Maj. Jimmy Stewart talking with the crew of a B-24 named "Betty." Photo courtesy Library of Congress

No movie is more closely associated with the Christmas season than It’s a Wonderful Life. For many people, it is the essential holiday movie, and the role they most closely associate with Jimmy Stewart.

In many ways, Stewart was very much like the character of George Bailey—the congenial, folksy manager of the Bailey Building and Loan Association. But there was far more depth to the actor than his movie roles suggested, as Post readers learned in December 1945. “Jimmy Stewart’s Finest Performance,” written by Colonel Beirne Lay Jr., showed a side of the actor that had been largely kept out of the press: Colonel James Stewart of the 445th Bomber Group.

Despite being overage and underweight, Stewart was able to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1941 on the strength of his flying experience. He’d received his pilot’s license in 1935, and already had 400 hours of flying time by the beginning of the war.

The armed forces were glad to sign up celebrities. Young men were encouraged to enlist when they saw famous musicians and movie stars in uniform. But the military was careful to keep the big names away from the shooting. A celebrity killed in action might discourage potential recruits. So movies stars, like Robert Taylor, Henry Fonda, and Mickey Rooney, served in uniform but saw little, if any, combat.

Clark Gable was one of the few exceptions. After enlisting in the Air Force, and completing the training, he served as a gunner on missions over Germany in a B-17.

The odds were against Stewart ever seeing combat. He was a particularly valuable property, having just won the Oscar for Best Actor after his performance in The Philadelphia Story. But Stewart was determined to fly in combat, and continued his training throughout 1942. It was only when the rest of his training unit shipped to Europe and he remained as a trainer-pilot in Boise, Idaho, that he realized the truth.

The Big Moment: As operations officer at a B-24 Liberator base in England, the then Major Stewart distributes the flight forms to heavy-bomber pilots for the all-important D-Day mission. Photo courtesy The Saturday Evening Post.

Fortunately, he was able to get his commander to intercede and get him a commission with a bomber group flying B-24s. In October 1943, his unit arrived at its airfield in Norfolk, England. Over the next year, he flew 20 missions into Germany, dodging intense anti-aircraft fire and Luftwaffe fighter planes in the most intense, and costly, air combat ever seen.

According to several accounts, Stewart wasn’t just a good pilot. He was exceptional. The Air Corps, recognizing his flying skill and ability to command, gave him the lead in several of the 1,500-plane raids into Germany. He helped plan the bombing missions and often conducted the briefings for pilots, where he would use his skills as a performer to liven up the sessions and keep the aviators’ attention. Walter Matthau, then a sergeant with the squadron, would sit through Stewart’s briefing because they were so entertaining.

He was also careful and meticulous. He would sit through briefings twice to make sure he had heard all the details.

Just back from Germany, Stewart reports on the mission. Photo courtesy The Saturday Evening Post.

But he wasn’t immune to the fears. Colonel Low knew how the pressure mounted on the pilot-actor with each mission. Stewart began suffering from recurring nightmares, and his digestion was so upset he often lived on just ice cream and peanut butter.

He admitted to Low that, in February 1944, he was convinced he would die in the next day’s bombing run. But he took off anyway, fought his way deep into Germany and returned, bringing himself and his crew unharmed back to the base.

He returned to Hollywood in the spring of 1945. The first acting job he accepted was the role of George Bailey—a nice, idealistic guy who selflessly puts his life on hold while he takes care of others.

You might gain a new appreciation for Stewart’s acting talent the next time you watch It’s a Wonderful Life and remember, one year earlier, he was flying through fierce anti-aircraft fire and seeing his comrades shot out of the sky. Yet he still seems the boyish character he’d always played. You can’t even tell how his hair had been tinted to cover all the gray he’d picked up since The Philadelphia Story.

Jimmy Stewart’s Finest Performance The Saturday Evening Post

Spring 1977

by Rembrandt Peale
The Country Gentleman
Spring 1977

By kind permission of Coe Kerr Gallery in 1977, we were able to reproduce this painting by Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860). It was of his brother, Ruebens (do you think the parents might have been art buffs?) and shows him here “with the first geranium brought to America in 1801.” The editors further informed us that “the Peales ran what amounted to a portrait factory where they painted Indians, patriots, still lifes, landscapes, miniatures and themselves–in great abundance.” And apparently with exquisite skill.

June 1953

by Robert Addison
The Country Gentleman
June 1953

Since it was a magazine for farmers, Country Gentleman covers were frequently of livestock or farm scenes. This peaceful June scene was in the heart of dairyland in Jefferson County, Wisconsin. The artist was Robert Addison. As serene and picturesque as it appeared here, this was a working dairy farm of 197 acres. But wait…I found a great painting of a movie star and a cover painted by a former President…

Winter 1976

White Church in the Country
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Winter 1976

From a peaceful summer scene to a peaceful winter scene – and can you see the artist’s signature? White Church in the Country was painted by Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1961 “amidst the stifling one-hundred-degree heat of the Palm Desert in California.” Eisenhower loved golf, but “daubing,” as he referred to his painting, was his second-favorite hobby. A very fine portrait of Eisenhower by Norman Rockwell appeared on a Saturday Evening Post cover in 1952. And speaking of Rockwell…

Spring 1979

by Norman Rockwell
The Country Gentleman
Spring 1979

This 1979 cover was a repeat – it originally appeared on Country Gentleman magazine in 1922. It was the result of a contest to find the most representative “Country Gent” salesboy. The winner got to pose for Norman Rockwell! “The response was overwhelming,” editors informed us. “500,000 young entrepreneurs mailed in their photos, and one George Hamilton of Binghampton, New York, was chosen as the lucky model.” George’s mother had sent a photo of him holding four fox terriers. “Never mind that the puppies had somehow switched their breed…to beagles,” the editors noted, “for Norman Rockwell transformed the ordinary into magic.” This we all well know.

Spring 1978

by Robert Abbett
The Country Gentleman
Spring 1978

What movie buff wouldn’t love this cover? The handsome cowboy, of course, is Jimmy Stewart. He was painted by artist Robert Abbett for the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. Stewart had great appreciation for the Hollywood Western. “It saved my career, after the war,” he is quoted as saying in this issue, “and everybody knows what it did for Gary Cooper and Duke Wayne. Naturally, I’m grateful.” And we’re grateful for such a beautiful way to remember a beloved actor.

Fall 1976

by George Stubbs
The Country Gentleman
Fall 1976

For a magazine named Country Gentleman, this must be the quintessential cover. Known as a “sporting painter,” George Stubbs (1724-1806) painted horses, dogs, hay wagons, and harvesting activities against the English countryside. This gem is called Sir John Nelthorpe Out Shooting.

Spring 1976

by Edward Hicks
The Country Gentleman
Spring 1976

Seems I’m always discovering a new artist. Okay, so this “new” artist was born in 1780, but renowned primitive painter Edward Hicks was new to me. This is a portion of a stunning painting of James Cornell’s Pennsylvania farm circa 1848 on an Indian summer day. The farm won a five-dollar prize for the “best cultivated farm over 100 acres,” which the editors informed us was “five years before the Genessee Farmer and The Cultivator combined to create the first Country Gentleman magazine.” Not as old as The Saturday Evening Post, but Country Gentleman sure went back a fer piece. If you hunger to see more Country Gentleman covers, or have a question about Saturday Evening Post covers, feel free to comment and let us know.

Classic Art: Forgotten Country Gentleman Covers The Saturday Evening Post