This is the real story of It's A Wonderful Life, a remake of She's A Sexual Wife. Because this story is so long and the length of it necessitates that it has chapters and therefore under the new rules is not allowed to compete in the Winter Contest, this is my unofficial Winter Contest entry.
Now that I finally heard my Dad's story, I understand that originally the movie She's A Sexual Wife that spawned It's A Wonderful Life was made for rich, older, white men who could afford to pay for such a stag movie during a world war when nothing was available to the masses. For fear of being bombed, cinemas with their bright neon lights and drive-ins with their huge screens and that held the interest of a crowd of people in one place and at one time were closed during the war. Before VCR's and DVD's, certainly, it was only the rich who could afford to pay to watch such a porn movie in the privacy of their homes. The average person couldn't afford a projector and a screen, not to mention all that popcorn.
"Indeed," so said my Dad, "It's A Wonderful Life is a remake of the original movie, She's A Sexual Wife, made so as to appease the strict censorship and to sell it to the puritanical American public."
I couldn't believe It's A Wonderful Life was made from a porn movie, She's A Sexual Wife. Hearing this information was like hearing that Captain Kangaroo was a pedophile or that Mr. Green Jeans was in a homosexual relationship with the Captain.
My Dad passed away a few years ago. He was 90-years-old. He lived a good life. It was on his deathbed that he told me the real story about It's A Wonderful Life and about Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed and about what happened when they originally made the movie, She's A Sexual Wife. I'd like to share it with you, if you have a mind to read it.
Finally, I had to listen to him. It was the right thing for a son to do. He was my Dad after all and he had a story to tell and it was my duty to listen, if nothing else, so that I could pass the story on to my children when it came the time.
He told me the story during his last dying breaths. He forced out the words of his story over a seven and a half hour period. Yeah, we had to use the paddles on him a few times, but he never skipped a beat. I mean, of course, his heart skipped a few beats, but Dad was strong until the very end. Every time we revived him, he continued right where he left off. He was a trooper.
Now, before I begin this story, I should tell you something about my Dad. He was from Missouri, the show me state, and much like President Harry Truman, who was from Missouri, too, my Dad didn't lie, which is why he went by the name of BOSTONREALITYWRITER. I recorded my Dad's words and have written them just as they appear on the tape. Normally I only write fiction about Boston, ergo my name BOSTONFICTIONWRITER, but this is his story, my Dad's story, the true story and the real story about It's A Wonderful Life.
"It was just after the war when Liberty Films allowed RCA Radio Pictures to distribute their film, It's A Wonderful Life, unbeknownst to most, a remake of She's A Sexual Wife. Times were tough and things were hard back then. No one had any money. There were no jobs. America had used whatever metal and resources they had to fight and win the war and the companies that made steel for tanks, planes, and ships would take some time to switch over to make cars. Besides," he said again, "there was no money. Whatever excess profits you made, the government took. Not many people today knew that back then, but the government took all your money to pay for their war."
Actually, I was shocked by this revelation. I never knew that our government stole people's money to pay for their war. Surely, they couldn't do that today. Could they? People aren't as patriotic as they were back then.
"It was called the Victory Tax of 1942 and the federal government took 90% of every excess profit earned during the war and 85% after the war," he said. "Even if you were making good money, it all went to Uncle Sam for the war effort and to save you and the country from the Germans and Japanese. The Hollywood studios, filmmakers, and movie stars with their big paychecks were easy targets for the Victory Tax. In order to avoid the tax, the studios stopped making movies and the cast, crew, and movie stars stopped working. It was the only time since the creation of the movies that there were no movies being made."
I couldn't imagine not being able to watch a movie. Movies are something that I take for granted. A day doesn't go buy that I don't watch a movie. I love movies. I'm a real movie buff. I didn't know what I'd do without my daily dose of movies.
"Don't kid yourself;" said Dad, "the government can still do that today should there be a World War III. Why do you think your mother and I never kept our money in a bank? Just as we don't trust our own government, we don't trust banks and bankers, especially after what we've been through, the hard times and the bad times of our own government stealing our hard earned money. The politicians we voted for have told us one too many lies."
He made me think of the money that I had in the bank. What would I do if suddenly a terror organization exploded a small nuclear bomb in the United States? Moreover, once we discovered that the government of another country not only supported the terror attack on the United States but also funded it, would we declare war on them? Would that be the beginning of World War III? Would my government take all my money to pay for their war, as they did in World War II with the Victory Tax?
"Even today," he said, "so many years after the war, I still don't understand Americans buy German and Japanese cars. It makes no sense to me. Americans buy so many Japanese cars, Hondas, Toyotas and Mazdas, that they have nearly bankrupted General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford. I don't understand the American people supporting the Japanese economy in deference to our economy."
"Americans buy the foreign cars, Dad, because they make a better vehicle."
