It's trite but true; Jimmy Stewart played the Everyman better than everyone.
asserted
Stewart → play → everyone
He had the gawky innocence to be an idealistic senator, in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"; an eccentric with a six-foot-tall rabbit pal in "Harvey"; and a depth, in "Rear Window" and "Vertigo," that even Alfred Hitchcock found mysterious.
asserted
Hitchcock → have → Window
But it was director Frank Capra who gave us the Jimmy Stewart that everyone still depends on every Christmas.
asserted
everyone → give → that
Audiences hadn't seen him on screen since 1941, the same year he took home the Academy Award for "The Philadelphia Story."
asserted
he → see → Story
But not long after, he found himself on another list:
.Stewart could have served safely stateside doing recruiting films and such.
uncertain
.Stewart → find → films
But he wanted, or at least felt, he needed to do more.
asserted
he → want → more
Already an accomplished pilot, Stewart enlisted in the Army Air Corps.
asserted
Stewart → enlist → Corps
"He knew that America needed good pilots; he was one," said Janie McKirgan, curator at the Jimmy Stewart Museum in his hometown of Indiana, Pennsylvania.
asserted
McKirgan → know → Indiana
McKirgan said few wanted to let Hollywood's golden boy actually fly: "It took a long time for him to find somebody in the Army Air Corps that was willing to take that risk," she said.
asserted
she → say → risk
"Because if Jimmy Stewart, Academy Award-winning Jimmy Stewart, got shot down, it would be a huge blow to troop morale, to America, to everything."
asserted
it → win → everything
His fight to be able to fight despite his celebrity is the subject of a new film out this week, called "Jimmy."
asserted
fight → fight → film
It stars Max Casella as director Frank Capra, and K.J. Apa as Jimmy Stewart.
asserted
It → star → Stewart
"We really set out to make the movie that Frank and Jimmy never got to make," Apa said.
asserted
Apa → set → that
Casella said he was only vaguely aware of Stewart's wartime service; Apa did not know about it: "I can't believe it was true," he said.
asserted
he → say → it
"It was the courage that made me dumbfounded of his story."
asserted
me → make → story
Casella said, "He gave up Hollywood at the very top of the mountain."
asserted
He → say → mountain
There'a a lot of what you'd want in the film: Old Hollywood, action-packed air battles.
asserted
you → there'a → film
Stewart flew 20 combat missions over Germany.
asserted
Stewart → fly → Germany
He lost men, and saw things he wished he didn't.
asserted
he → lose → things
But like most of that generation, he kept those horrors to himself.
asserted
he → keep → himself
"Dad never talked about his military service to us," said Kelly Stewart Harcourt, one of his twin daughters.
asserted
Harcourt → talk → daughters
Harcourt, an executive producer on the film, says her dad came home from war a different man: "He said, 'I'm an out-of-work actor and an out-of-work pilot, and I don't know what I'm gonna do.
asserted
I → say → what
Do I even want to make films again?'"
asserted
I → want → films
Her dad kept a diary, something she and her sister found in his nightstand after he passed away in 1997.
asserted
he → keep → 1997
She read from it, having never shared it publicly:
"This was a terrible day.
asserted
This → read → it
We lost 13 crews out of the group on the mission today.
asserted
We → lose → mission
Only half of them came back."
asserted
half → come → them
The next day, though, in the see-saw of war, everyone came home safely.
asserted
everyone → come → war
And yet, Stewart wrote this:
"It's strange that this could practically cancel out the loss of all those boys, but I guess that's the way things have to be in this god-damn, stupid, lousy, dirty war."
Harcourt says her dad suffered from nightmares, depression, anxiety – symptoms that would be diagnosed as PTSD today.
uncertain
that → write → PTSD
And that, in a way, is what gets us back to "It's a Wonderful Life."
asserted
It → get → us
"Dear Father in heaven, I'm not a praying man but, if You're up there and You can hear me, show me the way..."
asserted
You → pray → way
For years there had been quiet speculation that whatever demons Stewart may have brought home were exorcised in the role of George Bailey, a desperate man also pushed to the edge.
uncertain
brought → bring → edge
Harcourt believes he brought those feelings to the role of Bailey.
asserted
he → believe → Bailey
"You can't pull off that performance without feeling like that," she said.
asserted
she → pull → that
We'll never know, of course.
asserted
We → know → course
Stewart went on to do more than 50 films after "It's a Wonderful Life."
asserted
It → go → films
In 1983, Stewart was honored at the Kennedy Center, where cadets from the U.S. Air Force Academy brought him near tears.
asserted
cadets → honor → tears
Jimmy Stewart did indeed have a wonderful life, but his sacrifice, and those of others, gave us a pretty wonderful life, too.
asserted
sacrifice → have → life
Web extra: Filming Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed's "It's a Wonderful Life" kiss (Video)
Hollywood historian Sam Wasson, author of the biography "Frank Capra: A Life," talks with Lee Cowan about Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed's emotional performance in Capra's 1946 classic "It's a Wonderful Life," and how the director created a timeless classic – even if it wasn't the box office giant he'd hoped for.
asserted
he → film → classic
See also:
- ("Sunday Morning")
For more info:
- "Jimmy" opens in theaters Nov. 6
- Author Sam Wasson
- "Frank Capra: A Life" by Sam Wasson (HarperCollins), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
- The Jimmy Stewart Museum, Indiana, Pa.
asserted
Jimmy → see → Amazon
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