This is a little of the story behind the story that you will again see so frequently this Holiday.
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CHRISTMAS CLASSIC IS IN HIS BLOOD

Frank Capra Jr. couldn't be happier hosting screenings of his father's
"It's a Wonderful Life" for North Carolinians.

The Los Angeles Times
By Nancy Henderson Wurst
Special to The Times
December 21 2003

WILMINGTON, N.C. -- Despite the nagging onset of a cold, Frank Capra Jr. isn't about to give in to the sniffles and scratchy throat. At least not today.

In a couple of hours, the 69-year-old, second-generation filmmaker will retrieve his father's rare personal print of "It's a Wonderful Life" — all three bulky containers — from a temperature-controlled vault here and show the legendary 1946 Christmas classic for a near-cult following at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

Dressed in khakis, a white shirt and tennis shoes, Capra, president of EUE Screen Gems Studios, is down-to-earth and eager to talk about his father's all-time favorite film. In his office, a small clock draws attention to itself by clanging on the half-hour, eerily echoing one of the movie's most famous lines: "Every time you hear a bell ring it means some angel's just got his wings."

Capra was 12 when "Wonderful Life" made its debut. His mother, Lucille, tried hard to shield her children from the Hollywood glamour and glitz, so it came as a surprise when one hot July day his dad took him to see the fictitious town of Bedford Falls. "The whole town had all this fake snow," Capra recalls. "It was just magic. That was one of the first times I realized what my dad was doing."

James Stewart, one of young Capra's favorites in a household guest list of stars like Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and Gary Cooper, showed the young boy around, pointing out the Bailey Building & Loan, the Bedford Bank and other landmarks. "He was a really nice man," Capra says. "He was a great friend of my dad's; they remained friends throughout my father's life." (Frank Capra Sr. died in 1991.)

Ironically, Capra Jr. did not see "It's a Wonderful Life" at the theater that first year. He was far from alone. The movie, which marked a return to filmmaking for both Capra Sr. and Stewart after their military stints in World War II, was not a success at the box office despite good reviews and five Academy Award nominations. Today, though, the perennial holiday favorite starring Stewart as the awkward George Bailey and Donna Reed as his smitten wife is regarded as one of the most beloved American films.

The film found its audience when its copyright lapsed in 1973 and the television networks suddenly had free and unlimited access. (The rights are now owned by Republic Entertainment Inc., which made an exclusive deal with NBC to show the movie during the holidays.) The small screen was flooded with showings, a blessing in disguise for a movie many Americans had never even heard of. "You could hardly switch a channel without seeing it," Capra says. "People would watch it and write the stations and say, 'Oh, we want to see that movie again.' "

Capra Jr., who finally saw the film when he was in college, is now an aficionado of all things "Wonderful." "It's a sad picture in many ways. It's a dark picture. It really touches human emotions. And it's beautifully made. My father always felt like he was at the top of his creative game with this one."

Capra followed his father into the film world, crafting documentaries for Hughes Tool Co. (the parent company of Hughes Aircraft), then teaching combat motion picture photography in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. After his discharge, he worked in Los Angeles as a production assistant, then as second assistant director for several popular TV series, including "Gunsmoke," "The Rifleman" and "Hazel."

He then served as president of Avco Embassy Pictures for two years before going to work for Dino De Laurentiis, who in 1983 produced "Firestarter" starring Drew Barrymore. After shooting the entire film at an antebellum home south of here, De Laurentiis built a studio complex near the town's airport. In 1986, Capra came on board as president of EUE Screen Gems.

The facility, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, has been the home to such films as "28 Days," "Domestic Disturbance" and "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" and transformed this artsy coastal hamlet (population 90,000) into a thriving motion picture community. Capra also started a film studies program, now the university's fastest-growing department. Four years ago, he talked the chancellor into letting him show "It's a Wonderful Life" as a way to acquaint Wilmingtonians with the campus.

Each year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Capra hosts a packed viewing before fielding questions about the making of the film. The screening has become a community tradition. Earlier this month, hundreds gathered in the Warwick Center Ballroom, not an elaborate space by any means but acoustically sound, large enough for a crowd, and equipped with a 35-millimeter projection system.

Joining Capra were two UNCW film studies professors, Dave Monahan and Tim Palmer, a Stewart-Capra Sr. scholar. "It was one of the greatest director-actor relationships in Hollywood," Palmer said of the fabled working relationship.

Behind-the-scenes stories

During the hourlong discussion, Capra shared plenty of insider info: Stewart and Reed insisted on tackling the love-hate phone scene toward the end of production, after they'd had a chance to warm up to the film and each other; Lionel Barrymore's severe arthritis kept him from walking, hence the wheelchair; the movie began as a Christmas card. When its author failed to sell it as a magazine story, he sent it to his friends as a holiday greeting. Capra received a copy, his son told the audience, and "realized that this was the picture he was born to make."

In the panicked bank-withdrawal scene, the female customer who settled for $17.50 rather than the $20 the others asked for wasn't scripted to do so. "That's why Jimmy Stewart looked so surprised and felt compelled to reach up and kiss her," Capra said. "It made a great scene."

In an era of modern-day Griswolds and Grinches, where prime-time TV is peppered with expletives that would have made George Bailey blush, "It's a Wonderful Life" is still a family classic.

"It's such a life-reaffirming film that people want to see it again and again, even if they know the dialogue by heart," Capra says.

"In the end [George] is still stuck in Bedford Falls. He's still got Mr. Potter to contend with. He's still not gonna go out and build bridges and skyscrapers. But he has his family, and he has his friends. How can that not appeal to everyone?"

calendarlive.com: Christmas classic is in his blood
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