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Albert Hackett
Albert Maurice Hackett (February 16, 1900 – March 16, 1995) was an American dramatist and screenwriter most noted for his collaborations with his partner and wife Frances Goodrich.
http://wn.com/Albert_Hackett -
Ann Dvorak
Ann Dvorak (August 2, 1911 – December 10, 1979) was an American film actress.
http://wn.com/Ann_Dvorak -
Beulah Bondi
Beulah Bondi (May 3, 1888 – January 11, 1981)
http://wn.com/Beulah_Bondi -
Carl Switzer
Carl Dean "Alfalfa" Switzer (August 7, 1927 – January 21, 1959) was an American child actor, professional dog breeder and hunting guide, most notable for appearing in the Our Gang short subjects series as Alfalfa, one of the series' most popular and best-remembered characters.
http://wn.com/Carl_Switzer -
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach (January 18, 1904 – November 29, 1986), better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English-American actor. With his distinctive yet not quite placeable Mid-Atlantic accent, he was noted as perhaps the foremost exemplar of the debonair leading man: handsome, virile, charismatic, and charming.
http://wn.com/Cary_Grant -
Charles Bickford
Charles Bickford (January 1, 1891 – November 9, 1967) was an American actor best known for his supporting roles. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for The Song of Bernadette (1943), ''The Farmer's Daughter (1947), and Johnny Belinda (1948). Other notable roles include Whirlpool (1948), A Star is Born (1954) and The Big Country'' (1958).
http://wn.com/Charles_Bickford -
Charles Halton
Charles Halton (16 March 1876 - 16 April 1959) was a stern-faced American character actor who appeared in over 180 films.
http://wn.com/Charles_Halton -
Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman (born April 30, 1926) is an American actress of stage, film and television. She has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards—more than any other performer—and one Daytime Emmy Award. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in the 1971 film The Last Picture Show. Her longest running role was the nosy, self-centered and manipulative landlady Phyllis Lindstrom on the 1970s TV series Mary Tyler Moore, and later on the spinoff series, Phyllis. She also appeared in three Mel Brooks films, including Young Frankenstein. In recent years, she had a recurring role as Lois's mother on Malcolm in the Middle.
http://wn.com/Cloris_Leachman -
Dickens
http://wn.com/Dickens -
Dimitri Tiomkin
Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (, Dmytro Zynoviyovych Tiomkin, , ''Dmitrij Zinov'evič Tëmkin'', sometimes transliterated as Dmitri Tiomkin) (May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979) was a film score composer and conductor. Along with Alfred Newman, Bernard Herrmann, Max Steiner, Miklós Rózsa, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Franz Waxman, Tiomkin was one of the most productive and decorated composers in Hollywood.
http://wn.com/Dimitri_Tiomkin -
Donna Reed
Donna Reed (January 27, 1921 – January 14, 1986) was an American film and television actress.
http://wn.com/Donna_Reed -
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker (August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and sharp eye for 20th century urban foibles.
http://wn.com/Dorothy_Parker -
Ebenezer Scrooge
Ebenezer Scrooge is the principal character in Charles Dickens' 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol. At the beginning of the novel, Scrooge is a cold-hearted, tight-fisted and greedy man, who despises Christmas and all things which engender happiness. Dickens describes him thus: "The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, made his eyes red, his thin lips blue, and he spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice ..." His last name has come into the English language as a byword for miserliness and misanthropy, traits displayed by Scrooge in the exaggerated manner for which Dickens is well-known. The tale of his redemption by the three Ghosts of Christmas (Ghost of Christmas Past, Ghost of Christmas Present, and Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come) has become a defining tale of the Christmas holiday. Scrooge's catchphrase, "Bah, humbug!" is often used to express disgust with many of the modern Christmas traditions.
http://wn.com/Ebenezer_Scrooge -
Edgar Buchanan
Edgar Buchanan (March 20, 1903 – April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both film and television, most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the Petticoat Junction, Green Acres and Beverly Hillbillies television sitcoms of the 1960s. As Uncle Joe, he took over as proprietor of the Shady Rest Hotel following the death of Bea Benaderet, who had played Kate Bradley.
http://wn.com/Edgar_Buchanan -
Frances Goodrich
Frances Goodrich (21 December 1890 – 29 January 1984) was an American dramatist and screenwriter, best-known for her collaborations with her partner and husband Albert Hackett.
http://wn.com/Frances_Goodrich -
Frank Albertson
Frank Albertson (February 2, 1909 – February 29, 1964) was an American character actor who made his debut in a minor part in Hollywood at age 13.
http://wn.com/Frank_Albertson -
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra (May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was a Sicilian-born American film director and a creative force behind a number of films of the 1930s and 1940s, including It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Lost Horizon (1937), ''You Can't Take It With You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Meet John Doe (1941), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) and It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946).
http://wn.com/Frank_Capra -
Frank Faylen
Frank Faylen (December 8, 1905 – August 2, 1985) was an American movie and television actor.
http://wn.com/Frank_Faylen -
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers (July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century.
http://wn.com/Ginger_Rogers -
Gloria Grahame
Gloria Grahame (November 28, 1923 – October 5, 1981) was an American actress.
http://wn.com/Gloria_Grahame -
H. B. Warner
H. B. Warner (26 October 1875 – 21 December 1958) was an English actor.
http://wn.com/H_B_Warner -
H.B. Warner
http://wn.com/HB_Warner -
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American film and stage actor.
http://wn.com/Henry_Fonda -
Henry Travers
Henry Travers (5 March 1874 – 18 October 1965) was an English actor.
http://wn.com/Henry_Travers -
James Stewart
James Maitland "Jimmy" Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American film and stage actor. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime Achievement award. He was a major MGM contract star. He also had a noted military career and was a World War II and Vietnam War veteran, who rose to the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Air Force Reserve.
http://wn.com/James_Stewart -
Jerry Juhl
Jerome Ravn "Jerry" Juhl (July 27, 1938 in St. Paul, Minnesota – September 26, 2005) was a television and movie writer best known for his work with Jim Henson's Muppets.
http://wn.com/Jerry_Juhl -
Jimmy Hawkins
James F. Hawkins, known as Jimmy Hawkins and, later, Jim Hawkins (born November 13, 1941), is an American actor and film producer whose career began as a child actor to such Hollywood stars as Lana Turner, Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, and Donna Reed. His acting career spans the time frame from 1943-1974, after which he devoted his energies to the production of films and later to his building contracting business. Hawkins had starring roles in several television series: The Ruggles (1949-1952), Annie Oakley (1954-1957, syndicated), The Donna Reed Show (1958-1966, ABC), and Petticoat Junction (CBS, the first four seasons, 1963-1967). He also had recurring roles as (1) a friend of the Nelson brothers on ABC’s The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and (2) as Jonathan Baylor on CBS's Ichabod and Me sitcom with Robert Sterling and George Chandler in the 1961-1962 season. He guest starred in many other programs during his childhood and young adult years.
