Bill Donohue hosts this 2-hour special holiday edition featuring a remarkable collection of guests, including former Mets outfielder Mark Canha and four-time Stanley Cup champion Bob Bourne. The program also welcomes the iconic actors from the classic film "It’s a Wonderful Life," Karolyn Grimes and Jimmy Hawkins, who portray Zuzu and Tommy Bailey, respectively. At the outset, Bill examines the unique experiences and insights of these guest speakers, reflecting on both their illustrious careers and the enduring impact of the film that has captivated audiences for generations. Through a series of engaging conversations, we explore the intersection of sports and cinema and the enduring themes of hope and community that resonate throughout the holiday season. Join us for an evening rich in nostalgia, celebration, and heartfelt narratives that exemplify the spirit of the holidays.

Takeaways:

1. The episode features notable guests including Mark Canha, Bob Bourne, Carolyn Grimes, and Jimmy Hawkins, each sharing their unique experiences and insights.
2. Mark Canha discusses his journey from minor league baseball to becoming a significant player for the Mets, highlighting his love for food and cooking.
3. Bob Bourne reminisces about his time with the New York Islanders, emphasizing the camaraderie and teamwork that led to their Stanley Cup victories.
4. Carolyn Grimes reflects on her iconic role as Zuzu Bailey in 'It's a Wonderful Life,' sharing heartfelt stories about the film's enduring impact and her experiences on set.
5. Jimmy Hawkins shares anecdotes from filming 'It's a Wonderful Life,' including the unique dynamics on set and the lasting message of the film about the importance of individual contributions to community.
6. The holiday special emphasizes themes of nostalgia, community, and the impact of sports and film on personal lives, resonating with audiences during the festive season.

The views expressed in the following program do not necessarily represent those of the staff, management or owners of wgbb.

Live from the WGBB studios in Merritt, New York, this is Sports Talk New York.

Good evening and hello again everybody.

Welcome welcome to Sports Talk WGB Merrick, Long Island, New York.

Glad to have you with us this wintry weekend here on Long Island.

Heartfelt thank you to our amazing engineer Brian Graves for his wonderful service throughout the year.

Glad to have you aboard with us tonight.

We've got a great show up ahead for you.

Up first, we welcome in a great guy, so many things to talk to him about.

Former Mets outfielder Mark Cannon will join us next.

One of our very special guests will join us again this year for our holiday show.

Carolyn Grimes, who of course played Zuzu Bailey in the and It's a Wonderful Life will join the show.

In the nine o' clock hour we have four time Stanley cup champion New York Islander, the great number 14 on those legendary Dynasty Isles teams.

Bob Bourne will speak with us.

Finally, we'll wrap things up with another cast member of the holiday classic It's a Wonderful Life.

Jimmy Hawkins will join the show.

He of course will was Tommy Bailey, the youngest son of Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, who was only he was only really looking to be excused for burping.

That was his problem.

That's all.

Wonderful holiday show for all of us to enjoy.

So there you have it.

Some great chats, some great memories to relive and to be made up ahead on Sports Talk New York tonight.

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don't make that mistake.

Since then he's done Nothing but hit 121 home runs and driven in 465 runs.

We of course remember him with the Mets.

He's also what's described as a foodie.

And we're going to find out much more about that.

Welcome to the show tonight, Mark Canna.

Mark, good evening.

Hey, Bill, thanks for having me.

Wonderful to have you, Mark.

Now, did you grow up in California?

I did.

I grew up in San Jose.

Gotcha.

All right, now, who were your teams and your heroes as a kid?

I was a San Jose Sharks fan.

San Francisco Giants and 49ers.

So.

Jerry Rice, Steve Young, Joe Montana, Owen Nolan Jeffries and Archers Urbe on the Sharks and Barry Bonds and maybe like Jeff Kent and yeah, among others on the Giants.

Yeah, some great names there.

You really, you followed some good guys there, Mark.

I happen to love the minor leagues, Marcus.

I love the names, the towns, the ballparks.

And you played for a couple of my favorites.

The Jamestown Jammers were one of my favorites.

Now that was the New York Penn League.

Wasn't.

Was.

Yeah.

Low eight short season.

Yeah.

And then the Jupiter Hammerheads.

That was Florida State League.

Yep.

How about those towns and the teams in the minors that you played for there, Mark?

Well, these were parts of the country that I was really unfamiliar with at the time, and it was kind of eye opening to just sign a professional contract and then find myself in Jamestown, New York, which I don't even think I've been in the state of New York.

So that was my first taste of New York and then, you know, Jupiter, Florida.

And my time in Jamestown was pretty brief.

So I didn't, you know, it was a few weeks.

I signed late in August and so I didn't play very much in Jamestown.

It was probably a dozen games or so.

But yeah, I just remember being a young kid and kind of playing a lot of baseball, a lot of my baseball on the east coast and just kind of learning about that side of the country.

Did you know Jamestown was the hometown of Lucille Ball?

Lucille Ball, Yes.

I learned that quickly.

That was made apparent quickly when I got there.

And I think that's the only thing I know about loose about Jamestown and the fact that I suppose that a lot of jam was produced there at one point in history.

That's about the only thing that you can know about Jamestown, New York.

Marcus the Jam and Lucy is from there now.

2014, chosen as a Rule 5 by the Rockies, traded to the A's.

Must have been great to go back to Northern California.

It was.

It was great.

It was also, I mean, great to just be selected.

So it was kind of a crazy situation for me because I was at the crossroads of my career and wasn't sure where my career was going to go.

And it was very apparent that it wasn't going very far with the Marlins.

So I was hoping and praying that that Rule 5 draft worked out.

So that was a really big deal for me in my career and turn my career around.

You led the team in home runs, but you also led the MLB in strikeouts.

Mark, what, what happened there?

What was the issue?

I was playing more than everybody else.

I was playing.

They wanted to get a good look at me.

So I was playing every day in spring training and so I was able to amass some volume numbers, if you will.

And it was a great spring for me.

I think I hit.300.

And for being only my second, it was only my second big league camp I'd ever been invited to.

The Marlins only invited me to one in which I got like 10 at bats or something.

And so, yeah, my first opportunity where I was actually trying to make a club out of camp, a big league roster, and I made the most of it.

You did.

Now we're speaking with Mark Canna tonight on Sports Talk.

New York getting back to the minors.

Now there's another team.

I'm going to try to go to Nashville in the spring and I planted take in a Sounds ball game.

How is it down there?

Nashville's a fun city.

I'd highly recommend it to anybody.

There's a lot going on.

They got the music scene, which everybody knows about, but also a lot of other cool stuff, a lot of good restaurants.

You know, I'm the food guy, so I guess I'm going to talk about that.

But the ballpark in Nashville is great.

Great atmosphere, new, you know, newer park, just really nice kind of downtown ish ballpark right there in Germantown in Nashville.

And yeah, I had nothing but great experiences in Nashville.

Sounds good.

I think we'll look forward to that trip this spring then.

Now getting hit by pitches.

Mark, you led Oakland when you came here.

You had a propensity, we'll call it, to get hit by pitches.

Talk about getting HPP and how you more or less came to be a part of your game.

Yeah.

I made sort of a big adjustment in how I went about the game.

And I think a big part of that was I started playing a little bit of center field and just watching from center Field.

I learned so much about hitting actually, just because watching pitch after pitch go by and watching these hitters and just seeing kind of how things were going.

And what I learned was basically that not that many people do a whole lot of damage with fastballs that are on the inner half of the plate.

So I kind of decided, well, if nobody's going to hit this pitch, why am I better than everybody else?

