Fandom number 18 -- Dickens

[rabidsamfan]

The Charwoman

There'd been a time when she would have taken the silken shirt off his back, and left him to be buried in calico, but he'd been kinder of late. There'd been a rise in her pay, and best of all a bottle of Christmas cheer each year that she could ease along till nearly Easter. Still, she was who she was, and with him gone there was no guarantee that the next master would want, or even need, the services of an old woman whose knees no longer bent to let her scrub the floors.

She took the bedcurtains anyway.

Comments

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. I had the fun of rereading a lot of it this afternoon, and it's a wonderfully snarky story, isn't it?

[serai1.livejournal.com]

It is. There are great bits of humor tucked in there.

Have you ever seen George C. Scott's performance of Scrooge? He really picked up on the snarkiness of the character, something I haven't seen in other portrayals.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

I totally adore George C Scott's Scrooge -- my second-favorite portrayal of the old bastard. What I loved about Scott's Scrooge was how completely unapologetic he was - and that he refused to feel sorry for himself even when viewing his meagre childhood.

[serai1.livejournal.com]

Yes! He was less crabbed about his penury and more decisive. He was a miser because it made him a good living, and by God, he liked that!

The first thing that charmed me about his portrayal was his laugh. Scrooge tends to be acted as a very frowny guy, but Scott had these half-smiles and under-breath chuckles showed us a man who had a sense of humor. Just not a nice one. I find that kind of new angle on a classic character a real delight.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

I'll have to look at it. My current favorite version on film is Scrooge! with Albert Finney and lots of singing...

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Who's your favorite then?

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

George's was my favorite...until I finally saw THE film adaptation of "Scrooge" with Alistair Sims' brilliant portrayal. (You can see all the stuff the Hallmark version borrowed from that one -- and perhaps even a bit of Scott's iron-ass Scrooge in Sims' jovially cold businessman.

I'm also very fond of the musical "Scrooge!" with Albert Finney -- and the Muppet version makes me cry every time Kermit makes the speech about death (they made the film right after Jim Henson's and Brian Hunt's deaths).