"The first year I played Scrooge in Chicago's Goodman Theatre's annual production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, my close friend and brilliant director Terry McCabe brought his children to see a matinee. At lunch afterwards, his ten-year-old daughter Hazel Flowers McCabe commented that she thought "Jacob Marley got a raw deal," (arranging Scrooge's ghostly visits, but remaining in chains himself.) We all agreed she had a point.

That idea rattled around inside my head for the next few years of playing Scrooge. Finally, I decided to set right this injustice, and wrote my own version of Scrooge's redemption, in which Jacob Marley is, deservedly, much more center stage. It was originally read on December 21, 1994, and received rave reviews. Adams Media published it the next year, beautifully illustrated by Larry Wojick, and it became a bestseller.

In the book, I begin with an apology, that closes with: "I approach Dickens' masterpiece with fear and trembling, but I take comfort in the knowledge that however this effort is received, A Christmas Carol will remain pristine, unbesmirched by my muddy little footprints.

But hopefully, there will be one less sad old ghost clanking about through eternity."