Episode 4
Jimmy Stewart - Visiting his hometown and the Jimmy Stewart Museum
🎙 Attention: These new shirts may cause history-inspired travel
Have you ever watched "It's a Wonderful Life" at Christmas time? If you have then you will probably love this episode of Talk With History.
Jenn and Scott talk about visiting Indiana, Pennsylvania...not only the Christmas Tree capital of the world...but also Jimmy Stewart's hometown! Jimmy grew up here and visited his childhood home all throughout his life, including through his Hollywood career years.
Of course, we had to visit the Jimmy Stewart Museum and it was such an amazing view into the man that brought so much entertainment to the world through his movie career (although we are bummed we didn't get to see it at Christmas time).
Join us on this journey through his hometown and share this with other Jimmy Stewart and history fans!
1. Jimmy Stewart - Visiting his hometown
2. Virtual Tour of the Jimmy Stewart Museum
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Transcript
[Music]
Speaker:greetings and welcome back to the talk
Speaker:with History Podcast I'm your host Scott
Speaker:I'm here with my wife and historian Jen
Speaker:on this podcast we talk about history's
Speaker:continuing impact on all of us today
Speaker:as well as our personal journey through
Speaker:YouTube as we explore record and share
Speaker:our history Walks With You The Listener
Speaker:so Jen what are we talking about today
Speaker:today we are going to talk about
Speaker:American Film institute's third greatest
Speaker:actor of all time James Maitland Stewart
Speaker:or as we would know him Jimmy Stewart
Speaker:all right so Jimmy Jimmy Stewart so tell
Speaker:me about well like why are we talking
Speaker:about Jimmy Stewart today well mostly
Speaker:because he's from Indiana Pennsylvania
Speaker:and we lived close enough to go visit
Speaker:his hometown so where where's Indiana it
Speaker:is in Western central Pennsylvania it's
Speaker:a small town of about
Speaker:thirteen thousand people
Speaker:close to Pittsburgh I'd say about an
Speaker:hour outside of Pittsburgh okay
Speaker:and so what what Drew you to
Speaker:going what what brought us out there as
Speaker:the walk with history YouTube channel to
Speaker:go to India no Scott I'm the host
Speaker:because if you don't know I'm playing
Speaker:koi my favorite movie of all time is
Speaker:It's a Wonderful Life I mean we even
Speaker:have the movie poster here in our house
Speaker:I'm looking at it right now it's my
Speaker:favorite it's not just my favorite
Speaker:Christmas movie it is my absolute
Speaker:favorite movie so I watch it every year
Speaker:and
Speaker:I wanted to I've always wanted to visit
Speaker:his hometown because he was born there
Speaker:he was raised there he came back and
Speaker:visited there his parents lived there
Speaker:their entire lives and so it was just
Speaker:some place he was very connected to
Speaker:and I just always wanted to go so so
Speaker:give me give me the the crayon version
Speaker:of who Jimmy Stewart is where he came
Speaker:from what he came up and became known
Speaker:for
Speaker:so Jimmy Stewart was just a a home a
Speaker:small town Western Pennsylvania boy he
Speaker:was born in 1908 in Indiana PA and his
Speaker:father owned the local hardware store
Speaker:and he was just a local boy and then he
Speaker:ended up going to Princeton for school
Speaker:and it was at Princeton
Speaker:that he got into the acting troupe and
Speaker:made friends with people like Henry
Speaker:Fonda and then made it over to LA to try
Speaker:acting and just got
Speaker:I would say lucky or blessed but gotten
Speaker:some really good movies early on yeah so
Speaker:what were some of those would people
Speaker:know some of those earlier sure one of
Speaker:his first movies was a Philadelphia
Speaker:Story and that's what he wants his Oscar
Speaker:is his only Oscar he went two Oscars in
Speaker:one of his earliest movies in one of his
Speaker:earliest movies oh wow and he um he won
Speaker:an honorary Oscar as well but the only
Speaker:Oscar here everyone for acting was from
Speaker:a Philadelphia Story you mentioned
Speaker:Philadelphia's story you've mentioned
Speaker:It's a Wonderful Life what's in Indiana
Speaker:that would bring us out there aside from
Speaker:it just being his hometown
Speaker:there was a museum dedicated to his life
Speaker:it opened in 1995 and on his 80th 87th
Speaker:birthday and so we also wanted to see
Speaker:the museum and they Indiana he is their
Speaker:Hometown hero they they do a It's a
