IT’S A WONDERFUL (BROOKLYN) LIFE (1946)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** Do you know there exists a connection between the enduring 1946 Christmas movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” and a certain brownstone in Brooklyn Heights? Many do not know this, but No. 88 Remsen Street was once the home of Philip Van Doren Stern, who wrote The Greatest Gift, a short story that was inspired by a dream that was reminiscent of the 1843 Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol. He began writing the story in 1939 and finished it in 1943, but was unable to find a publisher for it. He sent 200 printed copies to friends as Christmas cards in December 1943. His daughter, Marguerite Stern Robinson, recalled “I was in the third grade and remember delivering a few of these cards to my teachers and my friends … My father, who was himself from a mixed religious background, explained to me that while this story takes place at Christmas time, and that we were sending it as a Christmas card to our friends, it is a universal story for all people in all times.” The story was published as a book in December 1944. Stern also sold it to Reader’s Scope magazine, which published it in its December 1944 issue, and to the magazine Good Housekeeping, which published it […]