And I'm all of a sudden going to hit it when nobody else can.

And so I just said, well, I'm going to let it hit me then.

And so I got on the plate and I looked out over and anything that came close to me, I tried to let it hit me or I try and hit it out of the ballpark and, you know, salad off usually most of the time.

But yeah, but it did a lot of things for me.

It made, it kind of made me.

Gave me good strike zone discipline because I was really.

I had an actual approach and I was looking for something very specific.

And it helped my own base percentage a lot.

It helped me be more selective because I was basically only looking for pitches out over the plate, like on the outer half and the hip.

I pitches just, you know, they started piling up with me getting on top of the plate.

So it ended up being a great adjustment for a long time.

And it worked for a long time until it didn't.

Yeah, very interesting.

Mark, you talk about being in center field, you got a whole different view of the game.

Real interesting.

Yeah, that was probably the best learning experience I ever had.

About my best teacher of hitting was playing center field.

Yeah, that's great.

Now, you signed with the Mets, you said you were ready for the big stage and New York, certainly a big stage.

Tell us more about your signing with the Mets.

Yeah, I think at the time, you know, I was doing the whole hit by pitches thing and I was hitting some home runs and doing pretty well in Oakland.

And going into that off season of my first off season of free agency, it was just I was the player on the board that I think you could circle and say, well, this is a guy with a very, a very obvious skill set that kind of jumps out at you and a very unique player with a skill set that not that many people had.

So it was.

There were a lot of people very interested and the Mets were at the time were looking to kind of start, build something new.

Mr. Cohen was new in town.

I think it was his.

Going to be his second year, if I'm not mistaken, owning the team.

And he wanted to make a big splash.

And Billy Eppler was the GM at the time, or the president of baseball operations, however you want to call it.

But he had seen a lot of me, and I guess I was kind of a thorn in his side during my time in Oakland when he was in.

In Anaheim.

And, yeah, he was just pretty aggressive, as you know, and as it goes.

And I was part of that thing.

It was just.

It was surreal.

It was like Scherzer and Starling Marte and Eduardo Escobar and me thrown in there, and it was just.

It was pretty cool.

It was very exciting, and I loved every minute of it.

Yeah.

As you say, Cohen was looking to build something, and you had a pretty big upside there, as you said, by your experience in Oakland, and they brought you aboard.

Now, I gotta ask you, Mark, you've played with these guys.

How do you feel about what's going on these days with.

What do you want to call it?

You want to call it a rebuild?

You want to call it a breakdown of the corps?

What did you think when you heard the news about Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz?

What went through your mind?

Yeah, I mean, I kind of feel like my wife and I love to talk about the Mets just because it's so entertaining, and New York Sports is just so under the microscope, and it's fun.

It's like a soap opera, you know, it's just, like, always so dramatic and so.

And it's fun to talk about it, and so, you know, it's more fun than talking about the Kansas City Royals and what they're doing, you know, so Mr. Cohen's a fun guy, and he's always making it, you know.

You know, he wants to win, and, you know, he wants to put a product out there, and he really cares.

And so I just.

I feel like I kind of called it with my wife.

I was just like, I think the Mets, as much as I love Pete and I love Brandon Nimmo and I love Sugar, like, I feel like it was just, like, time to turn the page on that chapter.

And it's unfortunate, but everything, I think, has to.

Everything ends at some point.

And, you know, they weren't.

They didn't win it with that group.

And something.

It feels like something had to change.

And.

Yeah, I mean, it's weird.

You know, you'd think any team who has Brandon Nimmo on it is.

Brandon Nimmo is going to make that team better.

Any team that has Pete Alonso on it, Pete Alonso is going to make that Team better.

They're such talented players.

And same with Edwin Diaz.

Like that guy's going to make your team better.

Obviously the Dodgers went and scooped him up and all these.

They're just highly sought after guys.

But for some reason it didn't work.

And so I think you, I think at some point your hand just gets forced and you have to go in a different direction.

Interesting points all there, Mark.

I mean, as you said, you know these guys, you played alongside these guys.

You're looking in from the outside now.

But the fans, you know, the fans are serious here, Mark.

And the fans are serious.

And Mr. Cohen's.

And Mr. Cohen wants to win.

We hope so.

It's this high stake.

We hope so.

I mean, my viewpoint personally is he's got his casino now, his old toy is broken and just let it sit there.

I mean, I'm kind of upset by it, by all of it.

But as he said, the off season is not over with.

We got a lot of time to try to improve the ball club.

So I think we'll just have to wait and see.

Yeah, yeah.

I think if.

I think I would expect a more pitching centric, kind of focused off season to unfold.

I think that's the only way forward.

I mean, you had the best bats.

You know, like it's the offense.

It was as good of a Ross lineup as you could put together and it didn't work.

So I think you got to go pitching and see what happens.

And defense, that's what I think.

That's what Stearns is emphasizing.

Yep.

Okay.

We'll see what happens.

A topic that I have to ask you about, Mark, before we get to food is pine tar.

Pine tar on the batting helmet.

Now, I'm not sure how you worked it here with the Mets.

You let the tar build up on the helmet.

I have one of these helmets I got off an MLB online auction and I try to handle it very gingerly so I don't upset the pine tar.

How often do they let you change your helmet or does the clubby say you need a new one or they'll clean it for you?

Why did you prefer to have the pine tar on your helmet?

For me it was because one, because I always just like the look of it.

I think I have to admit Marvin Barnard was a leadoff hitter for the giants in the 90s that I loved to watch.

Center fielder, left handed hitter.

And he had it like caked on like crazy.

And I never had it on quite that heavy.

And then I also like that I just had something Sticky that I could go to real quick if I needed it.

So I didn't like to put the pine tar directly on my bat because I didn't want it to change the weight or, you know, you put pine tar on, then you add more, then you add more, and all of a sudden the bat feels different.

The grip is not.

It's not always consistent.

I just felt like I wanted to grab a little bit off my helmet when I needed some.

Gotcha.

All right, good.

Yeah, it probably doesn't, but.

No, it did to me.

Yeah, no, I see where you went there now.

Yeah, the food.

What's a foodie now tell us what your definition of a foodie is.

A food is someone who appreciates food to the point where I would say it's someone who obsesses about food on a regular basis.

Okay.

Yeah.

Like, I'm up at night thinking about what I want to cook the next day or what restaurant I want to go to or what I want to try next.

So that's been something.

I've been doing a lot of cooking this off season, and it's just become a passion of mine, and I just love it.

And I'm making new stuff all the time, and it's just a lot of fun for me.

Yeah, that's interesting.

Everybody's got something, so you might as well have food now.

What are your favorites right now as far as food goes?

Oh, man, I'm eating a lot of fish this off season.

I've been smoking, using my smoker a lot, so I'm kind of in a big time.

Like, it's ironic because I live in the desert, but I've been smoking a lot of trout, smoking some wild caught salmon.

I'm into tinned fish just as much, so I eat a lot of sardines and a lot of tinned varieties of fish and just messing with a lot of different, like, techniques.

And I'm, you know, taking out all the stuff in the kitchen and just playing, you know, just playing in the kitchen and having fun with it.

So, yeah, I just really, you know, it's kind of fun for me to cook, but it's turning into sort of an obsession lately.

That's all.

Right now, how do you decide, Mark, what you're going to try next?

Do you have any sources or anybody you read online?

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I have a few guys on Instagram that I follow, some chefs.

I'm blanking on their names.

There's a lot of cookbooks I like to read, though.

Lately we've been Cooking out of.

Our friend from New York is a chef, Alison Roman.

