The House I Live In
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| The House I Live In | |
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| Directed by | Mervyn LeRoy (uncredited) |
| Produced by | Frank Ross Mervyn LeRoy |
| Written by | Albert Maltz |
| Starring | Frank Sinatra |
| Cinematography | Robert De Grasse |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 9 November 1945 |
| Running time | 10 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The House I Live In (1945) is a ten-minute short film written by Albert Maltz and made by producer Frank Ross and Mervyn LeRoy, and actor Frank Sinatra to oppose anti-Semitism and racial prejudice at the end of World War II. It received an Honorary Academy Award and a special Golden Globe award in 1946.
In 2007, this film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
[edit] Title song
In the film, Sinatra sings the title song, and his recording became a national hit. The lyrics[1] were written in 1943 by Abel Meeropol under the pen name Lewis Allen. Meeropol later adopted Michael and Robert, the two orphaned sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg after the 1953 execution of the couple. Meeropol was enraged that in the film, the second verse was cut. The lyrics referred to above do NOT include the "cut" section. A more complete set of lyrics may be found at [for: The House I Live In]. Meeropol protested against the deletion of the verse referring to "my neighbors white and black" when Sinatra's move was first shown. This site includes two last verses as well.
The music was written by Earl Robinson. Robinson was later blacklisted during the McCarthy era. He also wrote campaign songs for the presidential campaigns of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Henry Wallace, and, in 1984, Jesse Jackson.
The song was memorably covered in later years by Paul Robeson, Mahalia Jackson, and Josh White. Sinatra continued to include it in his repertory, performing it in the Nixon White House and at the 1985 inaugural ceremonies of Ronald Reagan. Bill Cosby used a recording to open some of his shows in 2002.
[edit] External links
Film:
- The House I Live In at the Internet Movie Database
- Program Details for The House I Live In, available for download from the Internet Archive.
Song:
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