Ebbie

Ebbie
Directed by	George Kaczender
Produced by	Jean Abounader Jayme Pfahl
Written by	Paul Redford Ed Redlich
Starring	Susan Lucci Wendy Crewson Ron Lea Molly Parker Taran Noah Smith
Music by	Lawrence Shragge
Edited by	Roger Mattiussi
Release dates	4 December 1995 (USA)
Running time	96 minutes
Language	English

Ebbie or Miracle at Christmas: Ebbie's Story is a 1995 TV movie directed by George Kaczender, written by Ed Redlich, and starring Susan Lucci in the title role. It is a gender-reversed retelling of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, with a hard-hearted female character in place of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge.

Plot

The title character is businesswoman Elizabeth "Ebbie" Scrooge, played by Lucci. Ebbie has never appreciated Christmas, and has been rotten to the holidays. She doesn't give to the needy, doesn't care about her employees at Dobson's (the store she owns), and most of all, she works on Christmas. One night, the ghost of her partner, Jake Marley (counterpart to Dickens' Jacob Marley character, played here by Jeffrey DeMunn), haunts her. She is soon brought back to a deserted Dobson's, where the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Jennifer Clement and Nicole Parker) show her the Christmases she has celebrated. They take her to a very significant Christmas when her sister Francine (Molly Parker) died after nearly miscarrying her niece due to toxemia of pregnancy (Ebbie believes that Francine would have survived had Ebbie not left her alone to attend a party); it is also the Christmas she met her soon-to-be boyfriend Paul (Ron Lea). They show her many other Christmases, including another grim one when Paul leaves her when she chooses to care more about her job than about them as a couple, when she and Marley take over Dobson's, and finally, the previous year, when Jake Marley died.

The Ghost of Christmas Present (Lorena Gale) shows her the life of her assistant Roberta Cratchet (Wendy Crewson), her daughter Martha (Laura Harris) and her son Tiny Tim (Taran Noah Smith). Next, she sees the party that she is invited to every year by her niece (also Molly Parker), but has always declined; everyone toast Ebbie, but her niece does not drink (the reason being that she is pregnant). She sees Paul and his wife and children, and Ignorance and Poverty in the form of feral homeless children, while the ghost shoves all of her harsh words back at her. Then, the Ghost of Christmas Future shows her many terrible futures, including one where Tiny Tim has died, one where Dobson's is shut down, and one where she herself dies in a hospital flat broke after being hit by a car and nobody comes to see her. After the experience, Ebbie becomes a better person. She is shown the next morning, where she bids good morning to the doorman, and he is surprised. She also orders a large turkey for the Cratchets, donates money for the poor children, buys a coat for a homeless woman (Elan Ross Gibson) and offers her a job, gives Rita a raise (so Rita no longer needs to work her second job), gives a better job to Roberta, and finally attends the party her niece has been inviting her to. The movie ends with Ebbie at the Cratchets' house, eating dinner with them.

Cast

(in credits order)

	Susan Lucci	...	Elizabeth 'Ebbie' Scrooge
	Wendy Crewson	...	Roberta 'Robbie' Cratchet
	Ron Lea	...	Paul
	Molly Parker	...	Francine 'Frannie' (mother and daughter)
	Lorena Gale	...	Rita / Ghost of Christmas Present
	Jennifer Clement	...	Ghost of Christmas Past #1
	Nicole Parker	...	Ghost of Christmas Past #2
	Susan Hogan	...	Mrs. Dobson
	Kevin McNulty	...	Mr. Dobson
	Taran Noah Smith	...	Tiny Tim
	Jeffrey DeMunn	...	Jake Marley
	Adrienne Carter	...	Little Ebbie
	Bill Croft	...	Luther / Spirit of Christmas Yet To Come
	Elan Ross Gibson	...	Homeless Woman
	Laura Harris	...	Martha Cratchet
	Sarah Hayward	...	Nurse #2
	Maria Herrera	...	Nurse #1
	Gary Jones	...	Floor Manager
	Tamsin Kelsey	...	Mrs. Taylor
	Karin Konoval	...	Ebbie's Mother
	David Lovgren	...	Michael
	Tom McBeath	...	Van Munson
	Hrothgar Mathews	...	Ralph
	Larry Musser	...	Ebbie's Father
	Malcolm Stewart	...	Patterson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
	Carolyn Adair	...	Pregnant Friend
	Liza Huber	...	70's Girl (uncredited)
	Tong Lung	...	Vietnamese Store Owner (uncredited)
	Trevor Lawrence Young	...	Caroler (uncredited)

Sources

• Ebbie at the Internet Movie Database