Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol

“Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol” was NBC’s Christmas gift to the world in 1962, the first animated Christmas Special to be produced for TV. Robert M. Thompson’s illustration here was created for the show’s premiere. While mostly true to the original “A Christmas Carol,” the show-within-a-show features Mr. Magoo creating mayhem in the streets as he hurries to the theater for his starring role as Ebenezer Scrooge. He takes down the entire set in his bumbling entrance, which Bill Murray also does in “Scrooged,” in perhaps homage to this version of the famous tale (“Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol” can be seen on a monitor in “Scrooged”). The show featured the unmistakable voice of Jim Backus as Mr. Magoo, adding the voice talents of Paul Frees and Royal Dano, both bringing their basso-profundo voices as Fezziwig and Jacob Marley respectively.