December 5, 2025 • 30 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Jimmy Hawkins began acting when television was still defining itself, moving from show to show with the ease of a child who learned the business early. Viewers eventually recognized him from programs that shaped mid-century entertainment, but one of his first roles connected him to a film that would outgrow its modest beginnings. In 1946, Hawkins played Tommy Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life, joining a production that made little noise on release and gained its reputation only after years of quiet rediscovery.
Jimmy Hawkins looks back on that experience and the work that surrounded it, offering a grounded view of how the film came together and how the film found its place in American culture.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories.
Jimmy Hawkins is best known for his starring TV roles
in shows like Annie Oakley, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,
Leave It to Beaver, and The Donna Reid Show. He
co starred as Elvis Presley's sidekick in two movies, Girl
Happy and Spinout. Most notably, he played Tommy Bailey, son
(00:33):
of George Bailey, in the nineteen forty six film classic
It's a Wonderful Life. Without further ado, here's Jimmy Hawkins
with the story of It's a Wonderful Life.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Heavy Cash Kids, Jenny, Jenny Camy.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
My name is Jim Hawkins, and I had the pleasure
playing Tommy Baby in the Frank Capri classic movie It's
a Wonderful Life. This was back in nineteen forty six,
and I remember my mom getting me up very early
in the morning to go to shoot the movie. But
let me start from where the actual story began.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I owe everything to George Bailey, help him deal Fott, Joseph,
Jesus and Mary, help my friend mister Bailey, help my
son George.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Tonight, he never thinks about himself.
Speaker 5 (01:38):
God, that's why he's in trouble.
Speaker 6 (01:40):
Change is a good guy.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Give him a break. God, I love him. Dear Lord,
what for him tonight? Please?
Speaker 7 (01:49):
God, something's the matter with Daddy?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Please bring day back. So one morning, a man by
the name of phili van Dornstern was shaving and a
story came to him. He was a very popular writer
at that time, and so he thought about this story.
He called it the Greatest Gift and was the story
(02:13):
about a man who gets to see what life would
have been like if he had never been born. So
he finished shaving and he went to his typewriter and
he finished the story, and he sent it out to
his different publishers. He knew that liked his work, and
they all rejected it, and he didn't understand. He thought
was really good. But he put it away for five years,
(02:35):
and he'd bump into friends of his along the line
and they say, hey, whatever, I happened that story about
the guy in the bridge, And he said, I know,
I like that too. So he took the story out
and changed a couple of things, and then sent it
around to all the publishers again, and they all rejected it.
He didn't understand why it was being rejected because he
(02:56):
thought it was very good. So he printed two hundred
Christmas cards with this story in it. It was about twelve
thirteen pages, and he sent it to his friends. One
person he sent it to was a Hollywood agent, and
she got back to him she said, I like your story.
I think it could make a movie. He didn't think
(03:16):
of it as a movie, but she did, and she
sold it to RKO Studios for a project for Carry Grant.
They hired one of the town's biggest writers, Dalton Trumbull,
to do a screenplay, and he turned it in and
it just didn't feel it was right. It didn't say
what was in that Christmas card to the studio, so
(03:40):
they ended up hiring two more writers, one of them
was Mark Connolly, and they didn't come up with a
good story, good script at all. So about that time,
World War two was ending and Frank Capri had spent
four or five years in World War Two making documentaries films,
(04:01):
and now he's out and he wants to get back
in the business. But he didn't like working with a studio,
so he started his own company, independent company called Liberty Films,
so he could do his films his way. Nobody was
there to tell him what to do or how to
do it. I'm Frank Kapper Jr.
Speaker 8 (04:23):
Although I was pretty young at the time, I do
remember how excited my father was when he formed Liberty
Films with his partner Sam Briskine and his fellow directors
William Wiler and George Stevens. This was a real first
because in those days directors were thought of his studio employees.
Liberty Films gave this talented group unprecedented creative freedom.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Now he's looking around for material. The head of the
studio's wife said, you know you have Frank Kaeper over
at your studio. Now, you're going to distribute his films.
I understand, Yeah, yeah, he's there. She said, you know
that holiday Christmas card. I think that'd be perfect for
Frank Kaeper. He says you no, I think you're right.
Let me go over to his office tomorrow. So he
(05:03):
showed up at Kapeper's office and asked him, how's it going.
He said, well, I don't know. Still looking. He said, well,
I'd like to present you with something. We did this project,
and he gave him the background and all the writers,
and we think you might be good for it. He said, well,
if you had all these great writers, why do you
need me. I mean, why didn't you shoot one of
(05:23):
the movies? He said, didn't capture what's in this little
Christmas card. So I'll make you a deal. Give me
all three scripts and the Christmas card for fifty thousand dollars.
That's what we have in it. So read it and
get back to me. See what you think. So Capper
read all three scripts, read the Christmas card, and he said,
they're right. Those scripts don't capture what this is all about.
Speaker 9 (05:46):
It was my first picture after being the army for
about five years. I was scared to death. I have
not looked through the eyepiece of a camera. I've act
heard all that length of time. Read were my first
film about a man from RCAEO. He came and he says,
I got the story for you. Well, boy, you know
what happened au many times a day. I've got just
(06:08):
the story.
Speaker 10 (06:10):
We got three scripts on it, one script by Mark Conley,
one by Dalton Trumbull, one by the Clifford o' debts.
Three powerhouse guys had written scripts on this thing. They
missed the idea has What idea is the idea I
got when I bought this Christmas card, and then about
nine paragraphs there was this story man who was a
(06:33):
failure was given the opportunity to come back and see
the world as it would have been had he not been.
Speaker 9 (06:39):
Born, and he finds out no, man is a failure. Well,
my goodness, this thing hit me like a ton of bricks.
