Let's look at a couple of contemporary clippings that give an idea of the reaction to Phil Moore's 1953 coupling of "Chinchy Old Scrooge" and "The Blink Before Christmas" for RCA Victor Records.
The first is a review from "Billboard" of December 12, 1953:
Next is from "Jet" of December 24, 1953:
What I find most interesting is that these both imply that "Chinchy Old Scrooge" is a bop retelling of "A Christmas Carol," which it really isn't. It just uses the Scrooge name as shorthand for somebody stingy, oops! I mean chinchy!
There's no ghostly intervention or anything, although Scrooge does reform. Not that it was meant to be an adaptation and failed in achieving that goal.
The novelty song "Ebenezer Scrooge" also from 1953 (and discussed here) does actually tell the story of "A Christmas Carol" if ever so briefly.
Listening to "Ebenezer Scrooge" and "Chinchy Old Scrooge" back-to-back shows the wide span of releases from major labels in 1953!
I think the "Billboard" review is otherwise spot-on. I think it's meant as a novelty for hipsters, as it's not actually a song.
The mention of Al "Jazzbo" Collins and Steve Allen is in refence to the then-current vogue of spoken-word novelties kicked off with this recording from earlier in 1953:
The picture sleeve and other promotional material show that this was definitely marketed as a collaboration between Allen and Collins, although they started making their own records in the same vein very quickly.
I'm presuming that Phil Moore's record was an attempt by RCA Victor to jump on the bandwagon.
The piece from "Jet" is interesting as well, with the thinking that Moore's record was harmful to children. Imagine what those squares would have thought if they knew what kids listen to these days!
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