A CHRISTMAS CAROL

The December 24,1939 performance
starring Lionel Barrymore
with Orson Welles and Ernest Chappell
for the Campbell Playhouse.

Produced and Hosted by

John F. Barber

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
©2025 Re-Imagined Radio. All rights reserved (except those granted by the Creative Commons license)

Re-Imagined Radio
Season 13, Episode 13

Final draft

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

The classic radio telling of this timeless tale.

Re-Imagined Radio
Season 13, Episode 13
Final Draft

Premier broadcast: December 22, 2025

Produced, Hosted by John F. Barber

Sound design, Music composition, Post-production by Marc Rose

Graphics by Holly Slocum with Evan Leyden

Social Media by Caitlyn Kruger

YouTube management and Announcing by Rylan Eisenhauer

Synopsis
The December 24, 1939 performance of "A Christmas Carol" by The Campbell Playhouse. Starring Lionel Barrymore as Scrooge. His fourth performance of Scrooge for The Campbell Playhouse. Barrymore played Scrooge on every radio network, every Christmas, but two, between 1934 and his death in 1954. This one is considered the "Classic."

Credits
Lionel Barrymore as Ebenezer Scrooge
Everett Sloane as Marley's Ghost
Frank Readick as Bob Cratchit
Erskine Sanford as Fezziwig
George Coulouris as Ghost of Christmas Present
Ray Collins
Georgia Backus as Mrs. Cratchit
Bea Benaderet as Martha Cratchit
Edgar Barrier
Bernard Herrmann as composer and conductor
Orson Welles as producer and narrator
Ernest Chappell as announcer
Charles Dickens as original author

Color Code
Yellow highlighted text = sound effect(s), or actualities.

