The enduring message on home ownership of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’

When I was a child, “It’s a Wonderful Life” played on multiple television channels multiple times on Christmas Eve. It was the one black-and-white movie my siblings and I didn’t mind watching for its heartwarming story. Beleaguered businessman George Bailey, down on his luck and suicidal, receives a rare gift – the chance to experience what life is like if he had never been born. George bests his nemesis the miserly capitalist Mr. Potter by being the richest man in town – not because of money but because no man is a failure who has friends.

Today, “It’s a Wonderful Life” is only shown a handful of times on television in December due to licensing agreements. Watching is a holiday ritual in adulthood, too. In recent years, I appreciate another moral message running strong: preservation of affordable housing.

The Bailey Brothers Building & Loan, founded by George’s father Peter, is a mortgage-lending alternative in sleepy Bedford Falls, New York. After the elder Bailey dies, stern-faced Potter, a board member, pushes to dissolve the B&L. He questions why Ernie the taxi driver got approved for a $5,000 home loan when the bank rejected his application. Potter sourly expresses that the loan promotes “a discontented, lazy rabble instead of a thrifty working class.”

George’s response is the first of his impassioned speeches on homeownership. “Do you know how long it takes a working man to save $5,000? Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you’re talking about ... they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath?”

He calls Potter a warped, frustrated old man and says the town needs the B&L, if only to have a place where people can come without crawling to him.

The board votes to keep the B&L open on the condition George runs it. Dutiful George, once again, puts off his plans for college and lassoing the world. A “Own your own home” sign hangs in the lobby.

Later, a crisis at the B&L threatens to shut its doors. A swarm of people show up to withdraw money because Potter promises if they take their shares to his bank, he’ll pay 50 cents on the dollar. Better than nothing, some reason.

George begs them not to. “If Potter gets ahold of this Building and Loan, there’ll never be another decent house built in this town. He’s already got charge of the bank. He’s got the bus line. He’s got the department stores. And now he’s after us. Why? Well, it’s very simple. Because we’re cutting in on his business, that’s why. And because he wants to keep you living in his slums and paying the kind of rent he decides.”

George reminds customers who missed a mortgage payment that they didn’t lose their homes, and Potter would never extend such magnanimity. The B&L is kept open when George and his wife Mary use their honeymoon money to keep the institution solvent.

George goes on to build Bailey Park, a community with dozens of handsome little homes — each worth twice what it cost the B&L to build. New homeowners like the immigrant Martini family move in with pride and jubilation, as if moving into a castle. Alas, one of Potter’s paid marionettes reports the news to his boss and says 90% of the homeowners are suckers who used to pay rent to him.

Potter retorts, “The Bailey family has been a boil on my neck long enough.” He unsuccessfully tries to lure George into his clutches to run his properties and mocks him for playing nursemaid to a bunch of garlic eaters, an anti-Italian slur. The town is grateful to George and his home building endeavors.

Frank Capra’s 1946 Christmas fantasy film preaches that generosity prevails over greed, David beats Goliath and mean ole Mr. Potter is again Bailey-bested. Home ownership for the working class is essential despite the obstacles.

In white Bedford Falls, there was no redlining or racially restrictive covenants, as were common in places like Chicago in the mid-20^th Century. But today we find big banks continue to shun Black and Brown communities, and lending alternatives continue to be necessary to achieve home ownership.

Hee Haw, Bailey Brothers Building & Loan.

Natalie Moore is a reporter for WBEZ.

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