A Christmas Carol (1942) - Basil Rathbone - Part 3

The 1942 Columbia Records album of "A Christmas Carol" starring Basil Rathbone consists of six 12-inch 78 rpm records. Each side could hold about four minutes of material, so the whole thing clocks in at just under 24 minutes.

That's the typical length of a lot of audio versions of the story, whether it's a record set or a half-hour radio show. It's what each of those versions does with those twenty-odd minutes that keeps things interesting!

As I had mentioned last time, this starts off with an introduction from popular radio announcer Harlow Wilcox. Once he sets the scene and introduces us to Scrooge, Bob Cratchit (Cratchet) and Fred, we don't hear from him again.

Fred enters the office and says "Betsy" wants Scrooge to come for Christmas, but of course, Scrooge isn't one for such invitations. Scrooge does address him as "Fred" and "Nephew."

In the book, we only learn that the nephew's name is Fred when his wife calls him that in the Christmas Present sequence, but here there's no doubt right from the beginning!

Only one portly gentleman comes in to collect for charity, but he gets the same welcome as usual.

These interactions are brief, but they get the point across just fine.

Then Scrooge and Bob discuss whether Bob should have the next day off. Interestingly, Scrooge tells Bob to come in at 4:00 on Christmas Day!

Scrooge then leaves the office and basically starts narrating the story at this point. He's describing things as they're happening, not as if they had already happened, as was the case with Ronald Colman's Scrooge on his album.

He says he's going to have dinner at what sounds like the "White Harp," which must be his usual melancholy tavern.

For his melancholy dinner he had steak and kidney pie, which he didn't like. I don't blame him, as that sounds like something made from a bad "Chopped" basket!

Scrooge says it's a bedlam due to all the celebrating people. This is interesting because in the book he says he'll retire to Bedlam, which was the nickname for the Bethlehem Royal Hospital, a London psychiatric facility.

How would Boris Karloff been as Scrooge?

I know that mainly from the awesome 1946 horror film of the same name starring Boris Karloff.

Anyway, Scrooge continues his internal monologue as he goes home. He sees Marley's face in the knocker and then Marley's Ghost come through the bolted door.

Marley's Ghost warns Scrooge to change his ways and tells him the other three ghosts will come on successive nights, as in the book.

Marley's Ghost then goes out the window to join "the other lost spirits."

The Marley business is given a fair amount of time, which I guess was to have his exit coincide with the end of that particular record. It's well-done.

The Ghost of Christmas Past shows up a pulls back Scrooge's bed curtains. Scrooge describes the spirit, which largely follows the description in the book. The spirit says its face is the face of everyone Scrooge has ever known, which is sort of in the book, but that happens when the spirit leaves.

Due to time constraints, we only get one scene from the past, which is Fan coming to take lonely, young Ebenezer home. Old Scrooge calls his younger self a "poor little shaver," which is a good old-school expression!

What I find interesting is that when the spirit says that Fan died a woman and had children, Scrooge doesn't correct it to say she had only one, meaning his nephew. I don't think this was meant to imply that Fred has siblings, but it's just interesting!

Scrooge doesn't want to see anymore and winds up back snoring away in his bed. So, no Fezziwig or Belle.

Scrooge goes out to see the Ghost of Christmas Present, who describes how he's decorated Scrooge's room.

Scrooge says the spirit looks like Father Christmas himself.

Scrooge and the spirit go out and the spirit describes some of what they see. The spirit specifically talks about people going to church.

They then pop in to see the Cratchits (I'll spell it correctly!) where two children, presumably Peter and Belinda, are waiting with Mrs. Cratchit for Martha, Bob and Tiny Tim.

Martha comes in and hides when Bob comes in, then the younger two kids go to fetch the goose.

Bob toasts Mr. Scrooge, Mrs C objects, then Tiny Tim says his line. Of note is that Scrooge does not ask the spirit what will become of Tiny Tim.

Come to think of it, Scrooge did not make the "surplus population" remark to the portly gentleman, so it wouldn't have been thrown back at him anyway.