She's a great chef in New York, and she has some great cookbooks.

She just came out with a new one, but I'm always going through all of her cookbooks.

We have all of hers.

And then another person whose cookbooks we like to follow is Samin Nosrat.

She was a chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley under Alice Waters.

And she does a lot of really cool stuff.

So it's different styles and all different kind of styles of cooking.

But that's what's interesting to me, too.

Like, Allison has a different style than Saming, and.

And it's just kind of fun to, like, see what people are doing now.

You must have had a great time on the road.

I mean, going to different places in different cities.

Where did you enjoy going on the road, Mark?

Maybe you brought the guys with you for a little meal.

I mean, going to New York is always fun.

New York, I mean, it's just the big cities for me most of the time.

I mean, there's great food everywhere, but it's New York, Miami, Seattle, San Francisco, Louisiana.

Those will always kind of be my favorites.

I kind of have a bias towards the west coast, but, I mean, you can't.

New York just.

The numbers just wins on how many, like, gray restaurants there are.

But I have a bias towards San Francisco.

I just.

Growing up there and living there for six years.

Yeah.

Would you ever go to McDonald's?

No.

Okay.

Yeah.

I gotta ask.

I mean, never say never.

It depends where you are.

But no, it's not my favorite.

No, I understood.

Not with what you cook and what you've got lined up.

How about.

We just got back from Chicago in September to catch the Met series out there.

They're known for their pizza.

You like pizza?

I love pizza.

Where would you go in Chicago for pizza?

I think we just go to Geno's east, usually when my family likes to go to Chicago.

So my girls.

My kids are usually with me.

I have two girls and my wife and Genoze is right by the hotel, so we would just take them there and do that.

I'm not.

I wouldn't say a pizza.

I'm not, like, snobby about pizza, which a lot of people are from New York and Chicago and all the pizza places.

You know, I think.

I think pizza is not.

I think it's.

A lot of pizza is really good.

And I just.

It's hard for me to do a deep dive into all the pizza places in New York because There's just so many.

And do another.

Trying other things, too.

So it's like, what am I gonna eat?

Nothing but pizza for a whole baseball season?

Like, I'm not.

I'm just not gonna do that.

No, no.

Right.

But don't get me wrong.

I mean, New York, I think, is the best pizza.

And there you go.

That's.

I mean, it's definitely.

That was made clear.

And, yeah, I think the best pizza I ever had was in Tribeca, and I don't even remember the name of the place.

It was like we were.

We were walking around on an off day, and we stopped into this hole in the wall, and it was like, the best pizza I've ever tasted in my life.

And we were sitting on a.

Sitting on a bench and, like, a little park, eating it.

Yeah.

Well, like you say, you never know.

You never know what you're gonna bump into, especially in New York.

Yeah.

What do you have lined up for this season, Mark?

You gonna play or you looking to play or.

Yeah, I'm entertaining it.

It'll be interesting to see.

It's pretty quiet right now with the holidays.

It'll be interesting to see what.

If anything comes my way.

I'm just.

I'm not ruling now.

I'm considering all options.

I'm thinking about retiring, but also, if something comes along that I find interesting, I'm not gonna rule anything out at this point.

And what would you do if you did retire, Mark?

Would you just live a life of leisure and go about your cooking?

And what would you do?

I think I would.

I think I would mix it up.

I think it'd be a little bit of leisure, a little bit of some kind of work.

If it's in the food arena, that would be really cool.

And kind of exploring some of that right now and looking into some of that and what I could do.

But, yeah, I'm not sure is the short answer to that question, but, yeah, I'd love to travel and kind of make up for lost time during the baseball career and spend a lot of time with my kids and not work too much, but maybe work a little bit.

You got the right point of view, Mark.

That's for sure.

Well, Mark Cannon, it's been a pleasure.

I thank you for taking time out of your Sunday night to spend it with us back here at Sports Talk New York.

I wish you, Mark, the best of luck.

Happy New Year to you and the family.

And again, thanks for being with us.

All right.

Thanks, Bill.

Appreciate it.

That is Mark Canna, ladies and gentlemen, up Next on Sports Talk New York, we'll welcome in one of the Bailey children from It's a Wonderful Life, Zuzu Bailey herself, Carolyn Grimes.

It's our holiday show, folks, so stick around.

You are listening to sports talk new york.

And now back to the show.

All right.

We're back with Sports Talk New York on WGB AM FM radio, live from beautiful downtown Merrick, Long Island, New York, usa.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, whatever you celebrate, I hope it was great.

And we're wishing all of us a very happy new Year.

Upcoming.

We'll carry on now with a very special guest.

Our next very special guest has appeared in some great films such as the Bishop's Wife with Cary Grant, Loretta Young, David Niven and Rio Grande with John Wayne and Maureen o'.

Hara.

There's a duo for you folks as well as, of course, It's a Wonderful Life playing the iconic role of Zuzu Bailey.

She's back from the annual Christmas celebration that takes place every year in Seneca Falls, New York.

It's an honor and a pleasure to welcome back to the show tonight Carolyn Grimes.

Carolyn Good evening.

Well, good evening to you.

Wonderful to have you with us.

I know you're under the weather.

We won't keep you that long.

Okay, thank you.

Now, I want to talk to you, Carolyn, about the Christmas festival up in Seneca Falls.

Now my wife and I wanted to visit one year, tell us a little bit about the festival and, and the significance of Seneca Falls.

Just what takes place every year.

Well, we have reason to believe that Frank Capra went through the town many, many years ago, and he got his ideas for the design of Bedford Falls from Seneca Falls, New York.

The street names are a lot the same.

There is the bridge.

There's so many, many things that he would have seen.

And there was also a plaque on the bridge that covers the canal and it had said it was to an Italian fellow and he was young and he jumped in the canal to save a woman who was taking her own life.

And Capra would have seen that.

And in the process of saving her, he saved her life, but he lost his own.

He couldn't swim.

Oh, boy.

That's kind of the way it went.

And anyway, it really kind of was a chapter in the town's life where after that happened, the town chipped in and brought his whole family over.

And where there was a little difference between the Italian side of town and WASP side of town.

That changed after that.

And it.

They brought the town united.

And it was really a beautiful thing in the end.

And he would have seen this.

So this is one thing.

And then, of course, there was a barber that cut his hair.

And I been going there long enough that I got to talk to that barber before he got his wings.

And he said yes, for sure, that he remembers him very well.

Frank Capra, because his.

The barber's name is Tony Bellissimo.

And Bellissimo in Italian means beautiful, right?

Well, capra in Italian means goat.

So he remembers cutting the goat's hair.

To me, he was telling the truth.

I know he cut his hair.

I know he was there.

And from there it just goes on and on.

Yeah, very interesting story.

So I think we're going to head up there and check that out.

Especially there's a museum up there, two folks dedicated.

It's a Wonderful Life.

So definitely worth a visit.

Off your beaten path to visit Seneca Falls.

Now, Carolyn Grimes, what's your origin in show business?

How do you get started?

Well, my mother was a stage mom and she gave me every kind of lesson that was possible.

And then she took me to see an agent and the agent liked me.

And she sent me on some interviews and I started getting parts and I started when I was four years old.

Understood.

Okay, so very, very young folks.

Now, people probably tell you, Carolyn, all the time when what the movie means to them.

Now, is there a particular story that you've been told that really stands out?

Well, I have to go back to the story that was told to me by a middle aged woman.

And she said that she was extremely depressed and that she really was considering taking her own life.

And she thought about it and she was just about getting ready to make the night be the one where she takes her own life.

