The Stingiest Man in Town

"The Stingiest Man In Town" was a lost Christmas special churned out by Rankin-Bass, the company behind many of the most celebrated TV specials of all time. Those specials most notably include "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer", "Frosty The Snowman", and "The Little Drummer Boy". It doesn't matter that the animation style of these specials, whether regular, 2D animation or stop-motion, are archaic in comparison to the dominant, but not necessarily superior, 3D animation popular today. These specials stand the test of time for their colorful characters and great storytelling skills.

This special, originally broadcast on network TV in 1978, just recently found its way onto DVD by way of the "Classic Christmas Favorites" box set. Although it is good to see such TV specials get the recognition they deserve after being put on the back-burner for 30+ years, "The Stingiest Man In Town" lacks the charm, purpose, and uniqueness of its TV predecessors. It's good, but not great.

My major problem with this special is in the title. I will admit that one of my biggest pet peeves is when a movie that is clearly based on Charles Dickens' immortal "A Christmas Carol" is instead titled "Scrooge". Sure, the main character is Ebenezer Scrooge, but that's NOT the title of the story to which it is based. That said, the reason the title "The Stingiest Man In Town" does not sit well with me is because I was expecting a different story. Other men besides Scrooge can be stingy, can't they? Is Ebenezer Scrooge the only person in the history of literature and storytelling who initially hated Christmas? Of course not. So instead of getting a fresher story about a different man, Rankin-Bass here adds yet another version of "A Christmas Carol" to a never-ending list of movie versions.

I will give this special credit for staying truer to the Dickens story than other versions. However, there's nothing unique or fresh about this retelling. Adding the character of B.A.H. Humbug the bug, a blatant and unnecessary ripoff of Jiminy Cricket, wasn't enough to make this retelling memorable. In fact, the bug doesn't interact much, if at all, with any of the main characters. Plus, he seems way too cheerful to be named after a word defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "the quality of falseness or deception". Does that mean the bug is deceiving someone? It doesn't make sense.

This TV special was not bad, mind you, but certainly is not as memorable as animation specials that Rankin-Bass had released before. There were musical numbers, but none of great significance. I can't fault the animation style, but the problem lay in it feeling as though the special was put together at the last minute. The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come makes one brief appearance as he points to a grave, and that fleeting moment, alas, is the extent of the dark, climactic turning point of the original story.

Seeing as this T.V. special's original air date (according to this website) was two days before Christmas, there is no doubt in my mind that the special had added pressure to air before families supposedly turned off their TVs to cook Christmas dinner, do last minute shopping, or attend church services. If the special was, in fact, rushed, it really does show. It is true to the Dickens story, but it could have been so much more. As it is, it was just okay to me.

This is the only animated version of "Stingy" I've seen,and it's great, but for years at the Cabaret Supper Theater in Fort Sill, OK, we did this show every year on the stage. The music is superb; the songs wonderful, and the opportunity for children to 'be in a show" are boundless. Our director, the late Ray Shermeyer (who played Scrooge, naturally) held open auditions and cast just about every kid who showed up. He started this around 1967 and when the Cabaret finally was forced to close its doors (as many "supper theaters" did) in 1989, many of those children, then in their late teens or early twenties, came to the mike and said it had given them the confidence to get into shows. Several went on to showbiz careers.

It's a wonderful show for the Christmas season, and it's even a more wonderful play for amateurs (and especially children) to feel the thrill of being on the stage for the first time. HOLLY-HO!

Rankin/Bass do a highly abbreviated, musical version of "A Christmas Carol". It's fine, but it's a tough story to do justice to in under an hour, and inserting songs certainly doesn't help. What you essentially get is the high points and little else. Walter Matthau is a fine actor, but he's not quite what you want for Scrooge. The story is narrated by B.A.H. Humbug, an insect voiced by Tom Bosley. The less said about that the better.

Once again, Rankin/Bass did a another great Holiday special, This time a Charles Dickens Best Work, A Christmas Carol, this time they renamed The Stingiest Man in Town, Cast did a good job, Walter Matthau did a great job as the voice of Ebenezer Scrooge who learn a lesson about Christmas when 3 Ghosts came to visit them, Paul Frees who is the voice of both Ghost of Christmas Past and Ghost of Christmas Present, but Ghost of Christmas Yet of Come is quiet but no Voice Actor, Tom Bosley is a voice of the B.A.H. Humbug the Storyteller of this special, This animated special got good music, good storyline and good acting, It's a heartwarming story and A Good Holiday Special.

This movie is one of the best renditions of "a Christmas carol" that i have ever seen, and yet most people have never heard of it! it doesn't get to all aspects of Dickens' original work, but it hits all the major points, and is coupled with great creative and original songs that get stuck in your head for days. The third person narration by B.A.H. Humbug it a very cute extra touch. In my opinion, the movie is neck-in-neck with Mickey Mouse for the best take on "Carol." It doesn't always get a yearly playing, but it is definitely worth keeping your eye out when scanning your TV guide around Christmas. It is really a fantastic retelling of a classic!!