THE HOUSE WE ALL LIVE IN

I admire Frank Sinatra as a singer and as an actor. I am drawing your attention to another side of Frank, a very personal side. Trumpists will not like this.

According to Wikipedia, “The House I Live In is a ten-minute short film written by Albert Maltz, produced by Frank Ross and Mervyn LeRoy, and starring Frank Sinatra. Made to oppose anti-Semitism 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”.
Sinatra, apparently playing himself, takes a break from a recording session and steps outside to smoke a cigarette. He sees more than ten boys chasing a dark-haired boy and intervenes, first with dialogue, then with a short speech. His main points are that we are “all” Americans and that one American’s blood is as good as another’s.”

The House I Live In (That’s America to Me)

What is America to me
A name, a map, or a flag I see
A certain word, democracy
What is America to me
The house I live in
A plot of earth, a street
The grocer and the butcher
Or the people that I meet
The children in the playground
The faces that I see
All races and religions
That’s America to me
The place I work in
The worker by my side
The little town the city
Where my people lived and died
The howdy and the handshake
The air a feeling free
And the right to speak your mind out
That’s America to me
The things I see about me
The big things and the small
That little corner newsstand
Or the house a mile tall
The wedding and the churchyard
The laughter and the tears
And the dream that’s been a growing
For more than two hundred years
The town I live in
The street, the house, the room
The pavement of the city
Or the garden all in bloom
The church the school the clubhouse
The millions lights I see
But especially the people
Yes especially the people
That’s America to me

Now, enjoy the film: (2) The House I Live In – YouTube

Maybe you think that this song and this film were a one-off; that he never believed fully in the American dream, which is, in many ways, also the Canadian dream.

This is Frank 30 years later. This may disabuse you: (2) Frank Sinatra The House I Live In that is America to Me 1974 Madison Square Garden – YouTube

[P.S. You may have to type in the links.]