15 Times ‘It's a Wonderful Life’ Was Chaos Behind the Scenes
It’s a Wonderful Life is a Christmas classic that seems to effortlessly float across our screens every holiday season like a warm wish from mostly dead people. To get there, however, it took years of unseen toil, frustration, and not a little ca-la-la-lamity.
Nobody Wanted It
Philip Van Doren Stern wrote the short story “The Greatest Gift” in 1939 and spent years trying to find someone who gave a jingle bell about it. Unable to find a publisher, he finally just made copies and sent them out to his friends and family as Christmas cards, one of which happened to come across the desk of the head of RKO Pictures.
Cary Grant Was Supposed to Star
When RKO bought the rights to Stern’s story, it was as a vehicle for Cary Grant, star of such masterpieces as The Philadelphia Story and Notorious. They couldn’t figure out how to turn the dark story into family fare, however, though it actually contained fewer atrocities than the eventual finished product.
George Bailey Was Almost a Politician Instead of a Banker
One way RKO tried to lighten up the story was by turning George Bailey into a politician who loses an important election. Instead of showing him what the world would look like without him in it, they show him what would have happened if he’d gone into business like a sucker.
It Took So Many Rewrites
After producer-director Frank Capra bought the rights from RKO, he hired a revolving door of screenwriters who drove themselves and each other nuts trying to work out a script. One of those writers was the famously cynical Dorothy Parker, who presumably remained anonymous to preserve her street cred.
Henry Fonda Was Almost George Bailey
After hearing about the project from his agent, James Stewart was rarin’ to go, script unseen, but his buddy Henry Fonda was also up for the part. Luckily for Stewart, Fonda chose to take on John Ford’s My Darling Clementine instead.
Ginger Rogers Turned It Down
Several big-name actresses were considered for the role of George’s wife, Mary, including Olivia de Havilland, Martha Scott, Laraine Day and Ginger Rogers. The latter turned down the role for being “too bland,” regretting it dearly after the film became a holiday classic.
It Shared a Set With Cimarron
It’s a Wonderful Life was filmed at RKO Studios, on the same set where the company’s epic Western Cimarron was filmed 15 years earlier. Among the additions needed to turn it into Bedford Falls were 20 real-live transplanted oak trees.
The Crew Invented Chemical Snow
Frustrated with the noise made by the industry’s standard snow substitute -- that is, cornflakes painted white, which crunched so loudly when stepped on that recording dialogue was impossible -- Capra teamed up with RKO’s head of special effects to create a chemical snow. It was made of sugar, water, soap flakes, and foamite, A.K.A. the stuff in fire extinguishers.
Mr. Gower Really Slapped Little George
In the scene when Mr. Gower slaps a young George Bailey, H.B. Warner unexpectedly let loose for real on child actor Robert J. Anderson. “He actually bloodied my ear,” Anderson said, but “at the end when it was all over, he was very lovable. He grabbed me and hugged me, and he meant it.”
It Destroyed Capra’s Relationship With His Go-To Composer
Capra hired his longtime collaborator, Dmitri Tiomkin, to write the film’s music, but he replaced crucial moments of Tiomkin’s score, deeply offending the composer. “Frank cut it, switched sections around, and patched it up, an all-around scissors job,” Tiomkin said. “After that, I didn't want to hear it.”
Uncle Billy Improv’d That Crash Landing
One of the film’s biggest laughs is delivered by Uncle Billy, who drunkenly stumbles away from George Bailey’s house and apparently into a row of trash cans, witnessed by the audience only in the form of a loud clatter and Billy’s cries of, “I’m all right!” That wasn’t supposed to happen -- a crew member dropped some props, and Thomas Mitchell rolled with it. Stewart’s amusement is genuine.
Its Religious Overtones Were Too Controversial
The movie was supposed to end with George Bailey falling to his knees and reciting “The Lord’s Prayer,” but Capra changed his mind, as such overt Christianity was considered offensive at the time. That’s also why the angels don’t have bodies covered in eyes.
Parts of the Set Have Survived
Although most of the movie’s set was torn down in the ‘50s, two locations are still standing. Mr. Martini’s home is just somebody’s house in the Valley, and the pool underneath the gym floor is still used by Beverly Hills High School’s swim team.
There Was a Bizarre Remake
In 1977, the movie was remade as It Happened One Christmas, a gender-swapped reboot starring Marlo Thomas as Mary Bailey Hatch, Cloris Leachman as the angel, and -- you might want to sit down for this one -- Orson Welles as Mr. Potter. Fire up your piracy finger.
It Was a Box Office Flop
It might be a classic today, but when It’s a Wonderful Life was first released, it didn’t even make back its budget. It became popular nearly three decades later, when the film’s copyright holders simply forgot to renew it, giving television networks cheap holiday programming. That’s right: It’s a Wonderful Life got a second chance to realize that it really had… uh, a good story.
