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Mary and Jack talk about the movie they’ve just seen as they window shop. Martha and Emilie, 2 old biddies stand in the distance to gossip about Jack and Mary, making catty remarks about the comedy couple. They come across Frank Capra, director of It’s a Wonderful Life, and Jack shares that he thinks the concept seemed corny to him. Will Jack be able to pitch the idea to put him in one of Frank’s feature films as the leading man?
Some travelling music finds Jack at home to talk to Rochester. After a near miss in the bathroom with taking poison, Jack gets a visit from Victor Moore, his guardian angel. The angel takes Jack on a journey to the May company to show what Mary’s life might be like without him. Discovering that she’s married to Frank Nelson the usual floor walker, Jack takes a look at Dennis Day and his success as Fred Allen’s tenor. Will Fred Allen recognize him, a man who is loved by all, including his sponsors.
Travelling to visit Don Wilson, Jack finds him and the Sportsmen happily singing on the old Kentucky tobacco plantation.
Will Jack be convinced yet? There’s just one more place to visit. Descending a stairwell that’s reminiscent of Jack’s vault Phil Harris is found in a seedy night club in Nashville. Instead of being married to Alice Faye, Phil is married to Jack’s girlfriend, Gladys Nabisco. How will Jack’s experience end up? Will he return to his normal life?
PS: An interesting moment takes place in the opening scenes with Mary hinting Jack ought to buy her an engagement ring. They were really married, of course, but in the shows her character was little more than a bickering friend. She started out in the early years as his dumb girlfriend in the show, and in later years her character seemed to mellow over time, it’s only rare moments like this that hint otherwise.
You may recognize his voice, Victor Moore was the original angel in the movie, it’s a Wonderful Life, as well as being a comedian on many other radio shows, films, and vaudeville.
