#shower of stars

[princesssarisa]

A Christmas Carol Holiday Season: "A Christmas Carol" (1954 TV musical)

This TV musical premiered as part of the CBS anthology series Shower of Stars. And it most certainly is a starry Christmas Carol, with two-time Oscar winner Fredric March as Scrooge, Basil Rathbone as Marley's Ghost, and a musical score by the legendary Hollywood composer Bernard Hermann. It was originally broadcast in color, though as with many such programs from the '50s, only a black-and-white kinescope survives. While it's far from a definitive Christmas Carol, it's still an enjoyable and fascinating version.

At less than an hour long, and needing room for the songs too, this Christmas Carol naturally condenses the story. Each ghostly visit is reduced to one scene. Christmas Past is just the Fezziwig party and Belle's breakup with Young Scrooge (which awkwardly follows their romantic duet with no costume change, just the vaguest hint of a time skip), Christmas Present just the Cratchits' humble festivities, and Christmas Yet to Come just the graveyard, where Scrooge sees first his own grave, then Tiny Tim's.

But within this abridged format there's still room for creativity, mainly in the portrayal of the three ghosts. The first two ghosts resemble people who embody Christmases past and present for Scrooge: the Ghost of Christmas Past resembles Belle (both played by Sally Fraser), while the Ghost of Christmas Present looks like Fred (both played by Ray Middleton). Last of all, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is an ominous black bird.

The result is a slightly eccentric Carol, and sometimes an oddly paced one too. But its cast makes the most of their roles. Despite being saddled with an enormous, cartoonish fake nose, Fredric March is a vivid and believable Scrooge, who captures every stage of his transformation with no caricature. Basil Rathbone's despairing Marley is effective too, as is most of the supporting cast, even if British viewers might be annoyed by their American accents. The production is visually handsome too, if not especially high in budget. But for many viewers, without a doubt, Bernard Hermann's score must be the real highlight of this Carol. With five songs composed in a light opera style – "On This Darkest Day of Winter," "Santa Claus," "What Shall I Give My Lad for Christmas?" "A Very Merry Christmas," and "And Bless Us Every One" – as well as atmospheric incidental music, Hermann captures the story's full range of emotions and its sentimental Victorian tone in music.

There are stronger Carol adaptations than this one, but this version is still very much worth seeing.

@ariel-seagull-wings. @thealmightyemprex, @reds-revenge, @faintingheroine, @thatscarletflycatcher

[dailyworldecho]

[without-ado]

Different chemicals in meteors produce different colors; the faster a meteor moves, the more intense the color may appear(x)

[pyromiz]

McCoy: I'm serious Jim, I've never seen Spock that angry before.

[vangoghcore]

by babaktafreshi

[spacewonder19]

Auroras and Perseids © 1/2/3/4

[harmonysanreads]

Sunday when others fidget around him : This person must have a poor grasp of their emotions, despite how much they're trying to pull off the bravado. Or, something must be making them uncomfortable and they're trying to distract themselves by fixing their appearance. Or perhaps they simply were not taught manners. Seriously, is it that difficult to stay still—

Sunday when you fidget around him : That's... kind of cute.

[detailedart]

1. The November Meteors, chromolithograph from the Trouvelot Astronomical Drawings, 1882 - 2. Leonid Meteor Storm seen in November 1833, from the Bilderatlas der Sternenwelt.

[itscolossal]

Bisected by the Milky Way, a Stellar Image Captures the Perseid Meteor Shower Raining Down on Stonehenge

[hdanforth]

Leonids

you can get a print of this here:

[aynurskl]

Meteors Strike Through Orion

[protectorcraft]

made the first one in an effort to beat everyone else to the punch for ironic reasons, in case that post i made took off like i feared it might, and then the rest appeared spontaneously on my computer

[poorlydrawninstarsandtime]

Can we get some Isafrin?

is this anything.

[id in alt]

[without-ado]

Perseid Meteors over Stonehenge l Josh Dury l NASA APOD

[opikiquu]

[the-wolf-and-moon]

Meteors Strike Through Orion