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Zuzu’s “Wonderful Life”: The Story of the Child Actress Who Starred in Frank Capra's," It's A Wonderful Life"

Our American Stories / Lee Habeeb
The Truth Network Radio
December 13, 2024 3:00 am

Zuzu’s “Wonderful Life”: The Story of the Child Actress Who Starred in Frank Capra's," It's A Wonderful Life"

Our American Stories / Lee Habeeb

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December 13, 2024 3:00 am

On this episode of Our American Stories, our next storyteller has the privilege of being in one of the most beloved movies of all time (It's a Wonderful Life)—while, at the same time, and from the same movie—also has one of the most famous lines in movie history. Her story is as wonderful as both of these accomplishments.

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To search for the Our American Stories podcast, go to the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Our next storyteller has the privilege of being in one of the most beloved movies of all time, while at the same time and from the same movie also has one of the most famous lines in movie history. Her story is as wonderful as both of these accomplishments.

Let's take a listen. My name is Carolyn Grimes and I was a child actress and I lived in Hollywood and my mother was a stage mom. She felt like I should be in the movies. So I was an only child and she truly put all her energies to that end and I had all kinds of lessons, dancing, singing, elucution, dialogue. I mean everything was given to me and I had the opportunity. I'll never forget when I did dialect, I practiced so hard, give me please a piece of chocolate.

It was so fun. I mean I really had a good time growing up and that was hard work to do all that. I played the violin at five, I played the piano at three, so all I did was practice pretty much most of my free time.

Practice something. But this was in 1940s so back in the day Hollywood was pretty much all people in the industry. That was the main way people made a living was working in the industry in some form. So it wasn't any big deal. Everybody, all the kids were involved in that so I never really realized it was special or that I was special. So my mom took me to see an agent and the agent liked me. Her name was Lola Moore and she had the biggest stable of kids in Hollywood and she sent me on an interview and I got a part. So I was in.

That was the end of that. I started when I was four years old. I was in a movie called That Night With You.

That was my first. But I did advertising, I did all kinds of things throughout the day. That's throughout that time in my life.

I advertised Buster Brown shoes and all kinds of things. So that's kind of how I got started and I really had a good time. By the time I did It's a Wonderful Life I was six and I'd already done four movies. So It's a Wonderful Life is the flagship for me.

That's the movie that everybody remembers and everyone wants to hear about. Back in the day we didn't have auditions. We had interviews and that was usually one-on-one with the casting director. So you went to the casting office and maybe there were five or six of us and you just waited your turn. Then you went in and talked to the casting people and boom boom boom that's it. So it wasn't like an audition and most of us I would say almost all of us were representing Lola Moore that one agent who had children all over LA that were in the movie business. So we just go there and my mother would take me to interviews and she took me to this interview and I sat there and we're just kind of talking with other kids and this mother accidentally spilled coffee on me on my dress because we wore dresses back then always you know and they were up to your butt. I mean they were so short. So I had a soil dress when I walked in there to talk to the casting director and lo and behold when I got in there Frank Catter was in there and so I had an interview with him and the casting director and you know I don't know what the mother thought she was going to do but I ended up I get it gave me something to talk about so I was chatty Kathy you know and when we were leaving this is when I found out I heard my mother talk to another mother and she said well you know she thought she spilled that coffee on purpose so you know it screwed me up when I went in to do my interview but that was how I got the part.

