Can’t catch the Christmas spirit? Torn between Bah and Humbug? Had a near-death experience with a reindeer?
You can receive a Christmas booster shot this weekend in a trip less than three hours by car from Ogdensburg. The 78th anniversary celebration of the beloved Hollywood redemption classic, “It’s A Wonderful Life,’’ will overtake Seneca Falls, N.Y.
Sure, North County communities have Santa Claus visits and Wilmington has Santa’s Workshop at North Pole, N.Y., but Seneca Falls has dwarfed them all. The town of 6,600 residents expects 15,000 movie buffs to visit its museum, attend the parade or meet the actors who portrayed George and Mary Bailey’s children.
Seneca Falls, just south of the Thruway at Exit 41, bills itself as the model for Bedford Falls from the 1946 Christmas movie classic. Its celebration hosts three cast members who portrayed George Bailey’s children – Zuzu (Karolyn Grimes), Tommy (Jimmy Hawkins) and young Pete (Donald Collins) along with director Frank Capra’s granddaughter, Monica Capra Hodges, and Donna Reed’s daughter, Mary Owen.
As the popularity of the film has grown, so has the festival. The village offers a museum, screenings of the movie, autographs ($30) with cast members, gala at del Lago Resort & Casino, and a 5K run. Those are just a fraction of the 100 events listed at https://www.wonderfullifemuseum.com/2021-festival/
Seneca Falls asserts its Bedford Falls heritage based on a trip that Capra made through the village in late 1945 while he was writing the movie script. The movie’s dialogue references Elmira, Rochester and Buffalo, and the script originally included George Bailey’s kid brother, Harry, attending Cornell in Ithaca.
The similarities are striking. Seneca Falls is home to a steel truss bridge over the Seneca-Cayuga Canal; the movie bridge seems to be a copycat. Bailey Park compares with working-class housing known locally as Rumseyville, and Bedford Falls hosts a large community of Italian immigrants, same as Seneca Falls.
The bridge figures prominently in the film when George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) contemplates suicide. His uncle has misplaced an $8,000 deposit, and Stewart figures by jumping off the bridge, his family can collect on his insurance policy. As Old Man Potter has snarled, “You’re worth more dead than alive.’’
Seneca Falls residents point to an act of heroism in April 1917 as an inspiration for the scene. Antonio Varacalli was a 19-year-old laborer when he heard the screams of Ruth Dunham from the canal. He waded into the 10-foot depths and pulled her about 30 feet toward shore, where another man, attached to a rope, dragged her up the bank. Varacalli disappeared beneath the water. Four years after his drowning, a grateful community erected a plaque on the bridge.
The film evolved into a holiday classic after Republic pictures failed to renew its copyright in 1974, allowing video manufacturers and networks to show it without paying royalties. New generations of fans were immersed in the frequent screenings and the American Film Institute recognized it as the one of its top 100 movies.
Generations have cherished the references to “Zuzu’s petals’’ and her climactic line: “Look, Daddy. Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings.’’
Grimes, a 6-year-old when she portrayed Zuzu, appears at film festivals and movie screenings across the country to share her recollections of Stewart and Reed. This is her busiest month of the year. She’ll peddle her cookbook and illustrated children’s storybook, sign autographs and greet movie buffs.
“Well, I’ve never been on the bridge,’’ Grimes told Cinema Sugar in 2020, “but I’ve sure gone through a lot of stuff, and George Bailey went through a lot of stuff, through the emotional rollercoaster of life.’’
Grimes’ parents passed when she was a teenager and she lost two husbands. “Going through that, you have a choice: You can either grow or you can die on the vine. Which one do you want to choose to do? But I truly believe that It’s A Wonderful Life is a being that people can lock onto and use as a map or guidelight through life.’’
The village of 6,600 residents cashes in on the movie’s notoriety. Anwei and Henry Law operate the museum that was founded in 2010 with some personal items of Grimes. Plans call for the museum – filled with photographs and actor’s personal items – to expand by December 2026 with a larger display space and a theatre.
Anwei Law said people love sauntering through the Museum.
“It brings back lots of memories of family and a simpler time,’’ she said. “It also is like an oasis of hope for people.’’
“Everyone who comes in adds their own memories and special touches to the Museum.’’
My baseball roadtrip buddy, Lauren Frank, makes a point of visiting each year. She once ran the 5k, visited the museum and shopped, all on a Saturday. These days, she returns annually to have her holiday cards stamped with a special postmark. It’s available from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Dec. 14, at the State Street postal station.
Lauren still watches the movie two or three times a year, still thrives on its message.
“It demonstrates the interconnectedness of all of us,’’ she said. “One person’s life touches many other lives. All the good things George did for everyone else came back at the end to help him out of trouble. The true value of a person’s life lies in the actions they take and the relationships that they form.’’
George Bailey’s guardian angel, Clarence Odbody, got it right with his inscription inside a copy of Tom Sawyer.
“Remember, no man is a failure who has friends.”
Morristown native Jim Holleran is a retired teacher and sports editor from Rochester. Reach him at jimholleran29@gmail.com or view past columns under “Reflections of River Rat’’ at https://hollerangetsitwrite.com/blog/
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