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It’s time once
again for ‘A Christmas Carol’
By Susan Olling
Charles Dickens, the author of more than one Victorian-era novel,
penned a “Ghostly (sic) little book” in 1843. It’s been adapted
for radio, television, movies, and theater. Some characters
appeared in Sherlock Holmes stories in the late twentieth century.
‘Tis the season for us to enjoy A Christmas Carol.
Mr. Dickens’s first public reading of A Christmas Carol was in
1852. He condensed and modified his story for his listening
audiences. Dickens included parts of A Christmas Carol in all of
his public readings for the rest of his life.
CBS Radio aired its first presentation of this Christmas classic in
1934. Lionel Barrymore was the voice of Ebenezer Scrooge.
On December 23, 1938, the fourth year of the broadcast, Orson Welles
substituted for Mr. Barrymore. Being a radio program the Ghost of
Christmas Yet to Come, usually silent, was given a voice. A
compact disc of this wonderful Christmas present, including commercials
for Campbell soups (at the time, twenty–one-varieties), was released in
the early years of this century.
Television has seen a several adaptations of A Christmas Carol.
The best of these, in my humble opinion, was a made-for-television
movie in 1984 that starred George C. Scott as the old miser and
included a sterling British cast. It’s one of the most faithful to the
original story, and Mr. Scott’s portrayal as Ebenezer Scrooge was one
of the best.
Adaptations of A Christmas Carol were made into movies for the silver
screen before there were talkies. The first sound version, called
Scrooge, was released in 1935. Reginald Owen portrayed Mr.
Scrooge in a 1938 adaptation by MGM. Alastair Sim was cast as
Ebenezer Scrooge in 1951. The movie was titled Scrooge in
Great Britain, A Christmas Carol in the United States. One of the
best scenes is Christmas morning when Scrooge the non-miserly wants to
stand on his head. The charwoman, Mrs. Dilber (portrayed by
Kathleen Harrison), runs from the room screaming and tossing her apron
over her head. These two veteran stage actors played the
scene wonderfully.
In 1970, this story became a musical: Scrooge. Huge cast, great
songs. Albert Finney played both young and old Ebenezer.
One of the best scenes occurs with a group of people standing outside
Scrooge and Marley’s. The hot soup man, Tom Jenkins, sings “Thank
You Very Much”, and the crowd joins in. Scrooge, standing with
the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, doesn’t realize the reason for this
cheery ditty. He’s dead.
Can’t forget the Muppets. Their contribution to the parade of
adaptations was called A Muppet Christmas Carol and starred Michael
Caine as Mr. Scrooge. Who could forget the bookkeeping rats
(supervised by Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit), Gonzo and Rizzo, and
Statler and Waldorf as Marley and Marley? The songs were
fun, too.
Many theaters, including Ford’s Theatre in D.C., include A Christmas
Carol in their performance schedules.
In the early 1990s, Patrick Stewart did a one-man stage
adaptation of A Christmas Carol. It got rave reviews
and is still worth a listen. No sound effects in the
background. Just Dickens’s words with Mr. Stewart bringing all
those characters to life. Scrooge never sounded so mean and
nasty. Mr. History got me a cassette (remember those?) of this
rendering years ago. When the tape “spaghettied”, I had to toss
it in the trash. Darn it. Some years later, I found a CD of
this production and snapped it up immediately.
In the late 1990s, Holmes for the Holidays and More Holmes for the
Holidays appeared in bookstores. These were Sherlock Holmes
stories written by modern mystery authors using the Holmes canon.
A few of the authors chose to include characters from A Christmas Carol
in their contributions. One story involved Scrooge’s
nephew. Another, an adult Timothy Cratchit who’s turned into a
bit of a Scrooge. There were hints in these stories that Scrooge
was given a hallucinogen and that magic lantern slides might have been
used to create the ghostly apparitions.
Yes, it’s the time of year to curl up with some punch (or other
beverage) and indulge in this Christmas classic. (Could also
mention White Christmas and Meet Me in St. Louis if you get tired of
Scrooge.)
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