{Christmas Carol Centennial
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in the end Dickens won,
Se
100 YEARS YOUNG: Th©
familiar figures of Dickens'
for the "Carol’* never has slop
ped selling, not not for 100 prs.
'•ChrislmasCarol " has been
re-created with meticulous at
tention to dress and detail in
series of five window dis
plays at New York's Rockfel
ler Center (by the National Cash
Register Company?. The three
foot tall mannikins here enact
Scrooge and Christmas Pres
ent (left) while Tiny Tim gives
his memorable greeting from
the shoulder of Bob Cruichii
lower.
By JOHN SELBY
AP Arts Editor
NEW YORK — Down in
North Carolina a celebrated pro
fessor will soon be reading
Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas
Carol’’ to a dozen or more aud
iences, and over the air as well.
All over the country preachers
will quote the work. Parents will
I Our good wish to all of our i£jj
friends n for a Jolly Holiday %£
season and a year of peaceful
success. fiS
Wallace Hotel |
& Taxi I
dig out thumbed copies, and
children will be told about Tiny
Tim, and Old Scrooge, and the
rest of the immortal story.
And people will depict Dick
ens as he wrote it 100 years ago
—a kindly, cahrming gentleman
whose mind was filled with sen
timent, whose heart overflowed
Avith fine, milky human kind
ness.
It’s the wrong picture!
Dickens was as sour as only
a disappointed author can be.
He was stuck between two in
stallments of “Martin Chuzzle
wit’’ which was appearing ser
ially in .London; and. .was doing
much worse than its predeces
sors—the immortal Pickwick’s
adventures and ‘‘Oliver Twist.”
He was in debt, too, and his
relatives were hounding him on
all sides. They made ridiculous
requests for fantastic sums, and
Dickens wore himself out grant
ing them, or dodging them. And
he was in the midst of a fight
with his publisher.
The firm was Chapman and
Hall, and Forster’s standard
Dickens biography describes the
battle in detail Dickens left the
firm, but not without a few well
aimed blows. One of these is im
mortal, just like the “Carol’’. He
made Samuel Carter Hall into
Pecksniff, in “Martin Chuzzle
wit.’’ The nice thing is that, ac
cording to Forster, Hall didn’t
recognize himself.
But shortly before Christmas
of 1843 Dickens was seized with
the idea of doing a special
Chrstmas story—it was a habit
with authors in those days. He
got the idea, and he was trans
ported by it. He wept, it is said,
and laughed, and in the dark
of the London night he left his
house and took repeated walks
of 15 and 20 miles,, oblivious to
London fog and footpads.
It was published just before
Christmas, and sold 6,000 cop
ies the first day, and 4,000 more
almost immfediately. But Dick
ens had expected 1,000 pounds
in sterling, and he actually got
less than 700 pounds sterling. It
soured him on the ‘‘Carol’’ for
quite a time,although not so
much that he failed to write other
Christmas conceits for succeed
ing Christmases.
IThat your Holidays mamy have that jj%
touch' of old-time happiness in our earnest p
wish for you and all of your folk. m
'ir'
Northern Light I
& Power Co. 1