Eventually got all these parts. I played with Bing Crosby and I played with some of the greatest people of all time. I was in Rio Grande with John Wayne and that was a huge movie and I was on the set in Moab Utah as a little kid and I just that was my favorite of all the movies I ever did because I got to ride in covered wagons with Indians chasing me on horses you know I got I got to do all these fun things and it was just great and you know then Indians were brought in from the reservation and I was with Pat Wayne he was John Wayne's son and he had both Mike and Pat for the summer so they were there during the filming and they were actually in the film so Pat was my age and we played and had a really good time but we were told you can never go around the Native Americans don't go there well of course we went right there and we spied on them and it was just you know it was really an interesting time and I really had fun the Sons of the Pioneers were there and they'd serenade us and then I turned 10 while we were there and the Korean conflict broke out at that time and they confiscated a lot of the planes so it was a little difficult for them to get shipments of food and things like that flown in but John Wayne John Wayne happened to be able to get 300 worth of fireworks and my birthday was the 4th of July he had that all shipped in he had a big cake made we went out to the Colorado River Bluffs and it was happy birthday little miss Carolyn it was a great time and you've been listening to Carolyn Grimes share her story as a child actress and my goodness to be on an interview not an audition an interview and have Frank Capricombe in the room surreal when we come back more of Carolyn Grimes story and just her personality and her wit and her memory here on Our American Story Lee Habib here the host of Our American Stories every day on this show we're bringing inspiring stories from across this great country stories from our big cities and small towns but we truly can't do the show without you our stories are free to listen to but they're not free to make if you love what you hear go to our americanstories.com and click the donate button give a little give a lot go to our americanstories.com and give all right we're all set for the party I've trimmed the tree hung the mistletoe and paired all those weird shaped knives and forks with the appropriate cheeses and I plugged in the partition Bartesian it's a home cocktail maker that makes over 60 premium cocktails plus a whole lot of seasonal favorites too I just got it for 50 off so how about a Closmopolitan or a mistletoe margarita I'm thirsty watch I just pop in a capsule choose my strength and wow it's beginning to feel more seasonal in here already if your holiday party doesn't have a bartender then you become the bartender unless you've got a Bartesian because Bartesian crafts every cocktail perfectly in as little as 30 seconds and I just got it for $50 off tis the season to be jollier add some holiday flavor to every celebration with the sleek sophisticated home cocktail maker Bartesian get $50 off any cocktail 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where i needed it and when i needed it especially those really long walks i take each day with my wife my foot pain vanished and even my back and knee pain was eased now i can go through my day pain free go to powerstep.com slash oas and use code oas for 15 off your first order that's powerstep.com slash oas and use code oas for 15 off your first order congratulations to the university of miami miller school of medicine for the first ever malcolm glavwell tipping point designation at this year's unconventional awards by t-mobile for business the university used integrated iot devices and 5g solutions from t-mobile to enable multiple synchronized health monitors allowing for real-time remote data collection and analysis the initiative will shape patient care moving forward and for that t-mobile congratulates the university of miami miller school of medicine so many of us believe in something far beyond ourselves and now there is a special place for us fox faith on fox nation with exclusive original premium content that lifts us up sustains our spirit and fills us with hope exciting series like god family football martin scorsese presents the saints streaming november 17th at jesus crown of thorns streaming december 8th fox faith is only available by subscribing to fox nation so go to foxnation.com and sign up today so and we're back with our american stories and with carolyn grimes's story she was six years old when she starred as jimmy stewart's daughter zuzu in the 1946 christmas classic it's a wonderful life although as she told us before the break her favorite movie was rio grande released in 1950 starring alongside the great john wane here again is carolyn grimes i like doing the westerns because there were there was horses involved there was always excitement you know in albuquerque i got to ride on a stagecoach right at the top and the horses you know were pulling us and it was really great and gabby hayes was in that movie and he went to the director and complained and said it was very dangerous for me to do that he wouldn't even do it he had a stunt double do it so i was up there you're not tied in or anything you know you're not secure you're just there and the horses could lurch and you go you know who knows but that was a lot of fun and because the director didn't pay attention to gabby hayes so i got to do it but i enjoyed that so much and i made a really good friend on that set and that was lon cheney jr do