Additional Show Notes

⭐ The voice of Philip Van Doren Stern was played by Ray Nowosielski with the blessing of his granddaughters, based on words he spoke or wrote.  His talk of dreams and writing  was pulled from his unpublished work on Dreams, Creativity & the Unconscious Mind, provided by his granddaughters Laura, Perrine and Sarah.

⭐ And from his foreword to the short story collection he edited, The Moonlight Traveler: Great Tales of Fantasy and Imagination.  

⭐ And his accounts related to his short story on which Wonderful Life was based come from Philip’s words included by his daughter Marguerite Stern Robinson in her afterword to the edition she published of Philip’s The Greatest Gift: The Original Story That Inspired the Christmas Classic Its a Wonderful Life.  

⭐ Philip’s description of his “subject of democracy” meeting was paraphrased from his words as provided by his granddaughters.  

⭐ The voice of Edith H. Walton was played by Elizabeth Marcus, based on words Edith wrote in her New York Times Drums of Mourning review.

⭐ The voice of Frank Capra was played by Mark Granby, grandnephew of Joseph Granby, the man who narrated Wonderful Life, based in part on Frank’s words over the years stated publicly, to reporters and in his autobiography The Name Above the Title and his quote of words written by Fra Giovanni, much of this collected by Jeanine Basinger during her incomparable work as long-time lead of the Frank Capra Archive at Wesleyan University and her The It’s a Wonderful Life Book.

⭐ The voice of David Goodrich, nephew of Frances Goodrich, was played by John Grimes, based on words he wrote for his book The Real Nick and Nora, for which he did much original research, and the voice of Frances Goodrich played by Tess Stalker, based on words she said as found by David for his book. 

⭐ The voice of the Hollywood news reporter was played by ML Rutledge, stating words from a 1946 news story about the Wonderful Life Ambassador Hotel party, as collected by Jeanine Basinger.

⭐ The voice of on scene reporter for that party was played by Ray Nowosielski, stating words spoken by an unknown 1946 on-scene reporter, as collected by Jeanine.

⭐ The voice of Virginia McPherson was played by Mallory Keenoy from words Virginia wrote for her syndicated “Lets Gossip” column.

⭐ Some original research provided by Mark Harris, who did it for his book and limited documentary series Five Came Back.

⭐ Some original research provided by Philip Van Doren Stern’s granddaughters Laura, Perrine and Sarah and their The Greatest Gift Corporation, based in part on original research done by their mother Marguerite, and thanks to their attorney Kevin Koloff.

⭐ Check out Philip Van Doren Stern’s books, especially The Drums of Morning, An End to Valor, The Annotated Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The Life and Writings of Abraham Lincoln, The Man Who Killed Lincoln, The Secret Missions of the Civil War, Communications in the Civil War, The Confederate, Prologue to Sumter, Robert E Lee The Man and The Soldier, Henry David Thoreau Writer & Rebel, The Annotated Walden, PreHistoric Europe from the Stone Age to the Modern Greeks and Philip’s works of science fiction and fantasy.