In recent days, I've listened to many radio productions of "A Christmas Carol," many of which I'd never heard before. All of them were enjoyable in their own ways. Some thoughts I had while listening:
- If you sound like you're about to break into an evil guffaw when saying, "Old Marley was as dead as a doornail," you aren't reading the line properly. Also, there's no need to elongate the syllables of doornail. The line isn't, "Old Marley was as dead as a dooooornaaaaail," as I heard in one production.
- Three productions I heard emphasized how delicious sage and onions were to the Cratchit family. I've never considered them essential Christmas dinner ingredients, but more power to those who do.
- Even if your production has no time limit, it's tedious to list every food served at Old Fezziwig's Christmas party or all the fruits of generosity that surround the Ghost Of Christmas Present when he appears initially.
- It impressed me that one production was surprisingly captivating with only five actors playing up to seven characters apiece. Not just anyone can pull off voices of both genders and all ages convincingly.
- The oldest production I heard was from 1931. The radio station's announcer said it was the oldest known radio production of "A Christmas Carol." I had no idea who the actors were, but they impressed me. I'm not sure why I was slightly surprised. After all, just because radio was relatively new then, people still had acting chops 90 years ago, and the Charles Dickens story holds up in any era.
- It's appropriate that the "Campbell Playhouse" version of the story has survived for so many decades and is the radio production of "A Christmas Carol" I've heard most, by far. Lionel Barrymore conveyed Ebenezer Scrooge's cantankerousness more convincingly than any other radio actor I've heard. It's no wonder KMOX plays that version every year.
