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Lots of people love this movie of course. But I’m convinced it’s for the wrong reasons. Because to me “It’s a Wonderful Life” is anything but a cheery holiday tale. Sitting in that dark public high school classroom, I shuddered as the projector whirred and George Bailey’s life unspooled.

Robert J. Anderson, a former child actor best known for playing the young George Bailey in the 1946 Christmas film classic "It's a Wonderful Life," has died. He was 75. Anderson was 12 when director Frank Capra cast him as Jimmy Stewart's youthful counterpart in the heartwarming tale set in Bedford Falls. As the adult George Bailey contemplates suicide, his life is told in flashback so his guardian angel Clarence can get to know him. Young George rescues his brother from drowning, dreams about being an explorer and saves the town pharmacist, Mr. Gower, from accidentally poisoning a customer. The...

"I'm not fit to be a Senator. I'm not fit to live. Expel me! Expel me! Not him. Every word that boy said is the truth! Every word about Taylor and me and graft and the rotten political corruption of our state. Every word of it is true. I'm not fit for office! I'm not fit for any place of honor or trust. Expel me!"—Claude Rains as the corrupt Sen. Joseph Paine in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" Chris Matthews has broken out a Jimmy Stewart/Mr. Smith Goes to Washington analogy to praise Scott McClellan's book and assess its impact....

When he returned home from World War II, Hollywood icon James Stewart was featured on the cover of Life magazine in front of the Indiana County courthouse. "In New York, Stewart refused a hero's welcome," the text read. "Instead, he drove to Indiana, Pa., 50 miles from Pittsburgh. There, in his parents' comfortable red-brick home overlooking the town, he slept late, played the piano and joked with his family about the old days." Just plain folks. That was the Jimmy Stewart legend. It also appears to have been much of the reality

While watching the new colorization of “It's a Wonderful Life" on DVD - this time they got it right; no longer do you get the feeling you're watching a black-and-white film through stained glass - I thought: you know who would love this? Why, that visionary American innovator Henry F. Potter. That's right, Mr. Potter - the unsung hero of “It's a Wonderful Life," the canny businessman who tried (and, alas, failed) to turn boring, repressed Bedford Falls - a town full of drunks, child beaters, vandals and racial and sexual harassers - into an exciting new destination nightspot called...

Lots of actors play war heroes on the screen. James Stewart was one in real life. A decorated World War II bomber pilot who returned from battle to star in "It's A Wonderful Life," Stewart will be commemorated on a new 41-cent postage stamp being released Friday. Stewart flew 20 bombing missions over Germany, including one over Berlin, after wrangling combat duty when commanders would have preferred to use a movie star for morale building work at home. As a squadron commander, Stewart flew many dangerous missions when he could have sent others instead, recalled Robbie Robinson, a sergeant who...

A technology center at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington will be named today in honor of actor Jimmy Stewart, according to an Air Force news release. -snip- The center will be dedicated as the Brig. Gen. James Stewart Theater in honor of the actor's service and his efforts "to promote Air Force heritage and morale programs to benefit future generations of Airmen," the release said.

It started back at 8pm. Right now is playing the scene where Clarence grants George's wish that he was never born. His mouth stopped bleeding. Clothes dry. "I cant fly! I dont have my wings!" "Wheres my car?" Pottersville? You mean Bedford Falls! Pottersville! You think I dont know where I live?"

Please view the link for my article regarding Clint Eastwood and military veterans in popular entertainment.

Please view link for my article: "Hollywood's Military Veterans"

"Jimmy Stewart, Bomber Pilot" by Starr Smith Sixty-some years ago, when President Franklin Roosevelt declared war on Germany and Japan, almost every American who was able became involved. Some left their children at home in the effort to make planes and ships in factories. Some left their families and traveled across the country and across the world. One left an Academy Award-winning career to do something that he felt he needed to do, and in "Jimmy Stewart, Bomber Pilot" by Starr Smith (c.2005, Zenith Press), you'll read about that man and his heroism. James Maitland Stewart was born on May...

Mr. Potter is WinningAll hail Pottersville! Above are two different articles that use the Jimmy Stewart/Donna Reed Holiday classic Its a Wonderful Life as a basis for attacking Republicans. This is a widespread meme, I've seen it in other places but couldn't find them online. Basically these articles suggest that mean old Mr. Potter was obviously a Republican because he worked to keep the people of Beford Falls poor and without the things they wanted. He was always out for himself and profits and paid no mind to the concerns of the little people. Personally I think it's disgusting that...

Once upon a time, there were people in Hollywood who loved America. And when America came under attack from enemies abroad, these actors, producers, screenwriters and directors put aside their partisan differences and created movies that -- unlike Michael Moore's new schlockumentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11" -- made all moviegoers proud to be Americans. During World War II, Tinseltown roused the country's fighting spirit instead of trying to stifle it. In February 1941, the entertainment industry convened an extraordinary Academy Awards ceremony. The president of the Motion Picture Association, independent movie mogul and World War I pilot and intelligence officer Walter Wanger, went...

Baseball legend Ted Williams, pictured here in 1953, was a fighter pilot in both the Korean War and World War II. (Photo courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum) GENERATIONSCelebrities in the Armed Forces? Not These DaysBY MICHELE M. MELENDEZ   More stories by Michele Melendez Actor Clark Gable joined the Army Air Corps in 1942 at age 41. (Photo courtesy of the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum)   Back when Clark Gable's Hollywood charm made girls swoon and Bob Feller's pitching prowess drove boys wild, celebrities became superheroes during wartime. Having the famous in the...