Tag: Thomas Edison

A Christmas Carol: Dickens, Edison, Sim, and the Fonz

Charles DickensOn December 17, 1843, London publishing house Chapman & Hall published a novella called A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas.  The novella, by Charles Dickens, would become a classic.

Charles Dickens had already found success from writing projects, including The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1836), Oliver Twist (1838) and Nicholas Nickleby (1839). His new book, which he only started writing three months earlier in September 1843, was an immediate success, and many today credit it with reviving Christmas traditions in Victorian England.

We now know the book simply as A Christmas Carol. While it may seem odd that a book about ghosts would become a Christmas classic (instead of a Halloween story), Dickens was not the only one telling yuletide ghost stories. In Victorian England, it was a tradition to tell ghost stories around the fire on Christmas Eve. I guess many places still have that tradition, but it is now called, “watching A Christmas Carol on television.”

Adaptations of “A Christmas Carol”

Soon after the novella was published, people began adapting the story for theater productions. Dickens himself often gave readings of the book throughout his lifetime.

As technology changed, there were adaptations for radio and screens. Thomas Edison created an early silent version of the story in 1910.

One of the most famous movie versions of the book — and the most highly regarded in many quarters — is 1951’s Scrooge, starring Alastair Sim. Sim, who was born in Edinburgh in 1900 and starred in a number of projects on stage and screen before his death in 1976, had the perfect voice and face for Mr. Scrooge.

And now with modern technology, we can add the tradition of watching Scrooge on the Internet.

Other famous versions of the movie feature George C. Scott, Jim Carrey, and Albert Finney as Scrooge. The Alistair Sim one remains my favorite.

An American Christmas Carol

But I must admit I have a soft spot for a 1979 made-for-television movie called An American Christmas Carol, starring Fonzie himself, Henry Winkler as the Scrooge character named Benedict Slade.

Maybe I was at an impressionable age when I first saw An American Christmas Carol. Or maybe I liked the way it put a new twist on an old story by setting it during the Depression in New England.

You also may watch An American Christmas Carol below.

No matter who is your favorite Scrooge, may the future find that it always be said of him (or her), “that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!”

What is your favorite version of A Christmas Carol? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Happy Birthday Samuel Clemens: Mark Twain in Film

    Mark Twain Tonight On November 30 in 1835, Samuel Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri. Clemens, of course, later adopted the pseudonym “Mark Twain” from a term used during his riverboat days and went on to become one of America’s greatest authors.

    Twain’s novels — including Tom Sawyer, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, and the beloved and controversial Adventures of Huckleberry Finn — are classics that capture a certain time period as well as a timeless American spirit. It is no surprise that there are several film versions of Twain’s books, and there even is a Texas high school named after the author of books about kids skipping school.

    Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer on Film

    But I am not sure there is a great film version of one of the novels that fully captures what Twain did with his books. Of course, films often fail in fully capturing a novel, but the films may still be successful in their own rights.

    The film versions of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are often ordinary children’s movies, even though the former novel was much more than a children’s book. Below is a scene with Frodo. . . er, a young Elijah Wood, in a Walt Disney film, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1993).



    A Connecticut Yankee

    A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court has inspired various versions on the big and small screen.  There is even one with Bugs Bunny.

    One of the most successful film versions of a Twain novel is 1949’s musical A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, starring Bing Crosby, Rhonda Fleming, and William Bendix.

    Hal Holbrook as Twain

    But the performance that may best capture Mark Twain is Hal Holbrook’s one-man show, Mark Twain Tonight.  The show appeared on CBS in 1967 and won Holbrook an Emmy.

    In Holbrook’s spot-on believable performance, he captures the humor and dark satire present in much of Twain’s works. This excerpt below includes dialogue taken from Twain’s controversial 1903 essay, “The Damned Human Race.”

    The Real Mark Twain on Video

    We always need a Mark Twain, and American writers, commentators, and comedians continue to be influenced by the writer. In 2011, he was honored with a postage stamp. And in 2010 he had a best-seller with Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1.  The book was was first released that year following Twain’s instructions that much of the text not be published for 100 years.

    For a video of the real Mark Twain, check out the video below of the only known video of the man, shot by Thomas Edison.

    So on this birthday of America’s great humorist, take some comfort in that Samuel Clemons is still with us, whether it be with the movies, his writing, or his inspiration. The recent parodies of The Pepper Spray Cop, for example, seem to capture our national Twain-ian humor. As Mark Twain once explained, “The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.”

    What is your favorite Mark Twain book or film? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    George Washington’s Escaped Slave: Told By a Drunk

    Happy Presidents’ Day Weekend! In a previous post about Abraham Lincoln, Chimesfreedom noted the importance of remembering that great leaders were human because we should recognize that fallible humans may still accomplish fantastic feats. Nothing makes us more human than our stupidity, and early U.S. leaders were idiots when it came to slavery. So this post features a story about Oney “Ona” Judge, a slave in George Washington’s household who escaped when she was 23 years old from the Philadelphia President’s House in 1796 while Washington was president.

    History does not have to be boring, so we will let someone else tell the tale about Oney Judge in a funny video featuring actors Denny McBride and Tymberlee Hill. But storyteller Jen Kirkman is drunk and swears a bit (so do not play loud at work) . . .

    Not only did Oney Judge escape slavery, she escaped from the U.S. President! How cool is that? According to Wikipedia, at the time when Philadelphia was the U.S. capital, Pennsylvania had a law that prohibited nonresidents from possessing slaves in the state for more than six months. If six months passed, the slaves had legal power to free themselves. George and Martha Washington, though, worked around the law by rotating their slaves in and out of the state so none were in the state for six months or more. So even though the Father of our Country did many terrific things as a general and as a president, he also could be a douchebag. This website for the President’s House in Philadelphia features two interviews with Judge from the 1840s.

    But what about that video? My friend Mike recently introduced me to the Drunk History videos on YouTube. I am a little late coming to the party, so you may have already seen them. But if not, check out some other ones too. Drunk History videos feature a drunk person telling about a historical event while famous actors reenact what is being described. The series started a few years ago on the Funny or Die website. The series, created by comedian Darek Waters, is pretty funny, but be warned that they generally include swearing and some other drunken activities. Kids: Don’t try this at home. Not only are they funny, though, they are entertaining and educational discussions of history. Check out the links below.

    Bonus Drunk History Video    : Here is a funny Drunk History video about Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison, featuring John C. Reilly and Crispin Glover. Yes, even the pigeon part is true.

    More Bonus Drunk History Video Links: Here is a Drunk History video about Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, starring Will Ferrell and Don Cheadle. Here is the original Drunk History episode, about Aaron Burr.

    Bonus George Washington Information: In case you need to be reminded of some of the great things that George Washington accomplished, check out the official White House page for a short biography.

    What do you think? Leave a comment.

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