George Bailey's Address to the Board of Directors

"Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you're talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community." (George Bailey)  

George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart in the movie It's a Wonderful Life, delivers a speech to Mr. Potter about his deceased father's Buildings and Loan business.  George admits that, while his father was not a good businessman, he had a heart for the downtrodden, something Potter lacks.  This speech is a microcosm for the whole movie.

Here is an excerpt from George Bailey's speech:

"Now hold on, Mr. Potter.  Just a minute now.  Now, you're right when you say my father was no businessman.  I know that.  Why he ever started this cheap penny-ante building and loan, I'll never know.  But neither you nor anybody else can say anything against his character because his whole life was -- Why, in the twenty five years since he and Uncle Billy started this thing, he never once thought of himself.  Isn't that right, Uncle Billy?  He didn't save enough money to send Harry to school, let alone me.  But he did help a few people get outta your slums, Mr. Potter.  And what's wrong with that?  Why -- here, you're all businessmen here.  Don't it make them better citizens?  Doesn't it make them better customers?

You said that they had to wait and save their money before they even thought of a decent home.  Wait?  Wait for what?  Until their children grow up and leave them?  Until they're so old and broken down that -- You know how long it takes a working man to save five thousand dollars?  Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you're talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community.  Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath?  Anyway, my father didn't think so.  People were human beings to him, but to you, a warped frustrated old man, they're cattle.  Well, in my book he died a much richer man than you'll ever be." (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechitsawonderfullifeboardaddress.html)

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechitsawonderfullifeboardaddress.html

It's a Wonderful Life Facts

1.  Sesame Street characters Bert & Ernie were not named after the police officers Bert and Ernie in "It's a Wonderful Life".

2.  The Charleston scene where Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed's characters dance was filmed in a Beverly Hills high school.  The gym floor really did open up to reveal a swimming pool.

3.  Usually painted snowflakes were used as snow for movies.  However they were too noisy.  For "It's a Wonderful Life" the crew used a combination of ice, gypsum plaster and formite-soap-water mixture.

4.  Jimmy Stewart's daughter, named Zuzu, brought home a flower from school, its petals falling off.  Zuzu's Petals became the name of a rock band, a character in the movie The Adventures of Ford Fairlane and a Far Side comic.

5.  In 1943, writer Philip Van Doren penned the story "The Greatest Gift" as a Christmas card to family and friends.  Frank Capra renamed the tale "It's a Wonderful Life".

6.  RKO bought the movie rights to "It's a Wonderful Life" for $10,000 in 1946.

7.  Little Rascal "Alfafa", Carl Dean Switzer, played the ill-fated dance partner of Donna Reed's character.

8.  The bridge scenes were actually filmed during a California heat wave.  As Jimmy Stewart contemplates jumping off the snow covered bridge, he is actually sweating.

9.  "It's a Wonderful Life" was actually a box office bomb, costing 3.7 million to make, but generating only 3.3 million in sales.  It wasn't until the movie was replayed on television in the 1970's that it developped a true following.

10.  Ginger Rogers, Olivia de Havilland and Jean Arthur all turned down the starring role of Mary Bailey because it was too "bland".

For more information visit http://www.families.com/blog/10-fun-facts-about-its-a-wonderful-life.

www.musicboxtheatre.com