Politicians, Poets, Playwrights, Pundits: Other Voices at Christmas

Hal Landon Jr. and Richard Doyle in A Christmas Carol.

“Avarice and happiness never saw each other, how then should they become acquainted?”

~ Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1734

“Dickens is a terrible writer. In the original, Scrooge was mean and stingy, but you never know why. We’re giving him a mother and father, an unhappy childhood, a whole background which will motivate him.”

~ John H. Mitchell, President, Screen Gems, 1968

Daniel Blinkoff, Jennifer Parsons, Phillip Swanson and Timothy Landfield

“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.”

~ Isaiah, 9:2

“Remorse is memory awake.”

~ Emily Dickenson, Poems, Pt. I, No. 69

“I dreamt the past was never past redeeming;
But whether this was false or honest dreaming
I beg death’s pardon now. And mourn the dead.”

~ Richard Wilbur, The Pardon

“Create in me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me.”

~ Psalms 51:10

“At Christmas I no more desire a rose
Than wish a snow in May’s new-fangled mirth;
But like each thing that in season grows.”

~ Shakespeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost

“Why should I sorrow for what was pain? A cherished grief is an iron chain.”

~ Stephen Vincent Benet, King David

“I believe in Michelangelo, Velasquez, and Rembrandt: in the might of design, the mystery of color, the redemption of all things by beauty everlasting and the message of Art that has made these hands blessed.”

~ George Bernard Shaw

Gregg Daniel and Hal Landon Jr.

“Dickens was a mythologist rather than a novelist; he was the last of the mythologists, and perhaps the greatest. He did not always manage to make his characters men, but he always managed, at the least, to make them gods.”

~ G.K. Chesterson 1906

Then there’s the story of a man who chaired the charity committee of his local hospital. He reviewed all the fund-raising records, and he discovered that the richest person in town had never made a donation. So he went to visit him. He said, “Our records show that you’re the richest person in town, but you’ve never contributed to the hospital.” And the rich man said, “Do your records also show that my widowed mother was left absolutely destitute? Do they show that my brother is totally disabled? Do they show that my sister was abandoned with four young children?” By now the chairperson felt really ashamed. He said, “Well no, our records don’t show that.” And the rich man said, “Well, I don’t do anything for them, so why should I do anything for you?”

~ Adapted from Malcolm Kushner, Humor Consultant

We’re looking forward to seeing you at one of the upcoming performances of OC’s own holiday tradition: SCR’s A Christmas Carol.