Ronald Colman - A Christmas Carol - Charles Laughton - Mr. Pickwick's Christmas - 1950 Xmas Spoken Word - Original Canada Stereo LP

Ronald Colman, Charles Laughton - Charles Dickens Classics: A Christmas Carol and Mr. Pickwick's Christmas


Label: DECCA ‎– DLP 8010
Format: Heavyweight Vinyl, 12"
Record: VG+ VG++ few very slight scuffs
Cover: VG+, top edgewear
Country: US
Released: 1950
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Theme


Tracklist


A Ronald Colman -– A Christmas Carol
Directed By –- George Wells


B Charles Laughton -– Mr. Pickwick's Christmas

It is a spoken word album - a very overdue American release of two Charles Dickens classics, "A Christmas Carol" and "Mr. Pickwick's Christmas". Each Dickens tale was originally released by American Decca as a single item on 78 RPM before the age of LP's.

"Carol" was recorded in October 1941, and released in November of that year, a sobering thought considering the fact that Pearl Harbor was soon to be attacked, ushering the United States into World War II.

"Pickwick" followed three years later, in November of 1944. Both were later included on a single 33 1/3 RPM LP, one of the most popular Decca albums ever made, selling well into the late 1960's.


I discovered this LP last Christmas and have added it to my Christmas favorites. The Colman 'A Christmas Carol' full-cast radio play is much better than either Laurence Olivier's or Orson Welles'. Furthermore, though it is a monologue, I think the Laughton 'Mr. Pickwick's Christmas' a greater artistic work than the Colman 'A Christmas Carol'. No one could have read this story better than Laughton, one of the 20th-century's greatest actors.