'You Wish to Be Anonymous?' | Marvel Classic Comics #36 (1978)

Index of other entries in The Christmas Carol Project

Before I get to Marvel's version of the charitable solicitors, I just want to acknowledge a couple of Christmas Carol adaptations that I'm not covering this year because they don't include the scene. Teen Titans #13 is only loosely following Dickens story as it contemporizes it (to 1968) and works in a criminal plot for its teenage superheroes, so it's understandable that it jettisons our charitable gentlemen. I was a little more surprised though to see them gone from Rankin-Bass' The Stingiest Man in Town. It's a shorter adaptation and we've already talked about how this scene is an understandable cut, but the even shorter Disney version manages to keep them in.

Anyway, Doug Moench and Friends offer a severely trimmed version of the scene in Marvel's adaptation. One notable addition to it is Scrooge's repeating the word "liberality," which drives home nicely for younger readers the humor of the solicitor's mistaken assumption. After that though, the conversation is so truncated that when Scrooge says that they can put him down for nothing, that's the first chance he's had to object. The gentlemen are understandably confused and offer him the opportunity to be anonymous. This is the second time we've seen the scene work that way (the Shower of Stars episode being the first) and I like it. It makes more sense than Dickens' version, frankly.

What doesn't make sense is the violence with which Scrooge finishes the scene. His response to the offer of anonymity is to shake his cane in the second gentleman's face and the panel that follows that one is a close up of Scrooge's face, enraged almost to the point of insanity as he shrieks about the surplus population. If Fred was acting a little inconsistently in the previous scene, Scrooge is even more so in this one. The problem is that the various artists are trying to add energy to the story, but are doing it in unnatural ways. Characters can't just be frustrated with each other, they have to be furious. All the reactions are extreme, including in the last panel of the scene where the two gentlemen literally run out of the office as if frightened for their lives. It makes for a visually exciting comic, but not for organic storytelling.

'You Wish to Be Anonymous?' | Alastair Sim (1971)

Index of other entries in The Christmas Carol Project

As we noticed last year with Fred, Chuck Jones' Scrooge is mostly an unemotional fellow. I wondered if that might be a flaw of the animation and voice acting, but with the solicitors I see that it's a deliberate choice.

As Fred leaves Scrooge's office, the solicitors come in and Scrooge rolls his eyes. It's impossible to tell if he's doing that because of his encounter with his nephew or if it's at the prospect of yet another interruption. Since he doesn't yet know why they're here, it reminds me of the rudeness of Reginald Owen's Scrooge. I can see why people go with that choice, but it makes Scrooge less human and more of a caricature. I like to think that this one is rolling his eyes at his nephew, just at an inopportune time.

As the very portly men explain their purpose in visiting, Scrooge taps his face drowsily with his quill. He asks them about the prisons and workhouses, but he's calm and sounds genuinely inquisitive. He's playing with them, even making pathetic faces as he talks. Like with Fred, there's no passion in the scene, but with these two men Scrooge is at least replacing his traditional anger and frustration with something else. It's a weird something else, but the result of both scenes is an aloof, cold-hearted Scrooge who's completely in control.

That's further supported in his reciting some of the solicitors' dialogue before they have a chance to. By the end of the scene, he's literally carrying both sides of the conversation and they don't even have a chance to recite the line about being anonymous. There's no doubt where he stands and they leave as soon as he wishes them a polite, but firm "good afternoon."

'You Wish to Be Anonymous?' | Albert Finney (1970)

Index of other entries in The Christmas Carol Project

Albert Finney's musical Scrooge moves the charitable solicitors to later in the story, after Cratchit's already gone home and Scrooge is himself heading out for the night. The two men, one quite portly, accost Scrooge in the street outside his office and follow him for a way, trying to talk him into contributing.

The move of the scene doesn't seem to be about the story so much as it does about musical numbers. After Cratchit leaves, he has a song with his children while going about the pleasant task of Christmas shopping. In contrast, Scrooge's encounter with the solicitors propels him into a song as he makes his way through the Christmas crowds, singing about his hatred for humanity. More on those songs when we get to those sections, but it's important to note that this version feels free to adjust the story to fit the needs of the music.

