ETV Classics
Mr. Scrooge (1976)
Special | 28m 50sVideo has Closed Captions
The opera was written in 1976 by Sam Douglas from USC.
The opera was written in 1976 by Sam Douglas from the University Of South Carolina (UofSC) Music Department. Directed by Donald Gray, and produced for South Carolina ETV (SCETV) by Sidney Palmer, actor Thom Wood starred as Mr. Scrooge.
ETV Classics is a local public television program presented by SCETV
Support for this program is provided by The ETV Endowment of South Carolina.
ETV Classics
Mr. Scrooge (1976)
Special | 28m 50sVideo has Closed Captions
The opera was written in 1976 by Sam Douglas from the University Of South Carolina (UofSC) Music Department. Directed by Donald Gray, and produced for South Carolina ETV (SCETV) by Sidney Palmer, actor Thom Wood starred as Mr. Scrooge.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship♪ A very good evening, ladies and gentlemen ♪ ♪ Children and siblings and peers ♪ ♪ It is all in lot to preface our plot ♪ ♪ For delight of your eyes and your ears ♪ ♪ But first allow me to introduce myself ♪ ♪ I am the ghost of Jacob Marley ♪ ♪ That you may have guessed ♪ By the long and ludicrous lord of a chain ♪ ♪ That I wear on my lifeless vest ♪ ♪ Oh, do not take fright from my ghostly sight ♪ ♪ Or shake with trepidation ♪ For I'm only a figment ♪ Of Mr. Dickens prodigious imagination ♪ (dramatic orchestral music) (bell tolling) ♪ The Christmas spirit is what it's all about ♪ ♪ Though a Christmas ghost story it turns out ♪ ♪ This distinction twixt ghosted spirit ♪ ♪ Is not very clear to me ♪ For after all, what's a spirit ♪ ♪ But a ghost with a PHD ♪ Oh, see spook specter of spirit ♪ ♪ Here is our tale.
♪ Please sit back and hear it.
♪ This cold hard season.
♪ The freezing winter.
♪ This is soul like might tore him apart, ♪ ♪ the Scrooge that's wheezing, wrenching, ♪ ♪ grasping, scraping, clutching covered [Inaudible] ♪ ♪ There he is.
♪ Listen to him.
♪ And his ratchet like bark.
♪ He's always harassing poor Cratchit, his clerk ♪ ♪ - Cratchit!
Cratchit!
♪ What are you doing, you dunce of a clerk?
♪ ♪Expecting pay for a honest day's work.
♪ ♪ Cratchit!
Cratchit!
♪ Have you finished with that ledger yet?
♪ ♪ - No sir.
♪ - You certainly do work incredibly slow.
♪ ♪ - I only got it five minutes ago.
♪ ♪ My hands are so cold.
♪ I can't work very fast ♪ - I gave you a lump of coal day before last.
♪ ♪ - Yes sir.
♪ - You're not getting paid to stand there.
♪ ♪ - Yes, sir.
♪ - Go back to your desk.
♪ - Yes, sir.
♪ - 'Tis a very cold season for whatever reason ♪ ♪ to find yourself out of a job, Cratchit.
♪ ♪ - Yes, sir.
♪ - Now then, where was I?
Oh yes.
♪ 3,449, 3,450, 3,451... (choir singing) 3,455, 3,456, 3457 3,458, 3,459 ♪ Na na na na na na, ♪ oh tidings of comfort and joy.
♪ Comfort and joy?
♪ Get out of here!
♪ Musicians?
Bah humbug.
♪ - A merry Christmas Uncle, god bless you.
♪ ♪ - Bah, humbug!
♪ -Christmas, a humbug, Uncle, I can't believe that's true.
♪ ♪ - Christmas is a humbug, of that I'm very sure.
♪ ♪ What right have you to be happy ♪ ♪ compared to a church mouse, you're poor.
♪ ♪ - Why should you be gruff?
You're rich enough.
♪ - Bah humbug!
The last you like the year before ♪ ♪ Christmas came and went ♪ and did not bring one farthing more.
♪ ♪ Not a red copper cent.
♪ - Christmas is the only time ♪ - Not a red copper cent ♪ - Toward what one love may reign.
♪ ♪ If you never sew good cannot be rot in capital gain ♪ ♪ It's a time for spreading joy and cheer ♪ ♪ the only time in all the year ♪ ♪ when no man here is master - I'm the master of this house.