So I wrote my own script, and that's the story
of Under the lit This is to me novel k new,
and a wonderfully humane way of pinning this idea down
of the importance of the individual, which has always been
(06:59):
that main see with all of my films.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
He said, it's the film I was born to make.
So he just concentrated on the greatest gift, which later
became its wonderful life.
Speaker 8 (07:11):
It was when my father started to cast the film
that his second piece.
Speaker 5 (07:15):
Of good luck came along.
Speaker 8 (07:17):
The role of George Bailey went to my father's old pal,
Jimmy Stewart.
Speaker 9 (07:22):
Jimmy Stuard got out of the eye at the same
time I did it, and he said, he said, agent
said said to me that Jimmy wants to make a
picture with you. And in a few days I went
to Jimmy, as aid, Jimmy, I got to reach start.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Would you like to do it?
Speaker 4 (07:35):
A contract with MGM ran out during the war, and
I just got a phone call one day that it
was Frank Capri and he said, I have an idea
for a story.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Why don't you.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Come down and I'll i'll, I'll tell them to you. Well,
I couldn't get down there quick enough when I sat down,
and he said, you're a fellow on a small tom Mary.
I know what I'm going to do tomorrow and the
next day, and next year and a year after that.
I'm shaking the dust of this crummy little town off
my feet, and I'm going to see the world. Then
(08:05):
you get married, you have all these kids, when your
father dies and you have to take over the building
A loan three two.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Why we made a cold door. We made a look.
Look we're still in buser, we can still got two bucks.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Left and flinning. You're going to kill yourself. You're going
to jump off a bridge, and an angel but the
name of Clarence she comes down to help you, but
he can't swim, so you go down and save the
He said this, this really doesn't sound very good. I said, Frank,
(08:44):
if you want me to be in a picture about
a guy that wants to kill himself and an angel
comes down and Clarence and he can't swim and I saved.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
When do we start in.
Speaker 8 (08:56):
Casting the important role of George's wife Mary. Dad had
to look beyond our KO to another studio.
Speaker 9 (09:03):
I don't know whether Donna readers from MGM or simprif MGM. Yeah,
she was, and she was perfect for the pot.
Speaker 11 (09:12):
It's George Bailey, mother, George Bailey.
Speaker 12 (09:15):
What do he want?
Speaker 7 (09:17):
I don't know what you want?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
And you've been listening to the man who played Tommy Baily,
Jimmy Hawkins, but also you're hearing from Frank Caepra himself
and others.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
And what Caepra said.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
About his own work, about all of his work being
the importance of the individual came straight from his Catholic upbringing,
no doubt. When we come back more of this remarkable story,
the story of It's a Wonderful Life told by Jimmy
Hawkins and others here on our American stories. And we
(10:09):
continue with our American stories in one of the most
inspirational movies of all time, It's a Wonderful Life, and
with actor Jimmy Hawkins, who played the role of Tommy Bailey.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Let's pick up where we last left off.
Speaker 8 (10:25):
Not only did he cast the leads perfectly, he stocked
the film with some of the greatest character actors in Hollywood.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
Thomas Mitchell, wh wh oh, thank you, Georgie, this is Mine,
the Metal.
Speaker 8 (10:40):
One, Gloria Graham.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Well when I don't care how I.
Speaker 8 (10:44):
Love, Frank Albertson, Frank Phalen and Ward Bond, the original
Burton Ernest.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
I'm a rich tourist today, how about driving me home in.
Speaker 8 (10:54):
Style hop In and the great Lionel Barrymoon.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
I am an old man.
Speaker 9 (11:02):
Most people hate me, but I don't like them either,
so that makes it all.
Speaker 8 (11:05):
Even My dad brought in two great writers, Albert Hackett
and Francis Goodrich, to help him polish the script. But
my father always felt that although a movie is a
collaboration among dozens, sometimes hundreds of people, there must always
be one single creative mind behind it all. You put
more of himself on screen in Wonderful Life than in
(11:26):
any other film. In fact, I remember he once told
me it's the picture I waited my whole life to make.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Then he made the film and it flopped. It just
destroyed him because he thought it was the greatest movie
he had ever made. He said, it's in fact, I
think it's the greatest film anybody made. But if Kapper
had won the Academy Award, this movie never would have
been what it is today, never close to it.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Look, I'm the force.
Speaker 5 (11:53):
You want a drink or don't you?
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I was talking to Sheldon Leonard.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
Okay, it's double apartment when you have.
Speaker 12 (12:00):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
He was doing a favor for me and talking about
the movie to take back to Donna Reed's hometown for
the fiftieth anniversary, and he could make as he went out,
I'd like to tape something for you. So we were
talking through the taping and everything, and then I said,
and that's something that this picture with a flop and
now it fell into public domain and now everybody's watching it.
(12:23):
They have It's a wonderful life, trivia parties. It just
keeps growing and growing and growing. He said, you know
something's interesting, though, Jimmy, the movie never changes. The people change.
The people need that message more than ever.
Speaker 6 (12:40):
Now that's a great film. I love that film. It's
my favorite film, and in a sense it epitomizes everything
I've been trying to do and trying to say any
other films only does it very dramatically with a very
unique story. The importance of the individual is a theme
that I'm that it tells, and the domain is a failure.
Man has something to do with his life. If he's born,
(13:02):
he's going to do something.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
Suppose been better if I'd never been born at all?
Speaker 3 (13:07):
What'd you say?
Speaker 4 (13:08):
I said, I wish I'd never been born.
Speaker 11 (13:11):
Wait a minute, that's an idea.
Speaker 12 (13:14):
What do you think?
Speaker 6 (13:16):
And this idea is carried out in this unique plot
because a man who thought he was a failure and
thought everybody around HI would have been better off had
he not been born, was given the chance to see
how the world around him would have been, his own
small little world would have been had he not been born.