Magenta highlighted text with strike through = text deleted for episode timing

MUSIC = pre-recorded

MUSIC = bespoke, created for this episode

COLD OPEN
MUSIC: CHRISTMAS MUSIC.
LIONEL BARRYMORE
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is the fourth year I've had the pleasure of appearing in "A Christmas Carol" here on the Campbell Playhouse. And I assure you all it's a pleasure that never tires. As long as I can remember, this has been one of my favorite stories. When we were children, it was read to us regularly this time of year as it is to many millions of children right now.
I can think of no part that I've enjoyed playing again and again as much as I have the part of that squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner, Ebenezer Scrooge. And I can think of no happier or more suitable choice for the makers of Campbell Soups to offer the people of America as their Christmas present each year, than Charles Dickens' well-beloved story "Christmas Carol."
THEME AND ANNOUNCER
MUSIC: RIR THEME
ANNOUNCER
Welcome to Re-Imagined Radio, a program about sound-based storytelling. With each episode we explore how dialogue, sound effects, and music can engage your listening imagination and promote storytelling. Here to tell you about THIS episode is John Barber, producer and host.
HOST OPEN
HOST
Thank you Rylan. Hello everyone. Welcome to Re-Imagined Radio and our special holiday episode, "A Christmas Carol."
Every year since 2013, Re-Imagined Radio has offered a radio adaptation of this much beloved novel by Charles Dickens, published December 19, 1843.
Dickens, then 31-years old, had already written a shelf-full of books, The Pickwick Papers (1836), Oliver Twist (1837), Nicholas Nickleby (1838), The Old Curiosity Shop (1840), Barnaby Rudge (1841), and Martin Chuzzlewit (1843).
The first edition of A Christmas Carol numbered 6,000 copies. Each featured special end papers, binding, and hand-colored illustrations by John Leech. Every copy was sold by Christmas Eve.
Since then, A Christmas Carol has been adapted as motion pictures, television shows, stage plays, recordings, and radio programs.
Quite a number of radio programs actually. Hundreds. But, according to Craig Wichman, author of Standing in the Spirit at Your Elbow: A history of Dickens' Christmas Carol as radio/audio drama, the classic telling of this timeless tale is The Campbell Playhouse performance of December 24, 1939, starring Lionel Barrymore, as Ebenezer Scrooge, Orson Welles as director and narrator, and actors of The Mercury Theatre on the Air.
In his introduction, Welles calls Barrymore [QUOTE] "the best loved actor of our time." [UNQUOTE] Welles, of course, is famous for his October 30, 1938 Mercury Theatre on the Air radio adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel The War of the Worlds, a radio broadcast which is still today considered the most famous in the history of broadcasting.
It's also the broadcast that persuaded Campbells Soups to sponsor and rename The Mercury Theatre on the Air as The Campbell Playhouse.
Barrymore's first radio reading of A Christmas Carol was December 24, 1934. This was also his first time performing on radio (Wichman 173, Radio Broadcasts and Charles Dickens).
The rest, as they say, is history, and Barrymore portrayed Scrooge eighteen times on all four American radio networks before his death in November 1954 (Wichman).
As I said, Re-Imagined Radio has offered a performance of A Christmas Carol every year since 2013. This holiday season we devote our entire episode to the 1939 Campbell Playhouse performance starring Lionel Barrymore as Ebenezer Scrooge.
For more information, and the episode script, visit our website, reimaginedradio dot fm.
HOST
Thank you for listening as Re-Imagined Radio presents "A Christmas Carol" as heard on The Campbell Playhouse, December 24, 1939.
MUSIC: CAMPBELL PLAYHOUSE THEME ... UNDER)
ERNEST CHAPPELL
The makers of Campbell Soups present the Campbell Playhouse! Orson Welles, producer!
SFX: JINGLE BELLS
MUSIC: SINGERS BEGIN "THE FIRST NOEL," FADE UNDER AND OUT DURING THE FOLLOWING.
ORSON WELLES
Good evening. This is Orson Welles. There are clearly a number of ways in which "A Christmas Carol" could be introduced.
Myself, I am most struck by the happy fortune that enables us on this Christmas Eve to present Mr. Lionel Barrymore, the best-loved actor of our time, in the world's best-loved Christmas story, "A Christmas Carol."
When Charles Dickens presented this little story to the world almost a hundred years ago, he found an instant response in the hearts of people everywhere who saw in it their favorite fictional chronicle of what Christmas is, and what Christmas means to all the simple people of the Earth.
From the day of its first printing, families have been innumerable in which there has remained unbroken the tradition that the reading of "A Christmas Carol" was an item indispensable to a proper observance of the most important of days.
It is the American way, as we know, to establish traditions quickly where popular instinct and sentiment pronounce them sound. And so it is that today, actually only the fifth anniversary of Mr. Lionel Barrymore's first playing of the part of Ebenezer Scrooge for The Campbell Playhouse, there is, I think, in all America nothing more eagerly awaited, more firmly rooted in the hearts of the radio family that numbers millions than this yearly performance of "A Christmas Carol."
MUSIC: FADES OUT
ORSON WELLES
"A Christmas Carol," as Charles Dickens wrote it, has, by common consent, long been a classic. Mr. Lionel Barrymore's appearance in it is rapidly becoming one. And now, just before "A Christmas Carol," Ernest Chappell has a special Christmas greeting from the makers of Campbell Soups. Mr. Chappell?
ERNEST CHAPPELL
Thank you, Orson Welles. As the old year draws toward its close, we of Campbell's feel a bond of warmth and gratitude toward each of you, our friends. For, you see, in homes everywhere throughout the land, Campbell Soups have been welcomed. Day by day and week by week, you have placed confidence in us and in the foods we make. And there isn't anything we appreciate more deeply than the fact that so many of you have elected to let Campbell's make your soups for you.
SFX: BOTTLE OF WINE BEING UNCORKED.
ERNEST CHAPPELL
And so, when Christmas comes, we look about to find some way to show our appreciation, some Christmas present by which to say, "Thank you."
The gift we chose five Christmases ago, and have chosen each year since, has become a part of Christmas to many and many a family. It has become a Christmas custom to gather around the radio to hear and to enjoy "A Christmas Carol."
And since it is Christmas Eve, we hope, too that the younger members of the family are permitted to stay up and listen before dreams and visit of Santa.
We get a great deal of pleasure planning and preparing this Christmas gift ... and now, it's ready.
MUSIC: BELLS RING AND THEN "HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SING" ... UNDER
ERNEST CHAPPELL
Off come the wrappings. Off come the tags that say, "Please do not open till Christmas." Out comes the card. To you, from Campbell's. And here is the gift itself.
MUSIC: UP ... BRIDGE ... THEN OUT
NARRATOR
Marley was dead to begin with. There's no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to.
Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. Scrooge and Marley were partners for I don't know how many years.
Ah! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind-stone, was Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! And once upon a time ... of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve ...
