“I’m a rich tourist today. How about driving me home in style” (It’s A Wonderful Life -movie quote)


What’s  your favorite holiday movie of all time?

Every Christmas season, I welcome the chance to watch once again the legendary actor Jimmy Stewart play the forward minded presence of George Bailey in the classic film “It’s a Wonderful Life”. For his portrayal of George’s turbulent life in the fictional town of Bedford Falls captures my strong nostalgic feeling about those formative Midwest roots of mine in the small town of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. You see George and I both dreamed of accomplishing titanic feats early on, fell into despair in early  adulthood facing seemingly unsurmountable career challenges, yet “rose out of the ashes” as we grew wiser to ultimately realize our self identity in a positive way. Thus fond memories of how much we valued our dreams of finding resilience at home seemed very important for both of us as life’s arduous path took its course in our life.

So with much surprise nearby by our motel location, Ruth and I discovered on our road trip to Seneca Falls, New York, the original town inspiration of Bedford Falls for Director Frank Capra’s script in 1946 for this legendary movie. In fact our short drive through downtown here  provided plentiful reminders of Bedford Fall’s depiction in the movie. There’s a Community Bank for instance in the center of town where I envisioned George busily spending so much of his time keeping his “Savings and Loan” Building open for customer use. Martini’s Bar’s close by this location also provided film reminders of a more decadent Bedford Falls that might have happened without George’ benevolent presence there. Of course I  could not also miss the original bridge site from the movie where a despondent George jumped off in suicidal fashion only to re-emerge with angel Clarence’s help with renewed faithfulness for his current life. But the crown jewel of this town with respect to the movie took place at the small “It’s a Wonderful Life Museum” containing a sizable collection of artifacts from the movie setup as well as some interesting biographical tidbits about each film character who took part then.

So immerse yourself below in that comforting feeling of how we can measure life’s challenges of our past with a freshness of liking in the following photo collection. For there’s always a place in our heart for returning home as George Bailey once did in this wonderful movie.