7 cool facts about “It’s a Wonderful Life” you may not know
Maybe you’re one of the many people who follow the tradition of pulling this movie off the shelf every year at Christmastime. Maybe you’ve actually never seen it before but want to give it a try this holiday season. Or, maybe you’ve seen it so many times the thought of watching it again makes you ill. More than merely classic Christmas-time entertainment, let’s not lose sight of the fact that, when all’s said and done, it’s just a good, uplifting movie.
Whatever your feelings about this movie, there’s some fascinating trivia behind the production that I thought worth sharing this Christmas Eve.
- Rejected by the censors
When the script of It’s a Wonderful Life was first submitted to the review board, several phrases were called out and had to be cut from the script. I believe I already mentioned this detail in an earlier article entitled “Bring back the Hays Code!” which you can view here. The words “jerk” and “impotent” were rejected, as was the phrase “Nuts to you!” By today’s standards, all of these words are pretty mild, and in some cases perfectly valid. Personally, I don’t take issue with them when used properly; I have certainly uttered the phrase “Nuts to you!” on occasion. (But then, I love these old-time phrases.)
2. Potter was evil…but Lionel Barrymore may have had a hand in saving James Stewart’s career
This is one of my favorite “backstage anecdotes”, as I call them, or stories from behind the scenes. It’s a Wonderful Life was James Stewart’s first film after returning from service in World War II. He was dealing with the difficulties of returning to civilian life, and was struggling in his performance. He was having trouble memorizing his lines, whereas before he said that he’d only had to look at the script once and he would know it. In fact, he planned on completing the film, and quitting the acting business. However, noting Stewart’s difficulties, Frank Capra called in old pro Lionel Barrymore to give Stewart a pep talk.
Lionel told James Stewart that the most important thing was “not to apologize for not being in town the past four years.” He told him not to make excuses, not to feel sorry for himself, but to just do it. He would be feeling around at some point, and Lionel would come up and say something to help him out. Stewart later recalled, “It was wonderful for me…I’ll always be grateful.” In fact, when he asked Lionel if his acting was decent, Lionel replied, “Is it more decent to drop a bomb on people, or bring a ray of sunshine to them through your acting?”
Without Lionel Barrymore, It’s a Wonderful Life may not be the movie we all know and love today, and the same goes for James Stewart’s marvelous performance. If he really had quit afterward, we wouldn’t have all those great films James Stewart made post-1946. Think of all four movies he made with Alfred Hitchcock, many of his classic westerns, and many others.
3. The town of Bedford Falls
The set constructed for the small, upstate New York town of Bedford Falls was one of the longest sets ever constructed for any American movie! It was constructed in two months and covered four acres of RKO Studio’s Encino Ranch. Main Street was three whole city blocks long, and the town had 75 stores and buildings, a factory district, and a large residential and slum area.
4. Heat wave
It’s a Wonderful Life is regarded as a Christmas time classic, making it ironic that it was filmed during a record-breaking heat wave in Culver City, California. The iconic scene where George Bailey runs through a snow-laden Bedford Falls on Christmas Eve was filmed on a scorching July day. In fact, at times the heat became so intense that during production director Frank Capra had to give everyone — cast and crew — a day off the recuperate from the heat.
5. “American Gothic”
The line-up of actors originally considered for the role of Potter is surprising. Among the dozens and dozens of names were Edward Arnold, Raymond Massey, Claude Rains, Gene Lockhart, Dan Duryea, and — this one’s my favorite — Vincent Price!
Because of his popularity as Ebenezer Scrooge in radio adaptations of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Lionel Barrymore got the part. It wasn’t the first time he had worked with Frank Capra either — Capra had directed him in 1938’s You Can’t Take It with You.
When Lionel was cast, however, Capra wasn’t satisfied with his look. He then instructed the makeup team to create a look based on the famous painting “American Gothic”. Where he came up with that, I’ll never be able to figure out, but it certainly looked effective in the film!
6. Believe it or not, it was a flop!
When It’s a Wonderful Life was released, it was a box office failure. RKO Pictures lost $525,000 on the film, making the $8,000 that Potter made off with seem like small potatoes!
When the copyright on the film ran out and was not renewed, it became public domain, and in the mid-1970’s, many TV stations would show it repeatedly all through the Christmas season. In this way, it became the cultural Christmas tradition and icon that it is today. It’s undeniably a special movie — it just took a little time for people to catch on.
Even if no one else did at first, Capra and James Stewart knew they had something great here. Capra regarded it as his favorite film, and George Bailey was Stewart’s favorite character he had ever played.
7. Alternate endings
The ending that Capra finally ran with, that is, the one you see utilized in the film, was not the film’s originally intended ending.
Capra’s original ending toyed with the idea of redemption for Mr. Potter. In the original script, Uncle Billy begins to say the Lord’s prayer, everyone in the room gradually joining in. While the celebration is going on inside the house, the camera cuts to the front door for a final shot. Potter is outside, with the stolen money, about to knock, but stops, realizing he is unworthy to be with those inside.
Perhaps it was a good decision in the end, to not end the film on such a dark, sad note. The feel-good ending in the film has been called one of the greatest film endings of all time!
So there you have it. And that’s not all; there’s lots more interesting background trivia behind this landmark movie. But I’ll leave you with this for now. So have a very merry Christmas, and a happy new year!