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Hawkins -
Jimmy Starr
Jimmy Starr (3 February 1904 – August 13, 1990) was an American screenwriter and columnist.
http://wn.com/Jimmy_Starr -
Jo Swerling
Jo Swerling (April 8, 1897 - October 23, 1964) was an American theatre writer and lyricist and a screenwriter.
http://wn.com/Jo_Swerling -
Joe Raposo
Joseph Guilherme Raposo Jr., OIH (February 8, 1937 – February 5, 1989) was a Portuguese-American composer, songwriter, pianist, television writer and lyricist, best known for his work on the children's television series Sesame Street, for which he wrote the theme song, as well as classic songs such as "Bein' Green" and "C is for Cookie". He also wrote music for television shows such as The Electric Company, Shining Time Station and the sitcoms ''Three's Company and The Ropers, including their theme songs. In addition to these works, Raposo also composed extensively for the Dr. Seuss productions Halloween Is Grinch Night, Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? and The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat''.
http://wn.com/Joe_Raposo -
John Aalberg
http://wn.com/John_Aalberg -
Joseph Kearns
Joseph Kearns (February 12, 1907 – February 17, 1962) was an American actor, who is best remembered for his role as George Wilson ("Mr. Wilson") on CBS's television series Dennis the Menace from 1959 until his death in 1962.
http://wn.com/Joseph_Kearns -
Karolyn Grimes
Karolyn Grimes (born July 4, 1940) is an American actress known for her role as "Zuzu Bailey" in the Frank Capra classic ''It's a Wonderful Life. She also played "Debbie" in the 1947 Christmas film, The Bishop's Wife'' starring Cary Grant, David Niven, and Loretta Young.
http://wn.com/Karolyn_Grimes -
Kathie Lee Gifford
Kathie Lee Gifford (born August 16, 1953) is an American television hostess, singer, actress, best known for her 15-year run (1985–2000) on the talk show Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, which she co-hosted with Regis Philbin. She has received 11 Emmy nominations. Before her long stint in talk shows, Gifford's first television exposure was that of Tom Kennedy's singer/sidekick on Name That Tune, from 1974 to 1978.
http://wn.com/Kathie_Lee_Gifford -
Lillian Randolph
Lillian Randolph (December 14, 1898 - September 12, 1980) was an American actress and singer, a veteran of radio, film, and television.
http://wn.com/Lillian_Randolph -
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore (April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul (1931). He is well known for the role of the villainous Henry Potter in Frank Capra's 1946 film ''It's a Wonderful Life''.
http://wn.com/Lionel_Barrymore -
Louis Calhern
Louis Calhern (February 19, 1895 – May 12, 1956) was an American stage and screen actor.
http://wn.com/Louis_Calhern -
Manny Farber
Emanuel "Manny" Farber (February 20, 1917 – 18 August 2008) was an American painter, film critic and writer.
http://wn.com/Manny_Farber -
Marlo Thomas
Margaret Julia “Marlo” Thomas (born November 21, 1937) is an American actress, producer, and social activist known for her starring role on the TV series That Girl (1966–1971). She also serves as National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
http://wn.com/Marlo_Thomas -
Max Wagner
Max Wagner (28 November 1901–16 November 1975) was a Mexican-born American film actor who specialized in playing small parts such as thugs, gangsters, sailors, henchmen, bodyguards, cab drivers and moving men, appearing in over 300 films in his career, most without receiving screen credit. Newspaper gossip columnists noted his rise from playing "Gangster #4", with no lines, and not carrying a gun, to "Gangster #2", with both lines and a gun.
http://wn.com/Max_Wagner -
Mister Potter
http://wn.com/Mister_Potter -
Mr. Potter
Henry F. Potter (commonly referred to as "Mr. Potter" or just "Potter") is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1946 Frank Capra film ''It's a Wonderful Life''. He occupies slot #6 on the American Film Institute's list of the 50 Greatest Villains in American film history (in its 2003 list entitled AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains). Mr. Potter was portrayed by veteran actor Lionel Barrymore.
http://wn.com/Mr_Potter -
Olivia de Havilland
Olivia Mary de Havilland (born July 1, 1916) is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. Along with her sister, de Havilland is one of the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s. She is also the last living lead cast member from Gone with the Wind.
http://wn.com/Olivia_de_Havilland -
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985), best known as Orson Welles, was an American filmmaker, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio. Noted for his innovative dramatic productions as well as his distinctive voice and personality, Welles is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished dramatic artists of the twentieth century, especially for his significant and influential early work—despite his notoriously contentious relationship with Hollywood. His distinctive directorial style featured layered, nonlinear narrative forms, innovative uses of lighting and chiaroscuro, unique camera angles, sound techniques borrowed from radio, deep focus shots, and long takes. Welles's long career in film is noted for his struggle for artistic control in the face of pressure from studios, which resulted in many of his films being severely edited and others left unreleased. He has thus been praised as a major creative force and as "the ultimate auteur."
http://wn.com/Orson_Welles -
Raymond Massey
Raymond Hart Massey (August 30, 1896 – July 29, 1983) was a Canadian-born American actor.
http://wn.com/Raymond_Massey -
Robert Carradine
Robert Reed Carradine (born March 24, 1954) is an American actor. He is probably best known for portraying Lewis Skolnick in the successful Revenge of the Nerds series of comedy films and Sam McGuire on the Disney Channel sitcom Lizzie McGuire.
http://wn.com/Robert_Carradine -
Robert J. Anderson
Robert J. Anderson (March 6, 1933 – June 6, 2008), better known by his stage name Bobby Anderson (or sometimes Bobbie Anderson), was an American actor and television producer, most famous for his role as Little George Bailey in ''It's a Wonderful Life''.
http://wn.com/Robert_J_Anderson -
Sheldon Harnick
Sheldon Harnick (born 30 April 1924) is an American lyricist best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on hit musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof.
http://wn.com/Sheldon_Harnick -
Sheldon Leonard
Sheldon Leonard (February 22, 1907 – January 10, 1997) was a pioneering American film and television producer, director, writer, and actor.
http://wn.com/Sheldon_Leonard -
Stanley Andrews
Stanley Andrews (August 28, 1891 – June 23, 1969) was an American actor perhaps best known as the voice of Daddy Warbucks on the radio program Little Orphan Annie and later as "The Old Ranger", the host of Death Valley Days.
http://wn.com/Stanley_Andrews -
Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould (September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation.
http://wn.com/Stephen_Jay_Gould -
Todd Karns
Todd Karns (January 15, 1921 – February 5, 2000) was an American actor perhaps best remembered for playing Harry Bailey, the younger brother of George Bailey (James Stewart) in the Christmas classic ''It's a Wonderful Life''.
http://wn.com/Todd_Karns -
Victor Jory
Victor Jory (November 23, 1902 – February 12, 1982) was a Canadian actor.
http://wn.com/Victor_Jory -
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price II (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.
http://wn.com/Vincent_Price -
Ward Bond
Wardell Edwin Bond (April 9, 1903 – November 5, 1960) was an American film actor whose rugged appearance and easygoing charm featured in numerous roles.
http://wn.com/Ward_Bond -
Wayne Rogers
William Wayne McMillan Rogers III (born April 7, 1933) is an American film and television actor, best known for playing the role of 'Trapper John' McIntyre in the U.S. television series, M*A*S*H. He succeeded Elliott Gould, who had played the character in the Robert Altman movie MASH, and was himself succeeded by Pernell Roberts on the M*A*S*H spin-off Trapper John, M.D.. He is a regular panel member on the FOX News stock investment television program ''Cashin' In'', as a result of having built a highly successful and lucrative second career as an investor, investment strategist and advisor, and money manager.
http://wn.com/Wayne_Rogers -
William Hornbeck
William Hornbeck (b. August 23, 1901, Los Angeles, California - d. October 19, 1983 Ventura, California) was an American film editor.
