How To Get To Pottersville
Well, since you asked, I’ve lived here in Bedford Falls all my life. My father before me. It was a real nice town, people looked after each other, watched after their neighbors and their neighbor’s kids – maybe they didn’t mind their own business enough – but on the whole, yeah, a pretty nice town. Of course, there were some folks who didn’t fit in, probably because they didn’t want to fit in. But they were the exception. Most folks were, like I said, nice folks. The biggest exception was Potter. He was, and still is, the richest man in town. Funny thing though – he doesn’t even live here! In fact, no one knows where he lives. But you can see him at his office at the bank, which he owns, counting his money. They say “only the good die young” so he’ll be around for a long time. He owns a lot of places and things; he even owns some people, but we’ll get to that later.
Other places you might want to see are the soda shop, the library, and the Bailey Building and Loan which George Bailey ran. You would’ve liked George, everybody did! He was the kinda guy who would give you the shirt off his back. Yeah, George Bailey, a real nice guy. But you know what they say about nice guys…
Back to Bedford Falls. You see Mr. Potter always wanted to control this town. He didn’t want to run for public office but he wanted to control the people who were in public office. That way, he figured, he could get everything he wanted without anyone knowing that he was pulling the strings. The first thing he did was buy the town newspaper - which was pretty smart if you think about it. You see if people know only what you tell ‘em, you got any argument half licked! Then he went after some of the stores in town; when townsfolk went to buy things they would really be buying from him! But some of the stores didn’t want to be bought so that had to be dealt with. Apparently, the fact that they were paying their mortgages to his bank wasn’t enough, he wanted everything. I said before that Potter was the richest man in town but I neglected to say that he was also the meanest and greediest man in town. And he wanted to remake Bedford Falls in his image to make himself feel better, I guess.
First, he raised the rents on the rooms at a boarding house he owned. That’s where Violet Bick stayed. Violet was a very pretty girl and was always something of a flirt. Well, I’m not one to gossip but she was! After Potter raised the rents, Violet, and some of the other people living in that boarding house, started doing things they ordinarily wouldn’t have done. That was a real shame and Potter was responsible for it and everyone knew it.
Then he had another idea: if the people of Bedford Falls wouldn’t do his bidding then he would find a way to drive them out and repopulate the town with people who would. Again, pretty smart. Nasty, but smart.
He got a man from out of state to run for town lawyer. An election was coming up and Potter told this individual that he wanted him, if he won, to take it easy on any petty offense that may be committed because he, Potter, cared about his neighbors and didn’t want them put in jail for minor things. Gave the town a bad name and all that. In exchange, Potter would fund his campaign and help him and his family to relocate to Bedford Falls. This lawyer agreed to the deal. The election was held and he won. Of course, no one knew about any of this. That’s when the real trouble began.
Bert, our Sheriff, saw a guy grab a lady’s purse in broad daylight on Main Street. Bert grabbed him. Town lawyer shows up at the jail and tells Bert to release him. Nobody was hurt was the explanation. Bert, who’s been in his job for as long as I can remember, didn’t understand. Town lawyer again says “Release him”. Jail keys come out of Bert’s pocket and off the guy goes.
Weekend rolls around and a fistfight breaks out at the movie theater. Some boys over some girl. Bert and his deputy break it up. Not a big deal, damage to property, disorderly conduct etc. Same story: “Release them”. Didn’t even go to court. Now Bert is trying to figure out what’s going on. Theater owner was in disbelief.
It’s important to understand in all this that Potter didn’t consider the people of Bedford Falls as citizens, he thought of them as customers. They weren’t neighbors to him, they were just people who bought things, things he provided.
You see when you don’t see people as people it makes it easier to do things to them you wouldn’t want done to yourself. Church school taught me that a long time ago. That’s gone too - the school and its’ lessons.
Things were going Potter’s way, no doubt about it. But not necessarily on his schedule. So he had another idea. He brought people in from far away, and I don’t mean from New Hampshire or Rhode Island. I mean from very far away, like from some of the places George Bailey always wanted to see but never got to see because his brother was at college and then in the Navy during the war. Which war? Well, THE war! That may mean something different to you than it does to me so pick the war you want. Lord knows there always seems to be one.
So, these folks start arriving, some with little children, some all alone. We put them in the high school gym for awhile but they needed more than that. So, the town board put them in the Bedford Arms – that’s the hotel. But these people didn’t have any money so the town paid their hotel bill. What the town board didn’t know was that Potter owned the hotel, so the town was paying Potter for lodging the people that he brought in! I mean that was a beautiful move on his part - you have to admit it - a beautiful move.
