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The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.
Yes. A Christmas Carol (full title: A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas) is an 1843 novella by English writer Charles Dickens [1812-1870]. The novella was adapted for the screen by Roger O. Hirson.
Yes. The text to A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas can be found here.
We see scenes of Scrooge conducting business, which seems to involve commodity trading. We briefly meet Scrooge's father, who is taking Ebenezer home from school for Christmas only briefly, prior to his being apprenticed to Fezziwig. Scrooge witnesses a scene at a camp of poor people.
Charles Dickens' novella about Ebenezer Scrooge is one of the stories most often made into a film. It can be found in silent versions such as The Right to Be Happy (1916) as well as talkies. It can be found under various titles, most commonly A Christmas Carol and Scrooge, but also under variations such as Scrooge and Marley (2001), Ebenezer (1997), Ebbie (1995), The Stingiest Man in Town (1978), and An American Christmas Carol (1979). It's been animated, spoofed, and turned into a comedy in such films as A Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988), Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983), The Jetsons: A Jetson Christmas Carol (#2.41) (1985), Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol (1979), and even Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962). Probably the three most commonly viewed versions are this one, Scrooge (1951) starring Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge, and A Christmas Carol (1999) in which Patrick Stewart plays the role of Scrooge. For a fairly comprehensive, although not necessarily definitive, list of various versions of the story, see here.
Charles Dickens never names what illness Tiny Tim has, other than to say that he wears a brace on his leg, walks with a crutch, is weak, and won't live to see another Christmas. Past theories have included polio, tuberculosis, scurvy, and/or rickets. More recently, American pediatric neurologist Donald Lewis has offered the diagnosis of distal renal tubular acidosis, a kidney disorder that makes the blood too acidic and can result in weakness, bone fractures, and problems between nerves and muscles. Although the disease as it is known today was not understood in the 1840s, doctors did recognize the symptoms and did have a cure. Patients would be given alkaline solutions to drink, solutions that would counteract the excessive acid in the blood and recovery would have been swift
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