The Alcoa Hour - "The Stingiest Man in Town" (1956) - Part 1

The Alcoa Hour - "The Stingiest Man in Town" (1956)
Director: Daniel Petrie
Scrooge: Basil Rathbone


Now let's take a look at an episode of the TV series "The Alcoa Hour" - the 1956 musical adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" titled "The Stingiest Man in Town ."

This was broadcast live on December 23, 1956 in "compatible color" and then went unseen for quite a long time.

It seems to have been a big deal at the time, as it had some star power in the cast and was promoted with an original cast album and all.

But TV "spectaculars" (as they used to call them) weren't meant to be rebroadcast. These were one-time events and if you weren't in front of the TV at the time, you missed your chance. Live productions such as this were even less likely to be seen later.

Over the years, however, people still listened to the album and had fond memories of the special. There was even a cartoon version produced by Rankin-Bass in 1978 (we'll look at that one later), but the original seemed to be only a memory.

It always sounded very intriguing to me, as Basil Rathbone played old Scrooge with Vic Damone as young Scrooge. That's just fascinating right there!

Fortunately a kinescope was discovered a few years ago. It's black and white, and not sharp. but it's the whole show. It was released on DVD and now everyone can see it.

Here's a clip from VAI Music, the company that released the DVD, which gives a bit of the flavor:

Next, we look at the very musical cast!

Book Plug - "The Annotated Christmas Carol" (2002) - Michael Patrick Hearn

Since I keep comparing every version of "A Christmas Carol" that I listen to, watch or read to the original text, it's a must to have a go-to version of the book handy.

My go-to is "The Annotated Christmas Carol" by Michael Patrick Hearn.

When it says it's annoaated, that's no understatement! There might be more annotation than original text. And that's a good thing as almost anything that you might possibly not understand is explained in an easy-to-read manner. Not dumbed down, but not pedantic.

Lots of notes, lots of pictures.

It's available at a good price from the usual retailers, so if this sort of thing interests you, check it out!

Flintstones Bonus!

While we're on the subject of Fred Flintstone as Scrooge, here's a really fun commercial for Cocoa Pebbles!

It's a lot of fun and I especially appreciate Baby Puss making an appearance at the end!

A Flintstone's Christmas Carol (1994) - Part 4

OK, so we're finally going to talk about the story elements that are included in the show within a show of  "A Flintstones' Christmas Carol," an animated TV-movie from 1994.

The play as presented is actually quite faithful to the original novella. "Charles Brickens" was very prescient!

There are some things exaggerated for cartoony comedy, and many of the character names have been Flintstonized, but none of that gets in the way of the story. If a kid was watching this and did not know the story, they could follow along and come away with a good appreciation of what makes it so popular. You don't need to fill in any gaps yourself, as is the case with a lot of cartoon versions.

I just want to mention one more time that there may be some spoilers of the framing story ahead, as some of what goes on in that affects the cartoon actors and their play.

The story takes place in Piltdown, which I guess is because that's the place in England where a supposed caveman fossil (the Piltdown Man) was found. So, that counts as an English stone age city.

That is very clever!

Anyway, the opening scenes in Scrooge's office have all the elements in there. Bob Cragit is at a comically cold desk and Scrooge won't let him have any coal.

Scrooge's nephew (named Ned so as not to have Fred overload) comes in and has the usual back and forth with  Scrooge.

The two charity collectors come in as usual, but they're wearing what looks to me to be Salvation Army type uniforms.

The dialogue is actually pretty faithful to the book.

Things get a little different when Scrooge leaves the office, however. A couple of kids are having a snowball fight and one of them accidentally knocks Scrooge's hat from his head and said hat subsequently gets run over by a wagon. This is seemingly inspired by the scene from the 1938 movie where Gene Lockhart as Bob Cratchit inadvertently ruins Reginald Owen as Scrooge's hat.

Scrooge has the kid picked up by a constable, but instead of sending him to the workhouse, he has the kid shovel the walk to his house. I guess this is to show that Scrooge is mean by making the kid do that shoveling on Christmas Eve, but I think it shows he isn't all that bad, because the kid did ruin his hat and Scrooge let him off with only that shoveling job as punishment.

