IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
	La sceneggiatura	I suoni	Jimmy Stewart	La gallery

LA SCENEGGIATURA

INTERIOR GEORGE'S LIVING ROOM –– NIGHT

CLOSE SHOT –– Janie (aged eight) is seated at the piano playing "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing," which she practices during the remainder of this scene. There is a Christmas tree all decorated near the fireplace. At a large table Mary is busy putting cellophane bows and decorations on gift packages. At a small table Pete (aged nine) is seated with pad and pencil in the throes of composition. On the floor Tommy (aged three) is playing with a toy vacuum cleaner. We hear the SOUND of a door open and close. Mary turns and sees George enter the hall, a slight powdering of snow on his head and shoulders.

INTERIOR HALL –– NIGHT

CLOSE SHOT –– As George comes into the house.

MARY: Hello darling.

CHILDREN: Hello Daddy, hello daddy.

MARY (indicating tree): How do you like it?

George sneezes violently.

MARY AND CHILDREN: Bless you!

MARY: Did you bring the wreath?

PETE: Did you bring the Christmas wreath?

GEORGE: What? What wreath?

MARY: The Merry Christmas wreath for the window.

GEORGE (gruffly): No. I left it at the office.

MARY: Is it snowing?

GEORGE: Yeah, just started.

MARY: Where's your coat and hat?

GEORGE: Left them at the office.

Mary stares at him, aware that something unusual has happened.

MARY: What's the matter?

GEORGE (bitterly): Nothing's the matter. Everything's all right.

INTERIOR LIVING ROOM –– NIGHT

CLOSE SHOT –– George slumps into an armchair and lifts Tommy onto his lap. Mary is helping Pete decorate the Christmas tree.

MARY: Go on, Pete, you're a big boy. you can put the star up. Way up at the top. That's it. Fill in that little bare spot right there. That's it.
(to George)
Isn't it wonderful about Harry? We're famous, George. I'll bet I had fifty calls today about the parade, the banquet. Your mother's so excited, she . . .

During this scene, George has been sitting in the chair, hugging Tommy to him, and crying quietly. Mary realizes that something is seriously wrong, and breaks off. Janie is thumping away at the piano.

GEORGE: Must she keep playing that?

JANIE (hurt): I have to practice for the party tonight, Daddy.

PETE: Mommy says we can stay up till midnight and sing Christmas carols.

TOMMY: Can you sing, Daddy?

MARY (to George): Better hurry and shave. The families will be here soon.

GEORGE (rising from chair): Families! I don't want the families over here!

Mary leads him out toward the kitchen.

MARY: Come on out in the kitchen with me while I finish dinner.

They exit with Tommy hanging onto George's coat-tails, and pulling at him. CAMERA PANS WITH them.

TOMMY: Excuse me . . . excuse me . . .

INTERIOR HALL –– NIGHT

CLOSE SHOT –– as they go toward kitchen.

MARY: Have a hectic day?

GEORGE (bitterly): Oh, yeah, another big red letter day for the Baileys.

PETE: Daddy, the Browns next door have a new car. You should see it.

GEORGE (turns on him): Well, what's the matter with our car? Isn't it good enough for you?

PETE: Yes, Daddy.

TOMMY (tugging at coat): Excuse me, excuse me . . .

INTERIOR KITCHEN –– NIGHT

CLOSE SHOT –– They come through the door.

GEORGE (annoyed): Excuse you for what?

TOMMY: I burped!

MARY: All right, darling, you're excused. Now go upstairs and see what little Zuzu wants.

Tommy leaves, and Mary turns to the stove.

GEORGE: Zuzu! What's the matter with Zuzu?

MARY: Oh, she's got a cold. She's in bed. Caught it coming home from school. They gave her a flower for a prize and she didn't want to crush it so she didn't button up her coat.

GEORGE: What is it, a sore throat or what?

MARY: Just a cold. The doctor says it's nothing serious.

GEORGE: The doctor? Was the doctor here?

MARY: Yes, I called him right away. He says it's nothing to worry about.

GEORGE: Is she running a temperature? What is it?

MARY: Just a teensie one –– ninety-nine, six. She'll be all right.

George paces about the kitchen, worried.

GEORGE: Gosh, it's this old house. I don't know why we don't all have pneumonia. This drafty old barn! Might as well be living in a refrigerator. Why did we have to live here in the first place and stay around this measly, crummy old town?

MARY (worried): George, what's wrong?

GEORGE: Wrong? Everything's wrong! You call this a happy family? Why did we have to have all these kids?

PETE (coming in): Dad, how do you spell "frankincense"?

GEORGE (shouts): I don't know. Ask your mother.

George goes toward doorway.

MARY: Where're you going?

GEORGE: Going up to see Zuzu.

We hear his footsteps as he leaves. Mary looks after him, puzzled and concerned, then comes over to Pete.

PETE: He told me to write a play for tonight.

MARY: F-R-A-N-K-I-N . . .

INTERIOR HALL –– NIGHT

MEDIUM CLOSE SHOT –– George starts up the stairs. The knob on the banister comes off in his hand, and for a moment he has an impulse to hurl it into the living room. Then, he replaces the knob, and goes on up the stairs.

INTERIOR ZUZU'S BEDROOM –– NIGHT

FULL SHOT –– The SOUND of Janie at the piano can be heard, the same monotonous rhythm over and over. Zuzu (aged six) is sitting up in her bed, the lamp burning beside her. She is holding her prize flower. George tiptoes in. Then, as he sees she's awake, he comes over, sitting on the edge of her bed.

ZUZU: Hi, Daddy.

GEORGE: Well, what happened to you?

ZUZU: I won a flower.

She starts to get out of bed.

GEORGE: Wait now. Where do you think you're going?

ZUZU: Want to give my flower a drink.

GEORGE: All right, all right. Here, give Daddy the flower. I'll give it a drink.

She shakes her head and presses the flower to her. A few petals fall off. She picks them up.

ZUZU: Look, Daddy . . . paste it.

GEORGE: Yeah, all right. Now, I'll paste this together.

She hands him the fallen petals and the flower. He turns his back to Zuzu, pretending to be tinkering with the flower. He sticks the fallen petals in his watch pocket, rearranges the flower, and then turns back to Zuzu.

GEORGE: There it is, good as new.

ZUZU: Give the flower a drink.

George puts the flower in a glass of water on the table beside her bed.

GEORGE: Now, will you do something for me?

CLOSE-UP –– George and Zuzu. They whisper.

ZUZU: What?

GEORGE: Will you try to get some sleep?

ZUZU: I'm not sleepy. I want to look at my flower.

GEORGE: I know –– I know, but you just go to sleep, and then you can dream about it, and it'll be a whole garden.

ZUZU: It will?

GEORGE: Uh-huh.

She closes her eyes and relaxes on the bed. George pulls the covers over her. He bends down and his lips touch a tendril of the child's hair. Then he gets up and tiptoes out of the room.

INTERIOR LIVING ROOM –– NIGHT

CLOSE SHOT –– Janie is still pounding with grim determination at the piano. Pete is seated at the table writing. Tommy is playing with his toy vacuum cleaner. The telephone rings.

JANIE AND PETE: Telephone.

INTERIOR LIVING ROOM –– NIGHT

CLOSE SHOT –– Mary comes in and picks up the phone.

MARY: I'll get it.
(on phone) Hello. Yes, this is Mrs. Bailey.

George enters shot, and stands listening to her.

MARY (cont'd): Oh, thank you, Mrs. Welch. I'm sure she'll be all right. The doctor says that she ought to be out of bed in time to have her Christmas dinner.

GEORGE: Is that Zuzu's teacher?

MARY (hand over receiver): Yes.

GEORGE: Let me speak to her.

