Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol

Last updated
Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol
MagooChristmas.jpg
2004 DVD cover
Based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Written byBarbara Chain
Directed by Abe Levitow
Voices of Jim Backus
Morey Amsterdam
Jack Cassidy
Royal Dano
Paul Frees
Composer Jule Styne / Bob Merrill
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducersLee Orgel
Henry G. Saperstein
Running time53 minutes
Production company United Productions of America
Original release
Network NBC
ReleaseDecember 18, 1962 (1962-12-18)

Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol is a 1962 animated musical holiday television special produced by UPA. [1] It is an adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol , and it features UPA's character Mr. Magoo as Ebenezer Scrooge. The special first aired on December 18, 1962, on NBC and was the first animated Christmas special to be produced specifically for television. [2] [3]

Contents

Jim Backus provides the voice of Magoo, with additional voices provided by Paul Frees, Morey Amsterdam, Joan Gardner, and Jack Cassidy. [4] The special is directed by Abe Levitow and features songs composed by Jule Styne, with lyrics by Bob Merrill, while Walter Scharf arranged and conducted the orchestral score. [5]

Plot

Mr. Magoo is heading to a theater on Broadway, where he is starring as Ebenezer Scrooge in a musical production based on A Christmas Carol. Due to Magoo's nearsightedness, he arrives 30 minutes late and accidentally injures the director ("It's Great to Be Back on Broadway").

Scrooge is a miserly money lender in Victorian London on Christmas Eve, counting money while his clerk Bob Cratchit is underpaid and has no coal for his fire ("Ringle, Ringle"). After rudely refusing two men who ask him for a donation to charity, Scrooge reluctantly allows Cratchit to take the holiday off. Scrooge goes home and gets ready for bed, but is visited by the ghost of his business partner Jacob Marley, who has been dead for seven years. Marley is bound in heavy chains due to his misdeeds in life and warns Scrooge that he risks the same fate unless he heeds the advice of three spirits who will visit him over the course of the night.

The Ghost of Christmas Present visits Scrooge first and takes him to observe Cratchit and his family, who are counting their blessings despite their poor situation ("The Lord's Bright Blessing"). The Ghost warns Scrooge that Cratchit's young son Tiny Tim, who is sickly, will not survive to next Christmas if things do not change.

The Ghost of Christmas Past visits Scrooge next and takes him back to his boyhood, where Scrooge was a lonely schoolboy ("Alone in the World"). The Ghost also shows him Belle, a woman whom Scrooge, as a young man, had been courting; the moments he sees are those in which she sadly explains that she is leaving him due to his greed for money ("Winter Was Warm").

Scrooge encounters the Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come and is shown a vision of the future, where an unloved man has recently died. Scrooge sees his charwoman, his laundress, and the local undertaker sell his belongings to a fence named Old Joe ("We're Despicable (Plunderer's March)"). Scrooge begs to be shown "tenderness connected with death", but discovers that Tiny Tim has died. The Ghost takes Scrooge to a cemetery and shows him his own grave, revealing that this deceased man is him. Scrooge realizes in anguish that he has spent his life poorly, and repents ("Alone in the World (Reprise)").

Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning with a renewed purpose. He meets the two men from the previous day and makes a generous donation, then anonymously sends Cratchit a Christmas turkey. He later visits Cratchit to give him a raise in pay and help nurse Tiny Tim back to health, and shares Christmas together with them ("The Lord's Bright Blessing (Reprise)").

The musical concludes and the audience applauds. Magoo brings the director out on stage, but the stage's props, lights and scenery fall on him. Magoo proudly exclaims "Oh, Magoo, you've done it again, and by George, I've brought down the house!" and wishes both his audience and the television audience a Merry Christmas.

