A couple of weeks ago, we posted a story about the movie It’s a Wonderful Life and the fact the train station scenes were shot in Lamanda Park. Our east Pasadena connection aside, that old movie has a way of sticking with you and I’m going with at least one more It’s a Wonderful Life inspired post.
Certainly scenes were filmed here, but the movie was made in a time profoundly different than today.
The people who made the movie and the movie audience itself had lived through immense hardship. They understood, first-hand, the panic of a Great Depression. They had endured the long nightmare of World War II.
It is hard for us, in the comfort of 2025, to even imagine what life was like back then.
And that’s why I like this ad from a group of Pasadena banks. It gives us a small taste of the era. The bankers know their times and they know their customers. This ad strikes a tone that understands the people’s legitimate concerns, provides assurance (federally insured accounts up to $5,000!) and coattails on the movie’s optimism.
This ad is but a small hint of the times. Tom Brokaw’s famous work, The Greatest Generation, relates stories of ordinary people (and some famous types) as a sample of the era’s true heroes. The greatest of generations, he says, were such because they encountered immense challenges and “stayed true to their values of personal responsibility, duty, honor and faith.”
Maybe that’s why I like this movie so much. It’s a story of those fundamental values told through an ordinary life lived out in a small town. As the ad says, it’s a story of the “struggles and success of an honest God-fearing American…. even as you and I.” And, back to Brokaw, it’s the fundamental values that prevail. Even for you and I.
I can’t leave this topic without one more observation.
The first, is that the star of It’s a Wonderful Life, was just a year removed from military service. Jimmy Stewart was a kind of “Everyman” himself, building on his role in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. But, in between making that movie and It’s a Wonderful Life, this Everyman flew 20 bombing missions and lived through the immeasurable horror of war. In his final mission, Stewart’s plane was hit over Germany and barely made it back to base.
The war had shaken Jimmy Stewart “down to the molecular level.” And how could it not? On returning from war, Stewart wanted only comedies. Reportedly, he said, “I have to make a comedy. The world has seen too much trauma and horror and suffering.” Frank Capra had to convince Stewart to take on It’s a Wonderful Life.
And, today, we are glad he took the role.
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