http://wn.com/William_Hornbeck
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Arena Stage
http://wn.com/Arena_Stage -
Denison, Iowa
Denison is a city in Crawford County, Iowa, United States, along the Boyer River. The population was 7,339 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Crawford County.
http://wn.com/Denison_Iowa -
DreamWorks
DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming. It has produced or distributed more than ten films with box-office grosses totalling more than $100 million each.
http://wn.com/DreamWorks -
Encino, California
http://wn.com/Encino_California -
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and number of books. The head of the Library is the Librarian of Congress, currently James H. Billington.
http://wn.com/Library_of_Congress -
UK
http://wn.com/UK -
United States
The United States of America (also referred to as the United States, the U.S., the USA, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Caribbean and Pacific.
http://wn.com/United_States -
Washington, DC
http://wn.com/Washington_DC
- 19th Academy Awards
- A Christmas Carol
- absent-minded
- Academy Award
- ad lib
- Adriana Caselotti
- affordable housing
- AFI's 10 Top 10
- Albert Hackett
- Ann Dvorak
- Arena Stage
- bank fraud
- bank run
- Bayer
- Bedford Falls
- Bert and Ernie
- Beulah Bondi
- Blu-ray
- board of directors
- boarding house
- Bosley Crowther
- Broadway Bill
- Camel (cigarette)
- caricature
- Carl Switzer
- Cary Grant
- CD-ROM
- Channel 4
- Charles Bickford
- Charles Halton
- Charles Lane (actor)
- Christmas Eve
- Clarence (1991 film)
- Clarence Odbody
- Cloris Leachman
- Coca-Cola
- Columbia Pictures
- comedy
- Denison, Iowa
- derivative work
- Dickens
- Dimitri Tiomkin
- Donna Reed
- Dorothy Parker
- drama
- DreamWorks
- Ebenezer Scrooge
- Edgar Buchanan
- Elmo Saves Christmas
- Emmy
- Encino, California
- F for Fake
- Fantasy
- film
- Film colorization
- Film preservation
- Filming Othello
- Frances Goodrich
- Frank Albertson
- Frank Capra
- Frank Faylen
- Ginger Rogers
- Gloria Grahame
- Golden Globes
- GoodTimes Home Video
- Gremlins
- guardian angel
- H. B. Warner
- H.B. Warner
- Hal Roach Studios
- Henry Fonda
- Henry Travers
- high school
- IMDb
- insane asylum
- Intel 80486
- James Stewart
- Jean Arthur
- Jerry Juhl
- Jimmy Hawkins
- Jimmy Starr
- Jo Swerling
- Joe Raposo
- John Aalberg
- Joseph Kearns
- Karolyn Grimes
- Kathie Lee Gifford
- Kinesoft
- Lady for a Day
- Legend Films
- Liberty Films
- Library of America
- Library of Congress
- Lillian Randolph
- Lionel Barrymore
- List of film awards
- Louis Calhern
- Lucky Strike
- Lux Radio Theater
- Manny Farber
- Marlo Thomas
- Martha Scott
- Max Wagner
- Medal of Honor
- Meet John Doe
- Mister Potter
- Mr. Potter
- NBC
- nightclub
- old-time radio
- Olivia de Havilland
- Orson Welles
- Paramount Pictures
- pawn shop
- Pepto-Bismol
- pharmacy
- Playscripts, Inc.
- prescription
- Raymond Massey
- Rear Window
- Republic Pictures
- RKO Pictures
- Robert Carradine
- Robert J. Anderson
- Saint Louis Magazine
- Salon.com
- Samuel S. Hinds
- Sesame Street
- shareholder
- Sheldon Harnick
- Sheldon Leonard
- slumlord
- Stanley Andrews
- Stephen Jay Gould
- Stewart v. Abend
- stroke
- telegram
- television movie
- The Bishop's Wife
- The Family Man
- The Hotel Clarence
- The Jolson Story
- The Killers
- The Muppets
- The New Republic
- The New York Times
- The PTA Disbands
- The Simpsons
- Time (magazine)
- Todd Karns
- Topper (film)
- Turner Entertainment
- UK
- United States
- Universal Studios
- Viacom
- Victor Jory
- Vincent Price
- Wall Street Journal
- Ward Bond
- Warner Bros.
- Washington, DC
- Wayne Rogers
- William Hornbeck
- Windows 3.1
- World War II
- Young Artist Awards
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It's On
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:31
- Published: 11 May 2010
- Uploaded: 18 Dec 2011
- Author: CampRockVEVO
The cast of Camp Rock 2 performing It's On. (C) 2010 Walt Disney Records
http://wn.com/It's_On
Eazy-E - It's On
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:03
- Published: 10 Nov 2007
- Uploaded: 18 Dec 2011
- Author: TheGhettoLife
Eazy-E - It's On It's On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa
http://wn.com/Eazy-E__It's_On
Beck - Where It's At
Music video by Beck performing Where It's At. (C) 1996 Geffen Records
http://wn.com/Beck__Where_It's_At
Superchick - It's On (With Lyrics)
superchick it's on with lyrics. from the movie bring it on it in to win it, i used pictures from 3 of the 4 movies as i don't really like the 2nd so enjoyxxxx *i dont own this song* plz rate and comment
http://wn.com/Superchick__It's_On_With_Lyrics
Bon Jovi - It's My Life
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:28
- Published: 16 Jun 2009
- Uploaded: 17 Dec 2011
- Author: BonJoviVEVO
Music video by Bon Jovi performing It's My Life. (C) 2003 The Island Def Jam Music Group
http://wn.com/Bon_Jovi__It's_My_Life
It's time.
