Mr Magoo's Christmas Carol returns to TV

[Lzcutter]

For many of us of a certain age, it wasn't officially the holiday season until Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Have a holly, jolly Christmas), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (All the Whos down in Whoville loved Christmas alot, but the Grinch who lived just north of Whoville did not), A Charley Brown Christmas (I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love.) and, of course, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (Ringle, ringle, coins when they jingle, make such a lovely sound. Give them away and nobody can rob you) graced our television screens (back in the day of only three networks and no home video).

In fact, Magoo's Christmas Carol was the first of them to be produced.

Rudolph, the Grinch and Charley Brown (and the gang) still play each holiday season but Mr. Magoo's telling of Dicken's Christmas classic hasn't been on network television in more years than I can remember.

Well, this year, NBC is going to remedy that by showing the optically challenged one's version of a Christmas Carol. It airs this Saturday night, Dec. 22nd, at 8:00 pm

From the NY Times:

Don’t misunderstand. It’s practically impossible to mess up Charles Dickens’s archetypal yuletide yarn, but there are so many versions (with Reginald Owen, Alastair Sim, Albert Finney, George C. Scott, etc., etc.). In that frenzied stretch between Black Friday and Christmas, if you were to watch just one “Christmas Carol,” which would it be?

A good case could be made for — don’t laugh — “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol,” starring the voice of Jim Backus as the comically myopic Quincy Magoo. Not merely a superior musical version, it is a pioneer among animated Christmas traditions. Before Charlie Brown adopted his pathetic little tree, before the Grinch bedeviled Whoville, even before Rudolph came to stop-motion life, Magoo was entertaining children and parents alike.

“It has the quality of a cozy quilt,” said Adam Abraham, author of “When Magoo Flew: The Rise and Fall of Animation Studio UPA” (Wesleyan University Press). “It’s like figurines of your imagination playing out a very familiar story against a dreamlike Victorian design.”

For more:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/arts/ ... l?hpw&_r=0

And thanks to KyleinHollywood for bringing this to my attention!

[Rita Hayworth]

I never ever seen this ... thanks for bringing it to our attention Lzcutter!

[Jezebel38]

A childhood favorite, and an adult one too! Just exceptional tunes in this from Broadway veterans Jule Styne and Bob Merrill (FUNNY GIRL).

[moira finnie]

Great news! Thanks, Lynn, but here's a confession: I was such a wimp as a little kid, I got scared when the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come showed up.



It was only a cartoon, but obviously, I was such a dork I suspended belief completely!

[JackFavell]

Oh my goodness, that's great news! This cartoon used to air early in the evening, 6 oclock as I recall, so my mom would fix our dinner and my parents would actually let us watch TV during dinner! They would bring the small bedroom TV out to the dining room and set it up at the end of the bar that ran between our kitchen and dining room. It was the only time all year we were allowed to eat and watch TV at the same time. That will tell you how long ago it was. But it also made watching so very special.

Fabulous! I can't wait.

[RedRiver]

We'll have The Lord's bright blessing
In knowing we're together.
In knowing we're together hand in hand.

We'll have the whitest Christmas!
The whitest, brightest Christmas!
A Christmas far more glorious than grand!

This is not merely the first of the animated holiday specials. It's the best. Funny and fun. Sad and sensitive. And thanks to Mr. Dickens, a pleasant dose of spiritual sustenance for the season. As the Times piece asserts, with material such as this, it's hard to go wrong. From Alistair Sim to Jim Carrey, with stops along the way for Lionel Barrymore and others, this Christmas classic is one of our great stories.

This goofy little cartoon is as good a version as any. The music is superb. Moving and inspirational. The story is taken quite seriously. One doesn't expect high drama from Mr. Magoo, but you know what? One gets it! And as Moira can testify, ghosts are scary! This is a show that works on many levels.

If anybody is unable to watch tonight (this is going to be serious competition for ABBOTT AND COSTELLO GO TO MARS), the video is popping up in some stores. K-Mart, Kroger, probably others. It would make a nice present. For yourself!

[JackFavell]

I agree, I think this one may possibly do the ghost of Christmas future the best of any of the versions.

[RedRiver]

Lynn, is that 8:00 EST?

[Rita Hayworth]

It was a delightful cartoon and I was greatly entertained by it. A classic story with a delightful twists and turns. Animation was great, a fantastic cartoon story, and most of all ... my childhood days revisited with great laughter here. Thanks Lzcutter for informing of this ...



Oh Magoo! You've Done it Again! ...

[RedRiver]

Leave it to me to put a damper on our holiday spirits. Did this show feel edited to anybody? Abridged? I may be wrong. But in my memory, subject to perception, there was more to it. Better continuity. And didn't the songs feature a second verse? Most songs do. These numbers were over almost as soon as they began!

I tuned in two minutes late. Did the show begin with a pre-curtain sequence? Magoo the actor, preparing to go on? "It's Great to be Back on Broadway!" I'm betting not. Originally, it was presented as a play. Maybe even with an intermission. I'm not sure. If I'm wrong about this, forgive me. If people enjoyed it as seen last night, I'm glad. But if you feel like grabbing one of these videos as you finish your last minute shopping, I think you'll see a fuller production.

Just think. In 1962, when this show first aired, nobody said, "That's Thurston Howell. Where's Lovey?" Time.

[JackFavell]

It's available on Netflix as well. I missed last night's showing, so we'll check the Netflix copy sometime this next couple of days. Everything you say sounds right Red. I remember a play within a play intro.

[Jezebel38]

Leave it to me to put a damper on our holiday spirits. Did this show feel edited to anybody? Abridged?

H**L Yes! I was so PO'd with the editing, commercials and popups (I never watch network TV anymore.) Here are some comments posted on the IMDb boards for last night broadcast:
The entire framing device was gone, including its song -- Magoo drives to a Broadway theater and you realize he is starring in a stage version of A Christmas Carol. Also gone were all shots that show the inside of the theater and the audience. (I'll admit I expected some of that to be cut.)

There was a big internal cut in The Lord's Bright Blessing. Instead of verse, refrain, verse, refrain, it was verse, verse, refrain.

Half of We're Reprehensible was gone.

A loud commercial broke in literally mid-word while Magoo was singing the reprise of I'm All Alone in the World in the graveyard and the song never finished.

The last half of the finale was gone, the reprise of The Lord's Bright Blessing.

There were numerous dialogue cuts.

Any more? This was disgusting.

[RedRiver]

A loud commercial broke in literally mid-word while Magoo was singing the reprise of I'm All Alone in the World in the graveyard

That was unmistakable. Myself and others have praised this as a creative and memorable holiday special. Once upon a time, it was.

[mrsl]

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Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is usually the first to appear to herald the holidays, followed closely by Santa Claus is Coming to Town each starring first Burl Ives and later Fred Astaire. Thank goodness they were both made for T.V. considering how Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol was cut up. Unless I have it confused (which is very probable), with something else, I believe Scrooges' romance was cut from the Christmas past segment, and I'm pretty sure part of the Christmas Present section was also cut. I guess I'm the original cock-eyed optimist because although this is going to be a very sad holiday season for me with so much of my family gone recently, I still love the Christmas season so much and look forward to it, to the point that at 68 years old I purchased a two-in-one DVD of Rudolph and Santa . . . just last week. I'll be a kid at heart as far as the Christmas holidays go until the day I kick my bucket.
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