This beloved iconic classic movie starring Stewart was in production for several months from May through July even though the movie is set during winter. Stewart turned 38 when he made the movie and Donna Reed was only 25 years old when she made the movie. When interviewed Reed reportedly described her role as "the most difficult of her career". Stewart felt his role of George Bailey was his favorite role. Cary Grant was considered to play the part of George Bailey before Stewart was given the role. Ginger Rogers was considered to play the part of Mary Hatch Bailey before Reed was given the role.
Bedford Falls is the fictional town in which Philip Van Doren Stern's 1943 short booklet, The Greatest Gift and RKO Pictures 1946 film adaptation It's a Wonderful Life, are set. In 1945, Frank Capra visited Seneca Falls, New York to look for inspiration for the town of Bedford Falls. The real town and the fictional town are very similar as they are both mill towns. They both had a grassy median down the main street (Seneca Falls does not anymore), both communities boast Victorian architecture and a large Italian population plus they both have very similarly styled bridges. In Seneca Falls, there was a local businessman named Norman J. Gould who owned Gould Pumps and was one of the richest men in town. Gould also had great control over politics and economics of the area much as Henry F. Potter did in the film.
The film was shot at RKO Radio Pictures Studio in Culver City, CA and on an 89 acre RKO movie ranch in Encino where "Bedford Falls" covered four acres, assembled from three separate parts with a main street stretching 300 yards (three city blocks) with 75 stores and buildings plus a residential neighborhood. Capra built a working bank set, added a tree-lined center parkway and planted 20 full grown oak trees to existing sets for It's a Wonderful Life. Pigeons, cats and dogs were allowed to roam the mammoth set in order to give the "town" a lived-in feel. RKO created "chemical snow" for the film in order to avoid the need for dubbed dialogue when actors walked across the earlier type of movie snow, made of crushed cornflakes! Filming started on April 15, 1946 and ended on July 27, 1946 (your blog creator/writer was born a few days prior on July 14, 1946) exactly on deadline for the 90-day principal photography schedule. Eventually, Capra had the special effects department mix foamite (a fire-fighting chemical) with sugar and water. A whopping 6,000 gallons of this "chemical snow" transformed the California set into a winter wonderland.
RKO's movie ranch in Encino was razed in 1954. There are only two surviving locations from the film. The first is the swimming pool that was unveiled during the famous dance scene where George courts Mary. It is located in the gymnasium at Beverly Hills High School and is still in operation as of 2023. The second is the Martini home at 4587 Viro Road in La Canada Flintridge, California.
The spirit of Christmas is alive and well at this La Canada residence featured in the 1946 Yuletide 1946 holiday classic. The Bailey Park model home was purchased by Giuseppe Martini (William Edmunds) and his wife, Mrs. Martini (Argentina Brunetti) in the film. This home is in much the same state as it appeared onscreen many decades ago.
Some interesting facts and quotes under the heading of movie trivia I learned in my research for this article are the following:
Actor, Lionel Barrymore, who played Mr. Potter was a wheelchair-using actor in real life. Barrymore convinced Stewart to be in the film. Stewart was also nervous about the phone kiss scene, his first on-screen kiss since returning from war.
H.B. Warner, the actor who played Mr. Gower, was a method actor and he actually got drunk for the scene. He slapped the actor playing George as a young boy so hard his ear started to bleed.
Three film quotes among many are as follows:
I'm shakin' the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I'm gonna see the world.
George Bailey
What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey! That's a pretty good idea. I'll give you the moon, Mary."
George Bailey
"George Bailey, I'll love you 'til the day I die."
This was Donna Reed's first starring role at the young age of 25. In the film Reed really broke a window on the Granville House. While a stuntman was standing by to throw a rock at the window, Reed broke it herself on the first try which could apparently be attributed to her playing baseball with her brothers on their Iowa farm. Capra later admitted that making Mary a librarian was a mistake. She would go on to become arguably the world's most famous TV housewife, thanks to The Donna Reed Show. Reed would later state that IAWL was her favorite film of her career. She also said it was "the most difficult film I ever did. No director ever demanded as much of me". Before Reed got the role as Mary Hatch Bailey it was offered to Olivia de Haviland, Ginger Rogers, Jean Arthur, Ann Dvorak and Martha Scott.
Even though Jean Arthur and Jimmy Stewart never bonded off-screen, Jimmy called Jean "the finest actress I ever worked with. No one had her humor, her timing". Stewart and Arthur starred together in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
Bedford Falls was one of the most elaborate sets ever built at the time. The film had a big budget for the time ($3.7 million) so it's no wonder the drew put much time and effort into contructing the town The set took two months to build and included 75 buildings stretched out over 4 acres in Encino, California.
While the fictional town's name combines those of Bedford Hills in New York's Westchester County and Seneca Falls in New York's Finger Lakes Region, the latter claims to be the .. real deal! Seneca Falls even has a website which is dedicated to pointing out all of the similiarities between the two towns.
Surprisingly, the movie struggled at the Academy Awards! While the film didn't win any of the five major Oscars it was nominated for, it did take home a trophy! The RKO Effects Department received a Technical Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Director, Frank Capra didn't think the film would become a Christmas film .. let alone a Christmas classic. Capra had multiple jobs on the film. Not only did Capra direct this film, but he also was a producer and one of the screenwriters. Additionally, his production company, Liberty Films, funded the movie. Liberty Films was an independent motion picture production company founded in California by Frank Capra in April 1945. It produced only two films, It's a Wonderful Life and State of the Union (1948). Liberty Films' logo was the Liberty Bell ringing loudly. The production company existed until 1951. Capra later wrote that the creation of Liberty Films was to "influence the course of Hollywood films".
The film has a life of its own now and I can look at it like I had nothing to do with it. I'm like a parent whose kid grows up to be president. I'm proud, but it's the kid who did the work. I didn't even think of it as a Christmas story when I first ran across it. I just liked the idea.
Frank Capra, Director and Producer of It's a Wonderful Life
Carl Dean Switzer (a.k.a. Alfalfa from The Little Rascals') played Freddie Othello at the dance scene. Switzer played the character who pushes the buttom that opens the gym floor to reveal the pool, but he is uncredited in the movie. As to the reason, it is unknown as I was unable to locate any information regarding this fact.
Alfalfa
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