Counting Down to Thanksgiving and the launch of A Christmas Carol

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A Christmas Carol, A Christmas Carol 2020, A Christmas Carol film, Ebenezer Scrooge, Emily Walder, Gerald Dickens, Ghosts of Christmas, Medway, Rochester

It seems to have been a long time coming and for much of this year it has felt that, between the pandemic and the various political situations across the globe, there has not been much to thank 2020 for. However as we begin the week of American Thanksgiving I can reflect of a year of opportunity and positives as I prepare to launch my first film: A Christmas Carol.

When last we left the saga I had wrapped filming in the ancient city of Rochester and left the entire project in the talented hands of Oscar-winning editor Emily Walder. During the days of filming in Cooling Churchyard, in Rochester Cathedral at The Six Poor Travellers House, in Eastgate House and around the streets of the ancient city, I had told Emily directly, and indirectly, what my vision for the film was, so when we said goodbye in a Rochester car park I was saying a temporary farewell to the project and leaving the next stage to her.

A few weeks passed and from America Bob Byers of the Byers’ Choice company, who not only book and manage my annual tours but also who had commissioned the film, got in touch to ask if there was anything he could see yet? I contacted Emily to ask if there was any way she could create a short trailer for the piece – a few scenes possibly, just to show how the end product may look. I hadn’t been prepared for the amazing production that duly arrived!

I had told Emily that I wanted the tone of the film to be dramatic, dark and sombre – capturing the innermost fears of old Ebenezer Scrooge and as soon as I watched the trailer I knew that she had succeeded. The music she had chosen was exciting with a racing heartbeat of a rhythm, and with lots of fast cutting together of various scenes from all of the locations it served up a tantalising glimpse as to how the film would look. As I watched I just smiled: Emily had created something very special indeed.

The trailer was circulated to all who needed to see it and the response was always the same: ‘Wow! I can’t wait to see the full film!’ Of course that is the point of a trailer but the superb reaction heaped the pressure on Emily to get the entire project completed as soon as possible, whilst juggling her other work which was beginning to make greater demands on her time.

Eventually after many emails back and forward she announced the there was a preview to be watched which she duly forwarded via WeTransfer, and which after an hour or so of gradual downloading I was able to watch. Actually I prevaricated for quite a while as I hate watching and listening to myself, but in the end I opened the laptop and began.

The film is everything that I had hoped it to be, Emily had been true to my wishes and used the specific shots that I had suggested, but also given it so much more. Her use of balancing the colour and the sound, of including carefully selected sound effects and music, of using special cinematic effects sparingly but very effectively turned the production from one man telling a story to a completely immersive film experience. As I watched I laughed and I cried, which considering that I am quite familiar with the book is quite surprising and a testament to her skills.

I am not arrogant or narrow minded enough to suggest that this film is a fully finished perfect piece of work, for there is plenty within its 70 minutes that I would like to either touch up or re-film but of course that is out of the question for now (although I would love to come back to the project next year for a second release!) However my main disappointment could be corrected and that was the opening sequence. Rather than using the dramatic music from the trailer Emily had gone with a melody that reminded me of the famous Hedwig Theme from the Harry Potter franchise, and somehow it didn’t bestow the menace and sense of doom that I wanted. The scene wasn’t helped by my voiceover narrative: ‘Marley was dead to begin with’ which I had recorded in slightly conversational, almost jovial, tones. I asked Emily if it was too late to make a change and she said she would indeed be able to do what I wanted, so I quickly set up my microphone and laptop and recorded a much darker version of ‘Marley was dead….’

Within a few hours Emily sent the new beginning and it was transformed: crows squawk and flutter among the silhouetted branches of a skeletal tree and as the (original) music plays. The viewer flies through the graveyard around ancient tombstones as my voice intones the opening lines, almost spitting out the final ‘Marley was as DEAD as a doornail!’ The screen fades to black and the title A Christmas Carol fills the void. We are off on our journey with Ebenezer Scrooge.

