SCROOGE - Ronald Searle, the illustrator behind the title credits.

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  The movie musical SCROOGE and I, are longtime friends. (It's possible that I have seen the movie during its original release.) The film is such a beautiful, albeit musical, retelling of the original Charles Dickens tale. The art of this film - costumes, set, and props - weaves the story together to give it a  beautiful, historically accurate Dickens portrayal. SCROOGE was nominated for Academy Awards in Art, Costume, Original Song and Original Score. I consider it to be the highlight of holiday entertainment that holds up nicely for a yearly re-watch.  

Currently, with all the movies that we are viewing for ChatterBox Divas, I have begun taking a closer look at some of the different aspects of production design. Ronald Searle is the artist behind the illustrations for the SCROOGE title cards. Below is a sampling of those featured in the credits. Please visit  SCROOGE - opening credits - with Leslie Bricusse's song, "A Christmas Carol." 



**art of the title

Ronald Searle's artistic style emits a frenetic energy that breathes life on the printed page. It is very possible that his illustrations for the 1961 reissue of A Christmas Carol, landed him the gig for the movie SCROOGE. 

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol

Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig, A Christmas Carol

Scrooge's belongings being sold, following his demise. A Christmas Carol

About the author, Ronald Searle
Ronald Searle - 2010 interview at 90.  "I love champagne, when you're working. 
You have a glass of champagne, the bubbles start giving you ideas, you know." 
Interview with the late Ronald Searle

Searle documented his experiences while a POW during World War II, in Japan, .
 "I desperately wanted to put down what was happening, because I thought if by any chance there was a record, even if I died, someone might find it and know what went on."  Searle knew that he had been given a purpose as an unofficial war artist. He managed to obtain paper through bartering, exchanging cigarettes for paper....using the fly papers from books, etc. He had amassed roughly three hundred drawings, that spanned that time period of his life, by the end of the war.

Read about this fascinating aspect to Searle's life at The War Chronicles of Ronald Searle

St. Trinian's - a British gag cartoon comic strip created and drawn by Ronald Searle from 1946-1952.The cartoons centered around a boarding school for girls where teachers are sadists and the students are juvenile delinquents.

Molesworth series of books, is written around a fictional character's life in an English prep school. Searle collaborated with author Geoffrey Willians on the books written from 1953-1958.



Visit Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines  to view Searle's  
illustrated [animated] opening sequence of the 1965 film.**


You can visit the British Museum to view a lifetime of Ronald Searle's work. 



*info from - wiki
**artofthetitle.com

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