But she said she sat down and for a few minutes and she kind of got caught up in a movie and it was It's a Wonderful Life.

And she ended up watching the entire movie and it changed her whole life.

She realized that suicide was not the answer.

And that she wanted to make her life as good as possible.

And so she turned her life around and she wrote me years later and said that It's a Wonderful Life.

Saved her life, wonderful story.

It's hard to believe that a movie could do that, but if anyone can, it's this one.

Now, you meet people up in Seneca Falls.

You meet people all the time, Carolyn, at different events.

People bring you things to sign.

What is the strangest or the most unique piece of memorabilia that someone has brought you to sign from.

From the movie?

Really, from the movie?

I can't think of much because there.

There isn't a whole lot out there from the movie itself.

You know, the movie was not a success, so they didn't save a lot of stuff.

How about something that someone collected, a collectible that.

That they have and they wanted you to sign?

Well, I have signed a couple of guitars.

Okay.

And they are special to them, and they've had.

They played them all their lives, and.

And it was a big deal.

And it's wonderful.

Like, what's their favorite movie?

And so they wanted me to sign their guitar, so I did.

Okay.

Yeah.

Very interesting.

As you say, Carolyn, different things mean different things to people.

And whatever floats your boat.

That's a perfect example of it.

Carolyn Grimes from It's a Wonderful Life with us tonight on the show.

Now, what scenes or moments from It's a Wonderful Life have kind of resonated with you at different points in your life?

Well, I guess I would have to say the father scene with the kids in his frustration, and then later at the end, how happy he is with the kids and how he realizes that his life really is wonderful.

I think that's my favorite part of the whole movie.

It's really the theme, isn't it, Carolyn, of the whole movie?

It really is.

Yeah.

Now, you weren't in that scene.

You were up in bed with your flower.

Did you hear from the kids that they were kind of scared when they filmed that scene?

Yes, I did.

Wow.

They were.

Yeah.

Yes.

And when the little boy had the mask on his face, the Santa mask, and he.

Mr. Stewart was holding him and, you know, making him rub his face against.

And that mask made his face raw, but he couldn't say a word.

He couldn't do anything.

You know, he was a trooper.

He was only 4, but he was a trooper.

He never let on that he was uncomfortable or anything, but every time he pulled him against him, the mask would rub his cheek.

Oh, boy.

He remembers that to this day.

Interesting story, Carolyn.

Now, how about a behind the seams memory of Jimmy Stewart that really stands out in your memory?

Well, of course, you know, Jimmy Stewart was extremely tall and he was thin as a rail, so he looked even taller because of that.

So to me, he was like a God.

And here I am on his back and we don't do a scene just once.

You do it over and over again and I'm on his back coming down the stairs and hanging on like a little frog.

And we didn't do it once, we did it many times, you know, so I always will remember how gentle and kind he was every take, Every single one.

He let me down so gently and I had to cause him some angst coming down those stairs, choking him to death.

Yeah.

Oh, boy.

Now, that pocket watch given to you by the principal of Bedford Falls High School.

Do you know whatever happened to that pocket watch, Carolyn?

No, I don't.

I don't have any idea.

All right.

Now I notice in the scene, watching it this season that you're kind of looking off, off screen, off to.

Off of the set.

In that final scene, is someone giving you direction from.

From.

From off, off screen?

No, no one's giving me instructions.

I was probably just looking at something going on because it was a room full of people.

You know, it wasn't a room, but it was mock up of a room with a lot of people in it.

And so there was a lot of things for me to look at and I did.

Yeah, as you've heard a million times.

What a wonderful scene and what a wonderful job you did.

And then the scene with Jimmy upstairs with your little flower that you want to give a drink.

What an amazing scene.

How many times did you.

Did you have to go through the scene with Jimmy in the flower?

Oh, I have no idea.

Okay.

You know, back in the day, you don't count things like that.

Yeah.

You just do what they tell you to do.

Understood.

Okay, I got you there.

Of all the characters in the movie, Carolyn, which one do you think is the most underappreciated?

I mean, you have so many characters and their personalities are brought out.

You have Bert and Ernie, you know, you have Violet.

Of course, you have Lionel Barrymore went blank there for a second.

Which of the characters do you think is the most underappreciated of all?

Probably Uncle Billy.

Ah, okay.

And why would you say Uncle Billy?

Because he was.

He was the really the foundation of a lot of that movie.

Because he was his uncle.

He was a little fae in the head.

And yet George managed to take advantage of his abilities and give him a life.

And I think he portrayed that part so well, and especially where George is in his office when the money goes down missing and he's yelling at him and that sort of thing.

I think he was absolutely marvelous.

He's a great actor, and I love seeing him on Turner Classics, in other films that he shows up in.

He's really a magnificent character actor.

And especially Gone with the Wind when he plays Mr. O'.

Hara.

People may not realize that, but what an amazing job.

He was very talented.

Yeah, he definitely was.

Now, how about Donna Reed, Carolyn?

How was she on the set and was she kind to you kids?

I don't remember a thing about her, really.

Okay.

No, my attention was all on him.

I never had any lines with her, and so there was no interaction.

Okay.

We're talking to Carolyn Grimes tonight, of course, Zuzu Bailey in the holiday classic It's a Wonderful Life on our holiday show tonight on WGBB.

Now, if you could go back and tell 4 year old Carolyn one thing, what would that.

Gosh, I don't know.

Just always have faith.

Mm.

And what person besides Jimmy do you remember from the set, Carolyn, that really made an impact on you?

Well, pretty much the kids.

Yeah, I didn't really have anything to do with any other adults.

The adults don't pay attention to the kids.

When you're on the set, the kids pay attention to the kids.

And that's kind of what I was more or less paying attention to.

You know, we played and had fun and it was a great time.

Now, of course, Zuzu, one of the most beloved characters in the film, everyone would agree with that.

Now, has that always been a source of pride for you, Carolyn, or has kind of your relationship to that character changed over the years?

No, you got to realize I never even saw the movie till I was 40.

Wow.

Okay.

I, you know, I don't have any basis or anything.

It just popped when I was 40, and that's when everything started happening, and that's when it became a huge part of my life.

Yeah.

And people have to realize, Carolyn, that It's a Wonderful Life was not the huge hit that it was today back when it was first released.

Mm, mm.

No, not at all.

It was a box office failure.

Yeah.

And maybe hard for people to believe, but that's exactly what happened.

Now, was it just coming into its own when you were 40, Carolyn, you saw it for the first time.

Was it beginning to blossom into people's lives at that point?

No, it already had been for a long time.

Okay.

It was released to public domain in the late 70s.

Okay.

So it had been out for a long time.

I just.

Well, I just didn't.

Didn't watch it.

I didn't watch any of my movies.

How.

How was it working with John Wayne and Maureen o'?

Hara?

Well, that was very interesting because she really had a temper.

John Ford had a temper.

Oh, yeah.

Two of them would clash quite often.

I never saw John Wayne clash with her at all.

They were.

Seem to be friends, and I just, you know, they were just regular people.

I didn't.

My mother brought me up to not realize that these people that I'm working with are stars.

I didn't even know what a star was.

So, you know, really, I was.

I just treated them like normal people.

And that was kind of the best thing to do, I think.

Yeah.

No, I agree 100%, Carolyn.

You probably wouldn't get your best performance or the best results being in awe of these people.

Not at all.

Right.

Right.

Yeah.

And one of my favorite films, Carolyn, is the Quiet man with John Wayne and Maureen o'.

Hara.

And as they said in the Quiet Man, Barry Fitzgerald says, that redhead of hers is no lie.

She was.

She had a bit of a temper on her.

