How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

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This article is about the book and animated special. For the feature film, see How the Grinch Stole Christmas (film)

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The cover to How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
The cover to How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is one of the best-known children's books by Dr. Seuss. It is written in rhymed verse, with illustrations by the author. It showcases the famous character, The Grinch, and has been adapted to other media, also discussed below.

Seuss completed How the Grinch Stole Christmas! in 1957. The mid-1950s were a fruitful period for Seuss, during which he wrote many of the stories for which he is most admired today, including The Cat in the Hat, If I Ran the Circus, and On Beyond Zebra.

The book is one of the purest examples of Seuss's style. The ink-drawn illustrations make use of only black, red, and pink (the latter being the color of the Grinch's eyes), and the versification is strict and never skips a syllable. The purity of the verse is increased by the fact that Seuss avoided introducing made-up words intended to fit the meter (for example, "Jill-ikka-Jast" or "Sala-ma-goox", both from Scrambled Eggs Super).

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The Grinch, a bitter, cave-dwelling creature with a heart "two sizes too small," lives on snowy Mount Crumpet, a steep, 10,000 foot high mountain just north of Whoville, home of the merry and warm-hearted Whos. His only companion is Max, his faithful but dim dog. From his perch high atop Mount Crumpet, the Grinch can hear the noisy Christmas festivities that take place in Whoville. (The Whos of this book may or may not be the minuscule Whos of Horton Hears a Who; In the Broadway musical Seussical, the Grinch's Whos and Horton's are one and the same, the Grinch being microscopic and living on the dust speck as well. In the live-action movie, Whoville is located in a snowflake.) Envious of the Whos' happiness, he makes plans to descend on the town and, by means of serial burglary, deprive them of their Christmas presents and decorations and thus "prevent Christmas from coming". However, he learns in the end that despite his success in stealing all the Christmas presents and decorations from the Whos, Christmas comes just the same. He then realizes that Christmas is more than just gifts and presents. His heart grows three sizes larger, he returns all the presents and trimmings, and is warmly welcomed into the community of the Whos.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Adaptations

[edit] Television

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
Genre Animation
Starring Boris Karloff (voice)
June Foray (voice)
Thurl Ravenscroft (voice)
Country of origin USA
Language(s) English
Production
Producer(s) Chuck Jones
Dr. Seuss (as Ted Geisel)
Running time 26 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)
Original run December 23, 1966 –
Links
IMDb profile

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! was adapted to television in 1966 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's MGM Animation/Visual Arts studio as an animated TV special. The Grinch was directed by Seuss's friend and former colleague Chuck Jones, whom Seuss had worked with on the Private Snafu training cartoons for the U.S. Army during World War II. The special starred Boris Karloff as narrator and Grinch, and (unusual for adaptations) included the actual text of the book in spoken form.

Jones, who served as director, character designer, and character layout artist (as he had done for nearly all of his Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, and the latter-period MGM Tom and Jerry films) modified the appearance of the Grinch somewhat to fit the medium, rendering him in green and with a more elongated, frog-like face. In his 1996 book Chuck Reducks, Jones later said that Seuss thought the animated Grinch looked more like Jones than it did the character in the original book, a fact Jones attributed to the use of his own facial expressions as a model for the Grinch's.

Maurice Noble, one of Jones' long-time collaborators, served as production manager, and fellow Warner Bros. veteran Ben Washam served as co-director. The animation was produced by Jones' MGM animation unit, several members of which had come with him from Warner Bros: Ken Harris, Tom Ray, Phil Roman, Richard Thompson, Don Towsley, and Lloyd Vaughan.

The songs, which helped fill out the story to the length of a television program, were written by composer Albert Hague, with lyrics by Dr. Seuss. One of the best remembered of them, "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" was sung by voice actor Thurl Ravenscroft, well-known as the voice of Kellogg's Tony the Tiger. According to an interview with Ravenscroft included on the early 2000s DVD release of the film, a production error resulted in Ravenscroft not receiving screen credit for his vocal performance, leading to the mistaken impression that it was Karloff who sang the song. The song has since been re-recorded by various artists for use in holiday-themed compilations, including Aimee Mann and Grant Lee Phillips in 2006.

passages. The longer one describes the Who children (in the Grinch's imagination) noisily playing with their Christmas toys. Jones included some additional comedy business with the long suffering Max trying to fulfill his master's commands, such as pulling the sled, and being less than successful at the task. Seuss also added a few lines to the dénouement, which in the original is laconic, while Max joyfully enjoys his own helping of roast beast.