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:56
- Published: 25 Nov 2011
- Uploaded: 18 Dec 2011
- Author: getupaustralia
Please share this with friends and loved ones. donate to put on Australian tv: tiny.cc sign petition: www.getup.org.au music: Oliver Tank - Last Night I Heard Everything in Slow Motion
http://wn.com/It's_time
Monty Python - 'It's' Programme Start
Start of Monty Python's Flying Circus TV show
http://wn.com/Monty_Python__'It's'_Programme_Start
Where It's At
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:31
- Published: 22 Mar 2008
- Uploaded: 15 Dec 2011
- Author: multivitamins4all
Beck - Where It's At There's a destination a little up the road From the habitations and the towns we know A place we saw the lights turn low The jig-saw jazz and the get-fresh flow Pulling out jives and jamboree handouts Two turntables and a microphone Bottles and cans and just clap your hands and just clap your hands Where it's at I got two turntables and a microphone Where it's at I got two turntables and a microphone Where it's at I got two turntables and a microphone Where it's at I got two turntables and a microphone Take me home in my elevator bones! That was a good drum break Pick yourself up off the side of the road With your elevator bones and your whip-flash tones Members only, hyponotizers Move through the room like ambulance drivers Shine your shoes with your microphone blues Hirsutes with your parachute flutes Passing the dutchie from coast to coast Let the man Gary Wilson rock the most Where it's at I got two turntables and a microphone Where it's at I got two turntables and a microphone What about those who swing both ways: AC-DC's Let's make it out, Baby. Two turntables and a microphone Two turntables and a microphone Two turntables and a microphone Two turntables and a microphone Two turntables and a microphone Two turntables and a microphone Where it's at I got two turntables and a microphone Where it's at I got two turntables and a microphone Oh, dear me. Make Out City is a two-horse town That's beautiful, Dad Get my microphone There's a destination a <b>...</b>
http://wn.com/Where_It's_At
Daughtry - It's Not Over
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:52
- Published: 03 Oct 2009
- Uploaded: 18 Dec 2011
- Author: daughtryVEVO
Music video by Daughtry performing It's Not Over. (C) 2006 19 Recordings Limited
http://wn.com/Daughtry__It's_Not_Over
Bonnie Tyler It's A Heartache
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:29
- Published: 15 Sep 2006
- Uploaded: 17 Dec 2011
- Author: agentescully
Bonnie Tyler It's A Heartache
http://wn.com/Bonnie_Tyler_It's_A_Heartache
Band Aid - Do They Know its Christmas 1984
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:33
- Published: 04 Oct 2009
- Uploaded: 19 Dec 2011
- Author: HolidayFavorites
Band Aid was a British and Irish charity supergroup, founded in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia by releasing the record "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for the Christmas market that year. The single surpassed the hopes of the producers to become the Christmas number one on that release. The record was released on November 29, 1984, and went straight to No. 1 in the UK singles chart, outselling all the other records in the chart put together. It became the fastest- selling single of all time in the UK, selling a million copies in the first week alone. It stayed at No. 1 for five weeks, selling over three million copies and becoming easily the biggest-selling single of all time in the UK. Watch in HD in Full Screen: www.youtube.com Song Lyrics: It's Christmas time There's no need to be afraid At Christmas time We let in light and we banish shade And in our world of plenty We can spread a smile of joy Throw your arms around the world At Christmas time But say a prayer Pray for the other ones At Christmas time it's hard But when you're having fun There's a world outside your window And it's a world of dread and fear Where the only water flowing Is the bitter sting of tears And the Christmas bells that ring there Are the clanging chimes of doom Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you And there won't be snow in Africa This Christmas time The greatest gift they'll get this year is life Where nothing ever grows No rain nor <b>...</b>
http://wn.com/Band_Aid__Do_They_Know_its_Christmas_1984
Europe - The Final Countdown
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:56
- Published: 25 Oct 2009
- Uploaded: 18 Dec 2011
- Author: EuropeVEVO
Music video by Europe performing The Final Countdown. (C) 1986 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
http://wn.com/Europe__The_Final_Countdown
Despicable Me - Clip: "It's So Fluffy"
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:55
- Published: 25 Jun 2010
- Uploaded: 18 Dec 2011
- Author: DespicableMeMovie
despicable.me In a happy suburban neighborhood surrounded by white picket fences and flowering rose bushes sits a black house with a dead lawn. Unbeknownst to the neighbors, hidden deep beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by an army of mischievous little minions, we discover Gru (Steve Carell) planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon (Yes, the moon!) in Universal's new 3-D CGI feature, Despicable Me. Gru delights in all things wicked. Armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way. That is, until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen a potential Dad. One of the world's greatest super-villains has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes.
http://wn.com/Despicable_Me__Clip_It's_So_Fluffy
It's how.. - Rhymastic
It's how - Rhymastic Verse 1: It's another song for you baby... Though I'm tryin' to live it through the day I've been missing you like crazy Since the day you went away I wish I could rewind it To the very first time Cuz I knew fo sho' you were tha finest And I gotta make you mine... Everynight in my dream I saw my wish came true That you came back to me so I could say these words to you... Hook: It's how I feel about you girl It's how I can be sure it's love It's how we touch,it's how we hug ... It's how my time with you was not enough It's how I kissed you for so long It's how I missed you when you're gone It's how I need you,wanna be with you Cuz without you baby,everything seems wrong... Verse 2: I gave it to you,my heart and soul So tell me why you still wanna go away You came to my life when I was alone... You left me here with all the pain Tell me baby what I gotta do How to love you again? I feel like I can't live without you And do you feel the same? Cuz everynight in my dream I saw my wish came true Why don't you come back to me so I could say these words to you Bridge: It's how I feel so guilty when I let you walk out that door My heart is screaming loudly becuz I can't stand no more...
http://wn.com/It's_how__Rhymastic
Roots Manuva - 'It's On'
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:48
- Published: 12 Aug 2010
- Uploaded: 17 Dec 2011
- Author: pulsefilmsltd
Roots Manuva - 'It's On' www.rootsmanuva.co.uk Directed by: Ben Newman www.pulsefilms.co.uk www.betweentheeyes.co.uk Brand new track from Roots Manuva which features on the Ninja Tune 20th anniversary box set release - Ninja Tune XX (www.ninjatunexx.net released 20 September 2010. He also has another new exclusive track on the box set as well as remixes of his work by Micachu, Modeselektor, Cut Chemist and Slugabed amongst others. Roots Manuva is headlining the Ninja Tune XX party at London Ewer Street on 2nd October 2010, as well as playing dates in Paris and Brussels. His latest album, 'Duppy Writer,' a collaborative remix collection, is out on September 6th (bit.ly
http://wn.com/Roots_Manuva__'It's_On'
Van Halen - When It's Love (music video) HD
"When It's Love" performed by Van Halen available on iTunes: tinyurl.com Album: OU812 Label: Warner Brothers Records Year: 1988 This official music video is copyright 1988 Warner Brothers Records. I do not claim ownership to this video or song. All rights reserved by copyright holders. Vocals: Sammy Hagar Guitar: Eddie Van Halen Bass: Michael Anthony Drums: Alex Van Halen The lyrics are posted below: Hey! Everybody's lookin' for somethin' Somethin' to fill in the holes We think a lot but don't talk much about it 'Till things get out of control, oh! How do I know when it's love? I can't tell you but it lasts forever Oh! How does it feel when it's love? It's just somethin' you feel together When it's love You look at every face in a crowd Some shine and some keep you guessin' Waiting for someone to come into focus Teach you your final love lesson Ooh! How do I know when it's love? I can't tell you but it lasts forever Oh! How does it feel when it's love? It's just something you feel together (Oh oh oh oh) Oh, when it's love (Oh oh oh oh) You can feel it, yeah! (Oh oh oh oh) Nothin's missin', yeah! (Guitar Solo) (Oh oh oh oh) Yeah, you can feel it (Oh oh oh oh) Oh, when it's love (Oh oh oh oh) When nothin's missing, ow! How do I know when it's love? I can't tell you but it lasts forever Ooh, how does it feel when it' love? It's just something you feel together, hey! How do I know when it's love? I can't tell you but it lasts forever When it's love Ooh, when it's love Hey! It <b>...</b>
http://wn.com/Van_Halen__When_It's_Love_music_video_HD
Everlast ~ What It's Like (With Lyrics)
Just a little video I put together. DISCLAIMER: All Song Rights Belong To WMG
http://wn.com/Everlast_~_What_It's_Like_With_Lyrics
DOUBLE RAINBOW SONG!! (now on iTunes)
iTunes download: itunes.apple.com shirts: www.districtlines.com doublerainbowshirts.com Yosemitebear and the G. Bros are also joining forces to get the song on iTunes The most famous double rainbow discovery ever--reimagined in song. Original video here: www.youtube.com Subscribe for more remixes/songifications-- www.youtube.com www.twitter.com www.facebook.com Lyrics/Chords: Whoa, that's a full rainbow all the way bm G Double rainbow, oh my God, double rainbow DA It's a double rainbow all the way...damn bm G It's a double rainbow all the way...damn, oh my God DA f#m What does this mean? It's so bright, so vivid GD Double rainbow, double rainbow, it's so intense (tense) G f#m What does this mean? It's startin to even look like a triple rainbow GD That's a whole rainbow, man, ahhhh! GF# Double rainbow all the way 'cross the sky bm G Yeah, Yeeeeaaaaah, so intense DAF# Double rainbow all the way 'cross the sky bm G Wow, wow, oh my God, look at that rainbow DA
http://wn.com/DOUBLE_RAINBOW_SONG!!_now_on_iTunes
Beck - "Where It's At" - '97 Grammys
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:51
- Published: 19 Oct 2007
- Uploaded: 17 Dec 2011
- Author: GrandmaBird
Beck performs "Where It's At" then receives best performance award for "Where It's At."
http://wn.com/Beck__Where_It's_At__'97_Grammys
The It's-man & Intros of Monty Python's Flying Circus
The first character that the flying circus of the Python gang gave us was the "It's-man"-- played by Michael Palin--sacrificing himself for his one and only purpose: saying "It's.." right before the title. These are his adventures.
http://wn.com/The_It's-man_Intros_of_Monty_Python's_Flying_Circus
Beck-Where It's At!?!?