Frustratingly there are also a few moments in the film when we should have done better with continuity as well as ensuring that the numerous ‘Fire Escape’ and ‘Mind Your Head’ signs didn’t feature in the story, not to mention a stack of very modern chairs that I don’t know how we manage to miss on the day.

There are other moments which having seen the end result I would like to re-shoot from a point of view of my own performance, I would like to play about with characterisations a little more at certain moments, and use a few more of the cinematic tricks that we learned were possible as we filmed, but that is all for another time.

For now I think that with a crew of only three, all socially distancing in masks, and on a very short timescale and on a limited budget, Emily, Jordan and I have produced something that I am very very proud of!

On Thursday 26 November you can see for yourself for that is when the finished product goes live. To view the film go to the dedicated page on my website, Films (geralddickens.com) and click the button! Once you have paid for the rental and clicked to watch you will have access to the film for seven days, during which time you can view it as often as you like. From the launch date there is month until Christmas – so why not rent the piece as a gift for family, friends or for colleagues in lieu of a cancelled office party?

Yes 2020 has been a hard, difficult, and frightening year for us all but through it all rose the opportunity to make this film and that is something that I am truly thankful for!

http://www.geralddickens.com/films.html

#AChristmasCarol2020

Way Out West

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#AChristmasCarol2020, California, Canada, Corona del Mar, Film trailer, Hollywood, Mission Inn, Newport Beach, Ojai, Riverside, Spa

With a glance back through a few historic posts on my phone this morning reminds me of some fun times that I have spent in California over the years, so for today’s reflections I thought I would return to The Golden State, shrug off a wet English winter and bask in the warm sunshine for a while.

My first connections with California date back to the very start of my touring years, when I was managed by an indominable lady named Caroline Jackson who originally hailed from Alabama – a real Steel Magnolia! Caroline had watched me perform at the ’95 Dickens on the Strand festival in Galveston and proposed that she instigate a performance tour for the following year. We would work together for around 13 years and I owe my much of my current success to Caroline’s foresight. We certainly had our difficulties and disagreements over the years, but Caroline opened many doors to me and I shall always be grateful to her for that.

Putting together the first your wasn’t easy for Caroline because there was no history or reputation to promote; the family connection was useful of course, but potential sponsors wanted to exactly what they would be getting for their money. Our big break was the forming of a connection with the Historical Hotels of America register, which promoted a collective of some of the most beautiful resorts in the country.

One hotel that liked the opportunity of hosting me was the Ojai Valley Inn nestling high in the mountains to the North West of Los Angeles and I travelled there for many years: it was like a Heavenly oasis.

One of the things that made my visits to Ojai so special was that I had to fly into the terrible sprawl of concrete and glass that makes up LAX airport, and then mercifully leave the city behind me. I would collect a rental car and then make my way through the the streets of LA (indeed my first ever experience of driving in America on ‘the wrong side of the road’ was during rush hour in LA – I decided then that if I could drive there I could drive anywhere!). As I hit the freeway towards Ventura County and rose towards the hills I could see a layer of smog behind me and by the time I arrived in Ojai (pronounced ‘Oh-Hai’) the only smell was of eucalyptus and the only sound was that of cicadas as the sun set turning the mountains pink. It is no coincidence that the resort became Shangri-La in Frank Capra’s Lost Horizon movie.

The hotel itself is a 5 star spa resort with amazing facilities (I used to treat myself to a massage or a round of golf during my stay), and the suites are spread around the grounds in a collection of brightly tiled Spanish villas.

