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Set of three lobby cards for the film “Margin for Error” (1943)

Object | Accession Number: 2018.590.97

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    Set of three lobby cards for the film “Margin for Error” (1943)

    Overview

    Brief Narrative
    Set of three lobby cards for the American feature film, “Margin for Error,” released by 20th Century-Fox in February 1943. 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 is based on the 1939 Broadway play written by Clare Boothe Luce. Otto Preminger, who directed and headlined the play, also directed and starred in the film. The film takes place at the Nazi-run German consulate in pre-World War II New York City, where a Jewish policeman is assigned as a guard, becomes friends with some of the residents, and observes both personal and political turmoil. The Consul enlists the leader of the German-American Bund in a plot to bomb an American port, which is ultimately unsuccessful. The premise was based on an actual 1938 event in which New York City mayor, Fiorello La Guardia, assigned a detail of Jewish policemen to guard the Nazi German consulate. The government-controlled press in Germany perceived this act as an insult. 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.
    Date
    Cinematic Release:  1943 February
    Geography
    creation: United States
    distribution: United States
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ken Sutak and Sherri Venokur
    Markings
    .1 top, right corner, printed, red ink : The most laughs, / the most thrills, / the most love of / the year!
    center, printed, green, yellow, and red ink : Clare Boothe Luce’s / MARGIN FOR ERROR / with JOAN / BENNETT [star] MILTON / BERLE / [star] OTTO PREMINGER
    .1 bottom, left corner, printed, red ink : Directed by / OTTO PREMINGER / Produced by / RALPH DIETRICH / SCREEN PLAY BY LILLIE HAYWARD / A / 20th / CENTURY-FOX / PICTURE
    .1 bottom, margin, printed, blue ink : Copyright MCMXLIII Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. This display is the property of the Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. It is leased not sold and must be returned to the Twentieth Century-Fox Film Exchange.
    .1 bottom right margin, printed, blue ink : ALLIED PRINTING / TRADES COUNCIL / UNION LABEL / ESSEX (?) COUNTY / 7 / Made in U.S.A.

    .2-.3 bottom, right corner, within box, printed, green, red, and white ink : Clare Boothe Luce’s / MARGIN / FOR ERROR / with / JOAN / BENNETT [star] MILTON / BERLE / OTTO / PREMINGER / Directed by / OTTO PREMINGER / Produced by / RALPH DIETRICH / SCREEN PLAY BY LILLIE HAYWARD / 20th CENTURY-FOX / PICTURE
    .2-.3 bottom margin, printed, blue ink : Copyright MCMXLIII Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. This display is the property of the Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. It is leased not sold and must be returned to the Twentieth Century-Fox Film Exchange.
    .2-.3 bottom right margin, printed, blue ink : Made in U.S. A.
    Contributor
    Compiler: Ken Sutak
    Production Company: 20th Century Fox
    Distributor: 20th Century Fox
    Biography
    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.

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Classification
    Posters
    Object Type
    Lobby Cards (lcsh)
    Genre/Form
    Display Cards.
    Physical Description
    .1 Lobby card printed on rectangular, off-white paper. Curved across the center of the card is the film title, printed in yellow-and-red, balloon-style font. Directly above and below the title are the names of the lead actors and original author, printed in green ink. The film title overlays the bottom of a rectangular, photographic image of a man and woman, depicted from the shoulders up. The bald man is in right profile, wearing a tuxedo, and leaning towards the woman on the right. The woman has dark hair, is wearing a light purple top, and is looking sideways at the man over her right shoulder. In the top left corner of the card is an illustrated image of the same man, bending down behind a portly officer in a brown military jacket and green slacks, while holding a knife in his right hand. In the lower right corner of the card is an illustration of a police officer in a dark blue uniform and tilted cap, depicted from the shoulders up in three-quarter left profile. The officer has long eyelashes, is winking, and holding up a truncheon. In the upper right and lower left corners are the film and production credits, printed in red ink. The copyright and printing information is faintly printed in blue ink across the bottom margin. On the back, there is a pencil inscription in the center, a tape remnant on the bottom edges, and scattered ink transfer from other images.

    Depicted:
    Otto Preminger as Karl Baumer, Joan Bennett as Sophia Baumer, Milton Berle as Moe Finkelstein

    .2 Lobby card printed on rectangular, off-white paper. The card has a white exterior border on all four sides with a large photographic image in the center. The image depicts a scene inside a kitchen, with two men and a woman, all shown from the mid-thigh up. On the left is a young, blonde woman in a light gray maid’s uniform with white lace trim, holding a circular, cloth-covered tray bearing a silver pot. She is looking at the man on the far right, who is wearing a dark blue police officer’s uniform. He has a wide-eyed expression, and has his hand out, touching the arm of the man in the center who is looking back at him. The central man is wearing a long, black butler’s jacket with waistcoat, tie, and striped trousers. In the background, there are kitchen fixtures and several silver-colored pots and pans hanging from a pot rack attached to the ceiling. Inset in the lower, right corner is a yellow square that is framed in white and green and contains the film title and credits in red-and-white lettering. The copyright information is printed in blue ink across the bottom margin. There is ink transfer on the back from another image.

    Left to right :
    Liesl Handl as Frieda, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski as Fritz, Milton Berle as Moe Finkelstein

    .3 Lobby card printed on rectangular, off-white paper. The card has a white exterior border on all four sides with a large photographic image in the center. The image depicts a scene inside a kitchen, with two men and a woman, all shown from the mid-thigh up. On the left is a young, blonde woman in a light gray maid’s uniform with white lace trim, holding a circular, cloth-covered tray bearing a silver pot. She is looking at the man on the far right, who is wearing a dark blue police officer’s uniform. He has a wide-eyed expression, and has his hand out, touching the arm of the man in the center who is looking back at him. The central man is wearing a long, black butler’s jacket with waistcoat, tie, and striped trousers. In the background, there are kitchen fixtures and several silver-colored pots and pans hanging from a pot rack attached to the ceiling. Inset in the lower, right corner is a yellow square that is framed in white and green and contains the film title and credits in red-and-white lettering. The copyright information is printed in blue ink across the bottom margin. There is ink transfer on the back from another image, and the edges of the card are discolored and stained.

    Left to right :
    Liesl Handl as Frieda, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski as Fritz, Milton Berle as Moe Finkelstein
    Dimensions
    .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)
    Materials
    .1 : paper, ink, pencil, tape
    .2 : ink, paper
    .3 : ink, paper
    Inscription
    .1 back, center, handwritten, pencil : Joan / Bennett

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    No restrictions on access
    Conditions on Use
    Restrictions on use. Copyright status is unknown.

    Keywords & Subjects

    Geographic Name
    United States.

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The lobby cards were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Ken Sutak and Sherri Venokur.
    Record last modified:
    2023-05-24 16:18:28
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn693093

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