Cast

Songs

  1. "It's Great to Be Back on Broadway"
  2. "It's Great to Be Back on Broadway (Reprise)"
  3. "Ringle, Ringle"
  4. "The Lord's Bright Blessing"
  5. "Alone in the World"
  6. "Winter Was Warm"
  7. "We're Despicable (Plunderer's March)"
  8. "Alone in the World (Reprise)"
  9. "Ringle, Ringle (Reprise)"
  10. "The Lord's Bright Blessing (Reprise)"
  11. "Winter Was Warm (End Credits)"

Background

Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol was produced by UPA in its last days as an animation studio, following its acquisition by Henry G. Saperstein. UPA later produced a television series titled The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo , in which Magoo portrayed other literary characters. The series ended soon after as UPA was unable to mass-produce cartoons for television. [4] It fills an hour-long time slot, as opposed to half an hour, which is different from most animated Christmas specials. [8]

The special depicts the visits of the ghosts in a different order than the book, with the Ghost of Christmas Present appearing before Past. Tiny Tim resembles UPA's character Gerald McBoing-Boing [9] and Jacob Marley resembles Worcestershire, a character from Mister Magoo .[ citation needed ]

The special was rerun on NBC throughout the Christmas season until 1969. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, it aired on local stations in syndication during the Christmas season, and in the 1990s, it aired on the Disney Channel and USA Network. Me-TV brought it back to broadcast television in 2011. NBC aired the special again in 2012, with scenes depicting Magoo in the framing device cut in order to make room for commercials. The CW subsequently acquired the broadcast rights to the special; the original special aired in its entirety in 2014, but the NBC version aired the following year. Distribution rights to the special are currently held by NBCUniversal Television Distribution following parent company Comcast's acquisition of its holder Classic Media, which was renamed DreamWorks Classics.

When it premiered on Freeform on December 13, 2022, several sequences were edited out, including the song "We're Despicable(Plunderers' March) and Magoo & Cratchett's duet on "Ringle Ringle."

Home media

The special was first released on VHS, Betamax, and LaserDisc in 1982 by Paramount Home Video on behalf of UPA. The VHS was re-released in 1988 and 1994. The special later made its DVD debut in 2001 by Goodtimes Home Video and had multiple re-releases on the format. On November 16, 2010, it was released on Blu-ray.

Reception

Thomas Vinciguerra for The New York Times praised the special and gave it a 4.5 out of 5, saying "not merely a superior musical version, it is a pioneer among animated Christmas traditions." [10] [11]

Clips from the special were seen on television monitors in Scrooged . Animal Collective's 2000 debut album Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished is named for one of Scrooge's lines in the special. In the Hill Street Blues episode "Santaclaustrophobia" a clip is seen playing on the television in Sgt Mick Belker's apartment.

The special was parodied as "Mr. McGrew's Christmas Carol" in The Simpsons 2003 episode " 'Tis the Fifteenth Season".

The special was shown in the Christmas movie Surviving Christmas.

In the 2001 pilot episode of Six Feet Under , Claire Fisher (Lauren Ambrose) watches a clip from the special.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ebenezer Scrooge</span> Fictional character in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Ebenezer Scrooge is a fictional character and the protagonist of Charles Dickens's 1843 short novel, A Christmas Carol. Initially a cold-hearted miser who despises Christmas, his redemption by three spirits has become a defining tale of the Christmas holiday in the English-speaking world.

<i>Mickeys Christmas Carol</i> 1983 Mickey Mouse animated featurette directed by Burny Mattinson

Mickey's Christmas Carol is a 1983 American animated Christmas fantasy featurette directed and produced by Burny Mattinson. The cartoon is an adaptation of Charles Dickens's 1843 novella A Christmas Carol, and stars Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer Scrooge. Many other Disney characters, primarily from the Mickey Mouse universe, as well as Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio (1940), and characters from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) and Robin Hood (1973), were cast throughout the film. The featurette was produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution on December 16, 1983, with the re-issue of The Rescuers (1977). In the United States, it was first aired on television on NBC, on December 10, 1984.

<i>Scrooge</i> (1970 film) 1970 film by Ronald Neame

Scrooge is a 1970 musical film adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1843 story A Christmas Carol. It was filmed in London between January and May 1970 and directed by Ronald Neame, and starred Albert Finney as Ebenezer Scrooge. The film's score was composed by Leslie Bricusse and arranged and conducted by Ian Fraser.

