Grinch (fictional character)

The Grinch is a fictional character created by American children’s author Theodor Geisel, who wrote under the name Dr. Seuss. The character first appeared in a 1957 children’s book with a Christmas theme. The book was adapted into a very successful television short feature that aired for the first time in 1966. Later, the character was featured in several other less successful short features for television and another animated special in 1992. In the early twenty-first century, two full-length movies retold the story of the 1966 Christmas feature. The original feature continued to be shown on television each holiday season more than fifty years after its original release. The Grinch has had a significant popular culture impact, with the term grinch being used to describe a person who matches the fictional character’s grouchy, joy-stealing personality.

Background

Geisel was a magazine cartoonist and ad illustrator who became a children’s writer after the rhythmic sound of the engine on the ship he was traveling on inspired a poem. He illustrated the poem and published it under the title And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. After a stint illustrating military cartoons for the US Motion Picture Unit during World War II (1939–1945), Geisel returned to writing rhyming children’s stories, including the Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, and Fox in Sox.

According to stories told by Geisel, the Grinch originated in a face Geisel saw himself making in the mirror on the day after Christmas in 1956. He felt he had lost some of the meaning of Christmas because of the holiday’s growing commercialism and began writing a children’s story to explore those feelings. Within a few weeks, he had penned most of the story of the Grinch, a tall furry creature who lives on a mountain and is thoroughly annoyed with the noisy happiness of his neighbors, the Whos.

Geisel completed the story, and the book was published the following year. Nine years later, Chuck Jones, an American cartoonist best known for his work with Warner Bros., approached him with a request to turn the book into an animated television special. Geisel was initially reluctant to sell the rights to his book because he had had bad experiences with Hollywood adaptations of some of his other works. However, Jones had worked with Geisel during World War II when they were both part of the Army Motion Pictures Unit. The two were friends, and Jones was able to convince Geisel that his creative work would be protected.

Jones took Geisel’s original black-and-white drawings from the book and converted them to color animations for a twenty-six-minute cartoon special. He added the now-familiar green coloring to Geisel’s original Grinch concept; reportedly, the sour green hue used for Grinch’s fur was based on the paint color of rental cars Jones had driven around that time. Jones also added some wordless scenes with the Grinch’s dog, Max, because simply reading the story was not long enough for a television feature.

The result was the short feature How the Grinch Stole Christmas! It was also known as Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The completed twenty-six-minute special was shown on television for the first time on December 18, 1966. Its original cost of $300,000 was considered enormous for an animated special at the time and was funded by the Foundation for Commercial Banks. For comparison, that was the equivalent of $2.2 million in 2018 dollars, when a full-length 3-D feature version of the Grinch’s Christmas adventure was made with computer-generated animation at a cost of about $75 million.

Overview

As conceived by Geisel and animated by Jones, the Grinch was a tall, furry human-like creature with thin spindly limbs, a tuft of hair on the top of his head, a ruff of fur around his neck, and a pear-shaped body. The original book was illustrated almost entirely in black ink on a white background. However, Jones added the classic green color and gave the Grinch yellow eyes with red centers when animating the 1966 special, and this coloring has become a permanent part of the Grinch’s appearance.

Geisel’s story has the Grinch living on the top of Mount Crumpet with his dog, Max. Down below the mountain lives a village of people known as the Whos. The Whos love Christmas and make a loud celebration out of the day, which the Grinch hates. He decides to put an end to the celebration by stealing all the things the Whos use in their Christmas celebration. Dressed in a homemade Santa suit and using Max as his reindeer, the Grinch sneaks into Whoville and steals all the trees, presents, food, and anything else associated with Christmas. The next morning, he waits gleefully to hear the Whos crying. Instead, they begin singing joyfully. The Grinch realizes that Christmas is not about the decorations and gifts. There is a deeper meaning to the day. This is reinforced when he returns to Whoville to give back what he stole and the Whos invite him to Christmas dinner.

Even though the Grinch has a change of heart and gives the Whos back all the Christmas items, he is mainly associated with the mean, heartless way he steals Christmas in the first place. The word Grinch has found its way into the lexicon, and it is commonly used to refer to a person who wants to take away someone’s joy in some way. It is not known where Geisel got the name for his grouchy Christmas thief. However, in French, the word grincheux means “grumpy.” Geisel spent time in Europe and may have heard the word and its meaning there.

In addition to its lasting impact on the English language, the Grinch continues to be part of American popular culture. Merchandise and clothing featuring his image appears every holiday season. New versions of the story were released as feature films in 2000 and 2018, using modern techniques and expanding somewhat on the Grinch’s backstory. In addition, the original book, the animated special, and the feature films have been translated into numerous languages, spreading the Grinch’s story around the world and across multiple generations.

Bibliography

“Chuck Jones.” Academy of Achievements, www.achievement.org/achiever/chuck-jones/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2019.

Horner, Jen. “The French Origins of the Grinch.” MTM Lingua Soft, www.mtmlinguasoft.com/the-french-origins-of-the-grinch/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2019.

“Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss).” Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/theodor-geisel. Accessed 18 Feb. 2019.

Vultaggio, Maria. “Why Is the Grinch Green and Mean? 20 Fun Trivia Facts about ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas.’” International Business Times, 22 Dec. 2015, www.ibtimes.com/why-grinch-green-mean-20-fun-trivia-facts-about-how-grinch-stole-christmas-2237343. Accessed 18 Feb. 2019.

“Was the Grinch a Who or a What?” Groovy History, 22 Dec. 2017, groovyhistory.com/was-the-grinch-a-who-or-a-what. Accessed 18 Feb. 2019.

Witter, Brad. “Who Was Dr. Seuss’ Inspiration for the Grinch? Himself!” Biography, 7 Nov. 2018, www.biography.com/news/dr-seuss-grinch-inspiration. Accessed 18 Feb. 2019.

Wolcott, Gary. “The Grinch Is a Great Christmas Story, and This Version Lives Up to the Occasion.” Tri-City Herald, 8 Nov. 2018, www.tri-cityherald.com/entertainment/movies-news-reviews/mr-movie/article221379705.html. Accessed 18 Feb. 2019.

Wong, Andrew N. “13 Spirited Facts about ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas.’” Mental Floss, 9 Nov. 2018, mentalfloss.com/article/72593/13-spirited-facts-about-how-grinch-stole-christmas. Accessed 18 Feb. 2019.