The ladies with the little children, they were doing well. But the men, well, they didn’t seem to be interested in much. They would just sit all day in the park and laugh the day away. Nice work if you can get it. But everyone wondered how they made their money, you know, money for the things they needed. Then one day a fella that everyone knew worked for Potter was seen walking into the park and started handing out money to these men. Now it began to make sense; Potter had brought these people to Bedford Falls, but why? We didn’t have to wait long for the answer.
They would go to the coffee shop and take donuts off the counter without paying for them. They would whistle at the girls walking past the park benches. George Bailey’s daughters Zuzu and Janie became scared, so George told his sons Tommy and Pete to walk their sisters to school before baseball practice. But the worst was when a few of them went to Mr. Gower’s pharmacy and took things right off the shelves without paying for a thing. Mr. Gower tried to stop them with a broom handle, but they hit him with it and ran. By the time Bert got there the men were nowhere to be found.
That was when Bert’s two deputies walked into his office and turned in their badges. They had had enough. Bert put an ad in the newspaper for replacements, but the paper didn’t run the ad. Remember, Potter owned the newspaper. Bert went to their office and demanded that they run the ad. They did, but no one applied. No one wanted the job. Nighttime in town became dangerous, with groups of people forming into different kinds of organizations, gangs you might call them. This was for protection – from each other!
Nothing made any sense anymore.
Life in Bedford Falls was getting sad and bad. The question being asked by more than a few was, why stay? And with every passing day that question was being asked more and more frequently.
George kept saying “Just you wait ‘til Clarence gets here. Everything will be alright”. Nobody knew what he was talking about but they had faith in George Bailey. So people waited for this guy Clarence to show up. Problem was, he never did. Then slowly, people began to lose heart and it’s bad when you lose heart. It began, like I said, slowly. Little things like they didn’t tidy up their sidewalks, didn’t smile when you said hello, didn’t go out at night. Library on a Saturday afternoon was empty. You could get any seat you wanted at the coffee shop on Sunday morning because no one was there.
Little things, but those little things add up.
Then the pace quickened. Things started to change and I mean fast. Before you knew it, people were leaving. And many of these folks ran small stores and businesses so when they left they closed up shop - literally! All the while the mayor is saying “don’t worry, they’ll be back” because nobody can be happy living anywhere but Bedford Falls. But that isn’t true, and they never did come back.
Then I saw Potter and the mayor having dinner together at Martini’s, and more than once! When I saw that I knew that His Honor was just another card in Potter’s deck. A few weeks later Giuseppe Martini sold his restaurant for nickels and dimes. He asked Nick who was selling his bar if he wanted to buy the restaurant but Nick wasn’t interested. I think Martini went to New York, but that place has its’ own problems. I heard the Dodgers might be leaving but I don’t think so.
Mr. Gower quit the pharmacy business and moved to Florida. I bet Mary Bailey called her old beau Sam Wainwright to help Mr. Gower find a house in Saratoga, I mean Sarasota. I always get those two places mixed up.
The bus company said they wouldn’t come here anymore and the train company would continue service but only on weekends. Didn’t really matter – no one was coming to visit. Seems that word got around that Bedford Falls was not worth the trip.
And George Bailey probably started looking around and decided that this wasn’t the town he remembered, it wasn’t the town he loved. He and Mary sold the Building and Loan to Potter; must have broken their hearts. Then they sold their house and took the whole family to …I don’t know. Maybe one of those exotic places George was always talking about. Strange, isn’t it? You know people your whole life and then they’re suddenly gone. I wonder where they go.
So, to answer your question in a long-winded way, that’s what happened to Bedford Falls. Oh sure, if you look at a map it still says Bedford Falls but in reality it’s Pottersville. You see, Potter won. He got what he wanted but the question arises - to what end?
The Lord said “The meek shall inherit the earth”, but I’m thinking they’ll only inherit it after the strong are finished with it, by which time it won’t be worth anything.
Well, my watch says it’s close to 6 o’clock. Better get home before the trouble starts. I’m in the middle of a thousand-piece puzzle, that should help me doze off! Been having trouble sleepin’ lately. I hope everything I’ve told you helps you understand how a town can die if there are evil people intent on making that happen.
Try to keep all this from happening to your town – if you can.
Well, it’s been great talking to you. Goodnight, and good luck.