Well, she got into it with Ford a lot, I'll tell you that.

From what I understand, he wasn't an easy man to get along with either.

I don't know if you saw that emanate at all or not.

Yeah, people were kind of scared of him.

I even remember that.

Yeah, you had to walk on eggshells kind of around him.

Yeah.

But a genius.

He was a very successful director.

So, you know, he did it.

Did a great job.

A genius, but temperamental, for sure.

And.

And the Bishop's Wife, Cary Grant.

How is it working with another Hollywood legend?

Well, he was very special because he liked children.

And so he.

He would spend the whole day with me.

He pulled me around on a sled at lunchtime on the ice skating rink.

We really had one on the stage.

And he just was a really, really sweet fellow.

And I don't think.

I think he had a photographic memory because I never ever, ever, ever, ever saw him with the script in his hand.

Wow.

Yeah.

Very interesting story about Cary Grant, folks.

Another.

Another guy that I love see showing up.

I spend a lot of time watching tcm, Carolyn.

I really enjoy the classic films.

Carolyn Grimes with us tonight on Sports Talk New York.

Now, aside from Wonderful Life, Carolyn, what's your favorite Christmas movie or movies?

Oh.

Well, of Course, I love Christmas vacation.

Oh, okay.

Because in Christmas Vacation, you know, It's Wonderful Life shows up in there.

It does, yeah.

Great choice.

Yeah.

Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold is another classic character, and they really did a great job with that film.

I agree.

Now, if you could relive one moment in your life, Carolyn, A Wonderful Life, as we say, what would that be?

Well, I don't really know.

I've never thought about it.

I don't really know.

Right now.

What things are you deeply grateful for?

Family and friends.

And I'm very grateful for the fact that I got to be that little girl, Zuzu, in the movie.

Rightfully so.

It's become literally my life in the last, you know, 30 years, right?

Rightfully so, Carolyn.

Yeah, I agree with you 100%.

Now, a day.

A day in your life, what.

What keeps you busy?

What do you do during the day?

What makes you happy?

Well, I have a store and I.

An online store, and I sell it.

Wonderful Life products.

And I get a lot of fan mail.

You know, I'm.

I'm pretty busy, actually, because I'm booking shows or doing something all the time, so I'm.

I'm pretty busy.

You do a lot of traveling?

Yes, I do.

And next year is even going to be more, because there's a new movie coming out, and it's called Jimmy, and it'll be released the beginning of November next year, 26th.

And it's.

It's going to be a story of Jimmy Stewart and his days during the war.

His life at that time.

Yeah.

A lot of people have said, and I've read it, Carolyn, that during that scene when he's angry and he sort of takes it out on the kids, that that kind of resonated to a past experience in Jimmy's life that had to do with his time in the service.

Did you ever know that?

No, I didn't.

Hmm.

Okay.

It's just part of the things that you read about the movie that may be false.

Maybe not.

We will never know.

Now, go ahead, Jimmy.

That's coming out.

You'll have an idea of what damage he had when he was in the war and how It's a Wonderful Life helped him recoup his life.

That's what I'm referring to.

Yeah.

And as you say, the folks will find out more about Jimmy.

And he really, a lot of gentlemen during that time joined in the war effort and did a tremendous job for the United States and deserve a lot of credit for that.

I was just reading today about Bing Crosby.

And he was asked at one point what was the most challenging thing that he was ever presented with during his life.

And it wasn't dealing with directors.

It wasn't dealing with anybody in Hollywood.

It didn't have to do with a movie or a recording issue that came up.

And that was the Battle of the Bulge, and as we know, a very bloody battle in World War II.

And he basically said he was singing White Christmas to a bunch of soldiers, many of whom were sobbing, who probably would be gone in a week.

And just a very poignant story from Bing Crosby.

And as we said, Jimmy, that movie, Jimmy.

We'll have to look for that to see exactly Jimmy's point of view and his experiences during the war.

How about your favorite Christmas tune, Carolyn?

What would that be?

My favorite what Christmas song?

Oh, White Christmas.

Okay, good choice.

Good choice.

And I. I suppose it wouldn't be Hark the Herald Angels Sing because we heard Little.

The Little Bailey Girl play it several times during the movie.

Yes.

Yeah.

Badly, too.

Yeah.

Oh, goodness.

Now, I wanted to ask you about Peter, Peter Bailey.

Was he also in the Blondie movies?

Yes, that's Baby Dumpling.

Yeah, I thought that might be him.

Now, were you.

He got $100 a day because he had been Baby Dumpling.

And Janie and I got $75 a day and little Tommy got 50.

Okay, so there's the pay scale, folks.

Now, were you kind of scared of Lyle Barrymore?

No, I never was in a scene with him, no.

So you didn't publicity photos together, But I was never really in a scene.

With him because he's kind of a scary character to me.

Anyway.

Well, Carolyn, I tell you, it's been an honor and a pleasure having you back with us.

I thank you for taking time out of your Sunday evening to spend some of it with us back here in New York.

Merry Christmas to you and I wish you the happiest of New Years.

Thank you very much.

And back at you.

Gotcha.

All right, thanks again, Carolyn.

And we'll look forward to our next conversation.

That is the wonderful Carolyn Grimes, ladies and gentlemen.

Up next on the holiday edition of Sports Talk, New York, number 14 of the New York Islander Stanley cup dynasty, Bob Bourne.

Stick around, my friends.

All right, folks, we are back with the holiday spectacular edition of Sports Talk New York.

I beg your indulgence as I'm starting to lose my voice tonight.

A little under the weather myself, just as Carolyn Grimes was.

This is Bill Donahue here with you from beautiful downtown Merrick, Long Island, New York, usa, North America, Earth, Milky Way, Galaxy.

If you need more of a location, find it with that.

Greetings.

We are peaceful.

How about that, Brian?

Yeah.

All right.

How about those jets today?

That's really a microcosm of the season, folks.

That's all I have to say.

We'll move on to better things, greater memories, happier times.

My next guest played for the New York islanders and the LA Kings of the NHL between 74 and 88.

I.

Welcome to Sports Talk New York.

Tonight, number 14, Bob Bourne.

Bob, good evening.

Hi, Phil.

How you doing?

We're doing good, my friend.

How you feeling these days?

I've been sick the last little while, Phil.

I had a couple infections going on there about three weeks ago.

I spent about six months, stayed in the hospital.

Oh, man.

But I, I'm getting way better now, so.

Yeah, no, I certainly feel better now, but I have been pretty sick lately.

I hear you.

Yeah.

Things, things are starting to catch up with us, Bob.

I know.

I understand.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Now, what people may not know, Bob, is that you were a baseball player.

You signed with the Houston Astros.

You, you played one season for the Appalachian League, the Covington Astros, in 72.

People may not know this as well.

You platooned at first base with a guy by the name of Clark Gillies.

Very interesting story.

You know what, Phil?

It is a very interesting story.

I mean, two kids from Saskatchewan, Canada, right.

You know, I was born and raised on a farm.

Clark was born and raised in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, which is a tiny town at the time.

And, you know, somehow he ended up playing for the Regina Patch in the Western League, and I played for the Saskatoon Blades at exactly the same time.

We got drafted in the same year and we played our first game as a New York Islander on the same day.

You guys are really, really hooked up there.

If you look, folks in Baseball Reference, which I use a lot to research baseball players, Baseball Reference, you will find Robert Glenn Bourne there.

And he's, he's in Baseball Reference, so you can check that out.

Folks, of course, batted left, through left.

Clark Gillies was from the other side.

And how else are you related to the late, great Clark Gillies, your family, Bob?

