For Kim Novak I have nothing but praise

James Stewart and Kim Novak starred together in two films, i.e. in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) and the fantasy comedy Bell, Book and Candle (1958). The actors got along very well, and Novak later said that Stewart was her "all-time favorite man, next to [her] husband" and "the best, nicest person [she] ever worked with". According to filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich, the two had an affair during Vertigo which continued through Bell, Book and Candle. When author Marc Eliot asked Novak about it —while doing research for his 2006 biography on James Stewart— she categorically denied the affair. "She said she had been in love with Richard Quine, the director of Bell, Book and Candle", said Eliot. "She added that Jimmy was married, and there was no way that she would have an affair with a married man." 

In 1980, Larry Kleno published his book on Kim Novak, entitled Kim Novak on Camera. In preparation for the book, Kleno contacted several of Novak's co-stars, asking them how they had experienced working with her. Naturally he also got in touch with James Stewart, who sent the requested information via the following letter:

Source: Bonhams

Above clockwise: James Stewart and Kim Novak in Vertigo, in a scene from Bell, Book and Candle and on the set of Vertigo.

Most of them are scared to death the public has forgotten them

When America entered World War II in December 1941, numerous Hollywood actors, directors and other film crew members joined the US Army, Navy or Air Force. After the war had ended, these men, while perhaps physically okay, came back emotionally changed. Trying to return to a life of normalcy, it wasn't always easy for them to immediately find work again. James Stewart, for instance, struggled to resume his acting career in the months following the end of the war. "I don't know if I'm an unemployed actor or an unemployed pilot", he famously said. Stewart's contract with MGM was about to expire and the lack of film offers made him wonder if he should return to the screen at all. He even considered going back home to Indiana to run the family hardware store. But then Frank Capra, who had previously directed Stewart in You Can't Take It With You (1938) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), offered him the role of George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (1946). Stewart accepted and the rest, as they say, is history.

James Stewart remained in the U.S. Air Force Reserve after the war. In 1959, Stewart was promoted to brigadier general, becoming the highest-ranking actor in American military history.

Stewart was certainly not the only one to feel concerned about his film career after returning from the war. In a letter to influential columnist Hedda Hopper dated 31 October 1945, Frank Capra talks about all the other ex-service men — apart from actors, there were writers, directors, cameramen etc. — who were worried about their careers after years of absence, "scared to death the public [had] forgotten them". Thanking Hopper for the "nice plug" she had given him and Jimmy Stewart, Capra asks her to think of the other men too. He emphasises how grateful they would be for "any crumbs of publicity thrown their way" and how "a word of encouragement" from her would surely boost their spirits. 

Source: oscars.org

Transcript:

31 October 1945

Mrs. Hedda Hopper,

6331 Hollywood Blvd.

Hollywood, California

Dear Hedda:

Thanks very much for the nice plug you gave me, Jimmy Stewart and "MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON."

We are still hoping to get Jimmy for my first picture*, but the deal has not been closed. He is still not quite free from the MGM contract, although it looks certain he will be shortly.

However I want to repeat again how appreciative these ex-service men are and will be for any crumbs of publicity thrown their way. Most of them are scared to death the public has forgotten them, and that their future is unsafe. They are amazed at how the public has lionized the 4-Fs. A good many of them feel that the public nausea for uniforms will react against them. 

It's a pity if the careers of some of these public figures are to be jeopardized because they answered their country's call. Many of them did not have to go.

This applies not only to actors, but there are hundreds of writers, directors, cameramen and other technicians who are worried silly about their future after several years' absence. They are bewildered by the new faces, new producers, new directors, etc., some of whom have never heard of a good many who went into uniform.

A word of encouragement from you now and then would do wonders for the low spirits of many worried and confused guys.

As ever,

(signed 'Frank')

FRANK CAPRA

Notes
-*It's a Wonderful Life was Capra's first picture for Liberty Films, an independent production company which was formed by Capra and fellow directors George Stevens and William Wyler. Following It's a Wonderful Life, the company would make just one more film, State of the Union (1948), also directed by Capra.

-Frank Capra did not enlist in the army but was commissioned by the US government to make documentaries about the war. Capra's Why We Fight documentaries are war information films, explaining to soldiers "why the hell they're in uniform". The series is considered a masterpiece in its genre and won an Academy Award.

Frank Capra receives the Distinguished Service Medal from General George C. Marshall in 1945.

The controversy of colourising classic films

During the 1980's, a number of famous classic black-and-white films started to appear on television in a completely colourised version. As most audiences (especially younger ones) were not really interested in watching black-and-white films, studios and copyright holders had turned to colourising classics in order to still make money from them. (Television stations paid far less for black-and-white films than they would for colour films and videos of black-and-white films were rarely sold.) One of the most important proponents of film colourisation was media mogul Ted Turner, who had acquired the film libraries of MGM, RKO and early Warner Bros. and thus became copyright holder of an enormous collection of films. Realising there was money to be made from 'dusting off' the black-and-white films in his collection, Turner commissioned the colourisation of numerous classics including Dark Victory (1939), The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Casablanca (1942). 

Needless to say, filmmakers were not at all happy with said development. Frank Capra protested the colourisation of his It's a Wonderful Life (1946), a film that was in the public domain at the time and, like other public domain films, had become fair game for colourisers. Other opponents of film colourisation were filmmakers such as Fred Zinnemann, Stanley Kubrick, Elia Kazan and Orson Welles, the latter having said weeks before his death: "Don't let Ted Turner deface my movie with his crayons." (While Turner did have plans to colourise Citizen Kane, in the end he left Welles' film alone.)

