"General Electric Theater" - December 15, 1957

"The Trail to Christmas" (December 15, 1957) 
"General Electric Theater"
Director: James Stewart
Scrooge: John McIntire

We keep going with Jimmy Stewart for just a bit longer as we come across an episode of the ""General Electric Theater" TV series from 1957 titled "The Trail to Christmas."

Apparently the episode is a reworking of "Britt Ponset's Christmas Carol" episode from "The Six Shooter" radio series!

The show still exists, but it's not available for viewing right now, but we'll see what happens.

James Stewart directed the episode and relates the western version of A" Christmas Carol" as a character named "Bart" (he was Britt now he's Bart, so not exactly like the Maverick brothers!).

The Scrooge role is enacted by John McIntire, the veteran character actor (he had appeared in "Winchester '73") who gained his greatest fame when he replaced the late Ward Bond as wagonmaster on the long-running TV series "Wagon Train" starting in 1961.

The "Jake Marley" character is played by Will Wright, another character actor with a lot of credits, including appearing on "The Six Shooter" radio series. His best-known Christmas-related role is as Ben Weaver, the Scrooge-like store owner in the 1960 Christmas episode of "The Andy Griffith Show." 

We last saw him here, drinking punch with Ozzie Nelson while Ricky sang "Jingle Bells!"

The most intriguing casting, however, would be Sally Fraser as Belle. If that seems familiar, it's because she played Belle opposite Fredric March in the 1954 "Shower of Stars" adaptation. That can't be a coincidence!

Hopefully this show becomes available at some point. The rights may have something to do with the host of "General Electric Theater" shown at the top of the page.

Isn't he the guy who portrayed Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1952's "The Winning Team" with Doris Day? Did we ever find out what happened to him?

Bonus Jimmy Stewart - Winchester '73!

I had mentioned when discussing James Stewart's radio series "The Six Shooter" that the actor had within the past couple of years prior adopted a somewhat grittier persona in a series of westerns beginning with "Winchester '73" in 1950.

"Winchester '73" happens to be one of my favorite movies ever and I like his characterization of Lin McAdam, the protagonist, a lot.

The Britt Ponset character from "The Six Shooter" makes me think that's what Lin McAdam would be like if he rode around having adventures. A pleasant fellow with a strong moral compass who doesn't look for trouble but does what he needs to do.

To his credit as an actor, Jimmy Stewart did not bring that same characterization to every western he made. In fact, he's a little different in each one with multiple levels of shading.

Here's the trailer for a re-release of "Winchester '73":

Makes me want to watch it again!

I notice that Millard Mitchell doesn't get mentioned in the trailer, but I think he steals the movie as Jimmy's saddle pal High-Spade.

Unfortunately, Mitchell had passed away in 1953, which was probably before this reissue.

For more fun, here's the "Lux Radio Theater" adaptation from November 12, 1951:

Good to hear Jimmy Stewart and Stephen McNally reprising their roles from the movie and interesting to hear Julia Adams in the Shelly Winters role. Lots of solid radio actors in support, including William Conrad and Bill Johnstone.

I would say that if you haven't seen the movie yet, do so before you listen to the radio adaptation!

"The Six Shooter" (December 20, 1953) - Part 3

A few words about the cast of "The Six Shooter" episode "Britt Ponset's Christmas Carol" and some other things...

The series ran on NBC for one season of 39 episodes from 1953-1954 and it came along at kind of an interesting time.

Television had been making serious inroads by this point and the biggest effect was that if people were watching TV, they were no longer listening to the radio.

So, one thing that radio tried was having stars such as James Stewart headline shows. He was a big movie star at the time, so it's not like he needed the work.

Another trend was for shows to be transcribed, i.e. recorded in advance, which allowed the stars to work on the shows on their own schedule, as opposed to needing to block out a set time for a live broadcast.

Also, by 1953 Jimmy Stewart had become comfortable in the western movie genre. He was a non-traditional hero in his first western, "Destry Rides Again" (1939), but established a rugged new persona with his next western, "Winchester '73" (1950).

So, add it all up and we have Jimmy Stewart in a transcribed western radio show!

As expected, he does a great job on the show with his unmistakable voice and deceptively folksy demeanor.

The announcer on "The Six Shooter" was Hal Gibney, and if his name wasn't familiar, a lot of people knew his voice as the announcer for the radio and TV versions of "Dragnet." You know, "...Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent..."

