Merry Christmas, Uncle: 1978 (Walter Matthau)

As we noticed last time we looked at The Stingiest Man in Town, Cratchit announces Scrooge's nephew (as a diversionary tactic to get the boss' attention off himself) before Fred can get to the door. Some of Fred's boisterousness is lost that way, but the tactic supports the idea introduced in the last scene that Cratchit has a deceptive side. Humbug has already revealed that he and Cratchit have been smuggling coal behind Scrooge's back for some time. This Cratchit is a wily character. Matthau's Scrooge is so dull and unpleasant though that we don't care.

Fred's jolly enough. In fact, he's literally skipping up the street as he approaches the counting house. Scrooge of course thinks he's a fool, but Cratchit boldly states that he likes Fred. "His smile warms my heart."

What bluster was lost by Cratchit's announcing Fred is picked up again when the nephew (looking sort of like Bilbo Baggins from Rankin-Bass' The Hobbit) bursts through the door, singing. Scrooge turns the number into a duet by disagreeing as often as possible.

Merry Christmas, Uncle Scrooge!
(Humbug!)
Oh, be merry, Uncle Scrooge!
(Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

What's so merry on Christmas Day?
The merry money you throw away?
The merry bills you have to pay?
When you say "Merry Christmas," I say "Bah!")

Here's a present, Uncle Scrooge!
(Humbug! I think you are a fool to waste your cash.

What's the present you always buy?
A handkerchief or an awful tie?
Look at this tie and you'll know why
When I get Christmas presents, I say, "Trash!")

But everything at Christmas is so jolly
And lively!
The Christmas trees and wreaths of holly...
(Poison ivy!)
The boys and girls who dream about St. Nicholas!
(Saint Nicholas? Ridiculous!)

Don't you like him, Uncle Scrooge?
(Humbug!)
Good old Nicholas?
(That's a lot of slush!

I abominate old Saint Nick.
His reckless spending makes me sick!
I think St. Nick's a lunatic!
When you say, "Old Saint Nicholas," I say, "Bosh!)

As they sing, Fred does indeed give Scrooge a tie that Scrooge tosses at Cratchit. The nephew also offers a poinsettia and Scrooge throws that to the ground, smashing it. The gift-giving is an interesting addition to Dickens' story and I almost wish that some of the other versions tried it just to see how their Scrooges would've reacted. Matthau's reaction sort of makes sense in light of Scrooge's principles, but I could also believe a Scrooge who selfishly kept the gifts rather than refusing or destroying them.

I also like what the gift-giving does to Fred's reason for coming to see Scrooge. This isn't some half-hearted attempt made from habit (as in Richard Williams' cartoon). It's obviously an annual occurrence, but a sincere one. Even if his gifts do kind of suck.

The song takes a short break while Fred invites Scrooge to Christmas dinner. Scrooge refuses, but his reason is again all about the occasion, not about Fred himself. In this simplified version, his only beef with his nephew seems to be about the holiday, but it defines their relationship.

Oh, don't you like a juicy Christmas turkey?
(Detest it!)
Plum pudding with a brandy sauce?
(Can't digest it!)
You'll get a mellow feeling for humanity.
(Humanity? 
Insanity!)

You'll enjoy it, Uncle Scrooge!
(Humbug! It may be fun for you, but not for me!

I'm not merry on Christmas Day.
I'm never happy; I'm never gay.
If you think I could feel that way,
Then you are just as stupid as can be.

If you think I'd be merry
And chirp like a canary,
Then you are even dumber than a dumb bug.
When you say, "Merry Christmas," I say, "Nonsense! Fiddlesticks! Poppycock!"
And just plain, "Humbug! Humbug!
Humbug! Humbug! Humbug!"

Fred gives up after that, but tells Scrooge that he pities him. "Maybe I'll never be as rich as you," he says, "but I'll go to my grave still believing in a Merry Christmas."

That's where Scrooge starts his "Good Afternoons" as Fred continues throwing laudatory adjectives in front of Christmas until Scrooge throws him out. All the best lines have been cut out of their conversation in favor of the song. Disappointing, but not surprising.

Merry Christmas, Uncle: 1971 (Alastair Sim)

In Richard Williams' animated version, Scrooge's nephew is introduced with the tinkling of the bell over the front door and a flurry of wind that scatters Scrooge's papers. He intrudes on what till now has been a soundless scene except for the ticking of a wall clock and the scratching of quills on paper. His intrusiveness is further emphasized by the animators' having him lean in close to the camera - his face filling the screen - as he questions his uncle's calling Christmas a humbug.

