Important Life Lessons We Learn From ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ As The Christmas Classic Turns 75

2021 sees It’s a Wonderful Life, perhaps the greatest Christmas movie of all time, turn 75.

“It is a special year,” enthused Karolyn Grimes, who played Zuzu Bailey in director Frank Capra’s holiday classic. “I feel grateful for what I have gotten from this film. For 75 years, people have been watching this film, and it’s such a positive feeling, and I think it’s a gift to humanity that Frank Capra gave us.”

It’s a Wonderful Life tells the story of dissatisfied businessman George Bailey, played by James Stewart, who is visited by an Angel who shows him what life would be like if he’d never been born. Despite not being a box office hit when it was released in 1946, the film and its message have become iconic.

“To be celebrating 75 years of means something different to the other milestones,” explained Jimmy Hawkins, who played Tommy Bailey. “50 was a big one, but 25 years later, we’re still talking about it. It’s growing bigger and bigger. What about the other films from 1946 that won Academy Awards? How many offer anything like this. It’s a Wonderful Life is special, and it’s all down to the fact that people need its message. They’ve shared it with us time after time after time in all kinds of situations, even prisoners in Attica. It’s great to say, ‘75 years, and we’re still here.’ It’s the greatest gift.”

However, the 75th anniversary hasn’t allowed either of them to celebrate the film with fans the way they usually would.

“I travel year-round for It’s a Wonderful Life. I do conventions, I do gift shows, I do special screenings, and I missed it so much,” Grimes lamented. “The interaction with people who love this movie is like a positive feeling that surrounds you. We do a festival every year at Christmas, in Seneca Falls, New York. The feelings that go around, because the people that love the movie understand it and they’re special people.” 

“You feel this a massive amount of love, kindness, and it’s just so fulfilling because we’re all together there for one thing, and that’s to talk about this wonderful movie and to practice some of the things we learned from watching it. The movie is like a Bible when it comes to giving of yourself and the things that make life wonderful.”

On that note, I asked Grimes and Hawkins to come up with some life lessons they have learned and that It’s a Wonderful Life teaches us.

Happiness is where you find it

Karolyn Grimes: I think at the end of the movie, where George Bailey goes through all the emotions, he realizes how he really had contributed and helped other people. He also learns what is important in life. It’s not the dreams he had for himself, but his love for his family and his fellow man.  The lesson that we learn is that sometimes we need to follow our dreams, but if it doesn’t happen, good things can come from it. You have to look on the positive side of things and make it good your own way. You have that power to make it happen for you.

Jimmy Hawkins: George wanted to see the world. He wanted to build things and what he learned in this film was that he had it all. At the end of the movie, George realizes that what he has is his dream. Everything that he was going out there to search for was right there all along.

We are all important

Hawkins: The biggest thing for me is what Frank Capra was trying to say, and that was that we’re all important and we can all make a difference. You can create lists of lessons to learn in life from now to kingdom come, but that’s the message, and it’s so important. The story of It’s a Wonderful Life is about a man who gets to see what life would have been like if he had never been born. Frank read three scripts that had been written, and It’s a Wonderful Life wasn’t the title at that point, and bought the rights which included a kind of Christmas card with the original story. He never saw anything in the other three scripts that captured it as well as that card did. The idea of seeing how different things would be if you had never been born and had an impact on the world is so compelling. We all leave our mark.

The reward can outweigh the sacrifice

Hawkins: Something like that is very personal. When you watch the movie, you see what George went through to achieve the reward, and then you reflect on your own life. He was right for the way he did it, and the way you do it can be right for you. Sometimes, when you’re a giver, you don’t even know you’re doing it. You just give. George Bailey didn’t take for a second. When that guy jumped into the water, he was right there and didn’t think for a second, ‘Oh, I could drown myself.’ He just did it. That’s the way some people, but you either are that way, or you aren’t.

Grimes: The number one on my list was learning to give to others. From my personal experience, I had a son who committed suicide. He was 18 years old, and he had a whole life ahead of him. I was just so shaken and in grief that I just didn’t know which way to turn. I used to volunteer at a high school, and a priest there kept telling me to come back. I thought I couldn’t face the kids, but he kept insisting, so I went back, and I started donating my time again. I realized that giving of yourself is a healing thing. It helped to heal me. I started working in nursing homes, doing volunteer work, and I did a lot of singing in a few places, and it made me feel whole again. I’ll never get over my son’s suicide, but giving of myself to help others made a huge difference in my life.

Never underestimate the importance of integrity and good character 

Hawkins: You either have it, or you don’t. People are so greedy these days. It’s awful. For somebody to keep walking through life, just doing the right thing, not what’s right for them, or the other person, just what is the right thing to do. That’s a great gift to have in life. That’s the way I look at it, and that’s the way I look at this list.

Learn to forgive 

Grimes: I think forgiveness makes your life wonderful. You need to learn to forgive and not hold grudges. I think that’s very important. Always look for the positive in a not-so-good situation. I think that helps improve your life and you become a better person by doing that. If you dwell on the negative in your life, or that comes your way, it can’t go anywhere. If you build on the positive and try to turn it around, that makes for a wonderful life. Second chances are also so important. Always give someone a second chance. I think it’s crucial to do that to make your life as good as it can be.

Smile

Grimes: You can go to the grocery store and smile at somebody, and that might change their day right there and make them happy. Have a smile on your face. It’s so unfortunate but necessary that people are wearing masks right now because we can’t see your facial features but smiling at someone can make a big difference. I think there are so many ways we can positively touch each other’s lives with minimal effort. 

Hawkins: The whole theme of the movie is how one life touches so many others, and a lot of the time, we have no idea about it. It’s mind-boggling. What if Frank Capra had never been born? We wouldn’t be sitting here right now talking to each other about this. There’s no way we’d be doing this. Just because he was born, this is happening. What if Capra was taken out of the equation? Oh my God, that movie has touched so many lives, and I’m so grateful for it.

It’s a Wonderful Life is available in a 75th Anniversary Collectible Two-Disc Blu-ray from Tuesday, November 16, 2021.