Speaker 11 (13:34):
Your brother Harry Bailey broke through the ice and was
drowned at the age of nine. That's a lie.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
Harry Bailey went to war, he got the Congressional Medal
of Honor. He saved the lives of every man on
that transport.
Speaker 11 (13:45):
Every man on that transport died. Harry wasn't there to
save them. Because you weren't there to save Harry. You see, George,
you really had a wonderful life. Don't you see what
a mistake it.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Would be to.
Speaker 11 (13:59):
Throw it away.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
We went to Attica Prison a few years ago and
showed the film to all the inmates. In fact, the
superintendent of all ninety some odd prisons was sitting next
to me. He said, Jimmy, I know you had a
tough time getting here, but let me tell you some
I'm head of all all the correctional facilities in the
state of New York, and if there's anyone you want
(14:24):
to go to, consider it done. I've never seen this reaction.
Speaker 13 (14:29):
Isn't it wonderful about Harry?
Speaker 12 (14:31):
It was George that I had fifty goals today about
the parade, the banquet. Your mother's so excited.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Cap I was with him and I asked him, I said,
what was the most difficult scene in the whole movie
to direct? He said, that's he'sy the one with you kids.
And I said, what happened? What did we do wrong?
Speaker 12 (14:51):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (14:52):
No, you guys were great. It's just that so much
was going on in the scene.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
What should keep playing?
Speaker 7 (15:00):
I have to practice it for the party tonight.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Daddy, moms.
Speaker 7 (15:03):
We could stay up for midnight and seeing Christmas carols.
Can you see Natty?
Speaker 3 (15:07):
He'd lost the eight thousand. He's thinking of his brother's
coming home. He's going to be disgraced. He's won the
medal of honor. And then he's got the kid. Hey,
I spell this, and the girl pounded on the piano
and he said, and then you excuse me, excuse me.
Speaker 13 (15:24):
Good me, excuse me, excuse you for what I tell
your excuse me now going upstairs, and.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
He put that in there. He always went to humor
to break up a dramatic scene, and he said he
wanted to capture a family really being a family, and
he came up with the excuse me line because his
son always used to say that it was a running
(15:54):
gag in their family, and then the little boy would
go excuse me, and then go, oh, he's doing it,
and then excuse for what I burbed?
Speaker 4 (16:04):
Aha.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Everybody like it. So he threw that in and that
next the night before my mom would tell me what
I'm gonna do tomorrow. But that was never there until
Frank squatted down told everybody Jimmy Stewart down to read
stop right here. Then he screnched down and talked to me,
eyed eye here to see where we are here, and
(16:26):
the carpet is yes, I want you to pull on
this man's coat and say excuse me right here. When
you get right to this spot, say excuse me. Okay,
you get that, yes, sir, all right, everybody, let's go.
And we walked two three more feet. Stop, everybody stop,
and he come back to me and you know, talk
(16:47):
to me, eyed eye. He stooped down and tell me again,
and I see you here, you're here, say that excuse
me lying again here? And he did that three times
and then I got it.
Speaker 13 (16:58):
Go doubt me, excuse you for what?
Speaker 3 (17:10):
So that's what makes this thing so much fun, because
people want to talk about it's wonderful life. They want
to know, oh my god, somebody's still alive from the movie,
Oh wha, tell me about it or what was it like?
And so this will live for reverend mother. What do
you want, mother? This is George. I thought sure you'd
(17:36):
remember me George, but nobody, nobody could have dug down
with George. Baby, there's insurmountable things when your mother says
she doesn't know who you are and get out of here.
And you run down that lane into that big close up.
Capa director, that's great direction and filled that picture with
(17:59):
Jimmy story. And you saw in his eyes, Oh my god,
where is this man gone? To get that look in
his eyes? It told everything. It scared you. You go,
where did he dig down? Well, he was on that
bombeder pilot World War two, seeing his crew get shot
(18:19):
and killed by them coming by ba ba bomb. Strange,
isn't it.
Speaker 11 (18:25):
Each man's life touches so many other lines.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
When he isn't around, he leaves an awful hold, isn't he?
Speaker 1 (18:32):
And you've been listening to Jimmy Hawkins tell the story
of It's a Wonderful Life, and also Frank Kaepra what
Caepra said? It was just so fascinating. He said, It's
a picture I'd waited all my life to make. And
then of course it flopped. It flopped until it didn't
until we got cable and we got.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
More channels, and there it was.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
It's a wonderful life, almost as if in syndication, running continually,
it epitomizes every thing I ever wanted to do in
my work, Capra said, And there he was again stressing
the importance of the individual as the driving theme of
all of his work.
Speaker 5 (19:11):
What he also wanted to.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Do was capture a family being a family on film.
When we come back more of It's a Wonderful Life,
the story behind the story with Jimmy Hawkins and with
Frank Capra too, here on our American story, and we
(19:38):
returned to our American stories and the story of It's
a Wonderful Life, and you'll be hearing from Jimmy Hawkins,
who played Tommy Belly, the son of George, and we'll
be hearing also from Frank Capra. When we last left off,
Jimmy Stewart was able to tap into his experience as
a war pilot in World War Two, were his decisions
(20:02):
had consequences, some for the better and some for the worse.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
Let's return to the story.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
He dug down there and he took it personally. They
died because I should maneuver different. You know what, if
I kid have done this or done that. He'd went there,
and Caper knew I either got it or he did.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
I think, if you can do a part and not
have the acting shown, unbelievability starts thinking that. And if
you get those people down in the audience believing what's
going on up there, whether you're in pretty good shape.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Get me back.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
I don't care what happens to me.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Get me back to my wife and kids.
Speaker 12 (20:48):
He retires, Please, how would you like to be remembered?