♪- and no man here is slave ♪ but all on earth are merely ♪ fellow travelers to the grave.
♪ ♪ And though I know it will never bring me ♪ ♪ farthing, franc, or stew, ♪ Still I'll always say it, Uncle, ♪ ♪ God bless you.
- Here!
Here!
♪- Good afternoon.
♪ - Merry Christmas!
♪- Good afternoon.
♪- Happy New Year!
♪- Good afternoon.
♪- God bless you.
♪- Good afternoon!
♪- Sir, may I leave little early today?
♪ ♪- He'll be expecting a total day's pay.
♪ ♪-But sir, it's is the night before Christmas ♪ ♪- Oh, well if you must.
♪- Yes sir!
Thank you, sir!
♪- Good afternoon.
♪- Merry Christmas.
♪- Good afternoon!
(somber music) ♪ What?
Who is it?
What could I have seen?
♪ ♪ - Ask not who I am but who I might've been.
♪ ♪- Very well then, who might you have been?
♪ ♪ - In life, I was your partner, Jacob Marley.
♪ ♪ -So it would seem, but it's not quite likely.
♪ ♪ 'Tis a stomach disorder which brings me this grief.
♪ ♪ You're an underdone potato ♪ some undigested bean.
♪ Oh you're probably last night's ragu ♪ ♪ There's much more of gravy than grave about you.
♪ ♪ Bah humbug!
♪ (chains rattling) ♪ Oh dreadful apparition, most horrid sight.
♪ ♪ I wish I knew why you came here tonight.
♪ ♪ The very side of you, old friend, ♪ ♪ gives me greatest pain.
♪ Why is it you are obliged to wear that heavy chain?
♪ ♪- Twas my life which was this chain for me ♪ ♪ The one you wear, you cannot see ♪ ♪ Only in death will it weigh you down ♪ ♪ yard by yard and pound by pound.
♪ ♪ But hear me, Scrooge, and avoid my fate ♪ ♪ For you, it is not yet too late.
♪ - Speak comfort to me, Jacob!
♪- You'll be haunted by three spirits ♪ ♪ - If it's all the same to you, Jacob ♪ ♪ I'd rather not.
♪- Expect the first this evening as the clock strikes ten ♪ ♪ expect the next an hour later as the chime sounds again.
♪ ♪- But couldn't I take them all at once ♪ ♪ and get it over with, Jacob?
♪- Expect the third without word ♪ ♪ at the last stroke of 12 - But Jacob!
♪- Expect to see me no more, Ebeneezer.
♪ - Bah, humbug!
(flute whistles) ♪- Are you the spirit whose coming was foretold?
♪ ♪ - I am the ghost of Christmas past.
♪ ♪- Long past.
♪- No, your past.
Rise and walk with me.
♪ ♪- What can I expect to see?
♪ (flute trills) ♪ Why, it's old Fezziwig!
His memory is dear.
♪ ♪ Twas long ago I apprenticed here.
♪ (upbeat strings) ♪- No more work tonight, boys.
It's Christmas Eve!
♪ ♪ Is it ever that tower could change an hour ♪ ♪ into a single minute - Merry Christmas to you, Ebeneezer.
♪ - He led his life so free of strife ♪ ♪ as if knowing what was in it ♪ His face was always gay and bright ♪ ♪ His smile could make our burdens light.
♪ ♪ How he did it, I'd forgotten how ♪ ♪ if only I could speak with Cratchit now.
♪ ♪ Oh, ghost, it pains me!
♪ Don't torment me, I beseech.
♪- My time is short, ♪ Yet I have one lesson left to teach.
♪ ♪ Do you remember her, pray tell?
♪ ♪ - Could it be?
Yes it could.
♪ Why of course, it's Belle.
♪- Was that when you were young [Inaudible] ♪ ♪ As you grew older and richer [Inaudible] ♪ ♪you both went far apart.
♪- I was only a child, ♪ I made a mistake.
♪- You were already callous, she never caused you pain ♪ - I know!
♪- Behold!
Belle [Inaudible] ♪ - I love you, ♪ and I thought that you loved me ♪ ♪ Yet from we two have turned ♪ to the part we two have earned ♪ ♪ So what might have been will never be ♪ ♪ And what had been our young love grew ♪ ♪ My lovely head without was through ♪ ♪ Yet one was gone, and now is true ♪ ♪ Oh Ebeneezer Scrooge, I love you ♪ ♪ and I know now I must set you free ♪ ♪ It is now that we part, I fear ♪ ♪ The vision has become quite clear ♪ ♪ That you love your money more than me.