Regarding the solicitors themselves, they're as annoying as Scrooge's nephew was in the earlier scene. They seem particularly clueless about getting the message that Scrooge isn't going to give them anything. Unlike other versions where Scrooge is kind of trapped in his office, this Scrooge has the option of walking away and he takes it. Stubbornly, the pushy solicitors block his way and - once he moves around them - follow him until he gets so angry that he swings his cane and screams about decreasing the surplus population. He's a mean person and it's hard to sympathize with him too much, but I can start to see why he launches into the misanthropic song right after this. So far, the Christmas celebrants Scrooge has encountered have been insufferable.

'You Wish to Be Anonymous?' | Fredric March (1954)

Index of other entries in The Christmas Carol Project

The Christmas Carol episode of Shower of Stars continues the tradition in the early adaptations of putting the solicitors in front of Fred. It even uses the pair as an introduction to Scrooge himself. We meet them on the street, collecting a donation from another pleasant gentleman before heading into the next place on their list: Scrooge and Marley's. It's a nice move, letting us witness the success they're used to before hitting us with Scrooge's cranky rejection.

The script moves around some of the dialogue so that the solicitors get to their purpose more quickly than usual and ask Scrooge what they can put him down for. When he says "nothing" and they ask if he wants to be anonymous, it makes sense because he hasn't yet had a chance to make his feelings about the poor known to them. His response that he wants to be left alone leads them to expand on why they're there as they try to convince him.

One other remarkable thing is the look Scrooge has after his remark about decreasing the surplus population. He pauses and smiles broadly to himself, incredibly pleased with his cleverness. It's a weird expression and somewhat out of character for the traditional Scrooge. It'll bear watching to see if he exhibits a similar sense of humor as the story progresses.

The solicitors are so flummoxed by his refusal to chip in that they just stand slack-jawed in his office until he gets up and shows them the door with a grouchy "good afternoon."

'You Wish to Be Anonymous?' | Alastair Sim (1951)

Index of other entries in The Christmas Carol Project

1951's Scrooge is another adaptation that puts the visit by the charitable solicitors in front of Scrooge's nephew. I speculated why that was last year and I'm happy to see that my previous thoughts match the theory I came up with this year, which is that putting the solicitors first is a way of presenting Scrooge's general worldview before honing in on his personal issues with Christmas and his nephew.

Alastair Sim's version began by showing us Scrooge at work at the London Exchange, interacting with other businessmen. When he gets back to his office, he has more ‘business’ to conduct, but this time with people looking for handouts. Seeing how he reacts to them makes a nice transition from the business world to the purely personal visit of his nephew.

The Scrooge we saw on the Exchange and Scrooge as he is around his nephew are very different characters. On the Exchange, Scrooge is energetic and dangerous. Where his sister’s boy is concerned, he's less sure of himself. It’s the first chink we see in the armor he so effectively wears around other people of business, including the charity solicitors. By switching Fred and the solicitors, the film can head into the next events with Scrooge less at ease and less on his guard. It’s a great piece of character development.

As for the solicitors, they're waiting for Scrooge when he gets back to his office from the Exchange. This version has them as thin men, which I won't read into, but is a departure from Dickens. Curiously (since they've been hanging out with Cratchit for who knows how long), they still don't know if Scrooge is Scrooge or Marley. Wouldn't Marley's death be something they learned when they introduced themselves to Cratchit?

There's a great, comical moment when the lead solicitor talks about Marley's "generosity" being represented by his surviving partner and Scrooge simply walks away and goes into his office. He's not inviting the gentlemen to follow, he's dismissing them, very rudely, and the speaker misses a beat of his speech as he tries to process what just happened.

He recovers though and with his partner follows Scrooge into the office, explaining the reason for the visit. The rest of the scene isn't played for laughs, but Sim is darkly funny as he questions the men. "A few of us are endeavoring to raise a fund," one of them says, "to buy the poor some meat and drink and means of warmth." "Why?" says Scrooge. And he genuinely doesn't know.

As the solicitor explains, Scrooge smiles, amused by the notion. He actually laughs when they ask how much they can put him down for. He's still very confident and in control, which will change once Fred shows up.

The solicitors, on the other hand, are shocked and confused by Scrooge's statements. They're severe, serious men (not like the pleasant gentlemen from Reginald Owen's version who seemed so passionate about their work), but they're also quite genuine in their concern for the poor and don't understand why Scrooge doesn't share it. "You wish to be anonymous?" doesn't come across as a legitimate question, but as a last-ditch effort to get a donation. These men know what's going on, but are grasping at straws.

