Greetings of the Season, Twanians, Twainiacs and Assorted Twain Friends (we can get the assortment box, with nuts, can't we?), The selection of "Tom Sawyer" for "It's a Wonderful Life" remains something of a mystery. Counting Philip Van Doren Stern, who wrote the 1938 short story that was the source of the film ("The Greatest Gift"), at least ten writers contributed to various versions of the scripts for "It's a Wonderful Life." The earliest version, pre-dating director Frank Capra's September 1945 purchase of the story, was by playwright and Algonquin Round Table wit Marc Connelly. Another early version, by playwright Clifford Odets, also was completed before Capra's purchase of the material. Dalton Trumbo, later blacklisted during the Red Scare, also took a swing at it. Capra purchased the story after being told of it by RKO boss Charles Koerner. Capra assigned the script to prolific husband-and-wife team Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich ("The Thin Man," "The Diary of Anne Frank"), and the director apparently wasn't boasting when he claimed to have contributed some scenes and dialogue, as well. Capra then brought in several writers to polish the script, including his buddy Jo Swerling, Michael Wilson (also blacklisted) and Dorothy Parker (Connelly's Round Table pal). The Writers Guild rules of the time were considerably less strict than today, but, even so, credit for "It's A Wonderful Life" was so complicated, the script was submitted to the Guild for arbitration. The final screen credit reads thus: "Screenplay by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, and Frank Capra. Additional scenes by Joe Swerling. Based on a story by Philip Van Doren Stern. So five of the ten known writers received some credit. The references to Twain and "Tom Sawyer" are not in Van Doren Stern's story, nor do they seem to have been in the early scripts written by Connelly and Odets. They are in the final script (dated March 4, 1947) on file in the Frank Carpa Archives at Wesleyan University. Clarence is carrying "Tom Sawyer" in that script's opening scene in heaven (a scene cut in half by Capra, but "Tom Sawyer" survived the cut, reemerging with Clarence when he jumps into the river to save George). And in this shooting script used by Capra, the closing-scene inscription written in "Tom Sawyer" by Clarence was slightly longer than the one we now know: "Dear George -- This is to remember me by, and to remember this: no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings. Love, Clarence." So the likely suspects for including Twain and Tom are Carpa, Goodrich and Hackett, Swerling, Parker or Wilson. Even if the writer could be identified, though, the idea could have come from Capra, Jimmy Stewart or the cameraman. It has been the source of much speculation. In the '60s and '70s, for instance, there was the theory that Capra used the "Tom Sawyer" reference because Clarence the angel was a benign version of Twain's angel in the hacked-together, widely read "The Mysterious Stranger" then believed to represent the author's vision of the story. During a 1968 appearance at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Capra was asked about the Twain reference by a student. This exchange is from that transcript: Student: I'm curious about one detail about the angel carrying the Mark Twain book because this story is, so to speak, the reverse of Mark Twain's 'Mysterious Stranger," where the boy dies, and in the story you discover that if he had lived he would have created all kinds of mischief so it was better that he died. He died also by falling through and drowning. And I wondered whether this was in Van Doren Stern's story or how it came to be that he carried a Mark Twain book. Capra: No, it wasn't in Van Doren Stern's original. It's a detail we thought of. I've always liked Mark Twain and I thought I'd give him a plug. (Laughter) It wasn't in connection with a Mark Twain story. It was not in answer or in any way connected with his. The more popular theory is that Capra or one of the writers chose Twain because, in 1946 (and today), no author better represented Americana and Americans. And they most likely chose "Tom Sawyer" because he was, by far and away, Twain's best-known character. It's a double touchstone, grounding the film in something of the past and something eternal. Remember that Capra and Stewart wanted to make this story after witnessing the horrors of battle during World War II. They wanted to make a story that honored the notion that every life has significance. It's most likely that Twain was the all-American choice for this small-town tale, although it certainly doesn't hurt that "It's a Wonderful Life" (like Twain's writing) has some terribly dark, even cynical corners (think of what becomes to the "good" people of Bedford Falls when George gets to see life without his influence). Did Trumbo, Swerling or Parker pick up on the darker aspects of Twain's writing while still cherishing Twain as the most "human" of writers? It's possible, but, again, nothing is conclusive. The influence of Dickens also is profound, after all, from the Scrooge-like Potter to the framing of a supernatural Christmas story. Uncle Billy's pet raven is a very Dickensian touch (you were thinking Poe?). The foolish title character in "Barnaby Rudge" has a pet raven. Given Twain's influence on American literature, though, it would be remarkable to think he didn't have some influence on the writers and the writing of "It's a Wonderful Life." And the inclusion of "Tom Sawyer". . . well, it's a wonderful choice. With all best wishes for Christmas, the new year and beyond, Mark Dawidziak