Back to Bedford Falls: A Tribute to 'It's a Wonderful Life'
Around Christmastime I'm always reminded of how much I love Jimmy Stewart. Growing up I watched "It's a Wonderful Life" six or seven times during the holiday season. Now it's only on one time a year - but I can still recite every line of dialogue from that film. As a child I saw a lot of Jimmy Stewart films and liked him in every one. He's on most everyone's list of favorite classic actors, and for good reason. He's one of the few actors that no one has a mean story about - he's not mean, abusive, alcoholic, drug addicted, tempermental, cheap, adulterous, or half the other adjectives that can be said for a lot of the stars of the golden age of Hollywood. No, Jimmy Stewart is, much like Henry Fonda, the anti-star. Stewart had a family life that he loved, came from humble beginnings and never forgot them, and was always the gentleman he was raised to be.
Jimmy Stewart's life was the stuff of movie legend. Born in 1908 in a city named Indiana in Pennsylvania, he was the son of the local hardware storeowner. Growing up he had virtually no interest in acting whatsoever - his only interest in the arts took the form of performing magic and playing the accordion. He went to Princeton to study architecture where he met a man who convinced him to give acting a try. His success there encouraged him to continue, and Stewart continued acting in summer stock with the University Players in Falmouth, MA, joining other soon-to-be-legends Henry Fonda and Margaret Sullavan.
During that summer, one of the troup's productions had a pre-Broadway tryout. Stewart, as the chauffeur, had only two lines. But those two lines were a comedic hit, and his brief appearance was written up by a visiting New York critic. Soon after, Stewart and Fonda moved to New York, and it wasn't long before columnist Hedda Hopper recommended Stewart for a screen test. This fortuitous timing resulted in Stewart signing a long-term MGM contract.
From the first, the rangy Stewart's performances stood out - he appealed to audiences as a likeable, familiar friend. Stewart immediately began putting hit movies on his resume, including Frank Capra's "You Can't Take it With You" (1938); David O. Selznick's "Made For Each Other" (1939), "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939), and "Destry Rides Again" (1939). Stewart's outstanding work in "The Philadelphia Story" (one of my personal favorites as it stars three of my all-time favorite stars: Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart) enabled Stewart to win a Best Actor Oscar, despite being considered the second lead in the film. That Oscar has permanently resided in his father's hardware store, which has remained in the Stewart family all these years.
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