I love that this version includes Scrooge's line about the poor not being his business. The script changes Dickens' text dramatically and effectively. "Isn't it, sir?" replies the lead gentleman in a way that makes me want to cheer. Sadly, Scrooge gets even more grumpy and insistent that no, it's not any of his business. He quickly dismisses the men with a gruff "good afternoon" and they exchange a frustrated look between themselves and leave.

'You Wish to Be Anonymous?' | Classics Illustrated #53 (1948)

George D Lipscomb and Henry Kiefer's adaptation for Classics Illustrated only gives five panels to the charitable solicitors and cuts out huge chunks of the dialogue. They don't even have time to get confused about whether Scrooge is going to contribute. He makes it very clear that he won't and they very briefly try to change his mind before they give up and leave.

It's a perfunctory presentation, which is probably the point. Part of the value of the shorter adaptations is seeing what they think is crucial to the story. Lipscomb and Kiefer wanted the solicitors so that Scrooge's wider selfishness is seen (as opposed to his narrower selfishness about Christmas), but saw no need for Dickens' nuance.

One thing this version reminds me of is that the men are "portly." That's right out of Dickens, but I glossed over it earlier. These are not people who deny themselves pleasure as a matter of habit. They're not skipping meals so that others might be fed. I think it's interesting that Dickens specifically calls that out, though he doesn't judge them for it and neither will I. Perhaps he just means to suggest that they're wealthy before they open their mouths, but I like the question that it raises even if I don't have an answer ready in response. How much should the wealthy give up for the sake of the poor?

'You Wish to Be Anonymous?' | Reginald Owen (1938)

Scrooge's nephew, still maintaining his Christmas spirit after an unpleasant conversation with his uncle, wishes a Merry Christmas to two, incoming gentlemen as he leaves. Thanks to the set up of Scrooge's office in this version (with Scrooge having a separate room and Cratchit's occupying the foyer), the gentlemen greet Cratchit first and there's a lightly humorous moment as they mistake him first for Marley and then for Scrooge.

Scrooge comes out during this though and quickly corrects them. He doesn't know what they're here for yet, but he's already in a bad mood, possibly because of his encounter with Fred, but of course we get the feeling that he's sort of always that way. This is no way to address potential customers, but this Scrooge is so miserable that he doesn't care.

This version actually gives names to the two gentlemen: Twill and Rummidge. Further humanizing them, the script also allows them to share the conversation instead of following Dickens' lead and just having one of them interact with Scrooge.

We learn about Marley's death for the first time in this version when Scrooge explains it to the men, and the detail that it was seven years ago. That's just following Dickens, but it works just fine as exposition too, though we don't get a sense yet of the kind of man Marley was. Of course, that will become very clear later when we meet his ghost.

There's a nice reaction shot of Cratchit as he nods at Rummidge's explanation of the reason for their visit. Charles Coleman and Matthew Boulton are well cast as the gentlemen. They have a clean, pleasant look to them and both men communicate gentle kindness and compassion for the people they're trying to help. The music makes it an overly sentimental scene, but it's genuinely touching acting by Coleman, Boulton, and Gene Lockhart as Cratchit.

Scrooge on the other hand is just mean. This interaction has none of the brief glimpses of regret in Scrooge that we saw in his conversation with Fred. He's got no time for these guys and wants them out as quickly as possible.

They seem to get that he's not with them, but still hopefully offer him the line about being anonymous when he says he to put him down for nothing. They've given some disturbed looks prior to that in the conversation, but even then they don't quite believe that he's as mean and cold as he seems to be. They can't seem to imagine it until he offers the final line about decreasing the surplus population. At that point they look very concerned; about Scrooge as much as about anything else, which further illustrates their sincerity and compassion. They're really a wonderful pair and are going to be the ones to beat as my favorite portrayal of these characters.

'You Wish to Be Anonymous?' | Seymour Hicks (1935)

1935's Scrooge omits the charitable solicitors altogether, which calls into question the usefulness of the scene. Some adaptations make in interchangeable with Fred's visit and now we have a version that simply leaves it out.

As I argued when we looked at Dickens' version, I do think the solicitors' scene is doing something different from Fred's, but the significance of that difference could be up for debate and I acknowledge that simply leaving out the solicitors is a valid option (though not, in my opinion, the preferable one).

Frankly, I'd be surprised that it isn't deleted from more versions except that the "surplus population" line is such a classic.

