‘It’s a Wonderful Life’: How America’s Greatest Christmas Movie Almost Wasn’t Made

George (leftmost), realizing that heaven put everyone on earth for a purpose, revels in his town’s goodwill. (MovieStillDB)

“It’s a Wonderful Life” is arguably the greatest holiday film in American cinematic history. Frank Capra, the legendary film director, stated in his autobiography that it was his greatest film. In fact, he thought it was the greatest film ever made.

The premise of the film is that a man so down on himself that he wishes he had never been born gets a glimpse of how the world would have been without him. The premise of this article is not what if the film had never been made, but rather the fact that it almost wasn’t—and how after it was made, it was nearly lost to memory.

Selling the Story

Philip Van Doren Stern was the creator of the story that became “It’s a Wonderful Life.” There are two versions of how he came up with the idea. He either dreamed it, or the idea hit him while he was shaving. Either way, the story came to him fully intact. He knew exactly how the story started and ended. The problem was writing it.

A movie poster for the 1946 film “It’s a Wonderful Life,” directed by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart and Donna Reed. (IMDB)

Actually, Stern had no problem writing. He was a writer and editor by trade, though he specialized in history, primarily Civil War history. By the end of his career, the highly respected historian would write more than 40 books. But this fictional holiday vision of his would prove more difficult than he anticipated. It wasn’t until the spring of 1943, five years after he first tried to write it, that he was finally satisfied with it, or at least satisfied to the point that he wasn’t embarrassed to show his agent.

His agent, Shirley Collier, pitched the 4,000-word story to various magazines to no avail. Stern, disappointed that no one was interested in the inspiring tale, decided to turn it into a Christmas card—a 24-page Christmas card entitled “The Greatest Gift: A Christmas Tale”—and sent it to 200 friends and family members.

Christmas ended, but the card circulated. The card wound up in the hands of RKO producer David Hempstead. Collier called Stern to inform him that she had sold the movie rights of “The Greatest Gift” to RKO for $10,000. The story was published later that year by Reader’s Scope magazine, and Good Housekeeping published a version of the story under the title “The Man Who Was Never Born.” Stern’s story was finally on its way to stardom. Or was it?

George Bailey (James Stewart) is surrounded by worried loan customers following the stock market crash of 1929 that set off the Great Depression. (MovieStillDB)

Stuck in Hollywood

“The Greatest Gift” had found its way into Hollywood, but the Hollywood writers struggled in much the same way Stern had when he first tried writing it. They simply couldn’t make a go of it. Though RKO was ready to film and Cary Grant had agreed to play the lead role, after three screenplays were rejected, the project was scrapped. According to Frank Capra, it was Charles Koerner, the head of RKO studio, who mentioned the film idea to him. Capra fell in love with the story, purchased the rights to the film, and decided to produce the film independently with his new production company Liberty Films.

It still, however, needed a screenplay that captured the heart of the story. Several other writers attempted to chisel away at it. Even the successful Dalton Trumbo tried his hand at it, though none of his suggestions were used in the film. It wasn’t until Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, the husband-and-wife duo that wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning play “The Diary of Anne Frank,” created a script that worked—sort of. The script they wrote was still somewhat incomplete, due primarily to Capra’s impatience. Goodrich and Hackett stopped writing, the script was sent in, and other writers, like Jo Swerling, Michael Wilson, Dorothy Parker, and even Capra himself helped finish it.

From Cary Grant to Jimmy Stewart

With the rights being sold to Liberty Films, the search for a new lead began. World War II had recently ended, and Jimmy Stewart had just come home. In much the same way George Bailey witnessed his world turned upside down, Stewart’s life back in Hollywood was almost unrecognizable. The previous three years he had been fighting the Nazis as a bomber commander in the Army Air Force, earning two Distinguished Flying Crosses, three Air Medals, and France’s Croix de Guerre. In much the same way he had experienced success in Hollywood, he flew through the military ranks, rising from private to colonel in a span of four years. Along with those successes, the stress of flying 20 B-24 bomber missions over Nazi-occupied Europe caused Stewart to develop post-traumatic stress disorder.

