Movie Musings: Disney and More

70 Interesting Facts about It’s a Wonderful Life: Part 1

On December 21st, 1946, the Globe Theatre in New York City held the premiere for Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). The film received mixed reviews after it’s premiere, and was a huge flop when it was released worldwide. When it began to air on television in the 1970s, it became popular with the public, and now stands one of the most beloved movies of all time. It has been seven decades since the release of this movie, so in honor of its 70th anniversary, let’s celebrate with “70 Interesting Facts about ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’” This and the next two blogs will have 20-25 facts-comment and let me know you’re favorite things about it.

• The film was nominated for five Academy Award: (Best Picture, Best Actor-James Stewart, Best Editing, Best Sound, Recording, and Best Director-Frank Capra).
• Prior to “Wonderful Life,” Jimmy Stewart appeared under the direction of good friend/frequent collaborator, Frank Capra, in two other movies, You Can’t Take It with You (1938) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). 
• Jean Arthur had played Stewart’s love interest in prior Capra movies and she was also the original choice for the role of Mary Bailey. 
• Jimmy Stewart worked with “Wonderful Life,” co-star Lionel Barrymore in “You Can’t Take It with You,” and a radio program called We Hold These Truths. 
• Lionel Barrymore helped convince Stewart to accept the role George in “Wonderful Life,” when Stewart was skeptical about going back to work after returning home from World War 2.
• Samuel S. Hinds, who played Pa Bailey in “Wonderful Life,” also worked with Jimmy Stewart, Lionel Barrymore and Frank Capra in “You Can’t Take It with You.” 
• The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) beat “Wonderful Life,” in all the Oscar categories that it was nominated for.
• Beulah Bondi who played Ma Bailey in “Wonderful Life,” also played Jimmy Stewart’s mother in three other films, including “Mr. Smith,” Of Human Hearts (1938) (Best Supporting Actress Oscar Nominee), and Vivacious Lady (1938). She also played Stewart’s mother in an episode of The Jimmy Stewart Show (1971-1972).
• Thomas Mitchell played Uncle Billy Bailey in “Wonderful Life,” and also appeared under Frank Capra’s direction in Lost Horizon (1937) and “Mr. Smith.” The same year of “Mr. Smith,” Mitchell also made Gone With the Wind (1939) and Stagecoach (1939), making him the star of 3 movies that year that were all nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. (“Stagecoach,” also earned Mitchell the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In ’39, Jimmy Stewart was also nominated for Best Actor in “Mr. Smith.”)
• Jimmy Stewart received a total of five Best Actor Oscar Nominations in his career, the first of which was for “Mr. Smith,” and the third for “Wonderful Life.” (He won on his 2nd Nomination for The Philadelphia Story (1940) and he also received an Honorary Oscar in 1985.)
• “Wonderful Life,” was Donna Reed’s first role as a “Leading Lady.”
• Frank Capra stated in the later years of his life that “Wonderful Life,” was his favorite of all his films. 
• Jimmy Stewart said the same of all his films in the later years of his life.
• “Wonderful Life,” was the very first film produced by Liberty Films.
• In the scene in the film where George and Mary break the windows in the old Granville House, Frank Capra hired a marksman to throw the ball for Donna Reed, instead of Reed doing it herself. Surprisingly, Reed was able to break the window by herself without the help of a marksman having, played baseball in high school.
• In 2004, the BBC magazine “Radio Times,” ranked “Wonderful Life,” as the “second Best Film to have never won an Oscar.” (The Shawshank Redemption (1994) was first.) 
• In 2007, the American Film Institute scored “Wonderful Life,” in its #20 Greatest Movies of All Time.
• There has been a long-time rumor that Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street (1969-present) were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the cab driver from “Wonderful Life.” In 2000, Jim Henson’s long-time writing partner, Jerry Juhl confirmed that rumor to be 100% false.
• Sheldon Leonard, who played Nick the bartender in “Wonderful Life,” later went on to become a renowned television producer, producing many of the world’s most beloved sit-coms including: The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968), The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966) and Gomer Pyle: USMC (1964-1969). In addition to that, Leonard’s first and last names were used as the names of the two main characters in CBS’s The Big Bang Theory (2007-present), Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper.
• “Wonderful Life,” was remade into a television movie entitled It Happened One Christmas, in 1977, where it told the same story but with gender-reversal. Mary Bailey was the film’s main protagonist., portrayed by Marlo Thomas, the daughter of frequent Sheldon Leonard collaborator, Danny Thomas.
• In 1987, MGM/UA distributed a special documentary on Jimmy Stewart’s life entitled “Jimmy Stewart: A Wonderful Life.” In the documentary, Jimmy tells good friend, Johnny Carson that his favorite scene in “Wonderful Life,” is the scene in the bridge house with Clarence where George first tells Clarence that he wishes that he had never been born.
• The movie was remade again into another television film titled Clarence in 1990. The film told the same story through the perspective of the guardian angel with Robert Carridine as the title character.
• In “Wonderful Life,” Jimmy Stewart plays George Bailey who goes on to become the father of four young children throughout the story of the movie. In real life, Jimmy Stewart was the father of four children, two biological and two adopted.
• Charles Lane played the rent collector in “Wonderful Life,” and also appeared in several other Frank Capra films.
• Karolyn Grimes, who played Zuzu Bailey, never watched the film until thirty-four years after it came out in 1980. She stated in a 2013 interview that she “never took the time,” to do so.