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The surprising Jersey roots of 'It's a Wonderful Life'

Updated 8:07 AM; Posted 8:07 AM
By Kelly Heyboer NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Was George Bailey really a Jersey guy?

Though you won't see many clues when "It's a Wonderful Life" gets its traditional airing on NBC this Christmas Eve, the beloved holiday movie has deep New Jersey roots.

The classic film got its unlikely start as a humble Christmas card sent by a Rutgers University graduate. And its fictional Bedford Falls setting was actually inspired by a small town in Hunterdon County with an iron bridge that became a focal point of the movie.

Philip Van Doren Stern, a history writer who grew up in Jersey City, woke up one morning near the end of the Great Depression with the idea for a story about a suicidal man who is stopped from jumping off a bridge by a guardian angel who shows him the true joy of living.

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Stern was born in Wyalusing, Pa., but grew up mostly in New Jersey. He went to grammar school and high school in Jersey City, graduated from Rutgers and started his career working in Newark.

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