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:17
- Published: 11 Nov 2007
- Uploaded: 09 Dec 2011
- Author: BlackDovE3040
Doing my favorite song of all time by the 21st century Bob Dylan/David Bowie artist Beck idoltomorrow.tumblr.com
http://wn.com/Beck-Where_It's_At!?!?
photo: Creative Commons / Karri Huhtanen
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| name | It's a Wonderful Life |
|---|---|
| director | Frank Capra |
| based on | "The Greatest Gift" byPhilip Van Doren Stern |
| screenplay | Frances Goodrich Albert HackettJo SwerlingFrank Capra |
| starring | James StewartDonna ReedLionel BarrymoreHenry Travers |
| music | Dimitri Tiomkin |
| cinematography | Joseph Walker |
| editing | William Hornbeck |
| producer | Frank Capra |
| studio | Liberty Films |
| distributor | RKO Pictures |
| released | December 20, 1946 |
| runtime | 130 minutes |
| language | English |
| country | |
| budget | $3,180,000 |
| gross | $3,300,000 }} |
It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American comedy/drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern.
The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man whose imminent suicide on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers). Clarence shows George all the lives he has touched and the contributions he has made to his community.
Despite initially being considered a box office flop due to high production costs and stiff competition at the time of its release, the film has come to be regarded as a classic and a staple of Christmas television around the world. Theatrically, the film's break-even point was actually $6.3 million, approximately twice the production cost, a figure it never came close to achieving in its initial release. An appraisal in 2006 reported: "Although it was not the complete box-office failure that today everyone believes ... it was initially a major disappointment and confirmed, at least to the studios, that Capra was no longer capable of turning out the populist features that made his films the must-see, money-making events they once were."
It's a Wonderful Life was nominated for five Oscars without winning any, although the film has since been recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 best American films ever made, and placed number one on their list of the most inspirational American films of all time.
Plot
Christmas Eve finds George Bailey (James Stewart) deeply troubled. Prayers for his wellbeing from friends and family reach Heaven. Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers), Angel Second Class, is assigned to save George and earn his wings. Franklin and Joseph, the head angels, review George's life with Clarence. At the age of 12, George (Bobby Anderson) saved the life of his younger brother Harry (George Nokes), who had fallen through the ice on a frozen pond, though George lost the hearing in one ear. Later, as an errand boy in a pharmacy, George saved his grief-stricken boss, druggist Mr. Gower (H.B. Warner), from mistakenly filling a child's prescription with poison.George's dream has been to see the world. However, he repeatedly sacrifices his ambition for others, waiting for Harry (Todd Karns) to graduate from high school and replace him at the Bailey Building and Loan Association, vital to the people of Bedford Falls. On Harry's graduation night in 1928, George discusses his future with Mary Hatch (Donna Reed), who has had a crush on him since she was a little girl. Later that evening, George's absent-minded Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell) and Harry break the news to George his father has had a stroke, which proves fatal. A few months later, Henry F. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), a heartless slumlord and majority shareholder in the Building and Loan, tries to persuade the board of directors to stop providing home loans for the working poor. George talks them into rejecting Potter's proposal, but they agree only on the condition that George himself run the Building and Loan. He gives his college money to his brother with the understanding that when Harry returns, he will take over the Building and Loan.
When Harry graduates from college, he unexpectedly brings home a wife, whose father has offered Harry an excellent job in his company. George cannot deny his brother such a fine opportunity.
George and Mary get married. As they are leaving town for their honeymoon, they witness a run on the bank that leaves the Building and Loan in danger of collapse. The couple quell the panic by using the $2,000 earmarked for their honeymoon to satisfy the depositors' immediate needs. Mary enlists the help of Bert, a policeman, and Ernie, a cab driver, to create a faux tropical setting for a substitute honeymoon.
George and Mary raise four children. George starts up Bailey Park, an affordable housing project. They and the other residents no longer have to pay Potter's high rents. Potter tries to hire him away, offering him a $20,000 annual salary, along with the promise of business trips to New York and Europe. George is tempted, but turns him down.
When World War II erupts, George is unable to enlist due to his bad ear. Harry becomes a fighter pilot and is awarded the Medal of Honor for shooting down 15 enemy aircraft, including two that were targeting a U.S. transport ship full of troops in the Pacific. Potter runs the local draft board.
On Christmas Eve, 1946, Uncle Billy is on his way to deposit $8,000 for the Building and Loan when he runs into Potter. He proudly shows Potter the front-page article about Harry receiving the Medal of Honor. Potter grabs the newspaper angrily and discovers the money inside; he keeps it. When Uncle Billy realizes it is missing, a frantic search is started. With a bank examiner set to inspect the books that very day, a desperate George appeals to Potter for a loan to save the company, but Potter turns him down and swears out a warrant for his arrest for bank fraud.
George takes his frustrations out on his family, before storming off and getting drunk at a bar owned by his old friend Martini. He crashes his car into a tree during a snowstorm. George staggers to a bridge, intending to commit suicide, feeling he is "worth more dead than alive" because of a $15,000 life insurance policy. Before he can leap in, however, Clarence appears and jumps in first and pretends to be drowning. After George rescues him, Clarence reveals himself to be George's guardian angel.
George does not believe him, but when he bitterly says he wishes he had never been born, Clarence has him experience what the town would have been like if he had never existed. In this alternate reality, Bedford Falls has become Pottersville and is home to sleazy nightclubs and pawn shops. Bailey Park was never built. Gower was sent to prison for many years for poisoning the child (because George never existed to intervene), and is now a derelict. Martini (Bill Edmunds) no longer owns his bar. Violet (Gloria Grahame) is a dancer at a local club who gets arrested as a pickpocket. Uncle Billy has been in an insane asylum for years. Harry is dead, since George was not around to save him, and the soldiers Harry would have saved in the war also died. Mrs. Bailey is a bitter widow running a boarding house, and Mary is a spinster librarian.
George ends up badly shaken by these experiences and flees back to the bridge, begging God to let him live again. His prayer is answered. When he runs home joyously, the bank examiner and policemen are waiting there to arrest him. Just then, Mary, Uncle Billy, and a flood of townspeople arrive, with more than enough donations to save George and the Building and Loan. George's friend Sam Wainwright sends him a line of credit for $25,000 via telegram. George's brother Harry also arrives in his military uniform and leads the townspeople in singing Auld Lang Syne in George's honor. George finds a gift from Clarence, a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with the inscription, "Dear George: Remember no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings! Love Clarence." A bell on the tree rings, and his daughter Zuzu remembers that it signifies that an angel has earned his wings.