Guy that believed in hard work and values, love of country,
love of family, love of community, love of God.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
And that's why he wanted When he was at the
bar praying to God, he just was on like a
full shot and he saw while he was doing it,
oh I should be pushing in on him. So okay,
that's great, Great, Jimmy, could you do it again? Because
he wanted to push in he said no, oh, this
(21:32):
isn't like him. So in post production he did it.
He showed it again and to put another camera moved
in just enough to punch that up to really, oh,
this is a moment this man's going through. I want
to feel I'm really capturing what George Bailey is thinking.
And he's down, you know, he's really down. That scene.
(21:53):
I remember when I.
Speaker 4 (21:55):
First read the first draft of the script, and that's
the little prayer affected me. And when I read it,
when I did it in the movie, it did, and
it did the same to me right now.
Speaker 5 (22:14):
You're father than him. I'm not a praying man. If
you're a player, and you can hear me, show me going.
Speaker 12 (22:29):
At the end of my rope, show me the way.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
Hey, this is my day.
Speaker 12 (22:43):
Oh why don't you stop on going?
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Well, I'm sorry.
Speaker 12 (22:46):
Hey.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
He was scouting locations and they needed a gymnasium for
the big grad party, and so they took him to
Beverly Hills High School in the gymnasium with the basketball
court and nasty. Do you think this will work? Frank,
I can make this work, he said. The ad said,
you know see that the basketball court? Yeah, underneath that
(23:08):
as a pool. Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yes, the
big Charleston contact. Let's go. He's really open it up.
I want to see it.
Speaker 12 (23:21):
What's the matter of a fellow jealous? Did you know
there's a swimming pool under this floor?
Speaker 5 (23:28):
And did you know that.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Button behind you caused this floor to open up? And
did you further know that George Bailey is.
Speaker 7 (23:37):
Dancing right over that crack.
Speaker 12 (23:40):
And I've got the key.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
So they opened it up to me. So now they
had to get all the extras you have to swim
stunt people for Jimmy Stewart to go and don read
into the pool all that. He was always sick, capric
was always he's giving me business to do, sitting on
(24:03):
Jimmy Stewart's lap and putting tinsel on his head. He
comes in the room. Now you go through his pockets
like maybe he brought you something. Kapper was always giving
me business to do.
Speaker 5 (24:15):
You sir, prayed to the Canary.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
No, sir, And we learned years later by me finding
him all these people that you old man Goward Park
was a method actor. He went out, got drunk during
lunch and played the same drunk.
Speaker 11 (24:36):
By the sun there in orgo be over in five minutes.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
I really braided varsity capsules.
Speaker 7 (24:50):
And you know what I said, what kind of drinks?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
You pray?
Speaker 9 (24:54):
Away?
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Went into the limit right away. Don't you know that?
Speaker 7 (25:00):
Boys, you don't know what you're doing. You put something
wrong in those capsules. I know you. You got the
telegram and you're upset. You put something bad those capsules.
It wasn't your father, mister Gower. Just look and see
what you did too. The from it's poisoned. It's poisoned.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
I know you feel bad. And he really hit him
and everything he said afterwards. I'm sorry.
Speaker 7 (25:37):
I know you feeling would have cooked the diver.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
But if that film, like I told you earlier, had
won the Oscar, it never would have been what it was.
It took that picture to fall into public domain. It
took it for all the stations in the United States
could show it for free, and so it filled up
two three hours of time that they could sell time
to and then it just picked up and kept going.
Speaker 8 (26:06):
It's a wonderful life. Like its hero, George Bailey, went
through times of both optimism and despair.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Also, like George Bailey, the.
Speaker 8 (26:15):
Film was rescued from oblivion by its friends. The film
might not have made a fortune for my father and
the others have worked on it, but it has enriched
the lives of every person whoever fell under its warm,
joyful spell.
Speaker 9 (26:34):
I think then the time goes by and just go
more and more popular, because it's a theme that hits everybody.
Everybody has gone through that thing when theyve practically rather
(26:55):
die than live. So that's why I think that the
picture will live on beyond our time. The boy claim
it is a wonderful life.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
This is one of the wonderful things about the picture.
I think the scene at the end of the picture.
This is after that's it's a different place. Nobody knows
me and everything right, But I just I stopped for
a minute and I say, God, I'm not a praying man,
but please bring me back. Please. I want to live again.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
I wouldn't live again.
Speaker 11 (27:39):
Please God let me live again.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Anyway, it's just get the message. We're all important. We
all can make a difference. Look at Frank Capra. My god,
what he started. If there was little Frank Capra.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
Well, it's amazing. It's become such a Christmas picture.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
All over the world.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
But do you know me it came I'm just little
bits of thinking. Just remember, no man is born to
be a failure. Just remember no man is poor who
has friends. It shows values that are really very close
to an awful lot of us and are really very
(28:22):
basic American values.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Well, Chris, now it's just gone, yeah, out of sight.
It just everybody talks about it, not just the holiday classic.
The AFI countdown one hundred most Inspirational movies came in
number one. It just doesn't stop people needed. I mean,
(28:48):
things are happening now that people feel like they're being
treated like they're nobody's and they want to feel that
I'm somebody, I have something to give. And Frank Kapper
wanted a very religious and that picture tells you, yes,
you do. But Sheldon Leonard said it all the film.
It wasn't like, oh, I'm the director's cut, I'm gonna
(29:08):
go in and not a frame was the same one
in forty six at Bomb is the same one that
is now on the road to being the greatest movie
ever made.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
And a terrific job on the production editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler and his special thanks to
Jimmy Hawkins for sharing his story. And he played Tommy Bailey,
son of George Bailey, in the classic nineteen forty six film.
And I think Jimmy Stewart said it best and in
essence he was talking about these classic American values. He said,
(29:42):
I believe in hard work, decent values, love of country,
love of community, love of God, and him talking about
that prayer scene, how much it moved him just reading
it on paper. God, I'm not a praying man, Please
bring me back, let me live again. And in the
end that theme We're all important, we can all make
a difference. In the end, as Jimmy Stewart and Frank
(30:05):
Caper noted again and again it's about the individual and
in the end basic American values, the story of its
wonderful life.