Speaker:Wonderful Life
Speaker:like celebration every Christmas they
Speaker:decorate the town like Bedford Falls and
Speaker:and just for the listener picture bed
Speaker:for Falls that is what downtown Indiana
Speaker:Pennsylvania looks like it's it's pretty
Speaker:incredible even walking around there in
Speaker:the summertime I thought this looks like
Speaker:it's a wonderful life yes it it's just a
Speaker:great small town feel and if you watch
Speaker:our walk with history YouTube video we
Speaker:we walk all through the town to kind of
Speaker:give you a feel of what the town was
Speaker:like but they opened his Museum in the
Speaker:public library on the third floor and
Speaker:right beside the library is the
Speaker:courthouse and they have a statue out
Speaker:there of him as well I think in like his
Speaker:Harvey
Speaker:attire is what he looked like when he
Speaker:did the movie Harvey and so we also
Speaker:toured the museum as well so we not only
Speaker:walked around his hometown and saw his
Speaker:like childhood home but we also went to
Speaker:the museum as well yeah so you mentioned
Speaker:Harvey is that another I didn't know
Speaker:that movie until we went to the museum
Speaker:but apparently that's that was a pretty
Speaker:big movie of his yeah he made 80 films
Speaker:like he's a he's a pretty big actor most
Speaker:people really
Speaker:like Jimmy Stewart or seeing a movie
Speaker:with him in it he's done he has range
Speaker:like a wide range of movies that he has
Speaker:done he's done a couple movies with
Speaker:Alfred Hitchcock
Speaker:John Ford he's done westerns
Speaker:um and
Speaker:Harvey is just an interesting about a
Speaker:imaginary rabbit that he sees and talks
Speaker:to
Speaker:and he kind of gets other people to just
Speaker:kind of
Speaker:not go along with it but just kind of
Speaker:let him have his own
Speaker:idea of Harvey and who yeah so so and I
Speaker:still haven't seen the movie but if I if
Speaker:I remember correctly
Speaker:the premise of the movie is he's he all
Speaker:of a sudden probably in his 40s has
Speaker:starts having this imaginary six foot
Speaker:rabbit friend that no one else can see
Speaker:and he is he's harmless right his his
Speaker:family thinks about getting him admitted
Speaker:but he he's he's completely harmless
Speaker:he's just a gentle spirit and one of the
Speaker:things when I was doing this video is I
Speaker:was looking for Clips I always look for
Speaker:YouTube clips and I found a clip of him
Speaker:it's I think it's a pretty famous clip
Speaker:yeah of him talking about how he met
Speaker:Harvey
Speaker:and again as someone who hasn't seen the
Speaker:movie but I've enjoyed Jimmy Stewart
Speaker:movies I was floored at how good that
Speaker:one scene was and really all it was was
Speaker:Jimmy Stewart sitting in an Alleyway
Speaker:talking to two people talking about how
Speaker:he met this imaginary invisible six foot
Speaker:rabbit it was I was absolutely floored
Speaker:at how good the acting was so that was a
Speaker:pretty big movie for him it was people
Speaker:love Harvey it's it's a movie that's
Speaker:resonated with Jimmy Stewart fans and if
Speaker:you go in the museum they have tons of
Speaker:artifacts related to that movie as well
Speaker:as other movies but Harvey is a big one
Speaker:so so tell us a little bit more for
Speaker:someone who has no idea what the museum
Speaker:is or what they could see there if let's
Speaker:say they live in Pennsylvania or not
Speaker:that far away and they wanted to go see
Speaker:it what's at the Museum the museum is is
Speaker:great we have a whole video dedicated to
Speaker:the museum but it goes through his
Speaker:childhood his family only
Speaker:tree his connection to Indiana and then
Speaker:his military career Jimmy Stewart was a
Speaker:pilot in World War II
Speaker:and he flew over 20 combat missions
Speaker:he did publicity films for
Speaker:the military as well during World War II
Speaker:and he does the reserves in the Air
Speaker:Force afterwards and makes the rank of
Speaker:Brigadier General and then Reagan
Speaker:actually gives him the rank of Major
Speaker:General so he's actually the highest
Speaker:ranking actor of all time yeah and and I
Speaker:mean he wasn't just in the military like
Speaker:just kind of for show he was in it yeah
Speaker:he did it he flew those missions he's a
Speaker:pilot and so then it goes through his
Speaker:movie career with a lot of artifacts
Speaker:from the different movies and then they
Speaker:also have a theater there and they they
