The sounds of Christmas — A Christmas Carol Radio Show broadcast

For many people, Christmas conjures up visions of Santa Claus in his red suit, reindeer dashing across the sky, snowmen in top hats, and presents under twinkling trees. Yet it’s also rich with sound — carolers singing, sleigh bells jingling, crackling fires, a hearty “ho, ho, ho” from jolly St. Nick and “A Christmas Carol,” playing on the radio.

This holiday season, the Gypsy Theatre Guild brings Charles Dickens’ classic, famously dramatized for the radio and narrated by Orson Welles and featuring Lionel Barrymore as Ebenezer Scrooge in 1939, to the airwaves on Christmas Eve.

Although it’s a radio show, the Flathead Valley community theater company performed and recorded it in front of audiences in a decked-out Conrad Mansion. The radio recording will be broadcast on KGEZ and linked online at the Daily Inter Lake's YouTube channel.

For the performance, voice actors stood along the second-floor hallway behind a banister draped with garland, and spoke into reproduction vintage microphones. Downstairs, audiences were invited to close their eyes and imagine a retelling of the 1843 Christmas classic during the Golden Age of American radio.

“We’re using a script from a 1939 show that was done live on the air and was written for radio,” said Tony Nelson, who played the Christmastime curmudgeon, Ebenezer Scrooge. “When you’re voice acting, you have to make sure you're really conveying [emotions] vocally. Your voice is your sole tool with radio.” 

Jonathan Vangilder of Kalispell, who voiced Bob Cratchit, echoed a similar sentiment. While he’s familiar with acting on the stage, this was his first radio performance.

“The work that you put into your physical acting while you’re on stage goes into what you’re doing in your voice,” he said. “They can’t see the emotions on your face so you have to display that even better in your voice.”

To embody his idea of Cratchit, Jonathan used a higher register than his normal voice.

“Bob Cratchit is like this young man that’s trying to raise his family. I think he’s a little bit of a nervous man too, especially around Mr. Scrooge who is constantly threatening to fire him and all,” he said with a laugh.

In old-time radio, sound plays a leading role in bringing stories to life. This is where Tony’s wife, Gaylin, steps in as the foley artist.

“It’s a big role because unlike what we’re used to these days, this isn’t a visual event,” she said. 

During an interview at the Conrad on Dec. 16, Tony pointed out the sound of footsteps downstairs growing louder and softer as museum Director Brit Clark walked to and from tables set up with white linen tablecloths and china for a Christmas tea.

“Gaylin has a special pair of shoes and we have a board with a microphone near it and so in the script when it says that Bob Cratchit is walking toward the door to open it she’ll actually make footsteps on that board,” Tony said. 

One of the heavy multitasking props Gaylin uses to create sound effects is a working door in miniature complete with a doorbell, which she pulls out of a box of prop examples she brought along to demonstrate some sounds. To imitate the sound of a shop door, she jingles a string of bells against it. Using the life-sized doorknob she opens the door with a squeaky creak and shuts it to get the click sound of the latch. To mimic the sound of Scrooge opening the window sash at the end of “A Christmas Carol,” she scrapes a putty knife loudly against the flat surface of the wood door. That was a challenging sound to come up with, the Nelsons agreed.

“We’ve tried a piece of wood against a cinder block, two pieces of wood against each other,” Tony said.

“We tried a chisel,” Gaylin added.

“We’ve tried so many different things to try and emulate the sound of a double-hung sash window. That’s a tough one to nail down,” Tony said.

Imitating everyday sounds requires looking at everyday objects in new ways. It is also a bit of trial and error, and, of course, a lot of listening.

“I remember one day I was looking for a particular sound, a ghostly sound, for the Ghost of Christmas Past and I was in Wendy's Rock Shop,” Gaylin said. “I had to explain it to the clerk. And I went through probably 30 different chimes and bells before I found the one that I liked, that would make that particular sound,” she said with a smile.

For the Ghost of Christmas Future, she uses a singing bowl. To produce a sound, a wood mallet is dragged along the outer edge of the brass bowl. The tone can be made louder or softer.

“It’s not a chime. It’s not a tinkly bell. It’s just this sound that sort of invokes a void to it because we don’t know what’s in the future. Scrooge gets a glimpse and it’s not very pretty. And so with this thing looming toward him, I just wanted it to be an ever-increasing tone,” she said.

“And it doesn’t always cooperate,” she said, noting that the mallet tends to want to skip. “That’s always one that I’m practicing.”

Tony said one of the most interesting sounds she’s come up with is the chime of London landmark, Big Ben, striking at the top of the hour.

“When the clock strikes one she’s actually striking a saw blade, like a circular saw blade,” he said.

“With a xylophone mallet,” Gaylin said, finishing the thought.

“And it sounds exactly like this low ‘dong,’ out in the distance. It’s really cool,” Tony said.

The husband and wife team have participated in the show every year and estimate this season marks the guild’s sixth radio broadcast of “A Christmas Carol,” which is directed by Larry Lefcourt. The idea to put on a radio show was initiated by Stephanie Venrick who usually narrates the show, but was out of the country this time around.

“She’s the one that compiled the scripts and all of the electronic sound effects and kind of put this whole thing together years ago,” Tony said. 

Holding the show at the Conrad sets the stage for the Christmas season, Gaylin said. 

“I love being in the Conrad Mansion. This place invokes such a sense of history and nostalgia and it really helps prep me for the Christmas season to come,” Gaylin said.
“It’s just a timeless classic,” Tony said. “I don’t get tired of doing it. I try to bring a little bit more each year to what I’m doing.”

Jonathan added, “I think with ‘A Christmas Carol’ … it is a story that has endured for so long because it’s a really good reflection on, number one, Dickens understood mankind. He understood both poverty and being successful in both aspects of life and lived both aspects of life. I think it’s just a reflection on something that we all can agree with.”

Jonathan said the tale also shows the joys of Christmas and the hardships.

“I think we love the story so much … because we all can relate to it. Dickens wrote it in such a relatable way that no matter how many times we see it we always connect to it,” he said.

The Gypsy Theatre Guild is open to anyone who would like to join. No experience is necessary. For more information, visit www.gypsytheatreguild.com.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.

    Jonathan Vangilder voices Bob Cratchit in the Gypsy Theatre Guild's presentation of "A Christmas Carol Radio Broadcast" at the Conrad Mansion. (Photo provided by Larry Lefcourt)
  

    Tony Nelson voices Ebenezer Scrooge Gypsy Theatre Guild's presentation of "A Christmas Carol Radio Broadcast" at the Conrad Mansion. (Photo provided by Larry Lefcourt)