{"id":299,"date":"1991-12-23T14:56:36","date_gmt":"1991-12-23T14:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.ruudmedia.com\/gsc\/?p=299"},"modified":"2017-12-06T15:27:02","modified_gmt":"2017-12-06T15:27:02","slug":"george-bailey-here-speaking-on-behalf-of-your-local-sl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/george-bailey-here-speaking-on-behalf-of-your-local-sl\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018George Bailey Here, Speaking On Behalf Of Your Local S&L\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

S<\/span>o filmmakers and movie purists are up in arms about the use of clips and characters from old films in a Diet Coke commercial (\u201cNot Quite the Real Thing,\u201d Calendar, Dec. 16).<\/p>\n

I admit the idea is jarring at first \u0014 maybe even a bit deceitful. But I beg to differ with the critics. I think it opens up a whole new way to help restore precious public confidence in some of our reputation-damaged institutions.<\/p>\n

Say, for instance, the savings and loan industry \u2014 or what\u2019s left of it. Dennis McDougal\u2019s Calendar article mentions \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Life.\u201d Imagine how the battered, discredited S&Ls could benefit from using clips from that beloved Christmas classic to remind consumers of the industry\u2019s past benevolence and altruism.<\/p>\n

After all, the movie does center on the Bailey Bros. Building & Loan Assn., truly a paragon of a small-town, family-owned institution that stayed true to its founding principles, weathered hard times, survived the death of its founder \u2014 even fended off a hostile takeover attempted by the vulturous Mr. Potter.<\/p>\n

For example, the S&Ls want to distract people from the image of convicted ex-S&L chieftain Charles Keating standing in the defendant\u2019s dock? Presto! They could resurrect Peter Bailey, building and loan founder and father of James Stewart\u2019s character George Bailey, as he tries to persuade his then-college-bound son to stay on with the company. Through this high-tech wizardry, viewers could see him addressing, say, Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell in a Senate hearing room \u2014 or even George Bush in the Oval Office:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, George, I feel that in a small way we\u2019re doing something important: satisfying a fundamental urge. It\u2019s deep in the race for a man to want his own roof, and walls and fireplace. And we\u2019re helping him get those things in our shabby little office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, that would be stirring!<\/p>\n

Or, what could be more poignant than the scene where the selfless, civic-minded George Bailey uses the kitty for his own honeymoon to pay off panicked depositors. They could transpose this scene into an old videotape of a branch office of Denver\u2019s now-defunct Silverado Savings (Neil Bush, ex-director) and\u2026 pow, probably a 20-point pickup in public opinion polls!<\/p>\n

Now, I know what you\u2019re thinking: But these celluloid fragments don\u2019t square with what really happened in the S&L debacle. OK, I admit there are some historical dissimilarities. Like the fact that today\u2019s S&Ls are in trouble or out of business not because they invested in people\u2019s home sweet home, but in junk bonds, shaky real estate deals and see-through office buildings.<\/p>\n

Too, the S&L robber barons of the \u201980s hardly used their own personal funds to reimburse depositors; rather, they stole depositors\u2019 money and spent it on their own personal perks \u2014 like jets, yachts, country club memberships, prostitutes, etc. But hey, that was then, this is now.<\/p>\n

Of course, on the negative side, the thrift industry\u2019s admen would have to watch out for other scenes that could cause problems. Like the one where the distraught George Bailey shakes Uncle Billy silly to prod his memory about the missing bank deposit:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s the money, you stupid old fool? Do you realize what this means? It means bankruptcy and scandal and prison! That\u2019s what it means. One of us is goin\u2019 to jail. Well, it\u2019s not gonna be me!\u201d<\/p>\n

Ouch, that one would definitely hit a little too close to home.<\/p>\n

And they\u2019d also have to avoid at all costs any use of the tear-jerking finale, where townspeople line up at the Bailey residence to toss their hard-earned dollars and lifetime savings into a hat to make up for the missing funds. That would be too painful a reminder to taxpayers that they\u2019ve involuntarily coughed up about $150 billion so far to bail out the mismanaged thrifts.<\/p>\n

As for Clarence, the oddball but lovable heavenly emissary who saves George\u2019s life, it would no doubt be downright dangerous to bring him back to life (or, to Earth). After all, viewers might be tempted to fantasize that some of today\u2019s S&L swindlers, instead of George Bailey, are standing on the bridge \u2014 and that the guardian angel actually lets them jump.<\/p>\n

Or, tempted to figure how much better off the country would have been had Clarence granted to these characters George Bailey\u2019s wish that he\u2019d never lived at all.<\/p>\n

Hmm. On second thought, maybe the critics are right, this whole thing isn\u2019t such a good idea after all. In the wrong hands, this technology could be absolutely\u2026 underhanded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So filmmakers and movie purists are up in arms about the use of clips and characters from old films in a Diet Coke commercial (\u201cNot Quite the Real Thing,\u201d Calendar, Dec. 16). I admit the idea is jarring at first \u0014 maybe even a bit deceitful. But I beg to differ with the critics. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328,"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299\/revisions\/328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garrysouthconsulting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}