Bonnie Franklin's television debut, playing Martha Cratchit.
The script added an unusual twist to the story in having the Ghost of Christmas Past (Sally Fraser) and the Ghost of Christmas Present (Ray Middleton) be portrayed by the same actors who played Scrooge's sweetheart Belle and his nephew Fred, respectively, and Scrooge not only notices the resemblance, but mistakes the Ghost of Christmas Present for his nephew.
Frederic March and Basil Rathbone would play different roles in the later production of the same story, A Christmas Carol (1959).
Shower of Stars (1954) had a four-season run from 1954 to 1958 on CBS, alternating every fourth week with the dramatic anthology series Climax! (1954). It was also one of the few American TV productions of the time telecast in the UK, in 1956. Unusually for the time, it was presented on film and in color. Only a black-and-white print of this episode seems to have survived, and it has been released on DVD. The commercials seen live during the program have also survived. The program is introduced on kinescope by host William Lundigan.
The production boasted a script and lyrics by noted American playwright Maxwell Anderson, and a score by Bernard Herrmann. Fredric March, in his only known portrayal of the role, starred as Ebenezer Scrooge, and Basil Rathbone portrayed Marley's Ghost.