<i>Scrooge</i> (1951 film) 1951 film by Brian Desmond Hurst

Scrooge is a 1951 British Christmas fantasy drama film and an adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol (1843). It stars Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge, and was produced and directed by Brian Desmond Hurst, with a screenplay by Noel Langley. It also features Kathleen Harrison, George Cole, Hermione Baddeley, Mervyn Johns, Clifford Mollison, Jack Warner, Ernest Thesiger and Patrick Macnee. Michael Hordern plays Marley's ghost and the older Jacob Marley. Peter Bull narrates portions of Charles Dickens' words at the beginning and end of the film, and appears on-screen as a businessman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Cratchit</span> Fictional character

Bob Cratchit is a fictional character in the Charles Dickens 1843 novel A Christmas Carol. The overworked, underpaid clerk of Ebenezer Scrooge, Cratchit has come to symbolize the poor working conditions, especially long working hours and low pay, endured by many working-class people in the early Victorian era.

<i>Christmas Carol: The Movie</i> 2001 animated film by Jimmy Murakami

Christmas Carol: The Movie is a 2001 British live action/animated film based on Charles Dickens's 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami, the film features the voices of numerous actors including Simon Callow, Kate Winslet, Kate's sister Beth Winslet, and Nicolas Cage. The film was a critical and commercial failure upon release.

<i>A Christmas Carol</i> (TV special) 1971 animated film

A Christmas Carol is a British-American animated adaptation of Charles Dickens's 1843 novella. The film was broadcast on U.S. television by ABC on December 21, 1971, and released theatrically soon after. In 1972, it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. The film notably has Alastair Sim and Michael Hordern reprising their respective roles as Ebenezer Scrooge and Marley's ghost.

<i>A Christmas Carol</i> (1984 film) 1984 US television film directed by Clive Donner

A Christmas Carol is a 1984 British-American made-for-television film adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1843). The film was directed by Clive Donner, who had been an editor of the 1951 film Scrooge, and stars George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge. It also features Frank Finlay as Marley's ghost, David Warner as Bob Cratchit, Susannah York as Mrs. Cratchit, Angela Pleasence as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Edward Woodward as the Ghost of Christmas Present and Roger Rees as Scrooge's nephew Fred; Rees also narrates portions of Charles Dickens' words at the beginning and end of the film. The movie was filmed in the historic medieval county town of Shrewsbury in Shropshire.

<i>Bugs Bunnys Christmas Carol</i> 1979 animated Christmas film by Friz Freleng

Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol is an eight-minute animated film produced by Warner Bros. Television and DePatie–Freleng Enterprises, and aired on CBS on November 27, 1979 as the first segment of the Christmas special, Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales.

<i>A Christmas Carol</i> (2004 film) 2004 television film based on a 1994 stage musical

A Christmas Carol: The Musical is a 2004 American musical television film based on the 1994 stage musical by Alan Menken and Lynn Ahrens inspired by the 1843 novella of the same name by Charles Dickens.

<i>A Christmas Carol</i> (1999 film) 1999 British-American television film by David Jones

A Christmas Carol is a 1999 British-American made-for-television film adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol that was first televised December 5, 1999, on TNT. It was directed by David Jones and stars Patrick Stewart as Ebenezer Scrooge and Richard E. Grant as Bob Cratchit.

Tiny Tim (<i>A Christmas Carol</i>) Fictional character from Dickens novella "A Christmas Carol"

Tiny Tim Cratchit is a fictional character from the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Although seen only briefly, he is a major character, and serves as an important symbol of the consequences of the protagonist's choices.

<i>A Christmas Carol</i> (2006 film) 2006 animated film by Ric Machin

A Christmas Carol is a 2006 British-German computer-animated Christmas film. It is an adaptation of the 1843 Charles Dickens novella of the same name, and was produced by BKN International and BKN New Media, and was the first release in BKN's "BKN Classic Series" anthology of computer-animated direct-to-video films.

