#mary bailey

[rebeccapearson]

Mary did it, George! Mary did it! She told a few people you were in trouble and they scattered all over town collecting money.

Donna Reed as Mary Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life

[pureanonofficial]

And I don't want to get married ever to anyone. You understand that? I want to do what I want to do. And you're— and you're—

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) dir. Frank Capra

[o-uncle-newt]

Breaking the theme of my blog briefly to say that

Mary being an old maid librarian in It's A Wonderful Life is Good, Actually

I feel like so much discussion of the movie is "well I love it but that one bit is silly and dated and unfair to Mary" and IMO, no it very much isn't. It is the linchpin of the whole scene, as Capra clearly meant it to be.

What do we know about George and Mary from George's point of view? We know that George loves Mary, enough that as determined as he has been not to marry her, seeing her as a symbol of a life he doesn't feel he wants anymore, he can't resist her. We know that he and Sam Wainwright are positioned as rivals for her affections, with Mary's parents preferring Sam for obvious (pecuniary) reasons. We know that George gets with Mary the very same day he discovers that he's stuck in Bedford Falls indefinitely, all his dreams shattered. We know that even George's effort to escape WITH Mary for a little while (their honeymoon) gets sabotaged and leaves them stuck in a life he doesn't want- and doesn't think Mary deserves. He kicks his car after seeing Sam Wainwright and his wife in their fancier one, and he and HIS wife about to go off home with none of the things he'd been dreaming of. He sees Mary as a possession- one he loves, but one he is responsible for, and one who he is failing.

We know a lot about Mary, though, that George never quite is able to accept. Mary is just as much an architect of their life as George is- and, if we believe in this movie's higher power, she may well literally be the cause of it if we assume that her wish when she broke the window came true! But even otherwise, she is the one who gives up their honeymoon money to save the Building and Loan. She is the one who leads the housewarming ceremony for the Martinis. She is the one who has the idea to live in the old house and fix it up, all while raising their kids and volunteering in the Red Cross. All the things about George's life that he thinks aren't good enough for Mary are things that Mary herself very much wants, and can't convince him she wants. He doesn't see her as a partner in all of this, in part because he doesn't feel like he has had any CONTROL over his life. He's felt like a tool of fate who was deprived of the ability to be master over his own circumstances, constantly facing key moments when he feels like there's no true choice, and so naturally Mary must be the victim of this, rather than, in many ways, far more consciously active than he is in shaping their lives and impact on Bedford Falls.

The important thing about Mary being an old maid and a librarian is not only that she is still in Bedford Falls, but that she LEFT AND CAME BACK. Just like in "real life," she spent four years in college, got to see the world, got a degree (possibly even an advanced degree, not sure what library studies was like in the 1930s), and STILL felt like she wanted to return. In fact, she did exactly what George spent his whole life dreaming of, and then regretting not having done, and she came back to Bedford Falls anyway! And George didn’t exist, so she didn’t return for him (which he might see as distorting her judgment in her love for someone unworthy like him)- she returned because it was important to her and because she could do important work for the community. I mean, she's a librarian! Librarians can be the backbone of the community, and especially in the downward spin of the town as Pottersville, her work would be twice as important!

The original short story, IIRC, has Mary marry an abusive man, and given that the original story basically started from the suicide scene and Capra and co completely invented the prior hour and a half, it makes TOTAL sense that he changed it. If George had seen her married to someone like that, he could say “well she could have married Sam Wainwright” (and been cheated on left right and center, as we know, but hey at least she'd have had the nice car and dream life he decides she deserves) or “well who says I’m any better, did you see how I treated her today” or who knows what else. A woman who went to college, saw the big city, learned of the world, and came back to Bedford Falls NOT for a man but to do community building work- that is EXACTLY the kind of Mary that she’s been insisting to George she is the whole time, a partner in what he does rather than a responsibility whom he has failed. It is perfect and I completely get why the sequence ended with that revelation because it’s exactly what George needs to hear.

