Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (Collector's Edition) (2010)

While we're on the subject of "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol," the great animated TV special from 1962, I thought I'd mention that there's one video edition that's a must!

It's the Blu-Ray/DVD combo from 2010 billed as the "Collector's Edition."
Not only does it have a great looking transfer of the special, but it has some fun "making of" bonus features and an audio commentary.

Plus there's a little booklet, which is a basically a very condensed version of Darrell Van Citters's book "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol, The Making of the First Animated Christmas Special."

Throw in a little print of Scrooge and Tiny Tim with a Jim Backus signature and you've got a neat little package!

I don't think it's still in print, but if you find a copy at a good price - grab it!

"Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol" Theatrical Posters

I think we ran through the lobby cards for all of the "talkie" theatrical movie adaptations of "A Christmas Carol," but there is one more that did get a theatrical release at one point: "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol!"

We all know that this beloved 1962 classic was the first made-for-TV Christmas special, but it did receive a theatrical relase in 1970, as part of "Mr. Magoo's Holiday Festival," which paired it with "Mr. Magoo's Little Snow White" to make it a feature-length program.

The "Snow White" segment was edited from a 1965 two-part episode of "The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo," the TV series that hoped to capitalize on the artistic and commercial success of "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol." 

(Note" I always spell out the "Mister" as far as his "Christmas Carol" goes, as that's how it appears on screen, but you do see it as "Mr." a lot.)

So, anyway, here's the color version of the poster below (with a two tone at the top of the page):

Speaking of the "Famous Adventures" series, we used to see episodes in school sometimes, as they counted as literature.

I loved the opening and still do!

Let's see it:

The snappy theme music always reminded me of "Java" by the great Al Hirt. Hey, let's listen to that too:

Fun!

Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962) (Part 2)

So, the credits of "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol" include a disclaimer that it's "freely adapted from Dickens' "A Christmas Carol.'"

This would seem to imply that it's not a particular faithful adaptation. But is it?

Well, yes and no. Being a cartoon that's not trying not to be a cartoon, it's surprisingly sensitive toward the original material and has some pretty dramatic moments. But, there are always a few omissions and additions in  various versions. I'm presuming most of the omissions were for time constraints, as they needed to keep the special within the one hour time slot (with commercials) and still have the big musical numbers.

So, what do we have (or don't have) here...

The most notable omission comes right off the bat. There's no nephew. That's big. Almost every version includes the nephew, as the contrast between his Christmas cheer and Scrooge's lack thereof has a lot to do with establishing Scrooge's character.

What's interesting is that in the Magooverse, Mister Magoo actually does have a nephew - Waldo! He appears with him in many of his cartoons, starting with the first, "Ragtime Bear" (1949). Did Waldo audition for this show and was so bad that the producers dropped the nephew angle entirely? What did Waldo think when they told him they were going in a different direction?

We do have a lot of Scrooginess, though, from the song "Ringle, Ringle," in which Scrooge's love of money is contrasted with Bob Cratchit's lack of coal!

Scrooge also has the usual interplay with the two gentlemen attempting to collect for charity. In a nod to the book, only one of them speaks. Most adaptations have them both speak.

Another thing right out of the book that we don't frequently see is Scrooge seeing Marley's ghost's face in his fireplace in addition to his knocker. Marley is pretty creepy in a cartoon way. Although judging by his portrait, he was no bargain while alive either!

Another big change is more of a reshuffling: The Ghost of Christmas Present is the first to appear! It probably doesn't ultimately really matter that much, but it's interesting.

Since there's no nephew, we only see the Cratchits' Christmas dinner. But, with the extra time, we get a big production number, "The Lord's Bright Blessing" to show how happy they are. And they are! Tiny Tim would really like some razzleberry dressing, though!

I've heard that the reason for the present to be first is so that particular sequence would end about half-way through the special, sort of like the first act. That does make sense and we do see the audience watching the curtain open and close.

The Ghost of Christmas Past makes its arrival as the curtains open. We get a couple of scenes here and they're good. First is the lonely young Ebenezer at school. He sings a song ("Alone in the World") and when old Scrooge starts singing with him, it's powerful. It's not just a cartoon, it's real emotion. I don't think I've ever seen this done better in any form.

Fezziwig's ball lightens the mood and we do get Dick Wilkins as Ebenezer's fellow apprentice. A change from the novel that is extremely common is that Belle is also at Fezziwig's ball.

We know that things with Belle are due to go south, and they do. Belle's sings "Winter Was Warm" and that's another powerful moment. That particular song has a very haunting melody and it's used throughout the score.

Next is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come appears. I really like the way this ghost is presented. Since it is a cartoon, it doesn't just seem like a guy in a cloak and it's actually fairly expressive.