Speaker:play movies I think weekly or bi-weekly
Speaker:they change movies and all of his movies
Speaker:so it's really great when you buy your
Speaker:ticket not only do you get admission to
Speaker:the museum but you get admission to the
Speaker:movie yeah I mean it took us three hours
Speaker:or so to drive out there yes and it was
Speaker:completely worth it yes it was amazing
Speaker:like his uh like I said his Oscar's
Speaker:there from time to time they have the
Speaker:Oscar from a Philadelphia Story on loan
Speaker:but they always have the honorary Oscar
Speaker:there
Speaker:and they have a recreation of his desk
Speaker:and a recreation of his childhood
Speaker:bedroom
Speaker:and I think they have the booth for one
Speaker:of his favorite favorite restaurants in
Speaker:La where him and his wife would go to
Speaker:all the time and uh it was a really
Speaker:great experience I have a really great
Speaker:gift shop too we bought some stuff from
Speaker:there
Speaker:um and it was one of our first museums
Speaker:that we had ever done and so
Speaker:we had posted it online and the museum
Speaker:director had contacted me because she
Speaker:was like you showed so much of the
Speaker:museum so if you watch the video you'll
Speaker:see a lot of the museum and she was
Speaker:concerned that we had showed
Speaker:too much that people wouldn't want to
Speaker:come and visit but I assured her in my
Speaker:Graduate Studies for Museum studies that
Speaker:we had learned that a lot of museums are
Speaker:doing these virtual tours now and they
Speaker:do them not because people won't come
Speaker:visit because people want to be in the
Speaker:actual spaces no matter how many
Speaker:pictures you get of the Mona Lisa or how
Speaker:many times you see pictures of the
Speaker:Sistine Chapel people want to be in the
Speaker:space and so I assured her that even if
Speaker:people do see the museum via YouTube
Speaker:there if they want to go they're going
Speaker:to go what a virtual tour does whatever
Speaker:what a a video on YouTube does is just
Speaker:open it up to a whole other audience
Speaker:that probably is not ever going to visit
Speaker:so someone oversees or someone who maybe
Speaker:physically can't make the trip yeah and
Speaker:it opens them up to see what is in the
Speaker:museum plus it also opens them up to the
Speaker:gift shop opportunity so then she was
Speaker:she felt pretty
Speaker:well assured after that but we also
Speaker:noticed too that sometimes museum videos
Speaker:can get kind of long yeah so we've
Speaker:decided now when we do museums we'll
Speaker:we'll Center on a couple great artifacts
Speaker:and then leave the rest up to the viewer
Speaker:if they want to come and see it yeah and
Speaker:and that one that was our second or
Speaker:third or fourth video I don't remember
Speaker:which one which one it was but it was
Speaker:our was our first Museum video and I I
Speaker:spent
Speaker:way too many hours
Speaker:kind of tweaking and doing all this fun
Speaker:little stuff because I showed pop-ups of
Speaker:the war movies and and his kind of
Speaker:promotions for the Air Force and and the
Speaker:different and all this stuff and it
Speaker:actually turned out really well did but
Speaker:then you were learning a lot I was I was
Speaker:learning I was learning a lot about how
Speaker:to do that and it's but it turned it up
Speaker:to like a 30 minute video so and we do
Speaker:show a lot of the video but we had we
Speaker:had to ask the workers there we did we'd
Speaker:always ask for permission yeah so we
Speaker:asked him like hey do you mind if we
Speaker:film and they said no go ahead and so we
Speaker:did that then made the video and posted
Speaker:it and shared it and then all of a
Speaker:sudden for us we're kind of shocked got
Speaker:this little shock to the system we got
Speaker:the email from the museum director
Speaker:saying hey please take that down that's
Speaker:too much and then you kind of went back
Speaker:and said hey no there's actually been
Speaker:these studies that these kinds of things
Speaker:help and we've seen it now that we've
Speaker:visited more museums and it's been big
Speaker:museums right it sends her documentation
Speaker:that proves that um virtual tours do not
Speaker:hurt Museum attendance yeah and so ours
Speaker:was just a YouTube video but I mean
Speaker:we've seen on National you know Park
Speaker:Service presidential libraries and
Speaker:things like that full-blown in-depth
Speaker:detail virtual tours with all the
