Tag Archives: A Christmas Carol

December 8, 2015 · 9:49 pm

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1947): LEYENDA DE NAVIDAD

Leyenda de NavidadWelcome to another installment of Balladeer’s Blog’s annual orgy of versions of A Christmas Carol. This version was produced in Spain in 1947 (and was remade for Spanish television in 1966 ) and the Spanish language title is Leyenda de Navidad ( Legend of Christmas, of course).

The film was written and directed by Manuel Tamayo (who wrote the screenplay for the 1955 feature Tarde de Toros) This is a wonderful version for several reasons, not the least of which would be its well-done (for the time period) sets of 1843 London.

We’ll take the differences and similarities to other versions in order – 1. Scrooge has several people working for him for some reason, not just Bob Cratchit and NONE of them get Christmas Day off from this Scrooge  …

2.  Marley’s Ghost steps out of a life-sized portrait of the man that adorns the wall above a fireplace, and returns to that portrait after his standard warning about the 3 Ghosts …

3. Transportation through time with Continue reading →

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December 7, 2015 · 12:11 am

A CHRISTMAS CAROL: FRANK BAXTER VERSION

Frank BaxterBalladeer’s Blog’s Christmas Carol-A-Thon for 2015 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, 2015 · 8:38 pm

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1948)

Rufus Rose working on one of his handmade puppets.

Rufus Rose working on one of his handmade puppets.

Balladeer’s Blog’s Sixth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues! This lost version of the Dickens classic from the days of live tv featured beautifully crafted marionettes as all of the characters.

It’s a shame this baby was in black & white since the costumes for the marionettes could have really dazzled in color I’ll bet. It also makes you wonder why more puppet versions of the Yuletide tale weren’t mounted during the Golden Age of Television. 

ABC broadcast this holiday treat on December 24th, 1948 when televisions were still comparatively rare. Manipulation of marionettes is not easy but the legendary Rufus Rose Marionettes were the perfect choice for the task in that era. Rufus, best known as Howdy Doody’s off-camera operator directed this program along with his wife Margo.

Dickens’ Christmas Carol was an Continue reading →

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December 1, 2015 · 11:27 pm

A CHRISTMAS CAROL: INUIT CARTOON VERSION (1988)

Balladeer’s Blog continues its annual look at various versions of the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol!

inuit broadcasting corporationTAKUGINAI (December 1988) – As always I enjoy reviewing some of the most obscure and/ or neglected versions of the Carol that I can find. Takuginai was (and is) broadcast by the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The half-hour program is a clever and energetic children’s show.  

In December of 1988 Takuginai‘s usual blend of puppetry and live-action squeezed in a cartoon version of A Christmas Carol as well. The animation is very VERY limited: think Clutch Cargo then strip away all the dazzling technical prowess. (Yes, it’s THAT limited.)   Continue reading →

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November 29, 2015 · 9:53 pm

CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON 2015 CONTINUES: VARIATIONS

Balladeer’s Blog continues its annual look at various versions of the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol! This particular item will examine episodes of television shows where the Carol was adapted to incorporate the program’s regular cast of characters.

wkrpWKRP IN CINCINNATI

Episode Title: Bah, Humbug

Original Broadcast Date: December 20th, 1980

Comment: Mr Carlson (Gordon Jump), the station owner, is the Scrooge stand-in in this fairly good sitcom version of the Carol.

Eating some of DJ Johnny Fever’s drug-laced brownies Carlson dreams about visits from the Ghost of Christmas Past – sexy Jennifer (Loni Anderson), Present – black DJ Venus Flytrap (Tim Reid) and Yet to Come – Dr Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman).     Continue reading →

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November 27, 2015 · 8:47 pm

MISTER MAGOO’S CHRISTMAS CAROL: CAROL-A-THON 2015 BEGINS

Mr Magoo Christmas CarolBalladeer’s Blog’s 6th annual Christmas Carol-A- Thon begins with this little item I’m doing as a reader request. I had thought that Mr Magoo’s Christmas Carol was way too mainstream and well-known for me to review but I’ve been told it’s fallen off the radar for most people so here we go!

