Tag Archives: A Christmas Carol

December 1, 2012 · 8:08 pm

CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON 2012: 1953’s THE STINGIEST MAN IN TOWN

The Stingiest Man in Town (1953)THE STINGIEST MAN IN TOWN (1953) – I’ve been looking forward to examining this item for this season’s Christmas Carol-A-Thon. In prior years only the soundtrack for this terrific musical was available because the bulk of the video from this television production was missing. At last all the video has been restored so this Christmas season treasure can finally be enjoyed in its entirety.

Most people are only familiar with the 1978 Rankin-Bass Cartoon version of The Stingiest Man in Town, which chops the story down and omits or shortens a few songs. Here in all its glory is the original live 1953 production from December 23rd, rebroadcast in 1956, hence the 1956 date on some copies. Basil Rathbone stars as Scrooge, Johnny Desmond plays Nephew Fred, Martyn Green plays Bob Cratchit and Vic Damone appears as the young Ebenezer Scrooge at Fezziwig’s party. 

Many of the songs in this musical have become Christmas song standards and people are often amazed that The Stingiest Man in Town is where the songs originated. An Old Fashioned Christmas, Listen to the Song of the Christmas Spirit, Yes, There is a Santa Claus, and Birthday Party of the King are among the Continue reading →

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November 28, 2012 · 1:48 am

CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON 2012 CONTINUES: PATRICK STEWART’S STAGE SHOW

TIME ONCE AGAIN FOR MY ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF THE ENORMOUS NUMBER OF VERSIONS OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL THAT ARE OUT THERE. I’LL BE PEPPERING IN SEVERAL THAT I DIDN’T HAVE TIME TO INCLUDE THE PAST TWO YEARS(I have about five dozen different versions)BUT FOR NOW A REPOST OF MY FAVORITE VERSION, BAR NONE:

I’ll come right out and admit it – I’ve always been a sucker for any version of A Christmas Carol. Trouble is, most adaptations distort the story or are produced by people who don’t seem to “get” the story or treat it like it’s a children’s tale. Anyone who thinks that needs to read the novel. My love of mythology is partly why I love the story so much. A Christmas Carol is the closest thing to an Epic Myth the Industrial Age has produced. The language Dickens uses is very close to prose poetry but precious few adaptations of the story preserve enough of it.

That brings us to Patrick Stewart’s one-man stage presentation of A Christmas Carol. (NOT the made-for- tv movie he did on TNT) Stewart does all the voices and pretty much all the sound effects and his presentation is magnificent. It’s NOT a book-on-tape, it’s  Patrick Stewart acting out the story by himself, like he did on Broadway in the Continue reading →

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November 26, 2012 · 10:44 pm

CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON 2012 BEGINS: THE 1969 AUSTRALIAN TV VERSION

Welcome to Balladeer’s Blog’s Third Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon! I have several dozen video versions of the Charles Dickens classic and for years now I have filled the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas watching umpteen different adaptations of this epic myth of the Industrial Age. The 2012 edition of this Carol-A-Thon begins with the 1969 Australian cartoon version as a shoutout to the KiwiAussie herself, Jo “Buckshot” Bryant and her blog Chronicles of Illusion.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1969) – Air Programs International produced this fun animated version. There are books out there whose reviewers trash this version of A Christmas Carol but their reviews are so loaded with factual errors about this cartoon that I Continue reading →

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December 25, 2011 · 4:14 pm

CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON 2011: THE FRENCH TV VERSION (1984)

TF1 logo

TF1 in France

Christmas-Carol- A-Thon 2011 comes to a close with one of the most visually enticing versions ever made. Unfortunately, it’s also virtually impossible to obtain for people who lack the nearly psychotic drive necessary to track these things down.

TF1 Television in France first aired this version of A Christmas Carol, which could be described as a Carol for the arthouse crowd. Not a put-down OR a compliment, just an observation.

The performances are even more low-key than in the George C Scott version and the direction, by Pierre Boutron, is very inventive, bordering on a surrealist approach .The overall effect is like A Very Jean Cocteau Christmas or something. As with the Spanish Leyenda de Navidad this French production keeps the story in 1843 London and stars Michel Bouquet as Scrooge and Pierre Olaf as Bob Cratchit.

This 90 minute version of the Carol is one of the tiny handful that depict Scrooge at Marley’s funeral, like the 1969 Australian cartoon version. Marley’s Ghost has the look of a bearded badass, but delivers his warning to Scrooge with a cold and calculating air that is almost more chilling than Continue reading →

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December 21, 2011 · 12:44 am

CHRISTMAS CAROL- A-THON 2011: MR SCROOGE (1964)

Time for another post in Balladeer’s Blog’s annual orgy of entries on various versions of THE Christmas tale. The Charles Dickens classic has a certain  unquenchable charm that ensures it will continue to be adapted for at least another few hundred years. 

