''Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol'' is a 1962 animated

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

holiday A holiday is a day or other period of time set aside for festivals or recreation. ''Public holidays'' are set by public authorities and vary by state or region. Religious holidays are set by religious organisations for their members and are often ...

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

produced by UPA. It is an adaptation of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

' 1843 novella ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...

'', and it features UPA's character Mr. Magoo as

Ebenezer Scrooge Ebenezer Scrooge () is a fictional character and the protagonist of Charles Dickens's 1843 novel, ''A Christmas Carol''. Initially a cold-hearted miser who despises Christmas, his redemption by visits from the ghost of Jacob Marley, the G ...

. The special first aired on December 18, 1962, on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

and was the first animated Christmas special to be produced specifically for television.

Jim Backus James Gilmore Backus (February 25, 1913 – July 3, 1989) was an American actor. Among his most famous roles were Thurston Howell III on the 1960s sitcom ''Gilligan's Island,'' the father of James Dean's character in '' Rebel Without a Cause, ...

provides the voice of Magoo, with additional voices provided by

Paul Frees Solomon Hersh Frees (June 22, 1920November 2, 1986), better known as Paul Frees, was an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and vaudevillian. He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass and Walt Disney the ...

Morey Amsterdam Moritz Amsterdam (December 14, 1908 – October 28, 1996) was an American actor, comedian, writer and producer. Between 1948 and 1950, he hosted his own TV sitcom ''The Morey Amsterdam Show''. He played Buddy Sorrell on CBS's ''The Dick V ...

Joan Gardner Joan Gardner may refer to: * Joan Gardner (British actress) (1914–1999), British actress * Joan Gardner (voice actress) (1926–1992), American actress * Joan Gardner (Broadway actress) (1903–?), Broadway actress and chorus girl * Joan Gard ...

, and

Jack Cassidy John Joseph Edward Cassidy (March 5, 1927 – December 12, 1976) was an American actor, singer and theatre director. He received multiple Tony Award nominations and a win, as well as a Grammy Award, for his work on the Broadway production of th ...

. The special is directed by Abe Levitow and features songs composed by

Jule Styne Jule Styne ( ; born Julius Kerwin Stein; December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was an English-American songwriter and composer widely known for a series of Broadway theatre, Broadway musical theatre, musicals, including several famous frequ ...

, with lyrics by

Bob Merrill Henry Robert Merrill Levan (May 17, 1921 – February 17, 1998) was an American songwriter, theatrical composer, lyricist, and screenwriter. Merrill was one of the most successful songwriters of the 1950s on the US and UK single charts. His ...

, while

Walter Scharf Walter Scharf (August 1, 1910 – February 24, 2003) was an American musician, best known as a film, television and concert composer and arranger/conductor. Biography Broadway theatre Born in Manhattan, he was the son of Yiddish theatre comic Be ...

arranged and conducted the orchestral score.

Plot

Mr. Magoo is heading to a theater on Broadway, where he is starring as Ebenezer Scrooge in a musical production based on ''A Christmas Carol''. Due to Magoo's nearsightedness, he arrives 30 minutes late and accidentally injures the director ("It's Great to Be Back on Broadway"). Scrooge is a miserly money lender in Victorian London on Christmas Eve, counting money while his clerk

Bob Cratchit Robert "Bob" Cratchit is a fictional character in the Charles Dickens 1843 novel ''A Christmas Carol''. The overworked, underpaid clerk of Ebenezer Scrooge, Cratchit has come to symbolise the poor working conditions, especially long working hou ...

is underpaid and has no coal for his fire ("Ringle, Ringle"). After rudely refusing two men who ask him for a donation to charity, Scrooge reluctantly allows Cratchit to take the holiday off. Scrooge goes home and gets ready for bed, but is visited by the ghost of his business partner

Jacob Marley Jacob Marley is a fictional character in Charles Dickens's 1843 novella ''A Christmas Carol''. Marley has died seven years ago, and was a former business partner of the miser Ebenezer Scrooge, the novella's protagonist.Hawes, Donal''Who's Who i ...

, who has been dead for seven years. Marley is bound in heavy chains due to his misdeeds in life and warns Scrooge that he risks the same fate unless he heeds the advice of three spirits who will visit him over the course of the night. The

Ghost of Christmas Present The Ghost of Christmas Present is a fictional character in Charles Dickens' 1843 novella ''A Christmas Carol''. The Ghost is one of three spirits that appear to miser Ebenezer Scrooge to offer him a chance of Redemption (theology), redemption. ...

visits Scrooge first and takes him to observe Cratchit and his family, who are counting their blessings despite their poor situation ("The Lord's Bright Blessing"). The Ghost warns Scrooge that Cratchit's young son Tiny Tim, who is sickly, will not survive to next Christmas if things do not change. The

Ghost of Christmas Past The Ghost of Christmas Past is a fictional character in Charles Dickens' 1843 novella ''A Christmas Carol''. The Ghost is one of three spirits that appear to miser Ebenezer Scrooge to offer him a chance of redemption. Following a visit from t ...

visits Scrooge next and takes him back to his boyhood, where Scrooge was a lonely schoolboy ("Alone in the World"). The Ghost also shows him Belle, a woman whom Scrooge, as a young man, had been courting; the moments he sees are those in which she sadly explains that she is leaving him due to his greed for money ("Winter Was Warm"). Scrooge encounters the Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come and is shown a vision of the future, where an unloved man has recently died. Scrooge sees his

charwoman Charwoman, chargirl, charlady and char are occupational terms referring to a paid part-time worker who comes into a house or other building to clean it for a few hours of a day or week, as opposed to a maid, who usually lives as part of the ho ...