Unusual for this sort of thing, the ghost does show Ignorance and Want to Scrooge. The ghost quotes, "Are there no workhouses..." back to Scrooge.

Scrooge next finds himself in a mist where he meets the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, who does not speak in this adaptation. Scrooge continues to react verbally to what happens.

This spirit shows him the other businessman talking about someone who had died and then the charwoman and undertaker's man discussing having purloined some items, including bed curtains.

They next go to the Cratchit house, where Scrooge looks in vain for Tiny Tim.

Next they go a weed ridden churchyard where Scrooge has to feel the letters on the tombstone to make out his name.

Scrooge pleads with the spirit to let him change his ways and winds up back in his bed.

He gets the boy to buy the prize turkey and pays him two crowns, rather than the usual half a crown!

He starts off for Fred's and meets the portly gentleman, where he makes the familiar back payments.

He has dinner with Fred (and Betsy) then beats Bob back to the office later that afternoon.

He and Bob have a very nice scene as Scrooge raises Bob's salary. It's so nice that they both end up crying!

Next: some final(?) thoughts on this production...

A Christmas Carol (1942) - Basil Rathbone - Part 2

The labels on the records in Columbia Records' 1942 presentation of "A Christmas Carol" tout a "Supporting Cast of Prominent Actors" along with Basil Rathbone as Scrooge.

That's a bit of hype, but they're not far off!

Fortunately, the album includes a cast list and as an Old-Time Radio (OTR) buff, I recognize many of the names. I'm not sure if 1942 listeners knew the names, but they sure knew the voices!

Basil Rathbone is, of course, a famous movie actor, but like a lot of stars of the 1940s, he appeared on radio frequently. Most famously, of course, as Sherlock Holmes.

I really enjoy hearing Harlow Wilcox on here. He was the announcer on "Fibber McGee and Molly," where he always steered the conversation over to Johnson's Wax (the show's sponsor). Among other shows, he also was the announcer for "Suspense!" - another great show.

He's listed as narrator here, but his role is more like that of announcer, as he introduces the story, but then we don't hear him again. Scrooge is really the de facto narrator.

Harlow's castmate from "Fibber," Arthur Q. Bryan, has a couple of parts here, the portly charity collector and one of the businessmen talking about Scrooge's death. He uses mostly his regular voice for the first and adds a bit of a British accent for the second.

Audiences in the 1940s were familiar with his roles as Doc Gamble on "Fibber McGee and Molly" and Floyd the barber on its spinoff "The Great Gildersleeve." Everybody still knows his voice if not his name, as he was the voice of Elmer Fudd!

One of Arthur Q. Bryan's castmates from "Gildersleeve" was Walter Tetley, who plays the boy who buys the turkey. He did a fantastic kid voice well into his forties due to a medical condition. He was terrific as Leroy on "The Great Gildersleeve" and Julius on the Phil Harris and Alice Faye show. Modern audiences will still recognize his voice as that of Sherman from "Mr. Peabody's Improbable History." It's fun to hear his stab at a British accent!

To show how connected these radio actors all were, Walter's castmate from the Harris/Faye show, Elliot Lewis, plays Fred here. He was a really versatile actor, playing a wide variety of roles and also a writer, director and producer. At one point, he was the director of "Suspense!" while Harlow Wilcox was the announcer!

Another versatile talent in the cast is Jay Novello, who plays Bob Cratchet(?) here. He continued to play character roles on TV and in movies through the 1970s.

Mrs. Cratchet is played by Paula Winslowe, another busy actress. She was probably most recognizable as Peg Riley on the radio version of "The Life of Riley" opposite William Bendix.

An interesting early credit for her was dubbing the voice for Jean Harlow's character in the 1937 movie "Saratoga" after the actress's sudden death.

Tiny Tim is played by Tommy Cook, who was a busy child actor on radio and screen. Rather intriguingly, a few years after this record, he played Junior on "The Life of Riley" radio show, so Paula Winslowe was his mother once again! He's still around, by the way, at age 89!