'You Wish to Be Anonymous?' | Mark McDermott (1910)

Thomas Edison's 1910 adaptation of A Christmas Carol is one of those that has the solicitors visit Scrooge before his nephew. It's a quick scene without even any intertitles except for the one that sets it up: "The day before Christmas. Scrooge, a hard fisted miser, receives an appeal from the Charity Relief Committee."

There are three committee-members in this version and they bluster in, shake snow onto his floor, and wave a donation ledger in Scrooge's face as he tries to work. He quickly stands and shows them the door. This is immediately followed by the nephew's entrance and - as you may remember - he also has an entourage.

The effect of these two scenes is counter-productive to establishing Scrooge as a miserable person. Except for the intertitle calling him a "hard fisted miser," he could be anybody having a bad day and suffering constant interruptions to his work. I would likely be cranky too in his position and he seems justified in throwing out the bad-mannered Committee. We don't even know why Scrooge was fussing at Cratchit when he walked in, so even that could be deserved.

'You Wish to Be Anonymous?' | Dickens

Illustration by Sol Eytinge.

Borrowing from Siskoid's format on his Hamlet blog, as we look at Dickens' text, I'm going to copy the entire text of the section in italics and insert commentary. That'll help identify elements that we want to pay attention to in the adaptations.

This lunatic, in letting Scrooge's nephew out, had let two other people in. They were portly gentlemen, pleasant to behold, and now stood, with their hats off, in Scrooge's office. They had books and papers in their hands, and bowed to him.

The "lunatic" is Bob Cratchit, whom - as we learned last year - Scrooge thinks is crazy for celebrating Christmas on a clerical worker's salary.

"Scrooge and Marley's, I believe," said one of the gentlemen, referring to his list. "Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge, or Mr. Marley?"

You gotta wonder how often Scrooge gets this since he hasn't changed his sign. He doesn't seem that impatient with it though.

"Mr. Marley has been dead these seven years," Scrooge replied. "He died seven years ago, this very night."

"We have no doubt his liberality is well represented by his surviving partner," said the gentleman, presenting his credentials.

It certainly was; for they had been two kindred spirits. At the ominous word "liberality," Scrooge frowned, and shook his head, and handed the credentials back.

I imagine that Scrooge thought these were customers until they brought up that word.

"At his festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge," said the gentleman, taking up a pen, "it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir."

"Are there no prisons?" asked Scrooge.

"Plenty of prisons," said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

"And the Union workhouses?" demanded Scrooge. "Are they still in operation?"

"They are. Still," returned the gentleman, "I wish I could say they were not."

"The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?" said Scrooge.

"Both very busy, sir."

According to the annotated text I'm using, the Poor Law of 1834 allowed church parishes to unite (unionize) in order to provide room and board for the poor in return for labor. Conditions in these "workhouses" were horrible, with as little as possible spent on food and shelter. Gender segregation meant that families were split up and there was no concept of privacy.

Those who couldn't pay debts were imprisoned and the Treadmill was a form of hard labor used as criminal punishment. Picture the wheel that Conan grows up on in Conan the Barbarian and you're not far off. These are the solutions that Scrooge advocates for solving the problem of poverty.

"Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course," said Scrooge. "I'm very glad to hear it."

Scrooge is undoubtedly mean, but based on how this story ends, one gets the feeling that he's not intentionally evil so much as he is unkind and unthinking. He's never actually considered the poor. They're not people; they're a problem to be solved. The journey he goes on in A Christmas Carol is mostly about correcting that.

"Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude," returned the gentleman, "a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?'

"Nothing!" Scrooge replied.

"You wish to be anonymous?"

I never know what to feel about the solicitor's persistence. Is he stubbornly hoping to wear Scrooge down? Or is he just that clueless about what Scrooge is clearly telling him? Dickens doesn't clarify, so it'll be interesting to see what facial expressions and body language the actors and artists use when delivering these lines.

"I wish to be left alone," said Scrooge. "Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don't make merry myself at Christmas, and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned: they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there."

Scrooge not only doesn't want to support private charity, he also resents the government's doing it.

"Many can't go there; and many would rather die."

"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Besides - excuse me - I don't know that."

There was apparently a serious fear of overpopulation in Victorian England. Scrooge and real-life people like him contemplated the issue dispassionately, like a math equation.