Speaker:descriptions pictures way more than I
Speaker:ever could have done
Speaker:and people still go still go people want
Speaker:to be in the actual space absolutely
Speaker:yeah it was for me you know it was just
Speaker:a dream come true because I love it it's
Speaker:a wonderful life so much and what's very
Speaker:interesting about that movie is Jimmy
Speaker:Stewart made it after World War II
Speaker:so it was kind of he didn't know if he
Speaker:wanted to get back into acting he had
Speaker:some PTSD from World War II and what the
Speaker:person he plays in that movie
Speaker:is different than who he was in real
Speaker:life he's more like Harry Bailey when
Speaker:you think about it he's the pilot he's
Speaker:the hero he's the one who went to war
Speaker:and he's actually playing someone who
Speaker:didn't he's playing someone who stayed
Speaker:behind and and so what I really love is
Speaker:he's he's not looking for that Glory
Speaker:which he personally has
Speaker:he's looking to give credit to the
Speaker:people who who did the other stuff and
Speaker:actually stayed behind and supported and
Speaker:that's I mean I love that so much about
Speaker:him and that movie yeah now and trust me
Speaker:we in this household that's the movie
Speaker:that we watched on Christmas Eve before
Speaker:everybody goes to sleep so but talk
Speaker:about the the rest of the town and kind
Speaker:of what else we people can see around
Speaker:the rest of the time what we saw when we
Speaker:were filming so you will you can see his
Speaker:birthplace
Speaker:um it's just marked by a boulder now
Speaker:it's the the home is no longer there but
Speaker:his childhood home where he moved where
Speaker:he was like two years old and then his
Speaker:family lived there for the rest of his
Speaker:life and he lived there all through high
Speaker:school and then came back during college
Speaker:and would come back and visit anytime he
Speaker:came to Indiana is still there and I
Speaker:stand on the porch I get all excited so
Speaker:you'll see me get excited if we watch
Speaker:the video and the crosswalks in town
Speaker:have his voice so if you press the
Speaker:button to cross the the street it'll say
Speaker:it'll be Jimmy Stewart's voice and it'll
Speaker:tell you what streets you're on and what
Speaker:you're Crossing to so it's so cool yeah
Speaker:and that's that's one of the things I do
Speaker:in the video is you actually I wandered
Speaker:off with the kids and you were just
Speaker:standing there filming literally the
Speaker:crosswalk button yes just so you could
Speaker:get the audio from Jimmy Stewart saying
Speaker:you're now Crossing Seventh Street yeah
Speaker:um and then I show a pop-up in the video
Speaker:and so if folks are curious to you know
Speaker:to to see that to see what that's like
Speaker:or what it sounds like I encourage you
Speaker:guys to go check out the channel and see
Speaker:the Jimmy Stewart videos
Speaker:there's now there's some other stuff
Speaker:that we didn't see so we didn't see the
Speaker:church
Speaker:um that he there's a Pew there's a
Speaker:Stewart family Pew in the church and
Speaker:there is his plane out front of the this
Speaker:is small Indiana airport and his plane
Speaker:is um basically on a stick airplane on a
Speaker:stick out front of the airport so we
Speaker:didn't see those two things but though
Speaker:that's available to you I mean if like
Speaker:you said it's so much like Bedford Falls
Speaker:that town is so proud of him so one of
Speaker:my favorite stories about Jimmy Stewart
Speaker:is after he won the Oscar for
Speaker:Philadelphia Story
Speaker:he he calls his dad the next day and his
Speaker:dad's like I heard you won some award or
Speaker:something and he's like yeah I won the
Speaker:Academy Award and his dad's like well
Speaker:send it send it home and I'll put it in
Speaker:the hardware store window and we'll
Speaker:we'll display it for the town he's like
Speaker:okay and it stayed in the window for 20
Speaker:years this this was his Oscars his first
Speaker:and only yes from 1941 to 1961. if you
Speaker:lived in Indiana PA or visited it would
Speaker:be right in the front window of his
Speaker:parents hardware store which is if you
Speaker:go to the museum it's across the street
Speaker:it's not there any longer it's a bank
Speaker:now
Speaker:they have some historic photographs and
Speaker:plaques to talk about it but that it was
Speaker:right across the street from where the
Speaker:museum is in Indiana PA so it's such a
Speaker:great I mean he was the hometown hero
