Balladeer’s Blog’s Ninth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon, also called Carol-A-Thon 2018, rolls along with Ponsett’s Christmas Carol. Back during Christmas Carol-A-Thon 2013 I reviewed The Trail to Christmas (1957), Jimmy Stewart’s television adaptation of this particular radio play.
Stewart was basically cannibalizing his own radio show, The Six-Shooter, on which that Old West version of A Christmas Carol, titled Ponsett’s Christmas Carol, first aired. Continue reading
Filed under A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Welcome back to Balladeer’s Blog’s Fourth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon, during which I examine various obscure and/or forgotten versions of the Dickens classic.
THE TRAIL TO CHRISTMAS (1957) – This is a fun western-style adaptation of the venerable Dickens story. The Trail to Christmas originally aired as a Yuletide episode of G.E. Theater on December 15th, 1957. That means this black & white wonder has an introduction by G.E. Theater‘s usual host Ronald Reagan and as an added bonus this Cowpoke Carol was directed by Jimmy Stewart himself!
Stewart also starred in the half-hour story as Bart, a cowboy who encounters a little boy named Johnny Carterville (no, not Jebediah Springfield – Johnny Carterville) in the desert around Christmas. The boy has run away from home, bearing a grudge against his parents and feeling disillusioned about the holiday season of love and giving. To set Johnny straight Bart tells him the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, adapting it to the American West to give the youngster familiar points of reference. Stewart’s radio show The Six Shooter once did this same basic story under the title Brit Ponset’s Christmas Carol.
Ebenezer Scrooge (John McIntire) owns a ranch in this version of the story with Bob Cratchit (Sam Edwards) as his long-suffering ranch-hand. Will Wright portrays Scrooge’s late partner “Jake” Marley, Dennis Holmes plays Tiny Tim and Continue reading
Filed under A CHRISTMAS CAROL, FRONTIERADO
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