"Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?" — Clark Griswold
___________________________
The holiday season brings with it the usual flood of lackluster Christmas movies presumably meant to distract us from the orgy of unrestrained consumerism. Then again, there is something about “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” that will always resonate for us former head-of-household types.
And there is that exceptional, odd Frank Capra film, "It's a Wonderful Life." Until I read Zachary D. Carter's excellent essay in The Huffington Post (2018), there were many things I didn't know about that film or the Sicilian immigrant who made it.
Hoping to revive a career that had been disrupted by the war, Capra produced the film in 1946, but when it was released just before Christmas it bombed, losing a half million dollars at the box office. Critics panned it and Capra lost the rights and control of the film’s negatives.
His personal fortunes then proceeded to nose-dive, accelerated by the anti-Communist furor of the early 1950s. (His crime — like that of many thoughtful people — was he had briefly flirted with Marxism when he was younger.)
His decline was such that he eventually reached a hopeless state and attempted suicide on a number of occasions. Rather like George Bailey.
Later, when he looked back on making the film that had helped ruin his career, he said: “I can’t begin to describe my sense of loneliness in making (it), a loneliness that was laced by the fear of failure. I had no one to talk to, or argue with.”
As an aside, that probably describes what these holidays are like for many people, but for now let’s return to Capra’s story.
The Wonderful Life negatives lay forgotten and unvisited for almost three decades, by which time the film, considered worthless, had slipped into the public domain and was free for the taking. In the mid-1970s, the Public Broadcasting System did just that, becoming the first to air it since 1946. The commercial networks soon followed.
With that, a not-so-instant classic was (re)born. It’s now every bit as much a part of the season as Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol.”
Happily, Capra lived long enough to see this all come to pass before he joined the angels himself at the robust age of 94 in 1991. He had always maintained that “Wonderful Life" was the greatest film he ever made.
The main actors in the piece — James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore — are long since dead, of course. But recently, two surviving members among the children cast in the movie confirmed that Capra indeed controlled every detail of the filming down to the slightest detail of their expressions and movements.
The main point of the film — that each life matters — is always worth revisiting at this time of year when for so many, life feels considerably less than wonderful.
Depression is a widespread mental condition. And suicidal thoughts are no stranger to one who is deeply depressed. But as in the story, there could be hidden value in holding on a little longer, perhaps helped along by an angel or two.
Of course the inequalities of wealth displayed in the film are worse today in the world than they were in the America of post-World-War-Two, and the only way out of thatmess would be a radical redistribution of wealth, a la Marxism perhaps, which certainly isn’t going to be happening around here anytime soon.
So for now this is roughly as wonderful a life as we can make of it, even if it doesn’t always feel that way. And in any event, it wouldn’t be what it is if we were no longer a part of it.
Wit that, bring on Christmas! And maybe listen for someone’s bell to ring out there somewhere.
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Meadows and the Band of Loyalists: How They Fought to Keep Trump in Power— A small circle of Republican lawmakers, working closely with President Donald J. Trump’s chief of staff, took on an outsize role in pressuring the Justice Department, amplifying conspiracy theories and flooding the courts in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election. (NYT)
Role as Trump’s gatekeeper puts Meadows in legal peril — and at odds with Trump — Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has veered between steps aimed at bolstering his former boss and actions that, intentionally or not, have undermined him. (WP)
How the January 6 committee finally exposed Trump's empire of lies (CNN)
Election reviews persist despite no evidence of rigged vote (AP)
Putin and Xi Show United Front Amid Rising Tensions With U.S. — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and President Xi Jinping of China, meeting in a video summit, sought mutual support in their conflicts with the West but have not yet declared a formal alliance. (NYT)
US imposes sanctions against China over abuse of Uyghurs (AP)
The Turkish lira plunged as much as 5.6% to a record low against the dollar after the central bank slashed its policy rate in line with an unorthodox economic program set out by President Tayyip Erdogan. (Reuters)
Water leaders in California, Arizona and Nevada signed an agreement to reduce intake from the Colorado River to stave off mandatory cuts. (AP)
The California State University system is set to drop the SAT or the ACT as an admission requirement, a major step by the college system to expand access to higher education amid criticism that the standardized tests are biased against low-income people and students of color. [HuffPost]
Colleges go back to drawing board — again — to fight COVID (AP)
Thousands of students across California meet the requirements for the state’s top public universities but are struggling to gain admittance. (LAT)
Colleges move exams online, urge boosters as coronavirus cases rise and omicron fears grow (WP)
US sports leagues cope with COVID-19 outbreaks amid variants (AP)
Universities canceled events, the National Football League reported a record number of cases, and long lines formed at New York City testing clinics as a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases and concern over the Omicron variant disrupted American life anew. (Reuters)
Vaccine skeptics in Eastern Europe having change of heart (AP)
California is exempting San Francisco from its new indoor masking mandate. (Cal Today)
A vaccine specifically targeting the coronavirus omicron variant is not needed so long as individuals are entirely caught up on their vaccines, including their booster shot, Dr. Anthony Fauci said, citing recent data. [HuffPost]
A new generation of flu vaccines may soon emerge, based on the same mRNA technology in Covid-19 vaccines. (Cal Today)
Afghan central bank moves to stabilise collapsing currency (Al-Jazeera)
A Refugee Crisis Runs Into a Housing Crisis — Thousands of Afghan refugees are being released from military bases to U.S. cities to rebuild their lives. Settling them into homes amid a rental shortage is proving to be a challenge. (NYT)
Afghanistan: What humanitarian aid is getting in? (BBC)
Afghanistan’s health care system on the brink of collapse (AP)
Reddit, known for its message boards that became the go-to destination for day traders during this year's meme stock frenzy, said it had confidentially filed for an initial public offering with U.S. securities regulators. Founded in 2005 by Steve Huffman and entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian, Reddit was valued at $10 billion in a private fundraising round earlier this year. (Reuters)
In a Texas Border Town, Armed Groups Arrive to Look for Migrants (WSJ)
A new executive order from President Biden is designed to streamline the process for things like contacting the IRS, enrolling in Social Security online and, yes, renewing your passport. (NPR)
Bird songs bump stars off Australian music chart (BBC)
U.S. Facing Santa Shortage (The Onion)
LYRICS
“The Older I Get”
Songwriters: Adam Wright / Hailey Whitters / Sarah Turner
The older I get
The more I think
You only get a minute, better live while you're in it
'Cause it's gone in a blink
And the older I get
The truer it is
It's the people you love, not the money and stuff
That makes you rich
And if they found a fountain of youth
I wouldn't drink a drop and that's the truth
Funny how it feels I'm just getting to my best years yet
The older I get
The fewer friends I have
But you don't need a lot when the ones that you got
Have always got your back
And the older I get
The better I am
At knowing when to give
And when to just not give a damn
And if they found a fountain of youth
I wouldn't drink a drop and that's the truth
Funny how it feels I'm just getting to my best years yet
The older I get
And I don't mind all the lines
From all the times I've laughed and cried
Souvenirs and little signs of the life I've lived
The older I get
The longer I pray
I don't know why, I guess that I've
Got more to say
And the older I get
The more thankful I feel
For the life I've had and all the life I'm living still
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