How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (TV special)

Please do not use {{Infobox television film}} directly. See the documentation for available templates. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a 1966 American animated television special directed by Chuck Jones. It is based on the homonymous children's book by Dr. Seuss, the story of The Grinch trying to take away Christmas from the townsfolk of Whoville below his mountain hideaway. The special, which is considered a short film as it runs less than an hour, is one of the very few Christmas specials from the 1960s to still be shown regularly on television. Boris Karloff narrates the film and also provides the speaking voice of The Grinch (the opening credits state, "The sounds of the Grinch are by Boris Karloff. And read by Boris Karloff, too!").

The 23-minute short was originally telecast on CBS on December 18, 1966. CBS repeated it annually during the Christmas season until 1987. It was eventually acquired by Turner Broadcasting System, which now shows it several times between November and January. It has since been broadcast on TNT, Cartoon Network, and The WB Television Network. Most recently, it has been shown on WB, but with some scenes trimmed down because of time constraints (the show was made at a time when commercial breaks on television were shorter than they are now). In any event, as of the present time, it is the lead-off "classic" special (i.e. the first classic special) that airs on network television each Christmas season.

The special was originally produced by The Cat in the Hat Productions in association with the television and animation divisions of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. MGM owned the special until 1986. Today, the rights stand with Turner Entertainment (the copyright holder) and Warner Bros. Animation (a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment; its predecessor company had employed Chuck Jones for many years). Warner Bros. Television owns the TV distribution rights, and Warner Home Video the DVD/Blu-ray rights.

Plot

The plot is faithful to that of the original book. The only notable additions being the addition of color (the original book was in dichromatic red and black, with the occasional pink), the early appearance of the Grinch's dog Max, and the insertion of three songs: the Christmas carol "Welcome Christmas" (sung by a studio chorus at the beginning and closing of the program), the polka-styled "Trim Up the Tree," and the now famous "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" (performed by an uncredited Thurl Ravenscroft). Almost all narrations are made verbatim from the book. The major additions to the narration are a description of the noise-making Whos on Christmas morning and the substitution of nonsensical Seuss-like gifts such as "bizzle-binks" instead of the mundane gifts such as bicycles and popcorn. A protracted animation sequence, with no spoken parts, in which the Grinch and Max advance from the mountain to Whoville with comical difficulty on Christmas Eve was also added, to extend the time length of the special.

It is Christmas Eve down in Whoville, and everyone's decorating for the big day tomorrow. Everyone, that is, but the Grinch (voiced by Boris Karloff), a depressed, wicked-tempered grouch with a sour attitude who lives in a mountain cave just north of Whoville. He absolutely hates everything about Christmas because of the noise surrounding the entire town on Christmas Day (though it seems that, despite his sour attitude, he is very patient seeing as it was said, by the Grinch, that, "For fifty-three years I've put up with this, now!"). The Grinch tries to come up with a plan of "keeping Christmas from coming." Just then, he notices his dog, Max (voiced by Dallas McKennon), covered in snow in a Santa Claus-like way. The Grinch then gets the notion of disguising himself as Santa and stealing all of the Whos' presents, believing that that is enough to stop the holiday from coming.

First, he cuts out a coat and a hat and sews some fluff onto them. Next, he takes a reindeer horn and ties it to Max. Finally, the Grinch brings out a big stack of bags, loads it onto his ramshackle sleigh, and starts down on his journey to Whoville in a very comical way.

Down in Whoville, the Grinch starts to steal everything in the first house. Cindy Lou Who (voiced by June Foray) wakes up and asks him why he's taking the Christmas tree. The Grinch lies and tells her that something is wrong with a lightbulb on this tree and he will fix it up. After tucking Cindy Lou back in bed, the Grinch stuffs up the tree, takes the log for their fire, and goes up "the chimney himself, the old liar." He does the same thing for every house afterwards.

Loaded with everything related to Christmas that the Whos own, the Grinch and Max takes up the loot to Mt. Crumpit to send the whole load off the side of the mountain. Feeling joyous at the moment, the Grinch listens for a sad cry from the Whos. Instead, the Whos are still happy and are singing carols. The Grinch realizes he didn't prevent Christmas - "Somehow or other, it came just the same!" - and begins to understand the true meaning of Christmas. The Grinch barely retrieves the sled from falling over the edge of the mountain (thanks to his heart growing three sizes that day, giving him "the strength of ten Grinches plus two!"). He brings everything back to the Whos and is invited to participate in the holiday feast, where he carves the roast beast.

Reaction

At the cartoon's original release, the program received mixed reviews (critic Rick Du Brow termed it merely "passable"), but it has since been recognized as a classic, with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 100% "fresh" rating on its website.

Original CBS version

The film was originally sponsored by the Foundation for Full Service Banks ("A Full Service Bank"), and ended with a short advertisement for the FFFSB presented in the mold of Dr. Seuss' poetic stories. This original print, unseen since its first telecast, exists among film collectors.