His "I don't know that" statement is awkward, but has to refer to the solicitor's claim that "many would rather die." Scrooge is disputing the claim, but dismissing it at the same time. Again, his entire attitude is that poverty is someone else's problem. It's profoundly sad how relevant this still is today.

"But you might know it," observed the gentleman.

If only you gave a damn.

"It's not my business," Scrooge returned. "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, gentlemen!"

Seeing that it would be useless to pursue their point, the gentlemen withdrew. Scrooge resumed his labors with an improved opinion of himself, and in a more facetious temper than was usual with him.

There's not a lot to look out for as we explore this section in the adaptations. We'll keep an eye on whether the solicitors are clueless about Scrooge's lack of interest in contributing, or if they realize it and are simply hoping to wear him down.

Other than that, the scene's function is to cement what we learned about Scrooge during his interaction with his nephew. Scrooge's hatred of Christmas isn't just about the holiday; it's part of his attitude about life and people in general. He only thinks of himself, so of course he sees no sense in a holiday like Christmas during which the rest of society is putting others first. It's a foreign concept to him.

With that in mind, another interesting thing is that some adaptations switch this scene with the one about Scrooge's nephew. Dickens leads with Scrooge's particular feelings about Christmas, his nephew, and perhaps the concept of love (seen especially when Fred offers love as the reason that he got married too early for Scrooge's liking). From there, Dickens expands on Scrooge's personal feelings to include his entire, miserable worldview. Scrooge's feelings about Christmas and family are tied to his feelings about love, which affects how he feels about people in general.

By putting the solicitors first, the adaptations work in the opposite direction. They establish that Scrooge doesn't care about people and then show how that affects his relationships to Christmas and Fred. I'm not sure one works better than the other; it might just be personal preference. I'll try to keep an eye out though to see if those adaptations are saying anything profound by flipping the order.

The Christmas Carol Project | "You Wish to Be Anonymous?"

Hey, everybody! After a much-needed break for a lot of November, it's December and time again to get back to our annual look at everyone's favorite Christmas/ghost story, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. If you're new to this, the idea is to pay attention to the way Scrooge's story has been interpreted and adapted to other media over the years. I’ve broken the story down into scenes (or sometimes parts of scenes) in order to look at their translation to 19 different films, TV shows, and comics:

• A Christmas Carol (1910) starring Marc McDermott
• Scrooge (1935) starring Seymour Hicks
• A Christmas Carol (1938) starring Reginald Owen
• Classics Illustrated #53 (1948)
• Scrooge (1951) starring Alastair Sim
• "A Christmas Carol" episode of Shower of Stars (1954) starring Fredric March
• Teen Titans #13 (DC; 1968)
• Scrooge (1970) starring Albert Finney
• A Christmas Carol cartoon (1971) starring Alastair Sim
• The Stingiest Man in Town (1978) starring Walter Matthau
• Marvel Classics Comics #36 (Marvel; 1978)
• Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983) starring Scrooge McDuck
• A Christmas Carol (1984) starring George C. Scott
• The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) starring Michael Caine
• A Christmas Carol (1999) starring Patrick Stewart
• A Christmas Carol: The Graphic Novel (Classical Comics; 2008)
• A Christmas Carol (2009) starring Jim Carrey
• A Christmas Carol (Campfire; 2010)
• "A Christmas Carol" in Graphic Classics, Vol. 19: Christmas Classics (Eureka; 2010)

Annual Disclaimer: This obviously isn’t an exhaustive list. I started with my favorites, added some that people have recommended over the years, and then threw in some others that just caught my curiosity. We can talk about the ones I left out, but I will say that Mr Magoo’s Christmas Carol isn’t here because I hate it with a passion. It’s neither a good Christmas Carol nor a good Mister Magoo cartoon. There’s also no Scrooged or An American Christmas Carol or Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. When I first started this, I tried to stick to more-or-less faithful adaptations, but even though I've since added Teen Titans to the list, I'd rather that be a fun exception and not have to figure out where I'm going to draw the line.

This is going to take years. Every December we'll look at one scene; start with Dickens' version, then explore individual adaptations of that scene in the days leading up to Christmas. Last year, we met Scrooge's nephew. This year, we meet the two solicitors unfortunate enough to ask Scrooge for a charitable donation.

I'm a little behind in getting started this year, so we'll double up for a couple of days. Expect the post on Dickens' original story tonight, then tomorrow we'll cover McDermott and Hicks and be back on track.