Misc. humbug

Well, not really humbug, but it seemed the thing to say.

Elspeth and I went to see the Saugatuck presentation of "A Christmas Carol" Sunday night. Elspeth's friend, Maggie, was in two roles -- young Scrooge and Martha Cratchit. She did great! She has a strong stage presence and voice.

I've been going to see this play since the early 1990s, and Jayne has acted in it several times, but I was a bit shocked at the price. For just the two of us, I paid $15. A bit much for community theater, I must admit.

I recommend reading the story. There's so much in it that no play or movie can do it justice, and Dickens' word choices and images are powerful.

If you want a good one to watch, rent the 1951 version with Alastair Sim, the picture above. The B&W filming is masterful with its use of shadows. So don't get the colorized version! Sim is also a convincing Scrooge -- not too comedic but also not overbearing, like George C. Scott's version.

Patrick Stewart's version is respectable, too. The Muppet version is tedious and the Mr. MaGoo take is, in the words of Muffy Crosswire from the TV show "Arthur," just "vomitrocious."

Of punctuation

The Saugatuck play was in the Saugatuck Woman's Club. Yes, it's a singular female with an apostrophe.

Several folks in the crowd commented on that oddity Sunday night.

While searching the Web for more info on the show, I came across a Saugatuck tourist site that said the play was a "Dicken's classic."

The author was Charles Dicken?

I had a reporter once who used Dickens as an adjective. Instead of Dickensian, she used Dickensonian. Isn't that a museum in Washington, D.C.?

Thought: Poor Bills, sliding in the snow to an 8-0 loss.