Cast
Casting
The contention that James Stewart is often referred to as Capra's only choice to play George Bailey is disputed by film historian Stephen Cox, who indicates that "Henry Fonda was in the running."Although it was stated that Jean Arthur, Ann Dvorak and Ginger Rogers were all considered for the role of Mary before Donna Reed won the part, this list is also disputed by Cox as he indicates that Jean Arthur was first offered the part but had to turn it down for a prior commitment on Broadway before Capra turned to Olivia de Havilland, Martha Scott and Ann Dvorak. Ginger Rogers was offered the female lead, but turned it down because she considered it "too bland". In Chapter 26 of her autobiography Ginger: My Story, she questioned the decline of the role by asking her readers: "Foolish, you say?"
A long list of actors were considered for the role of Potter (originally named Herbert Potter): Edward Arnold, Charles Bickford, Edgar Buchanan, Louis Calhern, Victor Jory, Raymond Massey, Vincent Price and even Thomas Mitchell. However, Lionel Barrymore, who eventually won the role, was a famous Ebenezer Scrooge in radio dramatizations of A Christmas Carol at the time. Barrymore had worked with Capra earlier on his 1938 Best Picture Oscar winner You Can't Take It with You.
H. B. Warner, who was cast as the drugstore owner Mr. Gower, actually studied medicine before going into acting. He was also in some of Capra's other films, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Lost Horizon, You Can't Take It with You, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. The name Gower came from Capra's employer Columbia Pictures, which had been located on Gower St. for many years. Also on Gower St. was a drugstore that was a favorite for the studios employees.
Charles Williams, who was cast as Eustace Bailey, and Mary Treen, who was cast as Matilda "Tilly" Bailey, were both B-list actors, as they both had appeared in 90 films each before filming It's a Wonderful Life.
Jimmy the Raven (Uncle Billy's pet) appeared in You Can't Take It with You and each subsequent Capra film.
Production
Background
The original story "The Greatest Gift" was written by Philip Van Doren Stern in November 1939. After being unsuccessful in getting the story published, he decided to make it into a Christmas card, and mailed 200 copies to family and friends in December 1943.The story came to the attention of RKO producer David Hempstead, who showed it to Cary Grant's Hollywood agent and, in April 1944, RKO Pictures bought the rights to the story for $10,000 hoping to turn the story into a vehicle for Grant. RKO created three unsatisfactory scripts before shelving the planned movie with Grant going on to make another Christmas picture, The Bishop's Wife.At the suggestion of RKO studio chief Charles Koerner, Frank Capra read "The Greatest Gift" and immediately saw its potential. RKO, anxious to unload the project, sold the rights in 1945 to Capra's production company, Liberty Films, which had a nine-film distribution agreement with RKO, for $10,000, and threw in the three scripts for free. Capra, along with writers Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett with Jo Swerling, Michael Wilson, and Dorothy Parker brought in to "polish" the script — turned the story and what was worth using from the three scripts into a screenplay that Capra would rename It's a Wonderful Life. The script underwent many revisions throughout pre-production and during filming. Final screenplay credit went to Goodrich, Hackett and Capra, with "additional scenes" by Jo Swerling.
Seneca Falls, New York claims that when Frank Capra visited their town in 1945, he was inspired to model Bedford Falls after it. The town has an annual It's a Wonderful Life festival in December. In mid-2009, The Hotel Clarence opened in Seneca Falls, named for George Bailey's guardian angel. On December 10, 2010, the "It's a Wonderful Life" Museum opened in Seneca Falls with Karolyn Grimes, who played Zuzu in the movie, cutting the ribbon.
Both James Stewart (from Indiana, Pennsylvania) and Donna Reed (from Denison, Iowa) came from small towns. Stewart's father ran a small hardware store, in which he helped him out for years. Reed won an impromptu bet with Lionel Barrymore when he challenged her to milk a cow on set.
Filming
It's a Wonderful Life was shot at the RKO studio in Culver City, California, and the RKO Ranch in Encino, where "Bedford Falls" was a set covering 4 acres (1.6 ha), assembled from three separate parts with a main street stretching 300 yards (three city blocks), with 75 stores and buildings, a tree-lined center parkway and 20 full grown oak trees. For months prior to principal photography, the mammoth set was populated by pigeons, cats and dogs in order to give the "town" a lived-in feel. Due to the requirement to film in an "alternate universe" setting as well as during different seasons, the set was extremely adaptable. RKO created "chemical snow" for the film in order to avoid the need for dubbed dialogue when actors walked across the earlier type of movie snow, made up of crushed cornflakes. Filming started on April 15, 1946 and ended on July 27, 1946, exactly on deadline for the 90-day principal photography schedule.The RKO ranch in Encino, the filming location of Bedford Falls, was razed in the mid-1950s. There are only two surviving locations from the film. The first is the swimming pool that was unveiled during the famous dance scene where George courts Mary. It is located in the gymnasium at Beverly Hills High School and is still in operation as of 2008. The second is the "Martini home", at 4587 Viro Road in La Cañada Flintridge, California.
During filming, in the scene where Uncle Billy gets drunk at Harry and Ruth's welcome home/newlyweds' party, George points him in the right direction home. As the camera focuses on George, smiling at his uncle staggering away, a crash is heard in the distance and Uncle Billy yells, "I'm all right! I'm all right!" Equipment on the set had actually been accidentally knocked over — Capra left in Thomas Mitchell's impromptu ad lib (although the "crashing" noise was augmented with added sound effects).
Dimitri Tiomkin had written Death Telegram and Gower's Deliverance for the drugstore scenes, but in the editing room Capra elected to go with no music for those scenes. Those changes, along with others, led to a falling out between Tiomkin and Capra. Tiomkin had worked on a lot of Capra's previous films, and was saddened that Capra decided to pared or toned down, moved, or cut entirely. He felt as though his work was being seen as a mere suggestion. In his autobiography Please Don't Hate Me, he said of the incident, "an all around scissors job".
The products and advertisements featured in Mr. Gower's drugstore include Coca-Cola, Paterson tobacco pipes, La Unica cigars, Camel cigarettes, Lucky Strike cigarettes, Chesterfield cigarettes, Vaseline hair tonic, Penetro cough syrup, Pepto-Bismol, Bayer Aspirin ("for colds and influenza"), and The Saturday Evening Post.
In an earlier draft of the script, the scene where George saves his brother Harry as a child was different. The scene had the boys playing hockey on the river (which is on Potter's property) as Potter watches with disdain. George shoots the puck, but it goes astray and breaks the "No Trespassing" sign and lands in Potter's yard. Potter becomes irate, and the gardener releases the attack dogs, which causes the boys to flee. Harry falls in the ice, and George saves him with the same results.
Another scene that was in an earlier version was where young George visits his father at his work. After George tells off Mr. Potter and closes the door, he considers asking Uncle Billy about his drugstore dilemma. Billy is talking on the phone to the bank examiner, and lights his cigar and throws his match in the wastebasket. This scene explains that Tilly (short for Matilda) and Eustace are both his cousins (not Peter or Billy's kids though), and Tilly is on the phone with her friend Martha and says, "Potter's here, the bank examiner's coming. It's a day of judgment." As George is about to interrupt Tilly on the phone, Billy cried for help and Tilly runs in and puts the fire out with a pot of coffee. George decides he is probably better off dealing with the situation by himself. A number of alternative endings were considered, with Capra's first script having Bailey falling to his knees reciting The Lord's Prayer (the script also called for an opening scene with the townspeople in prayer). Feeling that an overly religious tone did not have the emotional impact of the family and friends rushing to rescue George Bailey, the closing scenes were rewritten.
