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How the Grinch Stole Christmas
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Released
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December 10, 2020
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Running time
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17:23
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Link
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Video
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Doug: Well, you've heard me shit on the cinematic versions. Let's talk about the good one for once.
(The title card appears.)
Doug (vo): How the Grinch Stole Christmas was released in 1966.
Doug: It's an absolute classic. You know it, and I know it. Let's look it over together.
(The opening credits are shown, revealing that it was co-produced by both Chuck Jones and Ted Geisel and that it was directed by Jones.)
Doug (vo): One of the funny stories I've found out doing research on this is...
Doug: ...one day, Chuck Jones called up Theodor Geisel, Dr. Seuss, uh, when working on this and designing it, and he said, "What color's the Grinch?" And Geisel said he didn't know.
(The cover of the original story is shown, adorned in mostly red and white, with a bit of green, but the Grinch was mostly colorless, just an ink drawing. Only his eyes were colored, in red.)
Doug (vo): For printing reasons, his books didn't allow much color. It was just black, white and a little bit of red.
Doug: So they talked about it, and Chuck Jones eventually went with green, for a couple of reasons. Uh, one, green was a very unnatural color to see on a furry, hairy animal in nature, so that looked very unusual.
(Another illustration of the original book is shown.)
Doug (vo): Two, uh, it would be Christmas colors, because he would be wearing the Santa outfit as well, the red outfit.
Doug: And three, he said it was the color of the worst used cars he ever drove. They usually became green either over time or he bought them when they were green and they always grossed him out, so that apparently inspired that choice.
(The cartoon begins with a shot of a snow-covered mountain as snow falls, while the Whos are heard singing "Welcome, Christmas".)
Doug (vo): The songs were composed by Albert Hague...
Doug: ...who, uh, older crowds probably know him from...
(Cut to a shot of Hague on...)
Doug (vo): ...the TV show Fame, but, uh, younger crowds...
Doug: ...probably know him as the psychiatrist from...
(Cut to a shot of Hague as the psychiatrist in...)
Doug (vo): ...Space Jam. Probably not the first thing he would want to be known by...
Doug: ...but I don't think he would mind, either.
Whos: (singing) Welcome, Christmas, while we stand...
Doug (vo): These backgrounds, once again designed by the...
Doug: ...fantastic, legendary Maurice Noble...
(Cut to shots of Looney Tunes shorts that Noble worked on, including What's Opera, Doc?, Zip 'n Snort, and Hare-way to the Stars.)
Doug (vo): ...did a lot of, uh, Chuck Jones cartoons, and, uh, usually had some of the best backgrounds. We brought him up a ton of times here.
Doug: And it's not like this production had a ton of money behind it. It wasn't necessarily cheap, but it did not have a super, super grand budget.
Doug (vo): So, for them to take these, uh, very simple shapes, but very bright, prominent, primary colors and just really make them jump out at you, both really capturing...
Doug: ...the look of, uh, Dr. Seuss' world, but also keeping very true to Maurice Noble's style as well.
(Cut to a shot of a Seuss illustration of a ridiculous-looking house.)
Doug (vo): A lot of Seuss buildings and designs are very curvy or very crooked. They're very exaggerated.
Doug: And a lot of Noble designs, uh, are also very grand, but also very small.
(Cut to shots of What's Opera, Doc?, in Noble's distinct style.)
Doug (vo): There's a lot of stuff in the foreground; a lot of stuff in the background, too. It's very stretched and very warped.
Doug: It was a match made in heaven. I mean, they just go together perfectly.
(As Cindy Lou Who looks at a wreath placed under a Christmas tree, a Jack-in-the-box springs out from the center to put a star on top of the tree.)
Whos: (singing) Trim every blessed needle on the blessed...
Doug (vo): Off the bat, Cindy Lou's gonna have more detail to her face...
Doug: ...because she's gonna be one of the main characters in this.
Doug (vo): So you'll notice there's more wrinkles on the hair. She has a little more chubby cheeks.
