I desperately need to find ...
Question: I desperately need to find out the name of Clarence the Angel's book in It's a Wonderful Life — it's driving me crazy and no one can tell me.
I've heard that James Stewart wasn't the first choice to play George Bailey — is this true? I can't imagine anyone else in the role.
Is it true that the
Sesame Street Muppets Bert and Ernie are named after the policeman and cabdriver from
It's a Wonderful Life?
Answer: The It's a Wonderful Life (1946) questions always come thick and heavy at this time of year, and why not? It's a wonderful movie, and it's not nearly as sappy as you might think if you've only seen the snippets used ad nauseum in TV spots. Clarence's book is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain. Director Frank Capra chose the novel, which wasn't specified in Philip Van Doren Stern's original story, “The Greatest Gift.” When asked why he selected that particular title, he said, "I've always liked Mark Twain and thought I'd give him a plug.”
James Stewart inhabits the role of George Bailey so completely that it's almost impossible to imagine anyone else in the part, but It's a Wonderful Life was in development for a long time before it finally got made. It had gone through several iterations before Capra bought Van Doren Stern's story and the three screenplays that had been done, including one by two-fisted dramatist Clifford Odets. The Odets version was intended for Cary Grant and would have afforded him the dual role of good George Bailey and bad George Bailey, a conceit that Capra wisely abandoned.
The Bert and Ernie question has been a matter of hot debate for years. But the more-or-less definitive answer seems to have been given in 2000, when longtime Muppets head writer Jerry Juhl told the San Francisco Chronicle that, to the best of his knowledge, Ernie and Bert were not named for It's a Wonderful Life supporting characters. Juhl said, "I was not present at the naming, but I was always positive [the rumor] was incorrect. Despite his many talents, Jim [Henson] had no memory for details like this. He knew the movie, of course, but would not have remembered the cop and the cabdriver. I was not able to confirm this with Jim before he died, but shortly thereafter I spoke to Jon Stone, Sesame Street's first producer and head writer and a man largely responsible for the show's format. (Jon, sadly, is no longer with us, either.) He assured me that Ernie and Bert were named one day when he and Jim were studying the prototype puppets. They decided that one of them looked like an Ernie, and the other one looked like a Bert. The movie character names are purely coincidental."