A Christmas Carol - Claude Rains (1954) - Part 3

Let's take a look at the talent behind the Mercury Records version of "A Christmas Carol" by Claude Rains from 1954.

Claude Rains himself always gave a good performance. I've seen him in a ton of movies and he always adds a lot. He's probably best-known these days for his role in "Casablanca." I think he steals that movie and that's a lot to say with the talent involved. "Round up the usual suspects!"

My favorite movie of his is probably "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" from 1941, where he plays a high ranking official in Heaven. A neat contrast to this is "Angel on My Shoulder" from 1946, in which he plays the Devil himself! There's the two extremes of Scrooge right there!

The adaptation of the story for the record is very creative and the music and choral background are excellent. A look at the label explains why.

Awesome logo!

The adaptation is shown as by Hugo Perreti and Luigi Creatore, cousins who formed a highly creative production team from the 50s through the 70s known as "Hugo & Luigi."

Rockabilly Party? I'm in!

They released some singles under their own name, for their label Roulette Records then later RCA Victor, but they mainly kept busy producing other artists. And quite successfully!

As this is not the most famous version of the story ever, there's not an awful lot of information available about this record, but I do find some inconsistencies with the date it was recorded and issued. I've seen it listed as early as 1946 and as late as 1960. But  checking with a Mercury Records discography, 1954 is the correct year. This also matches up with the time period that Hugo & Luigi were at Mercury.

By 1960, they were at RCA Victor, working with Sam Cooke on such hits as "Chain Gang!"

I'm so glad little gems like this version of "A Christmas Carol" are out there and I'm often impressed with the talent and creativity that went into making "kiddie records" back in the day!