It's a Wonderful Tattoo

For Christmas, my wife, Jenn, told me I could get another tattoo, my second. I have wanted another one for years. My first one was a "reset button," designed to look the the "fire" button on the old Atari 2600 joysticks. I got that one in 2003 or 2004 after my divorce to remind me that I am in charge of my life and my future, not my practice wife/mother of my first child.

I have wanted a second tattoo for years, and have kicked around the idea of a Wonderful Life-themed tattoo for a while. I thought about the drawing of George lassoing the moon, but among other reasons, I decided not to do that, because that seemed to be the go-to design. I wanted something unique. And I wanted to incorporate my children in some way. So I went back to the drawing board. 

The book where I found my inspiration

And THEN I looked through the book It's a Wonderful Life: The Illustrated Holiday Classic by Paul Ruditis and illustrated by Sarah Conradsen, which I received as a Christmas gift from my parents. In it, I found two gorgeous illustrations of George Bailey praying on the bridge. I started playing with those ideas .... not suicide, but of praying and my children, and how would I incorporate them. And then I thought of the role bells play in the film.

I also wanted to incorporate my wife in the design, but I didn't want to include her name, because tattooing your wife's name on your body guarantees a divorce. That's just bad juju. Not gonna' do it. Some people suggested using her initials and putting "XXX Bridgeworks"  (where XXX are her initials) on the bridge as a way to include her. But then I realized her birth flower was holly. So that was easy.

But since I wear glasses and George Bailey doesn't, I had my tattoo artist bury the face in his hands instead of showing the face. That way, it is unclear if it is me or George Bailey praying. I also added a square and compasses lapel pin to represent my involvement in the Masonic fraternity.

So, you can look at this tattoo as simply a scene from the film inspired by a book made for children, or you can look at it as symbolic of me, praying over my children, represented by the bells, bridging my past to their future.

Below is the process of the tattoo. It was completed in two sessions. Session 1 was Feb. 5, 2021, which was the anniversary of my parents' wedding, and my grandfather's death (neither of which happened this year). Session 2 happened June 1. I might need to get the white touched up at some point, but that will be after swim season is over.

Last moment for bare arm

End of Day 1 progress Feb 5, 2021

Final tattoo, completed June 1, 2021

Living in Color, Dreaming in Black and White

My colorized copy. Also includes a
black and white copy.

I broke my cardinal rule. I watched It's a Wonderful Life in color. I promised myself that I would never do it. Not only did I actually do it, but I also bought a copy of it in color.

The question becomes, after more than 25 years of watching the black and white version, WHY did I do it? The answer is actually pretty simple: Mary Hatch's mailbox.

Wait, what???!!! That's right. A mailbox.

About a month ago, while watching the black and white version, I thought I saw a nautical scene painted on the mailbox. It looked like a ship's bow and mast. The mailbox says, "Mrs. J.W. Hatch." But it's a mystery what happened to Mary's father. He doesn't exist. 

I thought that with a picture of a man hanging on the wall in Mary's parlor, along with a nautical scene on the mailbox, I might be able to explain his non-existence as being due to death at sea. But I couldn't quite make out the design in the black and white version. So I borrowed a copy of the colorized version from the library. 

IAWL in color.

In getting to that scene, I went a little too far, and landed on George and Mary's wedding day. While watching that part, I saw Mr. Gower in the crowd. I had never seen that before. I thought to myself, "If I missed that in the black and white version, what else can the colorized version reveal that I had never seen before?

So I bought a copy. And on Feb. 28, I watched it. What I found was amazing. In the first 10 minutes, I found 13 things I had never noticed before. That list will be the subject of a later post.

The most intriguing thing I noticed, however, was that not everything in every scene is colorized. For example:

• The sign during the war montage is in black and white. Sure, you can say it's black lettering on a white sign, but look at the background. There is a distinct lack of color.
• During the bank run, the people running behind the rear window of the car are in black and white.

IAWL in color.

• During the scene where George walks into Billy's office and finds Billy looking for the money, the outside that can be seen through the window is black and white.

So now the question is "was it worth it?" Unequivocally, YES! I shouldn't really support the colorized version. I have always fought it and spoken out against it. But the newest colorized version is a far cry from the 1980s faded pastel colorized version. It's so much better than it used to be.

Having watched this film more than 800 times, I also needed a fresh look. That's what the colorized version did for me. I found new things. I found answers to some questions that I had (no, it's not a nautical scene).

I will continue watching this film in black and white on a regular basis. But when I have a question about something I see, I will turn to the colorized version just to make sure.

And I only paid $10 for it, so bonus points.

How do you feel about the colorized version?