The kid has kind of a Cockney accent, which is a rare nod to Britishness in this production. Maybe that kid grows up to be the Piltdown Man?

When Scrooge gets home, he sees Jacob Marbley's face in his door knocker, which is one of those effects that seems very ambitious if not impossible for a community theater show.

Marbley's Ghost comes in and he's transparent and floats around, warning Scrooge and telling him he'll be visited by more ghosts.

Some backstage drama leads to Wilma having to take over the role of the Ghost of Christmas Past. They go to Scrooge's school wear they see young Ebenezer, who is played by grown Fred wearing a schoolboy outfit!

His sister comes in. Scrooge calls her "Fanny," but the spirit does call her "Fan." Scrooge says when his sister died, he vowed he would never love anyone again.

But, as the spirit points out, he did fall in love again. This was of course, with Belle, who also winds up being played by Wilma!

Scrooge meets Belle at Fezziwig's party, as seems to be the norm for adaptations at this point. The scene where Belle won't dance with the other guys at the party seems directly inspired by the similar scene in "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol."

Of note is that Jacob Marbley is one of the other employees at Fezziwig's. Fun to see Mr. Slate with a toupee!

There are some shenanigans with snowballs from Ebenezer and Belle, which Charles Brickens point out is not in the script. Presumably in the script, but not from the book, is us actually seeing Ebenezer propose to Belle. But, of course, they break up.

The Christmas Past segment ends at this point. We do not see Belle married, which is good, as we'll see...

The Ghost of Christmas Present shows up as expected and he's a big, bearded giant. The actor playing him is called Ernie and we had previously seen him as a street corner Santa collecting for the Bedrock Mission earlier in the framing scenes. Ernie's a big guy, but in character he's somehow grown to gigantic proportions!

Scrooge and the spirit go through town and get in some dialogue that is remarkably similar to the book and left out of most adaptations.

Then they go to Bob Cragit's house, where Bob and his family dine on chickasaurus for Christmas dinner. Tiny Tim says just his one famous line. There's only one other Cragit kid, who's referred to as Martha and is perhaps younger than Tiny Tim for the only time. 

Bamm-Bamm and Pebbles are as cute as ever, and it's good to see Dino as the family pet.

Bob proposes a toast to Scrooge and Mrs. Cragit really objects. Betty Rubble had plenty of motivation for that scene from Fred's backstage behavior!

The spirit next brings Scrooge to the home of his nephew, Ned. Ned and his guests play charades with Scrooge ultimately the punchline. But Scrooge doesn't mind as he's having fun and is delighted that Ned includes him in the fun.

I must say that I really like the characterization of Ned. He's one of my favorite nephews from any adaptation in any medium!

Now it's time for the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. This ghost is a hooded phantom as usual, but it's wearing a white robe here.

Scrooge and the spirits see a lot in this sequence. In a bit of a twist, it appears to be a policeman and a businessman discussing (what turns out to be) Scrooge's death and Scrooge does see a body on a bed. That businessman looks like he's played by Mr. Slate using a different voice.

When Scrooge wants to see emotion connected with that man's death, the ghost brings him to Old Joe's where the charwoman sells the bed curtains.

Then when Scrooge wants to see tenderness, they go to the Cragit house, where it's revealed that Tiny Tim has died. They end up at a graveyard where Scrooge sees Tiny Tim's grave and then his own.

But Scrooge finds himself back in his own bedroom. Curiously, when he's talking about the prior events, he mentions the window where Jacob Marbley joined the wandering spirits. We did not actually see that, however.

When Scrooge looks out that window, he sees that same kid that had ruined his hat and whom he made shovel his walkway. The kid hits Scrooge with a well-deserved snowball.

But he sends that kid to get the prize turkeysaurus, which is appropriately Flintstonesquely ginormous! Scrooge has it sent anonymously to Bob Cragit.

