Yuletide Reading/Listening/Viewing

Here we are in what, for some, may be a quiet, tranquil prelude to Christmas.  (This does not include those who will be shopping for gifts at 9:00 p.m. Christmas Eve at the corner Chevron station.)

But if you have time, now or later, may we suggest some items for reading, listening and viewing.

Reading:  It is almost obligatory to re-read "A Christmas Carol" each year; "Cricket on the Hearth" optional.  But a less familiar choice would be John Cheever's short story "Christmas Is a Sad Season for the Poor" which, despite its title, is a comedy.

Listening:  The best jazz performances of Christmas music are--to these ears--"England's Carol" by the Modern Jazz Quartet, a wild "Sleigh Ride" by Art Pepper and Richie Cole, Dexter Gordon's "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and, surprisingly,"Away in a Manger", given a Brahmsian mode by George Shearing and Don Thompson.

Viewing:  Alastair Sims's Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol" cannot be matched, but for a different take on the tale, try Bill Murray's "Scrooged", with John Forsythe in the Marley role, Carol Kane as a punch-throwing Ghost, and Miles Davis as a street busker.  For a truly noir Yuletide yarn, there is "Christmas Holiday", based on a Somerset Maugham novel, with Gene Kelly as a non-dancing ne'er-do-well and Deanna Durbin--yes!--singing torch songs. 

Okay, two more days to attempt to be nice, erasing all the year's naughtiness.  Because soon we'll be saying, with Louis Armstrong, "Zat You, Santy Claus?"