I watched it again this Christmas. Remember when George and Mary are on the phone with Sam Wainright (with her mother upstairs listening in). Sam says something to the effect of “George, remember when we were at Martini’s having a few drinks and talking about making plastic out of soybeans? We’ll it works George, and I want to let you in on the ground floor.!”
So, Martini had opened his bar long before he got a home loan from the Baileys. My previous explanation of not being able to get on his feet with a home cannot be true. Perhaps he did die in the fire in his shack in Potter’s Field and his heirs sold to Nick. But I don’t believe the movie itself explains it.
Nor do they mention that while everybody appears to be all happy in the end Zuzu’s teacher and her teacher’s husband are having one real shitty Christmas.
There you have it - with George not there, Sam was spitballing about phytoplastic synthesis with Martini, who (although he did not have the cash to become an investor) used his organizational skills to help Sam get the pilot plant operational. He’s rich now.
I can’t remember, but wasn’t Zuzu’s teacher’s husband (the guy who punched George) at his house giving him money? If so, then they understood, forgave him, and joined the celebration.
However, this doesn’t really make sense because the guy didn’t know George before he heard his name in Martini’s, so why would he shell out cash to him?
While George may not have existed his wife still did. She still gave Mr Martini that bottle of wine which started him back down the road of alcoholism. He did buy the bar but soon drank up all the profits and his bartender bought the place at auction.
I’m late to this thread, so not sure whether it’s asking an actual question, or speculating on fiction.
But I always assumed that Nick was Mr. Martini’s son. He was tending bar when George got belted by the schoolteacher’s husband (Mr. Welsh/Welch). Mr. Martini was there, and permanently banned “anyone name of Welsh”.
More importantly, Nick has that Italian-American-son Brooklyn accent (despite the Upstate New York locale).
Speaking of Sheldon Leonard, he did the voice of cartoon cat Dodsworth, who appeared in two Warner Brothers shorts in 1952-3.
But, like you @F.U.Shakespeare , I thought Nick was the son too.
Then it shows the kids in the house warming scene and they’re very young to have a brother that old.
Maybe he’s a brother in law.
Nope. He says outright he doesn’t know anybody named Martini. So that’s out
“It’s a wise child who knows its own father.” In the Pottersville universe, Nick may not know a Martini but it’s entirely possible Nick’s mother may well know who Martini is/was.
