Movie Musings: Disney and More

70 Interesting Facts About It’s a Wonderful Life: Part 3

There truly is no other film like Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life.” While it might not have been an overnight success to begin with, the film has become a beautiful reminder that, although nobody’s perfect and life doesn’t always turn out exactly the way you want it to, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth-living. This blog will conclude our tribute to the 70th anniversary of the release of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Please feel free to comment if you’d like! 

• Adventures in Odyssey: The Radio Series (1987-present) used the plot line for “Wonderful Life,” as episode of their series, entitled “It’s a Pokenberry Christmas,” with George Barclay, one of the show’s protagonists, contemplating his life. 
• Although Frank Capra lost the Best Director Oscar for “Wonderful Life,” to William Wyler for “The Best Years of Our Lives,” he did manage to win the Golden Globe for Best Director. (That was the only Golden Globe nomination the film received.) 
• The same year Jimmy Stewart made “Mr. Smith” (1939), he made another film with nearly the same title: a comedy titled It’s a Wonderful World (1939).
• Edward Stevenson, who designed the costumes for “Wonderful Life,” also designed the costumes for Citizen Kane (1941), which like “Wonderful Life,” was also a box office flop in its initial release. Since then it has gained a great deal of popularity today. (“Kane” was also a release of RKO Radio pictures.)
• Dimitri Tiomkin scored the music for “Wonderful Life,” and also scored the music for Frank Capra’s “Lost Horizon,” and “Mr. Smith,” earning Best Original Score Oscar Nominations for both.
• Joseph Walker-Frank Capra’s favorite cinematographer-was one of the cinematographers for “Wonderful Life.” Walker was also the cinematographer for Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) as well as “You Can’t Take It with You,” and “Mr. Smith.” (Joseph F. Biroc and Victor Milner were the other two cinematographers for “Wonderful Life.”) 
• Jimmy Stewart was good friends with Carol Burnett. Having been a fan of him since childhood, Burnett provided commentary on the documentary “Jimmy Stewart: A Wonderful Life,” where she acknowledges that her favorite moment in “Wonderful Life,” is the bar scene where George becomes emotional and prays.
• Claude Rains, who played Senator Joseph Paine in “Mr. Smith,” was in consideration for the role of Mr. Potter.
• Vincent Price, at one point, was also in consideration for the role of Mr. Potter.
• Before Frank Capra cast Henry Travers as Clarence the Angel, he considered Travers for the roles of Pa Bailey, Uncle Billy, and Mr. Gower.
• Olivia de Haviland was in consideration for the role of Mary Bailey.
• Ginger Rogers was also in consideration for the role of Mary Bailey.
• Jimmy the Raven, who plays Uncle Billy’s pet raven in “Wonderful Life,” made his debut in “You Can’t Take It with You.” He also appeared in every one of Frank Capra’s movies.
• When the film transitions into the late 1930’s Mr. Potter offers George a job starting at $20,000 a year. That amount would be equivalent to $337,730 today.  
• After the release of the film, Frank Capra received a great deal of flak for the fact that Mr. Henry Potter receives no retribution as result for his horrible actions throughout the film.
• Up till that time, “snow” in movies was made of corn flakes painted white. That is not the case of the “snow” in “Wonderful Life.” Because of how large the set was, the “snow” was made up of 3,000 tons of shaved ice, 300 tons of gypsum, 300 tons of plaster, and 6,000 gallons of a mixture of foamite, soap, and water.
• Despite the fact that most of the film takes place at Christmas time, the film was shot while the state of California was experiencing a humongous heat wave. The heat became so overwhelming at one point, that Frank Capra agreed to let the whole cast and crew have the day off.
• At the scene of the film where Uncle Billy is drunk and talking to George after the Bailey family has celebrated the addition of Harry’s wife Ruth to their family, as soon as Thomas Mitchell walked off camera a technician of the film accidentally knocked over a stack of props. Because of the fact that loud crashing noise sounded as though Uncle Billy had crashed into a line of garbage cans, Thomas Mitchell improvised the line “I’m alright, I’m alright,” and the technician was given a $10 bonus from Frank Capra for improving the scene.
• At the scene of the film where George is graciously giving the money that he would have spent on his honeymoon to the townspeople of Bedford Falls, Frank Capra told Ellen Corby, who played Ms. Davis in the film, to surprise George. She came up with the line, “Could I have $17.50?” and George’s reaction to her request was real-as Jimmy Stewart reacted to the improvisation in real life. 
• James Stewart passed away on July 2nd, 1997. The year prior to that, 1996, marked 50 years since the release of “Wonderful Life.”