Having beaten the "Mystery Broadcast" of "A Christmas Carol" into the ground, I thought it appropriate to talk about what we know of the real BBC broadcast of December 24, 1931.
Here's the listing from the December 188, 1931 issue of "Radio Times":
So, what we know is that there was a "Christmas Eve" show that ran for about an hour and part of said show was an adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" titled "Scrooge" with Malcolm Keen in the Scrooge part.
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| This is exactly how I want my early 1930s British actors to look! |
Things get extremely intriguing with Malcolm Keen, as he was apparently featured in two early TV adaptations of "A Christmas Carol" as well!
The first was an episode of "Fireside Theatre" from December 25, 1951 in which Mr. Keen portrayed Marley's Ghost opposite Ralph Richardson as Scrooge!
The next year on December 24, 1952 Keen played the part of Scrooge himself on an episode of the "Kraft Theatre" series!
I don't know if either of those TV versions are still out there, but I'd love to see them!
Back to the 1931 broadcast, it's interesting that the adaptation itself is called "Scrooge," which seem so British, as the 1935 Sir Seymour Hicks, the 1951 Alastair Sim and the 1970 Albert Finney movies were all named "Scrooge."
Of further note, the narrator on the Mystery Broadcast does not refer to that adaptation as "Scrooge" per se, so that's another strike!
On the other hand, the 1931 broadcast and the Mystery Broadcast both have a character named Alice. Hmmm...
I think we need that time machine to ever have a chance to hear the 1931 broadcast!
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