Just the other day, I watched him move across the screen with his good pal, a six-foot rabbit named Harvey. Elwood P. Dowd was about as lovable as they come. Not to mention the friendly rabbit. Harvey was a Pooka, it seems. Elwood told us that rabbit was a “benign but mischievous creature” from Celtic to mythology.
As such, Elwood spent most of his time taking Harvey around town, drinking at various bars, and introducing Harvey to almost every person he met. It didn’t take long until that big rabbit started showing himself to a few good people about town.
I love that movie. A great big shout-out to the make-believe. Or is it?
To the man behind that character. Jimmy Stewart is one of my all-time favorite actors, by far. Born James Maitland Stewart, on this date May 20, 1908. He hailed from a little town called Indiana, Pennsylvania. Boy, oh boy, would that ever mix me up.
Anyway. What an actor he was. I can’t think of too many of his movies that I didn’t absolutely love. But he was so much more than an actor. Few people realized that he graduated from Princeton University in 1932 with a degree in architecture.
He became part of the University Players, a summer acting company in Falmouth, Massachusetts, during his time there. And guess who he met? None other than Henry Fonda. They hit it off, and the two became lifelong friends despite opposing political views.
Stewart started his career doing a bit on Broadway about Carrie Nation. Well, the thing was a flop, but Jimmy got praise from the New York critics despite the terrible play. And that attention garnered him a motion-picture contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1934. His film debut placed him in The Murder Man (1935) with Spencer Tracy.
But MGM seemed to have a problem typecasting Stewart because of his slow speech and easy-going manner, even though the public liked him. So MGM loaned him out to Columbia for two Frank Capra films. They were: You Can’t Take It with You (1938) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). Well, Mr. Smith gave him his first Academy Award nomination. One year later, he won an Oscar for The Philadelphia Story (1940).
And that was just about the time things were really heating up in Europe, with Hitler’s Nazi Regime trying to overtake the world. Stewart enlisted in the U.S. Army in March 1941. He was already an avid pilot, so they put him right into Air Corps when he signed up for the army. That good Jimmy logged more than 1,800 hours of flight time in some 20 bomber missions during the war.
By the end of the war, he had risen to the rank of colonel. He had a ton of honors, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, and the Croix de Guerre. But here is the thing I didn’t know. He stayed in the army reserves until 1968 and was promoted to brigadier general in 1959.
The movie most people remember him for was his first film after the war. Who could ever forget It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)? George Bailey. That movie gave him his third Oscar nomination. The movie has become one of the most beloved films in history. It is ranked 11th on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest movies of all time.
There’s much more about James Stewart, but in the end, he left the world after 89 years.
Back to the movie, Harvey. Elwood convincingly insists that he always had an invisible six-foot-tall rabbit by his side. Because of this, that quirky middle-aged man was thought to be insane. But as it turns out, old Elwood, and Harvey, may be wiser than anyone knows.
I think it is a good lesson for the all of us. When we are born, we believe in the magic. We sing. We dance and play. We draw and invent. And then someone comes along. Someone with a dark and dusty lamp inside them, where there once was a glowing white light. And they tell us, “It’s nonsense. It’s foolish. It is time for you to grow up.”
And Harvey disappears for good, along with the Queen of Hearts, and all the things on Mulberry Street.
Today, perhaps, we can look them up. Once again. Like magic.
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“Alice laughed. ‘There’s no use trying,’ she said: ‘one can’t believe impossible things.’
‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.‘”
— Lewis Carroll
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“The world calls them its singers and poets and artists and storytellers; but they are just people who have never forgotten the way to fairyland.”
— L. M. Montgomery
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“All those NUPBOARDS in the CUPBOARDS they’re good fun to have about. But that NOOTH GUSH on my TOOTH BRUSH…Him I could do without.”
— Dr. Seuss
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Jimmy. Harvey. Magic, I tell you. Magic.
