelope that has been covered by a rectangular piece of white tape, suggesting a blank envelope. To the left is a man’s face overlaying a segment of a barbed wire fence, and a circular logo. In the lower right corner are two book covers. Copyright and printing information is printed in blue in the bottom margin. On the back, in the upper left corner and along the right edge are several strings of numbers handwritten in pencil. The paper is stained, and the upper edge is bent and worn from use. Depicted: Morris Carnovsky as Max Eisenstein, Paul Lukas as Martin Schulz, Peter van Eyck as Heinrich Schulz, K.T. Stevens as Griselle Eisenstein .2 Lobby card printed on rectangular, off-white paper, with a white exterior border on all four sides and features a large photographic image of a woman in the center. The woman is depicted from the shoulders up, looking towards the right and wearing a large, brown hood over her head. She is clutching the hood at the neck, with an injured hand. The image of the woman is overlaid on a blurry image of uniformed soldiers, standing at attention. Overlaying the image in the lower left corner is a black rhombus, outlined in white, containing the film title and principal actors printed in orange and light blue. Partially covering the text on the right of the rhombus is an image of an envelope that has been covered by a rectangular piece of white tape, suggesting a blank envelope. In the lower right corner is a circular, orange production company logo. Printed in blue in the bottom margin is a caption, copyright, and printing information. The paper is discolored overall and there is a small hole in the lower left corner. There is brown tape and adhesive residue along the back top and right edges. Depicted: K.T. Stevens as Griselle Eisenstein, others unidentified .3 Lobby card printed on rectangular, off-white paper with a white exterior border on all four sides and features a large photographic image in the center. In the center of the image is a woman wearing a dark cloak with the hood over her hair, standing in the doorway of a house. She is looking at a man in a suit, who has opened the door. The man is in the right foreground, and depicted in left profile. Visible in the background, behind the woman, is a nighttime setting of a cobblestone courtyard and moonlit shadows of trees across a tall, white wall. Overlaying the image in the lower left corner is a black rhombus, outlined in white, containing the film title and principal actors printed in orange and light blue, as well as the image of an addressed and postmarked envelope. In the lower right corner is a circular, orange production company logo. Printed in blue in the bottom margin is a caption, copyright, and printing information. On the back, there are handwritten numbers and letters in ink and pencil. The paper is slightly discolored and has two pinholes in each corner of the image. Left to right: K.T. Stevens as Griselle Eisenstein, Paul Lukas as Martin Schulz .4 Lobby card printed on rectangular, off-white paper, with a white exterior border on all four sides and features a large photographic image of two men in the center. The man on the right is clean-shaven, wearing a dark suit with a black shirt, and is standing in the foreground. He is shown from the waist up, with his back to the other man. The other man is standing behind and to the left of the first, and is wearing a dark blue suit with a white shirt and black tie. He is shown from knees up, his body in three-quarter profile with his head turned towards the first man. They are standing inside a room with a large wooden door, green walls, and golden light streaming in from the right side of the image. Overlaying the image in the lower left corner is a black rhombus, outlined in white, containing the film title and principal actors printed in orange and light blue. Partially covering the text on the right of the rhombus is a rectangular piece of white tape, suggesting a blank envelope. In the lower right corner is a circular, orange production company logo. Printed in blue in the bottom margin is a caption, copyright, and printing information. The paper is slightly discolored and has a pinhole in the top left margin. Left to Right: Paul Lukas as Martin Schulz, Carl Esmond as Baron von Friesche .5 Lobby card printed on rectangular, off-white paper, with a white exterior border on all four sides and features a large photographic image of a man in the center. The man is wearing black clothes, and laying on top of a bed with rumpled white-and-red bedlinens. The bed has an ornately carved wooden headboard. The walls of the room are light green, and in the right corner of the image is an ornately carved, high-back chair with golden-colored upholstery in front of a long purple curtain. Overlaying the image in the lower left corner is a black rhombus, outlined, in white, containing the film title and principal actors printed in orange and light blue. Partially covering the text on the right of the rhombus is an image of an envelope that has been covered by a rectangular piece of white tape, suggesting a blank envelope. In the lower right corner is a circular, orange production company logo. Printed in blue in the bottom margin is a caption, copyright, and printing information. The paper is slightly discolored and the lower edge is worn and bent from use. Depicted: Paul Lukas as Martin Schulz .6 Lobby card printed on rectangular, off-white paper, with a white exterior border on all four sides and features a large photographic image of a man and woman facing each other in the center. On the right, the man is shown from the shoulders up in three-quarters left profile. He is middle aged, with a dark moustache, and is wearing a dark blue suit and tie. His brows are furrowed as he looks at the woman on the left, shown from the neck up in right profile. She is wearing a dark hat with netting over her face, and her hair curled and pinned up. The light green background is indistinct, and contains what appears to be a wooden post. Overlaying the image in the lower left corner is a black rhombus, outlined in white, containing the film title and principal actors printed in orange and light blue. Partially covering the text on the right of the rhombus is a rectangular piece of white tape, suggesting a blank envelope. In the lower right corner is a circular, orange production company logo. Printed in blue in the bottom margin is a caption, copyright, and printing information. On the back, in the upper right corner are several lines of numbers and dates, handwritten in pencil. The paper is slightly discolored and the lower edge iw worn and bent from use. Left to right: Mady Christians as Elsa Schulz, Paul Lukas as Martin Schulz
.1 back, top left corner, handwritten, pencil : 3802866943 / 3856168328 / M364 / 7591514678 .1 back, right edge, handwritten, pencil : C526 / J735 .3 back, top left corner, handwritten, pencil and ink : $7.50 / 2CX / T5 - / 10 - .6 back, top right corner, handwritten, pencil : 5076 / 995844603 / 11/11 / 525762217 / 12/13 / 1402123097 / 1/2/01 / 1909766077 / 2/12/01 / 1428028444 / 1/5/1
People
- Esmond, Carl, 1904-2004.
- Van Eyck, Peter, 1911-1969.
- Lukas, Paul, 1894-1971.
- Carnovsky, Morris.
- Stevens, K. T., 1919-1994.
- Taylor, Kathrine Kressmann.
Subjects
- Political violence in motion pictures.
- Germany.
- United States.
- Germans in motion pictures.
- Film adaptations.
- Revenge in motion pictures.
- Immigrants in motion pictures.
- History in motion pictures.
- Antisemitism in motion pictures.
- Jewish women in motion pictures.
- National socialism in motion pictures.
- Argentina.
Genre
- Posters
- Display cards.
- Object