Speaker 5 (30:14):
Here on our American Stories.
This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories.
Jimmy Hawkins is best known for his starring TV roles
in shows like Annie Oakley, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,
Leave It to Beaver, and The Donna Reid Show. He
co starred as Elvis Presley's sidekick in two movies, Girl
Happy and Spinout. Most notably, he played Tommy Bailey, son
(00:33):
of George Bailey, in the nineteen forty six film classic
It's a Wonderful Life. Without further ado, here's Jimmy Hawkins
with the story of It's a Wonderful Life.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Heavy Cash Kids, Jenny, Jenny Camy.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
My name is Jim Hawkins, and I had the pleasure
playing Tommy Baby in the Frank Capri classic movie It's
a Wonderful Life. This was back in nineteen forty six,
and I remember my mom getting me up very early
in the morning to go to shoot the movie. But
let me start from where the actual story began.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I owe everything to George Bailey, help him deal Fott, Joseph,
Jesus and Mary, help my friend mister Bailey, help my
son George.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Tonight, he never thinks about himself.
Speaker 5 (01:38):
God, that's why he's in trouble.
Speaker 6 (01:40):
Change is a good guy.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Give him a break. God, I love him. Dear Lord,
what for him tonight? Please?
Speaker 7 (01:49):
God, something's the matter with Daddy?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Please bring day back. So one morning, a man by
the name of phili van Dornstern was shaving and a
story came to him. He was a very popular writer
at that time, and so he thought about this story.
He called it the Greatest Gift and was the story
(02:13):
about a man who gets to see what life would
have been like if he had never been born. So
he finished shaving and he went to his typewriter and
he finished the story, and he sent it out to
his different publishers. He knew that liked his work, and
they all rejected it, and he didn't understand. He thought
was really good. But he put it away for five years,
(02:35):
and he'd bump into friends of his along the line
and they say, hey, whatever, I happened that story about
the guy in the bridge, And he said, I know,
I like that too. So he took the story out
and changed a couple of things, and then sent it
around to all the publishers again, and they all rejected it.
He didn't understand why it was being rejected because he
(02:56):
thought it was very good. So he printed two hundred
Christmas cards with this story in it. It was about twelve
thirteen pages, and he sent it to his friends. One
person he sent it to was a Hollywood agent, and
she got back to him she said, I like your story.
I think it could make a movie. He didn't think
(03:16):
of it as a movie, but she did, and she
sold it to RKO Studios for a project for Carry Grant.
They hired one of the town's biggest writers, Dalton Trumbull,
to do a screenplay, and he turned it in and
it just didn't feel it was right. It didn't say
what was in that Christmas card to the studio, so
(03:40):
they ended up hiring two more writers, one of them
was Mark Connolly, and they didn't come up with a
good story, good script at all. So about that time,
World War two was ending and Frank Capri had spent
four or five years in World War Two making documentaries films,
(04:01):
and now he's out and he wants to get back
in the business. But he didn't like working with a studio,
so he started his own company, independent company called Liberty Films,
so he could do his films his way. Nobody was
there to tell him what to do or how to
do it. I'm Frank Kapper Jr.
Speaker 8 (04:23):
Although I was pretty young at the time, I do
remember how excited my father was when he formed Liberty
Films with his partner Sam Briskine and his fellow directors
William Wiler and George Stevens. This was a real first
because in those days directors were thought of his studio employees.
Liberty Films gave this talented group unprecedented creative freedom.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Now he's looking around for material. The head of the
studio's wife said, you know you have Frank Kaeper over
at your studio. Now, you're going to distribute his films.
I understand, Yeah, yeah, he's there. She said, you know
that holiday Christmas card. I think that'd be perfect for
Frank Kaeper. He says you no, I think you're right.
Let me go over to his office tomorrow. So he
(05:03):
showed up at Kapeper's office and asked him, how's it going.
He said, well, I don't know. Still looking. He said, well,
I'd like to present you with something. We did this project,
and he gave him the background and all the writers,
and we think you might be good for it. He said, well,
if you had all these great writers, why do you
need me. I mean, why didn't you shoot one of
(05:23):
the movies? He said, didn't capture what's in this little
Christmas card. So I'll make you a deal. Give me
all three scripts and the Christmas card for fifty thousand dollars.
That's what we have in it. So read it and
get back to me. See what you think. So Capper
read all three scripts, read the Christmas card, and he said,
they're right. Those scripts don't capture what this is all about.
Speaker 9 (05:46):
It was my first picture after being the army for
about five years. I was scared to death. I have
not looked through the eyepiece of a camera. I've act
heard all that length of time. Read were my first
film about a man from RCAEO. He came and he says,
I got the story for you. Well, boy, you know
what happened au many times a day. I've got just
(06:08):
the story.
Speaker 10 (06:10):
We got three scripts on it, one script by Mark Conley,
one by Dalton Trumbull, one by the Clifford o' debts.
Three powerhouse guys had written scripts on this thing. They
missed the idea has What idea is the idea I
got when I bought this Christmas card, and then about
nine paragraphs there was this story man who was a
(06:33):
failure was given the opportunity to come back and see
the world as it would have been had he not been.
Speaker 9 (06:39):
Born, and he finds out no, man is a failure. Well,
my goodness, this thing hit me like a ton of bricks.
So I wrote my own script, and that's the story
of Under the lit This is to me novel k new,
and a wonderfully humane way of pinning this idea down
of the importance of the individual, which has always been
(06:59):
that main see with all of my films.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
He said, it's the film I was born to make.
So he just concentrated on the greatest gift, which later
became its wonderful life.
Speaker 8 (07:11):
It was when my father started to cast the film
that his second piece.
