1.
Bedford Falls (It's a Wonderful Life)
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Bedford Falls is the fictional town in which the American Christmas drama Its a Wonderful Life and Philip Van Doren Sterns 1943 short story The Greatest Gift are set. In 1945, Frank Capra visited Seneca Falls in the state of New York to look for inspiration for the town of Bedford Falls, the locations are both close to Buffalo, Rochester, and Elmira. In Seneca Falls there was a businessman named Norman J. Gould, who owned Gould Pumps. He drove his car license number NJG1. Norman Gould also had control over politics and economics of the area. The name Bedford Falls derives from both Seneca Falls and a hamlet in the Westchester County of New York called Bedford Hills, Genesee Street is the main road through Bedford Falls. At the north end is a courthouse with a street heading east down Bridge Street, down the center of the street there is a tree-lined parkway with 15 oak trees. The parkway is split off into three as two roads cut through Genesee Street, one is Jefferson Avenue which goes to the high school and Potters Field, and the other is Washington Avenue. At the south side of the town a road heads east to residential streets New England, another road goes southwest to the railway station. The Bailey Building and Loan is at the corner of Genesee Street, New England Street holds eight residential houses. One house belongs to Peter and Ma Bailey and is where George, Sycamore Avenue holds six properties, one of them was where Mary grew up. Another house down the street is 320 Sycamore, known as the Old Granville House and it was an abandoned house that became known to youngsters as the place to throw rocks at, and if you smashed a window you could make a wish. Both George and Mary threw rocks at the house after a school party. George wished for a future of traveling and becoming an architect, Mary wouldnt tell George her wish but later in the film she told him she had wished to marry him and live in the house. The wish actually came true when in 1932, on the night of George and Marys wedding, through the years they redecorated the house, raised four children there and lived the rest of their life in the house. Bridge Street is at the side of the town and connects to Genesee Street from the east next to the courthouse. Many other residents live up Bridge Street including the man who owns the tree George drives his car into when drunk and it is also the location of Giuseppe Martinis bar called Martinis, and behind the bar is the towns canal. The toll bridge on the outskirts of the town is the location where George thinks about committing suicide but is saved by Clarence Odbody
2.
Air Raid Precautions in the United Kingdom
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Air Raid Precautions was an organisation in the United Kingdom set up in 1937 dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air raids. It included the Raid Wardens Service that was to report on bombing incidents, every local council was responsible for organising ARP wardens, messengers, ambulance drivers, rescue parties and liaison with police and fire brigades. From 1 September 1939, ARP Wardens enforced the blackout, with increased enemy bombing during the Blitz, the ARP services were central in reporting and dealing with bombing incidents. They managed the air raid sirens and ensured people were directed to shelters, from 1941 the ARP officially changed its title to Civil Defence Service to reflect the wider range of roles it then encompassed. During the war almost 7,000 Civil Defence workers were killed, in all some 1.4 million men and women served as ARP wardens during World War Two. The Civil Defence Service was stood down after the end of the war in Europe on 2 May 1945, in 1924 the Committee of Imperial Defence set up a subcommittee to look at what measure could be taken to protect the civil population from aerial attack. The new committee, known as Air Raid Precautions was headed by the then Lord Privy Seal, for the next ten years this committee looked into issues of new aerial weapons development and the possible impact on civilians. The use of gas attacks in the First World War played heavy on the decisions, every single person would need a gas mask which meant nearly 40 million would be required. Together with ideas around the building of air raid shelters, evacuations of people, with the rise of Hitler during the 1930s, a further Home Office committee, the Air Raid Precautions Department was created. From 1 April 1935 it was this department that was direct the British response to air defence. In April 1937 the Air Raid Wardens Service was created which aimed to seek some 800,000 volunteers, on 1 January 1938, the Air Raid Precautions Act came into force. This compelled all local authorities to begin creating their own ARP services, with the threat of war imminent in 1939, the Home Office issued dozens of leaflets advising people on how to protect themselves from the inevitable air war to follow. And to call in other services as required, central headquarters that received information from wardens and messengers and managed the delivery of the relevant services needed to deal with each incident. Often Boy Scouts or Boys Brigade members aged between 14 and 18 as messengers or runners would take messages from wardens and carry them to either the sector post or the Control Centre. Bombing would sometimes cut telephone lines and messengers performed an important role is giving the ARP services a fuller picture of events, trained to give first response first aid to those injured in bombing incidents. Casualties from bombing were taken to First Aid Posts or hospital by volunteer drivers, there were also stretcher parties that carried the injured to posts. The rescue services were involved in getting the dead and injured out of bombed premises, specialists to deal with and clean up incidents involving chemical and gas weapons. Following the destruction caused by the bombing of the City of London in late December 1940, all buildings in certain areas had to have a 24-hour watch kept
3.