It's funny that two of William Bendix's future co-stars would be involved with a Dickens project. Bendix himself would never fit in with his Brooklyn accent!

Perhaps the most unusual bit of casting is Francis X. Bushman as the Ghost of Christmas Past. He was a huge star during the silent movie era, billed as "the handsomest man in the world."

It was always humorous when he'd be namedropped on "The Beverly Hillbillies" TV show, as the Clampetts were so backward, they thought silent movies were new releases and he was still a matinee idol! I wonder if he got a kick out of that.

Mr. Bushman was doing radio work at the time of this recording and he continued his acting career into the mid-60s, when he was in his 80s. His last role was on the "Batman" TV series which is pretty cool!

So, there is indeed a supporting cast of prominent actors at work here!

Next, we look at the adaptation itself...

A Christmas Carol (1942) - Basil Rathbone - Part 1

A Christmas Carol (1942)
Director: Tom McKnight
Scrooge: Basil Rathbone

We now go back a few years from 1956 and "The Stingiest Man in Town" to 1942, when Basil Rathbone played Ebenezer Scrooge in an earlier adaptation of "A Christmas Carol." This was a 78 rpm album from Columbia Records.

I imagine this project got the green light due to the success that Decca Records had the year before with Ronald Colman's record set of the story.

I think the Colman version is still the most popular, but the Rathbone version is excellent and has stayed in print through various reissues up through CDs and streaming.

I think Basil Rathbone is as suited to play Scrooge as any actor ever. He just has a Victorian look and he's a commanding presence with a lot of acting chops.

This version of the record adds carols at the beginning and end, but the sound quality is good, so give a listen:

"The Stingiest Man in Town" Bonus!

Before we say goodbye (for now) to "The Stingiest Man in Town" from 1956, here's the studio recording of the Four Lads singing the title song.

It's a fun novelty number in which they give comic examples of how stingy Scrooge actually.

In the interest of overanalyzing everything, I think one of the verses is very interesting:

"He has a house that's very tall, with flowered paper in the hall. And for his mother's funeral, he cut the flowers off the wall"

Clever, yes, and I realize it's for purposes of this bit, but doesn't that imply that he was an adult already living in his current house when his mother died? The implication in the book is that his mother had died at some point when he was young (but not in childbirth), as his sister Fan only mentions their father.

The Ghost of Christmas Present in the special only says, "Your little sister came to take you home and your father had grown kinder."

But, who am I to get in the way of a good bit? Carry on!

As I had mentioned, this is more in the usual style of the Four Lads than the version actually performed in the show. That might just be because the audio is better on the record.

I notice that the label says it's with Camarata and his Orchestra, but the arrangement is by Ray Ellis, who was the Lads' usual arranger/conductor.

Give it a listen:

The Alcoa Hour - "The Stingiest Man in Town" (1956) - Part 4

Some additional thoughts on "The Alcoa Hour" musical version of "A Christmas Carol" entitled "The Stingiest Man in Town."

First off, props for coming up with a fun title that doesn't include "Christmas Carol" or "Scrooge" in it at all. Bold move!

Since this was unavailable for so many years, this had been built up a bit. The original cast recording had stayed more or less available, so it wasn't forgotten.

Then when a kinescope of the show was discovered, it was exciting, but you hoped that the actual thing would live up to the anticipation.

But, when the DVD became available I snapped it up and was pleased that this is a really fun production.

I think it certainly helps if you're predisposed to liking mid-50s TV type variety shows. I realize that my tastes are not those of the typical viewer in 2020, but I like what I like.

The natural comparison here is with the "Shower of Stars" musical version of "A Christmas Carol" from 1954.

Besides the obvious similarities of being musical versions of the same story, both were presented live and in color, but survive today only in black and white kinescopes.

Both also have Basil Rathbone in the cast. He's great in both and plays the roles differently.

I rllike how his Scrooge really gets into the action. He's always in the middle of things. He's got the mean part from the beginning down cold, but convincingly softens as the story goes on and is  a very humble person at the end.

