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    The Greatest Gift: A Christmas Tale
    The Greatest Gift: A Christmas Tale
    The Greatest Gift: A Christmas Tale
    Ebook54 pages34 minutes

    The Greatest Gift: A Christmas Tale

    By Philip Van Doren Stern

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    A beautiful gift edition of the heartwarming story that became the Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life.

    For almost seventy years, people the world over have fallen in love with Frank Capra’s classic Christmas movie It’s a Wonderful Life. But few of those fans know that Capra’s film was based on a short story by author Philip Van Doren Stern, which came to Stern in a dream one night.

    Unable at first to find a publisher for his evocative tale about a man named George Pratt who ponders suicide until he receives an opportunity to see what the world would be like without him, Stern ultimately published the story in a small pamphlet and sent it out as his 1943 Christmas card. One of those 200 cards found its way into the hands of Frank Capra, who shared it with Jimmy Stewart, and the film that resulted became the holiday tradition we cherish today.

    Now fans of It’s a Wonderful Life, or anyone who loves the spirit of Christmas, can own the story that started it all in an elegant, illustrated edition that’s perfect for holiday giving. It includes an Afterword by Stern’s daughter, Marguerite Stern Robinson, that tells the story of how her father’s Christmas card became the movie beloved by generations of people around the world.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster
    Release dateOct 28, 2014
    ISBN9781476778877
    Author

    Philip Van Doren Stern

    Philip Van Doren Stern (1900–1984) was an American author, editor, and Civil War historian whose story, “The Greatest Gift,” became the basis of the classic Christmas film, It’s a Wonderful Life.

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    Reviews for The Greatest Gift

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      First published in 1944, this story was originally sent out as a family Christmas card. Frank Capra got wind of it when he returned from WWII, and the movie he made from it -- It's a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart -- was not a box office hit. Yet it's become a Christmas classic and is beloved by millions.

      Totally worth a quick read to remember what's truly worthwhile.
    • 4/5
      Husband, father, and small-town bank clerk George Pratt feels that while other men out there are leading exciting lives, his own work is dull and his life is pretty useless. Just when he's contemplating suicide on Christmas Eve, a mysterious stranger comes and stops George in The Greatest Gift: A Christmas Tale by Philip Van Doren Stern.It's been years now since I first heard of this short story upon which the classic movie It's a Wonderful Life is based. I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me before to actually look up and read this original tale. But I do know it can be something of a letdown when you've got a beloved story embedded in your soul and then you check out another version of it, and it isn't the same.Well. Although I can say that I do prefer the fuller development of the plot and characters in the classic motion picture that's one of my all-time favorite films, I'm pleased that I didn't picture George Pratt here as George Bailey, or the mysterious stranger as Clarence Odbody, George Bailey's guardian angel. For the most part, I enjoyed this short fantasy fiction tale for what it is: a short fantasy fiction tale. Not just a precursor to a movie.And what George Pratt learns about the life he's been given is truly an uplifting and timeless message.
    • 5/5
      Double Review for "Wonderful Memories of It's A Wonderful Life" and "The Greatest Gift."

      A fan of this heartwarming movie that only grows into an even bigger worldwide love every year, I picked up the first as an audio to listen to during this season. It gave me all the information about it that I never knew about. How the first story was written as a Christmas Card, the process of it becoming a movie, behind the scene adorable pieces, and how RKO made the snow we use in movies still today.

