James Stewart stars in the film It's a Wonderful Life

Courtesy Everett Collection

How Well Do You Know 'It's a Wonderful Life'?

Test your IQ on this beloved holiday classic with our quiz

Donald Liebenson

En español

Published December 02, 2020

12 Questions

When director Frank Capra pitched James Stewart on a Christmas-themed film, Stewart replied, “If you want me to be in a picture about a guy that wants to kill himself and an angel comes down named Clarence who can't swim and I save him, when do we start?” Almost 75 years later, It's a Wonderful Life is still the richest film in town, a celebration of how “each man's life touches so many other lives.” There are so many great lines and classic scenes you may have seen more than once. But how well do you know It's a Wonderful Life? Don't be a Mr. Potter! Take our quiz and challenge your family, friends and guardian angels to do the same!

How Well Do You Know 'It's a Wonderful Life'?

[ {
  "question" : "What topping does young George Bailey (Stewart) suggest to put on Mary’s (Donna Reed) chocolate ice cream?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Pecans",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Coconuts",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Cherries",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Marshmallows",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "George suggests coconuts, which he read about in 'National Geographic' magazine. “Only us explorers can get it,” he brags.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "During the high school dance, who was the little rascal who opened the dance floor that covered the swimming pool?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Jackie Coogan",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Carl Sweitzer",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Robert Blake (the artist formerly known as Mickey Gubitosi)",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Tommy Bond",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "That’s Carl “Alfalfa” Sweitzer from the 'Little Rascals' films, taking revenge on George for stealing Mary, his date. (The scene was written when filmmakers discovered the Beverly Hills High gym concealed a pool under a retractable floor.) When acting roles dried up for child star Sweitzer, he became a professional bear hunter and hunting guide, tragically shot by a client. His grave marker contains an etching of his favorite coonhound.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "What is George and Mary’s song?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "“Buffalo Gals”",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "“Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree”",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "“Swinging on a Star”",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "“Auld Lang Syne”",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "The song dates back to 1844, but 'It’s a Wonderful Life' made “Buffalo Gals” so iconic that in 1985, Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick ('Thirtysomething,' 'Shakespeare in Love,' 'Traffic') named their production company The Bedford Falls Company and played the “Buffalo Gals” refrain (“and dance by the light of the moon”) under the company’s logo — a facsimile of the Bailey house.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "What is George Bailey’s “chance of a lifetime”?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "“A night of it” with Violet Bick",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Joining Mr. Potter’s company",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Making plastics with Sam Wainwright",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Taking over the Bailey Bros. Building & Loan",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Despite childhood pal Sam Wainwright’s friendly offer to make them both rich quick using George’s bright idea to make soybeans into plastics, George bitterly snaps, “Now you listen to me! I don’t want any plastics! I don’t want any ground floors, and I don’t want to get married — ever — to anyone!” But life has other — wonderful — ideas in store for George.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "How much money did absentminded Uncle Billy lose?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "$4,000",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "$8,000",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "$10,000",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "$20,000",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Uncle Billy lost $8,000 — $106,825 in today’s dollars — which was promptly found and stolen by Potter. No one ever calls out Potter on that, by the way. There is no comeuppance for the character the American Film Institute voted the sixth biggest screen villain of the 20th century (right between 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’s Nurse Ratched and Alex Forrest from 'Fatal Attraction').",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "What is the “silly tune” song Janie is practicing on the piano?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "“Silent Night”",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "“Jingle Bells”",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "“Auld Lang Syne”",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Janie can’t get through “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” and after George learns of the missing $8,000 and that youngest daughter Zuzu has a cold, it gets on his last nerve.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "What is Clarence’s last name?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Odbody",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Oddfellow",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Travers",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Varacalli",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Clarence’s last name is Odbody, officially designated A-S-2 — Angel Second-Class. 'It’s a Wonderful Life' was at first a bona fide flop that put its panicked director in personal debt ($7 million in modern dollars, 65 times as much as Uncle Billy lost). Henry Travers, who played Clarence, never lived to see it become a perennial Christmas hit.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "In George’s nightmarish future shown him by Clarence, what is the name of the now gin-and-sin-soaked town?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Potter Tower",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Bedfordia",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Pottersville",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Potterstown",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Pottersville is Bedford Falls 2.0, but with its quaint charms replaced by a film-noir nightmare world of bars, dance halls, a bowling alley and a pawnbroker.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "What drink does Clarence order at Nick’s bar?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Fallen Angel",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Flaming rum punch",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Eggnog",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Mulled wine",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Mulled wine, “heavy on the cinnamon and light on the cloves,” is not the usual fare at Nick’s. “We serve hard drinks in here for men who want to get drunk fast,” barks its surly owner. “And we don’t need any characters around to give the joint atmosphere.”",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "In a George-less world, what became of Mary?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "She married Sam Wainwright",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "She became a spinster librarian",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "She became a spinster schoolteacher",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "She ran a boarding house",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Mary Hatch never married and became a librarian. If she’d married Sam Wainwright (Frank Albertson), it might’ve been unhappier: during their long-distance phone call, he’s glimpsed in the company of some rather comely New York dames.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "How did ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ originate?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "It was based on a song",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "It was adapted from a greeting card",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Frank Capra’s barber told him his idea for a movie",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "It was adapted from a silent French film",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Philip Van Doren Stern couldn’t sell his short story “The Greatest Gift,” so he made it a 21-page Christmas card and sent it to his friends and family in 1943. Capra, with writers including Dorothy Parker, Clifford Odets and Dalton Trumbo, made it a movie.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "What is the best line in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "“A Happy New Year to you ... in jail.”",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "“Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings,”",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "“George Bailey, I’ll love you ‘til the day I die.”",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "“Attaboy, Clarence.”",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "An even better line than all of the above",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "In our humble opinion, it’s the immortal words of Sam Wainwright: “Hee-haw and Merry Christmas!”",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
} ]

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How Well Do You Know 'It's a Wonderful Life'?

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