♪ - Stop ghost!
I can bare no more!
♪ Show me not tales, but my chamber door ♪ (frantic music) (clock chimes) ♪ -Arise, oh Scrooge!
Wake up, old boy!
♪ ♪ 'Tis time to spread some Christmas joy.
♪ ♪- What?
Who?
Whoa!
♪ The second ghost.
♪ - Ha ha ha!
Be that you are a reluctant host ♪ ♪ The time is short to now me better ♪ ♪ Make haste to pray for winter weather ♪ ♪ - Do you have our name, sir?
♪- I am the ghost of Christmas present.
♪ - Oh!
♪ My live's been spot a single year, ♪ ♪ my job is spreading joy and cheer ♪ ♪ and we must departed fast ♪ E'er I become the ghost of Christmas past.
♪ ♪ Don't stand there with eyes cast down ♪ ♪ but quickly grasp my ghostly gown ♪ ♪ We've joy to spread around the town.
♪ (joyful music plays) ♪- Yours is quite a pleasant task ♪ ♪ What do you have in that little red basket?
♪ ♪- Christmas cheer, that's the thing ♪ ♪ Ah, would you like to have a gleam?
♪ ♪ Just blow it out.
(music trills) ♪ There!
Isn't that fun?
♪ Bet you can't stop after trying just one!
♪ ♪ Throw a little over here ♪ They could use some Christmas cheer!
♪ ♪ -Why, it's Cratchit's house!
♪ -Mother, Peter, hurry!
♪ Father's coming round the corner ♪ ♪ And he has Tiny Tim on his back ♪ ♪ Hide, Martha, hide!
♪ -We'll tell Father you're not here yet ♪ ♪ -Get your cloak there off the rack!
♪ ♪ They're so poor, how can they be so happy?
♪ ♪- Is our Martha here?
♪- She's not coming this year.
♪- Not coming?
♪- Surprise, Father!
♪ -Oh, Ghost, please tell me, I must know.
♪ ♪ Will Tiny Tim live and grow?
♪- I see a lonely crutch without an owner ♪ ♪ and a little vacant seat ♪ at the poor chimney corner ♪ If the future does not an alteration give ♪ ♪ In the shadows will remain ♪ And the child will not live ♪ Or perhaps you say he should die now ♪ ♪ without procrastination?
♪ And thereby decrease the world's surplus population ♪ ♪ - Oh taunt me not with my own words!
♪ ♪ I knew not what I said.
♪ I'd do anything within my power ♪ ♪ before I see him dead.
(Scrooge cries) ♪ - Let's drink a toast to Mr. Scrooge ♪ and always hold him dear.
♪- Scrooge, indeed, I wish I had him here ♪ ♪ I have a few choice words I'd like ♪ ♪ to pour into his ear ♪ - My dear, the children!
It's Christmas.
♪ ♪ - That it's Christmas day I'm sure ♪ ♪ but why drink the health of an audience's dandy, ♪ ♪ Hard unfeeling boar?
♪ But because it's Christmas and for your sake, I'll say ♪ ♪ (all sing together) God Bless Mr. Scrooge.
Bleh!
♪ ♪- Let us now drink to our family ♪ ♪ (all sing together) God bless us ♪ ♪ - God bless us, everyone.
(somber violin) (Clock chimes) (dramatic music) ♪ -Am I in the presence of the ghost ♪ ♪ Of Christmas, Christmases yet to come?
♪ ♪ Are you about to show me ♪ shadows of things that have not yet been?
♪ ♪ Is that so, spirit?
♪ Speak to me, ghost of the future.
♪ ♪ I fear you more than any other I have yet seen.
♪ ♪ Lead on.
♪- I only know what others said, ♪ ♪ that he was found some three days dead.
♪ ♪ -Three days and no one found him there?
♪ ♪ -Twas Mr. Scrooge, who would care?
♪ ♪ -What kind of man could come to such an end?
♪ ♪ -Why Mr. Scrooge had not a single friend.
♪ ♪ -When I think about it, it's really not funny ♪ ♪ -They found him all alone, ♪ Just scrooging all his money.
♪ ♪- Oh spirit, just tell me, how far we must go ♪ ♪ Do you have something for me, something to show?
