What You Probably Didn't Know About It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Hey everyone and welcome to What You Probably Didn't Know About. And this time this segment gets into the holiday spirit by telling you things you probably didn't know about the all time Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life. As always despite the numbering these facts are in no specific order.






1. For the window breaking scene the director Frank Capra hired a marksman to shoot at it on cue. To everyone's amazement Donna Reed broke the window by herself. What helped her have a strong throwing arm was playing basketball in high school.






2. Frank Capra has often said this was his favorite of all his films.






3. The bridge scene were Clarence saves George was filmed on a back lot on a day where the temperature was 90 degrees fahrenheit. This is why James Stewart can be seen sweating in a few scenes.






4. That gym floor that opens up into a swimming pool is actually real. It's located at Beverly Hills High School in Los Angeles.






5. At the time the set of Bedford Falls was the longest set ever built for an American movie. It covered four acres of RKO's Encino Ranch. The set included 75 stores and buildings, a main street, a factory district, a large residential and slum area. Main street was also 300 yards long and to think it only took two months to build.






6. Frank Capra estimated that filming would be shot in 90 days. He was right and in doing so the cast and crew had a party to celebrate.





7. James Stewart was really nervous about the phone scene kiss. The reason being it was his first screen kiss since coming back to Hollywood after the war. Luckily under Frank Capra's watchful eye Stewart finished the scene with only one unrehearsed take, and it worked so well that part of the embrace was cut because it was too passionate to pass the censors.






8. 42 bells ring can be heard over the course of the film. If Clarence is right that means 42 angels got their wings.






9. Despite the film being set around Christmas, it was actually filmed during a heat wave. It once got so hot that Frank Capra gave everyone a day off to recover.






10. It's a Wonderful Life had a budget of $3.7 million that means around that time it was the most expensive independent production. In it's initial box office run it only gained $3.3 million thus making it a box office flop when it first came out.






11. When Uncle Billy drunkenly leaves the Bailey house, it sounds like he stumbled onto trash cans on the sidewalk. The reason being a crew member dropped a large tray of props right after Thomas Mitchell went off screen. During this James Stewart began to laugh and Mitchell said "I'm alright, I'm okay!" Frank Capra decided to use it in the final cut then he gave the stagehand a $10 bonus for "improving the sound."






12. Actor and producer Sheldon Leonard said in an interview that he only agreed to play Nick the Bartender so he would have money to buy baseball tickets.






13. Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star plays in most of Clarence's scenes. If you pay attention closely it plays five times overall.






14. In Gower's drugstore there a several examples of product placement. Coca-Cola, Paterson Tobacco Pipes, La Uncia Cigars, Camel Cigarettes, Lucky Strike Cigarettes, Chesterfield Cigarettes, Sweet Caporal Cigarettes, Vaseline Hair Tonic, Penetro Cough Syrup, Pepto-Bismol, Bayer Aspirin, and The Saturday Evening Post.






15. Two of the writers called the finished film "horrid" and refused to see it when it was released. Only one of Clifford Odets' ideas made it into the movie and that was George stopping Mr. Gower from dispensing poison instead of medication.






16. Films back in those days would use cornflakes painted white for a falling snow effect. Because of the loud sound they produced dialogue would have to be dubbed later on in production. Frank Capra wanted to record the sound live, so a new snow effect was made using foamite, soap, and water. This mixture was then pumped out of a high pressured wind machine for it to create a silent snowing effect. 6,000 gallons of the new snow was used.





17. Lionel Barrymore convinced James Stewart to take the role of George, even though he felt like he wasn't up to it after World War II.






18. This was the first and last time that Frank Capra produced, financed, directed, and co-wrote one of his films.



So I hoped you enjoyed this edition of What You Probably Didn't Know About. As a special Christmas gift you'll get another one of these. Which Christmas classic will it be. Here's a hint "You'll shoot your eye out kid".

State of The Project (Nov 20th - Dec 11th)

Nov 20th - Justice League Easter Eggs

Nov 23rd - Coco Review

Nov 27th - Underrated Films - The Iron Giant Review

Nov 30th - Raiders of The Lost Media - Champions

Dec 4th - Cinematic Disasters - The Christmas Tree

Dec 7th - What You Probably Didn't Know About It's a Wonderful Life

Dec 11th - Scrooged Review

NOTE: IF ANYTHING CHANGES I WILL TELL YOU.