Picturing a new ‘wonderful life’ for the Baileys

At a crucial point in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” George Bailey and angel Clarence Odbody review how life in Bedford Falls would be without Jimmy Stewart’s character.

Had George not saved his brother, Harry Bailey would not have saved the transport ship in World War II.

And Uncle Billy? He would reside in the Pottersville State Hospital without employment at the Bailey Building & Loan. Poor pharmacist Mr. Gower would accidentally poison someone and spend his remaining years in the Pottersville Penitentiary.

But there’s something worse.

Oh, the humanity.

George Bailey shakes the angel Clarence and says, “Where’s Mary? ... Tell me where my wife is.”

Clarence says sternly, “You’re not gonna like it, George.”

I am married to a retired librarian, a man with three college degrees who spent more than 30 years at a university and holds emeritus status as a full professor. So this point in the film makes me apoplectic with its stereotypical, awful portrayal of Mary’s fate as worse than death.

When the angel tells George, “She’s just about to close up the library,” the camera switches to a scene of poor spinster Mary Hatch without makeup.

The background music turns into something dire. Now we see frail, delicate Mary Hatch, wearing tiny wire-framed glasses, sensible shoes and a severe hairdo. Clarence, the angel, reveals to George that Mary is closing up the library. George rushes to Mary’s side, and she is horrified and assumes he’s about to make advances.

Consider how “It’s a Wonderful Life” might have turned out differently if Mary were a librarian and married George.

Mary Hatch Bailey is the film’s unsung hero, even as it is written. When Black Friday hits the Bailey Building & Loan, Mary thrusts up their honeymoon stash as patrons demand their money.

The film was made in the 1940s, and despite Rosie the Riveter, and a host of women caring for families while their husbands served abroad, women’s roles are still underplayed. If Mary had a regular paycheck from the library, the Baileys’ financial situation might be stable. The Carnegie Foundation endowed most libraries in that era, and city governments kept them open and paid librarians.

With two incomes, they mightn’t have had to start married life in that leaky rat trap. Ma Bailey could earn money to babysit the kids while Mary and George worked. George could go to the library, get a home repair book and fix that old house.

Had George not felt so pressured, he might have taken the old suitcase out of the attic and taken Mary to Europe.

Of course, that’s not Frank Capra’s reality in this film. George runs back across the bridge and realizes he did indeed “have a wonderful life.”

Bully for George, but let’s not forget the heroine of this story, without whom George’s wonderful life would be vastly different.

Join me in a flaming rum punch to contemplate a new ending.

Amy Mcvay Abbott is a freelance journalist and author in southern Indiana. This column first published in the Louisville Courier-journal.