Home video releases

The 1966 opening and closing sponsor tags are officially unavailable on video by Turner/Warner Bros., but otherwise the main body of the special as first seen in 1966 is available on DVD and Blu-Ray. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! was released to VHS in 1994. The special was released to the DVD format in 2000 (the two earlier releases were by MGM prior to Warner Home Video's acquisition of home video rights). The DVD featured another Seuss-based special, Horton Hears a Who!, and contained an audio commentary by Phil Roman and June Foray, interviews with Albert Hague and Thurl Ravenscroft, and the "Special Edition" documentary which aired alongside the special on TNT in the 1990s. The DVD was well-received for these bonus features, but also criticized for its subpar picture quality (many critics pointed out that the Grinch looked yellow in this release).

The special was released on DVD again in 2006, labeled as a "50th Birthday Deluxe Edition". The "50th Birthday" inaccurately refers to the date of the book's publication - it was published in 1957, not 1956 as the cover would have buyers believe - and not to the date of the 1966 TV special. This DVD release presented the special in a better-quality digital transfer and contained all of the bonus features from the previous release, except for the audio commentary and did not have a chapter selection. The Grinch was restored back to his original green color. This DVD also featured a new retrospective featurette. It is currently available on DVD (with some of the supplements carried over from previous DVD releases) as part of the 4-disc Classic Christmas Favorites box set, which also includes several of the Rankin/Bass holiday specials WB currently owns.

The special was made available on high definition Blu-Ray Disc on October 6, 2009, containing all the bonus features from the 2000 DVD except for Horton Hears a Who!, which was made available separately. It also included a DVD of the special and a Digital Copy.

Soundtrack

File:GSXHHW SDTRK.jpg

CD cover

On December 18, 1966, MGM released a soundtrack LP in conjunction with the television special. In October 1995, Island released a CD duplicating the 1966 LP release. On October 5, 1999, Rhino Entertainment released a new soundtrack for the special, and also included the soundtrack for another Dr. Seuss cartoon, Horton Hears a Who, on the disc. Both story collections contain selected dialogue and music numbers. Although the "isolated music tracks" are re-recorded, the dialogue excerpts are from the actual soundtracks of the television specials, being voiced by Boris Karloff for "Grinch" and Hans Conried for "Horton."

The tracklisting is as follows:

From How the Grinch Stole Christmas:

1. Opening (How The Grinch....) 1:29
2. Trim Up The Tree 0:45
3. Tomorrow Is Christmas, It's Practically Here 4:11
4. Welcome Christmas 0:46
5. I Must Stop Christmas 0:59
6. You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch 5:15
7. You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch (Reprise) 5:15
8. A Quarter Of Dawn 1:43
9. Welcome Christmas 2:52
10. Finale (How The Grinch....) 3:06
11. Opening (How The Grinch....) (Isolated Music Track) 1:29
12. Trim Up The Tree (Isolated Music Track) 0:47
13. Welcome Christmas (Isolated Music Track) 2:06
14. You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch (Isolated Music Track) 3:32

From Horton Hears a Who:

1. Opening (Horton Hears...) 5:57
2. Mrs. Toucanella Told Me 2:53
3. Old Doc Hoovey 2:01
4. Wickersham Brothers Song 2:14
5. Who-Ville Aloft 3:22
6. Doctor Hoovey, You Were Right 1:33
7. Horton The Elephant's Going To Be Caged 5:22
8. Be Kind To Your Small Person Friends 1:17
9. Finale (Horton Hears...) 0:48
10. Old Doc Hoovey (Isolated Music Track) 1:23
11. Wickersham Brothers Song (Isolated Music Track) 2:06
12. We Are Here (Isolated Music Track) 1:22
13. Be Kind To Your Small Person Friends (Isolated Music Track) 1:32

Sequels

A television special called Halloween Is Grinch Night, created by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, aired on CBS in 1977, 11 years after the Christmas special. This special involved a tale of the Grinch coming down to scare the Whos every Christmas. Though less successful than the original, it was awarded an Emmy.

A later cartoon, The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (alternately titled The Cat in the Hat Gets Grinched), aired on Kids WB in 1982. Though credited to DePatie-Freleng, it was produced by Marvel Productions, which had taken over DePatie-Freleng in 1981. This special also earned an Emmy.

Special TV edition

In 1994, a special edition of the original cartoon classic aired on TNT (Warner Bros Television). Narrated by Phil Hartman, an extra 20 minutes was added for this special with several "behind-the-scenes" looks at the animation, the making of the cartoon, and special interviews, including Steven Spielberg. It also featured Thurl Ravenscroft, the non-credited singing voice behind "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch." Ravenscroft explained that the oversight, caught after the film was presented to the studio for airing, left him off the closing credits of the original short cartoon. He is credited at the end of the special edition. The Bonus special was revived in 2006 on the ABC broadcast (in recut form), with Hartman's narrations removed and new segments hosted and narrated by Tom Bergeron.

External links

• How the Grinch Stole Christmas! at IMDb
• ABC Feature Page for How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
• Archived Kids WB Feature Page for How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
• tbs.com - How the Grinch Stole Christmas!