Mary Hatch
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Mary Hatch Bailey is a fictional character in Frank Capras 1946 film Its a Wonderful Life. She is the high school sweetheart and later wife of protagonist George Bailey, Mary is played by Donna Reed as an adult and Jean Gale as a child. She is loosely based on Mary Pratt, a character in Philip Van Doren Sterns The Greatest Gift, Mary Hatch is one of the most famous female characters in movie history. Mary Hatch is the sister of Marty Hatch, a friend of George. They become reacquainted as adults at a high school dance. They are interrupted by news that Georges father has suffered a stroke, Mary has been away at college, and worked for a time in New York before returning to Bedford Falls. George, despite knowing that his friend, Sam Wainwright, is courting Mary, George insists he that he has no intention of getting married, but realizes that he loves Mary. It is very clear that Georges mother is right that Mary loves him, George and Mary are married, but their planned honeymoon is interrupted by a run on the banks, which affects the Building and Loan. Potters newly acquired bank has called in its loan, and depositors are clamoring to withdraw their funds, potter, a stockholder in the Building and Loan, threatens to shut it down if it closes early. Mary offers the money saved for their honeymoon to keep the Building and that evening, Georges friends Bert the cop and the cab driver Ernie escort him to his new home, the Old Granville house, a derelict mansion Mary had wished for years before. Over time they work on repairing the house, during World War II George is exempt from the draft because of partial deafness, but serves as an Air-Raid Warden. Mary becomes a volunteer for the war effort, such as running the local branch of the USO, when Georges uncle misplaces an $8,000 deposit, George faces bankruptcy and a charge of embezzlement. Angry and depressed, George contemplates suicide and his guardian angel then shows George what life would have been like had he never been born. Among other changes in this existence, Mary is a spinster librarian. George returns home to find that Mary has rallied their friends, Donna Reed would later state that Its a Wonderful Life was the favorite film of her career. The Internet Movie Database, Mary Hatch Biography
4.
Frank Capra
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Frank Russell Capra was an Italian-American film director, producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Italy and raised in Los Angeles from the age of five, during World War II, Capra served in the U. S. Army Signal Corps and produced propaganda films, such as the Why We Fight series. After World War II, Capras career declined as his films such as Its a Wonderful Life. In succeeding decades, however, these films have been favorably reassessed, outside of directing, Capra was active in the film industry, engaging in various political and social issues. He served as President of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, worked alongside the Screenwriters Guild, Capra was born Francesco Rosario Capra in Bisacquino, Sicily, a village near Palermo. He was the youngest of seven children of Salvatore Capra, a grower. The name Capra, notes Capras biographer Joseph McBride, represents his familys closeness to the land, and means goat. For Capra, the journey, which took 13 days, remained in his mind for the rest of his life as one of his worst experiences, very few people have trunks or anything that takes up space. They have just what they can carry in their hands or in a bag, theres no ventilation, and it stinks like hell. Its the most degrading place you could ever be, Capra remembers the ships arrival in New York Harbor, where he saw a statue of a great lady, taller than a church steeple, holding a torch above the land we were about to enter. He recalls his fathers exclamation at the sight, Ciccio, look, thats the greatest light since the star of Bethlehem. The family settled in Los Angeless East Side which Capra described in his autobiography as an Italian ghetto, Capras father worked as a fruit picker and young Capra sold newspapers after school for 10 years, until he graduated from high school. Instead of working after graduating, as his parents wanted, he enrolled in college and he studied chemical engineering and graduated in the spring of 1918. Capra later wrote that his education had changed his whole viewpoint on life from the viewpoint of an alley rat to the viewpoint of a cultured person. Soon after graduating college, Capra was commissioned in the US Army as a second lieutenant, in the Army, he taught mathematics to artillerymen at Fort Point, San Francisco. His father died during the war in an accident, in the Army, Capra contracted Spanish flu and was medically discharged to return home to live with his mother. He became a naturalized U. S. citizen in 1920, living at home with his siblings and mother, Capra was the only family member with a college education, yet he was the only one who remained chronically unemployed. After recovering at home, Capra moved out and spent the few years living in flophouses in San Francisco and hopping freight trains
5.
