Professor Butter Beard’s “It’s A Wonderful Life”
“Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he? You see, George, you've really had a wonderful life.” – Clarence
In my wacky world, there are three required viewings every Thanksgiving weekend. First, there is the still-warm cranberry muffins and steaming coffee comfy sofa viewing of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. And yes, this full-grown elf still tears up with joy when Santa’s float magically sweeps into view. Next, the turkey sandwich evening viewing of “White Christmas” with that third slice of pumpkin pie as the barn doors open to fresh snow and those amazing red dresses. And then, every year as the sun sets on Sunday evening, George Bailey learns once again that it truly is “A Wonderful Life.”
This history of this treasured classic began in 1939 when Philip Van Doren wrote a short story he named “The Greatest Gift.” Doren struggled for years to get his story published and eventually decided to distribute it as a Christmas card (pamphlet) for his family and friends. A producer from RKO Pictures happened to be on the mailing list and immediately purchased the film rights intending it as a vehicle for Cary Grant or Gary Cooper. In 1945, the rights passed to the young Frank Capra. Frustrated by the politics of the major studios, Capra set up his own independent company called Liberty Films and lined up Jimmy Stewart for the role of George Bailey. He obtained financing for the film to the tune of $1.54 million, although the final cost reached $3.78 million, making it the most expensive film Capra ever made.
The set for Bedford Falls, the town where the story takes place, was shot at RKO Radio Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, and the 89-acre RKO movie ranch in Encino, where "everyone’s hometown" was modified from Oscar-winning sets originally designed by art director Max Ree for the 1931 epic film “Cimarron.” Covering four acres, the town consisted of a main street stretching three city blocks with seventy-five individual stores and buildings and a complete residential neighborhood. Capra added a tree-lined center parkway, built a working bank set, and planted twenty full-grown oak trees. Pigeons, cats, and dogs were allowed to roam the mammoth set to give the "town" a lived-in feel.
But Capra didn’t stop there. He wanted crunchy snow for his Christmas movie – filmed during one of the hottest summers in California history. The usual method for producing snow on film was to use white cornflakes. Capra worked with his special effects man, Russell Sherman, to develop an innovative new, even louder, artificial snow. Sherman mixed foamite (used in fire extinguishers) with sugar and water and used a wind machine to distribute 6,000 gallons of snow over the set. He won an Oscar for his efforts.
In his autobiography, Capra recalled, "Of all actors' roles I believe the most difficult is the role of a Good Sam who doesn't know that he is a Good Sam. I knew the one man who could play it... James Stewart.” Capra next considered Olivia de Havilland, Martha Scott, Ann Dvorak, and Ginger Rogers before borrowing Donna Reed from MGM for the coveted roll of Mary Hatch. Rogers turned it down because she considered it "too bland.” Later, in her autobiography “Ginger: My Story,” she questioned her decision by asking her readers: "Foolish, you say?"
A long list of actors was considered for the role of Potter (originally named Herbert Potter): Edward Arnold, Charles Bickford, Edgar Buchanan, Louis Calhern, Victor Jory, Raymond Massey, Thomas Mitchell, and Vincent Price. Lionel Barrymore, a famous Ebenezer Scrooge in radio dramatizations of “A Christmas Carol” at the time, reportedly accepted the Potter challenge before Capra even offered him a chance to read the script.
One fun tidbit - In the scene where Uncle Billy gets drunk at Harry and Ruth's welcome home party and staggers drunkenly away off camera, a loud crash is heard off screen. Thomas Mitchell, as Uncle Billy, yells, "I'm all right! I'm all right!" In reality, a set technician had actually clumsily knocked over some camera equipment by mistake. Capra left in Mitchell's impromptu ad lib and rewarded the technician with $10, thanking him for his “sound improvement.”
The film, which went into general release on January 7, 1947, placed 26th in box-office revenues for that year, out of more than 400 features released, one place ahead of another Christmas film, “Miracle on 34th Street.” The project recorded a loss of $525,000 at the box office for RKO. The film's elevation to the status of a beloved classic came three decades after its initial release, when it became a television staple during Christmas season in 1976. This came as a welcome surprise to Frank Capra and others involved with its production. "It's the damnedest thing I've ever seen,” Capra told The Wall Street Journal in 1984. "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."
This year, The Stone Church Players are presenting “It’s A Wonderful Life – The Radio Play” as our holiday gift to our community. Rehearsals began last week and for the first read-through, I encouraged our nine actors with a tempting tray of Gingerbread Mini-Bundt Cakes topped with a dollop of homemade cranberry jam. Yup, they are delicious, but not half as delicious as getting to say to my friend George Bailey, “Remember, no man is failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings. Love, Clarence.”
Gingerbread Mini-Bundts with Cranberry Jam
Makes 24 Mini Bundt Cakes
Cakes:
20 Tbsp unsalted butter, browned and cooled
1/3 cup honey
2 Tbsp dark molasses
6 large eggs
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
5 Tbsp hazelnut flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill)
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground allspice
Grated nutmeg to taste (I use about ½ tsp)
Cranberry Jam:
1 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar
¼ cup apple cider
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp fine sea salt
½ tsp ground black pepper
1) Make the jam: Combine all the jam ingredients in a medium pan and simmer, stirring frequently, until sugar dissolves and cranberries pop (about 12 minutes). Blend the jam to your desired consistency with the use of an immersion blender. Pour jam into a glass pint jar and cool until thickened and set. Store in your refrigerator.
2) Brown the butter in a non-stick plan, stirring often, until the milk solids begin to brown and smell toasty. Pour the butter into a glass bowl and stir in the honey and molasses. Let cool slightly.
3) In a small bowl, whisk together the two flours, baking powder and soda, and the spices.
4) In your blender, mix the eggs, sugar and vanilla on high for 20 seconds. Add the dry ingredients and pulse until fully combined. With the blender on a medium speed, slowly pour in the butter mixture and mix until just combined. Pour the batter into a glass bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.
5) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
6) Spray a mini-bundt pan (shown below) with “cooking spray with flour.” Fill each bundt pool 2/3 of the way full. Put the remaining batter back into the refrigerator. Put the bundt pan in the oven and reduce the temperature to 375 degrees. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the top has risen into a full bump, fully set and slightly browned. Remove from oven, let sit two minutes and then remove the mini-bundts to cool on a wire rack. Preheat the oven again to 400 degrees, re-spray the pan with cooking spray, fill again with batter and bake.
7) When cool, dust the mini-bundts with confectionary sugar and then top with a ½ tsp of cranberry jam.
Henry Travers as Clarence and James Stewart as George Bailey
Donna Reed as Mary Hatch, James Stewart as George Bailey and Karolyn Grimes as Zuzu Bailey