In those early years of performing my shows were often dinner theatre events, with me performing each chapter of A Christmas Carol between courses of a lavish meal. The format was a difficult one as the timings of the performances had to be in complete accord with the kitchens where various chefs turned the air blue because their beautifully created dishes sat unserved whilst I continued to prance around the dining room. At Ojai the dinner was served ‘family style’ with large platters of food being laid on the tables for the guests to help themselves: it worked superbly. I don’t remember the details of the menus there except for a delicious salad with persimmons, drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

As we dined a troupe of madrigal singers would surround each circular table and sing carols and folk songs (‘The Boars’ Head Carol comes to mind) and the effect of the harmonies was exquisite.

Yes, the Ojai Valley Inn and Resort was a beautiful place to visit and for many years was my favourite venue on tour.

Also in California, to the east of Los Angeles, is the city of Riverside where each February a fabulous festival takes place to celebrate the life of Charles Dickens, who was born on the 7th of that month. I have visited Riverside on many occasions, sometimes for the festival and sometimes at Christmas to assist with their promotional activities and have always had great fun there but my most memorable moment came when I wasn’t even in the United States at all.

In 1996 I was due to appear at the February festival and give a speech entitled ‘Dickens the Businessman’, in which I would talk about Charles’ entrepreneurial nature as well as focussing on his rags-to-riches story of success, which appeals to a country built upon such dreams. However the previous December I had had a run-in with the charming officers of the INS. Through sheer ignorance and naivety I hadn’t appreciated that I would require a visa to perform in the USA and when I had arrived on American soil I was taken off to a small room and told in no uncertain terms that my presence in the country was not appreciated! Now, it so happened that my first performances on the trip were due to be in Canada, so the officer sent me on my way telling me to make sure that all of my papers were in order by the time I returned.

During my few days in the land of the maple leaf, representations were made and meetings arranged with the result that by the time I returned to America I had been given a temporary ‘once in a lifetime’ pass, in lieu of a visa. But I was told that I must have applied and been approved for the appropriate visa (a P3, to be precise) before I tried to work in America again.

I now faced a problem because the whole process of being granted a visa is a very long drawn out one that requires months to complete, and I was due to perform at the Riverside Festival in just a few weeks time. My agent Caroline and I made a decision, to preserve good will I would attend the festival as a guest, taking no payment for my time, so as far as the INS were concerned I would not be working . But when I arrived in early February I was once again carted off to a private interview room, where my suitcases were opened and my costumes and props revealed. The officers picked each item out with the latex-gloved hands as if they were hard drugs and laid them on the table and asked me to explain. With sweat beading I stammered that I was due to appear at the festival, that I was giving a speech, doing some shows but I wasn’t working, I wasn’t being paid…the officers had all of the information about my trip on their computers: they knew I was going to Riverside, they showed me web pages advertising my visit. They were expecting me. Questioning continued and they elicited from me that I would be staying at the beautiful Mission Inn Hotel in downtown Riverside. Who would be paying for the room? Who had paid for my flight? And that is what sealed my fate because it was the festival who had bought my ticket and who would accommodate me during my stay, and that, proudly announced the officer, was payment!

I was placed on the next flight home and refused entry to the United States of America.

In Riverside I was due to give my speech the next day to an audience of wealthy and successful business folk from the city (many of whom were festival sponsors, therefore important to please), and I wasn’t even there, in fact the only thing that had made it to Riverside was my top hat which had been purchased in America (from a company called Hats in the Belfry) and shipped to the venue. And so it was my first performance in Riverside was delivered by phone from my front room in England with a cup of cocoa to hand, whilst the audience sipped champagne in the elegant surroundings of the Mission Inn. My top hat was placed on the lectern to give them something to look at!

It is strange to think that now the World is in such a place that speeches and even performances are being delivered remotely via Zoom or Teams every day. Back then, however, it was a new phenomenon.

I was fortunate to visit Riverside on many occasions after that first attempt and have always had a brilliant time there.

With Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

The Mission Inn, Riverside

In more recent years I have been attending a new Californian venue and that is at Rogers Gardens in Corona del Mar, close to the affluent and beautiful beachside resort of Newport Beach. Rogers Gardens is a large garden centre and nursery and during the Christmas season have impressive displays of decorations and ornaments. In the heart of the centre there is an open air amphitheatre, originally built so that horticultural demonstrations could be given, but a few years ago it was decided to try and use it for open air theatre (which when you are in Southern California is a safe option!).

I was asked to perform twice on each day I was there, once in the afternoon and once at night, and a local tech company was engaged to rig up theatre lights and a sound system.

I used to do a lot of outdoor theatre in England, mainly at tourist attractions, but this was a new experience for me on tour and an exciting one. The first performance was in the blazing heat of the afternoon and whilst the audience were shaded by huge parasols I was alone and exposed! In my heavy frock coat I was sweltering and sweating profusely, and my forehead was getting redder and redder as the show went on. I performed as much as possible without the coat but the heat was still unbearable and I was heartily relieved when I finally said ‘God Bless Us Every One!’ For the next day I made sure I had plenty of sun block on and although that protected me from sunburn it also streamed into my eyes stinging to such an extent that I couldn’t open them, meaning I gave most of the show blind! All new challenges, that was certain.

Even in the short time that I have been visiting Rogers, three years I think, I have built up quite a following, with a loyal and appreciative audience. Rogers Gardens is an amazing and unique venue and I very much hope to return soon.

Whenever I have visited California, flying in or out of Los Angeles, I look across to the Hollywood sign on the distant hills – and dream of being in movies. And now in my own small way I am close to joining the ranks of film makers.

Today the trailer for my forthcoming is released on my website prior to the film’s release on November 26th. Watch the trailer and spread the word!

#AChristmasCarol2020

Memories from a Samsung: Omaha, Nebraska

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A Christmas Carol, Bill Sikes, Doctor Marigold, Ebenezer Scrooge, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Historic home, Nebraska, Omaha, The Signalman, Trans Siberian Orchestra

Yesterday’s alert on my phone reminded me that two years ago I was being driven through very heavy snow towards Lincoln, Nebraska from the city of Omaha where I was performing at various venues on behalf of The Douglas County Historical Society, as I had done for many years before that.

My chauffeur on that day, as on so many in Omaha, was Lee Phillips and it was he and his wife Suzy who were responsible for taking me to the most central spot in the USA where sea and shining sea are as far away as it is possible for them to be.

Susie and Lee had seen me perform in Williamsburg, Virginia (no doubt the subject of a future post if my Samsung decides to remind me of times there), and as she was on the board at the Historical Society thought that a fundraiser featuring my shows would be a good idea. As soon as she could she marched into the office of the Society’s Executive Director, Kathy Aultz, and told her that ‘we MUST have Gerald Dickens perform’. Now, if Kathy had known Susie well, known her single-minded attitude, known how once she had an idea nothing would stand in her way, she may have simply said ‘alright let me know what we need to do’, but at that moment Kathy was new to the role and was trying to pick her way through all sorts of budgets, procedures, lists of employees, board members, volunteers. Her desk was covered and her mind was whirling, when suddenly in came this woman demanding that they all go on a road trip to the Kansas City area to watch a distant relative of a dead British guy performing A Christmas Carol. Kathy gave in and agreed to this hair-brained scheme. It is a story that both Kathy and Susie tell now with a great deal of humour and affection.

So, having seen me perform and understanding the possibilities, the Douglas County Historical Society put things in place to bring me to Omaha.

Over the years I have performed in many venues around the city but the two constants have been the General Crook House, a wonderfully atmospheric old property which is open for the public to tour, as well as being the HQ of the Society, and the Field Club – a stylish golf course where Lee just happens to be a member. The latter location hosts the largest audiences of my Omaha visits as we take over a spacious function room for an afternoon tea performance. The room is packed with tables as a large audience of locals and bus tour passengers crowd in to begin their Christmas celebrations.