you remember lon cheney jr he was the wolf man very scary dude well i liked him a lot because he was nice to me and he took time and talked to me i mean i was shocked because i thought he'd be real scary and he kind of was scary but i didn't care he was he was kind of i liked him because he told me i was ugly and i said well why am i ugly and he said because you have freckles and i agreed i had freckles i hated them damn things i hated freckles so yeah um i began to like him right away and i watched every scene that he did in fighting and things like that he did one fight scene with randolph scott the entire scene he's got a cigarette hanging out of his mouth he told me before he did the scene he said now carolyn he said i am i'm just going to tell you that i'm going to bleed and you're going to watch this and he said this is what i have a capsule this capsule i'm going to put it in my mouth and he said i'm going to hit my cheek in some way and break that capsule and then blood's going to come out of my mouth but i'm not hurt it's just fake isn't that great he took the time to tell me that and i thought that was really super i don't know i really um enjoyed doing that a lot and then i i loved um blue skies with bing crosby he was so great he he sent me my wardrobe that was in the movie for an after the movie present it back in the day the big star sent the members of the cast a gift as soon as the movie was over and he sent me my clothes from the film which i thought was pretty cool so i i just really enjoyed doing those kinds of things with these stars and they were so down to earth the ones that weren't down to earth us kids were told at the very beginning don't have anything to do with them and so we were warned and we didn't david nevin was one um there were quite a few that didn't like children and didn't want to be bothered so we didn't bother them that was just the rule and if you did bother them or you forgot your lines or you did all these things you wouldn't last long because you'd get there's a lot of people that would take would take your job from you a lot of kids so the other movie that i really had fun with was the bishop's wife it was nominated for an academy award and it didn't didn't win an academy award but it was a wonderful film i mean it's wonderful life was nominated for five academy awards and it didn't win anything and so it got special mention for the making of the snow that was it and that was ivory soap flakes that um frank capra actually mixed him together with fomite and made the solution himself he actually had a degree in chemical engineering and so he made that snow he created it and they still use that technique in some of the movies today it was pretty remarkable because before that the snow had been corn flakes sprayed with kind of a white concoction and um the problem was they crunched when you stepped on them and frank capra wanted silent snow so that's how they got the silent snow but if you'll notice um in it's a wonderful life when george is on the bridge and he jumps in to save clarence there's all this soap suds around in the water it's all over everywhere it goes all over their faces when george pulls him out it's all over when george pulls him out it's all over their faces so it's kind of a funny thing and and the the guy that's in the bridgekeeper house he comes out and he's got this flashlight now it's an ordinary flashlight just you know regular and he shines it down on them and it's like a beam from heaven you know it's a giant beam coming down you know you don't pay attention to things like that when you're watching the movie but i think it's a lot of fun to kind of think about things like that the movie was shot um in the hot hot summertime and it only took three months to shoot the film they started in april and they finished up the end of july and it was beastly hot really but the inside part of the bridge was done on a stage and they were able to keep that area fairly cool so they had a lot of crushed ice for snow that they used as well you know on the sides of the road and things like that on the roads and that was all shot inside a stage there was a location in on the studio ranch in Encino for all the outside scenes and the buildings and things like that but for the most part the whole thing was shot on a stage or in the back lot that's where the the water was was built in the back lot and so it was all right there but it was was really hot and we were wearing winter clothes and when there's a scene where jimmy stewart gets a real close-up as his eyes are big and you can see the sweat running off his face it's because he's hot he's he's really hot with this wool scratchy suit on and it's like 90 some degrees and that was extreme weather for la at the time so working with capra was a dream he was very particular he was meticulous he hand-picked everybody that was in that movie that was in that movie even the extras he hand-picked them there was a young woman who was a what do you call it in the wizard of oz she was one of the little people but she was just a young girl and she danced and ended up having a dance career as a teacher and so she was brought on the set for its wonderful life when they had the the scene where they're dancing at the high school gymnasium so she came and she taught all the kids how to do the charleston and her name was priscilla montgomery and well it is she's still with us but uh she had on a purple dress and so she and so she was the first person to jump in the pool so she got 50 extra tacked onto her check because she was the first one and the