Dickensblog

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!

A tribute to Fanny Dickens

Musician Frances "Fanny" Dickens has had a temporary statue erected in her honor in Portsmouth, just steps away from the statue of her brother. It's one of several statues of sisters of famous men placed throughout the U.K., inspired by the new Netflix film Enola Holmes.

Hawksley on 'Dickens and Film'

Tomorrow at 2 p.m. Eastern, writer and lecturer James Clarke will host an online conversation with Dickens descendant Lucinda Hawksley on "Dickens and Film." Go here to find out more and to buy tickets! 

Virtual tours of the Dickens Museum with Lucinda Hawksley

Let Charles Dickens's great-great-great-granddaughter show you around his old home! Lucinda Hawksley will lead a virtual tour on Thursday, June 18, and another on Friday, June 19, to raise money for the museum. Go here to find out how to sign up for the first tour, and go here for details on the second one!

From yesterday's commemoration

The Dickens Museum has posted a couple of videos that fans will want to see: one of an amazing light and sound installation that was projected onto Westminster Abbey for yesterday's anniversary, and another of a special greeting from members of the Dickens family.

Yesterday's virtual conference went great, and there should soon be some videos from that online as well!