 Remember a Hallmark card when you'll carry enough to send the very best. From Hollywood, the makers of Hallmark cards present Lionel Barrymore, starring as Scrooge in Charles Dickens' classic story, A Christmas Carol on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. Loved Hallmark Hall of Fame host Lionel Barrymore in his traditional interpretation of Scrooge in Charles Dickens' immortal Christmas classic, A Christmas Carol. We consider it a great privilege to bring this special program into your homes this Christmas season, and so the story will be presented without interruptions. May you enjoy it to the fullest. Probably we've all said it one time or another, wouldn't it be grand if we could keep the spirit of Christmas all through the year, not the mad rush, but that part that's all aglow with kindness and good cheer. Some folks do. And the fine store where you buy Hallmark cards has a gift for you that's about the handiest help I know to keep Christmas thoughtfulness in your mind the whole year through. It's the Hallmark Date Book for 1954, and it's yours absolutely free as a gift from that store. This little book, small enough to fit in purse or billfold, has a calendar page for every month of the year with ample room on each date to write in the names of folks you want to remember on that day. There's a space for addresses too, as well as lots of room for your Christmas card list. The Hallmark Date Book actually is your social secretary throughout the year. Reminds you of birthdays, anniversaries, all those occasions when you want your friends to know you care. Your store has this Hallmark Date Book for you, a kindly remembrance that's yours for the asking, from the folks whose business it is to help you be kind all through the year. And now, Mr. Barrymore stars in our transcribed presentation, A Christmas Carol on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. 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 all Scrooge simply would not pay the few shillings to have a new sign put up. It was cold, bleak, biting weather, and his old sign, the Hallmark Date Book, was written in the same way as the Hallmark Date Book. The Hallmark Date Book was written in the same way as the Hallmark Date Book. 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? Shall I hire a fiddler to accompany your dancing? Or will you perhaps do a bit of the work, for 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. But careful, sir. You understand? Yes, Mr. Scrooge. Sorry, Mr. Scrooge. Which himself was quite comfortable, thank you, for beside his desk there glowed a cheery bucket of colds. Yes, and he had need for that warmth far more than did poor Bob Cratchit. The cold within old Scrooge was like an iceberg itself. It was a cold that crackled with the freezing glance of his eyes, that nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his old cheeks and formed his thin lips blue. It was a cold that did not thaw even at the sight of his own nephew. A merry Christmas, Uncle. What's that? I said, merry Christmas. Ah, 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 on. Don't be cross, Uncle. If I had my way, every idiot that goes about with merry Christmas on his lips would be boiled with his own pudding, buried with a stake of holly through his heart. Now, now, Uncle. Now you keep Christmas your own way and let me keep it mine. But you don't keep it? Well, very well. Let me leave it alone then. Merry Christmas. Much good it's 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. Good afternoon, Uncle. We ask nothing of you, Uncle, except to see you. And 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. It's 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 no 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 anonymous. 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 help to support prisons and work houses, and those who are badly off must go there. But many would rather die, sir. Then it's not for me to keep them from it to die if they will, and so decrease the surplus population. Mr. Scrooge. Gentlemen, I don't interfere in other people's business, for mine occupiers make 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 dreary stairs to his own dreary rooms. He closed the door and locked it. And then, double locked it. A rattling of chains? Bah, a mug. But was it? The chains clanked up the same stairs which Scrooge had just climbed. Step by step by step. Then they were at the door which Scrooge had just left. And then... Ah, ah! He wanted me. Your name? I didn't catch it. In life I was your partner. He never wore chains? No. No, a cash box padlocked around his neck. No ledgers fed into his wrist. Why do you doubt your senses? Because of a... 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 grave about you. Don't do that. No, no, no, wait. I crave your pardon. Ghost, I'm at no harm. Do you believe in me or not? If it'll 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 if 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. Oh, no, no, no. Jacob, speak comfort to me, Jacob. I have none to give. My doom weighs too heavily upon me. Life'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. Hark into me, Ebenezer Scrooge. 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? Expect the 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 must be a... No more. I cannot linger. Look to see me no more. And look that for your own sake, you remember what has passed between us. Jacob, Jacob. Both Scrooge jumped up in 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 dozed 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. It's so and nothing else. Who and what are you? If you must be devil, some honest mortal, pray go elsewhere, sir. Rise and walk with me. What? I was no more closed in the nightgown and capped on one. Come, we will go out this window. Now, now, spirit, please. I'm but mortal. I haven't got wings. Then bear but a touch of my hand. What do you see? A school room and a child reading at the desk. A solitary child neglected by his friends. Aye, you remember him, Scrooge? I do, I do. One Christmas time he sat there reading a valet barber and Robinson Crusoe and the wonders he should see when he grew up. Yes, I was that child, spirit. I wish there was too late now. You wish what? Nothing, nothing. There was a boy 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. 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! It's Fezziwig, bless his heart. It's Fezziwig alive again. No more work. Christmas Eve, Dick. Christmas Ebenezer, time for the fiddler and the bit of food. Oh, dear old Fezziwig. 