 Remember a Hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best. Some Hollywood, the makers of Hallmark cards present Lionel Barrymore. Starring as Scrooge in Charles Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol, on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. And now here's our distinguished host, Mr. Edward Arnold. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Hallmark Hall of Fame. For 20 years now, one of the most eagerly anticipated events of the Christmas season has been Lionel Barrymore's portrayal of Scrooge in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. And it has become a Christmas tradition on radio on the Hall of Fame. So we'd like to pay tribute to Lionel Barrymore and to the wonderful spirit of Christmas by presenting once more his last transcribed performance of Scrooge. Now here is Frank Goss. At the fine stores where you buy Hallmark cards, you'll also find some original gift ideas. For instance, boxes of Hallmark note papers make wonderful Christmas gifts for almost anyone you know. These note papers have a distinctive design on each sheet. Some are reproductions of paintings by famous artists. Some are lovely flower patterns. And others are distinctive because of their smart simplicity. Hallmark note papers are excellent to have on hand at all times. For invitations, thank yous, and for all those occasions when you don't have time to write a long letter, but want to dash off and use the note. So a gift of one of these attractive boxes makes a most welcome gift indeed. They are priced at 59 cents, $1 and $2 a box. They're the perfect answer for the friends on your list who seem to have everything. Another idea for a gift, one that's enjoyed by the whole family all during the Christmas season, is the Hallmark Nativity Scene. This is a beautifully designed and executed replica of the manger at Bethlehem. It comes flat in an envelope or mailing, and then, when assembled, becomes a three-dimensional scene for use under the tree, on a table, or over the fireplace. The Hallmark Nativity Scene costs $1. You'll find this manger scene as well as an impressive assortment of Hallmark note papers at all the fine stores that feature Hallmark cards. The cards with the Hallmark and Crown on the back. The symbol that you look for when you'll carry enough to send the very best. And now, Mr. Lionel Barrymore as Scrooge in Charles Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol. Once upon a Christmas Eve in a dank and dismal street, there stood the counting house of Scrooge and Marley. That was how the sign read over the door, but as a matter of fact, Marley was long dead, and old Scrooge simply would not pay the few shillings to have a new sign put up. It was cold, bleak, biting weather, and his old Scrooge poured over his cash books. He could hear his clerk stepping about in the dreary cell where he worked. Credit? Bob, credit? Yes, Mr. Scrooge? Will I hire a fiddler to accompany your dancing? Or will you perhaps do a bit of the work which I'm paying you? I was trying to warm my hands and feet, Mr. Scrooge. There's no fire in my stove. And there'll be no pay in your pocket either. If you're not careful, sir. You understand? Yes, Mr. Scrooge. Sorry, Mr. Scrooge. But Scrooge himself was quite comfortable, thank you. For beside his desk, there glowed a cheery bucket of coals. Yes, and he had need for that warmth far more than did poor Bob Cratchit. The coal within old Scrooge was like an iceberg itself. It was a coal that crackled with the freezing glance of his eyes, that nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his old cheeks, and turned his thin lips blue. It was a coal that did not thaw even at the sight of his own nephew. Merry Christmas, Uncle. What's that? I said, Merry Christmas. Ah, humbug. Christmas or humbug. You don't mean that, Uncle. I do. Merry Christmas. What right of you to be merry? You're poor enough. What right of you to be dismal? You're rich enough. Ah, humbug. Oh, come now. Don't be cross, Uncle. If I had my way, every idiot who goes about with merry Christmas on his lips would be boiled in his own pudding. He'd made me the steak of holly through his heart. Oh, now, now, Uncle. Now you, keep Christmas your own way and let me keep it in mind. But you don't keep it? Well, very well. Let me leave it alone then. Much good as ever done you. Oh, but it has, Uncle. It's the time of much happiness and my family and I want to share it with you. Come, say you'll dine with us tomorrow night. Yes, good afternoon. We ask nothing of you, Uncle, except to see you. What better time than Christmas? Good afternoon. Very well, but remember, if you change your mind... Good afternoon. A merry Christmas, Uncle, and a happy new year. Good afternoon. Scrooge had hardly gotten back to his cash books when the front door banged again. This time there were two visitors. How do you do, sir? Have we the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge or Mr. Marley? Mr. Marley has been dead these seven years. I keep his name over the door, but he died seven years ago this very night. But come, what do you want? At this glad season of the year, Mr. Scrooge, we desire to make some slight provision for the poor and destitute. Poor? Are there new prisons? Oh, indeed, yes, sir. And the workhouses. Are they still in operation? Both. Very busy, sir. It is on behalf of those who live in fear of prison and workhouse that we're endeavoring to raise a fund, sir. How much shall we put you down for? Nothing. Ah, you wish to be a nun of it? I wish to be left alone, Mr. Scrooge. I don't