The movie, It's a Wonderful Life, is based on a short story, The Greatest Gift. The author could not interest a publisher in his work so he had the story printed on Christmas cards and sent to 200 friends. A Hollywood agent was among the recipients. He convinced RKO studio that it would make a great movie.
Even after its release as a movie in 1946 it was not an instant success. For years after its copyright expired in 1974, television stations broadcast it without charge.
In 1993 Republic Entertainment assumed control of the copyright and broadcast fees are once again in effect.
Starring in this Frank Capra Christmastime film are Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Ward Bond and Frank Faylen.
The World Encyclopedia of Christmas, McClelland & Stewart Ltd., 2000.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Charles Dickens describes a Victorian Christmas tree ~ the centrepiece of the seasons' decorations :
"I have been looking on ,this evening, at a merry company of children assembled round that pretty German toy, a Christmas Tree. The tree was planted in the middle of a great round table, and towered high above their heads. It was brilliantly lighted by a multitude of little tapers; and everywhere sparkled and glittered with bright objects. There were rosy-cheeked dolls, hiding behind the green leaves; and there were real watches (with movable hands, at least, and an endless capacity of being wound up) dangling from innumerable twigs;
"there were French-polished tables, chairs, bedsteads, wardrobes, eight-day clocks, and various other articles of domestic furniture (wonderfully made, in tin, at Wolverhampton), perched among the boughs, as if in preparation for some fairy housekeeping; there were jolly, broad-faced little men, much more agreeable in appearance than many real men -- and no wonder, for their heads took off, and showed them to be full of sugar-plums; there were fiddles and drums; there were tambourines, books, work-boxes, paint-boxes, sweetmeat-boxes, peep-show boxes, and all kinds of boxes;
"there were trinkets for the elder girls, far brighter than any grown-up gold and jewels; there were baskets and pincushions in all devices; there were guns, swords, and banners; there were witches standing in enchanted rings of pasteboard, to tell fortunes; there were teetotums, humming-tops, needle-cases, pen-wipers, smelling bottles, conversation-cards, bouquet-holders; real fruit, made artificially dazzling with goldleaf; imitation apples, pears, and walnuts, crammed with surprises; in short, as a pretty child, before me, delightedly whispered to another pretty child, her bosom friend, "There was everything, and more."
"This motley collection of odd objects, clustering on the tree like magic fruit. . ."
The Victorian Christmas Book, Antony & Peter Miall, J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1978.
"I have been looking on ,this evening, at a merry company of children assembled round that pretty German toy, a Christmas Tree. The tree was planted in the middle of a great round table, and towered high above their heads. It was brilliantly lighted by a multitude of little tapers; and everywhere sparkled and glittered with bright objects. There were rosy-cheeked dolls, hiding behind the green leaves; and there were real watches (with movable hands, at least, and an endless capacity of being wound up) dangling from innumerable twigs;
"there were French-polished tables, chairs, bedsteads, wardrobes, eight-day clocks, and various other articles of domestic furniture (wonderfully made, in tin, at Wolverhampton), perched among the boughs, as if in preparation for some fairy housekeeping; there were jolly, broad-faced little men, much more agreeable in appearance than many real men -- and no wonder, for their heads took off, and showed them to be full of sugar-plums; there were fiddles and drums; there were tambourines, books, work-boxes, paint-boxes, sweetmeat-boxes, peep-show boxes, and all kinds of boxes;
"there were trinkets for the elder girls, far brighter than any grown-up gold and jewels; there were baskets and pincushions in all devices; there were guns, swords, and banners; there were witches standing in enchanted rings of pasteboard, to tell fortunes; there were teetotums, humming-tops, needle-cases, pen-wipers, smelling bottles, conversation-cards, bouquet-holders; real fruit, made artificially dazzling with goldleaf; imitation apples, pears, and walnuts, crammed with surprises; in short, as a pretty child, before me, delightedly whispered to another pretty child, her bosom friend, "There was everything, and more."
"This motley collection of odd objects, clustering on the tree like magic fruit. . ."
The Victorian Christmas Book, Antony & Peter Miall, J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1978.
For larger image, dbl. click on picture of old post card.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Santa Claus Parade 2010 Cayuga
If you had told Cabernet five years ago that she would shivering in a Santa Claus parade in Canada, she might have covered her ears with her paws. Cabernet is a rescued dog from New Orleans' Katrina.
Cayuga Santa Claus Parade 2010 ~
Cayuga Santa Claus Parade 2010 ~(For larger image dbl. click on photo.) More parade photos on Lorna's Facebook.
Feel free to tag if identity known. Thanks.
Friday, December 3, 2010
"It is only with the heart that one can see right;
what is essential is invisible to the eye." *
We pass on to you today the above Daily Quote from
Johnathan Huie. www.dreamthisday.com sent to us by a friend.
* Antoine de Saint Exupery (1900 - 1944) French writer, aviator.
Saint Exupery vanished in a plane over the Mediterranean. For photos of bracelet discovered at the bottom of the sea in 1998 go to Wikepedia; search Antoine de Saint Exupery. Best known for his books The Little Prince and Wind, Sand and Stars.
http://www.wikipedia.org/
what is essential is invisible to the eye." *
We pass on to you today the above Daily Quote from
Johnathan Huie. www.dreamthisday.com sent to us by a friend.
* Antoine de Saint Exupery (1900 - 1944) French writer, aviator.
Saint Exupery vanished in a plane over the Mediterranean. For photos of bracelet discovered at the bottom of the sea in 1998 go to Wikepedia; search Antoine de Saint Exupery. Best known for his books The Little Prince and Wind, Sand and Stars.
http://www.wikipedia.org/
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Our thoughts and prayers are with Barbara and family, Michael, Ann and Sue in the loss of their husband, father, grandfather and brother, David Harvey Wase. Our sincere condolences to Dave's sister, Mary.
Condolences to the family may be expressed at http://www.cooperfuneralhome.ca/
"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity." ~ Guilda Radner, quotation on website Cooper Funeral Home, Jarvis, Ontario.
Photo: November Sunset on Lake Erie, Ontario ~ Lorna
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