Donna Reed’s hometown pays homage to her most popular movie. Photo: Snyder & Associates
A couple of years ago, when Iowa celebrated both the 100th anniversary of Donna Reed’s birthday (1921) and the 75th anniversary of the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946), the State Historical Society of Iowa and Produce Iowa, the state film office, teamed up to commemorate the story and its Iowan star, who grew up in Denison.
Along with museum exhibits and special screenings in her hometown and Des Moines, the historical society’s “Iowa History 101” series invited State Curator Leo Landis and Christopher Wilson from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History to explain why the movie has become a holiday tradition and a feel-good Hollywood tale of redemption. They also took a look at the historical context in which the movie was produced, with insights about the 1918-1919 Spanish Flu pandemic, the Great Depression, race relations and competing ideas about capitalism and socialism.
So before you re-watch the movie this season, why not learn a bit of its back story? You can watch a recording of the 60-minute history lesson online.