MUSIC: CHOIR SINGS "GOD REST YE MERRY, GENTLEMEN" ... UNDER
NARRATOR
... old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house, a grim, cheerless place if ever there was one. The door of Scrooge's counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, Bob Cratchit, who in a cold and dismal little cell beyond, worked at his ledgers.
MUSIC: UP AND UNDER
BOB CRATCHIT
(TO HIMSELF) ... nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two ... (SINGS ALONG WITH CHOIR) ... merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay ... (TO HIMSELF) ... twenty-three, twenty-six, twenty-nine, nine carry two ... (SINGS ALONG WITH CHOIR) Christmas Day! ... (TO HIMSELF) ... eleven ... fifteen ... seventeen ... carry one ...
SCROOGE
Bob Cratchit!
BOB CRATCHIT
Er, yes, Mr. Scrooge?
SCROOGE
Stop that infernal caterwauling!
BOB CRATCHIT
Yes, sir. (TO HIMSELF) ... nine, fifteen, seventeen ... twenty 
SFX: SCROOGE'S FOOTSTEPS TO THE FRONT DOOR
SCROOGE
(MUTTERS TO HIMSELF) The impudence ... singing their idiotic Christmas carols at my very door.
SFX: FRONT DOOR OPENS
MUSIC: CHOIR UP A LITTLE AS DOOR OPENS
SCROOGE
Go somewhere else and bellow your blasted carols or I'll give ya in charge.
CHOIR
(STOPS SINGING, PROTESTS MILDLY) Awww!
CHILD
Why, Guv'nor? It's an old custom at Christmas time, you know!
SCROOGE
Yes! And I don't want any of your old customs! Take your fellow fools and go away. (TO HIMSELF) Christmas! Blah!
CHILD
Right, sir! Merry Christmas anyway, sir!
SCROOGE
(DISMISSIVE) Ahhh!
SFX: DOOR SLAMS SHUT, SCROOGE'S FOOTSTEPS AWAY
MUSIC: CHOIR SINGS "GOOD KING WENCESLAS" AS IT MOVES OFF
FRED
A merry Christmas, uncle! A merry Christmas, Bob!
BOB CRATCHIT
Merry Christmas, Mr. Fred!
FRED
God save you, uncle!
SCROOGE
Bah! Humbug!
FRED
Christmas a humbug, uncle! Now, I'm sure you don't mean that!
SCROOGE
I mean JUST that ... exactly that! Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? What reason have you? You're poor enough.
FRED
Well, what right have you to be dismal about Christmas, uncle? You're rich enough.
SCROOGE
Bah!
FRED
Now, uncle, don't be cross.
SCROOGE
Well, what else can I be when I live in such a world of fools? What's Christmas to you but a time for paying bills without money? Merry Christmas! A time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer. If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with "Merry Christmas" on his lips'd be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!
FRED
Uncle!
SCROOGE
Nephew. Keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine.
FRED
Keep it! But you don't keep it, uncle.
SCROOGE
Well, let me leave it alone, then. What do you want? A Christmas gift, I've no doubt.
FRED
I came to wish you a merry Christmas, uncle.
SCROOGE
A Merry Christmas! Much good may Christmas do you. Much good it ever HAS done ya.
FRED
There are many things from which I derive good by which I have not profited materially, I dare say, uncle. Christmas among the rest. But I have always thought of Christmas time as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!
BOB CRATCHIT
(APPLAUDS) God bless Christmas! Hurrah!
SCROOGE
Let me hear another sound out of you there, Bob Cratchit, and you'll keep your Christmas by losing your situation! As to you, nephew, I wonder you don't go into Parliament. You talk enough nonsense.
FRED
Don't be angry, uncle. I want nothing from you. I ask nothing of you; why can't we be friends?
SCROOGE
Good afternoon.
FRED
Well, I'm sorry you feel that way. I tried. (EXITING) A merry Christmas to you, uncle!
SCROOGE
Good afternoon.
FRED
And a happy New Year, too!
SCROOGE
Bah. Humbug.
FRED
And a merry Christmas to you, Bob! And the missus! And to Tiny Tim!
BOB CRATCHIT
Thank you, Mr. Fred! Same to you, sir. Good day, sir.
FRED
Good day, Bob!
SFX: DOOR HAS OPENED AND SHUT
SCROOGE
(TO HIMSELF) Nonsense. Twaddle. Flummery. Talking of Christmas and not two sixpences to jingle together in his trousers' pocket.
SFX: COAL IN THE SCUTTLE
SCROOGE
You there! Bob Cratchit! Come here! What are you doing there?!
BOB CRATCHIT
I was only putting a bit more coal in the fire, Mr. Scrooge, seeing it's so cold in there, sir.
SCROOGE
You put that coal back into the scuttle! A fire! A fire, indeed. I can tell you, if you use coal at that rate, you and I will soon be parting company, Bob Cratchit. You understand that? There's many a young fella'd like your situation, you know.
BOB CRATCHIT
I'm sorry, sir. My fingers were getting a little stiff with the cold.
SCROOGE
Then put on your mittens.
SFX: KNOCK AT THE DOOR
SCROOGE
There's someone at the door. See who it is.
BOB CRATCHIT
Yes, sir.
SFX: A COUPLE OF FOOTSTEPS, DOOR OPENS
GENTLEMAN
Good afternoon, sir.
BOB CRATCHIT
Good afternoon.
GENTLEMAN
This is the firm of Scrooge and Marley?
BOB CRATCHIT
Yes, sir.
GENTLEMAN
I should like to see the head of the firm, if I may.
BOB CRATCHIT
Oh, very good, sir.
SFX: DOOR SHUTS
SCROOGE
What is it?
BOB CRATCHIT
A gentleman to see you, Mr. Scrooge.
SCROOGE
Huh?
GENTLEMAN
Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge, or Mr. Marley?
SCROOGE
Marley's been dead these seven years tonight. I'm Scrooge.
GENTLEMAN
Well, now, Mr. Scrooge, at this season of the year, it's only fitting that we who are more fortunate should raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. You may not believe it, sir, but many thousands are now in want of common necessities.
And hundreds of thousands are in want of the simplest comforts, sir.
SCROOGE
(GROWLS) Are there no prisons?
GENTLEMAN
Well, there are plenty of prisons, sir.
SCROOGE
And the workhouses? They're still in operation, I trust?
GENTLEMAN
I wish I could say they are not. But they are, sir.
SCROOGE
The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigor, then?
GENTLEMAN
Both very busy, sir.
SCROOGE
Ah! I'm glad to hear that. I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course.
GENTLEMAN
No, sir. All these institutions that you mention are flourishing. But it's nevertheless true that some additional provision for the Poor and the Destitute must be made.
SCROOGE
(SCOFFS)
GENTLEMAN
A few of us upon 'Change are endeavoring to raise such a fund, you see. And, uh, what shall I put you down for?
SCROOGE
Nothing!
GENTLEMAN
Oh, I see. You wish to be anonymous, sir?
SCROOGE
I wish to be let alone! I don't make merry myself at Christmastime and I can't afford to keep a lot of idle people merry. I help to support the establishments that take care of the poor. They cost enough. Let those who are badly off go there.
GENTLEMAN
Many can't go there, sir. And many would rather die.
SCROOGE
Then, my advice to them is to do so and decrease the surplus population. Besides, I've only your word for it that all this is so.
GENTLEMAN
It's the truth, Mr. Scrooge.
SCROOGE
Well, so be it, then. It's not my business. It's enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people's. Mine occupies me constantly. Good afternoon, sir!
GENTLEMAN
I quite understand, Mr. Scrooge.
SCROOGE
Cratchit! Show this gentleman out.
BOB CRATCHIT
Yes, sir.
SFX: FOOTSTEPS TO THE DOOR
BOB CRATCHIT
This way, sir, please. (LOWERS HIS VOICE) Sir, I couldn't help overhearing. I should like to contribute tuppence.
SCROOGE
Cratchit!
BOB CRATCHIT
(TO SCROOGE) Yes, sir! (LOWERS HIS VOICE, TO GENTLEMAN) It isn't much but it's all I can afford. But there are others in worse situation than I.
GENTLEMAN
You're a generous fellow. I wish I might say so of your employer.
SCROOGE
(IMPATIENT) Cratchit!
BOB CRATCHIT
(TO SCROOGE) Yes, sir!
GENTLEMAN
Good afternoon, sir.
BOB CRATCHIT
Good afternoon.
SFX: DOOR OPENS
GENTLEMAN
Merry Christmas.
BOB CRATCHIT
Merry Christmas. (TO SCROOGE) Yes, sir!