Speaker 5 (07:15):
Of good luck came along.
Speaker 8 (07:17):
The role of George Bailey went to my father's old pal,
Jimmy Stewart.
Speaker 9 (07:22):
Jimmy Stuard got out of the eye at the same
time I did it, and he said, he said, agent
said said to me that Jimmy wants to make a
picture with you. And in a few days I went
to Jimmy, as aid, Jimmy, I got to reach start.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Would you like to do it?
Speaker 4 (07:35):
A contract with MGM ran out during the war, and
I just got a phone call one day that it
was Frank Capri and he said, I have an idea
for a story.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Why don't you.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Come down and I'll i'll, I'll tell them to you. Well,
I couldn't get down there quick enough when I sat down,
and he said, you're a fellow on a small tom Mary.
I know what I'm going to do tomorrow and the
next day, and next year and a year after that.
I'm shaking the dust of this crummy little town off
my feet, and I'm going to see the world. Then
(08:05):
you get married, you have all these kids, when your
father dies and you have to take over the building
A loan three two.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Why we made a cold door. We made a look.
Look we're still in buser, we can still got two bucks.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Left and flinning. You're going to kill yourself. You're going
to jump off a bridge, and an angel but the
name of Clarence she comes down to help you, but
he can't swim, so you go down and save the
He said this, this really doesn't sound very good. I said, Frank,
(08:44):
if you want me to be in a picture about
a guy that wants to kill himself and an angel
comes down and Clarence and he can't swim and I saved.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
When do we start in.
Speaker 8 (08:56):
Casting the important role of George's wife Mary. Dad had
to look beyond our KO to another studio.
Speaker 9 (09:03):
I don't know whether Donna readers from MGM or simprif MGM. Yeah,
she was, and she was perfect for the pot.
Speaker 11 (09:12):
It's George Bailey, mother, George Bailey.
Speaker 12 (09:15):
What do he want?
Speaker 7 (09:17):
I don't know what you want?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
And you've been listening to the man who played Tommy Baily,
Jimmy Hawkins, but also you're hearing from Frank Caepra himself
and others.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
And what Caepra said.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
About his own work, about all of his work being
the importance of the individual came straight from his Catholic upbringing,
no doubt. When we come back more of this remarkable story,
the story of It's a Wonderful Life told by Jimmy
Hawkins and others here on our American stories. And we
(10:09):
continue with our American stories in one of the most
inspirational movies of all time, It's a Wonderful Life, and
with actor Jimmy Hawkins, who played the role of Tommy Bailey.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Let's pick up where we last left off.
Speaker 8 (10:25):
Not only did he cast the leads perfectly, he stocked
the film with some of the greatest character actors in Hollywood.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
Thomas Mitchell, wh wh oh, thank you, Georgie, this is Mine,
the Metal.
Speaker 8 (10:40):
One, Gloria Graham.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Well when I don't care how I.
Speaker 8 (10:44):
Love, Frank Albertson, Frank Phalen and Ward Bond, the original
Burton Ernest.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
I'm a rich tourist today, how about driving me home in.
Speaker 8 (10:54):
Style hop In and the great Lionel Barrymoon.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
I am an old man.
Speaker 9 (11:02):
Most people hate me, but I don't like them either,
so that makes it all.
Speaker 8 (11:05):
Even My dad brought in two great writers, Albert Hackett
and Francis Goodrich, to help him polish the script. But
my father always felt that although a movie is a
collaboration among dozens, sometimes hundreds of people, there must always
be one single creative mind behind it all. You put
more of himself on screen in Wonderful Life than in
(11:26):
any other film. In fact, I remember he once told
me it's the picture I waited my whole life to make.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Then he made the film and it flopped. It just
destroyed him because he thought it was the greatest movie
he had ever made. He said, it's in fact, I
think it's the greatest film anybody made. But if Kapper
had won the Academy Award, this movie never would have
been what it is today, never close to it.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Look, I'm the force.
Speaker 5 (11:53):
You want a drink or don't you?
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I was talking to Sheldon Leonard.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
Okay, it's double apartment when you have.
Speaker 12 (12:00):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
He was doing a favor for me and talking about
the movie to take back to Donna Reed's hometown for
the fiftieth anniversary, and he could make as he went out,
I'd like to tape something for you. So we were
talking through the taping and everything, and then I said,
and that's something that this picture with a flop and
now it fell into public domain and now everybody's watching it.
(12:23):
They have It's a wonderful life, trivia parties. It just
keeps growing and growing and growing. He said, you know
something's interesting, though, Jimmy, the movie never changes. The people change.
The people need that message more than ever.
Speaker 6 (12:40):
Now that's a great film. I love that film. It's
my favorite film, and in a sense it epitomizes everything
I've been trying to do and trying to say any
other films only does it very dramatically with a very
unique story. The importance of the individual is a theme
that I'm that it tells, and the domain is a failure.
Man has something to do with his life. If he's born,
(13:02):
he's going to do something.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
Suppose been better if I'd never been born at all?
Speaker 3 (13:07):
What'd you say?
Speaker 4 (13:08):
I said, I wish I'd never been born.
Speaker 11 (13:11):
Wait a minute, that's an idea.
Speaker 12 (13:14):
What do you think?
Speaker 6 (13:16):
And this idea is carried out in this unique plot
because a man who thought he was a failure and
thought everybody around HI would have been better off had
he not been born, was given the chance to see
how the world around him would have been, his own
small little world would have been had he not been born.
Speaker 11 (13:34):
Your brother Harry Bailey broke through the ice and was
drowned at the age of nine. That's a lie.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
Harry Bailey went to war, he got the Congressional Medal
of Honor. He saved the lives of every man on
that transport.
