Intriguing!

This sort of thing always intrigues me:

More info at Neil Gaiman's website: 

FOR TWO NIGHTS ONLY: A CHRISTMAS CAROL

And a link to the audio of an earlier reading by Mr. Gaiman here: 

Neil Gaiman Bringing Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" to NYC Town Hall

I'd like to see a recreation of a Dickens public reading someday!

Something Else to Learn!

 Is this where Charles Dickens got the idea for Marley's ghost to be fettered?

Read more about it here:

Tales of Times Forgotten

Interesting!

The Twain Shall Meet!

Mark Twain in the late 1860s

I had mentioned last time that there was an interesting little nugget in the Study Breaks article about Ebenezer Scrooge.

Said nugget being:

Interestingly, even though the novella was extremely popular among readers, it is said that Mark Twain was not a fan.

That doesn't really have anything to do with the rest of the article and we aren't told how "it is said," but it made me wonder if it's on the record somewhere that Mark Twain was critical of "A Christmas Carol."

Some virtual searching for "Mark Twain" and "A Christmas Carol" does bring up mentions of the former Samuel L. Clemens not liking "A Christmas Carol," some saying he thought it was "glittering frostwork," but without any references.

Eventually, however, I came across this:

Mark Twain Reviews Charles Dickens

Short version is that a not-yet-famous Mark Twain wrote a newspaper review of a Charles Dickens public reading in January 1968 and was not impressed by of Dickens as a reader. In fact, he's extremely critical.

But Twain only mentions Dickens reading "David Copperfield" and if I'm understanding correctly, he thought the reading was glittering frostwork, the actual text is good, with pathos and rich humor. 

I think Twain is saying that it's ironic that Dickens as a reader doesn't do justice to Dickens as an author!

So, as far as I can tell, we don't know whether Mark Twain ever publicly revealed his thoughts on "A Christmas Carol."

Still, it's fun to see a future literary legend throw shade at a current legend via newspaper - the social media of the day!

Faithful?

Speaking of "The Muppet Christmas Carol," cartoonist R.E. Parrish offers this humorous panel:

Could be!

That "Other" Dickens Musical!

So, "Oliver!" the 1968 film version of the musical adaptation of "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens popped up on TCM as part of the 31 Days of Oscar, which is only natural, as it racked up six of those statuettes including Best Picture.

I know I saw "Oliver!" when I was a kid and didn't really care for it (I think I resented it as supposedly being good for me from a cultural standpoint - I was more excited to see "The Love Bug") and I don't think I've seen it since, so I thought why not watch it as I'll probably enjoy it.

But, you know, I didn't think it was that great. Not bad, but not brilliant.

I think my main beef was that I didn't like the songs all that much (sorry, Lionel Bart!) and I felt like the story kept grinding to a halt for a production number that had nothing to do with said story. For example, why were The Artful Dodger and Nancy singing "I'd Do Anything" at the hideout?

Perhaps it's obvious where I'm going with this, but I do think the songs in 1970's "Scrooge" fit better and don't slow down the proceedings.

I realize that "Oliver Twist" is a much longer book than "A Christmas Carol" and it needs to be pared down, but I felt like "Oliver!" just basically took the adaptation from David Lean's 1948 film version and shoehorned the songs in. And it can't compare to that classic!

On the plus side, I thought the performances were good with Ron Moody and Jack Wild standing out and deserving of their Oscar nominations, although they kind of come off as wacky comedy relief!

Of course, I associate Jack Wild with "H.R. Pufnstuf," a bizarre Saturday morning show from my distant youth!

Interestingly, "Oliver!" gets a rating of 7.4 on the IMDb whereas "Scrooge" gets 7.5. Hmmm...

Or Was It This Brand?

Controversy over which brand C. Dickens preferred:

Or did he like them all?

First Edition!

For the 100th "Random" post, here's an interesting little video of actor Simon Callow at the Charles Dickens museum with a first edition of "A Christmas Carol":

Pretty cool, but it makes me nervous that he's not wearing gloves!

Endorsement!

We just saw the "A Christmas Carol"-themed tin from J & B Scotch and apparently the author of that story was a fan of the product:

I guess that's one celebrity whom you don't have to pay for the endorsement!

Next Stop!

 From Cincinnati in 1938, I'd go back to San Antonio in 1936:

I wonder what San Antonio was like in 1936 - that was the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo!

Silhouettes!

 This edition from Alma Classics has an interesting cover:

Those particular silhouettes wouldn't be in the same frame at the same time, but whatever!

Special Edition!

This particular edition not only has a fun cover, but it's formatted to be read more easily by those with dyslexia:

Pretty neat!

How Sweet It Is!

This one from Sweet Cherry Publishing has very intriguing artwork:

More info at the Sweet Cherry website.

The artwork reminds me of something. Ren & Stimpy, maybe?

How about Haggis MacHaggis?

Fun fact: Haggis was voiced by Alan Young, sounding very much like Scrooge McDuck!

Puzzling!

This is intriguing...

It's an edition of "A Christmas Carol" using emoji to make kind of a rebus.

Here's a sample page:

Fun!

More info at the Vaikon website.

More Stamps!

Another self-governing British dependency, in this case Jersey, issued its own set of Dickens stamps in 2020, this time including a number of his most popular works:

These look pretty modern!

Marley's Ghost most reminds me of Jason Alexander's character from the 2004 musical TV movie!

Stamps!

Here's a recent set of stamps issued by Isle of Man in November 2020 to commemorate the 150 anniversary of the death of Charles Dickens: 

Can't go wrong with the original John Leech illustrations!

Japanese!

This Japanese edition published in 1999 by Shinchosha has an interesting cover:

That 's a mischievous Ghost of Christmas Past leading Scrooge. I guess the toys represent Scrooge's childhood?

I'm sure some foreign language editions use illustration from other editions, but I haven't seen this cover art elsewhere.

More Italian!

This Italian edition also has an interesting cover:

Oh, and I think I'd go with Julius LaRosa. Less shtick!

Smoking Bishop!

Here's one of innumerable cheap (I think one shilling was cheap!) editions of "A Christmas Carol" from the 1800s:

I'm presuming it's a knock-off, but it's pretty brazen, even using one of John Leech's illustrations on the cover!

One thing I always thought was interesting about that particular image is that the scene depicted is not actually in the book.

Scrooge tells Bob that they'll discuss his affairs over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, which is what they seem to be doing here, but it hadn't happened yet in the book.

And I've always wondered what Scrooge is supposed to be wearing here!

Another Edition!

There are so many editions of "A Christmas Carol" out there that you see the occasional one with an eye-catching cover such as this one:

I believe it was published by Arcturus in 2016 and maybe features Arthur Rackham illustrations inside?

It's hard to keep these things straight!

International!

Keeping it random, here's an Indonesian edition of "A Christmas Carol":

I'm always a fan of old school ghost representations!

Here's what I get for a translation of the tagline at the bottom of the cover:

 "nothing for regret can make up for one chance of a wasted life"

I get it!