Well, that's an amazing story, too, Phil, because Clark and I lived right beside each other in New York for many, many years.

And he had three girls and I had two boys, and I saw his little girls grow up, and he saw my boys grow up, and.

But the funny thing is, the two younger ones, his little girl Brianna, and my son Justin, they went to kindergarten together, they went to school together, and they didn't see each other for about 10 years.

My son was playing up in Alaska in the ncaa, and Brianna was down in Florida going to school.

And when they.

When I was inducted into the Islanders Hockey hall of Fame, I brought Justin and my son Jeff down to New York, and of course, Brianna and the whole Gillies family was there, and they just stared at each other, and there was a lot of electricity, and they ended up getting married.

Amazing.

Yeah.

What a story that is, Bob.

Yeah.

So the relationship with Clark Gillies and Bob Bourne, much deeper than hockey.

We got baseball, we got in laws.

And.

Just a wonderful story.

Now, you were originally drafted, Bob, by the Kansas City Scouts.

Now, people can Google that team and check that out, but there was a team called the Kansas City Scouts for a while, the National Hockey League.

But you never played for them.

No, Phil, I didn't.

You know what happened that summer?

I had an agent, and I. I kind of knew what I was worth at the time.

I mean, we didn't have the access to all the salaries and everything in those days.

But I kind of, you know, we checked around and he checked around and.

And I just.

I was also drafted by the Chicago.

What was it in the wha.

I can't remember the name.

Oh, yeah, I don't know either, Bob.

Yeah, I forget.

Yeah.

But anyway, long story short, we went back and forth with both teams, and a week before the NHL training camp started, I went into Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and that's where the Western League offices were.

And I. I knew the president quite well because he was from my hometown of Kindnessley, Saskatchewan.

So I went in and I told him what was going on, and camp was starting right away.

I was starting to panic.

And he says, you don't want to play in Kansas City.

And I said, no, I don't.

And he says, where do you.

Where do you want to play?

And I says, I want to play with the New York Islanders.

And he said, well, why?

And I said, well, number one, Clark Gilliams was drafted there.

My.

My best friend growing up was Dave Lewis, who.

Who made the honors As a rookie, I knew.

I knew Bobby Nicen, I knew Lauren Henning, I knew Gary Howard from the Western League.

And so I just wanted to play with the honors.

And I kind of knew, I kind of knew that they weren't very strong, et cetera, ice.

So I said, yeah, that's where I want to play.

So he said, give me, give me a little bit vote and sit in my.

In the front office.

So I went out and half an hour later I walked in, I'd been traded and I got the contract I wanted from Bill Tory.

Amazing.

What a great story that is, Bob.

Yeah.

And people may not know Bob Bourne was traded to the Islanders.

Only old time Islander fans would know this guy.

And I think it's one of the great hockey names of all time.

Bart Crashley was the guy who.

What a great hockey name that is, Bob.

I'll tell you.

Yeah, it sure is.

And also they got the rights to Larry Horning, who was playing with the Winnipeg jets in the WHA at the time.

So, you know, they got a good deal.

And I think the Islanders got a good deal.

I think so too.

You know, spent the next 10 seasons on the island.

Here you scored at least 30 goals three times in between 20 and 30 for three other seasons.

They did get a good deal.

I want to ask you about Clark Gillies too, Bob.

He was known as an enforcer at times.

He was a great hockey player.

His game was not all rough and tumble, but when he had to, and he protected his teammates, like Mike Bossi.

He wasn't afraid to mix it up.

No, you know, Clarky, Clarky and I, and actually we played 12 years in New York with the Islanders, but he and I drove to practice every day.

We drove to the games every day.

We did this for years and years.

And in the playoffs we drove together.

And I got.

Obviously got to know Clark pretty well because of the baseball affiliation and everything, but he, Clarky did not.

He did not like to fight, Phil.

He did not.

He didn't like it.

He.

You know why?

Because he hurt people when he fought and he didn't like to hurt people.

And I think, I think Clark only fought maybe four or five times a year.

You know, he wasn't, he wasn't a brawler or anything like that.

He was.

You know, we had so many brawls with Philadelphia in those days, and Clark was a huge presence then.

And he just said, we're not taking this.

And he stood up, stood up for all his teammates, and he certainly stood up for me.

I know that I remember a story he told.

I've had Clark on the show in the past, God rest his soul.

And he got into it with Ed Hospodar on the Flyers, who was a tough guy on those Broad street bully teams.

And he went to see him in the hospital, and he went in and said to Ed, hey, I'm looking for the guy who used to look like Ed Hospador.

Yup, that's a true story.

Yeah, he messed him up.

Actually, Phil, that fight happened in New York when.

Hospital.

I played with the Rangers.

Oh, I didn't know that.

I thought it was with Philadelphia.

All right, great.

No, no, when he played with the Rangers and he did something to somebody and Clarky just lost his mind.

And it was one punch and he broke his cheek.

He broke his nose.

He broke his face.

Yeah.

And he went to the hospital the next morning.

And that's what he said.

Yeah.

That's a great story.

Thanks for setting me straight on that about the Rangers, Bob.

I did not know that.

Now, I wanted to ask you, you were known as a real fast, a real good skater.

To whom or to what do you owe that proficiency with skating?

Well, that's an easy answer.

I grew up on a farm, and we had a little town two miles away from us.

There was, you know, just a few hundred people living there, but the dads got together one summer and they built an overhead rink.

It was covered.

I mean, it was cold as hell.

But.

But.

But my brother and I used to go skating there every day for probably three or four hours after school.

And we skated and skated and skated.

And then.

Some people laugh at this, but I took figure skating four years.

Yeah, no, I can see.

I can see where that would help.

Well, it did.

It really helped your edges and your balance and, you know, turning your body the right way and stuff.

So that's what I.

That's.

That's when I became a skater.

Okay.

Now, who are some of the great players who you centered for, Bob?

Well, you know, the greatest times in my career with the Islanders, I end up playing left wing.

And I had the privilege of playing with Butchie Goring for.

For a lot of years after he got traded to us from the Kings.

And he and I just hit it off, and we killed a lot of teams in the playoffs.

And, you know, every once in a while, if Clarkey was hurt, I'd play left wing with Brian Tracci and Mike Bossi, and that wasn't a bad line to play on.

No.

Yeah.

I was very blessed to have some center iceman that were just brilliant people, brilliant players.

And then I ended up playing with Brent Sutter for two or three years, and he was brilliant.

So I was very fortunate.

You know, when I was playing center in the early days, I was playing with Billy Harris.

Billy would play on the right side, and I played with JP Parisi for a couple years.

And he was.

He was a great player.

Even though he was at the end of his career, I really enjoyed playing.

J.P. taught me an awful lot about playing in the NHL because he was, you know, he was in his mid-30s at the time, and he was ready to retire.

You know, I just.

I'll never forget something Bill Torrey told me once.

I was a free agent at the time.

I think I played about eight years, and my contract had run out and I didn't have an agent.

So it was just me and Bill.

And I knew where I stood in the Islanders, because, you know, my best moments were in the playoffs.

I had some great playoffs.

So I knew where I stood, and I held firm, and I didn't go to training camp.

And it was about a month into it, and it was two days before the regular season started.

And Mr. Tory called me at home one night.

He says, okay, we got a deal.

But he always told me, he said.

He said borny.

He said, don't forget the players that you play with.

And that made an impact on me.

Like, you know, like, I played on a great team, and we won and we won, and we were very, very concentrated and dedicated, and that made a difference.

And I didn't want to go anywhere else.

I just wanted to play in New York.

