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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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