SCROOGE
Merry Christmas! Close the door!
BOB CRATCHIT
Yes, sir. I have closed it sir
SFX: DOOR SHUTS, CRATCHIT'S FOOTSTEPS SLOWLY BACK TO DESK
BOB CRATCHIT
(SIGHS, TO HIMSELF) ... twenty-four, thirty-one. One, and carry three. A new scarlet tippet for Tiny Tim. A comb for Martha. Thirty-three. Three and carry three. A hair-ribbon for Belinda. Four, seven, twelve, fifteen.
SCROOGE
I suppose you want the entire day to-morrow?
BOB CRATCHIT
If it's quite convenient, sir.
SCROOGE
It's not convenient ... and it's not fair. But I suppose I can't do anything about it. If I was to stop half-a-crown of your wages, you'd think yourself very ill-used, I'll be bound.
BOB CRATCHIT
Well, sir, I ...
SCROOGE
Yeah, but you don't think me ill-used, when I pay a day's wages for no work.
BOB CRATCHIT
It's only once a year, sir.
SCROOGE
Once a year! Once a year, indeed. A fine excuse for picking a man's pocket every twenty-fifth of December! But I suppose there's no good talking. You must have the whole day. Well, see that you're here all the earlier the next morning. You understand?
BOB CRATCHIT
Oh, I will, sir. (EXITING) I will, sir indeed. Good night, sir. And merry Christmas.
SFX: DOOR OPENS
SCROOGE
Bah!
BOB CRATCHIT
Merry Christmas!
SCROOGE
Bah!
SFX: DOOR SHUTS
MUSIC: SLEIGH BELLS AND A JAUNTY TUNE ... AS A BRIDGE AND THEN UNDER
NARRATOR
The office was closed in a twinkling, and Bob Cratchit, with the long ends of his white comforter dangling below his waist (for he boasted no great-coat), went down a slide on Cornhill, twenty times, in honor of its being Christmas Eve, and then ran home to Camden Town as hard as he could pelt, to play with his family at blindman's-buff.
MUSIC: TAKES A DARK TURN ... UNDER
NARRATOR
Scrooge, on the other hand, took his melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern, having read all the newspapers, and spent the rest of the evening with his banker's-book, went to his dismal house.
Darkness is cheap. And Scrooge liked it. The yard was so dark that even Scrooge, who knew its every stone, had to grope with his hands through the fog and the frost to find the door. Scrooge walked through his rooms to see that all was right. Sitting-room. Bedroom. Lumber-room. All as they should be. Nobody under the table, nobody under the sofa, nobody under the bed, nobody in the closet. Close the door.
He locked himself in. He double-locked himself in. And took off his cravat; put on his dressing-gown and slippers, and his nightcap; and sat down before the fire to take his gruel.
MUSIC: EERIE ... UNDER
SFX: CLOCK STRIKES
SCROOGE
(YAWNS MIGHTILY, COUGHS, THEN AMAZED) Marley. Marley? Marley! I could have sworn I saw old ... Ah! Humbug. Marley's been dead these seven years. Humbug. It's all humbug. What I need is a good night's ...
SOUND: CLANKING NOISE, DEEP DOWN BELOW
SCROOGE
What? What's that?
SOUND: MORE NOISE, LIKE DRAGGING CHAINS, INCREASINGLY LOUDER AND CLOSER
SCROOGE
Someone's in the wine cellar. But the door's locked and double-locked! Something's ... is coming! Some ... something is ... is coming closer. Outside my door. Bah! I won't believe it. It's humbug still!
SFX: NOISE ... OUT
MARLEY
(GHOSTLY) Ebenezer Scrooge! Ebenezer Scrooge!
SCROOGE
(GASPS) Oh, no. What do you want with me?
MARLEY
I want much of you, Ebenezer.
SCROOGE
Who are you?
MARLEY
Ask me who I was.
SCROOGE
You're very particular, for a ghost. All right then. Who were you then?
MARLEY
In life, I was your partner, Jacob Marley.
SCROOGE
(SKEPTICAL) Jacob Marley! But you're dead. You died seven years ago.
MARLEY
Seven years ago this very night.
SCROOGE
You are a ghost then?
MARLEY
What's wrong, Ebenezer? Don't you believe in me?
SCROOGE
I do not.
MARLEY
You doubt your senses, Ebenezer?
SCROOGE
Yes. Because a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. You can't be a ghost. You may be an undigested bit of beef, or a blot of mustard, or a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. (CHUCKLES) There may be more gravy than grave about you, whatever you are! Humbug, I tell ya. Humbug!
MARLEY
(RAISES A FRIGHTFUL CRY)
MUSIC: MATCHES THE CRY, THEN SUBSIDES AND CONTINUES UNDER EERILY
SCROOGE
(SHIVERS AND SHUDDERS IN FEAR) Excuse me, Jacob. Excuse me. I do believe in you. You ARE a ghost, Jacob.
MARLEY
Thank you.
SCROOGE
But why ... why do you walk the earth, Jacob? Why do you come to me?
MARLEY
It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide, to witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness.
SCROOGE
But tell me, Jacob, what is that chain you wear around you?
MARLEY
I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link, and yard by yard; by my own free will. Is its pattern strange to you, Ebenezer?
SCROOGE
Cashboxes? Keys and padlocks? Ledgers, purses?
MARLEY
Yours was as heavy and as long as this, seven years ago. And you have labored on it since, Ebenezer.
SCROOGE
Ahh, Jacob, speak comfort to me!
MARLEY
Comfort I have none to give. I cannot rest, I cannot stay, I cannot linger. Weary journeys lie before me.
SCROOGE
You travel fast?
MARLEY
Yes, Ebenezer. On the wings of the wind.
SCROOGE
Ah, seven years dead and traveling all the time.
MARLEY
Seven years, Ebenezer. Seven years of remorse. Ebenezer, do you know that no space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunities misused?
SCROOGE
But you were always a good man of business, Jacob.
MARLEY
Business! Mankind was my business! Charity, mercy, benevolence ... they were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!
SCROOGE
Oh, Jacob, don't take on so. Jacob ...
MARLEY
Listen to me, Ebenezer.
SCROOGE
I'll listen to you, Jacob. Go on, Jacob, now. Speak to me but don't be so flowery.
MARLEY
Ebenezer, I am here to warn you that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate. Do you hear that, Ebenezer?
SCROOGE
Yes, Jacob. You always were a good friend to me, Jacob. Thank you, Jacob. But ... but go on, go on, go on, go on. How shall I escape? Oh, I'm afraid, Jacob.
MARLEY
You will be haunted by Three Spirits.
SCROOGE
Is that the only chance and hope, Jacob?
MARLEY
It is your only chance and hope.
SCROOGE
Well, then, I think I'd rather not.
MARLEY
Without their visits, you cannot hope to shun the path I tread. Expect the first to-morrow, when the bell tolls One.
SCROOGE
Couldn't I take 'em all at once, and have it over, Jacob?
MARLEY
Ebenezer, look that for your own sake, you remember what has passed between us! And remember, when the bell tolls One, look for the first Spirit!
SCROOGE
Marley! Jacob Marley!
MUSIC: UP FOR AN ACCENT, THEN A BRIDGE, THEN UNDER
SFX: BELL TOLLS ONE
NARRATOR
Scrooge awoke. He was lying on his bed, fully dressed. Suddenly, the curtains of his bed were drawn aside. Scrooge found himself face to face with the unearthly visitor who drew them. As close to it as I am now to you, and I am standing in the spirit at your elbow.
It was a strange figure ... like a child. Yet not so like a child as like an old man.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
Ebenezer Scrooge.
SCROOGE
(GASPS) Who ... who's that?
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
Ebenezer Scrooge, I have come for you.
SCROOGE
You ...? You are the Spirit, sir, whose coming was foretold me?
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
I am that Spirit.
SCROOGE
Who ...? What are you?
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.
SCROOGE
Long past?
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
No. Your past.
SCROOGE
But ... what do you want of me? What brings you here to haunt me?
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
Your welfare, Ebenezer Scrooge. Rise! and walk with me!
SCROOGE
