b'A copyright lapse made it a holiday staple. The film became infinitely more popular when its rights lapsed, creating a free-for-all for broadcasters to play it nonstop on television during the holidays. That ended when NBC acquired the exclusive rights in 1994. Zuzu didnt see the film until 1980. Karolyn Grimes, who played Zuzu in the film, didnt see the film until 1980. She told Detroits WWJ : I never just sat down and watched [it].The FBI saw the film. They didnt like it. In 1947, the FBI issued a memo noting the film as a potential Communist infiltration of the motion picture industry, citing its rather obvious attempts to discredit Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed in Its a Wonderful Life (1946)bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as a Scrooge-type so that he would be the most hated man in the picture. Donna Reed had excellent aim. Though Capra had a stuntman at the ready in order toIts everyone favorite. shoot out the window of the Granville House in a sceneThough their collective filmographies consist of a couple that required Donna Reed to throw a rock through it, ithundred movies, Capra, Reed, and Stewart have all was all a waste of money. Mom threw the rock herselfcited Its a Wonderful Life as their favorite movie. In his that broke the window in the Granville House, Maryautobiography, The Name Above the Title, Capra took that Owendaughter of Donna Reedsays. On the first try. praise even one step further, writing: I thought it was the greatest film I ever made. Better yet, I thought it was the The bartender would rather be at the ballpark.greatest film anybody ever made.Actor and producer Sheldon Leonard said that he only agreed to play Nick the bartender so he could buy baseball tickets with his paycheck. Uncle Billy went unscripted. In one scene, a drunk Uncle Billy yells "I\'m all right, I\'m all right!" after supposedly clambering into some garbage cans off-screen. But actually, a crew member had dropped a giant piece of equipmentand the actors just went with it.Sam Wainwright was really on the other end of that phone call. Capra strove to make scenes as real as he could for actors. Thus the first kiss between James Stewart and Donna Reed was shot at the same time as the other end of the phone conversation, with Sam Wainwright (Frank Albertson) on a different set (Wainwright\'s New York office) at RKO\'s Pathe studio.Donna Reed and Jimmy Stewart in Its a Wonderful Life (1946) (edited from TheWrap.com, IMDB.com, Telegraph.co.uk, and MentalFloss.com)ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE: LIVE IN CHICAGO!BACKSTAGE GUIDE 15'