But the relentless Spirit pinioned him in both his arms, and forced him to observe what happened next.
They were in another scene and place: a room, not very large or handsome, but full of comfort. Near to the winter fire sat a beautiful young girl, so like the last that Scrooge believed it was the same, until he saw HER, now a comely matron, sitting opposite her daughter. The noise in this room was perfectly tumultuous, for there were more children there, than Scrooge in his agitated state of mind could count; and, unlike the celebrated herd in the poem, they were not forty children conducting themselves like one, but every child was conducting itself like forty. The consequences were uproarious beyond belief; but no one seemed to care; on the contrary, the mother and daughter laughed heartily, and enjoyed it very much; and the latter, soon beginning to mingle in the sports, got pillaged by the young brigands most ruthlessly. What would I not have given to be one of them! Though I could never have been so rude, no no! I wouldn’t for all the wealth of the world have crushed that braided hair, and torn it down; and for the precious ;little shoe, I wouldn’t have plucked it off, God bless my soul! To save my life. As to measuring her waist in sport, as they did, bold young brood, I couldn’t have done it; I should have expected my arm to have grown round it doe a punishment, and never come straight again. And yet I should have dearly liked, I own, to have touched her lips; to Have questioned her, that she might have opened them; to have looked upon the lashes of her downcast eyes, ad ever raised a blush; to have let loose waves of hair, a inch of which would be a keepsake beyond price: in short, I should have liked, I do confess, to have had the lightest license of a child, and yet been man enough to know its value.
But now a knocking at the door was heard, and such a rush immediately ensued that she with laughing face and plundered dress was borne towards it the centre of a flushed and boisterous group, just in time to greet the father, who came home attended by a man laden with Christmas toys and presents. Then the shouting and the struggling, and the onslaught that was made on the defenceless porter! The scaling him with chairs for ladders, to dive into his pockets, despoil him of brown-paper parcels, hold on tight by his cravat, hug him round the neck, pummel his back, and kick his legs in irresponsible affection! The shouts of wonder and delight with which the development of every package was received! The terrible announcement that the baby had been taken in the act of putting a doll’s frying-pan into his mouth, and was more than suspected of having swallowed a fictitious turkey, glued on a wooden platter! The immense relief on finding this a false alarm! The joy, and gratitude, and ecstasy! They are all indescribable alike. It is enough that by degrees the children and their emotions got out of the parlor and by one stair at a time, on to the top of the house; where they went to bed, and so subsided.
And now Scrooge looked on more attentively than ever, when the master of the house, having his daughter leaning fondly on him, sat down with her and her mother at his own fireside; and when he thought that such another creature, quite as graceful and full of promise, might have called him father, and been a spring-time in the haggard winter of his life, his sight grew very dim indeed.
“Belle,” said the husband, turning to his wife with a smile, “I saw an old friend of yours this afternoon.”
“Who was it?”
“Guess!”
“How can I? Tut, don’t I know?” she added in the dame breath, laughing as he laughed, “Mr. Scrooge.”
:Mr. Scrooge it was. I passed his office window, and as it was not shut up, and he had a candle inside, I could scarcely help seeing him. His partner lies upon the point of death, I hear; and there he sat alone. Quire alone in the world, I do believe.”
“Spirit!” said Scrooge in a broken voice, “remove me from this place.”
“I told you these were the shadows of the things that have been,” said the Ghost. “That they are what they are, do not blame me!”
“Remove me!” Scrooge exclaimed, “I cannot bear it!”
He turned upon the Ghost, and seeing that it looked upon him with a face, in which in some way there were fragment of all the faces it had shown him, wrestled with it.
“Leave me! Take me back! Haunt me no longer!”
In the struggle, if that can be called a struggle in which the Ghost with no apparent resistance on its own part was undisturbed by any effort of its adversary, Scrooge observed that its light was burning high and bright; and dimly connecting that with its influence over him, he seized on the extinguisher-cap, and by a sudden action pressed it down upon its head.
The Spirit dropped beneath it, so that the extinguisher covered its whole form; but though Scrooge pressed it down with all his force, he could not hide the light: which streamed from under it, in an unbroken flood upon the ground.