Speaker 11 (13:45):
Every man on that transport died. Harry wasn't there to
save them. Because you weren't there to save Harry. You see, George,
you really had a wonderful life. Don't you see what
a mistake it.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Would be to.
Speaker 11 (13:59):
Throw it away.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
We went to Attica Prison a few years ago and
showed the film to all the inmates. In fact, the
superintendent of all ninety some odd prisons was sitting next
to me. He said, Jimmy, I know you had a
tough time getting here, but let me tell you some
I'm head of all all the correctional facilities in the
state of New York, and if there's anyone you want
(14:24):
to go to, consider it done. I've never seen this reaction.
Speaker 13 (14:29):
Isn't it wonderful about Harry?
Speaker 12 (14:31):
It was George that I had fifty goals today about
the parade, the banquet. Your mother's so excited.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Cap I was with him and I asked him, I said,
what was the most difficult scene in the whole movie
to direct? He said, that's he'sy the one with you kids.
And I said, what happened? What did we do wrong?
Speaker 12 (14:51):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (14:52):
No, you guys were great. It's just that so much
was going on in the scene.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
What should keep playing?
Speaker 7 (15:00):
I have to practice it for the party tonight.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Daddy, moms.
Speaker 7 (15:03):
We could stay up for midnight and seeing Christmas carols.
Can you see Natty?
Speaker 3 (15:07):
He'd lost the eight thousand. He's thinking of his brother's
coming home. He's going to be disgraced. He's won the
medal of honor. And then he's got the kid. Hey,
I spell this, and the girl pounded on the piano
and he said, and then you excuse me, excuse me.
Speaker 13 (15:24):
Good me, excuse me, excuse you for what I tell
your excuse me now going upstairs, and.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
He put that in there. He always went to humor
to break up a dramatic scene, and he said he
wanted to capture a family really being a family, and
he came up with the excuse me line because his
son always used to say that it was a running
(15:54):
gag in their family, and then the little boy would
go excuse me, and then go, oh, he's doing it,
and then excuse for what I burbed?
Speaker 4 (16:04):
Aha.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Everybody like it. So he threw that in and that
next the night before my mom would tell me what
I'm gonna do tomorrow. But that was never there until
Frank squatted down told everybody Jimmy Stewart down to read
stop right here. Then he screnched down and talked to me,
eyed eye here to see where we are here, and
(16:26):
the carpet is yes, I want you to pull on
this man's coat and say excuse me right here. When
you get right to this spot, say excuse me. Okay,
you get that, yes, sir, all right, everybody, let's go.
And we walked two three more feet. Stop, everybody stop,
and he come back to me and you know, talk
(16:47):
to me, eyed eye. He stooped down and tell me again,
and I see you here, you're here, say that excuse
me lying again here? And he did that three times
and then I got it.
Speaker 13 (16:58):
Go doubt me, excuse you for what?
Speaker 3 (17:10):
So that's what makes this thing so much fun, because
people want to talk about it's wonderful life. They want
to know, oh my god, somebody's still alive from the movie,
Oh wha, tell me about it or what was it like?
And so this will live for reverend mother. What do
you want, mother? This is George. I thought sure you'd
(17:36):
remember me George, but nobody, nobody could have dug down
with George. Baby, there's insurmountable things when your mother says
she doesn't know who you are and get out of here.
And you run down that lane into that big close up.
Capa director, that's great direction and filled that picture with
(17:59):
Jimmy story. And you saw in his eyes, Oh my god,
where is this man gone? To get that look in
his eyes? It told everything. It scared you. You go,
where did he dig down? Well, he was on that
bombeder pilot World War two, seeing his crew get shot
(18:19):
and killed by them coming by ba ba bomb. Strange,
isn't it.
Speaker 11 (18:25):
Each man's life touches so many other lines.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
When he isn't around, he leaves an awful hold, isn't he?
Speaker 1 (18:32):
And you've been listening to Jimmy Hawkins tell the story
of It's a Wonderful Life, and also Frank Kaepra what
Caepra said? It was just so fascinating. He said, It's
a picture I'd waited all my life to make. And
then of course it flopped. It flopped until it didn't
until we got cable and we got.
Speaker 5 (18:51):
More channels, and there it was.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
It's a wonderful life, almost as if in syndication, running continually,
it epitomizes every thing I ever wanted to do in
my work, Capra said, And there he was again stressing
the importance of the individual as the driving theme of
all of his work.
Speaker 5 (19:11):
What he also wanted to.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Do was capture a family being a family on film.
When we come back more of It's a Wonderful Life,
the story behind the story with Jimmy Hawkins and with
Frank Capra too, here on our American story, and we
(19:38):
returned to our American stories and the story of It's
a Wonderful Life, and you'll be hearing from Jimmy Hawkins,
who played Tommy Belly, the son of George, and we'll
be hearing also from Frank Capra. When we last left off,
Jimmy Stewart was able to tap into his experience as
a war pilot in World War Two, were his decisions
(20:02):
had consequences, some for the better and some for the worse.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
Let's return to the story.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
He dug down there and he took it personally. They
died because I should maneuver different. You know what, if
I kid have done this or done that. He'd went there,
and Caper knew I either got it or he did.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
I think, if you can do a part and not
have the acting shown, unbelievability starts thinking that. And if
you get those people down in the audience believing what's
going on up there, whether you're in pretty good shape.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Get me back.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
I don't care what happens to me.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Get me back to my wife and kids.
Speaker 12 (20:48):
He retires, Please, how would you like to be remembered?
Guy that believed in hard work and values, love of country,
love of family, love of community, love of God.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
And that's why he wanted When he was at the
bar praying to God, he just was on like a
full shot and he saw while he was doing it,
oh I should be pushing in on him. So okay,
that's great, Great, Jimmy, could you do it again? Because
he wanted to push in he said no, oh, this
(21:32):
isn't like him. So in post production he did it.
