Mickey Mouse has a Thanksgiving Eve appointment with a very stingy duck: ABC will air MICKEY’S CHRISTMAS CAROL on Wednesday, Nov. 25, bringing the 1983 animated short to its holiday lineup.
“That was a learning curve, but I loved doing that movie!” the late director and producer Burny Mattinson told Animated Views in an interview published Oct. 22, 2011, recalling MICKEY’S CHRISTMAS CAROL.
Families can catch the special from 8 to 8:30 p.m. ET/PT as part of THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY, according to ABC’s holiday schedule.
Disney’s original short gives Charles Dickens’ story a cast of familiar faces: Scrooge McDuck plays Ebenezer Scrooge, Mickey takes the part of Bob Cratchit, Goofy appears as Jacob Marley’s ghost and Donald Duck plays nephew Fred.
ABC’s description centers on a man whose greed keeps him from understanding Christmas kindness and generosity. His journey toward a changed heart gives parents something to discuss beyond which Disney character turns up next. What does generosity look like when it costs us something?
The television slot lasts half an hour, while Disney’s D23 encyclopedia lists the short itself at 25 minutes. It records an English premiere on Oct. 20, 1983, followed by a US release on Dec. 16 that year.
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That release carried a milestone of its own. Mickey had not appeared in a theatrical cartoon since THE SIMPLE THINGS in 1953, making this Dickens adaptation his return to that format after three decades.
Getting him back on the screen began with a record, not a new cartoon script. According to D23, a 1974 Disney album inspired Mattinson’s idea, and Disney president and chief executive officer Ron Miller gave the project his approval in May 1981.
The casting of Scrooge McDuck also brought the character back to his literary roots. Writer and artist Carl Barks had named the duck after Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge when he introduced him in the December 1947 comic story “Christmas on Bear Mountain,” D23’s history of Uncle Scrooge explains.
Actor Alan Young voiced McDuck on the 1974 album before performing the character in animation for the first time in MICKEY’S CHRISTMAS CAROL. For the short, Disney also brought together Wayne Allwine as Mickey’s new voice and Clarence Nash, who had voiced Donald since the character’s debut.
Those details make the broadcast more than a chance to recognize a few cartoon favorites. It brings together a classic literary character, the Disney duck named after him and a generation of artists finding a way to put Mickey back in a theatrical story.
For Christian families, the premise opens a natural conversation about turning away from selfishness and caring for others. Parents can ask children to name a concrete way to practice generosity this Christmas, rather than leaving kindness as something that happens only on television.
ABC’s November lineup continues with MARY POPPINS on Thanksgiving night and THE SOUND OF MUSIC on Sunday, Nov. 29. First, though, Mickey and Scrooge have the Wednesday evening slot: Nov. 25 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
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