make merry myself at Christmas, and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I hope to support prisons and work houses, and those who are badly off must go there. But many would rather die, sir. And so decrease the surplus population. Mr. Scrooge. Gentlemen, I don't interfere in other people's business, for mine occupies me constantly. And so, good day, gentlemen. Good day. That was old Scrooge to the life. A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping cupboard as old skin flint. And so on that Christmas Eve came the hour for old Scrooge to lock up and go home. He ate his usual dreary dinner and then climbed the tray stairs to his own dreary rooms. He closed the door and locked it. And then, double-locked it. What was that? Chains? The rattling of chains? Ah, a mug. But was it? The chains clanked up those same stairs which Scrooge had just climbed. Step by step Then they were at the door which Scrooge had just locked. And then... Why you? What do you want with me? Your name. I didn't catch it. In life, I was your partner. It's impossible. He never wore chains? No. No, the cash box padlocked around his neck. No ledgers set into his wrist. Why do you doubt your senses? Because some little thing makes them liars and cheats. You may only be a disorder of the stomach. An undigested bit of beef, a part of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an undone potato. There's more gravy than gravy about you. No, the little... No, that... No, no, no, wait. I crave your pardon, ghost. I'm at no harm. You believe in me or not? He will give you some small comfort. Yes, I do. But why must spirits walk the earth? And why do they come to me? It is required of every man that his spirit goes not forth to others while in life. It is condemned to do so after death. I wear the chain which I forged in life, even as you do now, Ebenezer, even as you do now, now forge for your own damnation. No, no, no, no. Jacob, speak comfort to me, Jacob. I have none to give. My doom weighs too heavily upon me. Light's opportunities escape me. Now I know no rest, no peace, only remorse. Remorse? But you were always a good man of business, Jacob. Oh, please don't do that. Mankind was my business. The common welfare, charity, mercy, forbearance, all were my business. Harken to me, Ebenezer Scrooge. I am the Ebenezer. Go on. I am here tonight to warn you that you have yet a chance of escaping my fate. I bring you hope, Ebenezer. Glad to hear that. You were always a good friend of mine, Jacob. Thank you. You will be haunted by three spirits. Three, Jacob? First tonight when the bell tolls one. Expect the second tomorrow night at the same hour. And the third upon the next night. Well, if there's must be a... but suppose... No more. I cannot linger. Look to see me no more. And look that for your own sake. You'll remember what has passed between us. Jacob! He walked up to his chair and stared wildly about. Everything was exactly as before. The door still locked. And the fire still glowed causally within the grate. I must have closed off. Yes, that's it. A dream and nothing more. But once he laid his troubled head upon the pillow, Scrooge remembered the ghostly warning. There would be another visitor when the bell tolls one. Nothing else. Give him some honest mortal prego elsewhere, sir. He was no more closed in the nightgown. Come, we will go out this way. Now, I'm but mortal. I haven't got wings. Then bear but a touch of my hand. Eating in a desk. A solitary child neglected by his friend. Aye, you'll remember him, Scrooge. That is right, do I do. One Christmas time, he sat there reading a rally barber and Robinson Crusoe, and the wonders he should see when he grew up. I was that child's spirit. I wish there was too late now. You wish what? Nothing, nothing. I was always singing a Christmas carol at my door last night. I should have liked to give him something. That's all. Come, let us see another Christmas. And, Ebenezer, do you know this warehouse? Yes, it is. It is the very place. Well, still a boy. I was a princess here. Let us go in. Oh, there! Ebenezer! Well, it's Fezzywick. Bless his heart. It's Fezzywick, alive again. No more work tonight, my boys. Christmas Eve, Dick. Christmas Ebenezer, time for the fiddler and a bit of food. Oh, dear old Fezzywick. He was a kind master to all of us. A fiddler and a bit of food. What's that to merit such praise? A poor Christmas that cost but a few pounds. A few pounds. Oh, but the happiness it brought us all. As great as if it had cost a fortune. You sigh. There's something... Nothing in particular. But I should like to say a word or two to my clock. Yes, no? Well, that's a whole... My time was short. One shadow more. Who will be able to take me home? George was tired to complete exhaustion. And furthermore, he was back in his own bedroom. And then, in another moment, he was in bed. And fast asleep. One o'clock in the night. What? Have I slept the clock around from night to day and night again? Well, well, he's gone out. He's not at home. Yes. Christmas present. What poor people living such a shabby hobble. Surely they must be some unfortunate little man to provide. He provides as best he can on the little that you'll pay him. Is I pay him? What? Is this Bob Cratchit? Come. Let us go in. Belinda, Martha, set the table, my dear. It's all but done, Mother. And so is the goose. All we want now is your dear father and Tiny Tim. He's coming now, Mother. And there's Tiny Tim on his shoulder. Hello! Sir and Martha, put the pot on the house. Yes, Mother. Bob. Yes, my dear. Was the church service too