"Rich Little's Christmas Carol" (1978) - Part 2

Let's take a look at the "cast" of "Rich Little's Christmas Carol," the HBO TV special produced in 1978.

I was around then and very aware of the pop culture at the time, so I do feel qualified to rate Rich's choices and the impressions thereof.

One thing that strikes me as compared to his "Scrooge and the Stars" LP from 1963 is that the LP featured celebrities who were largely relevant at that time, or at least still living (including JFK).

The TV special, however, features a number of deceased celebrities, including some who were probably gone before Rich Little started his professional career.

Some of the other impressions are very much of their time.

We start with Scrooge himself, whom Rich plays as W.C. Fields. This is an interesting choice, as Fields had passed away in 1946, when Rich Little was only eight years old.

W.C. Fields was always a popular target for impressionists, however, and his cantankerous persona seems pretty Scrooge-like. The best remembered trait from his comedic persona (and real life?) was his fondness for adult beverages and that is exploited heavily here.

I had a couple of those erasers!

I remember W.C. Fields having a resurgence in the 1970s, when he was viewed as a counter-culture figure. They also used to have a "W.C. Fritos" character selling that snack product in animated TV commercials and the big-budget film "W.C. Fields and Me" (1976) starring Rod Steiger.

So, my basic point (if I have one) is that W.C. Fields as Scrooge in 1978 is not as anachronistic as it might seem at first glance.

This casting also brings up an interesting question: How would the real W.C. Fields have been as Scrooge in a big-screen adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" in the 1930s?

I think that would have merited some consideration.

Fields had memorably played Mr. Micawber in MGM's famous adaptation of "David Copperfield" from 1935, so he had shown that he could fit in the Dickens world and demonstrated that he had acting chops beyond his comedy roles - though he was a great comic actor.

What if MGM had enlisted Fields for their 1938 version of "A Christmas Carol" when Lionel Barrymore was unable to play Scrooge? That would have given it some zip! I've read that MGM had considered Fields for the title role in "The Wizard of OZ" (1939), so he was on their radar.

Back to reality: Rich Little does a solid W.C. Fields and the makeup does make him look the part.

Next, the rest of the "cast"...