# "Zuzu's petals:" explain pls.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zuzus-petals-explain-pls/144473
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 23, 2002, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zuzus-petals-explain-pls/144473 "2002-12-23T03:23:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2002, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zuzus-petals-explain-pls/144473/1 "2002-12-23T03:23:41Z")
I first heard about this in a Gary Larson cartoon (about a mad botanist) and would appreciate an explanation. I know it has something to do with the movie _It’s A Wonderful Life_, but that’s it. Thanks.
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### Author:  [@Hazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazel)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2002, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zuzus-petals-explain-pls/144473/2 "2002-12-23T03:36:20Z")
Zuzu was the young daughter of George Baily (played by Jimmy Stewart). When some of the petals fell off of the flower she’d won in school, she asked Daddy to “fix it”. He pretended to be re-attaching the petals, but really palmed them and stuck them in in pocket.
Later, the absence or presence of the petals in his pocket had significance.
You really should see the movie; it’s a classic!
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2002, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zuzus-petals-explain-pls/144473/3 "2002-12-23T07:28:25Z")
Just after George and Clarence were thrown out of “Nick’s,” Clarence tells George he has no identity. He can’t find his driver’s license, insurance policy, 4-F card…George digs into his watch pocket.
“They’re not there either.”
“What?”
“Zuzu’s petals.”
All George finds in the pockets is lint.
And after Bert has fired at him, George runs back to the bridge and prays earnestly, “I want to live again!” Bert appears, but not to shoot George. George notices things seem to be back to normal, and finds Zuzu’s petals back in his watch pocket. That’s all he needs to convince him that the “unborn” nightmare is over. 🙂
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### Author:  [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2002, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zuzus-petals-explain-pls/144473/4 "2002-12-23T12:53:44Z")
I swear in the movie they say “Susan” not “Zuzu.”
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### Author:  [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2002, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zuzus-petals-explain-pls/144473/5 "2002-12-23T12:54:47Z")
I don’t see how he expects to find the petals in his pocket after jumping fully clothed into the icy river.
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### Author:  [@NoGoodNamesLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoGoodNamesLeft)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2002, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zuzus-petals-explain-pls/144473/6 "2002-12-23T14:06:12Z")
Biotop,
George only jumped into the river to save Clarence. I think we are to assume that when he finds himself back in ‘real life’ it’s a few minutes earlier than when Clarence showed up in the first place, and as such, George never really jumped into the river, his ear was still deaf, and ZuZu’s petals were still in his pocket. Of course, there’s no explanation as to why he’s suddenly sober, where he was so drunk the first time 'round he hit a tree…but that’s a topic for the Nitpickers.
PS: Gotta love those times. You could drive drunk, shake a lady to make your point, and smoke indoors.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2002, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zuzus-petals-explain-pls/144473/7 "2002-12-23T14:11:17Z")
**IAWL** trivia: ever wonder why George calls Susan (Zuzu) “[My Little Gingersnap](http://www.rusticdecorating.com/-1377.html)”?
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### Author:  [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2002, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zuzus-petals-explain-pls/144473/8 "2002-12-23T18:15:38Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by NoGoodNamesLeft \*
> \*\*
> PS: Gotta love those times. You could drive drunk, shake a lady to make your point, and smoke indoors. \*\*
I’m always impressed by the cop who fires down a crowded street to stop a flagrant drunk & disorderly from fleeing the scene of the crime.
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### Author:  [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2002, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zuzus-petals-explain-pls/144473/9 "2002-12-23T19:53:04Z")
How about George’s wife suffering the worse fate of all…she became AN OLD MAID :eek: Oh the horrors!
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### Author:  [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2002, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zuzus-petals-explain-pls/144473/10 "2002-12-23T19:59:25Z")
Not only does Mary remain an old maid, she works in the library! (Hey, I’m a liberrian, but I’m divorced).
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### Author:  [@NoGoodNamesLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoGoodNamesLeft)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2002, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zuzus-petals-explain-pls/144473/11 "2002-12-23T21:06:47Z")
lost4life,
I forgot about that one! …can’t, stop, the, laughing!
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### Author:  [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2002, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zuzus-petals-explain-pls/144473/12 "2002-12-24T01:47:21Z")
personally, i like the part wher mr mcgower starts slapping an employee around and calling him a lazy loaf.
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### Author:  [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2002, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zuzus-petals-explain-pls/144473/13 "2002-12-24T02:38:20Z")
Whenever I bite my tongue or my lip and break the skin, I start screaming _“Muh’ mouf’s bleedin’, Bert! Muh’ mouf’s bleedin’!”_
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### Author:  [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2002, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zuzus-petals-explain-pls/144473/14 "2002-12-24T03:10:26Z")
The drug store owner is Mr. Gower, not McGower.
And don’t forget that Bert only fires the gun in the “Pottersville” universe, he doesn’t do it in the “Bedford Falls” world. In “Pottersville” someone suggests that George Bailey be subdued by hitting him on the head with a bottle also.
In Bedford Falls, Bert drives around looking for George, fetches Harry from the airport, and still remembers to bring his accordion to the Baileys at the end of the film.
He’s a full service police officer.
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2002, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zuzus-petals-explain-pls/144473/15 "2002-12-24T06:34:34Z")
_Originally posted by handsomeharry_
> [@](#):
>
> Personally, I like the part where Mr. Gower starts slapping an employee around and calling him a lazy loafer.
(quote edited:))
That was young George himself. He didn’t know how to tell Gower he’d put poison in the medicine. He went to his father’s business in an unsuccessful attempt to ask his Dad what to do. George got his ear slapped back, but right away he told Gower what had happened. When Gower realizes what he’d done, he is contrite and apologizes to George. (George never told anyone about the matter, not even Mary.)
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### Author:  [@RexKatWA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexKatWA)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2002, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zuzus-petals-explain-pls/144473/16 "2002-12-24T16:25:28Z")
Thought some of you might enjoy this article from yesterday’s (12/23/02) Seattle Times, about the actress who played Zuzu…
[http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/movies/134600184\_grimes23.html](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/movies/134600184_grimes23.html)