other kids that jumped in got 25 for jumping in and we've been listening to carolyn grimes share the stories of being on set as a child actress in the west places like albuquerque and some of our great national parks and also in the back lots of burbank and incino making it's a wonderful life and who would have known i i did not and could not have imagined that was all done in a back lot and my goodness to hear about frank capra and i've read so much about how he worked and my goodness every detail down to not only interviewing the children actors but hand-picking the extras and directors my goodness the good ones and the great ones the details matter more of carolyn grimes her stories about it's a wonderful life and so much more here on our american stories all right we're all set for the party i've trimmed the tree hung the mistletoe and paired all those weird shaped knives and forks with the appropriate cheeses and i plugged in the bartesian bartesian it's a home cocktail maker that makes over 60 premium cocktails plus a whole lot of seasonal favorites too i just got it for 50 off so how about a clausmopolitan or a mistletoe margarita i'm thirsty watch i just pop in a capsule choose my strength and wow it's beginning to feel more seasonal in here already if your holiday party doesn't have a bartender then you become the bartender unless you've got a bartesian because bartesian crafts every cocktail perfectly in as little as 30 seconds and i just got it for $50 off tis the season to be jollier add some holiday flavor to every celebration with the sleek sophisticated home cocktail maker bartesian get $50 off any cocktail maker at bartesian.com cocktail that's b-a-r-t-e-s-i-a-n dot com slash cocktail step into a world of unparalleled brightness and lifelike color with Vizio's Quantum Pro TV this premium QLED TV available in 65 and 75 inch sizes is designed for those who demand the best in picture quality breathtaking brightness brings every scene to life while wide viewing angle delivers the perfect picture from any seat in the room enjoy all your favorite apps built in so you can blast your top songs through the iHeartRadio app straight out of the box head to Walmart to find your Vizio Quantum Pro TV today hi this is Lee Habib here do you wake up every morning dreading that first step out of bed because of foot pain i know i used to living with plantar fasciitis felt like a constant battle then i tried power step the number one podiatrist recommended insoles clinically proven to relieve pain i was skeptical at first but from the moment i put them in my shoes and sneakers i felt the difference support and comfort exactly where i needed it and when i needed it especially those really long walks i take each day with my wife my foot pain vanished and even my back and knee pain was eased now i can go through my day pain-free go to powerstep.com slash oas and use code oas for 15% off your first order that's powerstep.com slash oas and use code oas for 15% off your first order congratulations to the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine for the first ever Malcolm Gladwell Tipping Point designation at this year's Unconventional Awards by T-Mobile for Business the university used integrated IoT devices and 5G solutions from T-Mobile to enable multiple synchronized health monitors allowing for real-time remote data collection and analysis the initiative will shape patient care moving forward and for that T-Mobile congratulates the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine so many of us believe in something far beyond ourselves and now there is a special place for us Fox Faith on Fox Nation with exclusive original premium content that lifts us up sustains our spirit and fills us with hope exciting series like God Family Football Martin Scorsese presents The Saints streaming November 17th and Jesus Crown of Thorns streaming December 8th Fox Faith is only available by subscribing to Fox Nation so go to foxnation.com and sign up today and we return to our American stories and Carolyn Grimes talking about It's a Wonderful Life the movie she starred in is Jimmy Stewart's daughter Zuzu she was discussing the dance competition at Bedford Falls High School and how the young actors were taught the Charleston from one of the girls who played one of the munchkins in the Wizard of Oz the actress turned dance instructor Priscilla Montgomery earned an extra fifty dollars for being the first to jump into the swimming pool during the dance scene but she quickly found out that that money was not easy money here again is Carolyn Grimes but she had this purple beaded dress on and when she jumped in she told me that the weight from these beads pulled her down under and she said it was all she could do to keep her head above water because it was so heavy and they had to help her get out because she couldn't get out on her own she couldn't pull herself out because the dress was so heavy beaded so it was an interesting story oh my goodness there are so many interesting stories so I enjoyed doing all these movies and I was taught that these people were normal ordinary folks these stars were not I mean they weren't stars I mean I didn't even know what a star was my mother father kept me in the dark about a lot of things like that so that I would act normal I guess so I just thought they were my friends I had no idea that these were stars so I really enjoyed it and then about the time I did um the bishop's wife with Cary Grant Loretta Young and David Niven my mother started getting sick and that's when um I realized that I my life was