From 1962 to 1967, a hallmark of the Yuletide season was the television broadcast of Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol. TV viewers of a certain age will remember the unlikely pairing of cartoon character Mister Magoo with the age-old Charles Dickens’ tale A Christmas Carol. It was a bit of holiday magic.

The character Mr. Magoo made his first appearance in 1949 in the United Productions of America (UPA) film Ragtime Bear. Magoo was a bulbous-nosed old codger, who plunged into all sorts of predicaments with consummate confidence. His nearsightedness led to an abundance of comic situations. Audiences loved him and UPA obliged by producing more films, this time with Magoo as the star. Mr. Magoo films won Academy Awards in 1954 and 1956. By 1959, there had been 53 short subject Mr. Magoo films made. That same year, Mr. Magoo made the leap to television. He was firmly ensconced in pop culture. Still, it was an unconventional decision by producer Lee Orgel to propose a cartoon version of A Christmas Carol featuring Mr. Magoo as Ebenezer Scrooge. It was equally unconventional to make the cartoon a musical.

Orgel worked tirelessly to sell the idea to NBC and sponsor Timex. He also puzzled over how to convince audiences that their beloved Mr. Magoo could be Scrooge. Orgel solved the problem by presenting the play A Christmas Carol as a show within a show. Viewers would see Magoo as the principal player on the stage as the drama unfolded. Magoo was playing the part of Scrooge, just as any actor might.

Originally Orgel had intended Magoo to play a more comedic Scrooge. But he eventually thought better of the idea. Orgel said, “We got to thinking how almost sacred Dickens’ Christmas Carol has become with many people and decided it might not be good taste to have Magoo caricature Scrooge too broadly.” So, it was established that the comical Magoo would play his first serious role in a cartoon. Mister Magoo was given just a few comic moments. As the show opens, he, in his classic nearsighted manner, mistakenly enters a restaurant, rather than the Broadway theater stage door. But before long, Mister Magoo is where he is supposed to be, on stage as Ebenezer Scrooge. The opening night of A Christmas Carol begins.

Once the play starts, viewers meet the stingy, grumpy old Scrooge, busy hoarding his money and refusing any holiday cheer. As the play unfolds, he’s visited by the ghost of his old business partner, Jacob Marley, who warns him to change his selfish ways or suffer the consequences. From there, Scrooge is taken underwing by three more ghosts – Christmas Present, Past, and Future – each one giving him a glimpse into how his life choices have affected those around him. During Christmas Present, Scrooge sees his clerk, Cratchit, with Cratchit’s family and infirm son, Tiny Tim. The Cratchit family count their blessings despite their impoverished circumstances. During his Christmas Past, Scrooge visits scenes from his greedy youth. Then, the final ghost, Christmas Yet to Come, shows Scrooge a lonely future that helps him realize the error in his ways. By the end, he’s had a total change of heart and wakes up on Christmas morning ready to spread joy and generosity to the Cratchit family and beyond.

When the Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol initially aired on NBC in December 1962 it was the culmination of a full year’s work by more than 300 people. Barbara Chain was hired to write the adaptation, and she stuck closely to the original Dickens’ story. Music and lyrics were composed by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, both famed on Broadway. They provided a hummable and catchy soundtrack.

The comedian-actor Jim Backus, who by then had become the well-established voice of Mr. Magoo, was enlisted on the project. Animation director Abe Levitow and his team of animators brought Dickens’ characters to life.

The hour-long TV special was, as producers had hoped, a hit with kids as well as their parents. Some 35 million people watched the show. For owners of color televisions (which in 1962 were still a luxury), Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol offered a rainbow of delightful scenes.

Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol became the first prime-time animated holiday special, breaking ground for other Christmas classics like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and A Charlie Brown Christmas. Magoo’s success in playing Scrooge also led to an entire NBC television series, Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo, in which Magoo played historic characters running the gamut from Noah to Frankenstein.

The Darrell Van Citters papers at the American Heritage Center contain an interesting assortment of materials for Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol fans. There are scripts, sheet music, production materials and interviews with cast and crew members as well as Lee Orgel’s scrapbook full of reviews and articles. Van Citters’ research files for his book titled Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol: The Making of the First Animated Christmas Special, give further insight into the behind-the-scenes creation of a holiday classic.

Post contributed by AHC Writer Kathryn Billington.