HR 420

                                                  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.
3WHEREAS, Jimmy Stewart was one of Hollywood's most respected
4 and admired stars during his nearly 50-year-long movie career;
5 and
6WHEREAS, Jimmy Stewart was born May 20, 1908, in Indiana,
7 Pennsylvania; and
8WHEREAS, 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
11WHEREAS, Jimmy Stewart entered Princeton University in 1928,
12 graduating with a degree in architecture; and
13WHEREAS, After graduating from Princeton University, Jimmy
14 Stewart joined the University Players, a theater group in West
15 Falmouth, Massachusetts; and
16WHEREAS, 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
2WHEREAS, Jimmy Stewart's slow, halting line delivery and
3 naive, engaging manner was quickly accepted by the moviegoing
4 public; and
5WHEREAS, 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
9WHEREAS, 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
13WHEREAS, In 1940, Jimmy Stewart won an Academy Award,
14 performing in "The Philadelphia Story" with Katharine Hepburn
15 and Cary Grant; and
16WHEREAS, In 1941, Jimmy Stewart enlisted in the United States
17 Army and was assigned to the United States Army Air Corps; and
18WHEREAS, 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
21WHEREAS, 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
24WHEREAS, The play "Harvey" was adapted for the movie screen
25 in 1950, earning another Academy Award nomination for Stewart;
26 and
27WHEREAS, 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
20260HR0420PN2941  - 2 -
1WHEREAS, In 1985, Jimmy Stewart was awarded the Presidential
2 Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor; and
3WHEREAS, In 1995, Jimmy Stewart was honored when The Jimmy
4 Stewart Museum opened in his hometown of Indiana, Pennsylvania;
5 and
6WHEREAS, Jimmy Stewart died July 2, 1997, at his home in
7 Beverly Hills, California; therefore be it
8RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate May 20,
9 2026, as "Jimmy Stewart Day" in Pennsylvania.
20260HR0420PN2941  - 3 -