Trivia

The only movie version of "A Christmas Carol" to win an Oscar.

After this television short won the Oscar, the Academy changed its rules so that a made-for-television cartoon could never again win this honor, even if it was shown theatrically.

The animation was based on John Leech's illustrations for the original edition of the novel "A Christmas Carol".

This version of the story was actually a made-for-television short, and premiered as a television special, but was thought to be so excellent that it was released theatrically and pronounced eligible for Oscar consideration.

The word "humbug" is misunderstood by many people, which is a pity, since the word provides a key insight into Scrooge's hatred of Christmas. The word "humbug" describes deceitful efforts to fool people by pretending a fake loftiness or false sincerity. So when Scrooge calls Christmas a "humbug", he is claiming that people only pretend to be charitable and kind in a scoundrel effort to delude him, each other, and themselves. In Scrooge's eyes, he is the one man honest enough to admit that no one really cares about anyone else, so for him, every wish for a Merry Christmas is one more deceitful effort to fool him and take advantage of him. This is a man who has turned to profit because he honestly believes everyone else will someday betray him or abandon him the moment he trusts them.