The TV special has been highly praised by audiences and film and animation fans alike, and it has been rebroadcast innumerable times since its debut, with annual showings continuing to the present day. The cartoon is typically found on the Internet Movie Database's list of the top 250 films, and is considered one of Chuck Jones' greatest cartoons made after his departure from Warner Bros., which currently, through several transactions involving MGM's library, owns the rights to the special.

The Grinch later appeared in a few more specials, although none were as popular as his original Christmas outing. In the 1977 special Halloween is Grinch Night, the Grinch (now voiced by Hans Conried) sets out to scare everyone in Whoville after being bothered by a chain reaction of annoying sounds caused by the wind. In The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (1982), he attempts to ruin things for fellow Seuss star The Cat in the Hat. Most recently, he was a recurring character on the 1996 kids' show The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, where he was voiced by Anthony Asbury.

In 1992, Walter Matthau narrated an illustrated storybook version of the story for Random House Home Video, which utilized Seuss' original artwork.

CBS aired the special from 1966 until the late 1990s, when the special moved to The WB. In 2006, The WB merged with UPN to form The CW; the special began airing in 2006 on the ABC network, with a 40th Anniversary Edition. Cable airings of How the Grinch Stole Christmas in the United States are shown on Cartoon Network and TBS and have previously aired on TNT.

[edit] Film

Main article: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (film)

After Seuss's death, a 2000 live-action feature film adaptation was produced. Directed by Ron Howard, it featured Jim Carrey in the titular role and was a major financial success. Although a box-office hit, the film received mostly negative reviews, comparing it unfavorably to the book and the television special. Despite the poor reviews, the movie fleshes out the entire story while showing the Grinch as a young lad. The screenplay, however, does not preserve the rhymes in the original story, using ordinary dialogue instead. The film also elaborates on the Grinch's motives in stealing Christmas, adding a section in which the Grinch tries to tolerate the Whos, who have made him the star of their community celebration. This leads to a major breakdown and the Grinch's decision to steal Christmas. Finally, the film depicts Christmas as being too commercial, especially in the beginning.

[edit] Stage

Beginning in 1999 San Diego's Old Globe Theatre began an annual holiday run of a new stage production, "Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas," with book and lyrics by Timothy Mason and music by Mel Marvin. An alternate production, Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas!, opened on Broadway on November 8, 2006. The score includes the two hit songs from the animated special, "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" and "Welcome Christmas." Grinch on Broadway

[edit] The Grinch in popular culture

[edit] "Grinch" as slang term

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into The Grinch. (Discuss)

Seuss's work has become sufficiently well-known that the Grinch's very name (like that of another fictional character, Ebenezer Scrooge) has entered general usage as a slang term designating a cruel, antisocial, or Christmas-hating individual. In 1994, during the Republican Party's "Contract With America", political cartoonists frequently applied the term to Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, calling him the "Gin-Grinch Who Stole Christmas". In the movie Jingle All the Way, the con artist Santas refer to the police as the "Grinch". In the live-action movie, the Mayor reads a passage from 'The Book of Who', which states 'The term 'grinchy' shall apply when Christmas spirit is in short supply'. The word "Grinch" has also been used by conservative activists to criticize the American Civil Liberties Union and other liberal and secular groups for their "war on Christmas."

The December 11, 2006 episode of the sitcom How I Met Your Mother parodied this; substituting "grinch" for every instance where the word "bitch" (which would be bleeped out on network TV) would normally be used.

[edit] Parodies

Seuss' rhyming style has always made his work a popular reference and target for satirists, and the Grinch was no exception.