He was conscious of being exhausted, and overcome by an irresistible drowsiness; and, further, of being in his own bedroom. He gave the cap a parting squeeze, on which his hand relaxed; and had barely time to reel to bed, before he sank into a heavy sleep.
Young Dickens indulges himself here. You get a touch of personal history (he wrote elsewhere of being the baby who actually did swallow part of his older sister’s toy kitchen), a glimpse of his romantic fancies, and his conviction that a truly jolly Christmas involved being surrounded by as many children as one could muster. Belle, named here for the first time, is celebrating what Dickens regarded as a perfect family Christmas, though she has married someone nowhere near as affluent as Ebenezer Scrooge.
Very little of this achieves screen time. Belle’s lookalike daughter turns up nowhere; only Hicks and Scott bother with this vision of the later Belle at all. (Sim I’s “Alice” does reappear, but in a vision with Christmas Present, as we shall see later.) The others prefer to end the visions of this Spirit with having Scrooge so distraught at the breakup with Belle that he ends the visit.
Hicks comes as close as anyone to Dickens’s version. Belle has at least a dozen children, who dance around two Christmas trees, singing “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush”. (This song, more a British than an American tradition, does turn up in other Carols.) When their father appears, his pockets are plundered. Then he and Belle discuss the old friend he saw; she grows solemn as he discusses the lone Scrooge in the office. When her husband delivers the line about being all alone in the world, she kissed him. Scrooge orders the Ghost to haunt hi no more. The Ghost replies, “These are the shadows of the things that have been; that they are what they are, do not blame me!” Scrooge lowers an arm violently in the direction of the Ghost. We then see Scrooge snuffing out a candle in his own bedroom. He lies back on the bed.
Owen argues with the Ghost, who now promises to show him the “black years” of his life, and how he grew into a clutching, ungrateful creature. He appears to extinguish her light by grabbing her skirt and throwing it over her head. “I can’t stand more!” He wakes clutching his bedclothes and drops back onto his pillow.
Sim I covers his face, crying “No no no!” He finds himself saying it in bed.
In March, the Ghost simply fades from sight while Scrooge is looking elsewhere. When he realizes she has disappeared, meaning he has basically lost Belle a second time, he opens the shutters and backs through the window into his bedroom crying “No more! No more!”
Rathbone and the Ghost have returned to Scrooge’s place. “Leave me!” “I told you that these are the shadows of the things that have been. Do not blame me that they were what they were.” With a hand on Scrooge’s shoulder, he disappears.
Magoo cries “Show me no more!” The Ghost replies, “One shadow more.” They stand alone on a featureless plain; Scrooge goes on begging to see no more. The Ghost seems disgusted by this groveling and finally rises into the sky, laughing as though she really does delight to torture him. He is left all alone on the plain to await the next Spirit (who, if you recall, will be the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.)
Haddrick rises with the Ghost and returns to his own room. “Have you learned anything this night?” “Only that as a youth I was an irresponsible fool. You’ve made me regret it and Im grateful.” The Spirit, furious, thumps his crozier on the floor and vanishes. “Ghosts?” Scrooge snaps, “Bah!”
Sim II is told that these are the shadow of things that were, and begins to struggle with the Ghost, forcing the cap down over her. The Ghost shrinks into the cap and vanishes in his hands.
Finney, having pled, “Spirit, remove me from this place!”, is sitting in his bed, clutching his pillow.
In Matthau, we cut to a splitscreen vision of young Scrooge in his office, and a weeping Belle outside. Waves crash to represent the passage of time. Ebenezer ages into the Scrooge we’ve been watching; Belle becomes a thin-faced, despondent old woman in a shabby gray gown, who finally turns her face away from us. Scrooge cries, “I cannot bear it! Haunt me no longer!” He grabs up the cap and shoves it down over the Ghost. Then we watch hi snuff his bedside candle. Lest we think he has dreamed all this, B.A.H. Humbug from the window ledge, exclaims, “My word! How did he get back?”
