“This isn’t about Christmas,” James Sullivan says, as his character George Bailey considers throwing himself off a bridge in the play “It’s a Wonderful Life.” That’s not a line I recall hearing in the movie. Indeed, even though legendary director Frank Capra never intended it to be, the 1946 Hollywood film starring James Stewart is a holiday classic. So maybe we’re drawn back to it every year because we’re missing the message he hoped to convey.
Sullivan takes on Stewart’s role as Bailey, the manager of Bailey’s Building and Loan, an institution which helped many of the townspeople finance their homes. He reluctantly took on the family’s business after his father suddenly passed away. It forced him to set aside his own ambitions of getting a college education and starting a new life away from the small, rural community.
But Perseverance Theater’s production of “It’s a Wonderful Life” is an adaptation of the story written for one actor. That means Sullivan is also Mr. Potter, Bailey’s nemesis who would like to turn every Bedford Falls homeowner into a tenant under his control. To do that, Sullivan effectively portrays Potter’s greedy character with the same energy as he gives us Bailey’s unwavering generosity.
The crucial part of the story comes when Bailey’s uncle misplaces thousands of dollars he was supposed to deposit in the Building and Loan just as its books were being audited. In desperation, Bailey leaves his wife and children behind on Christmas Eve so he can ask Potter for help. On top of refusing, the crusty old banker tells Bailey he’s going to report him to the authorities for misappropriating the Building and Loan’s funds.
Bailey runs off to his favorite local tavern, drinks too much, and gets punched in the face. It’s right after that we find him at the bridge contemplating suicide. Of course he’s saved by an angel who shows him what the world would be like if he was never born. And he returns home to find dozens of Bedford Falls residents giving him the money he needs to avoid being taken to jail.
Don’t we just love happy endings, especially this time of the year.
Not so in 1946. The movie was a flop. Maybe it didn’t resonate with people following World War II and the Great Depression because they weren’t obsessed with money and materialism the way we are today. In those hard times few needed to be reminded that greed is not good.
Still, the FBI was concerned that it undermined capitalist values. According to Will Chen, co-founder of “Wise Bread – Living Large on a Small Budget,” he found documents dating back to 1947 showing they believed it was an example of “Communist infiltration of the motion picture industry.” One document allegedly states “this picture deliberately maligned the upper class [by] attempting to show the people who had money were mean and despicable characters.”
It wasn’t until the 1970’s that the film began its journey from the dust bin to holiday classic. Having lost its copyright protection by then, it became a cheap fill-in between the many expensive specials produced during the Christmas season. By that time the commercialization of Christmas was well underway.
“What is remarkable about ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ is how well it holds up over the years,” the late film critic Roger Ebert wrote in 1999. He referred to it as one of those ageless movies. “Like great music, they improve with familiarity.”
The fundamental message Ebert saw was “sort of a ‘Christmas Carol’” in reverse: Instead of a mean old man being shown scenes of happiness, we have a hero who plunges into despair.” And like Scrooge, Bailey rebounds on Christmas Eve by being shown how life itself is the most wonderful gift we’ll ever know.
It isn’t a Christmas gift though. That’s what we hear when Bailey is at the bridge. It’s about every day, our happy ones all the way down to our most trying experiences. Indeed, it’s impossible to know how good life really is if we’ve never had to confront the depths of our despair.
Sure, the story has a happy ending. But to make it that way, Bailey had to return home expecting he’d be accused of stealing funds from the Building and Loan. He arrives elated to see his wife and children without knowing the community is coming to his rescue. And the message there is that sometimes we have to hit rock bottom to find the courage to be fully alive.
• Rich Moniak is a Juneau resident and retired civil engineer with more than 25 years of experience working in the public sector.