Above: While black-and-white photography is essential to film noir, even noirs like John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle (1950) couldn't escape colourisation. In 1988, Turner Entertainment had the film colourised, much to the horror of Anjelica Huston whose father had died the previous year. Huston started a law suit in France to stop the broadcast of the colourised version on French television and the French Supreme Court eventually ruled in her favour. Below: Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre colourised in Casablanca.

Of course the main objection from filmmakers to colourisation was that it violated their artistic integrity and that people would see their films not like they had been intended. "These pictures were conceived in black-and-white, and by adding colour one betrays the intentions of the maker, which should not be done, because it damages or destroys the style of the films", said Fred Zinnemann. Proponents of colourisation didn't see the problem as the original black-and-white print would still be available alongside the colour version. Opponents disagreed saying that people watched classic films mainly on television or on video —remember, we're talking the late 1980s here— so if the films were offered in colour, people wouldn't even be able to see the black-and-white version. A film would thus be seen in colour for the first time, basically ruining people's "first viewing".

The colourisation debate eventually died down in the mid-1990s, mainly because film colourisation was a very expensive process. Costs could amount to $300,000 for a feature film and since the demand for colourised films had decreased over the years, it was no longer lucrative for Ted Turner and others to continue. Nevertheless, a lot of films ended up being colourised (click here for a list), but fortunately we can still watch and enjoy them in black-and-white, just as they were intended.

Above and below: James Stewart in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, a film that has been colourised three times,  i.e. in 1986, 1989 and 2007. The colour photos are from the latest Blue-Ray release from 2007.

Here is a letter from James Stewart (one of the people who fiercely opposed the colourisation of classic films and even went to Washington to testify before Congress) to a fellow opponent, written on 15 January 1987. 

Source: reddit

Transcript: 

Dear Mary Phillips:

I want you to know that I'm very grateful to you for your kind and encouraging letter. I think you have expressed your disapproval of colorization of movies better than anyone I have heard so far.

I have been against it from the time I first heard about it and have been on television several times arguing with the colorization people. However, the jury is still out on who is going to win in this mishmash. The coloring process is very expensive and inasmuch as the whole idea of colorization is based on making money, a lot of us are hoping that the colorized pictures don't bring in the "dough"and this may slow the whole thing up and we can sit back and see the films that were originally made in black and white still remain in black and white.

It's wonderful that you have taken this interest and it's very encouraging to read your thoughts on it. You certainly are very articulate on the subject, which I think is of great value to us non-colorization people.

Thank you for your help and I send my best wishes to you for a Happy New Year.

Sincerely,

James Stewart (signed)


Note 

According to Wikipedia, Frank Capra was initially not against the colourisation of It's a Wonderful Life. Following Cary Grant's enthusiastic reaction to the colourisation of Topper (1937), Capra signed an agreement with Colorization Inc. to have his film colourised, however wishing full artistic control over the colourisation. When it became clear that It's a Wonderful Life had entered the public domain and the film could also be colourised without Capra's approval, Colorization Inc. returned Capra's investment and the director subsequently joined the protest against colourisation.

James Stewart's favourite role

I imagine all actors have a favourite role, whether a role they enjoyed playing most or a role they found most challenging or a role they simply have the fondest memories of. In this short, undated note written to a guy named Larry (a fan?), James Stewart tells us what his favourite role was and also mentions his great admiration for director Frank Capra with whom he had worked three times (i.e. You Can't Take It With You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939) and It's A Wonderful Life (1946)).

Source: Christie's

Transcript:

Dear Larry ——

Thank you for kind letter,

I think my favorite role is George Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life". 

I think the main reason for this is that it was the first picture I was in after being in the war for 4 1/2 years and also I will always have great admiration for Frank Capra.

Sincerely

James Stewart

The 1941 Ziegfeld Girl was Stewart's final film before he joined the US army. Stewart became a bomber pilot in 1943 and received several awards during his military service (right photo: Stewart receives the French Croix de Guerre in 1944). For further reading on Stewart's military service, click here.

On the set of It's a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart and Frank Capra (above), and Stewart as George Bailey in one of his emotional moments (below).

One of the most rewarding locations

source

The last of five westerns director Anthony Mann and James Stewart did together was a film for Columbia Pictures, The Man from Laramie (1955). It was shot on location in New Mexico and was one of the first westerns to use CinemaScope. In a letter to Columbia boss Harry Cohn, James Stewart called the film's location "one of the toughest, and yet one of the most rewarding locations" of his career. Stewart's letter —written on 6 December 1954 during the film's shooting— is shown below and accompanied a still photo made on location (shown right) which Stewart had promised to send to Cohn.

Bill Goetz, whom Stewart mentions as the guy who picked out the photo, was the film's producer. And The Man from Laramie was based on a serial of the same name by Thomas T. Flynn, which was published in The Saturday Evening Post in early 1954— hence Stewart's reference to it.

Transcript: 

December 6, 1954

Dear Harry Cohn:

The still pictures made on location in New Mexico, where we filmed almost all of our picture, are beginning to come through the lab, and this was among the first batch.

I promised to send you a sample, so Bill Goetz picked this one out himself, insisting that this particular shot had the combined elements of tension, excitement and dramatic power of the Saturday Evening Post serial, as well as the rugged background of the Pueblo Indian country. And who am I to argue with the boss?

Fact is, we’re all quite excited — cast, crew and front office — with the results of one of the toughest, and yet one of the most rewarding, locations in my experience.

Hope the picture gives you some idea why we feel this way.

My best,

Jimmy (signed)

James Stewart
The MAN From Laramie

Source letter: Sony Pictures Entertainment Museum

James Stewart in "The Man from Laramie" and Columbia chief Harry Cohn