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. Ah. You sigh, there's something. Nothing in particular. But I should like to say a word or two to my clock, yes, no? No, that's all. My time grows short. One shadow more. Still, show me no more. I can't bear it. Remove me and then take me home. Complete exhaustion. And, furthermore, he was back in his own bedroom. And then, in another moment, he was in bed and fast asleep. When the clock, and yet it's still 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. What poor people live in such a shabby hovel. Surely, there must be some unfortunate that no man can provide. He provides as best he can on the little that you pay him. I pay him? What? Is this Bob Cratchit? Come, let us go in. So is the goose, all we want now is your dear father and tiny Tim. He's coming night to him on his shoulder. Take your father's muffler and mark it. 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. Why do you turn away, Ebenezer? It's a hard sight to bear, spirit. Bob Cratchit never told me that tiny Tim was lame. A cripple must hobble about on a crutch. And now, my dears, a toast. I give you Mr. Scrooge, the founder of the feast. See, indeed. How should we drink to such a hard, stingy and uncealing 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. Please, please, one moment now. Scrooge was once more in his own bedroom. As he looked about him, he beheld a solemn phantom draped all in black and hooded, coming toward him like a mist on the ground. Ebenezer Scrooge. In the presence of the ghost of Christmas yet to come. In any specter I've yet met. Let's go quickly. Stay. What do you see? Bays of weeds and shaggy trees and stone slabs tilting toward the ground. Here lie the forgotten, the unloved, the unmorned. Ebenezer 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 here. 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 promise it. I do. I promise. Scrooge was on his knees. He held up his hands to the ghost and won last prayer for mercy. And as he did so, the phantom's hood in dress shrank. Then collapsed and dwindled down into a bed post. Ha, ha, ha, a bed 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? What's today? The shop at the corner. Do they still have the prize turkey in the window? You mean the... Fetch it here, my boy. Come back with the turkey and I'll give you a shilling. Come back in less than five minutes. I'll give you half a crown. Send it to Bob Crudget. He shall know who sent it. And tiny Tim will find it twice his own size. Wonderful day. Wonderful. And now, now to get dressed and be doing. Everyone he passed, he smiled and bowed. Good morning. Good morning. And merry Christmas to you. Thank you, Mr. Scrooge. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, Mr. Scrooge. People shook their heads in glad amazement. What had come over old Mr. Scrooge. And then, at last, the door of his nephew's house. Uncle Scrooge. Hello, Uncle. Indeed, nephew. Did you not invite me to Christmas dinner? Why, yes, Uncle. But yesterday you said... Yesterday I was a fool. Today is Christmas. And I'll keep it with you and your dear family. A very merry Christmas, Fred. They passed most happily. But the next morning... Ah, the next morning Scrooge was early at the office. Nine o'clock. And no Bob Crudget. A quarter passed. He found his watch and frowned. And waited. Yes, Mr. Scrooge. Step this way, sir, if you please. Yes, Mr. Scrooge. And now, I come here at this time of day. I'm very sorry, sir. I am behind my time, I'm afraid. You 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. I'll tell you what, my friend. I'm not going to stand this sort of thing any longer. Therefore... Therefore, credit. Yes, sir. I am about to raise your salary. Mr. Scrooge, you don't mean it. Don't I? A merry Christmas, Bob. A merry Christmas that I've given you for a million years. I'll raise your salary and endeavour 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 dart another eye, Bob Cratchit. He did it all and a tiny tin who did not die. He was a second father. He became 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 old world. And it was always said of him that he knew how to keep Christmas well if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us. Christmas season, our friendly thoughts go out to you who have been with us so often during the past year. Tonight I bring you Christmas greetings from the makers of Hallmark cards, from the fine stores 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. Merry Christmas, everybody. And now here again is Lionel Barrymore. Thank you, thank you Frank, thank you very much. And I want to add my own wishes to all our friends who are here with us each week on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. I hope your Christmas will be bright and shining, and that every male will bring you new reason to be thankful for the friendship of your fellow men. And I hope that every time you open a Christmas card this week, it will remind you that friendship, kindness, and love are manifestations of that first lesson taught to mankind by a tiny babe who slept in a manger many, many years ago, and that you'll offer a little prayer then and there that the universal hope of peace on earth, good will to men, will soon become a reality in this world of ours. In the words of Tiny Tim, God blesses everyone. Hall of Fame on television every Sunday, starting the Sarah Churchill. Look for Hallmark cards that are sold only in stores that have been carefully selected to give you expert and friendly service. Remember a Hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best. Our producer director is William Frug. Dickens' A Christmas Carol was adapted by Leonard St. Clair. Featured in our cast were Virginia Gregg and Whitfield, Byron Cain, Lamont Johnson, Herb Butterfield, Polly Bear, Joseph Kearns, Ted D'Corsia, Lawrence Dopkin, John Stevenson, Richard Beals, and Stuffy Singer. Lionel Barrymore appears by arrangement with Metro Golden Mayor. Producers of the Cold Porter musical, Kiss Me Kate, starring Catherine Grayson, Howard Keel, and Ann Miller. This is Frank Goss, saying goodnight to you until next week at the same time. When we present, Mr. Edward Arnold starring in the role of Henry Bird. On January 3rd, we'll tell you an exciting story about the famous cowboy Tom Mix, the week following a true story about William Allen White on the Hallmark Hall of Fame. This is the CBS Radio Network. This is KMBC, Kansas City, Missouri.