At first I thought this might just be the animators' showing off a bit - the shot is rather fancy and highlights the smoothness of the character's movement as well as the detail in his face - but when we cut to both the nephew and Scrooge in the same shot, the nephew's face is still very close to Scrooge's.

The nephew is friendly, but not overly jolly. That's a weakness in the animation. Though the characters are well-designed, they're not very well-animated. Their expressions don't change much and while their movements look natural, they're far too slow. That gives the conversation the feeling of sort of just going through the motions. Which is perhaps what the nephew's doing. He doesn't seem to really want Scrooge to come to dinner; he's performing an obligation as a family-member. Is he purposely being invasive too in hopes that that'll discourage Scrooge from accepting?

Unfortunately, Scrooge also seems to be just performing his duty as a character in the story. He recites his lines about boiling celebrants in their own pudding, but he stammers his way through them without seeming to mean them. There's no juice in him.

Cratchit is all but absent from the scene except for a reaction shot to... well, it's hard to tell what he's reacting to because the cartoon cuts to him at "every idiot" and cuts away again at "Merry Christmas on his lips," well before the mentions of boiling pudding and holly stakes. It's like Cratchit's cued in on the word "idiot," but it's equally difficult to tell what he's thinking about it. He looks surprised and a little mortified. Does he think Scrooge means him? So what if he does?

In the interest of time, Williams cuts the nephew's big speech and any mention of the wife. So there's no applause from Cratchit and no apparent reason for Scrooge's refusal to come to dinner other than his not liking Christmas. Partly because of this; partly due to the limitations in the characters' acting, Scrooge doesn't seem to dislike his nephew so much as simply disagree with him on this particular issue.

His first couple of Good Afternoons are even pretty laid back. He doesn't get really cranky until Cratchit opens the door for the nephew and the two exchange Merry Christmases. Is Scrooge less tolerant of his clerk's celebrating than he is of his nephew's? It's impossible to tell yet because we've had so little interaction between Scrooge and Cratchit.

Merry Christmas, Uncle: 1970 (Albert Finney)

You may have noticed that I've skipped past 1951's Alastair Sim version and 1954's Fredric March version of the nephew scene to get to this post. That's because those two versions switch the nephew's visit with the charity collectors' so that the charitable gentlemen come first. I've never thought much about why that might be preferable, but I'll give it some consideration when we come back to those versions. For now, we'll move on to Albert Finney and do a couple of special catch-up posts for Sim and March's nephews after we cover their charity scenes.

When we last saw Finney's Scrooge, he was roaring at the front door, thinking that the knocking there was some carolers returning to inflict more misery upon him. Instead, it's his nephew, played by Michael Medwin, who's a comical-looking fellow with large teeth. "Uncle Ebenezer!" he smiles. "I can't tell you what a joy it is to see your happy, smiling face." Behind the scowling Scrooge, we see Cratchit crack another smile. That's good, because my first impression of Scrooge's nephew is that he might be a witless buffoon. Cratchit hints that there's some intelligence there though and that he and the nephew are in on a joke. Unfortunately, it'll prove to be rather a cruel one.

Why that is, after the break.

Merry Christmas, Uncle: 1938 (Reginald Owen)

In Reginald Owen's Christmas Carol, the story opened not with Scrooge in his counting-house, but with his nephew's meeting a couple of Bob Cratchit's kids on the street. We got to see how good-natured Fred is and - through his conversation with Peter and Tiny Tim - learned a little about what people think of his Uncle Scrooge.

After leaving the boys, Fred continues his walk towards Scrooge's office, grinning at shoppers and cheerfully brushing snow from his coat after being knocked into a snowdrift in the last scene. He soon arrives at the building with the Scrooge & Marley sign and it's humanizing to see him pause to look up at the sign and collect himself. He looks worried for a second, but then visibly shakes it off, smiles sadly, and goes inside.

He doesn't burst in and force his cheerfulness on the place. He opens the door and Cratchit - who's sitting right there - doesn't even look up. He sort of half-acknowledges that someone's just come in, but doesn't turn to see who it is. When Fred calls him on it and asks, "Aren't you going to wish me a Merry Christmas?" Cratchit looks stressed, but tears himself away from his work to greet his visitor. He quickly explains that he thought it was Scrooge coming in, implying that he was trying to look busy.

 Fatchit, loving cups, and Owen's Scrooge after the break.