Adaptations of <i>A Christmas Carol</i> Works based on Charles Dickenss 1843 novella

A Christmas Carol, the 1843 novella by Charles Dickens (1812–1870), is one of the English author's best-known works. It is the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a greedy miser who hates Christmas, but is transformed into a caring, kindly person through the visitations of four ghosts. The classic work has been dramatised and adapted countless times for virtually every medium and performance genre, and new versions appear regularly.

<i>A Christmas Carol</i> (1982 film) 1982 Australian made-for-television animated film

A Christmas Carol is an Australian made-for-television animated Christmas fantasy film from Burbank Films Australia as part of the studio's series of Charles Dickens adaptations from 1982 to 1985. It was originally broadcast in 1982 through the Australian Nine Network. Based on Charles Dickens' classic 1843 English story, A Christmas Carol, the adaptation by Alexander Buzo was produced by Eddy Graham and directed by Jean Tych.

Scrooge: The Musical is a 1992 stage musical with book, music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. Its score and book are closely adapted from the music and screenplay of the 1970 musical film Scrooge starring Albert Finney and Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. Bricusse was nominated for an Academy Award for the song score he wrote for the film, and most of those songs were carried over to the musical.

<i>A Christmas Carol</i> (musical) American stage musical

A Christmas Carol is a musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and book by Mike Ockrent and Lynn Ahrens. The musical is based on Charles Dickens' 1843 novella of the same name. The show was presented annually at New York City's Theater at Madison Square Garden from December 1, 1994, to December 27, 2003.

Scrooge is a 1913 British black and white silent film based on the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. It stars Seymour Hicks as Ebenezer Scrooge. In the United States it was released in 1926 as Old Scrooge. It was directed by Leedham Bantock.

A Christmas Carol is a 2020 British Christmas drama dance film directed by Jacqui Morris and David Morris and based on Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. It features the voices of Simon Russell Beale, Siân Phillips, Carey Mulligan, Daniel Kaluuya, Andy Serkis, Martin Freeman and Leslie Caron. It received mixed reviews from critics.

<i>A Christmas Carol; or, Past, Present, and Future</i> A play adaption of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol; or, Past, Present, and Future is a play in three acts by Edward Stirling at the Adelphi Theatre in London on 5 February 1844. Containing songs especially written for the show, the drama was adapted from the novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens which had been published just weeks before in December 1843. By February 1844 eight other adaptations had already appeared on the London stage, including A Christmas Carol, or, the Miser's Warning! by C. Z. Barnett, which had opened at the Surrey Theatre in February 1844. Stirling's version, however, was the only production to be sanctioned by Dickens, who gave permission for the adaptation in January 1844.

References

  1. ↑ Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 199. ISBN   9781476672939.
  2. ↑ Hill, Jim (November 28, 2006). "Scrooge U: Part VI -- Magoo's a musical miser". JimHillMedia.com. Retrieved 2006-12-25.
  3. ↑ Murray, Noel (2010-12-20). ""You will be visited by 69 spirits": 23 TV episodes based on "A Christmas Carol" | TV | Inventory". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2011-01-18.
  4. 1 2 Kurer, Ron (2007-10-25). "The Nearsighted Mister Magoo". Toon Tracker. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
  5. ↑ "The Official Jule Styne Website". Julestyne.com. 1962-12-14. Retrieved 2011-01-18.
  6. ↑ "ASK me: Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol". News from ME. 2021-01-15. Retrieved 2022-12-17.
  7. ↑ "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol Cast & Crew List". The Big Cartoon Database. Archived from the original on January 18, 2013. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
  8. ↑ Solomon, Charles (2013). The Art and Making of Peanuts Animation: Celebrating Fifty Years of Television Specials. Chronicle Books. ISBN   978-1-4521-1091-2.
  9. ↑ Kauffman, Jeffrey (October 28, 2010). "Mr Magoo's Christmas Carol Blu-ray Review". bluray.com. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  10. ↑ Vinciguerra, Thomas (20 December 2012). "Oh, Humbug, Magoo, You've Done It Again". The New York Times.
  11. ↑ Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol - Movie Reviews , retrieved 2021-12-01
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.