1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:03,440 Speaker 1: So we've just gotten through the Christmas season, and one 2 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: of the most recognizable stories is Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. 3 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:11,760 Speaker 1: It popularized the term Merry Christmas. For gosh sakes, it's 4 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 1: warm and full of life lessons. But what's this about 5 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 1: Dickens being a political rabble rouser and his warm, fuzzy 6 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:21,680 Speaker 1: story being inspired by a statement he was trying to 7 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:26,000 Speaker 1: make but nobody was listening to. I'm Patty Steele making 8 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:32,880 Speaker 1: a point by telling a story that's next on the backstory. 9 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:37,680 Speaker 1: The backstory is back. As the Christmas season winds down, 10 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:41,200 Speaker 1: it's interesting to trace some of the origins of our traditions, 11 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:45,680 Speaker 1: especially the stories we tell. Okay, perfect example, and no, 12 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:49,880 Speaker 1: we're not talking about Diehard, which, despite lots of disagreement, 13 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,200 Speaker 1: even Bruce Willis said was absolutely not a Christmas movie. 14 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: What do you think of that? We're talking about Charles 15 00:00:56,440 --> 00:00:59,880 Speaker 1: Dickens A Christmas Carol. It was originally published in a 16 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:03,400 Speaker 1: teen forty three and, as you probably already know, is 17 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:07,760 Speaker 1: the story of a nasty, miserly old guy named Ebenezer Scrooge. 18 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:10,959 Speaker 1: In the tale, he is visited by the ghost of 19 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:15,399 Speaker 1: his former business partner, Jacob Marley, who introduces him to 20 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 1: the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and ominously, the ghost 21 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 1: of Christmas yet to come. By the end of the story, 22 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:26,160 Speaker 1: Scrooge has had his wits scared out of him and 23 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:30,120 Speaker 1: he becomes a kinder, gentler man. So what made Dickens 24 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:33,560 Speaker 1: write a Christmas Carol? Well, First of all, it came 25 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: about at the same time the Victorians in England were 26 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:42,040 Speaker 1: turning Christmas celebrations into a warm, festive, family oriented holiday. 27 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 1: Instead of either the insane adults only drinking fest it 28 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 1: was for a lot of folks, or the ultra religious 29 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:53,040 Speaker 1: snow festivities at all occasions it was for others. This 30 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:55,920 Speaker 1: was the era in which Christmas trees came to be 31 00:01:56,360 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 1: and Christmas Carols were becoming more popular again. Presents and 32 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:04,919 Speaker 1: big feasts were all the rage. By late eighteen forty two, 33 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:08,480 Speaker 1: the year before A Christmas Carol was published, Dickens was 34 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,600 Speaker 1: doing pretty well. He'd had six major works and a 35 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:15,519 Speaker 1: number of short stories published over the past few years. Then, 36 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:18,520 Speaker 1: on New Year's Eve of eighteen forty two, he began 37 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:23,720 Speaker 1: publishing a serial novel called Martin Chuzzlewit as a monthly release. 38 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:27,600 Speaker 1: He loved it. The public not so much. Sales were 39 00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:30,920 Speaker 1: not great, His wife was pregnant with their fifth child, 40 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: and Dickens needed money since his publishers were also threatening 41 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 1: to reduce his salary because of those poor sales. At 42 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:41,400 Speaker 1: the same time, he was really disturbed by the living 43 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: conditions of the poor in London, particularly London street children, 44 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 1: and all the holiday excess only made Dickens feel worse 45 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:52,799 Speaker 1: for the poor and the suffering. You see, Charles had 46 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: grown up in a middle class family, but his dad 47 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:58,239 Speaker 1: was not a careful guy when it came to money, 48 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 1: and he wound up in Debtor's when Charles was twelve 49 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:04,640 Speaker 1: years old. Yeah, debtors Prison was a real thing in 50 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:07,680 Speaker 1: those days now. In order to help support his family, 51 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 1: Charles had to sell his own book collection, leave school 52 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:15,240 Speaker 1: and work at a dirty, rat infested shoe polish factory. 