Bonus Bret Morrison!

I had mentioned that Bret Morrison, he of "Dickens' The Christmas Carol" for Cricket Records, portrayed The Shadow on that radio series.

Bret Morrison as The Shadow with Grace Matthews as Margo Lane.

He actually played Lamont Cranston/The Shadow longer than any other actor. He's the definitive Shadow to me, as I heard him more when I started listening to old-time radio back in the day based on the episodes that were available to me. 

Our friend Orson Welles had played The Shadow early in his radio career and it's a blast to hear him, but it's hard to separate the Orson Welles-ness when listening with modern ears. Plus, he was soon busy with some other projects I may have mentioned a time or two!

Bret Morrison just is The Shadow!

Naturally a show with such a long run as "The Shadow" enjoyed had some Christmas episodes along the way. 

So, in keeping with our year-round holiday spirit, here's Bret Morrison starring in "A Gift of Murder" originally  broadcast on December 21, 1947:

That's Christmas, The Shadow style!

"Dickens' The Christmas Carol" - Bret Morrison (1953) - Part 2

Some words about Bret Morrison's "The Christmas Carol," recorded in 1953 for Cricket Records...

I really like these old kiddie records if they're well done and I think this one is. Bret Morrison has a great voice and has the right level of enthusiasm yet authority that would make a kid listen!

Despite the label claiming there's a "full cast" involved, I think Bret's doing all the voices. This puts me in mind of Ireene Wicker's recording from 1949, which I discussed here.

Bret gets about twice as long to tell the story as Ireene did and manages to get a lot in there, getting the main points across.

(You do need to hear the scratchy old 78 to get the full story, as the later LP compilations have an edited version that makes some questionable cuts at the end, although the sound is much better.)

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come speaks on this record and this plus what he says about newer buildings make me think of the 1941 Ronald Colman recording. But I think about that one a lot!

This spirit says that the people talking about Scrooge refer to him as "Old Scratch," but we resolved that issue here - I think!

All in all, something fun to keep those kids entertained in those pre-video dark ages!

"Dickens' The Christmas Carol" - Bret Morrison (1953) - Part 1

"Dickens' The Christmas Carol" (1953)
Scrooge: Bret Morrison
Cricket Records

We stay in the audio world for this record with an old-time radio connection: "The Shadow" star Bret Morrison performing "The(?) Christmas Carol" for Cricket Records!

It won't even cost you seven minutes, so give it a listen:

Pretty fun!