How The Grinch Stole Christmas

You’re a mean one…Mr. Grinch. I first posted this in 2018…It’s not Christmas without the Grinch…

The cartoon was released in 1966 and has been shown every year since. This one along with Rudolph, Charlie Brown, and a few more were a part of Christmas. These specials would prime you for the big day.

One cool thing about the cartoon was that Boris Karloff was the narrator. Thurl Ravenscroft (voice of Tony the Tiger) sang the great song “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch. ”

The citizens of Whoville looked and acted like the others of Dr. Suess’s universe. They were all getting ready for Christmas while a certain someone…or thing looked down from Mt. Crumpit. The Grinch has hated Christmas for years and sees the Whovillians getting ready for Christmas and is determined once and for all to put an end to it.

He dresses up as Santa Clause and makes his poor dog Max act as a reindeer to swoop down and steal Christmas. The Grinch sleds down the hill almost killing Max and they soon reach Whoville. He is busted by one kid…Cindy Lou Who, who asks him questions as the Grinch took her family tree. He lies to her and sends her to bed.

In the morning after he has everything including “The Roast Beast,” he listens for the sorrow to begin.

You need to watch the rest or rewatch…

A live-action remake came out in 2000 but I still like this one the best. You cannot replicate Boris Karloff.

The Budget – Coming in at over $300,000, or $2.2 million in today’s dollars, the special’s budget was unheard of at the time for a 26-minute cartoon adaptation. For comparison’s sake, A Charlie Brown Christmas’s budget was reported as $96,000, or roughly $722,000 today (and this was after production had gone $20,000 over the original budget).

You’re a mean one Mr. Grinch The famous voice actor and singer, best known for providing the voice of Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger, wasn’t recognized for his work in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Because of this, most viewers wrongly assumed that the narrator of the special, Boris Karloff, also sang the piece in question. Upset by this oversight, Geisel personally apologized to Ravenscroft and vowed to make amends. Geisel went on to pen a letter, urging all the major columnists that he knew to help him rectify the mistake by issuing a notice of correction in their publications.

Mr Grinch

You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch
You really are a heel
You’re as cuddly as a cactus
You’re as charming as an eel
Mr. Grinch
You’re a bad banana with a greasy black peel
You’re a monster, Mr. Grinch
Your heart’s an empty hole
Your brain is full of spiders
You’ve got garlic in your soul, Mr Grinch
I wouldn’t touch you with a
Thirty-nine and a half foot pole

You’re a vile one, Mr. Grinch
You have termites in your smile
You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile
Mr Grinch
Given the choice between the two of you
I’d take the seasick crocodile

You’re a foul one, Mr. Grinch
You’re a nasty wasty skunk
Your heart is full of unwashed socks
Your soul is full of gunk
Mr Grinch

The three best words that best describe you
Are as follows, and I quote”
Stink
Stank
Stunk

You’re a rotter Mr Grinch
You’re the king of sinful sots
Your heart’s a dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots
Mr Grinch

Your soul is an appalling dump heap
Overflowing with the most disgraceful
Assortment of deplorable rubbish imaginable
Mangled up in tangled up knots

You nauseate me, Mr Grinch
With a nauseous super nos
You’re a crooked jerky jockey and
You drive a crooked horse
Mr Grinch

You’re a three-decker sauerkraut
And toadstool sandwich
With arsenic sauce

http://mentalfloss.com/article/72593/13-spirited-facts-about-how-grinch-stole-christmas

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

26 thoughts on “How The Grinch Stole Christmas”

  3. Pingback: How The Grinch Stole Christmas – MobsterTiger

  4. Classic stuff, Max. My boys loved this show. Todays cartoons, if you can find one, is all big eyed computer animated crap. The old Gillett electric razor was a good one. Santa sliding down the snowy hill sitting on a shaver.

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  7. Now I do have this & ‘Frosty’ & Rudolph DVR’d to watch on Christmas eve…just found ‘Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town’ on YouTube for free so that’s in the rotation that night also. They’re still just as good as when we were kids…many, many years ago…lol.

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  9. This and the ‘Charlie Brown Christmas’ are essential to me for Christmas. Two things I remember and love about Christmas as much as anything else from my childhood. I love everything about them including the relatively low-quality animation (when judged by today’s standards). Happily I have both on DVD. Haven’t watched either yet this year but will surely get them in over the next two weeks. ‘Rudolph’ was my #3 fave and it might be the year to get it on DVD

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    1. Oh and Rudolph for me as well. I’ve got all of them….they were on sale during one summer a long time ago…I got them all.

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  11. Yep, classic stuff. OK, now on to the censoring; At a real stretch the Grinch smiling maaay be construed in a bad light, but wow, that is one hell of a stretch for a kids cartoon. And what kind of ‘moral’ mind sees and focuses on what isn’t there? Also, what is so offensive about ‘rotter?’ Some moral guardians need to look at themselves and realise they’re seeing and hearing nonsense. It’s enough to make you question just what kind of mind is looking out for our viewing interests. Sorry, rant over.

    It remains a fine cartoon, perfect as it was when first broadcast.

    With Karloff’s voice you can understand why people thought it was Karloff singing though. But also good that the good Doctor tried to give credit where it was due.

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    1. I couldn’t believe that as well. Hell “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” they tried to cancel. Kids aren’t stupid…actually they know way more than we think because I remember. I thought the smile was really cool as a kid. One of the things I remembered about it.

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      1. Yes indeed. No need for all these subtexts and re-edits nowadays, and I say that as someone who might not be Woke yet, but as progressive. Adults, let kids be kids, and as you say Max, they are not naively stupid.

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  12. Did Dr. Seuss write the words to the song too? I like the line:

    “You’re a crooked jerky jockey,

    And you drive a crooked horse”

    This one runs a little behind Frosty and Charlie Brown for me, but you can’t argue with the sentiment.

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  13. Bravo, Max! Wonderful write up. All these years and I didn’t know Boris Karloff was the narrator?…how can that be? Thank you for the info! And the song…Tony the Tiger…wow! Dr. Seuss was a genius. I didn’t think I could love the Grinch Who Stole Christmas more, but I was wrong.

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    1. I always thought the top ones were The Peanuts, The Grinch, and Rudolph…when I was a kid…those are the ones I could not miss. Thank you Pam.

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