Yeoman's in the Fork Blog

It's a Wonderful Life is my favorite movie ever made. The characters in the film demonstrate humanity at its finest as well at its lowest. This is all done without violence, cursing, or sex. A masterpiece. Many may not know that the film is based on a short story by Philip Van Doren Stern entitled The Greatest Gift. Stern was an author, editor and Civil War historian, who published The Greatest Gift in 1943. The story was first published as a book in December of 1944 and was also sold, by Stern, to Reader's Scope magazine, which published the story in its December 1944 issue and to the magazine Good Housekeeping, where it was published with the title The Man Who Was Never Born, in the January 1945 issue (which came out in December 1944).

The following is a plot summary of the book, which I borrowed from gold ole Wikipedia:

The story begins during the Holiday with George Pratt, a man who is unsatisfied with his life and ready to commit suicide, standing on a bridge. A strange, shabbily-dressed and well-mannered man approaches him, carrying a satchel. The man strikes up a conversation and George tells the man that he wishes he had never been born. The man tells him that his wish has been made official and that he was never born. The man tells George that he should take the satchel with him and pretend to be a door-to-door brush salesman when he sees anyone. When George returns home, he does as he is told and is shocked to discover that not only does his wife not know him, everyone who knew him took different and often negative steps in life because George had never been born: including his little brother, who he had saved in a pond accident and instead had died without George to save him. George offers "his wife" a complimentary upholstery brush, which she takes, and then he leaves the house after his wife's new husband tells him to leave. Upon his departure, his wife's son pretends to shoot him with a fake cap gun and shouts, "You're dead. Why won't you die?" George returns to the bridge and questions the man, who explains to him that he wanted more when he had already been given the greatest gift of all: the gift of life. George, now realizing the lesson, begs the man to return the gift of life and the man agrees to it. George returns home to check if the man did, in fact, change everything back to normal. Sure enough, everything is normal and he hugs his wife, and explains that he "thought he had lost her". She is confused, and as he is about to explain everything, when his hand bumps a brush on the sofa behind him. Without turning around, George knows the brush was the one he had presented to her earlier.

So, as you can see, it is way different than the film. The film took the idea of this story and greatly improved upon it, making it a classic film and in my opinion, the best film ever. I chose this book mostly because of its influence, as without this book, then It's a Wonderful Life, would have never been born. So, in many ways, this book is George Bailey personified. This book influenced Frank Capra, who inspired millions, if not billions and continues to do so every year. The celebration of life, the love and support of friends and family should never die and it is what makes being human so wonderful.

I highly recommend this little book, and for collectors, the first edition with jacket is valued at around $700, but not many are out there available for sale. I recently saw a signed copy of the first edition priced at $1700.