Oh, no, no, no. No! Not ... not out of the window! Why, I can't do that. I'll fall down. I'm not a Spirit. I'm mortal. I'll fall.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
Bear but a touch of my hand upon your heart, and you shall be upheld in more than this. Come! Follow me!
MUSIC: AN ACCENT, THEN UNDER ... SLEIGH BELLS AND CHILDREN SINGING "GOD, REST YE MERRY, GENTLEMEN" UNDER
SCROOGE
Where are we? What's become of the city? And there ... there's snow upon the ground. Where are we?
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
These are the shadows of the things that have been. You recognize this countryside?
SCROOGE
(GASPS) Oh. I know every inch of it. Every rock. Every tree.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
And that bleak building over there?
SCROOGE
Ah, that building! I was a boy there! Yes, I went to school in that horrible place.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
Do you recollect that path?
SCROOGE
I could walk it blindfold.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
Strange you should have forgotten it so many years. Come, let us go closer. (BEAT) Look through the window into that cold, barren room. What do you see, Ebenezer Scrooge?
SCROOGE
I see a boy.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
A solitary child, neglected by his family. Alone.
SCROOGE
Yes, yes, I see. I know that boy. (SIGHS) Oh. I was so lonely. Poor boy.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
Your lip is trembling, Scrooge. And what is that on your cheek?
SCROOGE
It's nothing. Nothing, nothing at all. I wish I ... Ah, it's too late now.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
What's the matter?
SCROOGE
Nothing, nothing. The waifs came to my door singing Christmas carols last night and there was a boy like that among them. A poor thin pale boy in a ragged coat. I should like to have given him something, that's all.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
IS that all? Come, Ebenezer Scrooge. Let us see another Christmas!
MUSIC: A BRIEF BRIDGE ... MERRY PARTY MUSIC UNDER
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
Do you know this place, Ebenezer Scrooge?
SFX: CROWD OF PARTYGOERS LAUGH AND TALK UNDER
SCROOGE
(DELIGHTED) Know it?! Know it! This is the counting-house where I was apprenticed! (AFTER A PAUSE) Why it's my old master! Bless his heart; old Fezziwig! My master ... alive again! And hosting one of his Christmas parties! (CHUCKLES HAPPILY). Listen to it.
FEZZIWIG
(CALLS A DANCE IN BACKGROUND) Pick your partners! Thread the needle. And back to your places.
SCROOGE
Listen to him!
FEZZIWIG
Corkscrew! Thread the needle and back to your places!
SCROOGE
(LAUGHS ALONG WITH CROWD) And there's Dick Wilkins. Poor Dick. Dear, dear, dear. Yes, and look! There's Mrs. Fezziwig herself, looking younger'n any of 'em! And the tables, all loaded with roasts and cider, mince pie and beer! Oh, what a jolly time we used to have!
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
That carefree young man with the light heart and the gay smile? Do you recognize him?
SCROOGE
Yes, yes, yes. Merciful Heaven. How happy I was then.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
A small matter for old Fezziwig to make those silly folks so full of joy.
SCROOGE
(INDIGNANT) Small matter! Small, indeed.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
Isn't it? He has spent only a few pounds of your mortal money. Is that so much that he deserves praise?
SCROOGE
(SCOFFS) It's not that. It's not that, Spirit. Old Fezziwig has the power to make us happy or unhappy. To make our service light or heavy. His power lies in words and looks and in things so tiny it's impossible to count 'em up. The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a ... a ...
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
What is the matter?
SCROOGE
Nothing. Nothing at all, Spirit.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
Something, I think?
SCROOGE
No, no.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
Speak.
SCROOGE
Only ... It's just that I should like to be able to say a word or two to MY clerk, Bob Cratchit just now. That's all.
SFX AND MUSIC: PARTY NOISES AND MUSIC UP FOR A MOMENT, THEN FADES OUT
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
My time grows short. And we have yet another journey to make.
SCROOGE
Where now?
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
Come!
MUSIC: A BRIEF BRIDGE, THEN UNDER
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
This is our last visit to the past, Ebenezer. Here, in this little room, with a fair young girl by your side. Do you recognize yourself, Ebenezer?
SCROOGE
(GASPS) No, no. No, no, no, no. Spare me this!
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
You're older now. A man in the prime of life. Your face has begun to wear the signs of care and avarice. Your eyes are greedy. The eager, restless eyes of a miser.
SCROOGE
No! No, please!
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
She knows it, too ... that girl by your side. There are tears in her eyes.
MUSIC: TURNS GENTLE AND SAD, UNDER
BELLE
It matters little, Ebenezer, to you, very little ... I know that.
YOUNG SCROOGE
Belle, have I changed toward you?
BELLE
When we were engaged, we were both poor.
YOUNG SCROOGE
Was it better then? Better to be poor?
BELLE
Better, at least, to be happy. You're changed. You were another man, then.
YOUNG SCROOGE
I was a boy! You blame me because I've grown wiser? Have I ever tried to break our engagement?
BELLE
In words, no. Never.
YOUNG SCROOGE
In what, then?
BELLE
In a changed nature. In an altered spirit. In everything that made my love of any value in your sight. So I release you from your promise.
YOUNG SCROOGE
Belle!
BELLE
Oh, at first, it may cause you pain to lose me ... a very brief pain. But soon it will be dim, like a half-remembered dream ... an unprofitable dream. And you will be glad to be awake from such a dream. May you be happy in the life you have chosen, Ebenezer, for the love of whom you once loved.
MUSIC: OUT
SCROOGE
Spirit, it's enough! Show me no more! Take me home!
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
These were shadows of the things that HAVE been. That they are what they are, do not blame me.
SCROOGE
No. No more. No more.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
One shadow more! Come!
MUSIC: IN AND UNDER
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
Do you see this man, Ebenezer Scrooge? This man might have been you. And the woman beside him, your wife. And that girl ... that girl might have been your daughter, Ebenezer Scrooge. She might have called you father. She might have been a spring-time in the haggard winter of your life.
SCROOGE
Spirit ... let me go. Show me no more.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
Listen, now, while they speak, Ebenezer.
BELLE'S HUSBAND
Belle, I saw an old friend of yours today.
BELLE
Who was it?
BELLE'S HUSBAND
Guess.
BELLE
How can I? It ... Oh! I know. Mr. Scrooge.
BELLE'S HUSBAND
Mr. Scrooge it was. I passed his office window ... it wasn't shuttered. And there was a candle inside so I couldn't help seeing him. His partner Marley lies at the point of death, I hear; and there Scrooge sat ... all alone. Quite alone in the world, I do believe.
SCROOGE
Spirit, Spirit, I can bear no more. Leave me. Haunt me no more. Take me back! Take me back!
MUSIC: A BRIDGE ... THEN CAROLERS SING "GOOD KING WENCESLAS" ... UNDER
PROGRAM BREAK
ERNEST CHAPPELL
You are listening to the Campbell Playhouse, bringing you tonight the fifth annual presentation of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," produced by Orson Welles and starring Lionel Barrymore as Scrooge. This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.
