The House I Live In

16mm Film - The House I Live In - USA 1945

Directed by: Mervyn LeRoy

Written by: Albert Maltz

Cinematography by: Robert De Grasse

Music by: Earl Robinson, Moe Jaffe, Jack Fulton, Nat Bonx

Starring: Frank Sinatra, Teddy Infuhr, Harry McKim, Ronnie Ralph, Merrill Rodin, Axel Stordahl et al.

A young Frank Sinatra is in the studio with a full orchestra. He records a take of 'If You Are But a Dream,' then breaks for a smoke. From the studio, he steps into an alley where he sees nearly a dozen kids chasing one smaller boy. Frank stops them, asks why, and they tell him it's because of the boy's religion. So Frank asks them if they're Nazis and explains a few things about America, blood banks, World War II, and teamwork. Then he sings 'The House I Live In' for them:

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
And 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 at my side
The little town or city
Where my people lived and died
The howdy and the handshake
The air of feeling free
And the right to speak my mind out
That's America to me

The things I see about me
The big things and the small
The little corner newsstand
And the house a mile tall
The wedding and the churchyard
A laughter and the tears
And the dream that's been a growing
For a hundred and fifty years

The town I live in
The street, the house, the room
Pavement of the city
Or a garden all in bloom
The church, the school, the clubhouse
The million lights I see
But especially the people
That's America to me