His own heart "two-sizes too small", 'The Grinch' continues to warm kid's hearts some 52 years later

THe Grinch first appeared in Seuss' 1957 book

"Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot, but the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville - did not. The Grinch hated Christmas - the whole Christmas season. Now, please don't ask why; no one quite knows the reason. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. Or it could be that his head wasn't screwed on just right. But I think that the most likely reason of all may have been that his heart was two sizes too small."--so begins the now classic holiday-themed children's book, Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas. 

Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss first wrote And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street in 1937. After being rejected by a number of publishers who felt the story was too outlandish for children, Random House published the book and 40-something other Seuss titles. To this day, they are still the publisher of all things Seuss.  Bennett Cerf, a former President of the publishing giant said, "I've published any number of great writers, from William Faulkner to John O'Hara, but there's only one genius on my authors list.  His name is Ted Geisel."

Some 12 books and twenty years after the publication of Mulberry Street, Seuss wrote the holiday favorite How The Grinch Stole Christmas.  The publication of the original story of a bitter cat-like man who lives in solitary and despises everything joyful had a decidedly anti-materialistic undertone that, at the time when commercialization of the holiday was was on the rise, was met with some initial resistance.  Of including morals into his stories, Seuss once said, "Kids can see a moral coming a mile off."  He revealed he wasn't against writing about issues, saying "there's an inherent moral in any story."  In Jonathan Cott's 1983 book on the subject of children's literature, Geisel even remarked that his work was "subversive as hell."

Subversive, anti-materialistic, let's just call it what it is, one of the most beloved Christmas stories of all time.  So beloved in fact that a rare 1st edition autographed copy can currently be found for sale for just under $1000 on biblio.com.

Nearly ten years after the success of the book, MGM's animation division approached Geisel and Random House about producing an animated television special based on the book.  Animation genius Chuck Jones was named director of the project.  Jones had of course been part of the creative team who breathed life into Looney Tunes characters in the 30s.  The Grinch wasn't the first time Jones and Geisel worked together, however.  During the 1940s,  Geisel had been hired by Frank Capra, then-chairman of the U.S. Army Air Force First Motion Picture Unit to write the stories for Private Snafu, a series of animated educational shorts intended for an audience of soldiers as part of the bi-weekly Army-Navy Screen Magazine newsreel.  Jones was working at Warner Bros. Animation Studios at the time and was chief animator for the series.

For the animated Grinch, Boris Karloff, best known for a series of Frankenstein films in the 1930s, was hired as the ghoulish narrator.  As I mentioned in my Frosty The Snowman article last week, voice actress June Foray provided the voice of Cindy Lou Who. Despite rumors that Karloff also sang the special's haunting themes, it was an uncredited Thurl Ravenscroft, best known as the voice of Tony The Tiger in more than 500 Kellogg's cereal commercials, who sang the title song, You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch.

CBS was home of the Emmy-winning Grinch from 1966 until 1987.  Turner Broadcasting System then acquired the rights to the special and it was seen on its networks, including TNT and Cartoon Network throughout much of the 90s. Turner produced a special edition that first aired in 1994 containing 20 minutes of new footage narrated by Phil Harman of SNL fame.  The bonus material featured behind the scenes of creating the animation and special interviews. Subsequent airing took place on The WB network with ABC and ABC Family becoming the latest home for The Grinch. 

Originally, the special had a running time of 26 minutes, but ABC's version has been trimmed down to accommodate more commercial breaks.  In 2006, the bonus material was incorporated back into the broadcast of the special, albeit edited down to just a few minutes, with Hartman's narration replaced by frequent ABC host, Tom Bergeron.

Encouraged by the popularity of the animated special, two further animated adventures of The Grinch were produced.  1977's Halloween Is Grinch Night, produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, contains a similar plot to the original wherein The Grinch basically steals Halloween from the residents of Whoville. DFE has previously produced Seuss' The Cat In The Hat animated adaption.  A lot more sinister in it's presentation, the special premiered on ABC and subsequently won an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program.   In 1982, DFE and Marvel Productions, Ltd. produced the third Emmy-winning Grinch cartoon, The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat, also for ABC. 

2000 saw the Grinch come to life on the big screen as a major motion picture directed by Ron Howard and starring Jim Carrey.  Despite the powerhouse team of Howard/Carrey, the movie opened to mixed reviews.  Mixed reviews aside, The Grinch was a box office success grossing more than $300 million worldwide.  The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, winning one for Best Makeup.

The original Grinch animated special airs on ABC tonight at 8/7c.  The live-action film adaptation begins a 24-hour marathon on the cable channel Starz Kids & Family at 6/5c on Christmas Eve.  Locally, Starz Kids & Family can be found on Channel 373 on Comcast Digital.