This short film was shown to me and my classmates in 1950 to encourage racial and religious tolerance. This is the Library of Congress version.

There is a slightly longer version that begins with Sinatra rehearsing a song in a sound studio. He takes a break, steps outside, and finds a bunch of kids picking on a Jewish boy. He stops the fight and sings this song.

The song was written by Abel Meeropol, who also wrote “Strange Fruit,” a powerful song about lynching, recorded by Billie Holiday.

A teacher at DeWitt Clinton High School in New York City, Meeropol and his wife had a strong sense of outrage about racism. They were blacklisted because of their membership in the Communist Party. They eventually quit the party. When Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were arrested, convicted and executed, the Meeropols adopted their two young sons.