going to take a different path because she had early onset Alzheimer's and she started slipping and it took her five years but she died when I was 14 so during that time it was hard for my father to be with me on the set he was a manager of a Safeway store and he had to hire somebody to take me to an interview and then he'd have to hire somebody to be my guardian on the stage if I got a job and so he wasn't that interested in having me in the movies anyway and of course by that time I discovered boys and so I wasn't that greatly interested in acting either so when I was 14 my mom died and then a year later my dad was killed in a car accident so my life kind of changed at that point I was an orphan so the court took over because my father didn't leave a will so I had a mean aunt and uncle from Missouri it was my father's brother and his horrible mean wife they came out and they got me and they they took me back to a little town in Missouri I'd gone to LA high there were 900 kids in my class at LA high there were 800 people in the whole town so I had 36 other kids in my class in my high school but you know I thought I'd been sent to hell and I didn't think I would recover from that and I tried every way possible to think of how I could run away but I didn't have any money and I didn't have any way to get out and I didn't have any real anybody to you know help me with that so she commandeered all my mail so I couldn't ask for help for anybody from anybody in California and eventually she stopped all the communication from California so I couldn't talk to any of my friends or anything that I had grown up with over the years after about a year or two I was a year I realized that these people in that town my teachers the merchants my friends at school everyone really rallied around me and they knew this woman was the devil my aunt and they made me realize that there are loving and caring people in this world and that's when I decided that I never wanted to go back to Hollywood again because it's kind of dog-eat-dog and people take advantage of you and they use you and and I can see how this happened after I saw what real people were about and they had no reason they didn't want anything out of our relationship like they did in California that all they wanted was to give love and be friends and so I never went back to California after that of course I lost all contact my aunt had made me do that but I graduated in high school went to college and I became a medical technologist and and then I had kids and then I lost the husband to deer hunting and then I remarried and I was married to the second one for 25 years and he died of cancer and in that process I had two kids he had three and then we had two together so I raised seven kids and one of the children that we had together my son did take his own life when he was 18 and that was probably the worst experience that I will ever have in my life and it hangs over me like a cloud forever it's a horrible way to lose a child but I did okay and my husband was getting sick and there was somebody that knocked on my door in 1980 and they said have you ever have you are you that kid that zuzu kid that was in the movie it's a wonderful life and I said well yeah I was her and they said well can we have an interview and I thought okay so I went down to the basement and drug up all my memorabilia so I could show them all the movies and stuff and and so it happened again the following week and and it kept happening and I thought you know gee this is weird and so then I started getting fan mail fan mail and I thought holy cow what's going on here I don't understand this so I guess I better sit down and watch that film I had never seen the film it's a wonderful life until I was 40 years old I was raising kids I had seven kids to raise I lived in the kitchen the car and the laundry room that was my life so you know every once in a while at night I'd catch Johnny Carson but that was about it I didn't watch tv so I had not seen the film I have to tell you I did go to the premiere granted I saw it when I was 40 years old for the first time and you know why because I fell asleep at the opening so there you go I was six years old you know long night but I remember I remember going it I got to talk on the radio that was big stuff you know well after I saw it that made my life different that's for sure and it affected me just like it does everybody else you cry you laugh you feel good you feel sad but in the end it's a grateful experience that you have gone through and you've gotten a lot out of it so I realized what the movie was and about that time Jimmy Stewart had people coming to him and saying you know what happened to that little girl Zuzu and we've been listening to Carolyn Grimes tell her story my goodness what a turn it took when she was 14 first losing her mom and then at 15 her dad dying in a car accident with no will in came the adopted parents from Missouri small town and a really really really mean aunt but then she learned that this small town rallied around her that there were good people everywhere but that knock on the door comes and finally she's reconnected to that life her earlier life and to the film it's a wonderful life which she'd never seen she fell asleep at the premiere when we come back what happens next with Carolyn Grimes here on Our American Story all right we're all set for the party I've trimmed the tree hung the mistletoe and paired all those weird shaped knives and forks with the appropriate cheeses and I plugged in the partition partition it's a home cocktail maker that