🎄 Merry Christmas! Today, Saturday, I watched the totally cool Dana Jacobson present a feature on the popularity of Frank Capra's 1946 film, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. The now revered film turned 75 this month. It was a flop with critics and audiences when it was released. Because of that, certain copyrights were not renewed and IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE fell into the category of public domain. I remember being a kid in Los Angeles and seeing it on local TV during my summer vacations from school. When I lived and worked in Milwaukee, after graduating from Marquette University there, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE got frequent screenings at Milwaukee's Oriental Theater on the East Side. It was a revival theater, a fabulous movie house that got equally fabulous audiences. I went to see Capra's classic when it aired there. We young baby boomers appreciated the movie. We connected to its emotional gravity. Many of us in the 1980s were hit with situations in our lives that made us wonder if you could do the right thing and help others without life pulling the rug right out from under you. We understood the turbulence in George Bailey's soul. And we loved Zuzu and her petals from the flower she got. I'm convinced that the national baby boomer appreciation of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE rescued it from public domain to being restored, remastered and now receiving annual holiday airings on network television. By the way, in her CBS MORNINGS feature, Dana Jacobson interviewed Karolyn Grimes, the actress who played Zuzu in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.
I watched IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE last night after I watched another Christmastime story, THE BISHOP'S WIFE, starring Cary Grant as Dudley, an angel sent to earth to help the married bishop and his wife. She feels some spiritual separation in the marriage. The 1947 fantasy co-stars Loretta Young and David Niven -- and Karolyn Grimes as their little girl.
Both films hold a very special place in my heart. Last night, I noticed something I'd noticed in my many previous viewings. As soon as the troubled George Bailey and the troubled bishop call on God for help, magic occurs. And that magic is help that comes in the form of an angel.
That really hit me last night on Christmas Eve. As soon as one asked God for help, it came. Answered prayers. What a glorious Christmas gift.
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