While Scrooge is heading over to Ned's house, he meets the charity collectors, but now one of them is played by Wilma! To stay in character, Fred as Scrooge calls her Belle. And he invites her to come along to Ned's house!

I think this is really fun, as who doesn't want Scrooge and Belle to somehow get back together, especially if it was never established that Belle had married someone else? And I know it's only characters in a play staged by cartoon "actors," but I like it!

Ned is surprised that his uncle brought a date along, but he's a good sport about it.

Next morning, Scrooge beats Bob to the office and surprises him by making him his partner and renaming the business to "Scrooge & Cragit." When Bob jokingly suggest they call it "Cragit & Scrooge," Scrooge agrees! Scrooge says there are "back payments" in there, a line he usually says to the charity gentleman.

It strikes me that the business changes from a "Mr. Potter" type to a "George Bailey" type. I'm guessing that's a conscious homage to "It's a Wonderful Life."

Amusingly, the same kid who did the shoveling and turkey buying is now in charge of sign painting, so that kid is busy. Luckily Scrooge keeps throwing him bags of money!

We go back to Charles Brickens for the wrap-up, then when Bamm-Bamm is supposed to say Tiny Tim's "God bless us, everyone," he gets a bit of stage fright, so Pebbles says it. Very cute!

So, what we have is a pretty faithful adaptation with the framework of a "Flintstones" episode. The spirit is pretty close to the original series.

I have to admit that I was skeptical of how a mid-90s project like this would be, but I think it's a blast and if you're a fan if the 'Stones, check it out!

A Flintstones' Christmas Carol (1994) - Part 3

Within "A Flintstones' Christmas Carol" from 1994 is the Bedrock Community Players' version of "A Christmas Carol," as written by Charles Brickens.

The format is reminiscent of "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol" (1962) in that we see that the characters are putting on a stage presentation and there are framing scenes that feature the "actors" in their usual personae.

They even throw in a couple of shots of the audience looking at the stage.

The biggest difference, besides that the Flintstones' play is not a musical is that we have more established characters here and the framing story is much longer and they cut away in between acts of the play for more story.

And of course, Quincy Magoo is a Broadway star and Fred Flintstone only hopes to make it to Broadrock!

"Magoo" seems more like it really is a stage show, certainly with some cartoonish effects that couldn't be pulled off in a live show, but I think the Flintstones take that to even more of an extreme. The special effects and big sets are at odds with the relatively small stage we see, especially if you consider it's a community theater production. It mostly seems like they're in a movie version of the story, even though we see a lot of backstage action.

For example, when Betty is helping Mr. Slate with his Marbley's Ghost makeup, she has a sack of flour land on him to make him a ghostly white. But when he appears on the stage, he's transparent and can pass through things.

But, again, we didn't come here for realism!

The running time of this special is a generous 69 minutes  so there's plenty of time to present the whole show and a separate storyline of how Fred deals with his perceived stardom.

I don't want to spoil the framing story if you haven't seen this special, but some spoilers will come out as I discuss the elements of the Bedrock Community Players production!

So, how faithful was "Charles Brickens" to the source material?

"None of this is in my script!"

A Flintstones' Christmas Carol (1994) - Part 2

The 1994 made-for-TV "A Flintstones' Christmas Carol" feature the Bedrock Community Players staging their version of "A Christmas Carol."

It seems like everyone in town is involved with the show in some capacity. So, how did they do with the casting?

Note: There may be a few minor spoilers of the framing story ahead.

They have something of an advantage in the casting of Scrooge, as the main star, Fred Flintstone, is perfect for the part, in a way that say, Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny or Howdy Doody is not.

I think Henry Corden does a good job voicing Fred, but he could never top Alan Reed, Fred's original voice. But he had been doing it since Alan Reed's death in 1977, so he's comfortable in the role.

In a bit of Flintstonization, Scrooge's first name is "Ebonezer."

There's also a logical Bob Cratchit (renamed Cragit here) in Barney Rubble. He's always a good foil for Fred and seems warmhearted. Barney also doubles as Fezziwig in the Christmas Past segment.

