Mickey's Christmas Carol

***Mickey's Christmas Carol*** is a 1983 theatrical featurette featuring established Disney characters re-enacting the classic Charles Dickens story A Christmas Carol. The production, which was Mickey Mouse's first appearance in theaters in 30 years (despite his limited supporting role), was inspired by An Adaptation of Dickens' Christmas Carol, Performed by The Walt Disney Players, a 1974 Disney record conceived by Alan Young and Alan Dinehart.

## Plot

On Christmas Eve, while all of Victorian England is in the merry spirit of Christmas, Ebenezer Scrooge (played by Scrooge McDuck) thinks only of the money he has made and of making more (apparently, he charges people 80% interest, compounded daily). As he reaches his counting house, he realizes it's seven years since the passing of his partner Jacob Marley. While Scrooge's selfish thoughts cascade in his head, Bob Cratchit Mickey Mouse, overworked, exhausted and underpaid, continues to work long and hard for him. Cratchit reluctantly asks for a "half day off" for Christmas, to which Scrooge replies it will be unpaid because he'll cut half of his pay for the day (in contrast to the original version where Scrooge is irritated at giving Cratchit Christmas off with pay). Scrooge's nephew Fred Donald Duck comes in to invite Scrooge to his family's Christmas dinner, but Scrooge turns him down. When collectors Rat and Mole, along with beggars on the streets, kindly ask for a simple donation, Scrooge responds to them that if he does, the poor will no longer be poor and thus they (the collectors) will be out of work, "and you can't ask me to do that, not on Christmas Eve."

That Christmas Eve night, the ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge's greedy business partner, Jacob Marley (Goofy) appears and scares Scrooge out of his wits. When Scrooge commends him for his ruthlessness, Marley chuckles "Yup," but then recalls his sinfulness, and tells that because of his cruelty in life, he is doomed to wear heavy chains for eternity ("maybe even longer"). He warns that a similar fate, if not worse, will befall Scrooge unless he changes his ways. Marley then leaves, falling down the stairs when he tries to avoid tripping over Scrooge's cane again and letting out his signature Goofy holler.

Scrooge soon dismisses the incident and goes back to sleep but is later awoken by the Ghost of Christmas Past (Jiminy Cricket). He shows Scrooge his past when his growing love of money led him to made his girlfriend Isabel Daisy Duck miserable by foreclosing on the honeymoon cottage's mortgage.

Not long after the first visit, the Ghost of Christmas Present (Willie the Giant) arrives, surrounded by turkey, mince pies, suckling pigs and other delicious foods. He shows him the poverty-stricken Cratchit family, who still keep a festive attitude in their home despite their hardships. Bob's young son Tiny Tim (Morty Fieldmouse) is revealed to be gravely ill and Willie foretells tragedy if the family's hapless life does not change. However, just when Scrooge is desperate to know Tim's fate, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the house both vanish. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (a hooded figure later revealed to be Pete) takes Scrooge to the future in a graveyard. When he sees Bob mourning for Tiny Tim, who has passed away (indicated by Bob placing Tim's crutch on his tombstone), Scrooge fearfully asks whether or not this future can be altered.

He then overhears the laughter of two gravediggers (two weasels from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad), who are amazed and humored by the fact that no one attended the funeral of the man whose grave they were digging for. After the weasels leave to take a break from their work, Scrooge and the ghost approach the lonely grave, where the ghost lights a cigar, revealing Ebenezer Scrooge's name on the tombstone, the ghost revealed to be Pete gives him a shove into his grave, calling him "the richest man in the cemetery". Scrooge falls towards his coffin as the lid opens and the flames of Hell burst out. Scrooge clings to a root, while the ghost laughs evilly, but it snaps and Scrooge falls into his fiery grave, shouting his repentance.

Suddenly, he is back home on Christmas morning—it was all just a dream. Having been given another chance, he throws his coat over his nightshirt, dons his cane and top hat, and goes to visit the Cratchits, cheerfully donating generous amounts of money along the way and telling Fred that he will come to dinner at his house after all. He tries to play a ninny on Bob, dragging in a large sack supposedly filled with laundry and announcing gruffly that there will be extra work in the future. But to the Cratchits' joy, the sack is instead filled with toys and a big turkey for dinner. Scrooge gives Bob a raise and makes him his partner in the counting house as Tiny Tim proclaims the original character's famous line of "God bless us, everyone!"

Scrooge picks up Tiny Tim and sits him on his lap before setting his top hat on Tiny Tim's head, picking up Tiny Tim's older sister Martha and sitting her on his lap and then getting a hug from Tiny Tim, Martha and Peter before directing his smile at the Cratchits

## Voice cast

- Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer Scrooge (voiced by Alan Young)
- Mickey Mouse as Bob Cratchit (voiced by Wayne Allwine)
- Donald Duck as Fred Honeywell (Ebenezer's nephew) (voiced by Clarence Nash)
- Water Rat and Mole as Collectors for the Poor (voiced by Hal Smith and Will Ryan)
- Goofy as Jacob Marley (voiced by Hal Smith)
- Jiminy Cricket as the Ghost of Christmas Past (voiced by Eddie Carroll)
- J. Thaddeus Toad as Fezziwig
- Daisy Duck as Isabel (voiced by Patricia Parris)
- Willie the Giant as the Ghost of Christmas Present (voiced by Will Ryan)
- Minnie Mouse as Mrs. Cratchit
- Morty Fieldmouse as Tiny Tim (voiced by Dick Billingsley)
- Ferdie Fieldmouse as Peter Cratchit
- Melody Mouse as Martha Cratchit
- Pete as the Ghost of Christmas Future (voiced by Will Ryan)