'It's a Wonderful Life' for Jimmy Hawkins

By Kate O'Hare, Zap2it, | December 24, 2006

'It's a Wonderful Life'

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LOS ANGELES -- On Christmas Eve, NBC offers its second airing of the classic "It's a Wonderful Life" this holiday season (the first was Dec. 16).

This year also marks the 1946 film's 60th anniversary, which has prompted Paramount Home Video to release a new DVD version. The photo on the front is colorized, but the black-and-white movie is not. Also on the DVD is a documentary with host Tom Bosley, the original theatrical trailer and a special tribute to director Frank Capra from his son, Frank Capra Jr.

"It has a life of its own," says Jimmy Hawkins, who played Tommy Bailey, the youngest son of the film's hero, George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart). "It's part of the tradition. While people are making eggnog or trimming the tree or having people in, it's always playing."

"It's a Wonderful Life" took a circuitous path to its beloved status. It began as "The Greatest Gift," an unsold short story by Civil War historian Philip Van Doren Stern -- which he self-published as a Christmas card for friends and family -- that was bought by Republic Pictures for $10,000.

After three unsuccessful attempts to craft a screenplay, it landed with Capra, whom some critics had derided for relying on a particular brand of sentimentality, dubbed "Capra-corn."

However this epithet may be applied to Capra's other films, it's an unfair label to put on "It's a Wonderful Life."

The film starts with many glowing scenes of yesteryear as George grows up in the idyllic small town of Bedford Falls. But the misuse of power by town boss Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore) overshadows the Bailey family and its building-and-loan business.

George longs to see the world, but Potter's machinations and other circumstances thwart his dreams, trapping him in Bedford Falls. Outwardly he does the right things, but inwardly he nurses a deep well of frustration, anger and bitterness.

On one fateful Christmas Eve, it all boils over. George contemplates suicide, until an angel (Henry Travers) shows him that he is not a failure after all.

While the movie ends on a hopeful note, its unflinching look at the triumphs and heartaches of real life allows the film to be taken seriously and not just considered heartwarming holiday fluff.

"He gets to see what life would have been like had he not been born," Hawkins says. "He sees that family, friends and belief in miracles is what it's all about. He's just grateful to be back. But yeah, it was very dark."

While not a box-office flop, the movie was hardly a hit, and it probably would have faded into obscurity had not a clerical error caused the copyright to expire in the early 1970s. Freed from paying royalties for the film, TV stations played it wall to wall between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

"In Los Angeles, one time," Hawkins says, "between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, it played 11 times."

The movie has also spawned a TV remake (a female version, with Marlo Thomas) and plenty of TV-series episodes that made use of its conceit. There have also been documentaries and books on "It's a Wonderful Life," including some written by Hawkins, whose 12-day job as a preschooler has had a profound effect on his entire life.

In September, Dutton Juvenile published his latest book, "It's a Wonderful Life for Kids, Too," a lavishly illustrated volume for grades two through four that tells a similar story to the film, but with young Tommy Bailey at the center.

"I wrote it," Hawkins says, "so that it's instilled in kids from a young age that they do things and touch lives for the better, and they don't realize it. It will build up their self-esteem, I hope."