Reception
It's a Wonderful Life premiered at the Globe Theatre in New York on December 20, 1946, to mixed reviews. While Capra considered the contemporary critical reviews to be either universally negative or at best dismissive, Time magazine said, "It's a Wonderful Life is a pretty wonderful movie. It has only one formidable rival (Goldwyn's The Best Years of Our Lives) as Hollywood's best picture of the year. Director Capra's inventiveness, humor and affection for human beings keep it glowing with life and excitement." Bosley Crowther, writing for The New York Times, complimented some of the actors, including Stewart and Reed, but concluded that "the weakness of this picture, from this reviewer's point of view, is the sentimentality of it — its illusory concept of life. Mr. Capra's nice people are charming, his small town is a quite beguiling place and his pattern for solving problems is most optimistic and facile. But somehow they all resemble theatrical attitudes rather than average realities."The film, which went into general release on January 7, 1947, placed 26th ($3.3 million) in box office revenues for 1947 (out of more than 400 features released), one place ahead of another Christmas movie, Miracle on 34th Street. The film was supposed to be released in January 1947, but was moved up to December 1946 to make it eligible for the 1946 Academy Awards. This move was seen as worse for the movie, as 1947 did not have quite the stiff competition as 1946. If it had entered the 1947 Awards, its biggest competition would have been Miracle On 34th Street. The number one grossing movie of 1947, The Best Years of Our Lives, made $11.5 million.
In 1990, It's a Wonderful Life was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry.
In 2002, Britain's Channel 4 ranked It's a Wonderful Life as the seventh greatest film ever made in its poll "The 100 Greatest Films" and in 2006, the film reached #37 in the same channel's "100 Greatest Family Films". It currently ranks 29th on the IMDb's top 250.
In June 2008, AFI revealed its 10 Top 10, the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres, after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. It's a Wonderful Life was acknowledged as the third-best film in the fantasy genre.
Somewhat more iconoclastic views of the film and its content are occasionally expressed. In 1947, film critic Manny Farber wrote, "To make his points [Capra] always takes an easy, simple-minded path that doesn't give much credit to the intelligence of the audience", and adds that there are only a "few unsentimental moments here and there." Wendell Jamieson, in a 2008 The New York Times article which was otherwise positive in its analysis of the film, posited that the film "is a terrifying, asphyxiating story about growing up and relinquishing your dreams, of seeing your father driven to the grave before his time, of living among bitter, small-minded people. It is a story of being trapped, of compromising, of watching others move ahead and away, of becoming so filled with rage that you verbally abuse your children, their teacher and your oppressively perfect wife." In a 2010 Salon.com piece, Rich Cohen described It's a Wonderful Life as "the most terrifying Hollywood film ever made", opining that in the "Pottersville" sequence George is not "seeing the world that would exist had he never been born", but rather "the world as it does exist, in his time and also in our own". Nine years earlier another Salon writer, Gary Kamiya, had expressed the view that "Pottersville rocks!", adding, "The gauzy Currier-and-Ives veil Capra drapes over Bedford Falls has prevented viewers from grasping what a tiresome and, frankly, toxic environment it is."
The film's elevation to the status of a beloved classic came decades after its initial release, when it became a television staple in the 1970s and 1980s Christmas seasons. This came as a welcome surprise to Frank Capra and others involved with it. "It's the damnedest thing I've ever seen," Capra told the Wall Street Journal in 1984. "The film has a life of its own now and I can look at it like I had nothing to do with it. I'm like a parent whose kid grows up to be president. I'm proud… but it's the kid who did the work. I didn't even think of it as a Christmas story when I first ran across it. I just liked the idea." In a 1946 interview, Capra described the film's theme as "the individual's belief in himself," and that he made it to "combat a modern trend toward atheism."
Awards and honors
Prior to the Los Angeles release of It's a Wonderful Life, Liberty Films mounted an extensive promotional campaign which included a daily advertisement highlighting one of the film's players, along with comments from reviewers. Jimmy Starr wrote, "If I were an Oscar, I'd elope with It's a Wonderful Life lock, stock and barrel on the night of the Academy Awards". The New York Daily Times also wrote an editorial in which it declared the film and James Stewart's performance, to be worthy of Academy Award consideration.It's a Wonderful Life received five Academy Award nominations:
The Best Years of Our Lives, a drama about servicemen attempting to return to their pre-World War II lives, won most of the awards that year, including four of the five for which It's a Wonderful Life was nominated. (The award for "Best Sound Recording" was won by The Jolson Story.) The Best Years of Our Lives was also an outstanding commercial success, ultimately becoming the highest grossing film of the decade, in contrast to the more modest box office returns of It's a Wonderful Life.
Capra won the "Best Motion Picture Director" award from the Golden Globes, and a "CEC Award" from the Cinema Writers Circle in Spain, for Mejor Película Extranjera (Best Foreign Film). Jimmy Hawkins won a "Former Child Star Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Young Artist Awards in 1994; the award recognized his role as Tommy Bailey as igniting his career, which lasted until the mid-1960s.
American Film Institute recognition
Release
Ownership and copyright issues
Ancillary rights
Liberty Films was purchased by Paramount Pictures, and remained a subsidiary until 1951. In 1955, M. & A. Alexander purchased the movie. This included key rights to the original television syndication, the original nitrate film elements, the music score, and the film rights to the story on which the film is based, "The Greatest Gift". National Telefilm Associates (NTA) took over the rights to the film soon thereafter.However, a clerical error at NTA prevented the copyright from being renewed properly in 1974. Despite the lapsed copyright, television stations that aired it still were required to pay royalties. Although the film's images had entered the public domain, the film's story was still protected by virtue of it being a derivative work of the published story "The Greatest Gift", whose copyright was properly renewed by Philip Van Doren Stern in 1971. The film became a perennial holiday favorite in the 1980s, possibly due to its repeated showings each holiday season on hundreds of local television stations. It was mentioned during the deliberations on the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998.
In 1993, Republic Pictures, which was the successor to NTA, relied on the 1990 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Stewart v. Abend (which involved another Stewart film, Rear Window) to enforce its claim to the copyright. While the film's copyright had not been renewed, Republic still owned the original film elements, the music score, and the film rights to "The Greatest Gift"; thus the plaintiffs were able to argue its status as a derivative work of a work still under copyright. It's a Wonderful Life is no longer shown as often on television as it was before enforcement of that derivative copyright. NBC is currently licensed to show the film on U.S. network television, and traditionally shows it twice during the holidays, with one showing on Christmas Eve. Paramount (via parent company Viacom's 1998 acquisition of Republic's then-parent, Spelling Entertainment) once again has ancillary rights for the first time since 1955, while NBC's broadcast rights are licensed from Trifecta Entertainment & Media (which holds television distribution of the Republic/Paramount theatrical library, including the back catalog of DreamWorks, a studio which Paramount owned from 2006–2008).
Due to all the above actions, this is one of the few RKO films not controlled by Turner Entertainment/Warner Bros. in the USA. It is also one of two Capra films which Paramount currently owns despite not having originally released it — the other is Broadway Bill (originally from Columbia, remade by Paramount as Riding High in 1950).
