Rod Serling's "Carol for Another Christmas" Offers Different Take on the Dickens Classic

In honor of the impending Christmas holiday and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to Washington this week, I thought I'd share the film A Carol for Another Christmas, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and broadcast on ABC television just days after Christmas in 1964. The movie was written by Rod Serling of The Twilight Zone fame. It was sponsored by Xerox with the goal of promoting the United Nations. It stars Sterling Hayden, Peter Sellers, Ben Gazzara, Britt Ekland and James Shigeta. 

The film is based on the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. Hayden plays wealthy industrialist Daniel Grudge, an America-first isolationist who is sitting at home alone on Christmas Eve when he's visited by his nephew, Fred (Gazzara), a liberal educator. Grudge holds his nephew in contempt for his "bleeding-heart" views and his interest in seeing the United States work with other nations to reduce the risk of war. Yet Fred seems to touch something in his uncle by reminding him that Grudge's son, Marley, was killed in battle on Christmas Eve during World War II.

After sending his nephew away, Grudge appears shaken to hear the sound of an old song start playing. He is then visited by a series of ghosts who lead him to reconsider his narrow-minded lack of concern for those outside the U.S. and his former refusal to acknowledge issues beyond this country's borders. In the film's final scene, Grudge's butler is shouted down by a rabid group of selfish America First types when he urges the survivors of a future nuclear holocaust to cooperate. This sorry spectacle seems, at last, to affect Grudge's thinking. Following the last of the three ghostly visits, Grudge shows evidence of a serious change of heart.

The film's message is somewhat heavy-handed to be sure, but a heavy hand is sometimes required to reach people like Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump, Jr. and Lauren Boebert. I for one am proud of the United States for supporting Ukraine against the unprovoked attack of Putin's Russian forces. This will be a difficult Christmas for too many millions around the world but we must remain engaged and committed to helping others as best we can.  

Hear E.G. Marshall's "A Christmas Carol" from the CBS Radio Mystery Theater

SyFy Channel Celebrates 20 Years of New Year's Twilight Zone Marathons

Tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. marks the start of another of my favorite holiday traditions — the annual New Year's Eve Twilight Zone Marathon on cable's SyFy channel. I first discovered this annual event in 1998, and I've always watched at least a few episodes each year since then, which means I've been watching for 17 of the marathon's 20 years. And no doubt I'll watch again this year, too. Believe it or not, there are still quite a few episodes I haven't seen yet.

The original version of  The Twilight Zone was a 30-minute weekly program that ran for five seasons on CBS, from 1959 through 1964. It was created and developed by Rod Serling, who had previously established himself as one of the best television writers in the business. Serling had come up during "the golden age of live TV," writing insightful, pathbreaking material when quality programming was more respected than mere ad revenues. By the late '50s, however, the dollar had become king, and skittish sponsors balked at anything edgy or topical that might offend potential consumers. Serling, an outspoken champion of the little guy, devised The Twilight Zone as a way of addressing challenging subjects in a less dangerous fashion. As one critic later noted, it was safer to make certain points with martians rather than people, who could, after all, be liberals or Democrats.

The original series produced 156 episodes, of which Serling wrote 92. He was also the program's host and narrator. Many well-known actors appeared on The Twilight Zone, and numerous actors got their start on the show. But it remains popular today largely because of the creative and profound stories it offers — timeless dramas that explore the endless complexities of the human condition and cause the viewer to see age-old issues in a new and different way. I hope you can enjoy an episode or two at some point over the next several days!

See a Schedule of the Episodes Scheduled for this year's Marathon


The PBS American Masters series looked at the life and career of Rod Serling in this 1995 documentary "Rod Serling: Submitted for Your Approval." It's well worth a look: