Since Rich Little's 1963 LP "Scrooge and the Stars" is actually a reasonably faithful adaptation of "A Christmas Carol," I feel it's my duty to review what plot points and incidents from the original book were included. And I'm not one to shirk my duty!
There are plenty of bits of comedic business thrown in, but there's actually a fair amount of dialogue straight out of the book and there really aren't any incidents that did not come from the book.
The two sides total about 25 minutes which really seems to be the norm for an audio adaptation, whether it was a half-hour radio show or an album of 78 rpm records. Since this one started as a 33 1/3 rpm LP, it could have been twice as long, but I suppose you don't want such a novelty to overstay its welcome.
The plot structure of this adaptation is pretty typical in that it hits upon most of the popular incidents.
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| Which is it? |
After the introduction, Scrooge is at his office where he counting his trading stamps. The narrator (Fred McMurray) says they're Gold Bond Stamps, but Scrooge later says they're Green Stamps, which are not the same.
Hmmm...
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| "Horace?" |
We have Scrooge and Bob Cratchit arguing about coal, then Scrooge's nephew drops in, followed by the charity gentleman. The Alfred Hitchcock one calls the Jimmy Durante one "Horace." I'm not sure if there's any significance to that name. I feel like I get most of the jokes on this recording, but I don't know if that's a joke.
Anyway, Scrooge goes home and sees Marley's face in the knocker. The bit with the caroler has been moved from Scrooge's office to his home. It's a funny bit, though, as the caroler is Bing Crosby and Scrooge says a couple of time that he'll never amount to anything as a singer!
Marley's Ghost comes in and his exchange with Scrooge gets in all the needed details, despite his being represented by John Wayne. It's interesting to think of Jack Benny and John Wayne being partners in anything!
The Ghost of Christmas Past and Scrooge briefly go back to where Scrooge was a boy. Curiously, the narrator says it's a open country road and Scrooge says he was born on that very spot. I don't know if that's a joke or just awkward scripting.
After that, they go to Fezziwig's warehouse, where Fezziwig has young Ebenezer and Dick Wilkins prepare for the party. Dick tells Ebenezer to get his fiddle, so he must be providing the music. A rare case of someone actually requesting Jack Benny to play!
We don't actually hear the party and at this point Scrooge brings up the caroler. That's usually done when they see Scrooge as a lonely boy, but that particular scene wasn't included here.
That ghost vanishes and Scrooge is sleeping when he's awakened by muffled voices in the next room. The Ghost of Christmas Present is JFK and he tells Peter, Bobby and Frankie to be quite. I presume that's Lawford, Kennedy and Sinatra, respectively.
They go to Bob Cratchit's house and we just hear muffled voices representing the Cratchit family, except for Tint Tim's one line, which sounds like Liberace, but, as mentioned, is not credited as one of the impersonations. The muffled voice which would probably be Bob's does not sound at all like "Rochester."
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| I need Perry Mason to solve this mystery! |
They also go to Fred's where he toasts Scrooge. In this scene, one of the guests is Raymond Burr and he grills Fred in a "Perry Mason" manner. I'd say the imitation is really Perry Mason. Anyway, it sounds like Burr/Mason calls Fred "Tom Paine" or something like that. I know Thomas Paine wrote the "Common Sense" pamphlet in Colonial times, but this reference is over my head, if that's indeed the reference. I'll have to think about this one some more!
After he's finished with the present, Scrooge meets the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, who talks in this version, which is rare but not unheard of. It's rarer still that he sounds like Ed Sullivan, but you can never have enough Ed Sullivan imitations!
The ghost and Scrooge hear the businessmen discussing Scrooge's death and then they see his gravestone. Scrooge begs for mercy and winds up back in his own bed.
Scrooge calls out the window to "Chester" and sends him to buy the turkey, which Scrooge says he'll send it to Bob Cratchit. He then starts counting his trading stamps again!
The narrator tells us that Scrooge goes to church, makes a large donation to the poor and goes to Fred's for dinner.
Then we have Scrooge beating Bob to the office the next morning and raising his salary.
The narrator comes back for the wrap-up and Tiny Tim reappears for his line, which the narrator acknowledges.
At this point, I say, "Aha! That's exactly how the Lionel Barrymore record ends!" In fact, the last part about going to church, etc. seem inspired by that as well. I think for a second that the whole thing might have used that 1947 MGM studio recording as a template, but except for the end, it really doesn't.
On the whole, we actually have a faithful adaptation with a lot of little embellishments to show off the impersonations and add humor.
I think the whole thing is fun and since it's audio only, you can get lost it and think you're really hearing all those celebrities.
Rich Little returned to this idea off and on and wound up taping an HBO special in which he also visually impersonates the celebrities. We'll take a look at that later.