For whatever reason, people hear "she's an old maid librarian" and see it as sexist and demeaning of her; in fact it seems to me to epitomize exactly the kind of person who Mary is. She loves Bedford Falls and wants to make it better, and in George she sees a genuinely good person who feels the same, if buried deeper down. She consciously sets herself up as a partner to him in his work. If he hadn't been there, she wouldn't have just married some other guy who couldn't have had that impact or expressed that care; she certainly wouldn't have gone to New York or anywhere else; she'd have always come back to Bedford Falls and served the community. George hasn't deprived her except in the ways that not being loved by him has deprived her- and here I'll mention that I have to assume that the problem many people have isn't in fact the old maid librarian thing per se, it's the costuming, which I agree is over the top but I get it from the cinematic perspective of needing to express visually the difference between real-world Mary and alternate-universe Mary. It is, also, and I get people reacting poorly to it, crude visual language to differentiate between a girl who is in love and loved and a girl who is not (and of course sexless and therefore mousy, which is the crude bit).

This is exactly what George needed to see. He's been seeing himself as depriving Mary of what he thinks she needs, because he sees Mary as an accessory to his own life who his own choices control; in fact, he's recognizing for the first time that the things he sees as deprivations are exactly what Mary wanted from her life, that she has been an active partner with agency in that life, and all that she's missing in the alternate universe are the very things he knows himself to have been providing for her all this time. (...sex. Well, love. But also sex. And kids, of course, which are generally pretty cool too. But really, actually, mostly love- not just his love FOR her but the ability for her to love someone who is worthy of it.)

[king-lena]

if dean and sam ever watched “it’s a wonderful life” during christmas time while cas was dead, dean would be like fucking sobbing at the ending scene where mary and george tearfully reunite. it would remind him too much of reuniting with cas and knowing it will never happen again. and sam would want to comfort him, but dean wouldn’t want to be comforted. not when he’s looking at the one thing he wants but can never have. not when cas always comes back but he didn’t this time. he’ll never get to hold him ever again, he’ll never get to kiss him and welcome him home. and when the movie is over sam is like “do you wanna talk about it?” and dean's wiping away his tears like nothing happened “talk about what? how it's a fucking stupid movie?” and sam is like “dean, it's okay if you wanna talk about him” and dean would hesitate just for a second before he’d say “yeah, well i don't” and go cry alone.

[highest-violet]

Mary in It’s A Wonderful Life makes me feral. Her hopes and dreams are the opposite of George’s. From the beginning when they’re kids at the soda fountain, George says he wants to leave Bedford Falls, travel the world and be an explorer. Mary whispers on his bad ear that she’ll love him forever.

When they’re walking home after the graduation party, George says how he’s leaving soon to go on a world tour before college. Then he’s going to design buildings and build skyscrapers. Leaving that small town will save him from a small life with small accomplishments. They throw rocks through the windows of the old Granville house and only later do we learn Mary’s wish was to marry George.

He never leaves Bedford Falls.

But he does marry Mary. When there’s a run on the bank, it’s Mary who offers up the $2,000 meant for their honeymoon to cover the community and keep the bank solvent. She’s by George’s side for the next 15 years, giving welcome gifts to new homeowners and volunteering with the USO.

So by the end of the film when George is at his lowest and Mary calls around Bedford Falls to rally support and ask for help, it’s not just George they’re showing up for. It’s Mary as well. Along with George, she gave her time and money and heart and friendship to them and if something bad happens to George, it’s Mary who suffers, too.

I know the film is about George and him learning to appreciate the life he has instead of what he didn’t get to experience. That never leaving Bedford Falls was the best thing to happen not just to him but to the entire town. Acts of kindness from the goodness of your heart are far more valuable than all the money in the world.

But none of it would have been possible without Mary. She knew love, generosity, and caring for your neighbors was just as grand as building skyscrapers and visting Paris. Without her love, George might have grown into a bitter, old man full of regrets like Mr. Potter.

In the end, Mary’s dreams saved George.

[bunnyinbedlam]

Various Simpsons stuff from throughout 2025! Most recent thing here is Evelyn, which I drew last week I think, earliest is Ginger, which I think might be from late 2024 now that I think about it...

But yeah, Edna, Becky, Evelyn, Francesca, Mary, genderbent Cecil, genderbent Larry and Sam, and Ginger

[wikiangela]

"What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey, that's a pretty good idea. I'll give you the moon, Mary."

[pricelessreviews]