So my friends at the Acton Institute were eager for me to send them some thoughts on American Christmas, on the artists & movies that moved generations of Americans to tears & joy, & the changes society has undergone. America is a democracy, we prefer middlebrow art, which all can enjoy & some can dwell on to learn about the great continent-spanning people beyond our small groups of family & friends. Artists used to understand this & I think they loved America, so that even when they had criticism to offer, they were respectful & even hopeful. Enjoy, in four parts, some thoughts on this older America’s charms:
The Bishop’s Wife, a 1947 picture starring Cary Grant as an angel, the most obvious casting idea in Hollywood history, only done the one time. Cary saves Christmas by reminding a bishop’s wife of life’s joy & thus reminding her bishop husband that God’s greatness must include joy, not only a moral duty. Christmas is a time of gifts, not toil.
The Shop Around The Corner, a 1940 Jimmy Stewart picture by the subtlest comedian in Hollywood, Ernst Lubitsch. Stewart saves Christmas for a rather unhappy group of his fellow workers under a paternal employer by his combination of honesty & romance, a loyalty much needed & much endangered by commerce.
Christmas In Connecticut, a 1945 screwball comedy starring the lovely Barbara Stanwyck. This time Christmas needs saving because America is changing into a modern world of career women & returning veterans who are more used to living alone than having a family; Christmas is already advertising nostalgia for them & getting it back depends on love, marriage, & the help of faithful older friends.
Finally, Miracle On 34th St., the most famous of them all, also a 1947 picture, starring the Santa, Edmund Gwenn (as well as Maureen O’Hara & a young Natalie Wood). Christmas on trial turned out to be prophetic of our times, so perhaps we can look at these fairy tales with the minds of adults now!
As a bonus—all four were remade in the 90s rather successfully, by Nora Ephron, Penny Marshall, Arnold Schwarzenegger, & John Hughes, in a way that shows a return of American innocence, but also a failure of artistic nerve. Perhaps something of that spirit is again returning & it would be good to think about the artistry needed to do something other than entertaining Americans—to help the people see themselves. Christmas certainly needs saving in our time as well.
Happy Christmas—there’ll be a bonus next week!