My Retro Pitch to Rankin/Bass!

As I drift off to sleep at night, visions of Scrooge do sometimes dance in my head!

Among those visions are thoughts of Rankin/Bass specials and "Humbug" magazine artists and such.

So, I was thinking how Rankin/Bass maybe should have approached their version of "The Stingiest Man in Town."

This would have had to have happened about ten years before the actual special premiered in 1978, but it could have happened.

The linchpin for all of this is the 1967 animated film "Mad Monster Party?" from the Rankin/Bass studio.

The script for that crazy little masterpiece was co-written by Harvey Kurtzman and the character designs were by Jack Davis. So those two MAD and "Humbug" alumni already had a working relationship with R/B.

So, keep the band together and have Kurtzman and Davis come up with an adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" and do it in Animagic. Even throw in the songs from "The Stingiest Man in Town."

Throw a night cap on him and BOOM!

But who to voice Scrooge? Why not Boris Karloff, the star of "Mad Monster Party?" He'd be perfect! He had, of course, previously voiced the Grinch in 1966's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," so with that and "Mad Monster Party?" he was not adverse to voicework.

And Dr. Jekyll could totally play Fred!

It's all there!

When time travel is invented, I'm going back to 1967 to pitch this idea to Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass!