BBC Radio - "A Christmas Carol" (1965) - Ralph Richardson - Part 2

If you got a chance to listen to the BBC Radio adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" from December 25, 1965 starring Ralph Richardson, I'm sure you'll agree that it's a faithful, entertaining version of the story.

The feel is similar to the 1960 studio recording for Caedmon Records and not just because both feature Sir Ralph as Scrooge.

This radio broadcast is also extremely faithful to the book, with a lot of narration and most of the incidents from the book. The main difference is that Ralph Richardson is both the narrator and Scrooge, although the character of Scrooge is not narrating.

I can't dig up an awful lot of information on this show, but it was originally broadcast over the BBC on December 25, 1965. It must have had some sort of opening announcement, but the audio sources floating around just start with some music and go right into the narration.

This adaptation really doesn't add anything that was not included in the book, but it does have to omit a few things, despite the generous running time of about an hour. I'll just highlight a few interesting things.

The opening scenes feature just one gentleman collecting for charity and the description about the preparations for the Lord Mayor's Christmas dinner.

Marley's Ghost comes and goes pretty quickly, but we have the sequence of Scrooge waiting for the first spirit to appear.

In the Christmas Past sequence, we do have the scene where Fan comes to get young Ebenezer, which was not included on the 1960 album. We have Fezziwig's party and the breakup with Belle, but we don't see Belle happily married.

The Christmas Present sequence starts with a long description of all the shops and food and whatnot. It's fun to hear this, as it's usually skipped in most adaptations.

At Fred's house, it just seems to be Fed and his wife, although in the present, the narrator says the plump sister looked the same. That's a bit awkward, as we hadn't heard about the plump sister previously.

The Ghost of Christmas Present disappears suddenly without any mention of Ignorance and Want.

With the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, we get just two other businessmen and just the charwoman selling the bed curtains to Old Joe. We skip the Cratchit house and go straight tot he graveyard after hearing about Scrooge's unattended body.

The Christmas morning sequence is longer than usual with Scrooge jumping around and shaving and all that. He meets that charity collector and says out loud that he will donate 200 guineas. In the book he whispers the amount and we never know what the sum is, so that's a bit different.

The rest of the story is as expected and we're done with anther faithful audio adaptation with a lot of not-often-heard detail from the book!

Sir Ralph Richardson does a great job with the narration here and also provides another solid Scrooge.

I do wonder how that 1951 television version is. I don't think Ralph Richardson looks Scroogey on the whole. Someday I'll see it, though!

I'm not familiar with the rest of the cast of this 1965 radio broadcast, but a very interesting note is that Frederick Treves, who plays Bob Cratchit here, played Fred on that 1960 album. I think this counts as a promotion!

Who had the better autograph?

The name Frederick Treves is familiar as that of the eminent British doctor associated with John Merrick, known as "The Elephant Man." Dr. Treves was played by Anthony Hopkins in the famous 1980 movie.

End of sidetrack, back to Sir Ralph Richardson. Good job!

BBC Radio - "A Christmas Carol" (1965) - Ralph Richardson - Part 1

"A Christmas Carol" (1965)
BBC Radio
Scrooge: Ralph Richardson

We go from the 1960 Caedmon Records LP adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" starring Ralph Richardson as Scrooge to this 1965 BBC radio adaptation also starring Ralph Richardson as Scrooge!

Sir Ralph also serves as the narrator here, rather than Paul Scofield or another actor.

It makes an interesting comp to the earlier recording.

Give it a listen:

Caedmon Records - "A Christmas Carol" (1960) - Part 3

The 1960 adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" from Caedmon Records boasts a couple of British heavyweights to carry the project.

I understand that they were most noted for their stage work in England, but they both made their marks in movies that helped their recognition with American audiences.

Sir Ralph Richardson (he had been knighted way back in 1947) was in a lot of British movies in the 1930s. A couple of them, "Things to Come" (1936) and "The Four Feathers" (1939), both Alexander Korda productions, are still fairly well-known in America.

I presume his acclaimed work in the British film "The Fallen Idol" (1948) was what led to his high profile role in "The Heiress" (1949) for which he snagged a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

He played Scrooge on a 1951 television adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" on the TV series "Fireside Theater," but I don't know if that's available for viewing.