♪ ♪ What?
I see nothing!
(haunting music) Oh no!
Oh no!
(Scrooge cries) ♪ I'm awake, I'm alive!
♪ I'm here in my bed!
♪ Chances are good that I'm not really dead.
♪ ♪ The spirit have taught me ♪ To live life at last ♪ I'll live in the future, ♪ The present and past.
♪ Now that the spirits have finished their visit ♪ ♪ I'm really quite puzzled, just what day is it?
♪ ♪ You there on the street, ♪ What day is today?
♪ -Did I hear him right?
♪- Well, what did he say?
♪What day is today?
♪ - It's Christmas day!
♪- It's Christmas day, by Joe, you're right!
♪ ♪ The spirits have done it all in one night.
♪ ♪They can do anything they like.
It's Christmas day.
♪ ♪ See here my boy, are you quick on your feet?
♪ ♪ Can you buy a turkey from the grocer ♪ ♪ on the next street?
♪- Yes, sir.
♪ - Here, this should do it.
♪ Have it killed and dressed and quickly ♪ ♪ take it to this address.
♪I'll send it to Cratchit.
♪In fact, I'll go there myself.
♪ ♪ I can't spend Christmas tucked away on a shelf.
♪ (playful music) ♪ Merry Christmas!
♪ Happy New Year!
♪God bless you!
♪ Merry Christmas, Fred!
♪ What are you doing along this way?
♪ ♪ Don't you know that it's Christmas day?
♪ ♪- I don't think I see what I see that I see ♪ ♪ You look like my uncle, ♪ but you can't really be.
♪ - Yes, Fred, 'tis I and it's Christmas ♪ ♪ Don't stand there, Fred, ♪ you're as cold as a toad ♪ Come, let's hop over to Cratchit's abode!
♪ ♪ Let's go.
Merry Christmas!
♪ Happy New Year!
♪ Here's the Cratchit house, Fred ♪ ♪ Knock on the door, ♪ Knock on the walls and ceiling and floor ♪ ♪- Belinda, have you heard?
♪Scrooge just sent us a huge Christmas bird!
♪ ♪-What's the occasion for all this cheer?
♪ ♪ - There's something different about this year.
♪ (three knocks on the door) ♪ -Quickly, Peter, the door!
(all gasp) ♪- Mr. Scrooge, Fred, please come in.
♪ ♪ - Quickly, Peter, Mr. Scrooge is here ♪ ♪ Run and get a tankard of beer.
♪ ♪ - Merry Christmas to you, Bob, and Mrs. Cratchit ♪ ♪ And the children, and Tiny Tim.
♪ ♪ (playful music) ♪ A toast, a toast to our gracious host ♪ ♪ And to his lovely spouse ♪ And most especially to everyone here ♪ ♪ Gathered in this house.
♪ A merry Christmas to everyone here ♪ ♪ And may God give you a happy new year ♪ ♪- A merry Christmas to everyone here ♪ ♪ And may God give you happy new year ♪ ♪- A merry Christmas to everyone here ♪ ♪ And may God give you happy new year ♪ ♪- A merry Christmas to everyone here ♪ ♪ And may God give you happy new year ♪ ♪- A merry Christmas to everyone here ♪ ♪ And may God give you happy new year ♪ ♪ -May you have a happy new year ♪ ♪ May it be the very best ♪ -Ah yes, may you see the fullest next year ♪ ♪ And especially for the rest ♪ -The very best ♪ (all sing together) ♪ God give you joy on this Christmas day ♪ ♪ And health and wealth and fun ♪ ♪ And may you always be home to say ♪ ♪ - God bless us, every one.
♪ - God bless us, every one.
♪ (Christmas music) ♪ A merry Christmas to everyone here ♪ ♪ and may God give you a happy new year ♪ ♪ A merry Christmas to everyone here ♪ ♪ and may God give you a happy new year ♪ ♪ A merry Christmas to everyone here ♪ ♪ and may God give you a happy new year ♪ ♪ A merry Christmas to everyone here ♪ ♪ and may God give you a happy new year ♪ ♪ God give you joy on this Christmas day ♪ ♪ And health and wealth and fun ♪ ♪ And may you always be home to say ♪ ♪ God bless us, every one.
♪ God bless us, every one.
ETV Classics is a local public television program presented by SCETV
Support for this program is provided by The ETV Endowment of South Carolina.