SCROOGE OF LONDON (England)

CAST: two citizens of London

STORY: The miser Scrooge recovers his “humanity.”

London!’

O London!

Home of our former days.

O rushing city!

O glorious town!

There lived a man, that we knew

(Ebineezer!)

Ebineezer Scrooge, he was called, who hated hilarity.

(“Puffery!” “Humbug!”)

All celebration, all types of merriment . . .he hated. “Wasteful” . .

. . . he called them.

(“Deceitful!”)

And even the days

(beloved)

of Christmas, he despised,

(Can you imagine?)

preferring instead the ticking of time-clocks . . . and the sighing of clerks. All

ease

(yea, all considerations)

seemed to escape, to evade this miser, this weary . . .

(wretched)

. . .antiquarian.

“Christmas” . . .

(he insisted)

“. . .is a refuge for the lazy. Christmas” . . .

(he insisted)

“. . . is crime.”

But on one particular Christmas, on one particular

(glorious)

Christmas evening, the seals, thick, of darkest delusion

fell forever

(crashing)

from this sad businessman’s eyes. And he saw suddenly

(at long last)

the terrible . . .

(woeful)

. . .truth of his life. For there

(there)

rocking

(swaying)

floating above him

(“ghastly!”)

were the souls of past businessmen. . .

(“dead!”)

. . . so long ago gone.

Listen: There were crusty old merchants as grey as a

gravestone. And high-hatted bankers transparent as glass. And

landlords passed by. And the captains of industry. And loan-

sharks, and pinch-pennies. . . dragging thick chains.

And Scrooge trembled

(shuddered, he did)

and cried out sadly

(terribly)

“O spirits gruesome! O shades grotesque! I sense in your

writhing . . .

(“O!”)

“. . . my own dark soul!” And he remembered . . .then

(O!”)

other seasons

(did Ebineezer Scrooge).

Older

(sweeter)

more gentle Christmases, did Scrooge remember

(fragrant, gleaming)

with yule-logs and ringing bells. And moonlight! Silver moonlight,

he remembered. And Belle!

(“Lovely Belle!”)

Belle too . . .he remembered.

(“Bellisima!”)

So gay, she was . . .so exuberant.

(“Belle!”)

”O Ebineezer!” . . .she would cry.

(“Ebineezer!”)

It is starting my darling . . .the music is starting!”

(“Bellisima!”)

And he could see them now. Yes!

(sparkling)

turning

(“O!”)

spinning like sunbeams.

(gallant . . . exquisite))

The orchestra. The gliding dancers. Bowing.

(bending)

Dipping deliciously.

(“1-2-3”) (“1-2-3”)

“O watch me turn, Belle! Watch me turn! I am the Spirit of

Christmas! I am St. Nicholas! St. Nicholas himself!”

And then

(“O!”)

quickly . . .terribly

(“Bellisima!”)

business . . . he remembered. Harsh, demanding business, he

remembered . . . with cash boxes, and ledger books. Appoint-

ments to schedule! Deadlines to meet!

(“Belle!”)

The rush, the strain . . .

(crushing)

. . . of business, he remembered. Yes! Losses!

(Gains!)

Bankruptcies!

(Debts!)

Pleasing at first

(invigorating).

Then routine

(grim)

desperate . . . in fact

(suffocating).

More cash was needed! More collateral!

(contracts, expenditures)

“I must succeed!” . . . Scrooge had cried. “I must prevail! I must

prove myself, Belle! I must . . .

(“O . . . Belissima!”)

. . .prosper!”

But now

(today)

finally

(“O!”)

on this very night

(on this very evening)

he saw . . . did Scrooge, rising. . . accumulating

(“Heavens!”)

a vision . . .he saw, an apparition . . . dreadful

(“Intolerable!” . . . “Bellisima!”)

clogging the air. And it was London

(“O!”)

London . . . that he saw

(“London!”)

the dark, dismaying London that soon . . .

(“O rushing city!”)

. . . must come to pass.

(“O . . . mercy!”)

And it was hideous . . .this London

(“Hideous!”)

with sickness

(“O!”)

and desperation

(“Bellissima!’)

and hunger

(“O!”)

raging, driving hunger striking everywhere.

(“Everywhere!”) (“Bellisima!”)

“O Heavens!” . . . cried Scrooge,

(“Heavens!”)

“what have we wrought? We have erred! We have squandered

our life-times! Men are dying! . . . Women! . . . Children!”

(“Christmas!”)

And he rushed . . . did Scrooge

(“O!”)

out into the morning. Tearfully . . . he ran. Sorrowfully.

He ran out . . . crying

(swaying)

out into the snow.

(“Sweet Christmas!”)

And his shawl, he threw. . . to a shivering beggar. And his

purse, he vaulted . . . high in the air. “It is Christmas” . . . cried

Scrooge. “It is magically wonderfully Christmas! The snow is falling,

and the air . . . the air . . .

(“O splendid, dearest Christmas!”)

. . . the air . . .

(“O Glory!”)

. . . glistens like gold!”

And he became . . . did Scrooge

(“O!”)

a joy to his neighbors.

(“Beloved!”)

And his name was held. . . in reverence by all.

Old Scrooge . . .

(it was said)

“ . . . keeps truly the Christmas.”

(“Old Eb!”)

“Old Scrooge . . .

(all agreed) (“Yea!”)

“. . . he keepeth it well.”