It's a Wonderful Life
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The film is now among the most popular in American cinema and because of numerous television showings in the 1980s has become traditional viewing during the Christmas season. Clarence shows George all the lives he has touched and how different life in his community of Bedford Falls would be had he never been born. Despite initially performing poorly financially because of production costs and stiff competition at the time of its release. Theatrically, the films break-even point was $6.3 million, approximately twice the production cost, an appraisal in 2006 reported, Although it was not the complete box office failure that today everyone believes. Its a Wonderful Life is one of the most acclaimed films ever made, Capra revealed that the film was his personal favorite among those he directed, adding that he screened it for his family every Christmas season. On Christmas Eve 1945, in Bedford Falls, New York, prayers for him reach Heaven, where Clarence Odbody, Angel 2nd Class, is assigned to save George in order to earn his angel wings. To prepare, Clarence is shown flashbacks of Georges life, the first is in 1919, when 12-year-old George saves his younger brother Harry, who falls through the ice on a frozen pond, from drowning, George loses his hearing in one ear as a result. On Harrys graduation night in 1928, George talks to Mary Hatch and they are interrupted by news of his fathers death. George postpones his plans in order to sort out the family business, Bailey Brothers Building and Loan, a longtime competitor to Henry F. Potter, the local banker. Potter wishes to dissolve the Building and Loan to take over its business, George convinces the board of directors to vote against Potter. They agree, on condition that George runs the business, along with his absent-minded uncle Billy, on their way to their honeymoon, they witness a run on the bank and use their honeymoon savings to lend financial support at the Building and Loan until the bank reopens. Potter, frustrated at losing control of the market, attempts to lure George into becoming his assistant, George is momentarily tempted. During World War II, George is ineligible for service because of his bad ear, Harry becomes a Navy pilot and shoots down a kamikaze plane that would have bombed an amphibious transport, he is awarded the Medal of Honor. On Christmas Eve morning 1945, the town prepares a welcome for Harry. Uncle Billy goes to Potters bank to deposit $8,000 for the Building, upon seeing the money, Potter realizes the potential scandal could lead to the Building and Loans downfall. Potter hides the money, knowing its loss will cause severe problems for the Building. When Uncle Billy cannot find the money, he and George frantically search for it, when the bank examiner arrives to review their records, George berates his uncle for endangering the Building and Loan, goes home and takes out his frustration on his family. He apologizes to his wife and children, then leaves, George desperately appeals to Potter for a loan
6.
Guardian angel
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A guardian angel is an angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group, kingdom, or country. Belief in guardian angels can be traced throughout all antiquity, the concept of tutelary angels and their hierarchy was extensively developed in Christianity in the 5th century by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. The theology of angels and tutelary spirits has undergone many refinements since the 5th century, belief in both the East and the West is that guardian angels serve to protect whichever person God assigns them to, and present prayer to God on that persons behalf. The belief in guardian angels can be traced throughout all antiquity, pagans such as Menander and Plutarch, the guardian angel concept is present in the books of the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, and its development is well marked. These books described Gods angels as his ministers who carried out his behests, in this latter case, the prince of the kingdom of Persia contends with Gabriel. The same verse mentions Michael, one of the chief princes, in Rabbinic literature, the Rabbis expressed the notion that there are indeed guardian angels appointed by Adonai to watch over people. Lailah is an angel of the night in charge of conception, lailah serves as a guardian angel throughout a persons life and at death, leads the soul into the afterlife. According to Leo Trepp, in late Judaism, the belief developed that the people have a heavenly representative, every human being has a guardian angel. Previously the term Malakh, angel, simply meant messenger of God, modern rabbis clarify that people might indeed have guardian angels. In the New Testament the concept of guardian angel may be noted, other examples in the New Testament are the angel who succoured Christ in the garden, and the angel who delivered St. Peter from prison. In Acts 12, 12-15, after Peter had been escorted out of prison by an angel, he went to the home of Mary the mother of John, the servant girl, Rhoda, recognized his voice and ran back to tell the group that Peter was there. However, the replied, It must be his angel. Hebrews 1,14 says, Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them, in this view, the function of the guardian angel is to lead people to the Kingdom of Heaven. In the New Testament Epistle of Jude, Michael is described as an archangel, according to Saint Jerome, the concept of guardian angels is in the mind of the Church. He stated, how great the dignity of the soul, since one has from his birth an angel commissioned to guard it. The first Christian theologian to outline a specific scheme for guardian angels was Honorius of Autun in the 12th century and he said that every soul was assigned a guardian angel the moment it was put into a body. Scholastic theologians augmented and ordered the taxonomy of angelic guardians, in the 15th century, the Feast of the Guardian Angels was added to the official calendar of Catholic holidays. In his 2014 homily for the Feast of Holy Guardian Angels, October 2, Pope Francis told those gathered for daily Mass to be children who pay attention to their “traveling companion. ”“No one journeys alone and no one should think that they are alone
7.
American Film Institute
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The American Film Institute is an American film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the moving picture arts in America. AFI is supported by funding and public membership. The institute is composed of leaders from the film, entertainment, business, a board of trustees chaired by Sir Howard Stringer and a board of directors chaired by Robert A. Daly guide the organization, which is led by President and CEO Bob Gazzale. Prior leaders were founding director George Stevens, Jr. and Jean Picker Firstenberg. <ref>AFI Board of Trustees etc. American Film Institute. October 2014. Retrieved December 24,2014. </ref>Two years later, in 1967, AFI was established, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Motion Picture Association of America and the Ford Foundation. The institute established a program for filmmakers known then as the Center for Advanced Film Studies. The institute moved to its current eight-acre Hollywood campus in 1981, the film training program grew into the AFI Conservatory, an accredited graduate school. AFI educates audiences and recognizes excellence through its awards programs and 10 Top 10 Lists. In 1969, the established the AFI Conservatory for Advanced Film Studies at Greystone. The first class included filmmakers Terrence Malick, Caleb Deschanel and Paul Schrader, mirroring a professional production environment, Fellows collaborate to make more films than any other graduate level program. Admission to AFI Conservatory is highly selective, with a maximum of 140 graduates per year, in 2013, Emmy and Oscar-winning director, producer and screenwriter James L. Brooks joined AFI as Artistic Director of the AFI Conservatory where he provides leadership for the film program. Brooks artistic role at the AFI Conservatory has a legacy that includes Daniel Petrie, Jr. Robert Wise. Award-winning director Bob Mandel served as Dean of the AFI Conservatory for nine years, jan Schuette took over as Dean in 2014. AFI Conservatorys alumni have careers in film, television and on the web and they have been recognized with all of the major industry awards – Academy Award, Emmy Award, guild awards, and the Tony Award. The AFI Catalog, started in 1968, is a web-based filmographic database, early print copies of this catalog may also be found at your local library. Each year the AFI Awards honor the ten outstanding films and ten outstanding television programs, the awards are a non-competitive acknowledgement of excellence. The Awards are announced in December and a luncheon for award honorees takes place the following January. The juries consisted of over 1,500 artists, scholars, critics and historians, with movies selected based on the films popularity over time, historical significance, citizen Kane was voted the greatest American film twice. AFI operates two film festivals, AFI Fest in Los Angeles, and AFI Docs in Silver Spring, Maryland, AFI Fest is the American Film Institutes annual celebration of artistic excellence
8.
James Stewart
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James Maitland Stewart, also known as Jimmy Stewart, was an American actor and military officer who is among the most honored and popular stars in film history. A major Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player, Stewart was known for his distinctive drawl and down-to-earth persona, many of the films he starred in have become enduring classics. Stewart was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition for The Philadelphia Story, in 1999, Stewart was named the third greatest male screen legend of the Golden Age of Hollywood by the American Film Institute, behind Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant. The American Film Institute has also named five of Stewarts films to its list of the 100 best American films ever made. Stewart was born on May 20,1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, the son of Elizabeth Ruth Jackson and Alexander Maitland Stewart, Stewart was mainly of Scottish ancestry and was raised as a Presbyterian. He was descended from veterans of the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the eldest of three children, he was expected to continue his fathers business, which had been in the family for three generations. His mother was an excellent pianist but his father discouraged Stewarts request for lessons, when his father accepted a gift of an accordion from a guest, young Stewart quickly learned to play the instrument, which became a fixture offstage during his acting career. As the family grew, music continued to be an important part of family life, Stewart attended Mercersburg Academy prep school, graduating in 1928. He was active in a variety of activities and he played on the football and track teams, was art editor of the KARUX yearbook, and a member of the choir club, glee club, and John Marshall Literary Society. Over the following two summers, he took a job as an assistant with a professional magician and he made his first appearance onstage at Mercersburg, as Buquet in the play The Wolves. A shy child, Stewart spent much of his time in the basement working on model airplanes, mechanical drawing. However, he abandoned visions of being a pilot when his father insisted that instead of the United States Naval Academy he attend Princeton University, Stewart enrolled at Princeton in 1928 as a member of the class of 1932. His acting and accordion talents at Princeton led him to be invited to the University Players, the company had been organized in 1928 and would run until 1932, with Joshua Logan, Bretaigne Windust and Charles Leatherbee as directors. Stewart performed in bit parts in the Players productions in Cape Cod during the summer of 1932, the troupe had previously included Henry Fonda and Margaret Sullavan. Stewart and Fonda became close friends over the summer of 1932 when they shared an apartment with Joshua Logan, the New Yorker commented, Mr. James Stewarts chauffeur. Comes on for three minutes and walks off to a round of spontaneous applause, the play was a moderate success, but times were hard. Many Broadway theaters had been converted to houses and the Depression was reaching bottom. From 1932 through 1934, Stewart later recalled, Id only worked three months, every play I got into folded
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