Colorization
Director Frank Capra met with Wilson Markle about having Colorization, Inc. colorize It's a Wonderful Life based on an enthusiastic response to the colorization of Topper from actor Cary Grant. The company's art director Brian Holmes prepared 10 minutes of colorized footage from It's a Wonderful Life for Capra to view, which resulted in Capra signing a contract with Colorization, Inc., and his "enthusiastic agree[ment] to pay half the $260,000 cost of colorizing the movie and to share any profits" and giving "preliminary approval to making similar color versions of two of his other black-and-white films, Meet John Doe (1941) and Lady for a Day (1933)". However, the film was believed to be in the public domain at the time, and as a result Markle and Holmes responded by returning Capra's initial investment, eliminating his financial participation, and refusing outright to allow the director to exercise artistic control over the colorization of his films, leading Capra to join in the campaign against the process.Three colorized versions have been produced. The first was released by Hal Roach Studios in 1986. The second was authorized and produced by the film's permanent owner, Republic Pictures, in 1989, with better results. Both Capra and Stewart took a critical stand on the colorized editions. The Hal Roach color version was re-released in 1989 to VHS through the cooperation of Video Treasures. A third colorized version was produced by Legend Films, and released on DVD in 2007, with the approval of Capra's estate.
Home media releases
Technological first: CD-ROM version
In 1993, due in part to the confusion of the ownership and copyright issues, Kinesoft Development, with the support of Republic Pictures, released It's a Wonderful Life as the one of the first commercial feature-length films on CD-ROM for the Windows PC (Windows 3.1). Predating commercial DVDs by several years, it included such features as the ability to follow along with the complete shooting script as the film was playing.Given the state of video playback on the PC at the time of its release, It's a Wonderful Life for Windows represented another first, as the longest running video on a computer. Prior to its release, Windows could only play back approx. 32,000 frames of video, or about 35 minutes at 15 frames per second. Working with Microsoft, Kinesoft was able to enhance the video features of Windows to allow for the complete playback of the entire film — all of this on a PC with a 486SX processor and only 8 MB of RAM.
VHS versions
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, when the film was still under public domain status, It's A Wonderful Life was released on VHS by a variety of home video companies. Among the companies that released the film on home video before Republic Pictures stepped in were Meda Video (which would later become Media Home Entertainment), Kartes Video Communications (under its Video Film Classics label), GoodTimes Home Video, and Video Treasures (now Anchor Bay Entertainment). After Republic reclaimed the rights to the film, all unofficial VHS copies of the film in print were destroyed. Artisan Entertainment (under license from Republic) took over home video rights in the mid-1990s. Artisan was later sold to Lions Gate Entertainment, which continued to hold US home video rights until late 2005 when they reverted to Paramount, who also owns video rights throughout Region 4 (Latin America and Australia), and in France. Video rights in the rest of the world are held by different companies; for example, the UK rights are with Universal Studios.
DVD and Blu-ray versions
The movie has seen multiple DVD releases since the availability of the DVD format. In the fall of 2001, Republic issued the movie twice, once in August, and again with different packaging in September of that same year. On October 31, 2006, Paramount released a newly restored "60th Anniversary Edition". On November 13, 2007, Paramount released a two-disc "special edition" DVD of the film that contained both the original theatrical black-and-white version, and a new, third colorized version, produced by Legend Films using the latest colorization technology. On November 3, 2009, Paramount released a DVD version with a "Collector's Edition Ornament", and a Blu-ray edition.
Adaptations in other media
The film was twice adapted for radio in 1947, first on Lux Radio Theater (March 10) and then on The Screen Guild Theater (December 29), then again on the Screen Guild Theater broadcast of March 15, 1951. James Stewart and Donna Reed reprised their roles for all three radio productions. Stewart also starred in the May 8, 1949 radio adaptation presented on the Screen Director's Playhouse.A musical stage adaptation of the film, titled A Wonderful Life, was written by Sheldon Harnick and Joe Raposo. This version was first performed at the University of Michigan in 1986, but a planned professional production was stalled by legal wrangling with the estate of Philip Van Doren Stern. It was eventually performed in Washington, DC by Arena Stage in 1991, and had revivals in the 21st century, including a staged concert version in New York City in 2005 and several productions by regional theatres.
The film was also adapted into a play in two acts by James W. Rodgers. It was first performed on December 15, 1993 at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. The play opens with George Bailey contemplating suicide and then goes back through major moments in his life. Many of the scenes from the movie are only alluded to or mentioned in the play rather than actually dramatized. For example, in the opening scene Clarence just mentions George having saved his brother Harry after the latter had fallen through the ice.
It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, a stage adaptation presented as a 1940s radio show, was adapted by Joe Landry and has been produced around the United States since 1997. The script is published by Playscripts, Inc.
Philip Grecian's 2006 radio play based on the film It's a Wonderful Life is a faithful adaptation, now in its third incarnation, that has been performed numerous times by local theatres in Canada.
In a June 2011 interview, John McDaniel told Saint Louis Magazine, "I'm in the throes of writing a musical version ... right now, working with Kathie Lee Gifford, who's doing the lyrics. I find we're mostly writing to character: Is it George, or the old guy who runs the bank? What do they want, what are they trying to do, what is the mood of that — is it staccato, are they agitated, is it a ballad?"
Popular culture
It's a Wonderful Life has been popularized in modern cultural references in many of the mainstream media. Due to the proliferation of these references, only a few examples will suffice to illustrate the film's impact.The Sesame Street Muppets characters Bert and Ernie share their names with the cop and the taxicab driver in the film. Longtime Muppets writer and puppeteer Jerry Juhl said he believed there was no connection and that this was a coincidence. The episode Elmo Saves Christmas (1996), which featured a clip from the film, pokes fun at the persistent reports of a connection, having them look at each other in disbelief as George calls Bert and Ernie by name.
Antecedents
Film historian and reviewer James Berardinelli elaborated on the parallels between this film and the classic Dickens tale A Christmas Carol. In both stories, a man revisits his life and potential death (or non-existence) with the help of supernatural agents, culminating in a joyous epiphany and a renewed view of his life.
Spin-offs
The film was remade as the 1977 television movie It Happened One Christmas. Lionel Chetwynd based the screenplay on the original Van Doren Stern short story and the 1946 screenplay. This remake employed gender-reversal, with Marlo Thomas as the protagonist Mary Bailey, Wayne Rogers as George Hatch, and Cloris Leachman as the angel Clara Oddbody. Leachman received her second Emmy nomination for this role. In a significant departure from his earlier roles, Orson Welles was cast as Mr. Potter. Following initial positive reviews, the made-for-television film was rebroadcast twice in 1978 and 1979, but has not been shown since on national re-broadcasts, nor issued in home media.In 1990, another made-for-television movie called Clarence starred Robert Carradine in a new tale of the helpful angel.
See also
References
;Notes ;Citations ;Bibliography
External links
Category:1946 films Category:Angel films Category:Christmas films Category:Films directed by Frank Capra Category:Films whose director won the Best Director Golden Globe Category:RKO Pictures films Category:United States National Film Registry films Category:English-language films Category:1940s romantic comedy films Category:American romantic drama films Category:1940s drama films Category:Black-and-white films Category:Films about wish-fulfillment Category:Films based on short fiction Category:American drama films Category:American fantasy films Category:Films set in New York
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