McDuck sees rain coursing down the windows. He begs to be taken home; he cannot bear these memories. The Ghost tells him, “Remember, Scrooge: you fashioned these memories yourself.” He comes to in his bedroom, demanding, “Why was I so foolish?”
In Scott, we see Belle walking outdoors with a baby. The camera pulls back to show us four older children, who demand that she come admire their snowman. Shortly thereafter, we see four MORE children building another snowman. Their father, apparently rather well-to-do, arrives in a carriage. The children run to him, demanding their presents. While he reminds them that they must wait, Scrooge exclaims, “What a brood! Fancy! They might have been mine.” The Ghost notes smugly that she has thought of that as well. Belle’s husband dares her to guess whom he has seen; laughing, she guesses correctly. He describes Scrooge in the office, “a single candle on his desk.” Belle’s expression goes all tragic; she sighs “Poor Ebenezer! Poor wretched man!” “Spare me your pity,” snaps Scrooge, “I have no need of it.” The Ghost, grinning, reminds him that they can’t hear him. He turns on her, telling her he has seen enough of her “pictures from the past.” “Truth lives,” she tells him, over and over. Smoke erupts as he forces the cap down over her; she vanishes completely, and he finds he is growling as he wrings a bit of his bedroom carpet. “A nightmare. A horrible nightmare.” He crawls exhausted into bed. “Oh, God, let me sleep. Let me sleep in peace.”
Caine is told that these are the shadows of things that were, and that they are what they are, do not blame the Ghost. “Leave me,” he orders. He list left alone on the bridge where Ebenezer ad Belle parted, which becomes his bed. Dickens tells us that “Scrooge was left alone and exhausted.”
Curry cries, “Don’t show me any more!” “I told you: these are the shadows of the things that have passed; don’t go blamin’ me for your choices.” “Why are you torturing me like this, Spirit! Leave me alone, please! Take me back home! Haunt me no longer!” He finds himself pulling at his bedclothes. “Crying in your sleep,” he snorts. “Thickheaded old ninny.” He shouts at the spirits that he will take no more of this (I thought he’d decided it was a dream) and goes back to bed.
Stewart is standing on the stairs to his apartment; he turns to order the Ghost, “Haunt me no longer!” The Ghost shakes its head. Scrooge, rushing back down the stairs, seizes the cap and thrusts it down over the unresisting Ghost. It is a difficult struggle all the same; just when it seems Scrooge has won, and the cap has been forced all the way over the Ghost, the light streams out brighter than ever. Scrooge throws his hands up before his face, and wakes back in bed.
FUSS FUSS FUSS #11: Songs of the Scrooge
What good is a carol without music? A movie needs background at least: ominous chords as Scrooge mount the stairs to his rooms, dance music for the Fezziwig party, and so forth. Many early Scrooges made do with songs involving no royalties: “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” or “Gid Rest ye Merry, Gentlemen,” say, or, in the case of Hicks, “The Mistletoe Bough”. Nowadays even a nonmusical Scrooge requires a theme song to run under the opening and closing credits.
Musical versions do their best to translate the mood and action into song, succeeding to various degrees. March’s songs, for example, are all by the legendary Bernard Herrman. As it happens, though, Herrman was not legendary for writing SONGS, but for his suspenseful and spooky background music. Further, a number of these songs had to be written for the Robert Shaw Chorale. You either like choral music or you find it tedious. (Their best is the opening number, on the street outside Scrooge & Marley’s.)
Jule Styne WAS legendary for his songs, and the numbers he wrote for the Magoo Carol are sprightly, easy to listen to, and contribute much to the overall bright tone of this version. In the number which is repeated most in the soundtrack, he managed to produce a love song (similar to Meredith Willson’s similar achievement in The Music Man) which can double as a march elsewhere in the show.
Haddrick is not a musical Scrooge, but without warning gives us one scene delivered as a musical duet. This is a not unpleasant recitative, but since there is little but background music in the rest of the film, one does wonder how it got there, and whether it isn’t trying to find a way out.
