Presented is a theatre program from the World Premiere of the 1942 film, “The Pride of the Yankees,” starring Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig. The 5½ x 8½ -inch ivory paper four-page program features a brown-toned photo of Cooper posed with co-star Teresa Wright (as Eleanor Gehrig) on the front page, above brown type that reads “Samuel Goldwyn presents Gary Cooper in “The Pride of the Yankees” (The Life of Lou Gehrig).” The front of the program also lists Cooper’s co-stars, Teresa Wright, Babe Ruth and Walter Brennan, and is dated July 15, 1942 at RKO Proctor’s theatre in New Rochelle, New York. The two interior pages include a four-paragraph note about Gehrig by famed writer Damon Runyon and a complete cast list and partial credits. The back page is blank. The program has a small water stain on the left of the front cover, and the program has been folded in fourths. There are no tears or other marks on the program.

The film was directed by Sam Wood, and is a tribute to the legendary New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, who died only one year before its release, at age 37, from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which later became known to the public as "Lou Gehrig's disease". Though subtitled "The Life of Lou Gehrig", the film is less a sports biography than an homage to a heroic and widely loved sports figure whose tragic and premature death touched the entire nation. It emphasizes Gehrig's relationship with his parents (particularly his strong-willed mother), his friendships with players and journalists, and his storybook romance with the woman who became his "companion for life," Eleanor. Details of his baseball career—which were still fresh in most fans' minds in 1942—are limited to montages of ballparks, pennants, and Cooper swinging bats and running bases, though Gehrig's best-known major league record—2,130 consecutive games played—is prominently cited. Yankee teammates Babe Ruth, Bob Meusel, Mark Koenig, and Bill Dickey play themselves, as does sportscaster Bill Stern. The film was adapted by Herman J. Mankiewicz, Jo Swerling, and an uncredited Casey Robinson from a story by Paul Gallico, and received 11 Oscar nominations.

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