I. I love the island, and that's why I re signed.

Yeah.

We're talking to Bob Bourne tonight, The great number 14 of the new York Islanders, and as you mentioned, Bob and the architect, Mr. Torrey, told you, don't forget your teammates.

Let's talk about some of the other lesser known, we'll say, role players on those great Islander teams that weren't hall of Famers, but you really couldn't do without a guy like Stefan Pearson, guys like that.

Well, I'm going to tell you right now, and I tell everybody this, and nobody remembers them, but there were three Swedish players that played on our team.

There was Stefan Parson, there was Thomas Johnson, and there was Anders Keller, who played on our right wing with Butch Goring and myself.

But I'll tell you what, Tommy Johnson and Stefan Pearson played right defense.

And one of the reasons that I got to be a better Player and a lot of the other guys, like a John Tennelli or a Bobby Nice.

Because we had to play against.

In practice, we had to play against Stefan and Tommy and Dave Longueuin and Gordy Lane, and of course, Denny Potman and Kenny Morrow.

We played against the best defense in the league in practice every day.

So that made us better.

That made us better players, you know, so, like the unsung heroes, like John Tenelli and Bobby Nystrom and Anders Keller and like you said, Thomas and Stefan and, you know, like a Billy Carroll and Dwayne Sutter, and there's so many guys who are unsung heroes, and they all pitched in with overtime goals.

They all pitched in the playoffs.

We had, you know, we had four lines that could play, three lines that could score very well, like Wayne Merrick and Tonali.

Nice.

And they scored all the time.

Myself and Butchie and Andrew score and of course, Strachan Boss.

But then on the back end, on the fourth line, we had Billy Carroll.

He had an assortment of wingers all the time, but, yeah, we just had a really strong forward group and obviously a really strong defensive group.

And then we had Billy Smith.

Right.

Let's not forget Smitty.

Yeah.

And as you say, the unsung guys, Bob, they were heroes in their own right, and we can't forget them, and we have to give them credit.

And let's talk a little bit about the coach.

I mean, Al Arbour, just an amazing coach.

Yeah, glad you brought that up.

I don't know if I would have played in the NHL, Phil, if it wasn't for Arbor.

He was.

He was so patient with me.

I had a really good rookie year, and then in training camp the next year, I hurt my knee a little bit, and I was sent down for.

Well, for most of the year, into Fort Worth.

But he just had that patience with me.

He would talk to me all the time, and he.

I gained so much confidence throughout, and he let me play any way that I wanted to play.

And I was.

I was a good defensive player.

I was very conscious of playing defense, but I.

He also let me loosen the offensive end.

And he became a second father to me, to be honest with you.

I mean, you know, we were together nine months a year in those days, and, you know, you see him every day, and he would always ask at least one player to come see him after practice.

And, you know, so every 20 days I would be in there and just talking to him, and he wasn't ever, I think the best virtue about Al Arbor was, he wasn't a yeller and a screamer behind the bench.

He was very, very calm.

And there were lots of times when he could have lost it, but he never, ever did.

And that was a calming influence to the players.

You know, we, you know, we didn't have to listen to him yelling at the refs all the time.

And you know, you see a lot of, you see a lot of coaches now and they're just yelling and screaming and it doesn't do your team any good.

And.

But he did become a second father to me and we could talk about anything.

He knew all the kids on our team, you know, he knew their names.

And his wife Claire was just a beautiful woman.

And they were very spiritual and religious.

They went to church every Sunday.

And we were lucky in New York, we didn't play on many Sundays, so we had the day off.

But Al was just a special human being and he was quietly, very funny in the dressing room.

He could make us laugh.

He was kind of a very quiet man, but just.

And he treated every player differently.

Like he treated me the way I had to be treated.

He treated Danny Potman the way he had to be treated.

He knew, he knew our personalities inside out.

And he, he was also lucky because he had 16 guys for those four Stanley cup years, you know, the same guys, and they would throw the odd player in there, you know, from the outside for the minors or something.

And.

But he was just, yeah, he was just a fantastic coach.

And I thank God that I was able to play for him.

What a wonderful depiction of the coach, Al Arbor.

From Bob Bourne tonight on Sports Talk New York.

What do you think Mike Bossi would have done, Bob, had he not have to retire early because of his back?

Well, he would have had more 50 goal seasons, I can promise you that.

You know, like I, I made a boo, boo.

One day I was on an interview, it was on TV here across Canada.

And the guy asked me why Tiger Williams didn't like Mike Bossi.

And I said, well, Tiger didn't like soft players.

And I, and I like, I included a lot of players.

I didn't mean Mike Wasophil because trust me, Mike Boss, he was not soft, but he would, he would have, I think he would have challenged Wayne Gretzky's record if he played that long.

I really do.

I mean, what does he have seven straight 50 goal seasons or something?

Yeah, you know, Mike could score from anywhere.

And the thing was, Mike is, he was tough.

He played hard in Boston, you know, Boston always had a Tough team, not small ring.

Philadelphia had a tough team, and Mike played great in those.

He scored goals in Philly, he scored goals in Boston.

Nobody could check Mike Bossi.

Nobody.

And, you know, he scored huge goals for us.

And once again, I just thank God I got to play with him.

An amazing player, folks.

Mike Bossi for the New York Islanders.

Now, your career kind of ended on a high note, Bob, because you were with the Kings.

You were awarded the Bill Masterson Trophy.

And that, folks, you can look it up, is given for perseverance.

Now, that had to be a highlight of your career, Bob.

That was certainly one of them.

It just kind of depicted the type of player I was over 14 years.

You know, we raised a lot of money for handicapped children in Long Island.

My son Jeffrey was born with spina bifida, and, you know, he's been in a wheelchair all his life.

And so my wife, Janice, and I, we.

We had a foundation at the time, and then we raised a lot of money.

I think.

I think that's a lot of the reasons I won the Masterton.

That was part of it, for sure.

And also that year, Phil, nobody knows this, but I was on the front of Sports Illustrated as one of the athletes of the year, Right.

And there was eight of us, eight from eight different sports.

And that was a huge thrill for me.

You know, I went to New York and, you know, Tiger Wood was there, and there was a lot of guys that I was in awe of.

Yeah.

So, anyway, that was my final year, was.

It was a.

Like you said, it ended on a good.

It certainly did.

Really exemplary and an amazing feat right there for Bob Bourne.

Now, you've been a member of the Islanders hall of Fame, Bob, but you're the only one whose number hasn't been retired.

Do you feel a little slighted in that regard?

I'm not going to mince words here, Phil.

Sure.

I feel very slighted.

I do.

Okay.

I led the Islanders in scoring in two different playoff races.

I was always in the top five in playoff scores every year.

And I.

There are players who are jerseys or hanging in the rafters who.

I had many more points then, and I'm not going to name names, because I love.

I love the guys who are in the rafters.

They're my.

They're my very good friends.

But I do feel slighted, and I don't know why it's ever happened.

I thought I contributed enough to easily have my jersey hanging in the rafters.

I agree 100%, Bob.

That's something that they really have to right, a wrong that they have to right within the Islanders organization to get.

Bob Bourne's jersey raced to the rafters at the UBS arena, as it should have been at the Nassau Coliseum as well.

Elected to the Islanders hall of Fame, the only guy whose jersey hasn't been retired.

And.

And really something that the Islanders have to look at now, as far as coaching, Bob, how did you get into coaching and did you enjoy it?

Yes and no.

I got a call from Butch Goring.

Butch, he was coaching in Salt Lake City, within the International League, it was called at the time.

And I was a stockbroker at the time, Phil.

