"Its A Wonderful Life" location in Beverly Hills. Famous pool scene location found! We talk to author Mary Mallory about the amazing history of how the film was made in the middle of summer in the San Fernando Valley!
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Hi and welcome to the Best of California. I'm your host Pat Patterson and look what I got
under the tree. An Elux electric bicycle, the Malibu GT model. This thing is incredible and
we're going to take it all over the state. We're going to head out to Beverly Hills and visit the
last remaining film location of the classic It's a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart.
So stick with us for the Best of California. Let's get going.
Okay, I'm excited about this new Elux bike. Let's go check out some Santa Claus's.
So I'm excited to be here with Mary Mallory, film historian and author. Your books include
How Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays, Hollywoodland and Hollywood at Play and it's
amazing. She knows everything about film locations. So we are at Beverly Hills High
School. This is the swim gym. Tell me why we're here. Because in 1946, Frank Capra and Jimmy
Stewart and Donna Rhee, they filmed an important scene from It's a Wonderful Life here. That's one
of my favorite holiday films and the scene that happened in here has to do with a pool. What
happened? Well, so this is the attraction between George and Mary start really coming together.
Beginning of the love story. The beginning of the love story. They're dancing the Charleston
in a contest and they start getting carried away and their friends decide to open the floor to the
pool. They fall in, but then everyone decides it's a fun thing and all jumps in after them.
The teachers, everybody jumps in. And It's a Wonderful Life was filmed on studio,
obviously, but I understand Encino as well. Yeah, well Encino, they had their big ranch.
Every studio had a big ranch. Yes, RKO. And so they had an outdoor ranch, but they wanted even
more. It'd be like a three block long city that they built in the middle of the summer in Encino
where, you know, it's winter. They're wearing winter coats and filming, you know, with fake
snow coming down while they're filming. And you are an expert on just how Hollywood has affected
our image of the holidays. So talk a little bit about that. Well, I mean, Hollywood indirectly
and directly have affected how we view the holidays and movies in particular, you know,
family gatherings, how you decorate. Same way with still photos of about showing sort of the styles
of from regular Christmas trees to the 60s aluminum trees. The Hollywood Christmas Parade. Yes. Tell me
a little bit about that, how that evolved and what that is continues to this day. Well, it started
for selling to these marketing people. I mean, I'm telling you, nothing's changed. No. Hollywood,
you know, came about late teens. Every other studio started moving here. Well, Hollywood Boulevard
became the most fashionable place to shop. There were upscale department stores, boutiques. Well,
by the end of the 20s, now we've got neighborhoods around L.A. that are coming up. People don't need
to come to Hollywood. They can shop in their neighborhoods. So this was to promote shopping.
Colonel Harry Bane, he was president of the Chamber of Commerce and had been reading about
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. And so it helped promote shopping, you know, come to Macy's or
whatever. Now it's your time to buy Christmas gifts. So they started the parade that first year.
It was Jeanette Loft, an actress, Santa Claus with one reindeer pulling them in a little sleigh down
Hollywood Boulevard for a couple of blocks and like two floats. But it quickly mushroomed after
that. And now it's, remind me, it's on Thanksgiving. It's the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
Sunday after Thanksgiving. And it always has like a celebrity grand marshal. Supposedly the song
Here Comes Santa Claus comes from because in, I think it was 46 also, Jean Autry was the grand
marshal. And you heard kids going, here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus. Right down
Santa Claus Lane. So he wrote the song because of that. So yeah, so that came out of the parade.
Well, Mary Mallory, this is incredible in terms of how the holidays have impacted
California and more particularly Hollywood. Yeah. Thanks for being with us. Oh, well,
thank you for having me. And that's this episode. Remember to like us on Facebook,
subscribe to our YouTube channel and tell us why you're the best in California. We'll come cover you.
