This original animated cartoon, based on the popular holiday book of the same name by Dr. Seuss, is a popular tradition to watch every year around the holidays. There are some things that people may or may not know about it. According to Chris Morgan, a writer for the MSN.com page Yardbarker, here are 20 things you may or may not know about How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
1. It's based on a book of the same name
-Written by famous children's author Dr.Seuss, his books might seem strange and always rhyme, but they were whimsical books for people of all ages. This character first appeared in a poem in the magazine Redbook called The Hoobub and The Grinch in 1955. In 1957, he decided to make The Grinch front and center in his own book, about how he hates Christmas so much he decides to try and steal it
2. The director of it is legendary for animation
-Chuck Jones co-produced and co-directed this cartoon. He is famous for his animation style. His best known work is with the animated Looney Tunes cartoons, which gave us iconic characters, such as Wile E. Coyote, The Roadrunner, Speedy Gonzales, Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd and more. If you're familiar with the Looney Tunes and the animation style, and you watch the 1966 cartoon How The Grinch Stole Christmas, you'll recognize Jones' handiwork
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| Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny of Looney Tunes |
3. Chuck Jones and Dr. Seuss have worked together previously
-Chuck Jones and Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss) have worked together on other projects. They both worked together during WWII, creating the "Project Snafu" series of cartoons. These cartoons were designed as training modules. They were lighthearted and funny ways of training new soldiers
4. Dr. Seuss was unsure at first
-He wasn't sure about turning How the Grinch Stole Christmas in to a television special. He had a bad experience with The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. He swore never to write another film. He decided to take a chance and was signed on to work as a producer on this one and it paid off
5. A composer was brought in
-Dr. Seuss wrote all of the lyrics to the songs in the musical version of the book. But he was unable to create the music, nor was Chuck Jones. A composer was brought in to combine Dr. Seuss' lyrics with music. Albert Hague was the man for the job. He has a unique background. He was a German immigrant who had fled Nazi Germany as a child. Growing up, he worked on Broadway and even had a small acting career. He had a small part in the kids movie Space Jam as the psychiatrist
6. A legendary person provided narration and the voice of the Grinch
-Boris Karloff is a legendary name. He was best known for playing the Frankenstein Monster in addition to The Mummy. The narrator and the voice of the Grinch belong to this legend of the silver screen
7. It was not just Boris Karloff who lent his voice as well
-The person who voiced Cindy Lou Who was none other than June Foray. She is an actress best known for voicing Rocky the Flying Squirrel. She was said to be the female version of Mel Blanc, a male voiceover actor who provided many Looney Tunes cartoons with their voices
8. Boris Karloff was the only one credited for his work
-June Foray, Dal McKennon (Max the Dog) and Thurl Ravenscroft (singer of the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch) all went uncredited for this film
9. CBS was riding a wave of success
-At the time, CBS was airing another animated special, A Charlie Brown Christmas. With the success of the Peanuts gang celebrating the holidays, they had no issue bankrolling this Dr. Seuss classic. Chuck Jones and Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss) received $315,000 to make the cartoon, more than what Bill Melendez received to make A Charlie Brown Christmas
10. To keep things unique, people got creative
-Chuck Jones wanted to step away from all the usual Christmas-y stuff. He took a lot of inspiration from the book. The director relied on what was called "Seussian Latin", a made-up language in the story. He suspected that real Latin was indecipherable to many people as their fictional language
11. The original sponsor of the cartoon was lost to time
-Back then, advertisements were the only way to get products and services into the consciousness of viewers. Today, we see less and less ads with people streaming television. Back in the past, TV shows were sponsored by a single advertisement. When How the Grinch Stole Christmas first aired on television on December 18, 1966, its sponsor was the Foundation for Full-Service Banks
12. This annual holiday special did do something special about The Grinch
-In the original book, the Grinch was white. But in the 1960s, with the introduction of color TV, everything was new, sparkly and innovative. When the cartoon aired on TV, he was made green, to take advantage of the new color TV option
13. The original story would have been only about 25 minutes
-There were action scenes added to pad out the story and make it run a little longer. Such as the sled chase scene from Mt. Crumpit down to Whoville
14. It was a staple of CBS for years
-For years, you could guarantee that CBS was going to air How the Grinch Stole Christmas around the holidays. People counted on it as part of their holiday traditions and celebrations. It ran on CBS until 1987 and after that, other channels, such as TNT, TBS, The WB, ABC started picking up this much loved animated special and airing it. Now NBC owns the rights on airing it
15. It's a much loved holiday classic and the numbers reflect that
-On Rotten Tomatoes, a site where movies, television and more are rated good, fair or bad, they give this holiday special a 100% perfect rating. Not only that, but TV Guide ranks it as the best holiday special of all time
16. It won a Grammy
-At the 1968 Grammy Awards, How the Grinch Stole Christmas took home the Grammy for "Best Children's Album." The award was given to Boris Karloff
17. There were a few follow ups
-1977 seen The Grinch switching it up from Christmas to Halloween. In the ABC special, Halloween is Grinch Night, it was a prequel about the Whos celebrating the spooky day of Halloween. It won an Emmy. Another follow up to win an Emmy was the 1982 cartoon The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat
18. Two movies have been made
-The year 2000 seen legendary director Ron Howard making his live action film How the Grinch Stole Christmas starring Jim Carrey as the iconic green recluse. This is often the most popular choice of film to watch around the holidays. 2018 seen another animated version of the classic come out. This time, British actor Benedict Cumberbatch voiced the iconic green Christmas hater, the Grinch
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| 2000 adaptation with Jim Carrey |
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| 2018 adaptation with Benedict Cumberbatch |
19. The 2018 film did pretty well
-Even though it only has a 59% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it did pretty well at the box office. It made $511.8 million worldwide
20. The song is still popular
-In 2020, "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" popped up on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, taking the spot of number 32. This is good to know that, after all these years, this song is still popular and very much a part of the Christmas holidays
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