"Stingiest" plays more like a Broadway musical to me, as the songs seem more like, you know, songs. Janice Torre and Fred Spielman did a great job. I wonder how much this project led to the later "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol."

The DVD doesn't contain the Alcoa commercials, but you can tell where they would have been placed in between the acts. It does include one at the end, however, and it's a blast!

It has a typical 50s sit-com type family (complete with bumbling father and Lassiesque dog) showing how you can use aluminum foil to decorate for Christmas. And it has this crazy hyper baby jumping up and down in his playpen! It looks like they must've put coffee in his bottle instead of formula!

Anyway, the whole thing is a lot of fun, and we're very fortunate that this show did not stay lost!

The Alcoa Hour - "The Stingiest Man in Town" (1956) - Part 3

The 1956 production of "The Stingiest Man in Town" from "The Alcoa Hour" TV series is a pretty straightforward and faithful adaptation of "A Christmas Carol," despite it being a musical and having a somewhat wacky title.

Most of the characters and incidents from the book are included, but as always, there are some changes and I'm forever fascinated by those changes!

The show is about 75 minutes of content, as it was broadcast in a 90-minute slot, so it's more than an hour for Alcoa, but it gives plenty of time for story and a lot of singing and dancing (plus commercials!).

Since this is a musical, the Four Lads as carolers have some expository singing to set the scene, then the crowd sings and dances.

Fred comes into the scene to lead the song "An Old Fashioned Christmas" before entering Scrooge's office, where he gets the usual cold greeting. They go back and forth with some clever rhyming dialogue.

Amusingly, Fred gives his uncle a present, which is a tie that Scrooge doesn't like!

The charity collectors come in and they have also have the usual back and forth with Scrooge, but non-rhyming.

Now it's Bob Cratchit's turn. Interestingly, when he's trying to get the next day off, he mentions Tiny Tim and how sick he is. Scrooge is not impressed and tells him to come in two hours earlier the next day, which is specific.

At some point, the charwoman (Mrs. Dilber) has come in and given Scrooge some gruel. She asks Scrooge for an advance on her salary for the next month. But Scrooge won't give it to her because she might die before next month rolls along!

Basil Rathbone is an awesome Scrooge! He's given good material and knows how to sell it.

An original character, Hawkins the ragpicker, makes an appearance and interacts with Mrs. Dilber and the Four Lads dressed as beggars for "The Stingiest Man in Town" title song. The Lads are sort of adopting Cockney accents for this song. Their studio recording of this number is more in their usual style.

They also give a little more exposition indicating that Marley's Ghost is coming to visit Scrooge while Scrooge is in bed.

And, indeed, the next scene has Scrooge snoozing away when Marley's Ghost comes in. The ghost has a kind of netting somewhat obscuring his face, so for once, Scrooge might not have recognized his deceased partner right away. He removes the netting to make Scrooge believe in him.

Marley sings while superimposed phantoms swirl around in a pretty good special effect for live TV.

The Ghost of Christmas Past shows up on a music cue right after Marley's Ghost leaves. This spirit is bearded and wears a robe. Looks like Friar Tuck or something. That must've brought Basil Rathbone back to his swashbuckling villain days!

Scrooge and the spirit go back to Scrooge's school, but we don't see Scrooge as a boy. They talk about Fan, but we don't see her either.

Next, they go to Fezziwg's. The spirit specifically says that was 40 years ago. There are lots of apprentices at desks. I think old Fezziwig calls one of them "Dick," presumably that's Dick Wilkins.

Old Scrooge sees his younger self and remarks, "Was I that good looking?"

As is usually the case, Belle is at Fezziwig's party and she dances with young Scrooge.

They wind up singing a duet about the future, but young Scrooge keeps saying, "Love flies out the window when poverty comes through the door." The scene is very impressionistic and we literally see a wall of gold building up between Scrooge and Belle.

The visuals and great singing by Vic Damone and Patrice Munsel make this a memorable scene indeed.