He snatches the phone from Mary.

GEORGE (cont'd)
(on phone): Hello. Hello, Mrs. Welch? This is George Bailey. I'm Zuzu's father. Say, what kind of a teacher are you anyway? What do you mean sending her home like that, half-naked? Do you realize she'll probably end up with pneumonia on account of you?

MARY (shocked): George!

She puts a restraining hand on his arm. He shakes it off. She cannot know that George's tirade against Mrs. Welch is really a tirade against the world, against life itself, against God. Over the phone we hear Mrs. Welch's voice sputtering with protest.

GEORGE: Is this the sort of thing we pay taxes for –– to have teachers like you? Silly, stupid, careless people who send our kids home without any clothes on? You know, maybe my kids aren't the best-dressed kids; maybe they don't have any decent clothes . . .

Mary succeeds in wresting the phone from George's hand.

GEORGE (cont'd): Aw, that stupid . . .

Mary speaks quickly in to the phone.

MARY: Hello, Mrs. Welch. I want to apologize . . . hello . . . hello . . .
(to George)
She's hung up.

GEORGE (savagely): I'll hang her up!

But the telephone is suddenly alive with a powerful male voice calling:

MR. WELCH'S VOICE: Now, who do you think you are?

George hears this and grabs the receiver from Mary.

GEORGE (to Mary): Wait a minute.
(on phone) Hello? Who is this? Oh, Mr. Welch? Okay, that's fine, Mr. Welch. Gives me a chance to tell you what I really think of your wife.

Mary once more tries to take the phone from him.

MARY: George . . .

GEORGE (raving at her): Will you get out and let me handle this?
(into phone –– shouting): Hello? Hello? What? Oh, you will, huh? Okay, Mr. Welch, any time you think you're man enough . . . Hello? Any . . .

But before he can think of an insult to top Welch's, we hear a click on the phone.

GEORGE: Oh . . .

He hangs up the receiver, and turns toward the living room. His face is flushed and wet.

PETE: Daddy, how do you spell "Hallelujah"?

GEORGE (shouts): How should I know? What do you think I am, a dictionary?

He yells at Tommy, noisily playing with his vacuum cleaner.

GEORGE (cont'd): Tommy, stop that! Stop it!

Janie is still practicing at the piano, monotonously.

GEORGE (cont'd)
(savagely) Janie, haven't you learned that silly tune yet? You've played it over and over again. Now stop it! Stop it!

INTERIOR LIVING ROOM –– NIGHT

CLOSE SHOT –– The room has suddenly become ominously quiet, the only SOUND being George's labored breathing. George goes over to a corner of the room where his workshop is set up –– a drawing table, several models of modern buildings, bridges, etc. Savagely he kicks over the models, picks up some books and hurls them into the corner. Mary and the children watch, horrified. George looks around and sees them staring at him as if he were some unknown wild animal. The three children are crying.

GEORGE (gasping for breath): I'm sorry, Mary, Janie. I'm sorry. I didn't mean . . . you go on and practice. Pete, I owe you an apology, too. I'm sorry. What do you want to know?

PETE (holding back his tears): Nothing, Daddy.

Mary and the children stare at him, stunned by his furious outburst. There is silence in the room.

GEORGE: What's the matter with everybody? Janie, go on. I told you to practice.
(shouts) Now, go on, play!

Janie breaks into sobs.

JANIE: Oh, Daddy . . .

MARY (in an outburst): George, why must you torture the children? Why don't you . . .

The sight of Mary and the children suffering is too much for George.

GEORGE: Mary . . .

He looks around him, then quickly goes out the front door of the house. Mary goes to the phone, picks it up.

MARY: Bedford, two-four-seven, please.

PETE: Is Daddy in trouble?

JANIE: Shall I pray for him?

MARY: Yes, Janie, pray very hard.

TOMMY: Me, too?

MARY: You too, Tommy.
(on phone)
Hello, Uncle Billy?