Frank Capra: The American Dream Personified

On this episode of Our American Stories, few filmmakers embody the American dream as vividly as Frank Capra. Born in Sicily in 1897, he carried the memory of arriving at New York Harbor—and his father pointing to the Statue of Liberty—through World War I and into Hollywood’s golden age. In films like It’s a Wonderful Life, Capra celebrated resilience, community, and the strength of ordinary people. Our own Lee Habeeb, along with recordings of Capra himself, shares the story of the immigrant boy who rose to direct some of Hollywood’s greatest films.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American
people coming to you from the city where the West begins,
Fort Worth, Texas. Our next story is called mister Capper's
Wonderful Life. It's a story for the ages, the man

(00:30):
who brought iconic classics to the big screen, including his
three Academy Award winners. It happened one night mister Deeds
goes to town and you can't take it with you.
As a life story, that's as remarkable as any movie
he'd ever made, including Mister Smith Goes to Washington and
his nineteen forty six classic It's a Wonderful Life. I

(00:53):
wish I had a million dollars. Frank Capra's origin story
is itself the classic American story and a classic love
story too, not just his love of people and the
medium he would come to master film, but his love
of America, his love of the country that adopted him.

(01:17):
He Capper so loved his country that he served, at
the height of his career, directly under Chief of Staff
General George Marshall, the most senior officer commanding the US Army,
to help bring to life a seven episode documentary series
called Why We Fight during World War II. The films
were commissioned by our government to boost the morale of

(01:39):
Americans in the fight overseas and millions of Americans at home.
One film in the series, Prelude to War, won the
nineteen forty two Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. By
nineteen forty five, the year Capper was discharged as a colonel,
fifty four million Americans had seen the films or His

(02:00):
service to his country was awarded the Legion of Merit
and Distinguished Service Medals. Francesco Rosario Capra's love affair with
America began not too many years after he was born
in eighteen ninety seven in Palermo, Sicily. Capra was named
after his grandfather, who built and designed churches for a living.

(02:24):
The youngest of seven children, his parents, Roman Catholics, both
immigrated to the United States in nineteen oh three, ending
up in Los Angeles. Like millions of immigrants before and after,
the Campers didn't come here to change America. They came
to have America change them and change the Capras' lives

(02:45):
for the better. America did. How much did Caper love
his country. In nineteen eighty two, while being honored in
Los Angeles by the American Film Institute with their Lifetime
Achievement Award, Capra seized the opportunity to thank the American
people and America itself for the opportunities and freedom his

(03:05):
adopted country afforded him. In a speech in front of
the titans of the movie industry, Campra started by thanking
the many people who guided him along the way, great writers, actors,
and executives alike. He then explained this secret to his
success as a storyteller.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
The art of Frank Camperor is very, very simple. It's
the love of people. And add two simple ideals to
this love of people, the freedom of each individual and
the equal importance of each individual, and you have the

(03:45):
principle upon which I've based all my films.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
This was not mere sentiment Campra was expressing, and he
knew more than most how to summon sentiment in his storytelling.
Hope you want a shock. I think you're a great guy.
Those words sprang from a deeper well from his Catholic
worldview and the ideals and governing principles of the country
he loved. But Capra wasn't finished, saving the best part

(04:14):
of his speech and the most personal part of his
speech for the last. It started humbly, in evocatively.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
An occasion like this and we all get together to
pay homage to our craft. It forces me to think,
how in the hell did I get up here? Well,
nearly seventy nine years ago, I celebrated my sixth birthday

(04:44):
in the black dark hole about creaking ship, crammed with wretching, praying,
terrorized immigrants, thirteen days of misery. And then the ship
stopped and my father grabbed me and carried me up
the steep iron stairs to the deck, and then he shouted, Chico,

(05:04):
look at that. At first, all I saw was a
deck full of people on their knees, crying and rejoicing.
My father cried, that's the greatest light since the Star
of Bethlehem. I looked up and there was the statue
of a great lady taller than the church steeple, holding

(05:29):
a lamp over the land we were about to enter.
And my father said, it's the light of freedom, Chico,
remember that freedom.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
The audience was mesmerized as Kaepra recounted this pivotal moment
in the life of his family in vivid detail, putting
the audience on that ship as only a master's storyteller
can do. Kaeper continued with stories like Bob Hope and
Betty Davis on the edge of their seats and the
edge of tears. Caper closed things out, looking up to

(06:05):
the heavens to address his deceased family members. And this
time it was Capper himself who was on the edge
of tears.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
So finally there is something I must say to some
other members of my family, and I believe that they
will hear me. Mama, Papa, big brother, Bed, Josephine, Tony,

(06:34):
the little sister Anne. Remember the day we arrived at
the Southern Pacific Station here in Los Angeles, and Papa
and Mama kissed the ground. Look, the American Film Institute
has given me it's Life Achieved Award, and for that

(06:58):
I am thanking them and all my friends will have
come here but for America, just for living here. I
kissed the ground, Thank you very much.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
Camper's words were preceded by then President Ronald Reagan's words
the Young Color Settlement at Frank's Tayable.

Speaker 3 (07:29):
One of Frank's Dere's friends, Bob hope, Lady, and Jonathan,
thank you very much. I wouldn't have missed this affair
for our man Frank. And there's another friend of yours
that's in a telegram and they've asked me to read it. So,
dear Frank, you have recognized and helped us to recognize
all that is so wonderful about the American character. Ronald Reagan.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Camper's films also helped us recognize the character of Jesus.
Here are words that Caepra told to an interviewer in
nineteen sixty Movies should be a positive expression that there
is hope, love, mercy, justice, and charity. A filmmaker has
the unrestricted privilege of haranguing an audience for two hours,

(08:17):
stretches the chance to influence public thinking for good or
for evil. It is therefore his responsibility to emphasize the
positive qualities of humanity by showing the triumph of the
individual over adversities. Caepra died peacefully in his sleep at
his home in Laquinta, California, in nineteen ninety one, at

(08:41):
the age of ninety four, in the country he loved,
surrounded by the people he loved and the God he
loved to. They say that art mirror's life, but sometimes
life mirror's art. That at least was Caeper's hope. The
headline to his New York Times obituary said it best.

(09:02):
Frank Capra, whose films helped America keep faith in herself,
is dead at ninety four. The Story of the Wonderful
life of Frank Capra, an immigrant story and love story
for the ages. Here on our American Stories.