Rich Little’s Christmas Carol, 1978

A bit of frivolity today as Rich Little’s Christmas Carol takes the spotlight. This version has the greatest all-star cast that never was. It is master impressionist Rich Little portraying all the characters of A Christmas Carol. Developed from an early routine, this expanded one-hour special was a CBC production airing on HBO in 1978. It wasn’t until the special was a few years old when I saw it for the first time; HBO was a real extravagance in my background then so it was something I patiently long waited to see. My current copy is still the original VHS.

So what we have are what I call “characters in character”

W.C. Fields as Scrooge, Paul Lynde as Bob Cratchit, Johnny Carson as Fred, Richard Nixon as Marley, Humphrey Bogart as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Peter Falk (as his TV detective character, Columbo) is the Ghost of Christmas Present, and Peter Sellers (as Inspector Clouseau) playing the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

There is also Jean Stapleton (as Edith Bunker) as Mrs. Cratchit, Truman Capote as Tiny Tim (including white hat and rose sunglasses), Groucho Marx as Fezziwig, Laurel and Hardy as the charity solicitors, James Stewart as Dick Wilkins, with James Mason, George Burns and John Wayne appearing as three businessmen, and finally Jack Benny (with Benny’s trademarked bad violin playing) is the boy that buys the turkey for Scrooge. There is an imitated voice of Dean Martin at the end. Rich Little is himself as the narrator.

This is close to a one-man show. The only lines not delivered by Little are a few done by real children playing the Cratchit children. Street scenes and Fezziwig’s Ball have non-speaking extras.

I’m no judge at seeing things through whatever contemporary tastes are, but I imagine this can appear dated to some and Little might be an acquired taste. I grew up seeing Rich Little frequently on television, so there is a nostalgic aspect just with Little. Despite the dated humor and sometimes-corny jokes, this is an enjoyable diversion.

One would expect that in a romp where impersonated celebrities are playing Dickens’ characters, the storyline would fall apart or become a very bad variation. What’s nice about this version is, despite the concept, it actually stays true to A Christmas Carol! Of course it’s truncated due to time constraints, but it’s a full helping.

As previously mentioned, the Dickens characters take on traits of the impersonated characters portraying them. The fourth wall is often broken to get in the jokes as the various characters in character.

Still hilarious is the appearance of Pres. Nixon as Marley’s Ghost weighed down not by chains but audiotapes!

The scenes in the Past become musical numbers. Fezziwig’s appearance in the past is done with the Groucho Marx Fezziwig doing a very “Groucho” number, chasing the ladies. Dick Wilkins (Jimmy Stewart) and Young Scrooge do a song together.

This is one of the rare turns that presents a talking Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. This Ghost, as Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau, is a clumsy, falling spirit. This is the only impersonation I think where Little is weak, not sounding much like Clousuau.

Even though I think a bit of the humor is dated or occasionally corny (and I’m NOT indicating it’s bad!) it also has bits that are still funny. My favorite lines with “Yet to Come” follows:

Ghost: “You are selfish. You have never lifted a finger to help anyone!”

Scrooge: “No, no! That’s isn’t true, either. I’ve given many people who need my help the finger.”

For whatever reason in my own weird sensibilities, I always liked the line near the end where Scrooge, referring to the Truman Capote Tiny Tim, says to Cratchit:

“…and that boy of yours, we’ll see to it that he becomes a novelist.”

This may not be to everyone’s taste and more contemporary viewers may not like it at all. Even though it stays faithful to its source, I’ve always found it the easiest way to keep it enjoyable is by simultaneously approaching this as a Rich Little showcase for his talent. But it’s still a version of A Christmas Carol and serves as a small fix when needing variety.