Mel Blanc, Barney's original voice, had also passed away by the time this show was made, but Frank Welker plays the part very well. He's a top voice actor.

Since Barney is Bob Cragit, the natural pick for Mrs. Cragit is Betty Rubble. She seems to have had a lot of different voice actors. This time B.J. Ward does the honors. She's OK, but her giggle seems a little forced to me. For my money, nobody came anyway near Betty's original voice, Bea Benaderet.

A production cel featuring Wilma.

It's wonderful to hear Jean Vander Pyl, the originator of Wilma Flinstone's voice one more time. Wilma starts as the stage manager, but steps into three other roles as the original actors are stricken by the flu-like Bedrock bug!

Mr. Slate is not as much of a Scrooge as he seems!

Also from the original cast of "The Flintstones" is John Stephenson, who plays Mr. Slate. Mr. Slate is cast as Jacob Marbley, to keep with the Flintstones spirit. Mr. Slate might seem like the first choice for Scrooge, as he points out himself, but I think he's better as Marbley anyway, plus that allows for Fred to remain the main character.

We have one more voice actor from the original series, the great Don Messick. He plays Bamm-Bamm Rubble, who as Tiny Tim actually says something other than "Bamm! Bamm!" Mr. Messick also recreates his role of Joe Rockhead from the show.

An often heard criticism (sometimes by me) is that a lot of Tiny Tims seem too healthy. Well, none could ever be as healthy as Bamm-Bamm, although he does not show off his prodigious strength in the role!

Pebbles Flintstone also has a part as what must be the youngest Martha Cratchit ever! She's voiced by Russi Taylor here.

Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm are still babies, so this places the timeline for this special around the time of the original series. Other shows and specials have had P & B-B at various other ages.

We have some other characters here, some from the Flinstsonesverse, but I think the character who plays Ned, Scrooge's nephew, is unique to this special. I believe he's the paperboy that we see in the opening scenes, but he can't be Arnold, as he would still be a kid in this continuity. 

We don't learn the name of the cartoon actor playing the part, but I think he's really good. Presumably he's called "Ned" because we already have a Fred and they couldn't think up a more Flintstoney name. Ned is voiced by Will Ryan, another total pro.

One more character who's obviously created for this project is Charles Brickens, who narrates the play. He's voiced by John Rhys-Davies, who has great pipes. I associate him most with his role of "Sallah" in the "Indiana Jones" series of films.

Dino's no stranger to Christmas!

Of course, the true star of "The Flintsones" has always been Dino, who portrays the Cragit family pet in the play and also takes over another role, which I will not spoil because it's awesome!

Next up - a little bit about this community theater production...

A Flintstones' Christmas Carol (1994) - Part 1

A Flintstones' Christmas Carol (1994)
Director: Joanna Romersa
Scrooge: Fred Flintstone

While we're looking at adaptations of "A Christmas Carol" featuring established characters, we visit Bedrock for "A Flintstones' Christmas Carol," a made-for-TV movie-length special from 1994.

Naturally I'm a fan of the original "The Flintstones" TV series, but I think the later incarnations are hit or miss.

I do like this one, however. It's a lot of fun, but also takes the original story seriously, which is always a good thing.

The premise of this movie is that the Bedrock Community Players are putting on their stage version of "A Christmas Carol" with Fred Flintstone as Scrooge. Fred lets the stardom go to his head and needs to be reminded what's really important.

Within this framing story we are treated to the entire show, which is a pretty faithful adaptation with a bit of Flintstonization.

A couple of things do need to be overlooked, if you will, to enjoy the show and go along for the ride.

First is how are they celebrating Christmas? This takes place B.C. so that by definition there shouldn't be Christmas in that world.

A scene from the "Christmas Flintstone" episode.

But the Flintstones franchise has long embraced the holiday, going back to the "Christmas Flintstone" episode from the original series in 1964

The second is that there are special effects and sets within the play that couldn't possibly be done on stage, let alone on the relatively small stage we see in a couple of establishing shots and within the budget of a local community theater production.

But, such is the case with "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol" among many other TV shows and movies as well.