Now we come to Act 2 and the Four Lads reappear as carolers to recap the past and introduce the Christmas Present sequence.

Scrooge meets the Ghost of Christmas Present who says he's better known as the Ghost of Christmas Spirit. Scrooge is catching on to what Christmas spirit means.

The spirit kind of looks like a big elf to me, as he has that sort of beard. The kind leprechauns always have, bushier at the chin and no moustache.

He has a bunch of toy soldiers and clowns and dolls and such dance around Scrooge, who joins in for a bit. There's a lot of dancing in this production, as ballet sequences in musicals were somewhat in vogue at the time, since "An American in Paris" had won the Oscar for best picture a few years before.

The ghost puts Scrooge's coat and hat on him and tells him some of the things they'll see, but we don't get a chance to see.

Things get wacky once they get inside the Cratchit house and Mrs. Cratchit leaves the pot of potatoes for a moment. Scrooge takes the cover off the pot to peek inside, leaving Mrs. Cratchit to wonder why the lid is off. Then Scrooge actually tastes the applesauce!

Peter comes out in an ill-fitting suit and Belinda comes in to have Mrs. Cratchit fasten the back of her dress, which embarrasses Scrooge. It's all a lot of fun.

The two younger Cratchits run in, leaving Scrooge to wonder how Bob Cratchit gets along on his meager salary.

Martha then comes in, and I'm pretty sure that Betty Madigan says, "Here's Mother, Marth-" realizing that she was supposed to say, "Here's Martha, Mother." That is a bit of a tongue-twister and the only goof I noticed.

Martha mentions that she had to work late and Mrs. Cratchit says she'd love to see Martha wearing one of the hats she makes.

Peter mentions that he's getting a job, but thankfully not with Mr. Scrooge! Mrs. Cratchit interestingly says she's never seen the ogre!"

Bob comes home with Tiny Tim and Martha hides as usual.

But Martha gets a lot of screentime here, interacting with Tiny Tim and singing the song "Yes, There Is a Santa Claus" to him. The Santa Claus-ness makes me realize that this whole show doesn't have too much of a British feel, but it's for American TV, so whatever!

Somehow Tiny Tim got a music box as a Christmas present. Not sure how or why.

When Scrooge asks about Tiny Tim, the spirit sings a song then tells Scrooge if he wants the future to change, he'll have to change it.

They next head to Fred's house where he reprises "An Old Fashioned Christmas" with his guests and sings "The Birthday Party of the King" with a Nativity scene in prominent closeups. This adds a somewhat rare religious tone.

Act 3 is next and the Four Lads come back for the recap and introduction of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

Scrooge is still with the Ghost of Christmas Present when this scene opens, but he leaves and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives. He's the usual dark-robed phantom.

They see Mr. Dilber and Hawkins talking about someone who died and how they stole his clothes. This combines a couple of the usual future scenes into one and works fine.

Scrooge asks who the deceased man in question was and the phantom shows him his own grave. Then there's another balletic sequence where a bunch of phantoms swarm around Scrooge and the grave.

Scrooge then understands what Marley had tried to tell him and talk-sings how mankind should be his business. He winds up back in his room with his bedpost.

Mrs. Dilber tells him it's Christmas morning and she comes in with Hawkins.

Next we're at the Cratchits' house and Tiny Tim is asking Martha about Santa Claus. Just then, the turkey arrives, interrupting the moment. I guess Martha won't get to sing her song!

Scrooge then comes in with presents for the family, including a new suit for Peter and a hat for Martha. Pretty cool! He also refers to the younger Cratchits as Ann and William.

He pretends not to know where the turkey came from, but he does raise Bob's salary. He says he can't stay for dinner because he's going to Fred's for dinner.

Scrooge has a very nice moment with Tiny Tim as he says he needs Tim's help to help him change the shadows. Bob sings about Tim's future and Scrooge joins in, with a reprise of the "One Little Boy" song that the Ghost of Christmas Present had sung.

Then everyone reprises the Santa Claus song.

