almost ENTERTAINMENT: 2024

ZUZU’S PETALS.

“A man down on Earth needs our help.”

“Splendid. Is he sick?”

“No. Worse. He’s discouraged.”

And so begins “It’s a Wonderful Life”. The movie goes on to show what leads the character of George Bailey (played by Jimmy Stewart) to believe that the only solution to the trouble and pain he’s caused and feels is to kill himself. But when he’s given the gift of a new perspective on his life, it saves just that - his life.

In July of 1946, an actress named Karolyn Grimes filmed her scenes for “It’s a Wonderful Life”, playing the role of George’s daughter, Zuzu Bailey. She was six years old and has six minutes of screen time. On the evening of December 24th of that same year, she attended the premiere and fell asleep.

When Karolyn was 14 her mother died of early-onset Alzheimer’s. A year later her father was killed in a car accident. He left no will, so her fate fell to the courts. When she asked the judge if she had any say in who she went to live with he replied, “Your desires are like a drop in the bucket.”

Her father’s brother and his wife were granted custody and took Karolyn to Missouri. They were extremely cruel and abusive to her. When she turned 18 she escaped by getting married.

She and her husband had two children. Then they got divorced. Then he was killed in a hunting accident. Then she married a man named Mike. They had two children together and Karolyn became stepmother to Mike’s three kids from a prior marriage.

Karolyn watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” for the first time in 1980 when she was 40 years old. It excited her.

In 1989, Karolyn's youngest son, who she’s described as being shy and sensitive, committed suicide. He’d never seen “It’s a Wonderful Life”. She wishes he had.

A year later she was invited to the Chaplin Award Gala where Jimmy Stewart was going to be honoured. She went. She and Stewart got to speak for the first time as adults. They discussed the death of their sons, as Stewart’s died in the Vietnam War.

After 25 years of marriage, Mike died of cancer. Karolyn believes the real cause of death, however, was their son’s suicide: “Something about that did something to him.”

In 1993, Karolyn partook in Target’s cross-country Christmas campaign. She was joined by Carol Coombs, Larry Simms and Jimmy Hawkins; her onscreen siblings who played the other Bailey children in “It’s a Wonderful Life”. While on tour Karolyn discovered just how much the movie means to so many. She told The Hollywood Reporter, “People came through the line for autographs and they talked about considering taking their own lives, and how they watched the movie and it saved them.” So she’s spent her life since then spreading the movie’s message and embracing the profound fandom. “When I’m on the road talking to people and working with them, I feel like I’m doing something good. And it heals you.”

Since 1995, Seneca Falls (a Bedford Falls-like hamlet in upstate New York) has held a four day “It’s a Wonderful Life” festival in December. Karolyn hosts it every year. And this year, for the first time, one of Karolyn’s daughters joined her at the festival. She brought along Karolyn’s granddaughter, whose name is Bailey.

Happy Holidays.

(If you or someone you know is suffering: the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention's website - suicideprevention.ca - and the Canadian Suicide Crisis Helpline's website - 988.ca - are good places to start. If you are anywhere else in the world, I encourage you to look up similar resources... or... type the sentence you're most scared to say, the question you don't know how to ask and/or the feeling you're hiding the most into Google and press 'search'. And, if at all possible, watch “It’s a Wonderful Life”.)