Skip to main content

Jimmy

Today is Jimmy Stewart day on Turner Classic Movies--an entire day of his smooth voice, everyman face, and inspiring talent.

Remember the scene in "It's A Wonderful Life" when George has had more than he can take--just too many disappointments in life? He goes to Mr. Martini's, sits at the bar, and prays. He's not a praying man, he says, but he declares that he is at the end of his rope. "Show me the way, God." In the background is the din of a bar on Christmas eve--music, talking--going on around him despite his desperation.

Stewart was so in character in that scene that he became George Bailey--he was at a crisis point, he actually prayed to a God he doubted, and he cried unexpectedly. Frank Capra had intended for the scene to be shot at large, but when he went back to view the footage and saw Stewart's real and raw emotion, he cropped in as close as he could get to capture the man's expression and tears. That's why that one scene is not quite as crisp as the rest of the film.

How would we be different, I wonder, if we were all able to be as transparent.

Comments

Neponset River Bridge Dig said…
You said:
How would we be different, I wonder, if we were all able to be as transparent.

Could the real question be... How would others see us?
8:10 AM
Scout said…
Scary view. Maybe women tend to keep more secrets than men, I'm not sure. But sometimes secrets are good, and wearing it all on the sleeve isn't good for everybody.

Even George kept his dissapointment and disillusionment to himself sometimes, until it boiled to top.
8:27 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cindy Loo Who In October

What is it with people and Cindy Loo Who? Of my last one hundred blog hits, forty have been direct visits from regular readers, and fifteen have been as a result of people searching for "Cindy Loo Who," the little pixie from Seuss's How The Grinch Stole Christmas . A couple of years ago, I posted an image of the original Seuss illustration as compared to the TV cartoon image, and for some reason, that post is bringing in the crowds, relatively. Maybe it's the weather. It isn't even November yet, and already we've had frost and have had to dust off our winter coats. When it gets cold like this, I start to think about Christmasy things like listening to Nat King Cole and decorating the tree. It's ironic because I am offended when retailers start pushing holiday stuff early, but I don't mind my own private celebrations. When my sister and I were much younger and still living with our parents, we would pick a day in July, close the curtains to darken the ...
8 comments
Read more

The Ultimate Storyteller—in Life AND in Death

I wrote about The Autobiography of Mark Twain in yesterday's edition of Small Town Newspaper. You can read it here , if you want. This is the photograph I had in mind while I read Clemens' dictations. He really was a masterful storyteller, even when rambling on about the poorly designed door knobs in Florence or in describing the Countess Massiglia, who he described as a "pestiferous character." About her, he said, “She is excitable, malicious, malignant, vengeful, unforgiving, selfish, stingy, avaricious, coarse, vulgar, profane, obscene, a furious blusterer on the outside and at heart a coward.” And I laughed out loud.
2 comments
Read more