, his

laundress A washerwoman or laundress is a woman who takes in laundry. Both terms are now old-fashioned; equivalent work nowadays is done by a laundry worker in large commercial premises, or a laundrette (laundromat) attendant, who helps with handling wa ...

, and the local

undertaker A funeral director, also known as an undertaker or mortician (American English), is a professional who has licenses in funeral arranging and embalming (or preparation of the deceased) involved in the business of funeral rites. These tasks o ...

sell his belongings to a

fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or net (textile), netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its ...

named Old Joe ("We're Despicable (Plunderer's March)"). Scrooge begs to be shown "tenderness connected with death", but discovers that Tiny Tim has died. The Ghost takes Scrooge to a cemetery and shows him his own grave, revealing that this deceased man is him. Scrooge realizes in anguish that he has spent his life poorly, and repents ("Alone in the World (Reprise)"). Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning with a renewed purpose. He meets the two men from the previous day and makes a generous donation, then anonymously sends Cratchit a Christmas turkey. He later visits Cratchit to give him a raise in pay and help nurse Tiny Tim back to health, and shares Christmas together with them ("The Lord's Bright Blessing (Reprise)"). The musical concludes and the audience applauds. Magoo brings the director out on stage, but the stage's props, lights and scenery fall on him. Magoo proudly exclaims "Oh, Magoo, you've done it again, and by George, I've brought down the house!" and wishes both his audience and the television audience a

Merry Christmas The Christmas season or the festive season, also known as the holiday season or the holidays, is an annual period generally spanning from November or December to early January. Incorporating Christmas Day and New Year's Day, the various celebrat ...

Cast

as Mr. Magoo/

** Marie Matthews as young Ebenezer Scrooge, Cratchit Daughter (singing) *

as Brady, James *

as Bob Cratchit, Dick Wilkins *

Royal Dano Royal Edward Dano Sr. (November 16, 1922 – May 15, 1994) was an American actor. In a career spanning 46 years, he was perhaps best known for playing cowboys, villains, and Abraham Lincoln. Dano also provided the voice of the Audio-Animatronic ...

, Old Joe (singing) *

as Charity Man, Fezziwig, Old Joe (speaking), the Undertaker, Stage Director *

as Tiny Tim,

, Charwoman * John Hart as Billings, Stage Manager, Milkman * Jane Kean as Belle * Laura Olsher as Mrs. Cratchit, Laundress, Cratchit Daughter (speaking), Peter Cratchit, Turkey Boy *

Les Tremayne Lester Tremayne (16 April 1913 – 19 December 2003) was a British-born American actor who performed in Vaudeville, film, theatre, radio and television. Early life Tremayne was born in Balham, London. He moved with his family at the age o ...

Songs

#"It's Great to Be Back on Broadway" #"It's Great to Be Back on Broadway (Reprise)" #"Ringle, Ringle" #"The Lord's Bright Blessing" #"Alone in the World" #"Winter Was Warm" #"We're Despicable (Plunderer's March)" #"Alone in the World (Reprise)" #"Ringle, Ringle (Reprise)" #"The Lord's Bright Blessing (Reprise)" #"Winter Was Warm (End Credits)"

Background

''Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol'' was produced by UPA in its last days as an animation studio, following its acquisition by Henry G. Saperstein. UPA later produced a television series titled '' The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo'', in which Magoo portrayed other literary characters. The series ended soon after as UPA was unable to mass-produce cartoons for television. It fills an hour-long time slot, as opposed to half an hour, which is different from most animated Christmas specials. The special depicts the visits of the ghosts in a different order than the book, with the Ghost of Christmas Present appearing before Past. Tiny Tim resembles UPA's character Gerald McBoing-Boing The special was rerun on NBC throughout the Christmas season until 1969. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, it aired on local stations in syndication during the Christmas season, in the 1990s, it aired on the

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

and

USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...

, and in the 2000s, it aired on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

with the entire song "Winter Was Warm" removed ("The Lord's Bright Blessing" replaced its reprised version for the end credits) and other sequences trimmed for time. Me-TV brought it back to broadcast television in 2011. NBC aired the special again in 2012, with scenes depicting Magoo in the

framing device A frame story (also known as a frame tale, frame narrative, sandwich narrative, or intercalation) is a literary technique that serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, where an introductory or main narrative sets the stage either fo ...

cut in order to make room for commercials.