MR MAGOO’S CHRISTMAS CAROL (1962) – The nearly-blind one-joke cartoon figure called Mr Magoo was voiced by Jim Backus. The schtick in the character’s regular cartoon adventures was that his cosmic-level near-sightedness caused him to mistake a bowling alley for a laundromat or some similar mixup and slapstick hijinx would develop from there. Continue reading →

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December 25, 2014 · 4:29 pm

EBENEZER (1998): CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON 2014 CONCLUDES

EbenezerIt’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year since last Christmas Day! Christmas Carol-A-Thon 2014 comes to a close with the 1998 telefilm Ebenezer, the only non-porno version of the Dickens classic to feature a whorehouse! Well, as long as you don’t count whatever underhanded business Scrooge and Marley are running in the Alastair Sim version anyway. (I’m kidding!)

Previously Balladeer’s Blog has reviewed The Trail to Christmas, a version of A Christmas Carol adapted to the American West of the 1800’s. Ebenezer adapted the Dickens novel to the wild west of Canada in the 1800’s, which adds an extra layer of novelty to this production. Casting Jack Palance as Ebenezer Scrooge was the real strength of this adaptation!  

Palance’s Scrooge is a miserly and crooked saloon owner while Bob Cratchit (Albert Schultz) is his much-abused bartender. Rick Schroder (yes, Rick Schroder) portrays gun-slinging Sam Benson, a character unique to this version and Tiny Tim is played by Joshua Silberg. Continue reading →

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December 21, 2014 · 10:47 pm

AN AMERICAN CHRISTMAS CAROL (1979)

An American Christmas Carol 2Christmas Carol-A-Thon 2014 continues! At the height of Fonzie-mania in the 1970s Henry Winkler had so much pull he could have insisted on a side-deal in which he got to play every D’Ascoyne in a televised remake of Kind Hearts and Coronets if he had wanted to. Mercifully he instead chose to star in this adaptation of A Christmas Carol.   

Eric Till directed this telefilm which sets Dickens’ story in Depression- Era America. Winkler, so heavily made-up he looks like a zombie instead of an old man, portrays Benedict Slade, the Scrooge stand-in and R.H. Thompson plays Slade’s man-bitch Thatcher, the Bob Cratchit counterpart. David Wayne has the Jacob marley role as Merrivale and Susan Hogan barely registers as the forever-irritating Belle stand-in.

"I'm not gonna pay a lot for this makeup job!" ... Henry Winkler IS a zombie Scrooge in An Undead Christmas Carol.

“I’m not gonna pay a lot for this makeup job!” … Henry Winkler IS a zombie Scrooge in An Undead Christmas Carol.

This version of the Carol pulls the annoying maneuver of pretending the visits from Merrivale and the other ghosts are all a dream. There’s even an in-world reference to the Dickens novel A Christmas Carol. On the plus side the visits of each of the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come are cleverly heralded by time period appropriate music and news broadcasts airing on Slade’s bedside radio. The old tight-wad is especially discomfited by the outre 1970s music blaring from the radio before the arrival of the black Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.   Continue reading →

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December 18, 2014 · 11:17 pm

SCROOGE (1970)

Scrooge 1970 2Christmas Carol-A-Thon 2014 continues here at Balladeer’s Blog with a look at the 1970 musical version that starred Albert Finney. The only – and dubious – advantage to having such a young man portraying Ebenezer Scrooge is that he could realistically play Scrooge’s younger self in the Christmas Past scenes.

Big deal. In reality it meant that the portions with Belle get dragged out even longer and more excruciatingly than they usually do, just to take advantage of the fact that for once it’s not a different actor playing the younger Ebenezer. Again – big deal.  

Yet I like this version much more than I should. A rerun of it late one Christmas night was my first exposure to it years ago when I was first getting into the multiple versions of A Christmas Carol. That has probably colored my feelings about it all these years because I have to admit when I read negative reviews of this production I laugh like hell and nod my head in agreement at all the bashing it gets … yet I still like it for some reason. Continue reading →

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December 17, 2014 · 11:28 pm

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1981): AMERICAN CONSERVATORY THEATER

American Conservatory TheatreChristmas Carol-A-Thon 2014 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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