      During the middle of this listen, I ordered my own copy of "The Greatest Gift," the short story the movie is based on. It did not disappoint and warmed my heart with the reading of its genesis, too.
    • 4/5
      This book was the basis for the movie, It's A Wonderful Life starring James Stewart and Donna Reed. The book was sent as a pamphlet Christmas card by the author to friends. It is very similar but not exactly the same as the plot in the movie. The short story is wonderful, but I like the expanded version of the movie better. I really enjoyed the afterword by the author's daughter. It really brought the book and the subsequent following due to the movie to life. This is a perfect holiday read.
    • 5/5
      Its amazing to think how Capra and the screenwriters were able to build such a full story in the movie while retaining the heart of this original story.
    • 4/5
      Short, sweet and full of Christmas cheer! This is the original story that It's a Wonderful Life is based off of.
    • 4/5
      In April 1943, Philip Van Doren Stern wrote this Christmas tale that will become the famous “It’s a Wonderful Life” movie. Originally deemed as a fantasy, it was rejected by multiple magazines. By Christmas time, Stern decided to print 200 of these 24-pages pamphlet and send them out as Christmas cards. As luck would have it, Frank Capra read this little uplifting tale and spent the most money ever on a Christmas card - $50K for the movie rights. :) With both Capra and Jimmy Stewart returning from the War, it was just the kind of project that the world needed. By December 1946, a new Christmas classic was born. This is a high quality gift book published at the 50th year anniversary with illustrations inspired by the original artwork and the bonus “Afterword” provided by Stern’s daughter, Marguerite Stern Robinson. Not surprisingly, this book has a simpler tale than the movie – same theme, more concise, with the same heart and the same message that all lives matter. I’d be lying if I don’t admit I like the movie better – a richer, more velvety tale. With the added materials, this is a pleasant little read, just what I needed after the previous book.
    • 4/5
      This is a short story that no publisher wanted. So, it was privately printed in 1943 and distributed as a Christmas card to a select group of friends. Somehow a copy found its way into the hands of a Hollywood producer and the author was stunned to get a telegram saying the movie rights had been sold! It took three screenwriters and a director and lead actor who believed in the story to eventually produce It’s a Wonderful Life (directed by Frank Capra and starring Jimmy Stewart).

      To mark the 50th anniversary of the release of the movie, Stern’s daughter had the story published in a deluxe edition, complete with wonderful illustrations by Scott McKowen. The Afterword, wherein Marguerite Stern Robinson explains how her father’s short story became the iconic movie, is a great companion to the familiar story of one man’s realization that his life really does matter.
    • 4/5
      George Pratt is contemplating suicide, when a stranger appears and starts to talk him out of it. When George lets slip that he wishes he'd never been born, getting his wish may just change his perspective on how great a gift life is.This is a short story that won't take you long to read, but if you slow yourself down may make you think about some of the ways in which your live has touched others', making the world a different place than it would be without you. Knowing that it inspired "It's a Wonderful Life" made me have rather different expectations for the story - I expected it to be longer and more fleshed out. But this is truly a short story, a compacted scene from the movie that is powerful in its own way for being more focused.

    Book preview

    The Greatest Gift - Philip Van Doren Stern

    Cover: The Greatest Gift, by Philip Van Doren Stern

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    The Greatest Gift, by Philip Van Doren Stern, Simon & Schuster

    The little town straggling up the hill was bright with colored Christmas lights. But George Pratt did not see them. He was leaning over the railing of the iron bridge, staring down moodily at the black water. The current eddied and swirled like liquid glass, and occasionally a bit of ice, detached from the shore, would go gliding downstream to be swallowed up in the shadows under the bridge.

    The water looked paralyzingly cold. George wondered how long a man could stay alive in it. The glassy blackness had a strange, hypnotic effect on him. He leaned still further over the railing. . . .

    I wouldn’t do that if I were you, a quiet voice beside him said.

    George turned resentfully to a little man he had never seen before. He was stout, well past middle age, and his round cheeks shone pink in the winter air as though they had just been shaved.

    Wouldn’t do what? George asked sullenly.

    What you were thinking of doing.

    How do you know what I was thinking?

    Oh, we make it our business to know a lot of things, the stranger said easily.

    George wondered what the man’s business was. He was a most unremarkable little person, the sort you would pass in a crowd and never notice. Unless you saw his bright blue eyes, that is. You couldn’t forget them, for they were the kindest, sharpest eyes you ever saw. Nothing else about him was noteworthy. He wore a moth-eaten old fur cap and a shabby overcoat that was stretched tightly across his paunchy belly. He was carrying a small black satchel. It wasn’t a doctor’s bag—it was too large for that and not the right shape. It was

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