Category Archives: A CHRISTMAS CAROL

December 17, 2017 · 11:37 pm

SCROOGE LOOSE (1957): CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON CONTINUES

Balladeer’s Blog’s 2017 Christmas Carol-A-Thon resumes with this look at one of the WEIRDEST and most pointless renditions of Ebenezer Scrooge outside of Dickens Slash Fiction.

scrooge looseSCROOGE LOOSE (1957) – Scrooge Loose is an 8 minute long Gumby stop-motion animation treat from 1957.

Gumby and his equine pal Pokey spot Ebenezer Scrooge escaping from the book A Christmas Carol and set off in pursuit. The pair are posing as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson just to make even less sense. What, no Jack the Ripper? Continue reading →

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December 16, 2017 · 10:39 pm

BARBIE IN A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2008)

Christmas Carol-A-Thon 2017 continues! Yes, it’s the Christmas Carol adaptation NOBODY asked for … not even KEN!

Barbie in a Christmas CarolBARBIE IN A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2008) – Mattel provides us with a plastic version of the Carol in a plastic cartoon about its plastic creation Barbie. Just as Mr Magoo was an actor portraying Scrooge in Mr Magoo’s Christmas Carol, Barbie is the story-teller relating the tale to her younger sister Kelly.  

As in A Diva’s Christmas Carol the Scrooge stand-in here is a female singing star – Eden Starling. Eden’s mean-spirited Aunt Marie has spent a lifetime molding the young songstress into an equally unpleasant figure complete with Aunt Marie’s credo: “In a selfish world, the selfish succeed.” Continue reading →

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December 15, 2017 · 10:23 pm

ROCKIN’ AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE: THREE DOG NIGHT

From Scrooge’s Rock and Roll Christmas, which I’ve previously reviewed here at Balladeer’s Blog, it’s Three Dog Night performing Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.

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December 12, 2017 · 11:18 pm

SCROOGE AND MARLEY (2012): THE GAY CHRISTMAS CAROL

scrooge-marley-2012SCROOGE & MARLEY (2012) – I am still very ill so here’s a rerun for this latest installment of Balladeer’s Blog’s Christmas Carol-A-Thon for 2017.

Scrooge & Marley is a gay-themed version of the Dickens classic. It’s also a musical, but unfortunately the songs struck me as being as blah as most of Leslie Bricusse’s output in Scrooge (1970).

Previously I’ve examined Ebbie, which is a business-woman themed version of the story, John Grin’s Christmas and Christmas is Comin’ Uptown, which are black-themed versions of the story and even See Hear Presents A Christmas Carol, a sign-language and spoken version aimed at the hearing impaired. 

Scrooge & Marley is an openly and deliberately gay adaptation of the Dickens story. It often falls into the trap of using its gay narrative as a gimmick rather than a theme but that risk just goes with the territory when a creative team is locked into following a previously mapped-out storyline.  

The film is set in the fairly present day and opens up at Ebenezer Scrooge’s gay nightclub called Screws. I was hoping it would be called Screwed, to be reminiscent of the porno version of A Christmas Carol titled Ebenezer Screwed.

At any rate Scrooge is, as usual, a tight-fisted (as it were) hand at the grindstone and treats his employees horribly. Hell, he even fires them if they tip delivery people out of their own pockets! Continue reading →

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December 10, 2017 · 1:54 pm

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1981)

American Conservatory TheatreChristmas Carol-A-Thon 2017 continues! 

This is a filmed presentation of the stage play by San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre and originally aired December 21st, 1981 on the Arts Channel.

The adaptation was by Dennis Powers and Laird Williamson and starred William Patterson as Ebenezer Scrooge. The only real mistake this Carol makes is that it’s one of those versions that reads WAY too much into Scrooge’s relationship with his father, even making up beatings that are never mentioned in the Dickens original. Other than that this production features some very nice touches.

During the Christmas Past segment Young Scrooge (Thomas Harrison) and Belle (Janice Hutchens) are ice-skating under starlit skies while having their breakup scene, which livens up this often tedious bit of business. When the Ghost of Christmas Present (Lawrence Hecht) shows Scrooge the Continue reading →

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December 6, 2017 · 11:00 am

SONG: CLEAN UP YOUR ACT FROM AN ALL DOGS CHRISTMAS CAROL (1998)

Yes, it’s another isolated song from a version of A Christmas Carol which I have previously reviewed in its entirety. From An All Dogs Christmas Carol it’s Clean Up Your Act as the Scrooge stand-in (Carface Caruthers) begs the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come to give him some hope. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWbGm-P5PUY

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December 5, 2017 · 12:01 am

CHRISTMAS CAROL (1965): FRANK BAXTER

Frank BaxterBalladeer’s Blog’s Christmas Carol-A-Thon for 2017 continues! This time around I’m examining a 1965 production from California PBS station KCET. The title may not sound action-packed and appealing but Dr Frank Baxter was to the 1950s and 1960s what Carl Sagan and The Reduced Shakespeare Company were to later decades.

Just as The Reduced Shakespeare Company made the works of the Bard of Avon more accessible and therefore more popular among non-Shakespeare fans Dr Baxter’s Shakespeare on TV series inspired younger generations to take an interest in the works of the great Elizabethan playwright.

And like Carl Sagan’s series Cosmos made him a virtual rockstar of the scientific field Dr Baxter’s entertaining and educational Bell Laboratory  Science Series of film shorts made him enormously popular among teachers and students in every school that used those shorts as classroom aids. The Bell Laboratory Science Series educational shorts were so effective and beloved they were still being used in the 70s and 80s.

This black & white hour-long holiday special features Baxter at a Continue reading →

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December 4, 2017 · 12:15 am

SONG: A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1954)

Ray Middleton as Nephew Fred and the Ghost of Christmas PresentChristmas Carol-A-Thon 2017 continues here at Balladeer’s Blog! These neglected songs from various versions of A Christmas Carol have proven pretty popular so here’s another. From the fairly blah Shower of Stars tv presentation of A Christmas Carol from 1954 it’s the song A Very Merry Christmas.

Part of the fun comes from the fact that the song is sung by Ray Middleton, who went on to play Colonel Thomas McKean in the theatrical release of the musical 1776. Middleton played Nephew Fred and the Ghost of Christmas Present in this Christmas Carol. 

This song is just so-so, but if you’re like me you’re desperate for new background songs to sprinkle in during Christmas Time get-togethers. Some of these out-of-the-way songs from Carol adaptations are ideal.

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December 2, 2017 · 5:26 pm

SCROOGE AND THE STARS (1963)

Scrooge and the StarsBalladeer’s Blog’s Eighth 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. Continue reading →

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November 30, 2017 · 5:00 pm

THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT, FROM THE STINGIEST MAN IN TOWN

Balladeer’s Blog’s Eighth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon presents another song from the live-action musical The Stingiest Man in Town. This one is titled The Christmas Spirit and is another hit from the soundtrack that became a Christmas time staple.

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