And, after all, this is a cartoon about cave people that have talking animals as household appliances, so don't come here looking for realism!

Next we look at how the other Bedrock denizens are cast in support of Fred's Scrooge.

A Christmas Carol - Howdy Doody - Part 3

The 1956 Howdy Doody version of "A Christmas Carol" only runs about three and a half minutes. So, what do they manage to fit in?

They actually get a lot in there!

Buffalo Bob narrates the proceedings in song and the other characters speak a few lines here and there.

Bob Cratchit wishes Scrooge "Merry Christmas," but Scrooge says, Bah, humbug" and tells Cratchit that he won't give him a raise.

Scrooge receives a ghostly visitor, who tells him he needs to change his ways and that three other ghosts will teach him. Interestingly, this first visitor is not identified as the ghost of Marley or anyone else.

This makes me think of that 1953 novelty song "Ebenezer Scrooge," which also has an unnamed party warning him.

This ghost has kind of a wacky voice that sounds like it could belong to a character from the show, but it's not billed on the record.

The first spirit is not identified as such, but it's the Ghost of Christmas Past. She shows Scrooge Christmases from the past. We get a little taste of Fezziwig's party, but the twist here is that the ghost says that Scrooge was invited, but didn't go!

This ghost has just that one line, but she has a pleasant sounding voice. This does not seem to be a Doodyville character.

The Ghost of Christmas Present is identified in the song, but he actually doesn't get any lines.

He shows Scrooge Bob Cratchit's family and we hear Tiny Tim say his famous line. Bob then tells us about Tiny Tim and how he can use a raise.

That's all just from the minute and change on Side 1!

Side 2 starts with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, who shows Scrooge his own tomb and sings a little. He also has kind of a "character" voice, but is not identified.

Is this maybe the only version of any sort that has the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come speak, but not the Ghost of Christmas Present?

In any event, Scrooge reforms and says he'll give his clerk a raise. Bob comes back to tell us that he got his raise and Tiny Tim got well.

The song explains that Scrooge has a happy life ahead and knew how to keep Christmas well.

So, a whirlwind trip through the story in only two sides of a little yellow record!

A Christmas Carol - Howdy Doody (1956) - Part 2

The 1956 Golden Record of Howdy Doody's adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" is a fascinating little thing.

The two sides together run less than three and a half minutes, which is the max for these records, but they squeeze a lot in there.

It's basically a song with some dialogue mixed in. The song itself doesn't have any particular Howdy Doody overtones, so it makes me think it was written before they decided to put Howdy and his friends in it.

The song was written by Mary Rodgers, with last name Beaty at the time, who was the daughter of Broadway luminary Richard Rodgers!

She's an interesting individual herself with credits running from composer of the Broadway show "Once Upon a Mattress" to author of the book "Freaky Friday."

The talent shows in this song, which is a snappy little condensation of the story. Kind of an overlooked gem.

Most of the heavy lifting is done by Buffalo Bob Smith, host of the "Howdy Doody" show and a pretty good singer.

From the Doodyville ranks we get Captain Windy Scuttlebutt as Scrooge. I would have thought that they would go with Phineas T. Bluster in the role, as he's their resident Scroogesque character, while Captain Scuttlebutt is relatively friendly.

I wonder if they just thought Captain Scuttlebutt's voice worked better, with which I'd agree. Or if we want to go meta, did Mr. Bluster refuse to do it, as his lack of Christmas spirit had previously been documented on the earlier "Howdy Doody's Christmas Party" record set?

In any event, the logical role for Howdy himself is Bob Cratchit, and indeed, that's his part here.

We also need a Tiny Tim, and Howdy's pal Dilly Dally has a fitting voice for the one line he gets.

Naturally I think it's awesome that they are billed on the record as performers playing parts!

Holding the whole thing together musically are the orchestra and chorus directed by Mitch Miller. He may have been a square, but he knew what he was doing and never phoned it in, no matter how big or small the project.

So, we have a lot of talent coming together to make a kiddie record that serves as a fun little blast from the past!