Speaker:and I really love that the town loved
Speaker:him and he loved the town yeah it's it's
Speaker:quintessential Small Town Pennsylvania
Speaker:and actually one of the other things I
Speaker:learned it was completely appropriate
Speaker:because of your love of It's a Wonderful
Speaker:Life was that Indiana Pennsylvania is
Speaker:considered the birthplace of where
Speaker:Christmas trees first started coming
Speaker:from in in Mass was Indiana Pennsylvania
Speaker:so
Speaker:um you can kind of picture that in your
Speaker:mind right this this small town
Speaker:Pennsylvania surrounded by Hills
Speaker:you know and there's Christmas Tree
Speaker:farms that you're driving in it is
Speaker:like I said it's quintessential Small
Speaker:Town Pennsylvania
Speaker:um it's amazing because we you also have
Speaker:a family connection to Jimmy Stewart so
Speaker:while we were there I kept trying to
Speaker:channel the family connection so we've
Speaker:talked about this before but Scott comes
Speaker:from a Hollywood history family so his
Speaker:great grandfather was a prop master and
Speaker:I'm not sure I think he worked for both
Speaker:Paramount and Universal
Speaker:but he did rear window
Speaker:and he did The Greatest Show on Earth
Speaker:which Jimmy Stewart's in he said he
Speaker:plays a clown in The Greatest Show on
Speaker:Earth and rear window he plays the
Speaker:photographer and we have a photograph of
Speaker:rear window in the house where he's
Speaker:setting the windows with the the names
Speaker:under the windows you never see that in
Speaker:the movie but as the prop Master he's
Speaker:setting the windows for with the
Speaker:character with the character names that
Speaker:they name him him and Grace Kelly name
Speaker:Miss torso yes the composer The Pianist
Speaker:and then the newlyweds the lonely yeah
Speaker:Miss Lonely Hearts Miss Lonely Hearts
Speaker:yeah yes and then we have the script
Speaker:from The Greatest Show on Earth yeah so
Speaker:a prop Master would get a script and
Speaker:just write in kind of things that he
Speaker:would need to make and do and and since
Speaker:that's what's like circus based he we
Speaker:still have PR your father still has
Speaker:props from that movie in his storage
Speaker:from like so we're we're connected to
Speaker:Jimmy Stewart well you're connected and
Speaker:me through marriage we're connected to
Speaker:Jimmy Stewart through Hollywood as well
Speaker:yeah no it's it's definitely interesting
Speaker:um and in going to Indiana Pennsylvania
Speaker:was just kind of this neat little treat
Speaker:right you really felt that connection to
Speaker:Jimmy Stewart there and I will say that
Speaker:that town really does embody that we
Speaker:talk about how that town feels like
Speaker:Bedford Falls from It's a Wonderful Life
Speaker:and the message of that movie is that
Speaker:Jimmy Stewart wanted to go out and see
Speaker:the world he wanted to travel he he
Speaker:always felt like he didn't have he
Speaker:didn't do anything with with his life
Speaker:but the message of the movie is that he
Speaker:made an impact on those around him his
Speaker:friends and even though he may not have
Speaker:been able to travel the world as he had
Speaker:wished he had an effect his effect was
Speaker:on those around him
Speaker:but the the effect of the one man or
Speaker:woman can have on the world through
Speaker:friends and family it will Echo for
Speaker:eternity and I think that's the message
Speaker:of It's a Wonderful Life so just as
Speaker:Clarence the angel said in that movie
Speaker:remember no man is a failure who has
Speaker:friends
Speaker:so friends who are listening thank you
Speaker:for joining us and thank you for
Speaker:listening to the talk with History
Speaker:Podcast you can reach out to us on
Speaker:Twitter at talk with history
Speaker:tell us where in the world that you're
Speaker:listening from tell us your favorite
Speaker:Jimmy Stewart story and you can find
Speaker:more of the podcast over at talk with
Speaker:history.com yeah and we really
Speaker:um encourage you to visit the museum if
Speaker:you're ever around if you love that
Speaker:movie go to Indiana Pennsylvania and
Speaker:visit that museum it is a great museum
Speaker:yeah go visit the museum support your
Speaker:local museums reach out to us on Twitter
Speaker:and you can find more of the podcast
Speaker:over at talk with history.com and we
Speaker:will talk to you guys next time thank
Speaker:you thank you
Speaker:foreign
Speaker:[Applause]
Speaker:[Music]