Merry Christmas, Uncle: 1935 (Seymour Hicks)

After a dismal first scene in which Scrooge threatens his clerk's job over a shovel-full of coal ("It is very evident to me, sir, you know, that my interest is not your interest, nor my welfare your welfare."), we cut to the street outside where a gentleman carrying Christmas bundles is walking along to a merry little marching tune. He stops to buy something from a street vendor and then goes inside to Scrooge's office.

It's the nephew, of course. He barges in and surprises Scrooge who looks shaken by the abrupt interruption. As the conversation begins, he lays his packages right on Scrooge's desk, though he doesn't seem to disrupt the papers that Scrooge is working with.

The dialogue is all right out of Dickens, slightly abridged (especially during the nephew's speech at the end) and with a few improvisations ("not a penny richer" instead of "not an hour richer," for instance). The nephew isn't overly jolly - he seems to know he's in for a battle and is prepared for it - but he's cheerful and even keeps his sense of humor when Scrooge intentionally knocks one of his packages off the desk (to punctuate his comment about paying bills without money).

Merry Christmas, Uncle: 1910 (Mark McDermott)

For some reason, Thomas Edison's silent film puts Scrooge's nephew after the visit from the Charity Relief Committee. It's not the only version to do that, so there must be a reason for it, but I sure can't figure out what it is.

After Scrooge kicks the Committee out of his office, a title card tells us that "His nephew calls to wish him a Merry Christmas." By the time we cut back to the action, the nephew's already halfway through the door. Scrooge doesn't seem to see him though (or is just ignoring him) and continues working. He doesn't look up or turn around until his nephew's standing right over him, but his attention could also have been gotten by the large, boisterous group of people coming through the door next. The nephew, it seems, has brought friends (two women and a gentleman). And they're in a great mood.

The nephew tries a couple of times to shake Scrooge's hand, but Scrooge ignores it, seeming much more concerned about getting this rabble out of his place of business. He shows them out and then bows towards his nephew to indicate that he can follow them. The nephew tries once more to shake Scrooge's hand, but this time Scrooge outright refuses. Scrooge closes the door behind his nephew and takes the time to shake a cane at the party through his window. Scrooge's nephew seems jolly throughout most of the scene, but he's somewhat deflated by his uncle's rebuffing as he leaves.

What's the deal with the entourage and is Scrooge justified in tossing these hoodlums out?

"Merry Christmas, Uncle!"

When I talked about Dickens' text for the first scene, I just paraphrased and hit what I thought were the high points. I was relying on my memory of the adaptations and trying to predict what the most important elements might be, but I missed some. The coal argument, for instance, is mentioned almost in passing by Dickens, but is used by most of the adaptations to utterly define Scrooge and Cratchit's relationship.

So, I'm trying something different for this one. Borrowing again from Siskoid's format, I'm going to copy out the entire text of the section and insert commentary. Hopefully, the act of having to retype the text will make me pay closer attention.

"A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!" cried a cheerful voice. It was the voice of Scrooge's nephew, who came upon him so quickly that this was the first intimation he had of his approach.

I like the suddenness of the nephew's introduction. Some of the adaptations imitate this by having him burst through the door unannounced, but I think I recall a couple having Cratchit see him coming up the street through the window. Let's keep an eye on that.

"Bah!" said Scrooge. "Humbug!"

The famous line. There are some famous quotes in pop culture that were never actually uttered by the people they're attributed to ("Beam me up, Scotty" and "Elementary, my dear Watson" being two), but it's nice to know that this isn't one of them.

He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, this nephew of Scrooge's, that he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again.

Scrooge's nephew is full of life as he's depicted in most of the adaptations. A couple of them turn him into a sentimental fop, which is a crime. The George C Scott version is the worst of these offenders. I'll be sure to point these out as we go.

"Christmas a humbug, uncle!" said Scrooge's nephew. "You don't mean that, I am sure."

"I do," said Scrooge. "Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? You're poor enough."

"Come, then," returned the nephew gaily. "What right have you to be dismal? What reason have you to be morose? You're rich enough."

Burn! It's lines like this that make me love Dickens.

Scrooge having no better answer ready on the spur of the moment, said, "Bah!" again; and followed it up with "Humbug."

"Don't be cross, uncle," said the nephew.

"What else can I be," returned the uncle, "when I live in such a world of fools as this? Merry Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas! What's Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in 'em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you? If I could work my will," said Scrooge, indignantly, "every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!"

Ebenezer Scrooge, Christmas-Vampire Hunter.

"Uncle!" pleaded the nephew.

"Nephew!" returned the uncle, sternly, "Keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine." 

"Keep it!" repeated Scrooge's nephew. "But you don't keep it."

"Let me leave it alone, then," said Scrooge. "Much good may it do you! Much good it has ever done you!"

