The Stingiest Man in Town

On another Scrooge Sunday edition of the Advent Calendar House, we fly back in time to 1978 to revisit Rankin/Bass’s turn at “A Christmas Carol.”  ️ Michael DiGiovanni and Michael May return to talk “The Stingiest Man in Town,” an animated remake of a made-for-TV musical, featuring the voices of Walter Matthau as Scrooge and Tom Bosley as our narrator, a literal talking Humbug.  ****  Topics & Tangents:  This is specifically an adaptation of a 1956 production on “The Alcoa Hour” starring Basil Rathbone as Scrooge.  The original special on Sleigh Bell Cinema.  Michael May’s Christmas Carol Project.  Sonny Melendrez (Bob Cratchit) in “You and Me, Kid.”  This has my all-time favorite, super creepy version of Marley’s face appearing on Scrooge’s door knocker.  This special gets older Belle completely wrong.  Tiny Tim has skinny robot legs.  Debbie Clinger (Martha Cratchit) of the Clinger Sisters, a.k.a. Superchick from the “Krofft Supershow” host band Kaptain Kool and the Kongs.  Rankin/Bass should have made a south seas-themed special called Christmas Island. (Hi from the future! We ended up exploring this idea on After Lunch.)  Scrooge’s grave morphing into a giant devil face is a reminder in hindsight that this special was animated in Japan by Topcraft, the predecessor to Studio Ghibli.  ****  Commercials:  Glad Trash Bags Commercial starring Tom Bosley (1981)  Christmas Creeps.  ****  “The Stingiest Man in Town” © 1978 Rankin/Bass Productions.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.