It's a Wonderful Life

It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 Christmas film, directed by Frank Capra and starring James Stewart, Donna Reed, Henry Travers, and Lionel Barrymore. The film focuses on George Bailey (Stewart), a good man driven to frustration and on the verge of suicide, until his guardian angel Clarence shows him what the world would be like had he never been born. The movie received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Actor and Best Picture, but lost in each category. However, It's a Wonderful Life has since come to be regarded as a cinematic classic, particularly through annual television airings.
Due to a non-renewed copyright, the movie was often aired multiple times on multiple stations between Thanksgiving and Christmas, both in black and white and in a popular colorized version. In 1993, Republic Pictures filed a claim that, though the original copyright had lapsed, the derivative copyrights for the script and story were in effect. Republic's claim was recognized, and thus the public domain color versions were withdrawn, and television licensing subsequently limited to NBC, which airs the film twice annually. Still, the film has become a popular cultural reference, and as with A Christmas Carol, countless television series have spoofed or referenced the film's basic plot.
Two of the film's supporting characters, close friends of George, are Bert the cop (Ward Bond) and Ernie Bishop the cab driver (Frank Faylen). A long-standing rumor claimed that the Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie were named after the movie characters, though in actuality the similarity is coincidental.
==References==
* A clip of James Stewart from the movie was used in the fifth season Muppet Babies episode "Muppets Not Included," as George Bailey says "This is a very interesting situation." In the same sequence, Frank Welker does a vocal impersonation of Stewart as George, saying "Help me, Clarence!"
* A 1990 Sesame Street segment with Glenn Close and Oscar the Grouch from Episode 2729 is titled in the script as "It's a Wonderful Life!"
* In Elmo Saves Christmas, footage from It's a Wonderful Life is used in multiple scenes, as viewed on television screens. Once Elmo wishes that every day become Christmas, the movie is seen endlessly on every channel. In a reference to the rumors about their names, Bert and Ernie walk past a set near the Fix-It Shop, and glimpse the scene in which George Bailey says, "Bert! Ernie! What's the matter with you two guys? You were here on my wedding night." The special closes with the final scene of the movie, playing on a TV in Hooper's Store, as Zuzu recalls that every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings, and George Bailey says "Attaboy, Clarence!"
* The "What If (There Was No Big Blue House)" sequence in "A Berry Bear Christmas" draws inspiration from the film.Mitchell Kriegman on The DJ Bob Show: A Berry Bear Reunion: Christmas at the Big Blue House at 03:05 and 20:12, December 2015 In the song, Tutter imagines a world where there was no Big Blue House in his life. The sequence is presented in black and white, as the film was shot, and the shot of Tutter on a snow-laden bridge recalls that of George Bailey contemplating jumping from one.
* The plot of the TV movie It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie is loosely based on It's a Wonderful Life. Daniel plays a similar role to Clarence, as Kermit's guardian angel, who shows him what the world would be like had he never been born. In both films, the crisis which brings the protagonist to utter despair is financial, caused by the loss of a sum of money. Rachel Bitterman is a variation of Barrymore's Mr. Potter, and her Club Dot and Bitterman Plaza, which appear in the world in which Kermit was never born, are analagous to Nick's bar and Bedford Falls' transformation into the decadent, vice-ridden Pottersville in It's a Wonderful Life.
* The film takes the top spot on Statler and Waldorf's list of holiday classics in From the Balcony episode 14. Waldorf jokes that the world would be happier if Statler hadn't been born, and Statler admits he's on the side of Mr. Potter. Elsewhere during the episode, Larry and Oliver's "Film Crew Theatre" re-enacts every Christmas movie ever made. Part of Larry's re-enactment involves wishing he was never born and later, he thanks Clarence for his new positive outlook on Christmas.
* The 2021 Muppet Babies episode "It's a Wonderful Elf-bot" takes its name from the movie.
* A Vanity Fair video from 2017 features the Sesame Street Muppets reciting famous movie quotes. Rosita performs Zuzu Bailey's line from the end of the film, "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings."
* During a 2022 discussion with Brett Goldstein for Entertainment Weekly about The Muppet Christmas Carol as an adaptation of a pre-existing work, Miss Piggy says she'd have preferred doing "It's a Wonderful Moi." In reference to the George Bailey character in the film, she clarifies, "I wasn't going to jump off a bridge or anything, so it's just as well." Later in the same interview, Robin the Frog says that the best line in cinema history is, "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings."
==Connections==
* Sally Field played Ma Bailey in the 1997 PBS special Merry Christmas, George Bailey
* Carol Kane played Mrs. Hatch in the 1997 PBS special Merry Christmas, George Bailey
* Casey Kasem served as announcer for the 1997 PBS special Merry Christmas, George Bailey
* Martin Landau played Pa Bailey and Mr. Potter in the 1997 PBS special Merry Christmas, George Bailey
* Nathan Lane played Clarence in the 1997 PBS special Merry Christmas, George Bailey
* Cloris Leachman played Clara Oddbody in the 1977 remake, It Happened One Christmas
* Bronson Pinchot played Mr. Carter in the 1997 PBS special Merry Christmas, George Bailey
* Joe Raposo wrote the music for the 1986 musical A Wonderful Life
* Doris Roberts played Ma Bailey in the 1977 remake, It Happened One Christmas
* Christian Slater played Harry Bailey and Sam Wainwright in the 1997 PBS special Merry Christmas, George Bailey
* Marlo Thomas played Mary Bailey Hatch in the 1977 remake, It Happened One Christmas
* Orson Welles played Henry F. Potter in the 1977 remake, It Happened One Christmas
==See also==
* Are Bert and Ernie named after characters from It's a Wonderful Life?
==Sources==
==External links==
* IMDb
__NOWYSIWYG__
Category:Movie References
Category:Christmas References