Here it is, the 168th anniversary of when Charles Dickens published his famous Christmas classic, in which I actually played Scrooge waaaaaaaaaayyyy back in 1981 at a little church production in East Berlin, Pa....no wise cracking about the fact that it 'wasn't much of a stretch' for me! ;P
Oh, justsosyaknows...the article in Wikipedia has it on the 19th, but there's another piece of info in that reasonably reliable medium that's not up to snuff! Oh, would Ebeneezer Scrooge be an 'unreliable medium,' since he was, so to speak, seancing with spirits only once? And just for you intellectually curious, 'up to snuff'...which works rather appropriately as a statement, given the Dickensian Period in which we're operating...initially meant 'sharp and in the know'; more recently, 'up to the required standard'...my current use of the phrase, obviously, since I'm a post-20th century writer. [My source: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/up-to-snuff.html]
Soooooooo...to celebrate the anniversary, should I watch Alistair Sims' classic from 1951?...AHH, what a glorious year, a great movie is made, the Korean War changes history a bit more, and I shuffle onto this mortal coil. I'd say that's a most likely bet.
Of course, there's Albert Finney's musical version from 1970...Holey Holly, Batman!!...I was only a sophomore in college, assuming the movie came out around December....ooops, thank you IMDb...5 November 1970!! Dontcha just love my write-as-I-research-so-the-research-is-right mode of posting on this blog?!! Hey, I'm Self Indulging much as Old Scrooge did...just a bit more lavishly!! By the way, Jacob Marley is portrayed by Alec Guinness in an Obi Wan Is Dead and Comes Back To Help Luke kinda role...think about it, those of you who are following along!!
Then there's the George C. Scott version that I think I saw once but don't own....and Jim Carrey's version and a couple of other modern remakes that won't be showing up at the Grey Havens anytime in this millennium. And what would I say of those versions? Why, "Bah, Humbug!!" of course!! ;p
We've already watched 'Scrooged' starring Bill Murray as part of our Christmas List Movies, so that one's not on the list; unless, of course, some visitor specifically requests it...
So, what's my point? In the loosest sense of the phrase, Old Scrooge had a conversion experience in which he, to quote damned (as in gone-to-Hell, not just blasphemed) Jacob Marley, "could be saved." I won't belabor this point, since you've already 'heard it before' no doubt. However, have you ever thought that the Ghost of Christmas Future might be as close to you as he recently was to Christopher Hitchins, the famous atheist? Think on't as you go a-wassailing!
Got Humbug?!
No comments:
Post a Comment