IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, INDEED

Sixty three years ago, a holiday tradition was born when Frank Capra’s “It’s A Wonderful Life” debuted in theaters.

“It’s A Wonderful Life” is based on a short story, “The Greatest Gift,” that author Philip Van Doren Stern had been unable to sell and instead self-published as a gift for friends in 1943. A copy found its way to RKO Pictures, and eventually director Frank Capra, who reportedly said he’d been “looking for it all his life.” Remarkably, the movie was a financial failure and signaled to many that Frank Capra’s touch was faltering.

Yeah… not so much.

Before Capra was give the project, RKO considered debonair actor Cary Grant for the role of George Bailey. It’s hard to imagine what that film might have been like. Jimmy Stewart, who had worked with Capra on “You Can’t Take It With You” and “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington” provided the perfect blend of self-sacrifice and good-hearted generosity with very human frustration and depth.

In “It’s A Wonderful Life,” an angels shows despondent and broken George Bailey, contemplating suicide, all the ways his life touches others. But the film is much more than a Christmas fantasy. It hits perfect notes of drama, pathos, comedy, romance.