The Field Club

While the audience is having their tea I have plenty of time to sit and relax, maybe chat to some of the volunteers or watch golf on tv in the wonderfully named ‘cry room’, a small bar where disconsolate golfers drown their sorrows after a frustrating round.

When the tea is finished and cleared Kathy welcomes the guests and introduces me.

Now, up to a few years ago I would walk up onto the stage, take the applause, say a few words of introduction and then start the show, but in recent years I have created a more theatrical opening to the performance: after the introductions, music fills the hall (the melancholic, atmospheric opening bars to the Trans Siberian Orchestra’s Christmas Eve/Sarajevo classic which is based on ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’, the only carol mentioned by name in A Christmas Carol’). When the music dies away it is replaced by a church bell tolling as the hunched figure of Ebenezer Scrooge slowly walks to an imaginary graveside.

The idea works well so long as there is the equipment to play the sound effect as in most venues there is and you would expect a large function room to have the facility to play music, wouldn’t you? Ah, how dull my tours would be if everything was so simple!

At the Field Club the music for the entire facility used to be generated from an audio system tucked away in a tiny little cupboard near the admin offices, but nowhere near the stage area. To play the music cue it was necessary to plug my phone into the system and at the appropriate moment press ‘play’.

Simple.

However…. Kathy was giving the cue on stage and I was at the back of the room ready to enter through the audience, so we had to engage someone to operate the phone (complete with my access code in case it locked), but as they were stuck in the little cupboard there had to be yet another person in the long corridor waiting to relay the signal. This is how it worked: Kathy said ‘and so please welcome Gerald Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol’, I waved to whoever was in the corridor, they waved to whoever was in the cupboard, they hit play and hopefully the sound effect filled the room. To allow for the inevitable delay, I would start the process a little early so that the music started at the perfect moment, however there were a few occasions when Kathy would be on the point of finishing but just as I was giving the signal she would remember something else she needed to say, and there would be a flurry of hand signals to stop the process!

Last year the Field Club had invested in a new system which allowed the music to be played from within the room itself and although it made for a much simpler and more relaxing start to the show, I did rather miss our adventurous Heath Robinson style set up of years past!

The other venue, the Crook House, is a perfect setting for Victorian story telling. The dining room is cleared and a small stage set up in a large bay window, more of an alcove really. Due to the lack of space I am not able to do my larger theatrical-style shows there, so I usually turn to my smaller repertoire: Doctor Marigold, The Signalman, Sikes and Nancy and A Tale of Two Cities among others. The audience numbers around 40 and such is the intimacy of the setting we have all become good friends over the years.

Actually I have a permanent presence at The Crook House, for a few years ago Kathy arranged to have a life sized carboard cut out of me made to help promote my visits: my alter ego stands quietly in an office and has been christened ‘Flat Gerald’

Of course every venue has its own eccentricities, and The Crook House is no exception to that. One year, I think when I getting all dramatic in the middle of Sikes and Nancy, there was suddenly the sound of a buzzer sounding sporadically. Eventually both I and Kathy realised that the sound coincided with one audience member stretching his legs. I was continuing the show almost on auto pilot, transfixed by this gent’s ability to buzz at will, whilst Kathy quickly realised what was actually happening. The room, having been the house’s formal dining room, had a little bell push under the carpet near to the spot where the hostess would have been seated, so that she could surreptitiously call for the servants to attend and clear the table. Our poor audience member was completely unaware that his foot was activating the hidden switch every time he stretched his leg out.

There have been plenty of other venues in and around Omaha – book shops, high schools (including one performance in the cavernous surroundings of a basketball court!), and more recently senior living communities, but every event is organised by the small and dedicated staff at The Douglas County Historical Society and at every performance Kathy and Susie are there overseeing every detail. As with so many people that I have worked with they have become close friends and valued colleagues.

The Historical Society were one of the prime movers in requesting that I make a video of my show to distribute to their regular audience members and so began the process that will come to fruition on November 26 when my film will be released.