Lincoln Hall Project
Martha Landis, (AB ’57, history; MS ’59, library science), remembers the life and times of her father, English professor Paul Landis, who read A Christmas Carol annually on the U of I campus until 1960. She is accompanied by a recording of her father’s voice.
Martha: Well, my father, Paul Landis, was a professor of English here from, well, he came in 1916 and retired in 1960. And he read, annually, the Dickens Christmas Carol.
Narrator: You’re listening to Martha Landis. In December 1960, her late father ended a long tradition at the University of Illinois when he gave his last reading of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in Lincoln Hall Theater. His rendition is still played every Christmas Day on University of Illinois public broadcasting station WILL. Martha recently shared her memory with the Storyography Project at the University of Illinois.
Martha: And I remember when I was a child in the ’40s, my father said he read it several times a year. There were lots of women’s clubs, various clubs around town, and he would be asked to read it to them. And it took about an hour. And then somewhere probably in the ’50s, he decided once was enough. And so he read it once a year.
Paul: Oh but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone was Scrooge…
Narrator: You’re listening to Paul Landis, courtesy of WILL radio.
Paul: …A-squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner. External heat and cold had little influence on him. Foul weather didn’t know where to have at him. The heaviest rain and snow and hail and sleet… (fades)
Question: Do you listen to it?
Martha: Yeah, y es. I mean, you know, if I’m home I turn it on. My sister lives in Ann Arbor, and we both sort of know it by heart. This year they did a crossword puzzle at Thanksgiving, and it was quotations from A Christmas Carol. It was the easiest puzzle we ever saw. (break) There was always a rumor he had been in the theater—the big theater. But he hadn’t. All of his stage things were right here.
Paul: I told you these were shadows of the things that had been. But they are what they are. Do not blame me. Remove me! I can’t bear it! Leave me! Take me back! Help me no longer! And as he struggled with the spirit, he was conscious of being exhausted and overcome by an irresistible drowsiness and further of being in his own bedroom. He had barely time to reel to bed before he sank in a heavy sleep… (fades)
Martha: But I know that one of the reasons he stopped reading it so often was that he was always afraid of losing his voice, because he was teaching all the time too. And he was speaking all the time he was teaching. So he was always afraid he would lose his voice, and he often did.
Question: How was he when he decided to stop? Was he sad about it?
Martha: I don’t think so. He was ready to retire. As a matter of fact, the next year he had cataract surgery. And back in 1960 this was no easy deal. This was a week in the hospital kind of thing. But he obviously was having trouble reading. So I think he was ready to retire for that reason, because he had to be able to read a book text.
Question: And after he retired, did he ever do it again?
Martha: No. He’d seen too many people try to keep doing what they had done too long in their lives—who should have quit before they did. So it was a good time. And the dead of winter isn’t any time to have to go out and do things. (break) It’s a very funny story. So there’s lots of laughing in it and so forth. It’s fun to have it with an audience. As a matter of fact, the first time they recorded it, he was in the WILL studio—probably in the basement of Gregory Hall it was then. And they tried to put him in a room and have him just read it. And he couldn’t do it without an audience. He could, of course, but he couldn’t get the same reaction. So they recorded it live in a reading with an audience.
Paul: …pleasure to talk to him. Yes, my buck. It’s hanging there now. Is it? Go and buy it. Walk-er? No, no, I’m in earnest! Go and buy it and tell them to bring it here! That I may give them directions of where to take it! Come back with the man and I’ll give you a shilling! Come back with him in less than five minutes and I’ll give you half a crown! The boy was off like a shot (laughter)
Narrator: To listen to more memories or to find out how you can share your University of Illinois memory, go to the Storyography website at www.lincolnhall.illinois.edu/storyography.