We see Scrooge's (former) business acquaintances discussing his death in the usual offhand manner. Then we get the one sequence in the whole thing that I don't like: the selling of his personal items in Old Joe's shop.

I don't like the way the characters are drawn and I don't like the voices! I know it's supposed to be comedic, but it's too cartoony in a cartoon that's otherwise not that cartoony, you know? Their production number seems to last longer than any other in the special as well. I do admit that the title of the song they sing, "The Plunderer's March" is awesome, however. OK, enough about this scene!

Tiny Tim's death is dealt with in a sensitive manner. This show really has some emotional depth!

So, Scrooge wakes up and it's Christmas morning. Since he's a new man and the mood is so cheerful now, we get some business related to Mister Magoo's nearsightedness. Good fun and not overdone.

Scrooge does get it together long enough to buy the big turkey (and this one is big) and have it delivered to Bob Cratchit's house anonymously. He also meets the charity guys and gives them a big bag of coins.

But since he doesn't have a nephew, he needs another Christmas dinner to crash and so goes over to Bob's house pretending to be mad, but raises Bob's salary and joins in the fun, all to a reprise of "The Lord's Bright Blessing."

Most important of all, Tiny Tim finally gets his razzleberry dressing!

So, freely adapted or not, it does a great job all around!

Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962) (Part 1)

Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962)
Director: Abe Levitow
Scrooge: Quincy Magoo

So, now we've looked at two movie adaptations and an audio recording. Let's switch gears and check out a cartoon...

Not just any cartoon, but "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol," a highly regarded version of the story.

So, is it deserving of it's lofty status? Of course it is!

This was apparently the first made-for-TV animated Christmas special, predating "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" by a couple of years. (Hmmm... Those three would make an awesome mini-marathon. I'm totally doing that!)

The special is presented as a Broadway musical and it has some terrific original songs by the well-established Bob Merrill and Jule Styne, who also teamed up for the actual hit Broadway musical "Funny Girl" a couple of years later.

Side note: I've heard the urban legend that the song "People" was written for Mister Magoo, but it was rejected and wound up in "Funny Girl." Or that that he producers wated "People" for Magoo, but Merrill and Styne were saving it!

It's certainly a novelty to have an established cartoon star such as UPA's Mister Magoo appear in a largely serious role, but "he" is actually very well-cast in the role. Hey, Mister Magoo's a two-time Oscar winner, so he's got some cred!

The voice acting of Jim Backus as Magoo as Scrooge is top-notch. You really feel like you're watching Scrooge, not just Mister Magoo playing Scrooge. Not the easiest trick to pull off.

I like to think that in the Magooverse, his series of theatrical and TV cartoons show Quincy Magoo in his everyday life. In this special, we see that same Magoo as an actor on Broadway, which explains the wacky mayhem he causes in the bookends of the special. "The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo" series which followed this special is Magoo acting in a "filmed" TV show rather than a "live" play. We even see him in his dressing room introducing the stories. Makes sense?

A lot has been said over the years that Tiny Tim looks like Gerald McBoing-Boing (star of the groundbreaking 1950 Oscar winning UPA cartoon of the same title), but if it is Gerald, why does he talk? We all know "he doesn't speak words, he goes Boing! Boing! instead." My theory is that in that same Magooverse, the same actor who plays Tiny Tim in the Broadway show plays Gerald McBoing-Boing in the cartoons (which would be live-action to them). So, this actor can talk just fine. Kind of meta, but it works for me!

Besides Jim Backus, we have a lot of other talent voicing the characters.

I remember Jack Cassidy, who plays Bob Cratchit here, as one of those famous-for-being-famous celebrities that seemed so prevalent in the 70s, but I did know that he had a musical background, and not just because he was married to Shirley Jones and was the father of David and Shaun Cassidy! He does a great job here! I would not have known it was him.

We also have prolific voice artist Paul Frees in a bunch of roles. He's versatile, but I can always tell it's him. His best work to me was his Peter Lorre imitation on the old record of "My Old Flame"(1947) by Spike Jones.

The part of Belle is played by Jane Kean, who does a great job with her song "Winter Was Warm" in the Christmas Past sequence. A couple of years after this, she started appearing as "Trixie" in the musical episodes of "The Honeymooners." Jane had a sister, Betty, who was also a performer. Interestingly, Betty Kean had been married to Jim Backus about 20 years prior to this special. Awkward!

We get the great pipes of veteran radio actor Les Tremayne as the Ghost of Christmas Present. I remember him from the Saturday morning show "Shazam!" back in the day.

You can catch Morey Amsterdam (of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" fame) as one or two of the other businessmen in the Christmas Future sequence, but you have to listen for him.

The opening titles say that this was "freely adapted" from the Dickens work. Next up we'll talk about how free it is!