Christmas Ball Guy

"Oh, he's having a great time! Don't fuck with him! Look at that guy!"

– Josh Davis, RedLetterMedia.

"He's goin' the distance. He's goin' for speed."

– "The Distance" by Cake.

Introduction

The Christmas Ball Guy (AKA The Clapping Man) is an unnamed, unidentified extra from the 1970 British CBS television film adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Scrooge. During the segment of the movie in which Ebenezer Scrooge (Albert Finney) is being shown visions of his past by the Ghost of Christmas Past (Edith Evans), the song "December the 25th" is performed during Mr. Fezziwig's (Laurence Naismith) Christmas ball, and to the viewer's right of a younger Scrooge is a balding, jovial suited man who spends his limited screen time smiling, bouncing, and occasionally clapping. This lively performance causes him to stand out amongst the crowd of extras, and for the family of Samuel Burke, especially his sister Emily, "you can't unsee him." Since the film's release, this extra has never been identified, although many actors playing party guests in this scene and at the holiday party hosted by Scrooge's nephew Fred are named in the film's credits. One of these credited extras may be the actor behind the Christmas Ball Guy—possible candidates including Alan Meacham and Jack Sharp—but if the identities of neither the Zodiac Killer nor the Max Headroom Incident hijacker can be confirmed decades later, then the actor of a random background character from a somewhat forgotten television film that only stands out like red letters to a dysfunctional secular family sure as hell won't be.

Since his parents, Marta and Greg, watched Scrooge on television and in theaters as children in the early 1970s, the film has been a Christmas tradition for Burke, his immediate family, and many of his relatives. Such inside jokes as the Christmas Ball Guy are abundant throughout his family, including a ghostly coachman (Roy Evans) who rides through Scrooge's mansion towards the beginning, and whose coach has been referred to as "a strange ice cream truck" by Greg; Bob Cratchit's (David Collings) dialogue before, during, and after the song, "Christmas Children", including "You are a philosopher and a gentleman," "I've got fifteen shillings in my pocket," and "Five pounds for a Christmas pudding? Scandalous!", as well as Kathy Cratchit's (Karen Scargill) line, "I'd rather have the dolly in the corner," and Tiny Tim's (Richard Beaumont) line, "I'd rather have the oranges"; the Minister's Cat game that's described by Fred's wife (Mary Peach) as "very funny", the pronunciation of which is often repeated by Burke and his family; the ghost of Jacob Marley's (Alec Guinness) flamboyant walking style that the Burke family humorously addresses, especially given Alec Guinness' real-life homosexuality; and Scrooge's sudden intoxication and merry attitude after drinking the Milk of Human Kindness given to him by the Ghost of Christmas Present (Kenneth More). In other words, of course this insignificant extra has always stood out as noteworthy to these assholes!