MUSIC: CONCLUDES
ERNEST CHAPPELL
And now back to the Campbell Playhouse and our fifth annual presentation of "A Christmas Carol," a Christmas present from the makers of Campbell Soups.
MUSIC: OMINOUS ... BELL CHIMES ... UNDER
NARRATOR
On the stroke of One, Scrooge awakened suddenly and sat him bolt upright in his own bed. He remembered the words of Marley's ghost and wondered from which direction the second specter would appear. At that moment, nothing between a baby and a rhinoceros would have astonished him very much.
Now, being prepared for almost anything, he was not by any means prepared for nothing; and, consequently, when no shape appeared, he was taken with a violent fit of trembling. Five minutes, ten minutes, a quarter of an hour went by, yet nothing came. Then, as he sat in his bed, he became aware gradually of a great blaze of ruddy light, which seemed to shine upon him from the adjoining room. He got up softly and shuffled in his slippers to the door.
It was his own sitting-room ... there was no doubt about that. But it had undergone a surprising transformation. The walls and ceiling were so hung with living green, that it looked a perfect grove. And there sat a jolly Giant, glorious to see, who bore a glowing torch, in shape not unlike Plenty's horn, and held it up, high up, to shed its light on Scrooge, as he came peeping round the corner.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT
Come in! Come in, Ebenezer Scrooge, and know me better, man!
SCROOGE
You're ...?
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT
I am the Ghost of Christmas Present! 
SCROOGE
Spirit, take me where you will. Last time I went against my will and learned a lesson which is working now. If you have anything to teach me, let me profit by it.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT
Touch my robe, Ebenezer Scrooge! Touch my robe!
MUSIC: UP FOR A TRANSITION, THEN UNDER
SCROOGE
Where have you brought me, Spirit?
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT
An humble dwelling in an humble street.
SCROOGE
It's miserable enough.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT
Yet there is happiness there.
SCROOGE
Who are these people? Who's that woman? And the children?
SFX: FAMILY CHATTER INCREASES UNDER FOLLOWING
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT
These are the family of your clerk, Bob Cratchit. See his wife, dressed in a twice-turned gown, but brave in ribbons, laying the table for their Christmas dinner. And there, assisting her, is her daughter Belinda. And the young man with the fork in the stuffing ... that's Master Peter Cratchit. And the two little Cratchits. Listen, Scrooge. And watch.
SFX: FAMILY CHATTER UP
GIRL
Here's Martha, mother!
AD LIBS
Martha! (EXCITED CHATTER)
MRS. CRATCHIT
Quiet everybody. Now, sit ye down before the fire Martha and have a warm, Lord bless ye!
MARTHA
Where's father?
MRS. CRATCHIT
He's been to church with Tiny Tim. They'll be along directly.
MARTHA
(CONCERNED) How IS Tiny Tim, mother? Any better at all?
MRS. CRATCHIT
Sometimes I think he is. And sometimes I think ... oh, dear God, if anything should happen to Tiny Tim.
MARTHA
Mother! You mustn't even THINK of such a thing!
CHILDREN AD LIB
Here they are!
MRS. CRATCHIT
There's Tiny Tim!
BOB CRATCHIT
Merry Christmas, everybody! Martha! Welcome, my dear!
MARTHA
Merry Christmas, father! And Tim!
TINY TIM
Merry Christmas, Martha!
MARTHA
Oh, Tim, you darling! Oh, father, I'm so glad to be home.
BOB CRATCHIT
And we're glad to have you, Martha.
MRS. CRATCHIT
And how did little Tim behave in church, Bob?
BOB CRATCHIT
Oh, as good as gold, and better.
TINY TIM
I like church, Mother. Oh, they sang the nicest songs. I hope people saw me there.
MRS. CRATCHIT
Saw you there? And why, Tim?
TINY TIM
Well, don't you see? Because I'm lame. And if they saw my crutch, it might be pleasant for them to remember on Christmas who it was made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.
BOB CRATCHIT
Bless you, my son.
CHILDREN AD LIB
Are we ready to eat, Mother? Come on, let's eat!
SFX: CHILDREN CONTINUE TO CHATTER UNDER FOLLOWING
MRS. CRATCHIT
Yes, children. We're all ready. Come, come take your places now. And, Bob, wait your turn ... there's plenty! Stuffing and dressing and plum pudding for all of you. Martha, you take care of Tiny Tim, and see that he eats plenty. He must get well and strong.
MARTHA
Yes, Mother.
MRS. CRATCHIT
Now, sit down, sit down, everyone!
BOB CRATCHIT
Ah, now, my dears.
CHILDREN
(INSTANTLY SILENT)
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT
I see a vacant seat in the poor chimney-corner, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved.
SCROOGE
Oh, no, no. No, no, kind Spirit! Say he'll be spared. Say he'll live.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT
If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, Ebenezer, the child will die.
BOB CRATCHIT
(FINISHES GRACE) And pray thy name. (PAUSE) Amen.
CHILDREN
Amen.
BOB CRATCHIT
And, now, my dears, with such a dinner, a toast. A Merry Christmas to us all. And God bless us!
MRS. CRATCHIT
Amen.
TINY TIM
God bless us every one!
BOB CRATCHIT
And, now, to Mr. Scrooge!
BOB CRATCHIT
I give you a toast to Mr. Scrooge ... the Founder of the Feast!
CHILDREN AD LIB
(UNHAPPY) Awwwww!
MRS. CRATCHIT
(UPSET) The Founder of the Feast indeed! Who pays you all of fifteen shillings a week! I wish I had him here. I'd give him a piece of my mind to feast on, and I hope he'd have a good appetite for it!
BOB CRATCHIT
(PROTESTS) Oh, my dear ... the children! Christmas Day.
MRS. CRATCHIT
It should be Christmas Day, I'm sure, on which one drinks the health of such an odious, stingy, unfeeling man as Mr. Scrooge. You know he is, Bob! Nobody knows it better than you, poor fellow!
BOB CRATCHIT
(INSISTS) My dear, Christmas Day.
MRS. CRATCHIT
I'll drink his health for your sake and the Day's, not for his. Long life to him! A merry Christmas and a happy new year! He'll be very merry and very happy, I have no doubt!
TINY TIM
And I say, God bless him, too, Mother. And everyone.
CHILDREN AD LIB
(AGREEING WITH TIM)
MUSIC: MOURNFUL CHOIR ... THEN CHURCH BELLS, "O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL" AS A BRIDGE, THEN UNDER
NARRATOR
There was nothing of high mark in all this. They were not a handsome family, these Cratchits; they were not well dressed. Their shoes were far from being water-proof. Their clothes were scanty and had known, very likely, the insides of a pawnbroker's. But, they were happy, grateful, pleased with one another, and contented with the time. When, at last, they faded, Scrooge had his eye upon them, and especially on Tiny Tim, until the last.
MUSIC: TAKES A DARKER TURN, UNDER
NARRATOR
Many calls Scrooge made that night with the Ghost of Christmas Present. Down among the miners they went, who labor in the bowels of the earth and out to sea among the sailors at their watch ... dark, ghostly figures in their several stations.
Much they saw, and far they went, and many places they visited, but always with a happy end. The Spirit stood beside sick beds, and they were cheerful. On foreign lands, and they were close at home. By poverty, and it was rich. In almshouse, hospital, and jail, where vain man in his little brief authority had not made fast the door, and barred the Spirit out, the Spirit left his blessing. It was a long night ... if it was only a night. And it was strange, too, that while Scrooge remained unaltered in his outward form, the Ghost grew older, clearly older.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT
My life upon this globe, is very brief, Ebenezer. It ends to-night.
SCROOGE
To-night!
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT
To-night at midnight. Hark! The hour has come.
SCROOGE
Oh, not yet! Not yet! There ... there ... there are still more things I wish to learn.
GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT
These you will learn from still another Spirit. Still another Spirit, Ebenezer.
MUSIC: A HUGE ACCENT, THEN UNDER
NARRATOR
Scrooge looked about him for the Ghost. It had vanished. And he found himself once more in his bed, in his dressing gown and his nightcap. He heard the clock strike and then ... he remembered the prediction of old Jacob Marley. And lifting up his eyes, beheld the third Spirit.
MUSIC: DARKER ... UNDER
NARRATOR
... a solemn Phantom, shrouded in black, draped and hooded, coming towards him, slowly and silently, like a mist along the ground.
SCROOGE
I know you. You ... you are the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come. You'll show me the shadows of things that have not happened, but will happen in the time before us. Answer me, Spirit, Ghost of the Future! Oh, I fear you more than any specter I've seen. Yet, as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, lead on. Lead on! The night is waning fast. Time is precious.
MUSIC: AN ACCENT ... THEN UNDER
SCROOGE
Spirit! Why ... why have you brought me here again? Here to Bob Cratchit's home? But it's not the same ... What ... ?
MUSIC: OUT
SCROOGE
Why is it so quiet? So very quiet here?
MRS. CRATCHIT
(WEEPING)
MARTHA
Mother ... Mother, please.
MRS. CRATCHIT
(WEEPING) Oh, my son. My little son. Tiny Tim. I loved him so.
MARTHA
Oh, Mother dear, you mustn't. It's almost time for father to be home. Don't let him see you crying.
MRS. CRATCHIT
Yes. Yes, Martha. He's late tonight. He walks slower than he used to. And yet I've known him to walk very fast indeed with Tiny Tim on his shoulder.
MARTHA
So have I, Mother.
MRS. CRATCHIT
But he was light to carry. And his father loved him so that it was no trouble. No trouble at all.
SFX: DOOR OPENS
MRS. CRATCHIT
Bob!
BOB CRATCHIT
Good evening, my dear.
MRS. CRATCHIT
You're late, Bob.
BOB CRATCHIT
I'm sorry, my dear. I ... I went to the church yard today. I wish you could have gone with me. It would have done your heart good to see how sweet and green a place it is. You'll see it often, I promised him. I promised Tiny Tim we'd walk there on a Sunday.
MARTHA
Oh Father, dear.
MRS. CRATCHIT
It's God's will, Bob.
BOB CRATCHIT
I'm trying to understand it, my dear. (TO HIMSELF) My son. My little son, Tiny Tim. And I loved him so.
MUSIC: DARK, UNDER
SCROOGE
Oh, that's cruel. Cruel. Spirit? Can't you give me one ray of hope that I may change all that? That Tiny Tim may live?
MUSIC: A HUGE, SUDDEN ACCENT, THEN UNDER, EERILY
SCROOGE
Spirit! Where are we now? Merciful Heaven! A church yard! Overrun by grass and weeds, choked with too much burying ... desolate, lonely, crumbling gravestones.
Spirit! Before I draw nearer to that gravestone, answer me one question. Are these shadows of things that Will be, or ... or are they shadows of things that May be, only? Huh? Will you not speak to me, Spirit? What IS that grave to which you point?
MUSIC: AN ACCENT, THEN UNDER
SCROOGE
Ah, now I see. There's writing on that stone. The name on the gravestone is ... (READS, AWED) Ebenezer Scrooge. Ebenezer Scrooge?! Oh, Oh ... Oh Sprit, no, no, no! Spirit! Hear me! I'm not the man I was! Why show me this, if I am past all hope?! Tell me that I may change these dreadful shadows that have come that you've shown me that have come by an altered life! I'll honor Christmas in my heart! I'll ... I'll try to keep it all the year. I'll live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Tell me, do Spirit. Please tell me that I can sponge away the writing on that stone, Spirit. I beg you, Spirit! Spirit!
MUSIC: BIG DARK ACCENT, THEN ABRUPTLY GENTLE, DISTANT CAROLERS SING "GOD REST YE MERRY, GENTLEMEN"
SCROOGE
(WHISPERS) Spirit, I promise. I promise on my knees. I promise. I promise. I ... I ... (PAUSES, HEARS CAROLERS SINGING) Why, what's this? It's my bedpost. Oh! I'm home! In my own bed! In my own room!
SFX: WINDOW OPENS, CAROLERS LOUDER, THEN UNDER
SCROOGE
And the sun! The sun's shining! It's clear! It's bright! No fog! Oh, what a beautiful day. Glorious, glorious. (CALLS OUT) Hey, boy! Oh, boy!
BOY
Yes, sir?
SCROOGE
Eh ... Eh ... What's today?
BOY
What's that, sir?
SCROOGE
What day is it, my fine fellow?
BOY
Today? Why, it's Christmas Day.
SCROOGE
Christmas Day! Ha ha! Then I haven't missed it. The Spirits have done it all in one night. All in one night. Heaven be praised.
BOY
How's that, sir?
SCROOGE
Listen, my lad, er, you know where the Poulterer is, in the next street?
BOY
I should say I do!
SCROOGE
Ha! An intelligent boy! A remarkable boy! Tell me, do you know if they've sold the prize Turkey that was hanging in the window?
BOY
The one as big as me?
MUSIC: HAS QUIETLY FADED OUT
SCROOGE
Hee hee hee! What a delightful boy! It's a pleasure to talk to ya. Yes, my buck!
BOY
It's hanging there now, sir.
SCROOGE
Ohh ... That's wonderful. Go around, will ya? And tell 'em to send it to Bob Cratchit and his family on Broad Street. And, mind you, they're not to know who paid for it. Hurry along my lad. And here, here. Here's half-a-crown for your trouble.
BOY
Yes, sir! Yes, sir! And a Merry Christmas!
SCROOGE
Ha ha! And a Merry Christmas to you, my boy! (TO HIMSELF) Oh! I don't know what to do! I'm as light as a feather! As happy as an angel! I'm as merry as a schoolboy! (CALLS OUT) Merry Christmas! (LAUGHS) A Merry Christmas to everybody! A Happy New Year to all the world. Whoo! Whoo! Hallooo!
MUSIC: "PEACE ON EARTH" AS A BRIDGE, THEN UNDER
NARRATOR
Next morning, Scrooge was early at his office. He went early for a reason. If he could only be there first, and catch Bob Cratchit coming late! That was the thing he'd set his heart upon.
And he did it. Yes, he did! The clock had struck nine. No Bob. A quarter past. No Bob. Scrooge sat with the door wide open, that he might see him come in.
At last he came. His hat was off, before he opened the door. His comforter too. He was on his stool in a jiffy, driving away with his pen, as if he were trying to overtake nine o'clock.
BOB CRATCHIT
(QUICKLY) ... fifteen and twenty-one, six and carry the one. Twenty-four and carry the two, thirty-one and eight and nine ...
SCROOGE
Hallo, you Cratchit!
BOB CRATCHIT
Yes, sir?
SCROOGE
Step this way, Cratchit, if you please.
SFX: (RELUCTANT FOOTSTEPS)
SCROOGE
Cratchit! What do you mean by coming in at this time of day?
BOB CRATCHIT
Oh, I am very sorry, sir. I am behind my time.
SCROOGE
You are. You are. Yes, I think you are.
BOB CRATCHIT
Oh, it's only once a year, Mr. Scrooge. It shall not be repeated. I was making rather merry yesterday, sir.
SCROOGE
I'll tell you what, my friend ... I'll not stand this sort of thing any longer! And therefore, Bob Cratchit ... I'm about to raise your salary.
BOB CRATCHIT
(AFTER A PAUSE, TREMBLING) Mr. Scrooge? Are you quite yourself, sir?
SCROOGE
No. No, thank Heaven, I'm not quite myself. Merry Christmas, Bob! (LAUGHS) Merry Christmas, my good fellow! A merrier Christmas than I've given you in many a year! I'll raise your salary, and we'll see what we can do for Tiny Tim and the rest of your family. Hah?! (CHUCKLES) We ... we'll discuss it this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of Smoking Bishop.
MUSIC: PLAYFUL, CHEERY ... SNEAKS IN AND UNDER
SCROOGE
Bob! Make up the fire! Make it up and ... and ... and buy another coal- scuttle before you dot another i!
