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. Jones and Geisel previously worked together on the Private Snafu training cartoons during World War II.

The 26-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 TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, and The WB Television Network. Most recently, it has been shown on ABC and ABC Family, 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.

Boris Karloff, in one of his final roles, 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 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 Turner Entertainment's 1986 acquisition of MGM's film library (although the MGM logo at the end of the program still airs on television). As of early July 2011, the rights stood with Turner's eventual parent company Time Warner; subsidiary Turner remained the copyright holder. Turner Entertainment's corporate sibling Warner Bros. Television (a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment; its original animation subsidiary had employed Chuck Jones for many years) owns the TV distribution rights, and Warner Home Video the DVD/Blu-ray rights.

Plot

The plot is faithful to the original book. The only notable additions are the addition of color (the original book was in dichromatic red and black, with the occasional pink, and the Grinch is colored green in the TV special), 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 "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" (performed by an uncredited Thurl Ravenscroft). Almost all narrations are made verbatim from the book. Also added 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 sequence in which the Grinch and Max advance from the mountain to Whoville with comical difficulty on Christmas Eve, was also added, but has no spoken parts.

The Grinch (voiced by Boris Karloff) is the film's main character. He lives in a cave in the fictional Mt. Crumpit, located above Whoville. The Grinch is a surly character with a heart "two sizes too small" who has especially hated Christmas for 53 years. The film opens on Christmas Eve with the Grinch wishing he could stop Christmas Day from coming to Whoville. When he sees his dog, Max (voiced by Dallas McKennon ), covered in snow in a Santa Claus-like way, the Grinch decides to disguise himself as Santa and steal Christmas.

The Grinch makes himself a Santa coat and hat and disguises the innocent Max as a reindeer. He loads empty bags onto a sleigh and travels to Whoville with some difficulty. In the first house he is almost caught by Cindy Lou Who (voiced by June Foray), a small Who girl who wakes up and sees him taking the Christmas tree. Pretending to be Santa, the Grinch tells Cindy Lou that he is merely taking the tree to his workshop for repairs, and then sends her back to bed. He empties the first house of all the food and Christmas-related items, then repeats the process at the other houses in Whoville. He also takes the village decorations.

With the Whos' stolen Christmas goods, the Grinch and Max travel back up Mt. Crumpit. Before dropping the loaded sleigh off the mountain, the Grinch waits to hear a sad cry from the Whos. However, down in the village, the Whos joyously begin to sing Christmas carols, proving that the spirit of Christmas does not depend on material things. The Grinch begins to understand the true meaning of Christmas (though he barely does so in time to prevent the stolen treats from going over the cliff), and his heart grows three sizes—granting him "the strength of TEN Grinches, plus two!" He brings everything back to the Whos and participates in the holiday feast. He is given the honor of carving the roast beast, while Max gets the first slice for himself for all his troubles.

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. The show continues to be popular in Nielsen Ratings, with its 2010 airing (the last of many times it had aired that year) winning its time slot among persons 18 to 49 and finishing second in overall viewers.

TV Guide ranked the special number 1 on its 10 Best Family Holiday Specials list.

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, not green, 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. After Horton Hears a Who received a separate DVD release in 2008 (around the time Blue Sky's adaptation was released), How the Grinch Stole Christmas was re-released with Phil Roman's and June Foray's audio commentary replacing the bonus special.

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.

On October 4, 2011, the special was released on DVD by Warner Home Video under Santa's Magical Stories and again on October 18, 2011 under Dr. Seuss's Holidays on the Loose!.

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. A separate record album (the original?) is also available on CD (Mercury records 314-528 438-2, which differs from the Rhino release in several ways and can be identified by the Dr. Seuss drawing of the Grinch on the cover, which is visually different from Chuck Jones's Grinch. In the story, Boris Karloff does all voices, notably including Cindy Lou Who. The song "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" includes all verses with their original rhyming lyrics; some of the lines were switched around in the television special, possibly for dramatic or comic timing reasons, and the isolated song tracks have different durations due to being re-recorded. 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. The "isolated music tracks" in this edition are taken directly from the television soundtrack, not the re-recorded versions. The dialogues are the originals, being voiced by Boris Karloff for "Grinch" and Hans Conried for "Horton." Because Ravenscroft was not credited in the closing credits of the special, singing the song of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" it is often mistakenly attributed to Boris Karloff, who served as narrator and speaking voice of the Grinch in the special but who himself could not sing. After becoming aware of this oversight, Seuss himself called Ravenscroft and apologized profusely, and later wrote letters to columnists nationwide telling them that it was Ravenscroft who provided the vocal.

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

Boris Karloff's Voice Edition

Boris Karloff was the only of the four voice actors in this special to have on-screen credit as the voice of the Grinch and as the narrator. Boris Karloff's voice changes when he speaks for the Grinch. Originally he spoke in his "Narrator" voice throughout. But after the recording was completed, the highs in his voice were mechanically removed for the Grinch, giving him the gravelly voice heard in the finished version. This was because Dr. Seuss initially disputed Karloff as the Grinch thinking that Boris Karloff would make the Grinch too scary.

Sequels

A television special called Halloween Is Grinch Night, a prequel created by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, aired on ABC in 1977, 11 years after the Christmas special. This special involved a tale of the Grinch coming down to scare the Whos every Halloween. 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 ABC 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 (Turner Network 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 with director Chuck Jones, composer Albert Hague, Dr. Seuss' widow Audrey Geisel and Tim Burton. 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
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas! at Rotten Tomatoes