  • Humorist Bill Maher presented How the Grinch Stole the Election in November 2000.
  • In 1999 the Grinch made a cameo in the Family Guy episode- "A Hero Sits Next Door", wherein Joe recounts (in flashback) being paralyzed as a result of a rooftop battle with the creature.
  • The creators at "Most Offensive Video" have created an offensive parody entitled "How the Grinch Stole Kwanzaa". The story depicts the grinch as a racist white male who is determined to destroy Kwanzaa for the residents of "Hoeville". The story is said to be narrated by Bill Cosby although it is an actor. The story also has characters from Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids as well.
  • In the corpg Guild Wars, players can during the celebration of Wintersday, accept the quests You're a Mean One, Mr. Grenth, or steal presents from the "Grenches" running around in town in order to destroy them.
  • In the role-playing game World of Warcraft, players can complete a quest in which a yeti-like monster, the Greench, has stolen food from one of the leading holiday suppliers; players must defeat the Greench to reclaim the supplies and get the food for themselves.
  • The Grinch has been seen in the South Park episode "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!" where he appears as The Grinchiepoo, he, along with most other characters and the roast beast, are changed to include the word "poo" in their names (i.e. "Cindy Lou Poo" and the "roast poo."
  • The Grinch has often been parodied by The Simpsons. The animated special is briefly parodied in a 1993 episode "Last Exit to Springfield". After shutting down the power plant during a strike, Mr. Burns hears the picketting employees singing down below, cups his hand to his ear in a fashion similar to the Grinch, and recites a snippet of Seuss-like rhyming verse. Also, in the 2003 episode "'Tis the Fifteenth Season", Homer breaks into everyone's homes and steals the gifts given by Ned Flanders, while singing to himself to the tune of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch". Then throughout the 2006 episode "Kill Gil: Vols. 1 & 2", a direct parody known as "The Grumple" appears numerous times.
  • Staff Members of Adventure Quest, posing as The NPC Zorbak, wrote the story, "How the Ebil Moglin Stole Frostvale (AQ's Winter holiday)", with Zorbak himself as the star.
  • A Christmas cartoon short on Nickelodeon titled "How Grinchelica Stole Christmas" featured narration by Tim Curry and had Angelica from Rugrats play the role of The Grinch, Plankton from Spongebob Squarepants as Cindy Lou, and her cat Fluffy in the place of Max the Dog.
  • One comic of Ctrl+Alt+Del has the Grinch sneaking into the living room, and then beat up by Ethan.
  • In a Christmas episode of That '70s Show, Red Forman is annoyed at Bob Pinciotti's huge display of Christmas lights, and steals them while Bob isn't home. In the background as Red attempts to sneak away with a heap of lights, "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" can be heard sung in the background. Later, Red reveals that he threw Bob's lights in the dumpster behind the Fatso Burger.
  • Comedian Mike Toomey impersonated Boris Karloff's narration for a comedy skit called "How the Grinch Stole Hanukkah", in which the character spoils things for "the Jews down in Jew-ville".

[edit] Translation

Perhaps because of its demanding meter, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! has seldom been effectively translated, and it is hardly known outside of the English-speaking world. Nonetheless, a Latin translation was prepared by Jennifer Morrish Tunberg with the help of Terence O. Tunberg, entitled Quomodo invidiosulus nomine Grinchus Christi natalem abrogaverit (literally: "How the little envious one named Grinch stole Christ's birthday"). Rather than the rhythmic rhymed text of the original, the Tunbergs produced a prose translation in a somewhat rhythmic Latin. Instead of Dr. Seuss' repetitions of words, the Tunbergs generally come up with multiple synonyms, for instance, the "NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!" becomes "STREPITUS, CREPITUS, STRIDOR, FRAGORQUE!" The work has been highly praised by classicists.

Original
"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store."
"Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!"
Latin
"Fortasse," inquit "Laetitia diei festi ex ipsis muneribus non proficiscitur..."
"Fortasse," inquit Grinchus, "Laetitia diei festi non est res empticia, non est res quaestuosa!"

[edit] Publication data

  • Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel). How the Grinch Stole Christmas! New York: Random House, 1957, ISBN 0-394-80079-6
  • Dr. Seuss. Quomodo Invidiosulus Nomine Grinchus Christi Natalem Abrogaverit: How the Grinch Stole Christmas in Latin. Translated by Jennifer Morrish Tunberg with the assistance of Terence O. Tunberg. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 1997, ISBN 0-86516-419-3

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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