MERRY CHRISTMAS, GEORGE BAILEY! (TV)
Summary
This Christmas-themed special, filmed at the Pasadena Playhouse as a fundraiser for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, features a live recreation of the 1947 Lux Radio production of "It's A Wonderful Life," best known for its beloved 1946 film adaptation. Announcer Casey Kasem introduces narrator Sally Field, and a series of actors take the stage to perform the story, which begins in Heaven: veteran angel Joseph tells "angel second class" Clarence that he may earn his wings if he helps to rescue a human, George Bailey, from his suicidal despair. George, who damaged his own ear saving his younger brother Harry from drowning and later prevented his pharmacist boss, Mr. Gower, from accidentally poisoning a patient, has big dreams of attending college and traveling the world, disinterested in his father's business, Bailey Brothers' Building and Loan bank. He attends a dance with Harry and meets Mary Hatch, and the two spend a romantic evening together, making wishes on a dilapidated old house. George tells Mary about his high hopes for his life, but his plans are tragically delayed when his father suddenly dies of a stroke.
Harry attends college instead of George, and George later learns that competitor Mr. Potter is attempting to dissolve Bailey Brothers and take it over. George passionately argues against it, and the board votes to keep the company – but only if George takes over to run the business, meaning that his dreams of travel are now dashed. Sometime later, George reunites with Mary and, after some initial awkwardness, confesses his love for her. The two are married, but on their way to their honeymoon, they see their neighbors frantically trying to retrieve their cash from the bank, fearful of the country's financial decline. Desperate to keep them from turning to Potter instead, George uses his own savings to offer his friends enough ready cash to get by, and he and Mary later move into the rundown house. Two years later, Potter tries to entice George to work for him at a hefty salary, but George refuses on principle. He and Mary go on to have three children, and though George is exempted from service because of his bad ear, Harry becomes a celebrated war hero in World War II.
On Christmas Eve, George's absentminded Uncle Billy prepares to deposit $8,000 in Potter's Bank for the Bailey Brothers' company, but he misplaces the envelope. George panics, sure that his company is now ruined, and he lashes out at his wife and children, despondent about the turn his life has taken. He is forced to beg Potter for a loan, unaware that the money is right in Potter's desk drawer, and he soon heads off to drown his sorrows at a bar and ends up on a bridge, wondering if he is truly "worth more dead than alive," financially and otherwise. Clarence rushes in to help, though George ends up saving him from the freezing waters, and George is highly skeptical when the stranger announces that he is a guardian angel who has come to save him from himself. George declares that he wishes that he had never been born, and Clarence shows him a version of the world in which he does not, in fact, exist. He learns that Gower is now a "rummy," having served twenty years in prison for manslaughter, as George was not there to catch the poison, and Harry in fact drowned as a boy and never rescued his fellow soldiers in the war. When he finds that Mary does not recognize him and their children do not exist, George declares that he truly wishes to be alive again. Clarence returns him to his regular life, and an elated George rushes home to find that the townspeople, grateful for his longtime loyalty, have taken up a collection to replace the missing $8,000, thus saving his company. George is deeply grateful for their love, and a bell is soon heard ringing, implying that Clarence has finally received his wings. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:56:41
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:75122
- GENRE: Specials
- SUBJECT HEADING: Specials; Christmas; Fundraising
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV, 1997
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Jimmy Hawkins … Executive Producer
- Mare Fogle Mazur … Executive Producer
- James Arntz … Producer
- Mary Jo Slater … Producer
- Bettina Bennewitz … Line Producer
- Matthew Diamond … Director
- Dimitri Tiomkin … Music by
- Richard Kaufman … Conductor
- Sally Field … Narrator
- Casey Kasem … Announcer
- Dale Anderson … Instrumentalist, Percussion
- Mindy Ball … Instrumentalist, Harp
- Chuck Berghofer … Instrumentalist, Bass
- Bill Booth … Instrumentalist, Trombone
- Gary Foster … Instrumentalist, Woodwind
- Endre' Granat … Instrumentalist, Violin
- Jon Lewis … Instrumentalist, Trumpet
- John Lorge … Instrumentalist, French Horn
- Alan Steinberger … Instrumentalist, Piano/Synthesizer
- Mary Anne Steinberger … Instrumentalist, Cello
- Nyle Steiner … Instrumentalist, Electronic Valve Instrument
- Joe Mantegna … Cast, Joseph / Nick
- Nathan Lane … Cast, Clarence
- Robert Guillaume … Cast, Mr. Gower
- Ryan Slater … Cast, Young George Bailey
- Bill Pullman … Cast, George Bailey
- Martin Landau … Cast, Pa Bailey / Mr. Potter
- Christian Slater … Cast, Harry Bailey / Sam
- Penelope Ann Miller … Cast, Mary Hatch Bailey
- Bronson Pinchot … Cast, Mr. Carter / Charlie
- Jerry Van Dyke … Cast, Uncle Billy
- Carol Kane … Cast, Cousin Tilly / Mrs. Hatch
- Sally Field … Cast, Mrs. Bailey
- Craig Sheffer … Cast, Ernie / Ed / Bridgekeeper
- Armelia McQueen … Cast, Mrs. Thompson
- Dan Lauria … Cast, Bert
- Mae Whitman … Cast, Zuzu Bailey
- Myles Jeffrey … Cast, Tommy Bailey
- Tina Majorino … Cast, Janie Bailey