"There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say," returned the nephew: "Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round - apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that - as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!"

This speech is usually abridged in the adaptations. Though I've always loved it regardless of how it's trimmed, I especially like the "fellow-passengers" bit that gets cut out. Nowhere is the reason for Dickens' love of Christmas made clearer than here.

The clerk in the tank involuntarily applauded: becoming immediately sensible of the impropriety, he poked the fire, and extinguished the last frail spark for ever. 

Nice opportunity for a laugh if the adaptations make good use of it.

"Let me hear another sound from you," said Scrooge, "and you'll keep your Christmas by losing your situation. You're quite a powerful speaker, sir," he added, turning to his nephew. "I wonder you don't go into Parliament."

This is the second time Scrooge has threatened his clerk's job in the story. One wonders how often he normally did that in the course of a day. I wonder if Cratchit took it to heart every time or if he'd grown used to it as an empty threat. Might be interesting to watch how the actors portray his reaction.

With the keep/lose wordplay, we also see that Scrooge has a sense of humor, if a dark, dry one.  That becomes more evident later.

"Don't be angry, uncle. Come! Dine with us to-morrow."

The nephew comes to his apparent reason for visiting.

Scrooge said that he would see him - yes, indeed he did. He went the whole length of the expression, and said that he would see him in that extremity first.

I love the lengths to which Victorian writers went to avoid swearing. I don't remember which adaptations include this part, so that'll be interesting to see. 

"But why?" cried Scrooge's nephew. "Why?"

"Why did you get married?" said Scrooge.

I've often wondered what the real beef was that Scrooge had with his nephew. Alastair Sim's version suggests that Scrooge blames him for the death of Scrooge's sister, who died in childbirth. I don't recall that being part of Dickens' text, but we'll see.

This line about the marriage seems to reveal the true reason. I operated for years under the assumption that Scrooge thought his nephew married beneath him, but that doesn't make a lot of sense. Scrooge's family doesn't seem to be especially well-connected or privileged, so the bride's social status probably isn't the issue. More likely it's that Victorians didn't consider it wise to get married before you had sufficient income to support a family. Indeed, we'll see later that Scrooge waited before proposing to his sweetheart.

He thinks his nephew is foolish and has now got himself into the position of needing money. Which, Scrooge suspects, is the real reason for the nephew's cozying up to him.

"Because I fell in love."

"Because you fell in love!" growled Scrooge, as if that were the only thing in the world more ridiculous than a merry Christmas. "Good afternoon!"

"Nay, uncle, but you never came to see me before that happened. Why give it as a reason for not coming now?"

Maybe there is something to the idea of Scrooge's blaming his nephew for his sister's death. Seems to be a bit of a mystery here and I don't remember how/if the text reveals it.

"Good afternoon," said Scrooge.

"I want nothing from you; I ask nothing of you; why cannot we be friends?"

"Good afternoon," said Scrooge.

"I am sorry, with all my heart, to find you so resolute. We have never had any quarrel, to which I have been a party. But I have made the trial in homage to Christmas, and I'll keep my Christmas humour to the last. So A Merry Christmas, uncle!"

"Good afternoon!" said Scrooge.

"And A Happy New Year!"

"Good afternoon!" said Scrooge.

His nephew left the room without an angry word, notwithstanding. He stopped at the outer door to bestow the greetings of the season on the clerk, who, cold as he was, was warmer than Scrooge; for he returned them cordially.

"There's another fellow," muttered Scrooge; who overheard him: "my clerk, with fifteen shillings a-week, and a wife and family, talking about a merry Christmas. I'll retire to Bedlam."

According to the annotated text I'm using, fifteen shillings a week was a common wage for clerical workers at the time. Some of the adaptations try to draw humor by making Cratchit's pay ridiculously low, but that's apparently not the actual case.

Bedlam, of course, was an insane asylum, but I've also learned that it's short for Bethlehem, as in the Hospital of St. Mary's of Bethlehem, which was the formal name of the place.

We'll stop there. We learn in the next paragraph that "this lunatic, in letting Scrooge's nephew out [curiously unnamed in this scene, though we later learn that he's called Fred], had let two other people in." So we'll cover them in their own section.

Just to help me keep track, the things we're watching for as we explore this section:

• How abruptly is the nephew introduced?
• Is the nephew's personality jolly or sentimental?
• How funny is Cratchit's applause?
• Is Cratchit really afraid for his job?
• Will Scrooge see his nephew in Hell?
• What seems to be the reason for Scrooge's intense dislike of his nephew?