The Four Lads come back with just a couple of lines to end things.

After a sort-of commercial, we get a curtain call from the whole cast singing "An Old Fashioned Christmas."

So, a lot of content from the book with a lot of songs. A really fun show!

The Alcoa Hour - "The Stingiest Man in Town" (1956) - Part 2

The cast of the 1956 TV production of "The Stingiest Man in Town" is quite musical and they represent a range of styles, as customary for variety shows of the era. They liked to have something for everybody.

There are a lot of songs, so we need a lot of singers!

The production features the Four Lads as carolers who set the scene for each act, commenting a bit like a Greek chorus.

They also get to sing the title song, the studio recording of which was released as a single.

The Four Lads were my mother's favorite singing group, so I'm very familiar with them. I like them. They have a good blend and don't rely on just one lead singer. They were at the peak of their popularity around this time with their recent huge hit records of "No, Not Much" and "Moments to Remember."

The star of the show is, of course, whoever portrays Ebenezer Scrooge, and they have a great one here in Basil Rathbone. 

He's not a singer, but acquits himself OK and he's not expected to do any heavy lifting vocally. 

But he brings his considerable acting chops and holds the production together. If you recall, he had played Marley's Ghost opposite Fredric March's Scrooge a couple of years earlier in the "Shower of Stars" musical version of "A Christmas Carol."

To me  he's as well-suited to play Scrooge as just about any actor ever.

The wackiest bit of casting always seemed to be Vic Damone as Young Scrooge. But, you know, it's just crazy enough to work!

Vic Damone was a terrific singer and very popular, so you can't go wrong there, and he sort of does look like he could be a younger version of Scrooge. Scrooge himself remarks how handsome he once was, which is fun.

I presume this is the only time that young Scrooge was a bigger, or at least hotter, name at the time than old Scrooge.

Since you have a vocally accomplished young Scrooge, you need a Belle who could hold her own in a duet, and Patrice Munsel is more than up to the task. She was an operatic soprano, famous for being the youngest singer ever to star at the Metropolitan Opera. She was also a popular TV personality, back when an opera singer could be a popular TV personality!

Young Scrooge and Belle's duet of "Golden Dreams/It Might Have Been" is a highlight of the show.

We get another opera-ish singer in Robert Weede, who plays Marley 's Ghost. He was riding high at this point as the star of the Broadway hit "The Most Happy Fella."

The big song from Frank Loesser's score for that musical was "Standing on the Corner," which was another big hit record for... the Four Lads! Everything comes back around, doesn't it?

The talent parade continues with another popular singer, Johnny Desmond, as Fred. Big band buffs know that Johnny came into his own with Glenn Miller's AAF band during WWII. They called him the "G.I. Sinatra!"

He gets a couple of numbers, "An Old Fashioned Christmas" and "The Birthday Party of the King," which he handles well.

Johnny Desmond's's real name was Giovanni Alfredo DeSimone, whereas Vic Damone's was Vito Rocco Farinola. I give the edge to Johnny for best repurposing of birth name into stage name!

The actor who plays Bob Cratchit, Martyn Green, doesn't get to sing much  but he was well-known for performing Gilbert and Sullivan material.

Bob's daughter Martha, however, gets a big solo. This must be the biggest part that Martha has ever had in a relatively straightforward adaptation!

Betty Madigan plays Martha. She was kind of an up-and-coming singer at the time, with the hit recording "Joey," although she never became a huge name.

The one actor with a singing part that I don't know anything about, nor can I find much info on, is Robert Wright, who portrays the Ghost of Christmas Present. His name is pretty common and it seems his info gets mixed up with others with the same or similar name, He does a good job, though.

So, we have a lot of taleneted singers here, representing a variety of styles.

Keeping everything together is music director Tutti Camarata (who was usually billed as Camarata). He was a big band veteran as well, coming to prominence as arranger for Jimmy Dorsey's band back in the day. He later did tons of work for Disney.

Now that we have the cast in place, we move along to the adaptation itself!