Mr Scrooge was originally broadcast on December 21st, 1964 by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It runs just an hour and stars Cyril Ritchard as Ebenezer Scrooge and the very appropriately named Eric Christmas as Marley’s Ghost. As with the  Continue reading →

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December 17, 2011 · 1:11 am

CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON 2011: CANADIAN TELEVISION’S “SCROOGE” (1978)

Time for another post in Balladeer’s Blog’s annual orgy of entries on various versions of THE Christmas tale. The Charles Dickens classic has a certain  unquenchable charm that ensures it will continue to be adapted for at least another few hundred years. 

“Blame Canada” for today’s version of A Christmas Carol. In 1978 Theatre Three in Edmonton, Alberta filmed their stage adaptation of the Carol and broadcast it in the USA as well as their own country. It’s been popping up on PBS and various cable outlets ever since. “Minimalist” would be the watchword for this version, from the nearly bare stage to the slimmed- down cast.

Marley’s Ghost not only  Continue reading →

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December 14, 2011 · 10:02 pm

CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON 2011: THREE OPERA VERSIONS OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Time for another post in Balladeer’s Blog’s annual orgy of entries on various versions of THE Christmas tale. The Charles Dickens classic has a certain  unquenchable charm that ensures it will continue to be adapted for at least another few hundred years. Here’s an encore post from last Christmas season for my blogging buddy Didi Wright and her whippet George, the co-authors of the blog My Little Dog. Didi’s daughter Brianna hopes to be an opera singer someday so hopefully Brianna will enjoy this post, too.:

This time I’ll look at three opera versions of the classic Dickens tale. I’ll start off with the most lauded one- the 1982 Granada TV broadcast of the Royal Opera House’s staging of the opera by THE Thea Musgrave. Musgrave has also done the libretto and music for the celebrated operas Mary, Queen Of Scots … Harriet, The Woman Called Moses … Simon Bolivar  and Continue reading →

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December 12, 2011 · 9:08 pm

CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON 2011: SKINFLINT (1979)

Flint (Hoyt Axton) and his lost love (Barbara Mandrell)

Flint (Hoyt Axton) and his lost love (Barbara Mandrell)

Time for another post in my annual orgy of entries on various versions of THE Christmas tale. The Charles Dickens classic has a certain unquenchable charm that ensures it will continue to be adapted for at least another few hundred years.  

SKINFLINT (1979) – Skinflint is known to me and my fellow Carol-Geeks as “the country- western version”. This made-for- tv musical is so chock- full of stars that the Country Music Hall of Fame actually offers screenings of this film every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’m serious. My late mother was, unfortunately for me when I was a teenager, a country music fan so, strange as it may seem, I actually know who the singers in this flick are. This version of the Carol is set in fictional Flint City, Tennessee, a town dominated by the financial pull of banker Cyrus Flint, played by Hoyt Axton.

Naturally Cyrus Flint is the Scrooge stand- in and Axton is supported by plenty of other Continue reading →

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December 9, 2011 · 12:05 am

CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON 2011: CHRISTMAS IS COMIN’ UPTOWN (1979)

Time for another post in my annual orgy of entries on various versions of THE Christmas tale. The Charles Dickens classic has a certain unquenchable charm that ensures it will continue to be adapted for at least another few hundred years.  

The 1979 Broadway musical Christmas Is Comin’ Uptown is one of the versions of A Christmas Carol that often get pigeon-holed as “African American versions” but, along with John Grin’s Christmas and Ms Scrooge this tuneful adaptation transcends race and celebrates the universality of the Carol’s message. The musical continues to tour the USA to this very day and a television broadcast of a few scenes and songs from the work aired when I was a teenager and was already obsessed with variations of the story.

Gregory Hines played Scrooge in the original Broadway cast. The Scrooge in this adaptation was an Continue reading →

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December 6, 2011 · 12:21 am

CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON 2011: 1977 BBC VERSION

Time once again for an under-the-radar version of A Christmas Carol. This time it’s the 1977 BBC TV version starring Michael Hordern as Scrooge. Hordern was better known to some people as the voice of Paddington Bear way back when. There’s a lot of charm to this 58 minute version even though it’s got 70′s sitcom-style lighting and special effects that even the makers of the original Dr Who show could have looked down their noses at. The dialogue is drawn directly from Dickens so it flows nicely and the segment with Belle is Continue reading →

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