I just wrapped up Christmas shopping at the Tannery.
I was walking down Liberty Street, just past Praelines when I looked up and WHAM!
Damn, Market Square looks nice with the snow and the tree and the lights.
I felt like George Bailey, without the drastic mood swings between suicidal leanings and raging euphoria.
Merry Christmas Bedford Falls.
8 comments:
This has been one of the prettiest Christmases in memory. New England looks just like the holiday cards.
To be fair to George, he was without modern pharmacology. Today Joseph could have said, "Clarence, I want to you get Old Man Gower to write up a Prozac prescription for poor George. And get him to stop drunk driving."
We watched the movie again yesterday. I have to say that it is one of the most perfectly constructed movies ever made. It just sucks you in every time.
Merry Christmas, All!
One more thing. To show just how much this blog has gotten into my head I was watching "It's a Wonderful Life" when I looked at Old Man Potter and thought "Karp?"
Don't get me wrong. "It's a Wonderful Life" is a top three movie for me and a must-see at least once every holiday.
I tear up every time Harry makes his toast.
Penn State University professor Marie T. Reilly discusses the Roosevelt-era banking laws which helped place George Bailey in his predicament:
www.money-law.blogspot.com
Nice post. I have to pop that in the DVD player right now.
This discussion reminded me of a Newburyport-IAWL connection. Back in the 1980s, a Wall Street Journal reporter sat three or four financial professionals down to watch the movie.
He or she then wrote an article based around their commentary. The only part of the article I recall is when they all warned George to stay clear of Sam Wainright and his "ground floor" offer on plastics.
Anyway, Newburyport had a representative. I thinkit was the late Hack Pramberg of the Institution for Savings.
I'll look for the article but if anyone has insights.
Isn't there a scene in which Jimmy Stewart slaps Donna Reed around? I haven't watched it in years.
BTW, only the images and spoken words in the film are in the public domain. After the film's popularity revived, one of the studio lawyers (boo!! hiss!!) registered a separate copyright for the score and the background elements including the Foley track (the sound effects).
So it's free to air the film with someone else's music and sound effects, as I believe Comedy Central has done. But if you want to hear the bells ringing while angels earn their wings, you have to pay a license fee.
Lawyers ruin everything.
Well, that really isn't an appropriate thing to say, is it Paul?
No, George only hit Bert the Cop. He did shake Mary a wee bit in the scene when he recognized he loved her and would remain in Bedford Falls. Some passionate yet slightly awkward kissing would follow.
And lawyers don't ruin everthing. Only things that they touch.
Another Newburyport-IAWL connection.
One year the Chamber of Commerce wisely lured Karolyn Grimes--aka Zsu Zsu--to Newburyport to cement the Bedford Falls-Downtown Newburyport connections.
I had the pleasure of interviewing and then meeting her. She was a very nice lady. She revealed that her favorite scene was the one I alluded to earlier, George and Marys' first and fateful kiss.
In the interview, she jokingly suggested that the kiss caused George Bailey to pitch a little Mount Bedford, so to speak.
How could I not use that in an article?
So I did.
The article got back to her somehow. Fortunately she got a nice laugh from it.
Post a Comment