Balladeer’s Blog’s Eleventh Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues! Back in the 2012 edition I reviewed Rich Little’s Christmas Carol, his 1978 television special. In that review I mentioned impressionist Little’s earlier, shorter, stand-up version of the special in which he used the voices of entirely different celebrities for the characters in A Christmas Carol.
This time around I will look at that 1963 AUDIO version. Rich Little had compiled the piece over the course of years, stretching back to his days as a DJ when he would ad-lib much of the material.
A historical footnote is the fact that – since Rich Little prepared the material far in advance of Christmas – he used the voice of John F Kennedy for the Ghost of Christmas Present. The record album version was released mere days after JFK’s assassination.
The voice lineup for the other characters went as follows:
Scrooge – Jack Benny
Bob Cratchit – Eddie “Rochester” Anderson
Nephew Fred – Jimmy Stewart
Narrator – Fred MacMurray
Charity Collectors – Alfred Hitchcock and Jimmy Durante
Carol Singer – Bing Crosby
Marley – John Wayne
Ghost of Christmas Past – Walter Brennan
Fezziwig – Jackie Gleason
Dick Wilkins – Gregory Peck
Ghost of Christmas Present – John F Kennedy
Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come – Ed Sullivan
Party Attendees – Peter Lorre, Raymond Burr and Van Hefflin
Non-Mourners of Scrooge – Jack Webb, Orson Welles, James Mason, Dana Andrews and George Burns
Christmas Morning Boy – Dennis Weaver (as Chester on Gunsmoke.)
LISTEN FOR YOURSELF – CLICK HERE
FOR MORE VERSIONS OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL CLICK HERE: https://glitternight.com/category/a-christmas-carol-2/
© Edward Wozniak and Balladeer’s Blog, 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Edward Wozniak and Balladeer’s Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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Thank you so much my friend!
Anytime
😀
“Strooge, the man who didn’t at first like Christmas;
through a positive Xmas experience learnt to love Christmas!”
_-Van Prince
That says it all!
Thank you, and your post is a profound story about a great Christmas Story!
Thank you very much.
100% Christmas props!
Same to you!
360-degrees
I agree.
100%
Exactly!
*elevating math over myth=never elevate form over substance*
Very profound!
Thanks a $mil’$
You’re welcome!
What a delightful piece. Thank you for this, sir.
Thank you for such a nice comment!
This is now one of my favorite Christmas Carols!
That is good to hear!
I heard it on youtube. It’s humorous but a bit rushed.
Glad you got to hear it!
That JFK stuff is almost eerie.
I know what you mean.
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