makes over 60 premium cocktails plus a whole lot of seasonal favorites too I just got it for 50 off so how about a cosmopolitan or a mistletoe margarita I'm thirsty watch I just pop in a capsule choose my strength and wow it's beginning to feel more seasonal in here already if your holiday party doesn't have a bartender then you become the bartender unless you've got a Bartesian because Bartesian crafts every cocktail perfectly in as little as 30 seconds and I just got it for fifty dollars off tis the season to be jollier add some holiday flavor to every celebration with the sleek sophisticated home cocktail maker Bartesian get fifty dollars off any cocktail maker at bartesian.com slash cocktail that's b-a-r-t-e-s-i-a-n dot com slash cocktail ready to unleash the power of 4k Vizio's 4k tv collection has you covered with sizes ranging from 43 inches all the way up to a jaw-dropping 86 inch screen experience stunning clarity like never before bringing your favorite shows and movies to life and with watch free plus built in you'll enjoy free live and on-demand tv right out of the box you can even stream your favorite songs with the iHeartRadio app ready to go on every Vizio 4k tv upgrade your entertainment head to Walmart to find your Vizio 4k tv today hi this is Lee Habib here do you wake up every morning dreading that first step out of bed because of foot pain I know I used to living with plantar fasciitis felt like a constant battle then I tried PowerStep the number one podiatrist recommended insoles clinically proven to relieve pain I was skeptical at first but from the moment I put them in my shoes and sneakers I felt the difference support and comfort exactly where I needed it and when I needed it especially those really long walks I take each day with my wife my foot pain vanished and even my back and knee pain was eased now I can go through my day pain free go to PowerStep.com slash OAS and use code OAS for 15% off your first order that's PowerStep.com slash OAS and use code OAS for 15% off your first order congratulations to Easterseals Southern California on their first place win for innovation in customer service at this year's unconventional awards by T-Mobile for business Easterseals has used T-Mobile 5G to create immersive VR development tools that aid people with autism in addressing transportation barriers these tools are shaping the way safe and personalized skill building is delivered and for that T-Mobile congratulates Easterseals Southern California for their unconventional thinking so many of us believe in something far beyond ourselves and now there is a special place for us Fox Faith on Fox Nation with exclusive original premium content that lifts us up sustains our spirit and fills us with hope exciting series like God Family Football Martin Scorsese presents The Saints streaming November 17th and Jesus Crown of Thorns streaming December 8th Fox Faith is only available by subscribing to Fox Nation so go to FoxNation.com and sign up today and we continue with our American stories in 1980 Carolyn Grimes was visited by a reporter asking if she played Jimmy Stewart's daughter in the 1946 Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life this was the first of many interactions with people wanting to know what happened to the six-year-old girl who played Zuzu Bailey so the 40-year-old Carolyn decided to sit down and watch It's a Wonderful Life for the very first time to see what all the fuss was about here again is Carolyn Grimes about that time Jimmy Stewart had people coming to him and saying you know what happened to that little girl Zuzu and he had one of his secretaries find me this all happened in 1980 it was like wow this is a different world and so that's when things started happening and I saw the movie I knew the messages in the movie were wonderful and I wanted to go out and help spread this positive messages that the film has to offer so I started doing a lot of speaking and just appearances locally because I was still raising kids but in 1993 the Target company got together and they decided to promote It's a Wonderful Life for their Christmas in their stores that year so they got the Bailey kids together that was the reunion of the Bailey kids and so we went all around on a tour they took us everywhere to all their Target stores and it was just a blast and I that's when I started meeting people you know they would go through the autograph line and they would share with you their stories and and they would share with you how that movie had affected their lives a lot of them had been on the bridge and that movie saved their lives and the messages from that film lived within their hearts and I realized then that this was something that I had to do so I loved being on the road and I've been on the road ever since travel everywhere and then I started a It's a Wonderful Life festival in Seneca Falls 20 years ago it's just the best experience you could ever have it's wonderful it's the second weekend in December and it's in Seneca Falls New York and it's all about It's a Wonderful Life it's great it's really wonderful there are so many people who come and inquire in Bedford Falls or Seneca Falls about the film so we started a museum in 2010 and it's a It's a Wonderful Life museum it's the only museum in the country that celebrates a black and white movie and it's a great little place to go in Seneca Falls and that's another reason to go to the festival is because this wonderful museum it's got a lot of great stuff in it and people come and they enjoy every bit of it and we have thousands and thousands