"It's A Wonderful Life"

This past Tuesday evening my wife and I celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary by going to see the live stage performance of a musical adaptation of the famous Christmas movie, “It’s A Wonderful Life”. My wife had purchased the tickets earlier because she knew this was one of my all-time favorite movies. The show followed the same basic storyline from the movie but was presented through a song and dance format. The movie has nothing to fear from the live presentation but what a wonderful tribute to see something done so well with a live orchestra, a wonderful cast, in an outstanding theatre setting.

The movie was made in 90 days in 1946, the year I was born. It was based on a short story entitled “The Greatest Gift” by Philip Van Doren Stern. After failing to find a publisher, Stern sent out 200 of his 4,000 word stories as Christmas cards in December, 1943. One of them fell into the hands of RKO Pictures who showed it to Cary Grant who was immediately interested in playing the lead role if it was turned into a movie. The motion picture rights were purchased and after several attempts to develop a screenplay it was sold off to Frank Capra in 1945. Mr. Capra did pick up the ball and ended up producing and directing the film.

It went into general release in January of 1947 and was not well received, finishing 26th overall in revenues that year. The movie itself garnered five academy award nominations but did not win any. In fact, the movie did not make back its six million dollar break-even target. Many believe that people coming out of WWII were not prepared to see the painful portrayal of the dark side of life without George Bailey. It was Mr. Capra’s all time favorite film including those he directed that did win five academy awards. It was also Jimmy Stewart’s favorite movie out of all those he headlined.

In the mid 1970’s there were issues regarding a lapse of the copyright, therefore, the television networks picked up the movie and showed it at Christmas time. Suddenly, the movie was discovered by an entire new generation and it now ranks as one of the greatest films ever made, and was recently ranked by experts as the number one inspirational film of all time. Our family picked up on it during the 70’s and watching it became a tradition as part of our family Christmas. Later we purchased the VHS version and now we have the DVD. Capra lived until 1991, therefore, he did live to see his great American classic finally vindicated.

It’s a great tale with a tremendous moral to the story. A life given in pursuit of helping others is a life worth living! I recently read a tribute where I was reminded of the importance of the ‘dash’. The memorial said this man had made the most of the dash between the birth date and his death date as listed on his tombstone. When you think about it, that’s what “It’s A Wonderful Life” is all about: Taking all that happens in life, the good, the bad, the ugly, disappointments, and all the challenges that occur in the ‘dash’ and making the most of the life you have been given.

Jesus was once asked about the greatest of all commandments and He responded by saying that loving God as our first priority is the greatest of all commands, but loving others is also essential if we are to fulfill the meaning behind God’s purpose for us. Therefore, let’s get to work on the ‘dash’ which will one day define our legacy. Amen. …….More later.