''The Christmas Carol'' is a 1949 low-budget, black and white television special narrated by

Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wal ...

. Compressing

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

' classic 1843 story into a half-hour, it is stated to be "the oldest extant straight adaptation of the story" for television.Fred Guida, ''A Christmas Carol and Its Adaptations: A Critical Examination of Dickens's Story and Its Productions On Screen and Television'', McFarland & Company, 2000, , p. 179
Excerpt available
at

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

. It was originally produced as a syndicated production for airing on 22 stations across the United States on Christmas Day in 1949. It was sponsored by

Magnavox Magnavox (Latin for "great voice", stylized as MAGNAVOX) is an American electronics company that since 1974 has been a subsidiary of the Dutch electronics corporation Philips. The predecessor to Magnavox was founded in 1911 by Edwin Pridham and ...

and represented that company's first use of television advertising. In 1952, the show was acquired by Consolidated Television Sales for further syndication. The production is considered primitive by modern standards; it is also noted for misspelling Ebenezer Scrooge's name as "Ebeneezer" in the opening credits. The cast is led by

Taylor Holmes Taylor Holmes (May 16, 1878 – September 30, 1959) was an American actor who appeared in over 100 Broadway plays in his five-decade career. However, he is probably best remembered for his screen performances, which he began in silent films in ...

as Scrooge and includes an early appearance by

Jill St. John Jill St. John (born Jill Arlyn Oppenheim; August 19, 1940) is a retired American actress. She may be best known for playing Tiffany Case, the first American Bond girl of the 007 franchise, in '' Diamonds Are Forever''. Additional performances i ...

, then age 9 and billed as Jill Oppenheim, who plays one of the Cratchit daughters."The Christmas Carol (1949): Review"
''Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film and Television'' (accessed 2012-01-21). The director was Arthur Pierson.

References

External links

* Television shows based on A Christmas Carol American Christmas television specials {{Christmas-tv-film-stub

See also

References

External links