HR 420 — A Resolution designating May 20, 2026, as "Jimmy Stewart Day" in Pennsylvania.

PRINTER'S NO.    2941

                     THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



              HOUSE RESOLUTION
                 No. 420
                                                 Session of
                                                   2026

     INTRODUCED BY STRUZZI, BANTA, COOPER, FREEMAN, GAYDOS, GREINER,
        HADDOCK, KAUFFMAN, KHAN, RAPP, SANCHEZ, SMITH AND WEBSTER,
        FEBRUARY 25, 2026

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON TOURISM, RECREATION AND ECONOMIC
        DEVELOPMENT, FEBRUARY 25, 2026


                                  A RESOLUTION
 1   Designating May 20, 2026, as "Jimmy Stewart Day" in
 2      Pennsylvania.
 3         WHEREAS, Jimmy Stewart was one of Hollywood's most respected
 4   and admired stars during his nearly 50-year-long movie career;
 5   and
 6         WHEREAS, Jimmy Stewart was born May 20, 1908, in Indiana,
 7   Pennsylvania; and
 8         WHEREAS, Jimmy Stewart attended high school at Mercersburg
 9   Academy, in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, where he played football
10   and was a member of the glee club and the drama club; and
11         WHEREAS, Jimmy Stewart entered Princeton University in 1928,
12   graduating with a degree in architecture; and
13         WHEREAS, After graduating from Princeton University, Jimmy
14   Stewart joined the University Players, a theater group in West
15   Falmouth, Massachusetts; and
16         WHEREAS, Jimmy Stewart often played a man of modest means,
17   with moral resolve, striving to overcome his position in life to
 1   reach his dreams; and
 2         WHEREAS, Jimmy Stewart's slow, halting line delivery and
 3   naive, engaging manner was quickly accepted by the moviegoing
 4   public; and
 5         WHEREAS, In 1939, Jimmy Stewart's portrayal of a shy,
 6   idealistic young senator fighting corruption in Congress in "Mr.
 7   Smith Goes to Washington" won him the New York Film Critics best
 8   actor award and gave him his first Academy Award nomination; and
 9         WHEREAS, Jimmy Stewart is best remembered for his role in the
10   1946 sentimental, holiday favorite, "It's a Wonderful Life," in
11   which he plays the embittered idealist, George Bailey, a decent,
12   small-town citizen; and
13         WHEREAS, In 1940, Jimmy Stewart won an Academy Award,
14   performing in "The Philadelphia Story" with Katharine Hepburn
15   and Cary Grant; and
16         WHEREAS, In 1941, Jimmy Stewart enlisted in the United States
17   Army and was assigned to the United States Army Air Corps; and
18         WHEREAS, In 1943, Jimmy Stewart was sent to Europe as
19   commander of a bomber squadron and awarded the Air Medal and the
20   Distinguished Flying Cross; and
21         WHEREAS, During the late 1940s, Jimmy Stewart enjoyed success
22   on Broadway as the ingratiating inebriate Elwood P. Dowd, whose
23   best friend was an invisible 6-foot rabbit in "Harvey"; and
24         WHEREAS, The play "Harvey" was adapted for the movie screen
25   in 1950, earning another Academy Award nomination for Stewart;
26   and
27         WHEREAS, Jimmy Stewart received an Honorary Academy Award in
28   1985 for, as the Academy noted, "his 50 years of meaningful
29   performances, for his high ideals, both on and off the screen,
30   with the respect and affection of his colleagues"; and

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1         WHEREAS, In 1985, Jimmy Stewart was awarded the Presidential
2   Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor; and
3         WHEREAS, In 1995, Jimmy Stewart was honored when The Jimmy
4   Stewart Museum opened in his hometown of Indiana, Pennsylvania;
5   and
6         WHEREAS, Jimmy Stewart died July 2, 1997, at his home in
7   Beverly Hills, California; therefore be it
8         RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate May 20,
9   2026, as "Jimmy Stewart Day" in Pennsylvania.




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