MUSIC: CONTINUES AS A BRIDGE, AND UNDER)
NARRATOR
Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more. To Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them. His own heart laughed. That was quite enough for him.
He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards, and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.
MUSIC: OUT
NARRATOR
May that be truly said of us. All of us. And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One.
MUSIC: CHOIR SINGS "JOY TO THE WORLD" ... THEN, OUT
ERNEST CHAPPELL
You have just heard our annual presentation of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" starring Lionel Barrymore, brought to you by the makers of Campbell Soups. And, now, here is Orson Welles.
ORSON WELLES
At this point in the program, ladies and gentlemen, it is my custom, as you know, to present to you, with a few words of introduction, our guest of the evening. With your consent, I shall dispense with this tonight. To introduce tonight's guest to the Campbell Playhouse audience, or to any American audience, is an extravagant and superfluous procedure ... for if ever an actor has won for himself a lasting place in the hearts of his fellow countrymen through years of unsparing and inspiring service, that actor is Lionel Barrymore. Mr. Lionel Barrymore.
LIONEL BARRYMORE
Thank you, Orson Welles. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is the fourth year I've had the pleasure of appearing in "A Christmas Carol" here on The Campbell Playhouse. And I assure you all it's a pleasure that never tires. As long as I can remember, this has been one of my favorite stories.
When we were children, it was read to us regularly this time of year as it is to millions of children right now. (CHUCKLES) And like many of them, I'm sure, the three of us ... Ethel, Jack and I ... with the aid of a sheet and some old ironware, made a play of it. As I remember, we had three Scrooges in that production.
ORSON WELLES
(AMUSED) Uh, Mr. Barrymore, who played Tiny Tim?
LIONEL BARRYMORE
I think we had three Tiny Tims, too.
ORSON WELLES
(CHUCKLES)
LIONEL BARRYMORE
But, seriously, I can think of no part that I've enjoyed playing again and again as much as I have the part of that squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner, Ebenezer Scrooge. And I can think of no happier or more suitable choice for the makers of Campbell Soups to offer the people of America as their Christmas present each year, than Charles Dickens' well-beloved story "Christmas Carol." Good night, Orson. Good night, everybody. And a merry, merry Christmas to you all.
MUSIC: UNDER
ORSON WELLES
Good night, Mr. Barrymore. Thank you, sir, and a merry Christmas to you. Ladies and gentlemen, next Sunday night, we're happy to announce our version of a great and truly American story by a great American novelist ... "Come and Get It" by Edna Ferber. Against a background of the mighty forests of Miss Ferber's own Wisconsin, it tells a stirring tale of the men and women who live and die in the woods in order that lumber may come down the rivers every Spring into the cities of the modern world.
MUSIC: OUT
ORSON WELLES
Like so many of Miss Ferber's epic romances of American life, it was made from a bestselling novel into a highly successful motion picture. Now, we bring it to you on the air. The story of a man and his son and the girl they both loved, Lotte. Played for us by one of the loveliest and most accomplished of Hollywood's younger dramatic actresses, Miss Frances Dee. And so, until next week, until "Come and Get It," my sponsors, the makers of Campbell Soups and all of us in the Campbell Playhouse, remain, as always, obediently yours.
MUSIC: PLAYHOUSE THEME BEGINS
ORSON WELLES
Ah, just ... one ... moment, please, Benny! Ladies and gentlemen, it's the night before Christmas.
MUSIC: OUT
ORSON WELLES
... and all through the Campbell Playhouse, not a creature is stirring that doesn't join Lionel Barrymore in wishing you a merry, merry Christmas! This goes for all of us. For my sponsor, for myself, for – for all of us — from John Dietz who runs the machinery in the control room to Miss Helgrin who types the Campbell Playhouse scripts, a Merry Christmas! From Benny Herrmann and his band of merry melodians, Merry Christmas!
MUSIC: MUSICIANS PLAY LOUD AND OUT OF TUNE ... MERRILY ... THEN, OUT
ORSON WELLES
From Max... uh, canary-throated choristers ...
CHOIR
(WARBLES AN OSTENTATIOUS PHRASE)
ORSON WELLES
... a very merry Christmas! And from Harry Essman and ... and his crew of sound effect technicians ...
SFX: VARIOUS NOISY SOUND EFFECTS
ORSON WELLES
... a merry Christmas! And from Orson Welles and his considerable aggregation of dramatic talents which include, among others, Mr. Frank Readick, Miss Georgia Backus, Miss Bea Benadaret, Mr. Ray Collins, Mr. Everett Sloane, Mr. George Coulouris, Edgar Barrier, Erskine Sanford, Tommy Lane, William Allen, Betty DeWalters, Eric Burgess, and of course myself and George Philburn. A Merry Christmas! How 'bout it, ladies and gentlemen?
CAST
A Merry Christmas!
ORSON WELLES
And finally, as Tiny Tim says:
TINY TIM
God bless Us, Every One!
MUSIC: "PEACE ON EARTH" ... UNDER
ERNEST CHAPPELL
The makers of Campbell Soups join Orson Welles in inviting you to be with us in the Campbell Playhouse again next Sunday evening when we bring you Edna Ferber's "Come and Get It" with Miss Frances Dee as our guest. Meanwhile, if you have enjoyed our fifth annual presentation of "A Christmas Carol," won't you tell your grocer so this week when you order Campbell Soups? This is Ernest Chappell saying thank you and a Merry Christmas to you all!
MUSIC: "HALLELUJAH CHORUS" ... ENDS ABRUPTLY
MUSIC: RIR THEME, ESTABLISH, THEN FADE OUT UNDER THE FOLLOWING
HOST CREDITS
HOST
You've just listened to "A Christmas Carol," the December 24, 1939 episode of The Campbell Playhouse, starring Lionel Barrymore with Orson Welles and Ernest Chappell.
The Campbell Playhouse was a live radio drama series, heard on CBS, a sponsored continuation of The Mercury Theatre on the Air, offering hour-long adaptations of classic plays and novels, like A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
This Campbell Playhouse performance is considered a classic for the performance by Lionel Barrymore as Ebeneezer Scrooge.
I hope you enjoyed listening to this timeless tale of self-redemption and good will toward others.
MUSIC: RIR THEME, DUCK UNDER AND CONTINUE
HOST
Re-Imagined Radio is produced in collaboration with The Electronic Literature Lab at Washington State University Vancouver.
Our programs are broadcast and streamed by partner community radio stations KXRW-FM (Vancouver, Washington), KXRY-FM (Portland, Oregon), KNOM-AM (Nome, Alaska).
THANKS to Marc Rose for sound design, and post-production.
Holly Slocum and Evan Leyden for graphic designs.
Rylan Eisenhauer for announcing and YouTube management.
Caitlyn Kruger-Lesperance for social media management.
Follow Re-Imagined Radio on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, Blue Sky, LinkedIn -- and our YouTube channel ... [at sign] reimaginedradio.
VISIT our website, reimaginedradio DOT FM, for scripts and information about our episodes.
SUBSCRIBE to the Re-Imagined Radio podcast and never miss an episode.
I'm John Barber. Thank you for listening.
MUSIC: RIR THEME UP, THEN DUCK UNDER THE FOLLOWING
ANNOUNCER CLOSE
ANNOUNCER
This is a production of Re-Imagined Radio. To learn more, visit our website, reimaginedradio (all one word, no punctuation) DOT FM. 
Please join us for another episode of Re-Imagined Radio as we continue our exploration of sound-based storytelling.
MUSIC: RIR THEME UP, AND TO END.