He also did a fair amount of radio work over the years, so by the time this production rolled around in 1960, he was ready to go!

He was 58 years old at the time, which seems like a pretty good age for Scrooge, but he uses an old man voice to sell the role. I think he does a great job.

Paul Scofield as a name is kind of like a word association thing to me. You say "Paul Scofield" and I say "A Man for All Seasons." In the U.S. at least, he's known for winning the Best Actor Oscar for that 1966 movie, but not much else. Still, the name alone adds retro class to the project.

Paul Scofield compares BAFTA awards with Dame Edith Evans!

I like his narration quite a bit. He does sound like he's telling the story to us rather than just reading it.

I don't recognize any of the other actors credited on the album, but they do a uniformly good job.

So, a solid album all the way around!

Caedmon Records - "A Christmas Carol" (1960) - Part 2

If you got the chance to listed to the 1960 LP version of "A Christmas Carol" from Caedmon Records featuring Ralph Richardson as Scrooge, I'm sure you'll agree that it's a well-done and faithful adaptation.

I've had this album in my collection for quite some time and have always enjoyed it. The generous running time of almost an hour allows it to fit in most of the incidents you would expect, so back in the pre-home video days it was probably the most complete version you could enjoy at your leisure.

Since this recording has a star narrator in Paul Scofield, we have quite a bit of the original text, not unlike the 1939 "Campbell Playhouse" radio broadcast with Orson Welles and Lionel Barrymore.

We even get the "standing in the spirit at your elbow" line!

The liner notes of the album say that Paul Scofield is playing Charles Dickens as the narrator, but we'll have to take their word for it, as there's nothing on the recording to indicate that's the case.

One thing that seems a little different about this version is that there's a fair amount of background noise under the narration at times. Sometimes it's Scrooge muttering or sneezing or other things going on. I makes the narration a little less dry, I think.

In any event, the record does include a lot of material from the book and it doesn't add anything extraneous. So, I'll just mention a few things I found interesting.

The beginning scenes have everything in them. One detail from the book seldom addressed is the fancy nature of Scrooge's fireplace, but it's well described here. And Scrooge is quite sneezy, which befits the book's mentioning that he had a cold in his head. This Scrooge has no problem sneezing, unlike his 1969 animated counterpart!

We get a lot of description about the phantoms that Marley's Ghost joins outside of Scrooge's window and their moaning is pretty creepy!

There are some wacky music and sound effects when the Ghost of Christmas Past shows up. I presume they're going for supernatural, but I get a kind of outer space vibe.

This spirit brings Scrooge back to his old school, but he doesn't show him the Christmas that his sister Fan came to bring him home. We get Fezziwig and Belle and Belle's husband, though. Belle's oldest daughter is around, but none of the noisy littler kids.

The Christmas Present sequence has just about everything we'd expect. Fred laughs quite a bit and Ignorance and Want cry and moan in a very unsettling manner!

In the future, the other businessmen are very flip about Scrooge's death and the other two gentlemen (the "old Scratch" guys) also get in there. No scene at Old Joe's, though, but Scrooge sees his forlorn body, then the spirit brings him to the Cratchit house before showing Scrooge his own grave.

Christmas morning ahs all the usual stuff as well and includes a very nice sequence of Scrooge walking though the street and exchanging pleasantries with everyone he meets. The whole Christmas morning segment is really cheerful!

Cut to the office and Bob getting his raise and we're done!

I do have to admit, though, that the choral music that ends the record goes on a bit long for my taste, but whatever.

What we do have is very faithful, well-acted adaptation that still holds up as good entertainment today!

Caedmon Records - "A Christmas Carol" (1960) - Part 1

"A Christmas Carol" (1960)
Caedmon Records
Director: Howard Sackler
Scrooge: Ralph Richardson

We're still in the 1960s, and with so many wacky uses of the Ebenezer Scrooge character in records and cartoons and such, it makes you wonder if anyone besides Mister Magoo was taking the character seriously!

The answer is a definite "yes" if this 1960 album featuring Sir Ralph Richardson as Scrooge is any indication.

It's a classy production from Caedmon Records, who were early entrants in the audio book field, although this is a dramatization and not just a reading. It does, however, have a distinguished narrator in Paul Scofield.

Give it a listen: