It’s a Wonderful Spice: Minor Characters

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by James Scott Bell
@jamesscottbell

’Tis the season for Christmas spice. Starbucks has reissued the ever-popular Pumpkin Spice Latte. All over the land people are dipping into their children’s college fund to buy the brew.

It’s also the season for Christmas movies. It’s been a tradition in the Bell family to gather around the hearth…I mean TV…after the Thanksgiving meal to kick off the season. Not with football, but with a classic Christmas movie. Doesn’t matter that we’ve seen it many times before. We’re always delighted, and there’s a good reason for that. I shall explain anon.

But first, here are our top three: Miracle on 34th Street (1947 version only), A Christmas Carol (1951 Alastair Sim version), and It’s a Wonderful Life.

Honorable mention goes to: Die Hard, Lethal Weapon (both, of course, take place at Christmastime), Home Alone, A Christmas Story, The Santa Clause, and Elf. If we’re feeling particularly silly, we’ll pop in Ernest Saves Christmas.

What is it about these movies that warms the cockles of the heart? [Note: The cockles of the heart are its ventricles, named by some in Latin as “cochleae cordis”, from “cochlea” (snail), alluding to their shape. The saying means to warm and gratify one’s deepest feelings.] Of course, most of it is the story itself, uplifting in its own way. A Christmas Carol tells us no one is beyond redemption. It’s A Wonderful Life literally spells out: No man is a failure if he has friends. Die Hard: One New York cop is better than a whole a gang of European terrorists. Etc.

But there’s something else in the best of these movies. I call it the spice of fiction: minor characters. Like nutmeg on your nog or cloves on your honey-baked ham, they up the pleasure. Let me give you three examples.

Thelma Ritter as the ticked-off mother in Miracle on 34th Street

This story has a great premise: What if a department store Santa was the real Santa Claus?

The main characters are perfectly cast. Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Maureen O’Hara was never lovelier; John Payne shows off his light comedy chops; and little Natalie Wood is, as they used to say, cute as a button.

The film is filled with spicy minor characters: the judge overseeing Kringle’s mental health hearing (Gene Lockhart); his political advisor (William Frawley); Alfred, the Macy’s janitor whom Kringle befriends (Alvin Greenman). There’s even one bit in one scene that never gets old. Mrs. Shellhammer (Lela Bliss), the wife of the head of Macy’s toy department, has been plied with “triple strength” martinis by her husband, hoping to get her to consent to having Kringle move in with them. She is completely blitzed as she tries to talk on the phone. Cracks us up every time.

My favorite, though, is the great character actress Thelma Ritter in her very first film role. She’s shopping at Macy’s and lets her little boy chat with Santa. The following ensues:

Later, she tracks down Mr. Shellhammer and compliments him on this “new stunt” they’re pulling. Sending people to other stores! “Imagine a big outfit like Macy’s putting the Christmas spirit before the commercial.” She tells him she is now a dedicated Macy’s shopper.

Kathleen Harrison as Scrooge’s charwoman in A Christmas Carol

Scrooge, of course, mistreats those around him, from his meek clerk Bob Cratchit, to his nephew, to the two gentlemen collecting for charity:

“Are there no prisons?” asked Scrooge.

“Plenty of prisons,” said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

“And the Union workhouses?” demanded Scrooge. “Are they still in operation?”

“They are. Still,” returned the gentleman, “I wish I could say they were not.”

“The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?” said Scrooge.

“Both very busy, sir.”

“Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,” said Scrooge. “I’m very glad to hear it.”

And then there is his poor domestic, Mrs. Dilber, whom he underpays and overworks. But on Christmas morning he is a changed man, and Sim spectacularly shows us the transformation. But almost stealing the scene is Miss Harrison:

Bert and Ernie serenade George and Mary in It’s a Wonderful Life

No, not the Sesame Street characters. Bert the cop (Ward Bond) and Ernie the cab driver (Frank Faylen) are friends of George Bailey (James Stewart). George and Mary (Donna Reed) have just gotten married, but George has to stop a run on the Bailey Building and Loan by using all the money he has saved up to take Mary on a honeymoon. Offscreen, while the crisis is being averted, Mary—with the help of Bert and Ernie—arranges for a honeymoon night in an old abandoned house she’s always loved. The astonished George arrives. It’s raining. The house leaks. But there’s a fire and a record player going. That would be a nice, romantic scene on its own, but the addition of Bert and Ernie serenading makes it perfect:

Spend time with your minor characters this season. Make them unique. Allow them to surprise you. Spice up your WIP.

Merry Christmas

Prospero Año y Felicidad

And we’re out. See you right back here on January 1, 2024!

 

34 thoughts on “It’s a Wonderful Spice: Minor Characters”

  3. Many of your favorites are also our favorites.

    I always watch It’s a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve while I wrap presents. Hubby and I watch A Christmas Carol on Christmas night when things are winding down. As a family, we watch Die Hard after opening presents (it’s the only Christmas movie we all agree on).

    I sometimes think I was born in the wrong era. These are the things I enjoy writing. Sometimes I get discouraged and give up as there doesn’tseem to be a market (or maybe I’mjust not that good), but this time of year comes around, I see people returning to these stories and I always try again.

  5. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year! I hope the holiday break is restful and that many creative ideas will be burning beneath the surface in our brains, ready to be acted upon in 2024.

    Now it’s time for the annual “click on TKZ each morning out of habit, even when they’re closed” period of time. LOL!!!!! But like the sun comes up each morning, I know we’ll be back.

    Have a blessed time with family and friends.

  6. Marry Christmas, Jim! You are the gift who keeps on giving all year long with your wit, wisdom, and ways to improve our craft! Enjoy the much deserved TKZ break. See you in the New Year.

  7. It’s a Wonderful Topic for the last post of the year here at TKZ, Jim. We rewatched “Rear Window” again and once again I was reminded what a terrific character actor Thelma Ritter was. “It’s a Wonderful Life” is a favorite of ours, too, though “Die Hard” is our Christmas Eve movie. There’s a great minor character moment in that when Al Leong’s gunman, who had ruthlessly shot a security guard, looks to make sure no one is watching before stealing a candy bar from a lobby case.

    Thanks for all the wisdom, insight, and craft your share with us here at KZB each week. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you in 2024!

    • Ah, Rear Window! My favorite Hitch. Good in any season

      Re: Thelma (who never won an Oscar, but should have). She was adept at both drama (Pickup on South Street) and comedy (Pillow Talk).

  9. Echo, echo, echo . . . the Happy Christmas wishes and best to you in 2024, Jim.

    One of my favorite secondary characters was Radagast the Brown in The Hobbit, played by Sylvester McCoy. The character (and the actor) was a perfect opposite to the character Gandalf.

    2024, here we come!

  10. Yes, I will attempt to take my morning coffee with a few extra minutes for morning words (as opposed to sleeping in), during this annual break…
    😁
    Joyeux Noël et bonne année, mes amis…
    🎄✨🌟

  13. Great taste in Christmas movies, Jim! I always cry at the end of It’s A Wonderful Life and my wife laughs at me. My favorite line is when Annie comes in and says, “I’ve been saving this money for a divorce if ever I get a husband!”

    Merry Christmas!

    • Good one, Gene.

      I got to drive Frank Capra to my campus when I was in film school, where we hosted him for a showing of It’s a Wonderful Life before it became widely known.

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