long for little Tim? Did he behave? As good as gold and better. He told me coming home that he hoped the people saw him in the church because he was a cripple. And it might be pleasant for them to remember on Christmas day who made lame beggars walk and blind men see. Poor boy. Hard sight to bear, Spirit. Bob Cratchit never told me that Tiny Tim was lame. A cripple was hobbled about on a crutch. And now, my dears, a toast. I give you Mr. Scrooge, the founder of the feast. He indeed. How should we drink to such a hard, stingy and unfeeling man? My dear, it's Christmas day. A time for charity, even to Mr. Scrooge. And so a merry Christmas and a happy new year to him and to us all. Merry Christmas. And what do you say, Tiny Tim? God bless us. Every morning. Spirit. Spirit, tell me if Tiny Tim will live. I see a vacant seat by the chimney corner and a crutch without an altar. Oh no, no, kind Spirit. But say he'll be spared. If these shadows remain unaltered by the future, the child will die. And so, as you once said, decrease the surplus population. I take it back. I take it back, Spirit. Every word of it. My time with you is ended. Wait, Spirit. One moment, now. He was once more in his own bedroom. As he looked about him, he beheld a sun phantom, draped all in black and hooded, coming toward him like a mistle. Is the presence of the ghost of Christmas yet to come? Whoa! Isn't any specter I've yet met? Mr. Spirit, let's go quickly. Stay. What do you see? A maze of weeds and shaggy trees and stone slabs tilting toward the ground. Where lie the forgotten, the unloved, the unmorned? Look down. Read the words upon this stone. They bring these scrooge. No, Spirit, no, no. I'm not the man I was. Good Spirit, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this terrible stone and say that I may yet change these shadows by an altered life. How will you alter it? I'll honor Christmas in my heart and keep it all a year. I live in the past, the present, and the future. The spirits of all three shall strive within me. Now, this I promise, Spirit. I do, I promise. Scrooge was on his knees. He held up his hands to the ghost in one last prayer for mercy. And as it did so, the fountain's hood and dress shrank. Then collapsed and dwindled down into a dead place. Oh, a bent post. Nothing more. I am safe in my own room. It was all a dream. Look, it's daylight. And church bells. Can it be Sunday? Chop at the corner? Do they still have the prize turkey in the window? Dear my boy, come back with the turkey and I'll give you a shoo-y. Come back in less than five minutes. I'll give you half a crown. Yes. To Bob Critchett. He shall know who sent it. And Tiny Tim will find it twice his own size. How to get trust and be doing. Held and bowed. Good morning. Good morning. Merry Christmas to you. Thank you, Mr. Scrooge. Merry Christmas. Glad amazement. Some over old Mr. Scrooge. And then of his nephew's house. Merry Christmas dinner. Why, yes, uncle. But yesterday, yes. Yesterday I was a fool. Today's Christmas, and I'll keep it with you and your dear family. Merry Christmas, Fred. Scrooge was early at the office. Nine o'clock. Very sorry, sir. I am behind my time, I'm afraid. I should think you are. But it's only once a year, sir. It won't be repeated. Indeed it won't. Indeed it won't, my friend. I'm not going to stand this sort of thing any longer. Merry Christmas, and I've given you for many a year. I'll raise your salary and endeavor to assist your struggling family. We'll discuss your affairs this very afternoon. But first, first make up the fires and buy yourself a scuttle of coal. And do it before you've got another eye, Bob Critchett. As good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old city knew. Or any other good old city town or borough in the good or said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well. If any man alive possessed the night, he truly said of us. And all of us. You who have been with us so often during the past year. Tonight I bring you Christmas greetings from the makers of Hallmark cards, the doors where Hallmark cards are sold, and from all of us on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. May your Christmas be merry with laughter and cheer. Bright as the Christmas star. The friendliest greetings from all of us here to you, wherever you are. And now here again is Edward Arnold. Thank you, Frank. Next week we are privileged to bring you a true story from the life of Mr. J. Edgar Hoover, as we salute him and the FBI on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. When we meet on Sunday, Christmas will be over. So now from all of us on the Hallmark Hall of Fame program, our warmest wishes for a most merry Christmas to you and your family. Good night. I've been carefully selected to give you expert and friendly service. Remember a Hallmark card when you're coming up to send the very best. Our producer directors would improve. Dickens a Christmas Carol was adapted by Leonard St. Clair. featured in our cast were Virginia Gregg and Whitfield Byron Kane, Lamont Johnson, Herb Butterfield, Polly Bear, Joseph Kearns, Ted DeCorsia, Lauren Stubb, Kim John Stevenson, Richard Beals and Stuffy Singer. This is Frank Goss saying good night to you until next week when we present a true story from the life of Mr. J. Edgar Hoover on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. The Christmas heels you buy and use are the most effective means of stamping out forever our nation's number one infectious disease, tuberculosis, fight TV, why and use Christmas seal. Transcribe this as the CBS Radio Network.