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LARGE ARCHIVE: 1937-1939 INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE POLISH-YIDDISH FILM "MIR KUMEN ON" BY ALEKSANDER FORD ON THE CHILDREN OF THE BUND'S MEDEM SANITORIUM IN POLAND

1938 · réf. 43521 — New York and Elsewhere: The Committee and Others 1938. Primarily mimeograph on Committee letterhead but also newspaper clippings printed cards pamphlets and other ephemera. A total of 119 pages of mimeographed correspondence reviews clippings and ephemera connected to the promotion and screening in France Belgium the Netherlands and the US of Aleksander Ford's 1936 film "Mir Kumen On" on the children of the Bund's Medem Sanitorium in Poland. "Mir Kumen On" can be translated directly as "We are Coming" though in the US the title was translated as "Children Must Laugh" and in France and Belgium as "Nous Arrivons." The restored film is viewable online at www.youtube.com/watchv=vozD_XbGHGA and was featured at the Museum of Modern Art's To Save and Project: The 14th MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation in 2016. "A rare record of Jewish life in Poland before World War II this 1936 film Mir Kumen On was produced in several language versions as an international fundraiser for the Medem Sanatorium near Warsaw a clinic sponsored by the General Union of Jewish Workers the Bund that provided care and an escape from urban poverty for some 10000 children between 1926 and 1939. Directed in a Soviet-influenced style by Alexander Ford a committed Communist who later became the head of Poland's National Film School the film follows three children as they gradually overcome their emotional withdrawal and distrust and enter the communal life of the institution" MoMA 2016. A massive fundraising campaign for the Sanitorium was undertaken in 1937-38 and the film was shows internationally as a way to build support and solicit funds. This archive includes 81 pages of mostly US mimeograph correspondence and typed reproductions of US film reviews and press references. Most are on letterhead primarily in Yiddish with some English. Intermixed are six original Polish-language press clippings from Poland and one American-Yiddish clipping reviewing the film. Also included are 32 mostly legal-size typed mimeograph pages of reviews of Mir Kumen On from the Paris and Brussels press from 1936-1937 including a typed 5-page legal size summary "Oystsugn fn sic der Frantsoisher un Belgisher Prese Vegn Film 'Mir Kumen On'" with selected excerpts from November 1936-December 1937. Also present are an assortment of other ephemeral items connected to the film's showings in New York and Amsterdam: - "Children Must Laugh: Sound Film Presented by Medem Sanitarium." 4 page pamphlet with 4 photos from the film description its content and purpose and asking for financial support. - "Children Must Laugh" flyer for the film's showing Sunday July 10 1938 at the Sea Gate Brooklyn Educational Center - "Admit One" card to "Private Showing of 'CHILDREN MUST LAUGH' AT PAX FILM STUDIOS 723 Seventh Avenue Manhattan No Date - Yiddish Ticket Card for June 6 1938 program at "de Leeuw" at Valkenburgerstraat 149 in Amsterdam Jewish Quarter. "Theater Skit Performed by the Youth" with the "participation of the famous artist Dora Gerson" and introductory words given by A.J. Landau and P.J. Schmidt. The program is under the auspices of of the "Hilfs-Komitet for Medem-Sanatorye in Poyln." - Color-illustrated fundraising letter from Wm. Marco on "Brown-Marc Coal Coke" Company NYC letterhead dated June 15 1939 referencing "Children Must Laugh" and asking for a donation for the Medem Sanitorium which is now caring for German-Jewish refugee children in Poland. The vast majority of the mimeograph correspondence includes what appear to be filing numbers stamped on each page though some pages do not include the stamped numbers. Conversely most of the film review pages do not include the stamps though a few do. Edgewear to some letters generally no loss toning as expected some tapestains ephemeral items remain in especially nice condition. Very Good Condition overall. Rare and important. BER-1-3. New York and Elsewhere: The Committee and Others unknown