that go through it and they love the film so much it's a great experience so I hope everyone can make it certainly at least one time in their life and of course I've I've gone through you know meeting a lot of the cast members from the film and as they check out saying goodbye and they get their wings so we're we're kind of a small number now we have Jimmy Hawkins who played little Tommy and Carol Coombs-Mueller who played Janie who played the piano. Jimmy was the kid who burped and I still with us and there was a twins that played the baby of Petey when he's in the height or the playpen she picks him up and that's Petey well the twins are still alive and also the baby that played Janie is still alive so and then there's another fella that's alive and he was in the beginning scene where the boys are sliding down the hill in the ice and we call him shovel boy and he he really just started becoming active with us at the festival and so he is there every year now then Virginia Patton Moss who played Harry Bailey's wife she is still with us yeah and she I think she's 99 but it's great so we have a lot of fun during the festival during the festival and I'm usually on the road from October through December to through Christmas and then I mean I'm gone every weekend someplace so it's wonderful I just have the best time I meet so many wonderful people it's just been the best thing that ever happened to my life and I'm thrilled and honored to be that little girl that played Zuzu I had a lot of fun filming with Jimmy Stewart and um I actually think that for me the my favorite part was the petal scene what happened to you I want a flower oh wait no no where do you think you're going want to give my flower a drink I'll give them give daddy the flower I'll give it a drink no right here look daddy paste it all right we'll paste this together of course I saw him put the petals in his pocket and Frank Capra did not change that you know they you don't shoot a scene just once you do it 20 times especially Capra because he had a huge amount of extra footage but um Capra left it that in there because he wanted wanted to show that I knew my daddy wasn't perfect but I loved him very much so that's why he left it in there and then um I started to whisper good as new no give the flower a drink now will you do something for me will you try to get some sleep I'm not sleeping I want my flower I know I know but you just go to sleep and then you can dream about it and it'll be a whole garden I have no clue why I started to whisper I want to give it a drink I want to give my flower a drink why I whispered I have no clue because he didn't tell me to do that but he liked that too so that was fun and then of course the scene where I'm coming down the stairs on Jimmy Stewart's back oh my gosh when I was on the stairs on his back Larry Sims who played Petey well he's behind us and he's lifting my rump so that I'm giving it you know so I'm not falling off his back and then when he comes down the stairs he's got Mary's hand in his left hand and he's got Tommy under his right arm and I'm hanging on his back literally his neck you know with my arms and my legs are wrapped around him like a little frog and it's just that was quite an experience and of course we didn't do that just once either we did it many times but I always prayed that I wouldn't fall off of him and he was very tall he was six feet four so he I was way up there in the air but it was great memories great memories most people ask me the question what was it like working with Jimmy Stewart and I loved working with Jimmy Stewart he was kind he was generous and after he found me in 1980 we became friends and we did a couple things together and it was really nice to have him in my life the other thing um I think was his gentleness he was very gentle with me and I appreciate that very much so when I said the line that everybody remembers and the movies remember before for for for sure I had no idea that that line would be come a piece of film history and it truly has it's everywhere and it's it's a a line that people will always remember forever and I'm blessed to be able to say that daddy teacher said every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings so I wish everyone would really watch the film every Christmas it's become a tradition in a lot of homes and I think that it gives a little bit of positive feelings and it gives a little bit of hope for all of us if we watch that movie every year at Christmas and an amen to that a terrific job on the production by Greg Hengler and a special thanks to Carolyn Grimes for her storytelling and by the way to go to or visit the it's a wonderful life festival you're going to go to Seneca Falls New York a beautiful part of this country it's every year in early December and go to wonderfullifemuseum.com to find out more about the museum and boy what Carolyn learned when Target took the Bailey's kids on the road he said together we learned the stories of so many people and the film saved lives and we hope we do the same here at Our American Stories which is tell positive stories for a good and beautiful country the story of Carolyn Grimes and it's a wonderful life here on Our American Stories not all holiday presents get delivered by sleigh a lot come from shopping online which means you may be exposing your personal information to cyber criminals when shopping or browsing during the 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Whisper: medium.en / 2024-12-13 04:27:24 / 2024-12-13 04:45:39 / 18

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