Dickensblog

Flowers for Dickens

Today, on the 151st anniversary of Dickens's death, Lucinda Hawksley tweeted out pictures (here, here, and here) of the beautiful wreaths placed on her great-great-great-grandfather's grave. One is from the Dickens Fellowship, the other -- made with Dickens's favorite flower, the scarlet geranium -- from the children of Gad's Hill School. 

As John Forster wrote of Dickens's funeral, "Then, later in the day and all the following day, came unbidden mourners in such crowds, that the Dean had to request permission to keep open the grave until Thursday; but after it was closed they did not cease to come . . . . He alluded to this in the impressive funeral discourse delivered by him in the Abbey on the morning of Sunday the 19th, pointing to the fresh flowers that then had been newly thrown (as they still are thrown, in this the fourth year after his death), and saying that 'the spot would thenceforward be a sacred one with both the New World and the Old, as that of the representative of the literature, not of this island only, but of all who speak our English tongue.'"

Gerald Dickens on the Staplehurst train crash

Gerald Dickens is joining the family novel-writing business! He's working on a novel about the train crash that nearly killed his great-great-grandfather, and will be giving a talk about it on June 9, the anniversary of the crash, at Revelation Ashford in Kent. More information is here, and tickets for the talk are available here.

Dickens Museum reopens tomorrow

And Dickens descendant Lucinda Hawksley will be there signing her books! Hope some of you Londoners can make it! 

Dickens/Hogarth lockets on display

A pair of lockets exchanged by Charles Dickens and sister-in-law Mary Hogarth are now on display at the Dickens Museum. Follow the link to read the details and see a picture! Thanks to Tai French for the tip.

A Dickens birthday party

The Dickens Museum is hosting an online party tomorrow at 7 p.m. UK time (2 p.m. Eastern ), and all are invited! Lucinda Dickens Hawksley and Miriam Margolyes will be on hand to take questions, do readings, and talk about how Dickens celebrated his birthday. The cost is 10 pounds plus a .50 pound booking fee (about $14.50).  Register now to get the Zoom link e-mailed to you!

Meet Augustus Dickens

On Tuesday, January 26, at 1 p.m. Eastern, Lucinda Hawksley will give an online talk about Charles Dickens's brother Augustus (her own "great x4 uncle"), based on her own research conducted in his town of Chicago. Click here to find out more and to sign up! 

Join the Dickenses!

The Dickens Museum will host a virtual Dickens Family Christmas at 7:30 p.m. London time (2:30 p.m. Eastern time) and all are invited to join in! Gerald Dickens, Lucinda Dickens Hawksley, and other descendants of the author will be sharing readings, recipes, and more. Go here to read more, and go here to sign up and get the Zoom link. 

A tale of four podcasts

I've recently been a guest on various podcasts to talk about Dickens! Here are some links:  

• The Christian Humanist with Michial Farmer (talking about The Gospel in Dickens)
• The Sectarian Review with Danny Anderson (talking about The Gospel in Dickens)
• The Great Books with John J. Miller (talking about A Tale of Two Cities)
• A Cozy Christmas with Art Kilmer, longtime Dickensblog reader and Facebook group member (talking about A Christmas Carol)

And don't miss Art's subsequent episode, where he continued the A Christmas Carol discussion, this time with Gerald Dickens!

In related news, I was on the radio show Chris Fabry Live today to discuss The Gospel in Dickens. I believe that episode will be archived online soon, so I'll post a link if and when it is.

'A Christmas Carol' on TV (and online)

Here's this year's schedule of airings on TV, along with some updates about what versions are now streaming online and how to access them! As always, keep checking back for updates. 

• A Christmas Carol (1910, starring Marc McDermott): This airs as part of Christmas Past (1925), a compilation of silent short films, which will air December 21 at 12 a.m. on TCM. Go here for details.  
• Scrooge (1935, starring Seymour Hicks): Free on Amazon Prime (colorized version)
• A Christmas Carol (1938, starring Reginald Owen): December 8, 8 p.m.; December 12, 12 p.m.; December 21, 9 a.m.; and December 25, 12 a.m., TCM
• Scrooge, a.k.a. A Christmas Carol (1951, starring Alastair Sim): December 24, 2:30 p.m. and 7:50 p.m.; December 25, 1:10 a.m., 6 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 3 p.m., 8:20 p.m.; and December 26, 1:40 a.m., FXM; free (with ads) on Amazon Prime  
• Scrooge (1970, starring Albert Finney): December 20, 3:40 p.m., Movies!
• A Christmas Carol (1984, starring George C. Scott): December 8, 3:41 p.m., Starz Encore Classics; December 8, 6:41 p.m., Starz Encore Classics West; December 11, 1:35 a.m., 4:12 p.m., and 11:34 p.m.; December 14, 4:36 p.m.; December 17, 5:16 a.m. and 10 p.m., Starz Kids & Family; December 20, 5:08 p.m., Starz Encore Classics; and December 20, 8:08 p.m., Starz Encore Classics West
• The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992, starring Michael Caine): Streaming on Disney Plus
• A Christmas Carol (1999, starring Patrick Stewart): December 17, 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., TNT
• Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009, starring Jim Carrey): December 9, 1:40 p.m.; December 12, 11:55 p.m.; December 13, 12 p.m.; December 15, 8:25 p.m.; December 17, 3:45 p.m.; December 18, 12:15 p.m., Freeform
• FX's A Christmas Carol (2019, starring Guy Pearce): December 24, 4:20 p.m. and 9:40 p.m., and December 25, 3 a.m., 7:30 a.m., 12 p.m., 4:50 p.m., and 10:10 p.m., FXM
• Gerald Dickens's new Christmas Carol film is now available to watch online. You can rent it for a week for $20 at this link. 
• Jefferson Mays's version is available online at this link, costing $57.50 for unlimited viewings within a 24-hour period, until January 3. The New York Times reviews it here.

Getting creative with 'A Christmas Carol'

Along with everything else it's derailed, the pandemic is wreaking havoc on the usual rush of productions of A Christmas Carol. But many artists are finding ways to bring us the story nevertheless! Here are a few examples I've seen:

• An unusual filmed version of A Christmas Carol, with dancers and celebrity voiceovers (including Carey Mulligan, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Simon Russell Beale, and Andy Serkis), will open in British movie theaters December 4. I'm not sure if we'll be getting this one in the United States at any point. More information is here, here, and here.
• Broadway actor Jefferson Mays has filmed his acclaimed one-man version of the Carol. It will be streamed online November 28 to benefit theaters around the United States. Go here to learn more and to buy tickets.
• Gerald Dickens -- whose one-man version I've seen several times, as many of you know -- has also created a film version, as he reports on his blog. Details about the release to come. 
• In Washington, D.C., Ford's Theatre has turned its annual production of the show into a radio play, which will air on its website on December 7 (members only) and December 14 (general public), and on WAMU 88.5 on Christmas Day.

If you know of any other creative productions of A Christmas Carol that deserve a mention here, please mention them in the comments!