"Scrooge's Rock 'n' Roll Christmas" (1984) - Part 1

"Scrooge's Rock n' Roll Christmas" (1984)
Director: Lou Tedesco
Scrooge: Jack Elam

So, this made-for-TV or straight-to-video or whatever Christmas special is pretty rough!

The set-up is that Scrooge is working in his office when a "girl" comes in, mistaking the office for a record store.

Seeing that Scrooge doesn't like Christmas, she attempts to change his mind by showing him "rock and roll" artists performing Christmas songs in a magic snow globe.

That's about it!

The odd thing is that the roster of artists have nothing at all to do with the current state of popular music in 1984 (or 1983, which is the copyright date).

They're name artists, but they were at their peak in the 1960s and/or 1970s.

The list:

The Association

Bobby Goldsboro

Mike Love (of the Beach Boys)

Mary McGregor

Paul Revere & the Raiders

Merrilee Rush

Three Dog Night

Dean Torrence (of Jan & Dean)

All of these artists were successful and I'm familiar with their work, but they were all past their primes by the 1980s.

Their relative merits and relationship to rock and roll are discussions for another time!

There's also a newcomer named Bridget, but I don't know who she is.

Anyway, it's all very strange. The musical acts are very disconnected from the "story," but Mike Love does show up in "real time" at Scrooge's office, also mistaking it for a record store!

Otherwise, I wouldn't be shocked if the other performers had no idea that their little holiday videos were going to be used for this particular special. I wonder if they were part of some "oldies" package tour and that's why they were all together (sort of). It would have been a fun concert to see them perform their hits of 10-20 years before!

As far as the story, apparently it is Ebenezer Scrooge in the office, as he namedrops Bob Cratchit as his employee and says, "God bless us, everyone" at the end.

But it's unclear what the time and location are. The girl is very American, but when she mentions Paul Revere, Scrooge says something about him being "from the colonies," implying that they're not in America, but probably England.

Everything seems to take place in the present, but there's no explanation as to why Scrooge is in the present.

I realize this is way more analysis than this needs and it's probably futile to try and make any sense of it!

Jack Elam was an excellent performer, alternating between villainous and comic roles over a long career, and he's not bad here, but he's given nothing to work with. He would have been really good in a comic version of "A Christmas Carol."

"The Girl" is played by Lee Benton, with whom I'm not familiar. Her biggest acting role seems to have been as a regular on "The New Mike Hammer" TV series with Stacy Keach. I used to watch that show sometimes, but it was a long time ago and I don't remember her "Jenny" character.

The material of this special is weak, so it's hard to judge Lee's acting skills, but she tries to sell it, although I think she appears a bit mature for the role. 

In an event, this is a strange artifact and if you don't have OSD, steer clear!