It's still "A Wondeful Life"

We see it on television every Christmas: a movie that continues to be a favorite from generation to generation, "It's a Wonderful Life".

The film's setting was reminiscent of Jimmy Stewart's Pennsylvania hometown, where his mother played the organ for their church

Her hands are re-created in stained glass in a memorial window given by the Stewarts to the Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church, to which Jimmy faithfully drove his venerable green Volvo sedan every Sunday--and where he read the Christmas story from Luke every year.

"A friend told me recently that seeing a movie I made more than 40 years ago is a holiday tradition in his family," said Jimmy Stewart in an interview with guidepost. "That movie is It's a Wonderful Life, and out of all the 80 films I've made, it's my favorite. But it has an odd history."

When the war was over in 1945, Stewart came back home to California from three years service in the Air Force. He had been away from the film business, his MGM contract had run out and, frankly, not knowing how to get started again; Stewart was just a little bit scared.

Then one day Frank Capra called him. The great director had also been away in service, making the Why We Fight documentary series for the military. He had another idea for a movie.

He said the idea came from a Christmas story written by Philip Van Doren Stern. Stern couldn't sell the story anywhere, but he finally had 224 page pamphlets printed up at his own expense, and he sent them to his friends as a greeting card.

"Well, what it boils down to is, this 'fella who thinks he's a failure in life jumps off a bridge," Capra told Guidepost. "The Lord sends down an angel named Clarence, who hasn't earned his wings yet, and Clarence jumps into the water to save the guy. But the angel can't swim, so the guy has to save him, and then..."

Frank stopped and wiped his brow. "This doesn't tell very well, does it?"

Stewart jumped up. "Frank, if you want to do a picture about a guy who jumps off a bridge and an angel named Clarence who hasn't won his wings yet coming down to save him, well, I'm your man!"

Production of It's a Wonderful Life started April 15, 1946, and from the beginning there was a certain something special about the film. Even the set was special to the actor.

"As I walked down that shady street the morning we started work, it reminded me of my hometown, Indiana, Pennsylvania. I almost expected to hear the bells of the Presbyterian Church, where Mother played the organ and Dad sang in the choir," said Stewart.

Although the film was a box-office failure at its release it has since become one of the most popular attractions in motion picture history.