Christmas in Dingley Dell (S5 | E267)
This week on Lester the Nightfly Radio, we present an original production of Dickens’s “Christmas at Dingley Dell” from The Pickwick Papers written in 1837 —where Mr. Pickwick and his merry band revel in feasts, Blindman’s Buff, mistletoe kisses, fireside tales and the joy of communal cheer. I was inspired to put this together by Charles Laughton’s masterful 1944 Decca recording, a 17-minute dramatic whirlwind of voices and orchestral warmth, capturing the old-fashioned holiday spirit.
Tonight this incredibly charming short story is reimagined with fresh and original trumpet works by Grammy-winner Charlie Porter. My friend, Charlie, is a Juilliard alum, Absolute Ensemble star, and 2020 collaborator with Joyce DiDonato on Songplay— winning a grammy award for that recording.
Our Narrator is Marcus Wentworth.
Charlie Porter – Composer/Performer
Grammy Award-winning multi-genre trumpeter and composer Charlie Porter first cut his teeth on the New York jazz scene in the late ’90s, while simultaneously studying classical trumpet performance at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of famed trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis.
Though he has recorded many albums as a side-musician, Porter has recorded four albums to date, as a leader, that have been garnering high praise, with two more to be released in 2025 (Cipher, and Portland Sketches). His 2019 release Immigration Nation was voted one of the best albums of the year by DownBeat.
PJ Ewing – Audio Engineer
“A digital marketer and web designer today, I have been an audiophile my entire life. I turned to podcasting a decade ago. And when WPVM came calling for a new show it was in instant “yes!” Now Lester the Nightfly Radio is in its fifth year. More stations. More genres. More guests. And the show is sounding pretty amazing at this point after about a million tweaks.
This format is one of my favs. I like the misnomer “radio edit” for these storytelling music shows. So I’ll stick with that moniker. Christmas in Dingley Dell.. brought to life for you here.”
In The Pickwick Papers, the Christmas episode—centered on “Christmas at Dingley Dell” in Chapter 28—depicts Mr. Pickwick and his friends traveling to the Wardles’ country manor to celebrate a joyful country wedding and a hearty, old-fashioned Christmas.
The visit unfolds in a whirl of feasting, dances, games like Blindman’s Buff, and mistletoe mischief, with even the usually dignified Mr. Pickwick dragged into kissing and romping with the younger guests in the glow of fireside merriment. Interwoven with this warmth is the telling of the eerie tale of the goblins who stole the sexton Gabriel Grub, a story that contrasts mean-spirited isolation with the generous, communal spirit of Christmas that suffuses Dingley Dell and helps define Dickens’s lifelong association of Christmas with laughter, charity, and good cheer.
Charles Laughton’s recording “Mr. Pickwick’s Christmas” is a dramatic reading of the Dingley Dell Christmas episode from The Pickwick Papers, adapted into a single, continuous narration of about 17 minutes. First recorded in 1944 and later issued on Decca (often paired on LP with Ronald Colman’s A Christmas Carol), it showcases Laughton shifting voices for Pickwick, the Wardles, and the comic country revelers, with orchestral background underscoring the games, feasting, and winter coziness. The recording has since been reissued on modern platforms like Spotify and Deezer, where it survives as a warmly nostalgic example of mid‑century Dickens performance and of Laughton’s reputation as a master storyteller on record and in live readings.
CHRISTMAS IN DINGLEY DELL
