My Retro Pitch to Rankin/Bass!

As I drift off to sleep at night, visions of Scrooge do sometimes dance in my head!

Among those visions are thoughts of Rankin/Bass specials and "Humbug" magazine artists and such.

So, I was thinking how Rankin/Bass maybe should have approached their version of "The Stingiest Man in Town."

This would have had to have happened about ten years before the actual special premiered in 1978, but it could have happened.

The linchpin for all of this is the 1967 animated film "Mad Monster Party?" from the Rankin/Bass studio.

The script for that crazy little masterpiece was co-written by Harvey Kurtzman and the character designs were by Jack Davis. So those two MAD and "Humbug" alumni already had a working relationship with R/B.

So, keep the band together and have Kurtzman and Davis come up with an adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" and do it in Animagic. Even throw in the songs from "The Stingiest Man in Town."

Throw a night cap on him and BOOM!

But who to voice Scrooge? Why not Boris Karloff, the star of "Mad Monster Party?" He'd be perfect! He had, of course, previously voiced the Grinch in 1966's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," so with that and "Mad Monster Party?" he was not adverse to voicework.

And Dr. Jekyll could totally play Fred!

It's all there!

When time travel is invented, I'm going back to 1967 to pitch this idea to Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass!

Humbug #6 - "A Christmas Carol" (1957) - Part 2

The little adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" from the issue of Harvey Kurtzman's "Humbug" magazine dated January 1958 is another interesting period piece.

The magazine "Humbug" was started by Kurtzman after he had left MAD magazine, where he had been the brains of the operation. "Humbug" to me has the feel of the old MAD issues from when it was still a comic book before switching to the more familiar magazine format. Of course, MAD went on for decades whereas "Humbug" only lasted for eleven issues. Various factors played into all this and one can read a lot about these things on the 'net.

In any event, we have a witty little condensation of "A Christmas Carol" here, with lots of little things happening on each page. The art by Arnold Roth is very detailed!

I do think it's fun how they keep the "staves" format of the original book and actually do cram a number of the story elements in there.

The most curious thing to me is that Scrooge's first name is spelled "Ebenizer." I somehow think this is something that's over my head. I do wonder, as I pride myself on being able to pick upon jokes from 50, 60 or 70 years ago!

One thing not to sleep on is the cover of the magazine, as drawn by the inimitable Jack Davis. His work is as awesome as it is distinctive.

So, an interesting little thing that helps show how "A Christmas Carol" had been adapted into just about every medium possible by the mid-50s!

Humbug #6 - "A Christmas Carol" (1957) - Part 1

Humbug #6 - "A Christmas Carol" (1957)
Writer: Harvey Kurtzman?
Illustrator: Arnold Roth

We stay in the graphic realm, but go back a few decades to a non-kid's adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" from the pages of "Humbug" magazine.

It was probably inevitable when ex-MAD magazine editor Harvey Kurtzman named his new satirical magazine "Humbug" that it would include a take-off of "A Christmas Carol" in one of its issues.

And, indeed, issue number six, with a cover date of January 1958 (but we know that means it was on newsstands in December 1957) was a Christmas issue and contained such a feature.

It's just six pages, so take a look:

Next we'll take a closer look at those pages...