The Holiday Music Fest 2023

​For several years now as part of the Holiday Music Fest, including this year, I’ve played some song from a 1956 TV musical production of A Christmas Carol, that was called The Stingiest Man in Town, which was done for The Alcoa Hour.  I had the cast album, and as far as I knew that was all that existed.
 
But as another of those major treats, I just found a video of the entire 80-minute TV production!  And if anything qualifies as “little-known” for the Holiday Music Fest, this is it.  Normally, I’d post it on Christmas Eve as befits the story, but that spot is reserved for my favorite adaptation of the story, a BBC radio version with Sir Ralph Richardson and Paul Scofield, so we’ll post this ahead of time.
 
It's very early television, so the production and video quality is a bit creaky.  But it comes through fine enough and is a respectably done version of the story – and is fun, as well, seeing something from early days of TV…and done live. when maneuvering around a soundstage wasn’t as simple as today.
 
The cast is part of the treat here.  Though many of the names are not well-known today, they were for the time.  It’s all led by Basil Rathbone as Scrooge, easily the most famous name in the cast today for his years playing Sherlock Holmes in the movies.  Marley's Ghost is played by Robert Weede, a major Metropolitan Opera star who later moved into more popular culture productions, most notably as the star in Frank Loesser’s Broadway musical, The Most Happy Fella.  And Bob Cratchit is played by Martyn Green, one of the leading stars of the renowned D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, a group famous for being considered the home of Gilbert & Sullivan productions.
 
There’s another Metropolitan Opera star here, as well – Patrice Munsel, who made a few movies and TV shows, and plays Belle in this production.
 
The show also features two popular singers of the era – Johnny Desmond as Scrooge’s nephew Fred, and Vic Damone as Young Scrooge.  And the popular singing group The Four Lads perform as a sort of travelling Greek Chorus, filling in some narration.  And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention one of my favorite character actors, John McGiver, even in just a very small role.  Here, he plays the first of two gentlemen who come to Scrooge’s office asking for a Christmas donation.
 
The score is serviceable, as the expression goes, though there are a few solid numbers, like “Mankind is My Business” and "Birthday Party for the King."  The music is by Fred Spielman, with lyrics by Janice Torre, who wrote the teleplay.
 
And definitely worth noting is that it’s directed by Daniel Petrie, who had a long career directing movies and TV.  His most famous movie was A Raisin in the Sun, and for TV he did the film Sybil for which Sally Field won an Emmy as Best Actress and established her as a serious actress.

(SIDE NOTE: If you stick around to the end credits, they announce next week's show -- which sounds tremendous!  It's Agatha Christie's A Murder is Announced ...which has a seriously impressive cast:  Jessica Tandy, Roger Moore, and the legendary Gracie Fields, as 'Miss Marple'.  And no, alas, I can't find a video of it online.)
 
Which brings us to Christmas Eve, the very night that Jacob Marley died seven years ago…
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