He showed it again and to put another camera moved
in just enough to punch that up to really, oh,
this is a moment this man's going through. I want
to feel I'm really capturing what George Bailey is thinking.
And he's down, you know, he's really down. That scene.
(21:53):
I remember when I.
Speaker 4 (21:55):
First read the first draft of the script, and that's
the little prayer affected me. And when I read it,
when I did it in the movie, it did, and
it did the same to me right now.
Speaker 5 (22:14):
You're father than him. I'm not a praying man. If
you're a player, and you can hear me, show me going.
Speaker 12 (22:29):
At the end of my rope, show me the way.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
Hey, this is my day.
Speaker 12 (22:43):
Oh why don't you stop on going?
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Well, I'm sorry.
Speaker 12 (22:46):
Hey.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
He was scouting locations and they needed a gymnasium for
the big grad party, and so they took him to
Beverly Hills High School in the gymnasium with the basketball
court and nasty. Do you think this will work? Frank,
I can make this work, he said. The ad said,
you know see that the basketball court? Yeah, underneath that
(23:08):
as a pool. Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yes, the
big Charleston contact. Let's go. He's really open it up.
I want to see it.
Speaker 12 (23:21):
What's the matter of a fellow jealous? Did you know
there's a swimming pool under this floor?
Speaker 5 (23:28):
And did you know that.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Button behind you caused this floor to open up? And
did you further know that George Bailey is.
Speaker 7 (23:37):
Dancing right over that crack.
Speaker 12 (23:40):
And I've got the key.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
So they opened it up to me. So now they
had to get all the extras you have to swim
stunt people for Jimmy Stewart to go and don read
into the pool all that. He was always sick, capric
was always he's giving me business to do, sitting on
(24:03):
Jimmy Stewart's lap and putting tinsel on his head. He
comes in the room. Now you go through his pockets
like maybe he brought you something. Kapper was always giving
me business to do.
Speaker 5 (24:15):
You sir, prayed to the Canary.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
No, sir, And we learned years later by me finding
him all these people that you old man Goward Park
was a method actor. He went out, got drunk during
lunch and played the same drunk.
Speaker 11 (24:36):
By the sun there in orgo be over in five minutes.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
I really braided varsity capsules.
Speaker 7 (24:50):
And you know what I said, what kind of drinks?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
You pray?
Speaker 9 (24:54):
Away?
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Went into the limit right away. Don't you know that?
Speaker 7 (25:00):
Boys, you don't know what you're doing. You put something
wrong in those capsules. I know you. You got the
telegram and you're upset. You put something bad those capsules.
It wasn't your father, mister Gower. Just look and see
what you did too. The from it's poisoned. It's poisoned.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
I know you feel bad. And he really hit him
and everything he said afterwards. I'm sorry.
Speaker 7 (25:37):
I know you feeling would have cooked the diver.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
But if that film, like I told you earlier, had
won the Oscar, it never would have been what it was.
It took that picture to fall into public domain. It
took it for all the stations in the United States
could show it for free, and so it filled up
two three hours of time that they could sell time
to and then it just picked up and kept going.
Speaker 8 (26:06):
It's a wonderful life. Like its hero, George Bailey, went
through times of both optimism and despair.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Also, like George Bailey, the.
Speaker 8 (26:15):
Film was rescued from oblivion by its friends. The film
might not have made a fortune for my father and
the others have worked on it, but it has enriched
the lives of every person whoever fell under its warm,
joyful spell.
Speaker 9 (26:34):
I think then the time goes by and just go
more and more popular, because it's a theme that hits everybody.
Everybody has gone through that thing when theyve practically rather
(26:55):
die than live. So that's why I think that the
picture will live on beyond our time. The boy claim
it is a wonderful life.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
This is one of the wonderful things about the picture.
I think the scene at the end of the picture.
This is after that's it's a different place. Nobody knows
me and everything right, But I just I stopped for
a minute and I say, God, I'm not a praying man,
but please bring me back. Please. I want to live again.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
I wouldn't live again.
Speaker 11 (27:39):
Please God let me live again.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Anyway, it's just get the message. We're all important. We
all can make a difference. Look at Frank Capra. My god,
what he started. If there was little Frank Capra.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
Well, it's amazing. It's become such a Christmas picture.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
All over the world.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
But do you know me it came I'm just little
bits of thinking. Just remember, no man is born to
be a failure. Just remember no man is poor who
has friends. It shows values that are really very close
to an awful lot of us and are really very
(28:22):
basic American values.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Well, Chris, now it's just gone, yeah, out of sight.
It just everybody talks about it, not just the holiday classic.
The AFI countdown one hundred most Inspirational movies came in
number one. It just doesn't stop people needed. I mean,
(28:48):
things are happening now that people feel like they're being
treated like they're nobody's and they want to feel that
I'm somebody, I have something to give. And Frank Kapper
wanted a very religious and that picture tells you, yes,
you do. But Sheldon Leonard said it all the film.
It wasn't like, oh, I'm the director's cut, I'm gonna
(29:08):
go in and not a frame was the same one
in forty six at Bomb is the same one that
is now on the road to being the greatest movie
ever made.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
And a terrific job on the production editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler and his special thanks to
Jimmy Hawkins for sharing his story. And he played Tommy Bailey,
son of George Bailey, in the classic nineteen forty six film.
And I think Jimmy Stewart said it best and in
essence he was talking about these classic American values. He said,
(29:42):
I believe in hard work, decent values, love of country,
love of community, love of God, and him talking about
that prayer scene, how much it moved him just reading
it on paper. God, I'm not a praying man, Please
bring me back, let me live again. And in the
end that theme We're all important, we can all make
a difference. In the end, as Jimmy Stewart and Frank
(30:05):
Caper noted again and again it's about the individual and
in the end basic American values, the story of its
wonderful life.
Speaker 5 (30:14):
Here on our American Stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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