Now, he was back home wondering if his film career had come to an end. His contract with MGM had expired. His agent was no longer in the film business. He had no film prospects. And, suffering from PTSD (though not diagnosed as such at the time), Stewart was afraid he might not be able to act and was actually considering quitting the profession.

A portrait of the newlyweds on their makeshift honeymoon retreat. (MovieStillDB)

Lionel Barrymore, who had co-starred with Stewart in the 1937 film “Navy Blue and Gold” as well as the 1938 Best Picture “You Can’t Take It with You” (which also earned Capra a Best Director Oscar), convinced a reticent Stewart to take the lead role as George Bailey. Their personal relationship was obviously in stark contrast to their on-screen relationship, as Barrymore played the cruel and unrelenting Mr. Potter—Bailey’s nemesis.

It is difficult to envision Cary Grant playing the role of George Bailey, especially after Stewart’s iconic performance. There is no doubt that the stress and turmoil he endured during World War II came out in his acting. “I don’t think he had that kind of capacity before the war,” said Robert Matzen, author of “Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe,” in an interview. “It enabled him to be ferocious and to have that raw emotion.”

The Classic That Almost Wasn’t

Americans today identify “It’s a Wonderful Life” as an American classic, but when it first arrived on the scene, it was received with much less fanfare. This doesn’t mean it was a cinematic flop. Far from it. It was nominated for five Academy Awards—Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound Recording—though it didn’t win any of them. But the reception at the box office caused the film to lose about $500,000, which ultimately led Capra, along with his business partners George Stevens and William Wyler, to shutter Liberty Films and sell it to Paramount for $3.5 million in Paramount stocks. Liberty Films and its one film were proverbially put on the shelf.

George’s dream since childhood was to travel the world. (MovieStillDB)

Well before Stern ever had his story idea, the Copyright Act of 1909 was passed, allowing for creators to copyright their work for 28 years and then renew it again for another 28 years. “It’s a Wonderful Life” was under copyright for those first 28 years, but the copyright was not renewed, and therefore the film fell into the public domain.

Rather than being lost in the abyss of the public domain, when word got out that “It’s a Wonderful Life” was there for the taking, TV stations across the country clamored for it. Soon, the film was playing continuously throughout the months of November and December for the next two decades. The film had been on television before, but only with permission from Republic Pictures, and therefore rarely. Now, the stations didn’t have to ask. It was during this time that “It’s a Wonderful Life” became a holiday tradition and finally received the recognition that Capra, Stewart, and much of the cast felt it deserved.

Indeed, it has received its deserved recognition. In 1998, when the American Film Institute (AFI) assembled its inaugural list of the 100 best films in American history, “It’s a Wonderful Life” was listed at #11 (the only Christmas movie on the list). AFI also has the film listed as the most inspirational movie of all time.

(MovieStillDB)

A Film Perfect for Small Screens

Stewart told Leonard Maltin, for his “The ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ Book,” that fans profess to have seen the movie 15 or 20 times. “They’ve seen it every Christmas. They put up the tree, they get people in, and they all watch ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ It’s part of the annual ritual now. That means a great deal to me.”

Stewart had been skeptical about watching feature films on television. The first time he saw one of his films on television, the less-than-touted “Pot O’ Gold,” he was not impressed. He felt differently, however, about his holiday film.

“‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ ... has been on television many times,” he said in a 1956 interview with New York Times Magazine. “I’ve seen it and I think it is very well adapted to TV. I’ve had more comment and favorable reaction to this picture on television 10 years after it was made than when it was first shown in theaters. It seems to please audiences more on a little screen.’’

Americans across the decades can thank Stern for following through with finishing his story, even when it seemed no one was interested in it. Perhaps unwittingly, he, along with Capra and Stewart, gave Americans one of their best Christmas traditions and gifts. They gave us the gift that reminds us every year about this time that “no man is a failure who has friends” and that, despite hardships and disappointments, it truly is a wonderful life. For a movie that accomplishes that goal annually, maybe Capra was right: “It’s a Wonderful Life” is the best film ever made.

With George facing the prospect of jail for his company’s missing funds, he comes home to his family preparing for Christmas Eve. (MovieStillDB)

This article was originally published in American Essence magazine.