Most of us know that Frank Capra directed “It’s a Wonderful Life,” arguably the favorite Christmas movie of our generation. But how many of us know that Capra, whose films are the subject of next week’s CCA, spent two days at Hillsdale College during the spring semester of 1974?
Dr. James Juroe, former professor of English at Hillsdale College who retired in 2001, taught a course on film history arranged for Capra’s visit, which consisted of two discussion sessions and showing two movies he directed: “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” on one night, and “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” on the other.
“He raises our eyes to the heavens instead of to the gutter,” Juroe said.
Juroe said he thought highly of Capra because his movies won a lot of Academy Awards, including three for best director. His 1935 comedy, “It Happened One Night,” swept the major Academy Awards: best picture, best director, best actor, best actress, and best screenplay. That achievement has only been duplicated twice: by “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in 1976 and by “The Silence of the Lambs” in 1992.
Besides that, Capra made the cover of Time magazine in 1938. At the 1959 Directors Guild of America Awards Dinner, his fellow directors honored him with their highest tribute: the D.W. Griffith Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding contribution to the film director’s art.
According to Juroe, when the students heard that one the greatest filmmakers of the 1930s and the 1940s was on campus, they wanted to talk to him about his movies and what he thought of current motion pictures. He spent a lot of time in the Old Snack Bar so that he could talk to them informally.
During the discussion sessions, Capra, an Italian immigrant born in 1897, spoke about his contribution to World War II. He had made seven documentary films for the United States Army.
Entitled “Why We Fight,” the series explained to the soldiers the principles for which they were defending our nation.
The series was effective. The U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, along with British, Canadians, Australians, and New Zealanders also used them as training films for their armed forces.
Winston Churchill ordered the whole series to be shown to the British public in theaters. The Russians showed one of the films, the “Battle of Russia,” in all their theaters.
At the end of the war, Capra received the Distinguished Silver Medal, the highest award that the U.S. Army can bestow on anyone outside of actual combat.
Before he left Hillsdale, Capra, who died in 1991, donated to the college library several copies of his 1971 best-selling autobiography, The Name Above the Title. They are still there.
Capra won the hearts of the students.
“He was as genuine, vital, and energetic as the movies he made,” Juroe said. “He was the delight of the campus.”
Steve Casai serves as head checker and cashier at the Knorr Family Dining Room.