Furnishings from Rick’s Cafe in “Casablanca,” a dress worn by Joan Crawford in “Mildred Pierce,” and director Billy Wilder’s Academy Award for “Sunset Boulevard” will be presented in a different light for a new exhibit at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center.
“Light & Noir: Exiles and Emigres in Hollywood, 1933-1950” focuses on German-speaking film artists, in particular those of Jewish descent, who emigrated to the United States once Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party rose to power. Noted, too, are those who preceded them to Hollywood and aided their countrymen upon their arrival.
“Light & Noir,” on display Oct. 11 to Jan. 10, features over 300 star-studded artifacts and facsimiles.
Ready for their close-up in “Light & Noir” are an A-list of celebrated directors (Wilder, Michael Curtiz, Fritz Lang, Ernst Lubitsch), actors (Marlene Dietrich, Peter Lorre), composers (Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Franz Waxman, Max Steiner) as well as writers, costume designers, cinematographers, producers and studio heads.
This transplanted community helped to shape the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1930s and ’40s, notes Doris Berger, curator at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles and developer of the original exhibition. She will be present at the Illinois Holocaust Museum on Oct. 11 for an opening event at 2 p.m., at which local actors will perform excerpts from “Casablanca” as a radio play.
“‘Casablanca’ has a special place in this exhibition,” Berger said. “It is more than just a romantic melodrama. It is an exile film, made mostly by emigres and refugees. Almost everyone in the cast and crew — Michael Curtiz, Peter Lorre, Paul Henreid, Conrad Veidt and Max Steiner — were from someplace else.”
Offering a fresh perspective on a film as familiar as “Casablanca” was one of the attractions of the exhibit, which is receiving its Midwest premiere at the Illinois Holocaust Museum, said chief curator Arielle Weininger.
“Something we try to do when we look at what temporary exhibitions to present is look at the history we are telling and find unique ways to tell that history,” Weininger said. “It’s exciting to see how these refugees and exiles impacted this most American of industries.”
One of the exhibition’s most moving pieces, Berger said, is a letter from Carl Laemmle, founder of Universal Studios, to his nephew, director William Wyler. “It’s a plea to him to help him help other refugees,” she said. “The language is so strong; I had tears in my eyes when I found this letter. He doesn’t speak from the point of view of being a famous or rich man, but as a person who needs to help other people.”
As a complement to the museum’s exhibition, the Wilmette Theatre will screen three films featuring the work of German artists, including Lubitsch’s “Garbo laughs” comedy “Ninotchka” (7:30 p.m. Nov. 14.), Curtiz’s “Mildred Pierce” (1 p.m. Nov. 15) and Lang’s “Hangmen Also Die” (4 p.m. Nov. 15).
In conjunction with the exhibition, the museum will present a series of programs. For the full lineup, visit www.ilholocaustmuseum.org.
‘Light and Noir: Exiles and Emigres in Hollywood, 1933-1950’
Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, 9603 Woods Drive, Skokie
Oct. 11-Jan. 16
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847-967-4800; www.ilholocaustmuseum.org