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

subsequently acquired the broadcast rights to the special; the original special aired in its entirety in 2014, but the NBC version aired the following year. Distribution rights to the special are currently held by

NBCUniversal Television Distribution NBCUniversal Syndication Studios (a.k.a. NUSS), formerly known as NBCUniversal Television Distribution (a.k.a. NUTD), Universal Domestic Television, Studios USA Television Distribution and MCA TV (stylized as NBCUniversal SYNDICATION STUDIOS) is t ...

following parent company

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

's acquisition of its holder Classic Media, which was renamed

DreamWorks Classics DreamWorks Classics is an American entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation, a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded as Classic Media in 2000 by Eric Ellenboge ...

. When it premiered on Freeform on December 13, 2022, several sequences were edited out, including the song "We're Despicable (Plunderers' March) and Magoo & Cratchett's duet on "Ringle Ringle".

Home media

The special was first released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, and stylized as the Greek letter Beta, β in its logo) is a discontinued consumer analog Videotape, video cassette recording format developed by Sony. It was one of the main competitors in the videotape format war ag ...

, and

LaserDisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...

in 1982 by

Paramount Home Video Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, originally Paramount Home Video, and operating as the namesake film studio since 2022) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures. The division oversees Para ...

on behalf of UPA. The VHS was re-released in 1988 and 1994. The special later made its

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

debut in 2001 by Goodtimes Home Video and had multiple re-releases on the format. On November 16, 2010, it was released on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

. Most media are labeled as "Mr. Magoo," though many online resources spell out his name as "Mister Magoo."

Reception

Thomas Vinciguerra for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' praised the special and gave it a 4.5 out of 5, saying "not merely a superior musical version, it is a pioneer among animated Christmas traditions."

In popular culture

Clips from the special were seen on television monitors in ''

Scrooged ''Scrooged'' is a 1988 American Christmas fantasy black comedy film directed by Richard Donner and written by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue. Based on the 1843 novella ''A Christmas Carol'' by Charles Dickens, ''Scrooged'' is a modern re ...

''.

Animal Collective Animal Collective is an American experimental pop band formed in Baltimore County, Maryland. Its members consist of Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Geologist (Brian Weitz), and Deakin (Josh Dibb). The band's work is cha ...

's 2000 debut album '' Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished'' is named for one of Scrooge's lines in the special. In the ''

Hill Street Blues ''Hill Street Blues'' is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the Metropolitan Police Department staff ...

'' episode
Santaclaustrophobia
a clip is seen playing on the television in Sgt. Mick Belker's apartment. The special was parodied as "Mr. McGrew's Christmas Carol" in ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'' 2003 episode 'Tis the Fifteenth Season". The special was shown in the Christmas movie ''

Surviving Christmas ''Surviving Christmas'' is a 2004 American romantic comedy film directed by Mike Mitchell, written by Harry Elfont, Deborah Kaplan, Jennifer Ventimilia, and Joshua Sternin, based on a story by Elfont and Kaplan. It stars Ben Affleck, James ...

''. In the 2001 pilot episode of '' Six Feet Under'', Claire Fisher (

Lauren Ambrose Lauren Ambrose (born February 20, 1978) is an American actress. Ambrose gained recognition and critical acclaim for her starring role as Claire Fisher in the HBO drama series '' Six Feet Under'' (2001–2005), for which she was nominated for tw ...

) watches a clip from the special. In the 1988 Christmas episode of the television series "Wonder Years", set in 1968, Kevin sees a bank of color TV sets all displaying a scene from the special.

Stage adaptation

In 2014, the Actors Fund produced a one night only semi-staged live adaptation of the special at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College. Among the cast included

Douglas Sills Douglas Howard Sills (born July 5, 1960) is an American actor and singer. He made his professional stage acting debut with principal roles in the national tours of ''Into the Woods'' and ''The Secret Garden''. He is most well-known for his lead ...

as Scrooge, Joshua Henry as Bob Cratchit, and Betsy Wolfe as Belle. Musical direction was by John McDaniel, who helped adapt

's original orchestrations. Five years later, the Actors Fund once again staged the show at the same theater, this time with

Gavin Lee Gavin Lee is an English actor who has appeared on the stage in musical theatre, playing Bert in the musical ''Mary Poppins'', in both the West End and on Broadway, and Squidward Tentacles in the original Broadway cast of ''SpongeBob SquareP ...

as Scrooge, Clifton Duncan as Bob Cratchit, and Sierra Boggess as Belle.

References

External links

''Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol''
on

Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

.
''Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol''
on JuleStyne.com.

on

Big Cartoon Database The Big Cartoon DataBase (or BCDB for short) was an online database of information about animated cartoons, animated feature films, animated television shows, and cartoon shorts. The BCDB project began in 1997 as a list of Disney animated f ...

''Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol: The Making of the First Animated Christmas Special'', by Darrell Van Citters

''Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol'' on Popdose.Com
{{Mr. Magoo 1962 children's films 1962 television specials 1960s American television specials 1960s animated television specials NBC television specials Animated films based on A Christmas Carol Christmas television specials Television shows based on A Christmas Carol Mr. Magoo 1960s American animated films 1960s Christmas films 1960s children's animated films Television shows about ghosts American Christmas films 1962 films Films directed by Abe Levitow Films scored by Walter Scharf UPA films American Christmas television specials Animated Christmas television specials 1962 animated short films