Finney’s songs are hearty, as one might expect from the crowd that also gave us “Oliver!” It was nominated for an Oscar for Best original Score, and oe of the songs, “Thank You Very Much”, was nominated for Best Original Song. This is one of the most exuberantly musical of Scrooges.
Matthau’s songs come from an earlier television version of the same script, but were shortened to fit into the lesser running time allowed for a cartoon. This is a pity, since you not only lose a little of each song, but there seem to be a LOT of them crowded together by the abridging of the non-musical dialogue. The songs are infectious, nearly as bright as Magoo’s numbers.
McDuck was not a musical, but does have a pleasant theme song which, with the right push, could become a minor Christmas standard. Similarly, Scott includes a song about Scrooge which runs under the opening credits, is sung by the street choir Scrooge pushes through, and is even echoed by the chiming watch (repeater) by his bed. It has the same lush feel as the rest of the production.
Caine’s songs are delivered with gusto. Composed by Paul Williams, they include hits as well as misses. They have been criticized: apparently people who do not like Muppets also dislike Paul Williams songs.
Curry’s songs display a certain spirit, and are certainly well-meaning. But they all seem to have wandered in from different Broadway musicals.
There are other uses of music which we will consider later (The Ghost of Christmas Present often includes a montage set to some Christmas standard.) But for now, here follows a list of Scrooge songs. Those I feel are particularly worthy of your notice are marked with an asterisk. (My criterion for this is how likely I am to find myself humming the tune the next day.)
A.Theme Songs
A Christmas Carol (Finney)
A Christmas carol (Matthau)
God Bless Us, Every One (Scott)
Sing a Christmas Carol (Curry)
B.A Clutching, Covetous old Sinner
*Ringle Ringle/ It’s Cold (Magoo; note some of the rhymes)
Spirit of Christmas/Christmas is Humbug (Haddrick)
*I Hate People (Finney; even more amazing rhymes)
When You Say Merry Christmas I Say Humbug (Matthau)
C.Mocking Old Scrooge
*Father Christmas (Finney)
*Nr. Humbug (Caine)
*The Stingiest Man in Town (Matthau)
D.Merry Christmas
*A Very Merry Christmas (March)
The Spirit of Christmas (March)
*This Shall Be Our Christmas Tree (March)
*December the 25th (Finney)
*An Old-Fashioned Christmas (Matthau)
*Listen to the Song of the Christmas Spirit (Matthau)
One More Sleep ‘til Christmas (Caine)
*It Feels Like Christmas (Caine)
*Oh, What a Merry Christmas Day (McDuck)
Christmas Children (Finney)
E.Songs of Love/Disappointed Love
What Shall I give My Lad/Girl for Christmas (March)
Winter Was Warm (Magoo)
Happiness (Finney)
You…You… (Finney)
Golden Dreams (Matthau)
It Might Have Been (Matthau)
The Love is Gone (Caine; a slightly hipper version, played over the closing credits, seems to be “WHEN Love Is Gone”
F. God Bless Us, Every One
God Bless Us, Every One (March)
The Beautiful Day (Finney)
*Bless Us All (Caine)
G.Other Characters
I Wear a Chain (Matthau; Marley and the wandering Spirits)
See the Phantoms (Finney; The wandering Spirits)
All Alone In the World (Magoo; Young Scrooge)
When Shadows Fall (Curry; Young Scrooge)
“The Lord’s Bright Blessing/Razzleberry Dressing (Magoo: The Cratchits)
Marley and Marley (Caine: The Marley Brothers)
One Little Boy (Matthau; Tiny Tim)
*We’re Despicable (Magoo; The Ragpickers)
H,Scrooge Reformed
I Like Life (Finney)
I’ll Begin Again (Finney)
Mankind Should Be My Business (Matthau)
With a Thankful Heart (Caine)
I,And So Forth
Great to Be Back on Broadway (Magoo)
*Thank You Very Much (Finney)
Yes, There Is a Santa Claus (Matthau)
Santa Claus (March)
*Santa’s Sooty Suit (Curry)
*Birthday Party of a King (Matthau)
Random Acts of Kindness (Curry)
Blogsy Babbles 