Over the following two decades, more than a dozen American versions were printed (the lack of copyright protection gave these publishers a field day). “A Christmas Carol” was originally published in Britain in 1843. The colorful Dickens preened and practiced his animated talks in front of a large mirror now displayed in the mezzanine-level hallway by the Press Room. Guards were regularly assigned to his hotel room door, since curious fans were eager to catch a glimpse of their favorite writer rehearsing the exaggerated gestures and odd facial expressions he used to create characters in his public readings. When staying at the Parker House, he took eight-mile walks almost every afternoon, dressed flamboyantly in a brightly colored coat and shiny boots, accessorized with striped cravat, fine hat, and gloves. Dickens began his two-hour performances precisely at eight o’clock, opening with a 90-minute reading, followed by a short intermission, then ending with a second, short reading.ĭickens’ presence in Boston always created a stir. When he spoke, Dickens used his classic stage props: gas lamps lighting a large maroon backdrop, a waist-high podium desk with a block for resting his elbow, and a rail below for his foot. A follow-up performance on Christmas Eve had the same effect. Attended by what The New York Times called “one of the most appreciative, fashionable and brilliant audiences ever assembled in New-England,” the reading was a complete one-man show that kept the overflow audience spellbound and reduced them to tears. Two days later, Dickens gave his first public American reading of “A Christmas Carol” at Tremont Temple, just behind the hotel. According to popular legend, Dickens offered a sneak preview of his popular novella, “A Christmas Carol,” to this group that day as well. Among Dickens’ noted contributions was a favorite punch concocted on site after his assistant George Dolby pulled a stash of fine gin off the Cunard liner docked nearby. for one particularly memorable meeting. On November 30, Dickens joined members of the prestigious Saturday Club - whose literary members included Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. After arriving in Boston Harbor on the steamship Cuba the evening of November 19, 1867, the literary superstar was whisked away to the Parker House, where he was greeted by the hotel’s owner and founder, Harvey Parker, and his business partner John F. Over the past century and a half, British novelist Charles Dickens’ works, his name, his spirit, his room décor - and maybe even his ghost - have all become part of the fabric at the Omni Parker House.Ĭharles Dickens made the Parker House his home base for five months during his 1867-68 stateside visit - the second of only two trips he ever made to America. To get you in the holiday spirit, we’re re-sharing a post from December 2017 by historian Susan Wilson, who describes the famed author’s stay and the Christmas Carol’s legacy in Boston. Dickens stayed at the Parker House, the predecessor of today’s Omni Parker House Hotel at the corner of Tremont and School Streets. His visit was arranged by his friend and official American publisher, James Fields of the firm of Ticknor & Fields, which put Boston’s Old Corner Bookstore on the American literary map. In 1867, Charles Dickens arrived in Boston for the first public reading of A Christmas Carol in the United States, an event that took place at Tremont Temple.
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