(video by Craig Marin & Mike Campbell)

PRESS RELEASE

Sandy Becker’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ To Be Re-Imagined using his  original puppets from the lost 1961 production.

Almost 50 years after it’s original airing, and now lost to the ages (as  were many early TV productions from the 1950’s and 60’s), Flexitoon – one  of the premiere puppet production companies in the country – has signed  up to ‘re-imagine’ the original production of Sandy Becker’s ‘A  Christmas Carol’ with production costs backed by members of the  crowd-funding Web site kickstarter.com. 

Sandy Becker was a television announcer, actor, comedian and puppeteer  who hosted several popular children's programs in New York City, the  best known was The Sandy Becker Morning Show, which ran from 1955 to  1968 on Channel 5 WABD-TV and WNEW-TV. Becker believed that one of the  highlights of his career was his December 23, 1961 interpretation of A  CHRISTMAS CAROL, performed by his resident troupe of puppets, with GEEBA  GEEBA as Scrooge. Unearthing a copy of this lost classic remains the  holy grail for many fans and collectors.

“To millions of Baby Boomers who grew up in the Metro NY area, the name  SANDY BECKER is magic!” said Flexitoon Partner Craig Marin. Marin, who  was profoundly influenced by Becker as a child later become his protege,  and friend. When Sandy Becker passed away, he bequeathed his puppets to  Marin, with the mandate to "re-imagine" the ‘Sandy Becker Christmas  Carol’ as a gift to "his kids." Those plans which have been on hold  since Becker’s death in 1996, have been reignited with the prospect of  funding by a traditionally unlikely source - his fans.

Through the urging of Sandy Becker fan Jeff Pickens, who  proudly lists himself as “one of Sandy’s kids” and came up with the idea  of using Kickstarter as a funding source, Marin was convinced that a modest, but sufficient  of budget of $30,000 could be raised by tapping into the hearts (and  wallets), of other grown up “Sandy’s kids”.

The project is now live (http://bit.ly/c3HeYf ) on Kickstarter.com and features an original  Flexitoon video explaining the project with Flexitoon characters  Harried Harry and Lucky Jack that’s designed to unabashedly pry pledges  ranging from $10 to $500 from enthusiastic backers.

About Flexitoon

FLEXITOON is a company that for thirty years has specialized in  television, film and stage, creating and performing award-wining  puppets, marionettes, and programming for Nickelodeon ("Pinwheel"), PBS  ("Shining Time Station"), FOX ("DJ Kat Show") and Showtime ("KIDS-TV").  Their "Talking Stain" for TIDE was voted the # 1 Funniest Office  Commercial in the World, and the #3 Super Bowl commercial of all time.  For more information please visit: www.flexitoon.com
Media Contact:

Craig Marin
Partner
Flexitoon
212-877-2757
FLEXITOON@aol.com