I am almost certain my first exposure to A Christmas Carol (1843) came via the televised broadcast of the film adaptation starring George C. Scott. I can’t be certain, but I believe I might have seen the debut broadcast on CBS the night of 17 December 1984. I can be certain that whenever I saw it, Frank Finlay’s Jacob Marley scared me senseless…and I still get the creeps from Finlay whatever role he plays, even as Van Helsing in Count Dracula (1977).
I’d seen several other adaptations before I finally read A Christmas Carol in a Charles Dickens omnibus with eye-achingly small print while riding back to Texas after spending Christmas morning with relatives in Louisiana. That Christmas—now more than twenty years gone—was the last time I saw three close relatives whom I’d known my entire life. So many ghosts.