And I hated it.

I hated every minute of it.

And so I quit stockbroking and I went down to Salt Lake City and I coached there with Gucci, I think it was, for three years.

And then Las Vegas, Bobby Strom was the GM and.

And called, and they needed a head coach, and Bob Straumond.

And I had an affiliation from Saskatoon, so I took that job, even though I knew.

I knew the team was folding at the end of that year, but I wanted the experience.

So I went down there for a year, and then Butchie got hired by the Islanders.

And so Salt Lake didn't have a head coach, but I had a close affiliation with the GM there.

And I flew there, and they signed me that day, and I coached in Salt Lake, I think it was, for three years.

And then Dallas bought the team and they put in their own head coach.

But in Salt Lake City, I was also the general manager.

And I loved being a gm.

I just loved it.

And so at the end of.

The end of my contract, I. I had lots of offers to go, like, to the East Coast League and things like that, but I didn't want to get on a bus again.

Yeah, and my son Jeffrey was going through a lot of operations in those days, so I said, I just go home and we'll see what happens.

So that was my coaching career.

It ended there.

I never went back, but I enjoyed coaching hockey.

But I loved the GM side of it a lot better.

And we had some really good teams when I was a gm to the finals a couple times, and.

Yeah, I enjoyed that very much.

Understood, Bob.

Well, it's been a pleasure.

I thank you for taking time out of your Sunday night to spend it with us here, Sports Talk New York, on Merrick Avenue, just a few miles down the road from the Nassau Coliseum.

And I look forward to our next conversation.

Bob.

Anytime, Phil.

I enjoyed it, too.

You call me anytime.

You take care.

That's Bob Bourne, ladies and gentlemen.

Up next, the second of our very special guests, Jimmy Hawkins.

Tommy Bailey from It's a Wonderful Life will join our holiday show.

Stick around, folks.

You're listening to Sports Talk New York.

And now, now back to the show.

We are back, folks.

We're back with our holiday spectacular here on Sports Talk New York, WGBB radio here in Merrick, Long Island, New York.

Welcome aboard.

To those just joining us, it's been a pleasure being with you folks so far.

New Year's Eve in New York coming up this week, and they announced that the Long Island Railroad, of course, no alcohol, will run extra trains to get you and your Depends back and forth from the city.

Right, Brian?

You have to take some measures, folks.

They got to these people standing out there in the cold waiting for the ball to drop.

You can't leave your spot for the entire day.

You have to do something when nature calls.

I don't understand how these people do it.

I don't know one native New Yorker who's gone to Times Square for New Year's Eve.

It has to be all tourists.

But I'd be interesting in knowing what measures people have taken to stand there all night and how you may have gotten around the Long Island Railroad's ban on alcohol on trains, whether you've used an IV or whatever.

Right, Brian?

Who knows?

Email me and we'll discuss it some other night, folks.

Well, onward with a very special guest on our holiday show.

He played Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed's son Tommy Bailey in the classic Frank Capra film It's a Wonderful Life, as well as appearing in over 40 movies, more than 300 TV shows, along with as many other credits.

As producer, he produced the All Star Television special for pbs, based on the Lux Radio Theater's version of It's a Wonderful Life in celebration of the 50th anniversary of that great film.

He is the author of five popular It's a Wonderful Life Books.

And he served on the advisory boards of the Jimmy Stewart Museum and the Donna Reed foundation and of course, the Seneca Falls It's a Wonderful Life Museum.

He has a new book out recently from HarperCollins.

It's called the Heart of It's a Wonderful how the Most Inspirational Movie of All Time Still Inspires the Spirit.

A great read.

I'd like to welcome to Sports Talk New York tonight, Jimmy Hawkins.

Jimmy Good evening, Mr. Donahue.

It's a pleasure being on your show.

Thank you.

And happy holidays.

Happy holidays to you too, Jimmy.

Now, you entered into a wonderful life when you were only four years old.

Four and a half.

Okay.

To a four year old.

You know, I was getting older, so yeah, four and a half.

Met with Frank Capra three or four times before he thought he had the Bailey family.

And he never asked any of us to read any of his four kids.

He just would talk with us and ask us questions and give little directions to see if he, you know, if you could take directions.

And then one day we were called out to the studio in Culver City and we went on the set and they brought Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed out on the front porch of the 320 Sycamore House and took a picture of us.

And he said, that's it.

That's my Bailey family.

Wow, what a great story about the selection process, Jimmy.

Yeah.

Now, what memories do you have about being on the sets?

Besides burping the mask, putting the tinsel on Jimmy Stewart, what other memories do you have?

Well, you would think at four and a half that, you know, I've done like you told the people over 40 movies and 300 TV shows.

And I watched myself on some movies when I was 7 and 8 and I remember nothing.

I don't remember going to the studio.

And I loved the star of the film.

I would see him on Saturday afternoon matinees at the theater, but didn't remember any vivid things.

But if with It's a Wonderful Life, I remember everything.

I remember getting up real early, it was dark outside, and then we'd have to take buses and streetcars out to Culver City to be at the studio on time.

And I remember walking onto the big sound stage and there was the Bailey house and you walk through the doors and then everybody was running around doing whatever they do, lighting and getting ready for the day's work.

And they'd send me to wardrobe and makeup.

But of course, kids didn't use much makeup back then.

They just powder you a little and go to the school and then when they needed you, they brought you out on the set, and there the day's work began.

So.

But I remember vividly, you know, like this story you were saying about putting tinsel on his head.

And Frank Capper, the director, would have me sitting on Jimmy Stewart's lap, and he would tell me, now, you put tinsel on this man's head.

You know, he's supposed to be your daddy.

And when the dialogue comes and they rehearsed it, I would say the different lines, and then we would walk from the living room towards the kitchen.

And that's when he asked me to do the excuse me line.

When my mom, the night before went over the script with me, there was no mention of excuse me, excuse me.

He wrote that the night before.

And when he came in the next morning, gave me the directions, said, and we were walking into.

Out of the living room, like I say, into the kitchen.

And he would stop, everybody, everybody stop.

Then he'd squat down and talk to me eye to eye.

He said, see where we are here?

Yes, sir.

So when you get here, right to this place, you keep pulling on this man's coattail.

And when you get right here, you say, excuse me.

You think you can do that?

Oh, yes, sir.

Excuse me.

Okay, everybody, Action.

So we walk a little further, he stops, everybody says, scrunch down again, Tells me again, say that line right here.

See where we are?

Yes, sir.

Okay, now when you.

Hey, you keep pulling on the man saying, you say, excuse me.

Right?

Okay.

So then we did it the third time, and then they.

We saw the.

The Everybody saw what was happening.

Then they excused us and they like this scene.

Then they bring us back and we go through a couple of takes and then neither have it or they haven't got it, but I did it.

And I knew I did it wrong.

I was one beat off, and I knew myself.

And I look at the movie today and I know what that little boy is thinking when he goes to say, excuse me.

The second time.

I said, he's thinking, oh, I flubbed.

Oh, boy.

Yeah.

And I see that.

Isn't that strange.

I'm 80 some odd years old now, and I know what that little kid is thinking.

Because I met Frank Capra years later.

We did things over at the Motion Picture Academy.

And I talked to him about that scene because I asked him what was the most difficult scene to direct in the whole movie.

And he said, the one with you kids.

What, did we do something wrong?

Oh, no, you kids were great.

They were fabulous.

So I.

He said, but there are a lot of different levels going on.

You were burping, and the other kid was asking about, how do you spell this?

And the girl's pounding the piano, and here he is living with this thing.

I lost $8,000.