He would’ve been 102 today. I’m celebrating his birthday because he’s a fellow accordion player, and like me, he’s played the accordion to make ends meet. When he graduated from Princeton with a degree in architecture during the great depression, there wasn’t any work in his field. He took a job playing accordion with a summer stock troupe in Cape Code, where he met Henry Fonda, got a role on Broadway and eventually ended up in film.
For more on Jimmy Stewart, see his entries in Finding Dulcinea and Wikipedia.
2 replies on “Happy Birthday, Jimmy Stewart!”
“Cape Code” — nice one…
I didn’t know he played accordion, but I did know that he served in the USAF during WW2 –and not making training and propaganda movies, either. Unlike a lot of Hollywood figures who joined the forces during the war, he actually volunteered (in fact, twisted arms) to fight for the safety of the free world.
Definitely gotta give him respect for that.