Our selections for the "A Christmas Carol" All-Star team continues with the Christmas Yet to Come sequence.
An important element of that scene are the random businessmen discussing the recent death of Scrooge (although Scrooge is oblivious that he's the subject of the talk).
There are two conversations in the book. First are four businessmen who talk about it likely being a cheap funeral and all.
Then there's the two big-shot guys who have the "Old Scratch" exchange.
Just about every adaptation has some version of these conversations, often combined into one.
In order to represent one of my favorite adaptations, we go with the "Men in Street" from Ronald Colman's famous Decca recording of 1941!
The men are played here by accomplished radio actors Fred MacKaye and Gale Gordon, who also double as Fred and the "3rd Ghost," respectively.
Fred MacKaye did a lot of radio work as an actor and also wound up as director of "The Lux Radio Theatre," a hugely popular show back in the day.
There was another actor named Fred MacKaye who made some movies but passed away in 1944, whereas "our" Fred was around until 1988. But, boy, does it get confusing while researching!
Gale Gordon is much better remembered today (or at least in my little world).
He was well-known for his portrayals of Mayor LaTrivia on the "Fibber McGee and Molly" radio show and Mr. Conklin on the "Our Miss Brooks" radio and TV shows. His biggest claim to fame was for (barely) enduring the antics of Lucille Ball on "The Lucy Show" and "Here's Lucy" TV series in the 1960s and 1970s.
So, these guys make the team!
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