For this particular episode, announcer Gibney tells us that Scrooge was played by Howard McNear. He was a busy radio actor, appearing as Doc on "Gunsmoke" at this time, but was later best-known for his role as Floyd, the nosy Mayberry barber on "The Andy Griffith Show" TV series.

No one else is credited, but the voice of the Johnny character is easily recognizable as that of Dick Beals, who was 26 years old at the time, but did a great kid voice for a really long time, not unlike Walter Tetley. 

When I hear that voice, I immediately think of Davey from "Davey and Goliath," whose voice Dick provided up through 1965's "Christmas Lost and Found." He also had a long run voicing "Speedy Alka Seltzer" for TV commercials.

Dick Beals also popped up in 1953 as the window boy in Lionel Barrymore's 1953 broadcast of "A Christmas Carol" on the "Hallmark Hall of Fame." Have we listened to that yet?

We're fortunate that every episode of "The Six Shooter" survives and it's still great entertainment!

"The Six Shooter" (December 20, 1953) - Part 2

If you got the chance to listen to the "Britt Ponset's Christmas Carol" episode of "The Six Shooter" radio series, I'm sure you'll agree that it's actually fairly straightforward adaptation!

If you haven't heard it yet but would like to, you should go back and listen, as there are some SPOILERS regarding the framing story. 

The set-up of Jimmy Stewart's Britt Ponset character telling the story to a young boy named Johnny allows the story to follow the typical plot points with a western twist rather than having a "real" Scrooge-like character within the show's universe undergo a similar conversion. I think that approach works really well.

Johnny's aunt is actually a bit Scroogey until she has a change of heart, even though she's not the one that hears the story!

In any event, Britt's version of the story is pretty faithful to the book, just transplanting it to the western United States.

The Scrooge character is generally just referred to as "Eben," but we do learn that his full name is "Ebenezer Scrooge" when he sees it on his tombstone. He's a wealthy rancher here.

The Bob Cratchit stand-in is named "Bob" with a son named "Tim" and the Jacob Marley character is "Jake," but we don't hear their last names. And Belle is still Belle, but she's the schoolmarm!

I don't think any of the other characters are named.

The biggest change plot-wise is that Bob, Eben's ranch foreman, lives with his family in a shack on one of the ranches and Eben demands that he tear it down, on Christmas Day, which would leave the family homeless. 

This establishes the Scrooge character as really mean and heartless as opposed to just a miserly businessman.

This does allow for a nice moment at the end when Eben goes out to the shack on the morning after Christmas, feigning anger at Bob for not having torn down the shack, but surprising him by telling him the reason the shack needs to go is so Eben can build a house for Bob and his family!

There's one other change that might be unique to this version, which occurs in the future sequence. Among the people reflecting on Eben's death are Belle and her husband! 

I don't recall otherwise ever hearing (or seeing) their scene in the future.

A fun bit concerns the Christmas party at the house of Eben's nephew. The game the guests play is pin the tail on the donkey, with said donkey having Eben's face. The best part is that when Eben goes to the party on Christmas in "real" time, he insists that they use that they still use that donkey for their game!

The whole thing's a lot of fun and it hits the right emotional notes as well!

"The Six Shooter" (December 20, 1953) - Part 1

"The Six Shooter" (December 20, 1953)

Director: Jack Johnstone

Scrooge: Howard McNear

It seems like a good time for an old-time radio adaptation of "A Christmas" (although it's always a good time)!

Here's one with a western twist from the NBC show "The Six Shooter," as broadcast on December 20, 1953.

The episode is called "Britt Ponset's Christmas Carol."

Give it a listen:

Pretty cool!

Or Was It This Brand?

Controversy over which brand C. Dickens preferred:

Or did he like them all?

Bransby Williams Returns!

Way back when (here) I had been wondering if the recording on this Bransby Williams LP from Decca Records were new recordings or reissues of his old 78s:

I think I have the solution, which is based on this 1949 LP on London Records:

I'm presuming the London album is a U.S. issue of the British Decca album, which presumably had originally been released in 1949 or earlier.

In any event, the Scrooge cuts are extremely similar to the 78s with some slight differences:

Of course, the LP I have access to is so scratchy that it might as well be from 78s, but I think those are new recordings using the same basic script from his old "My Sketches from Dickens" book.

Whatever the case, I always enjoy hearing Mr. Williams!