Friday, December 24, 2021

Scrooge And The Ghosts Of Christmas

Mr. Haunted Eve here. Since it's Christmas Eve, I thought I'd share one of my favorite things: Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol". My first introduction to this literary masterpiece was at the age of 4 when I received a giant 17" x 22" coloring book for Christmas from Santa that was based on "A Christmas Carol". When I was very little, my godfather would dress up as Santa on Christmas Eve and would present me with a sack filled with gifts. But that year, that coloring book was by far my favorite gift. I was captivated by the illustrations of the ghosts donned in chains, it was both Christmas and Halloween all rolled up into one. Being a child, I colored in the book as best a 4 year old could do, and it eventually disappeared with the other myriad of childhood toys when one outgrows them often do. But as the years went by, I never forgot that giant coloring book and started to lament that I was not old enough to truly appreciate the artistry, and should have just left it "as is" and had held on to it. When the internet age was well upon us, I looked for it numerous times on the web with no success. I found other old coloring books based on "A Christmas Carol" but I could not find the one with the fantastic illustrations I recalled as a child. I had described it to Mrs. Haunted Eve, and the time frame when I received it as a gift from Santa. Then in 2019, Mrs. Haunted Eve surprised me with a wonderful gift. She found an untouched copy in excellent condition on eBay and gave it to me that Christmas. My error was thinking the coloring book was called "A Christmas Carol" or just "Scrooge", it was called "Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas". My search criteria was a tad off! I learned the coloring book was illustrated by Patrick M. Reynolds and the story was adapted by Patricia J. Reynolds and was published in 1974. Patrick M. Reynolds created numerous illustrated publications, many dealing with the history of Pennsylvania, and a Halloween themed one called "101 Haunted House Funnies" published in 1980. And my favorite screen version of "A Christmas Carol" is 1970's "Scrooge" starring Albert Finney as the miser himself. In the DVD/Blu-ray version you get to see some scary looking damned souls flying in the night sky over London, and you also get to see Scrooge spend some time in hell with his "ponderous" chain.

1 comment :

  1. I expect you will do a nicer job coloring it as an adult.

    ReplyDelete