Read and learn about history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_20
1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.
1946 – The popular Christmas film It's a Wonderful Life is first released in New York City.
We watch this one every year!
| Louisiana Purchase Vente de la Louisiane | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expansion of the United States | |||||||||||
| 1803–1804 | |||||||||||
 The modern United States, with Louisiana Purchase overlaid | |||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
| • Established | July 4 1803 | ||||||||||
| • Disestablished | October 1 1804 | ||||||||||
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| Today part of | |||||||||||
The Louisiana Purchase (French: Vente de la Louisiane 'Sale of Louisiana') was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from France in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or approximately eighteen dollars per square mile, the United States nominally acquired a total of 828,000 sq mi (2,140,000 km2; 530,000,000 acres). However, France only controlled a small fraction of this area, with most of it settled by Native Americans; for the majority of the area, what the United States bought was the "preemptive" right to obtain Native American lands by treaty or by conquest, to the exclusion of other colonial powers.[1][2] The total cost of all subsequent treaties and financial settlements over the land has been estimated to be around 2.6 billion dollars.
It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story and booklet The Greatest Gift, which Philip Van Doren Stern wrote in 1939 and published privately in 1943.[4] The film is one of the most beloved in American cinema, and has become traditional viewing during the Christmas season.
| It's a Wonderful Life | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Frank Capra |
| Produced by | Frank Capra |
| Screenplay by | |
| Based on | "The Greatest Gift" by Philip Van Doren Stern |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Dimitri Tiomkin |
| Cinematography | |
| Edited by | William Hornbeck |
| Production company | Liberty Films |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
| Release date |
|
| Running time | 135 minutes |
| Country | United States[1] |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3.18 million[N 1] |
| Box office | $3.3 million[3] |
Theatrically, the film's break-even point was $6.3 million, about twice the production cost, a figure it did not come close to achieving on its initial release. An appraisal in 2006 reported: "Although it was not the complete box-office failure that today everyone believes ... it was initially a major disappointment and confirmed, at least to the studios, that Capra was no longer capable of turning out the populist features that made his films the must-see, money-making events they once were."[6]
It's a Wonderful Life is now considered one of the greatest films of all time. It was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and has been recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 best American films ever made,[4] as number 11 on its initial 1998 greatest movie list,
