Mr. Dickens strode out onto the stage of the Tremont Temple Baptist Church.
Originally dubbed the “Temple Theatre” when it opened in 1827, the building was renamed when it was purchased in 1843 by a Baptist group. Throughout its history since, it not only served for religious services but was also utilized for numerous public events such as plays, movies, exhibits, and speeches. The great hall was three stories high, ornate and large. A large number of seats extended out from the proscenium stage, with a solid row of balcony seats ringing the theater.
An Egyptian mummy had been displayed there in September 1850 and was one of the cultural touchstones that year in the city of Boston. Four months later, the Ladies American Home Education Society held one of the largest temperance meetings in the city’s history up to that time. The two-thousand-seat auditorium burned down in 1852, but was soon rebuilt. Sam Houston gave a fiery speech against slavery there to a mixed house of white and black abolitionists in February 1855. Five years later a similar group of abolitionists was dispersed from the same theater by the Boston police.
And on this day, Bostonians dressed in their holiday best stumbled through the icy winds of winter to see Mr. Dickens perform A Christmas Carol. “Just about everyone knows the tale of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, who is visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve, sees the error of his ways, and becomes a jolly benefactor to poor Tiny Tim and his family,” reported The Boston Globe.
Mr. Dickens’ gait was muscular but elegant. He was resplendent in a black, peak-lapelled, double-breasted, three-quarter coat which was unbuttoned so that his glorious and brilliantly colored silk vest shone through. Augmented with a brilliant red cravat and a golden watch fob elegantly draped across his left side, Dickens was the epitome of the dashing Victorian gentleman, elegantly arrayed (and just shy of foppery).
The audience erupted with applause at the mere sight of the famous performer. Placed at the center of the stage was a podium with a small carafe of water and a glass. At its base was a bright cluster of poinsettia plants, red and white. He approached the podium and prepared himself.
“Marley was dead: to begin with. . . . This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate,” began Mr. Dickens. The crowd went quiet, and the only thing to be heard was his voice.
Mr. Dickens went on for a little less than forty minutes. He gesticulated wildly in some instances, and took great glee in switching from one of the many fantastic characters to another with ease. He changed voices and inflections. He drew laughter along with oohhs and ahhs from the assembled throng. He finished the first half of the presentation to massive applause, which was followed by an intermission.
Charles Dickens first read A Christmas Carol to an audience in the United States on December 2, 1867. It had been his second tour of America after visiting the year before he’d written his great yuletide ghost story. That night, he was an immediate sensation.
But this night, the performer was not Charles Dickens, but rather Gerald Dickens, the great-great-grandson of the famed writer. And here he was in December 2013 reenacting his late ancestor’s performance!
Despite the conveyance of approximately 170 years, the theater was packed to see this reading of one of the most theatrically produced stories in the history of literature. It was Gerald’s twentieth year performing the Christmas tale. He had first performed it in 1993, in America, for an event on the 150th anniversary of the story’s publication.
“To be honest, I wasn’t that keen on doing it, but the event was a charitable one,” Gerald told The Boston Globe in reference to that first show. “And as soon as I started working on it, it all fell into place. Every major character had their own voice and their own way of standing and their own expression and way of moving and everything else. The further I worked through the story, the more it came together. It was an amazing experience.”
Over the years he has performed up to thirty dates per year, both in the US and the UK. “I can be exhausted and feeling like the last thing I want to do is dragging myself onstage and performing, and yet as soon as you say, ‘Marley was dead: to begin with,’ everything just kicks in and you can’t help yourself,” he continued. “I don’t know where that energy comes from, but the text seems to generate it.”
The second half of the performance continued and the audience was just as rapt by the unfolding story. Finally, he ended the story of the reclamation of Ebenezer Scrooge, “and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, every one!” The crowd roared with applause as they rose to give Mr. Dickens a standing ovation.
Audiences have been applauding this tale since it was first published during the Christmas season more than a century and a half ago, and those enthusiastic cheers will surely continue for many years to come.
This enduring story of a covetous old sinner who has lost touch with his humanity has moved generations of readers worldwide; it has been translated into countless languages and transformed into numerous stage productions and cinematic adaptations over the years. At its core, A Christmas Carol delivers a timeless message of hope; it’s about how each one of us can be saved, and about how we can redeem ourselves annually with the help of our friends, family, and loved ones
Yet most inspiring of all is the story behind the story: the incredible true story of how Dickens came to write this legendary yuletide tale.