53 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:18,920 Speaker 1: It shocked him and left him feeling outraged by the 54 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:23,040 Speaker 1: conditions the poor lived with, which influenced his writing. By 55 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 1: the eighteen forties, the Industrial Revolution was in full swing 56 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: and Dickens towed orphanages, schools, factories and minds where he 57 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:36,000 Speaker 1: saw little children working under terrible conditions. Dickens was horrified 58 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 1: and he wanted Londoners to know what was happening. He 59 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 1: started by writing a political pamphlet called an Appeal to 60 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: the People of England on Behalf of the poor Man's 61 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: Child as a long title, but he changed his mind. 62 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 1: He felt an allegory type story would get the attention 63 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:56,279 Speaker 1: of more people than a political lecture about poverty and injustice, 64 00:03:56,840 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: so he began a Christmas Carol in October of eighteen 65 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:03,840 Speaker 1: forty three. He was so passionate about the subject he 66 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: managed to finish the story into six weeks. Family members 67 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: said he built the story in his head while taking 68 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:13,560 Speaker 1: these really late walks of up to twenty miles per 69 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:18,120 Speaker 1: night around London. Historians say Dickens wanted a Christmas Carol 70 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:22,000 Speaker 1: to open readers' hearts to poverty stricken folks just trying 71 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:25,839 Speaker 1: to survive, and to encourage charity from those more well off. 72 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:28,760 Speaker 1: He also wanted to warn them about the danger to 73 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:32,479 Speaker 1: society if they continued to tolerate the suffering of the poor. 74 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:35,919 Speaker 1: Where did he get the inspiration for the characters in 75 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 1: a Christmas Carol? Well some say it's possible that Scrooge's 76 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:43,479 Speaker 1: name came from a gravestone Dickens saw in Scotland, but 77 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:47,360 Speaker 1: the grave was actually for a guy named Ebenezer Lennox Scroggey, 78 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:51,120 Speaker 1: whose job was recorded as a meal man also known 79 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: as a corn merchant, where it is Dickens misread the 80 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:58,200 Speaker 1: inscription as a mean man, and thus he was inspired 81 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:02,480 Speaker 1: to create the Spooky Old Mind. Now some scholars dispute 82 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:06,240 Speaker 1: that as a possible Dickens hoax to publicize his story, 83 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 1: but who knows. The book was hugely successful, selling out 84 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:14,200 Speaker 1: its first edition of six thousand copies by Christmas Eve, 85 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:17,279 Speaker 1: just five days from the day they published it, and 86 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:20,640 Speaker 1: his new editions came out. It kept selling, with eleven 87 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: more editions in the first year alone. Since then, the 88 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:27,159 Speaker 1: book has been issued over and over and over again 89 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:31,680 Speaker 1: in hardback and paperback editions, translated into over one hundred 90 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:34,800 Speaker 1: and fifty languages, and has never been out of print. 91 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 1: A Christmas Carol has been adapted a ton of times 92 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:42,720 Speaker 1: for film, stage, opera, and other media too. In eighteen 93 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:46,039 Speaker 1: forty nine, Dickens started doing public readings of the story, 94 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: which were so successful he did one hundred and twenty 95 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:52,480 Speaker 1: seven more in the next twenty years until his death 96 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:56,280 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy. The beauty of this story is if 97 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:59,359 Speaker 1: you are passionate about something and you find the best 98 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:02,159 Speaker 1: way to share your passion, you never know where it 99 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:16,120 Speaker 1: can take you. Hope your holidays have been wonderful and 100 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:19,480 Speaker 1: I hope you're enjoying The Backstory with Patty Steele. Follow 101 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 1: or subscribe for free to get new episodes delivered automatically, 102 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:25,719 Speaker 1: and feel free to dm me if you have a 103 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:28,559 Speaker 1: story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty 104 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:34,560 Speaker 1: Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. 105 00:06:34,839 --> 00:06:39,120 Speaker 1: The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis 106 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:43,320 Speaker 1: Duran Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. 107 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:47,240 Speaker 1: Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday 108 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:49,760 Speaker 1: and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with 109 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:53,799 Speaker 1: comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty 110 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:57,320 Speaker 1: Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening 111 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:00,600 Speaker 1: to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history 112 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:02,480 Speaker 1: you didn't know you needed to know.