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Charles Dickens

For some reason, last night STARS decided to run A Christmas Carol.  The semi-animated version starring Jim Carey.  There is another word for the format, but I don't remember it.  I'm not a fan of Jim Carey.  His version of A Christmas Carol is the darkest I've ever seen.

I am a fan of Charles Dickens.  I love his opening sentences.  The version of A Christmas Carol that I read has "To begin with Marley was dead.  Marley was as dead as a doornail."

Ebeneezer Scrooge is a role that actors love or else there wouldn't be so many variations on the theme: from Alistair Sim to Bill Murray, Susan Lucci and Kelsey Grammer and at least 25 others. Even Disney got in a Scrooge movie once: MICKEY"S Christmas Carol.  I believe Mickey played Bob Cratchit.  There is a website that ranks all the Ebeneezer Scrooge portrayals, but they don't include the Mickey Mouse version.

My favorite is the 1951 version with Alistair Sim.  My least  favorite, as should be obvious from the first paragraph, is the Jim Carey version that I watched last night. 

Back to Charles Dickens.  I think I've read most of his works.  The one I'm sure I haven't read is Bleak House.  Many of his works are bleak.  They deal with the poor in the Victorian era.

My next favorite Dickens' Story is A Tale of Two Cities.  Sidney Carton is the ultimate altruistic person.  I've only seen one movie of that story with Ronald Coleman as Sidney Carton.  In this book, Dickens ends with the memorable line: “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”  

 I used to have a collection of Dickens' stories.  I haven't seen it lately, so I must have donated it to our local library.  When it opens again, I'll have to borrow it.

 Be safe!



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