What To Do When Your Star Leads You To A Stable
As the song says. . .”It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”
Seventy-four years ago this month the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life” premiered.
Philip Van Doren Stern had tried unsuccessfully for years to shop his short story “The Greatest Gift” but he couldn’t find an interested publisher. So one year he printed up 200 copies of the story and sent it out as a 21 page Christmas card.
A Hollywood producer somehow got a hold of the card and purchased the movie rights for $10,000. That was in 1946.
The movie was shot during the summer of 46 which explains why Jimmy Stewart was sweating in a number of scenes even though movie magic made it look like the winter.
Frank Capra, the director of the movie. . .who was an engineer by training created a new kind snow for movies. It was a mixture of fire extinguisher foam and corn flakes.
Though the movie initially bombed at the box office it ended up as a Christmas time classic watched every year around the world.
One of my favorite scenes from the movie is when George Baily, played by the late great Jimmy Stewart, begins to pray.
He starts: “Dear Father in heaven, I’m not a praying man, but if you’re up there and you can hear me….
At that moment, Stewart begins crying and then says:
“Show me the way. . .show me the way.”
Harold Herring