Free Library Finds A Charles Dickens In Advance of Writer's 200th Birthday
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Free Library of Philadelphia has great expectations for a Charles Dickens impersonator whom they have hired for next's year bicentenary of the writer's birth.
Five people vied for the honor of playing the author of A Christmas Carol and A Tale of Two Cities, among many other literary works.
"We have a series of events -- Dickens salons, various openings of exhibitions, work upstairs in our rare book room where we have out Dickens collection," says library president and contest judge Siobhan Reardon.
The winner was Lisa Litman (photo), in full period costume and trying to get into the mind of -- well, himself:
"I realize I have a lot of cobwebs in my own brain, being dead for so many years, as it were. And so it's a good thing this took place in the library, where I could do a little more research about myself."
The library said the choice of the judges was unanimous, so they dispensed with the one-week deliberation period and named the winner immediately. There's a $1,500 prize for that little Dickens.
Reported by John Ostapkovich, KYW Newsradio 1060