Doug: But at the same time, they keep the simplicity there, uh, by never (makes walking motion with his fingers) showing her feet.
Doug (vo): The outfit she's wearing covers her feet, and you never see any moving at the bottom, which...
Doug: ...I think is a callback to, uh, The Dover Boys.
(Cut to a clip of The Dover Boys at Pimento University, showing Dora Standpipe gliding down a flight of stairs, her feet hidden in her dress so it looks like she's just gliding down the stairs.)
Doug (vo): The woman in that, you never saw her feet in that; she just kind of glided. So it's a good way to save on animation.
Doug: But also very adorable.
Narrator (Boris Karloff): But the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville...
Doug (vo): It's a little more than "just", isn't it?
Doug: That's not "just north of Whoville"; that's a mountain!
Doug (vo): I also like that the Grinch's skin will have pockets whenever the pose calls for it.
Narrator: It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right.
Doug (vo): Geisel would often say that the Grinch looked much more like the director...
Doug: ...Chuck Jones than it did his Grinch.
(As we cut back to the Grinch, a shot of Jones is shown in the corner.)
Doug (vo): Actually, the two very much do look like the creators. This one looks like Chuck Jones.
Doug: I think the original kind of looks like...
(A shot of the Grinch on the cover of the original book is shown, with a shot of Geisel off to the side, to whom the Grinch does kind of resemble.)
Doug (vo): ...Theodore Geisel. And what I like about this one, too, is that...
Doug: ...he really does have...
(A shot of the Grinch in the cartoon is shown, with a shot of Boris Karloff, the voice of the Grinch as well as the narrator, off to the side.)
Doug (vo): ...the Boris Karloff look to him as well. Boris Karloff, of course, did the voice, and he was the Frankenstein Monster.
Doug: And he is both the narrator and the Grinch in this, and I really think the thick eyebrows...
Doug (vo): ...and the, uh, lines on his forehead and that super, super frown...
Doug: Uh, I really think it's a good mix of both the director and the actor.
Narrator: Staring down from his cave...
Doug (vo): Great angle there. Just some amazing angles and just some phenomenal drawings...
Doug: ...of just how threatening and gross and weird and distorted they can make this creature.
Doug (vo): Even the linework with it being a paintbrush, there's almost kind of a...
Doug: ...pencil-y look to it. In some of the closeups, you see...
Doug (vo): ...the smeared, uh, paintbrushes on there, and I think that adds a lot to, uh, his kind of...
Doug: ...furry... not-not just furry, but very messed-up, uh, furry appearance.
Narrator: For he knew every Who down in Whoville beneath...
Doug (vo): Now, Max, from here on out...
Doug: ...is going to be a very major part of "The Grinch". In both movies, he plays a huge part. In this, he plays a huge part. He was not a big part in the books.
(A shot of Max in the original story is shown.)
Doug (vo): He was more just a little character in the corner that would see something and react.
Doug: But because they were taking what was a very short book, uh, understandably so, and they had to stretch it out, a lot of that, uh, was due to this character.
Doug (vo): Uh, his reactions to everything: him trying to be the reindeer, them going down the mountain, and him screwing up.
Doug: Little things like that really helped stretch it out. You, uh... (A shot of the poster for the live-action Grinch movie is shown in the corner.) didn't need to give an origin story or have his face in breasts. (suddenly waves dismissively) Okay, okay, I promised myself I wasn't gonna shit on it too much.
Grinch: (holding up Max to look him in the face) And they're hanging their stockings. (shakes Max)
Doug (vo): Take a shot every time the Grinch's teeth change; they're almost never the same.
Doug: Sometimes, he just has three on the top and bottom; sometimes, he has, like, fifty...
Doug (vo): ...in his mouth. Sometimes, they're straight; sometimes, they're crooked.
Doug: Sometimes, there's teeth on top of teeth. Uh, that's one of my favorite things to watch...
Doug (vo): ...is just the different placements of his teeth.
Doug: I swear he doesn't have a skull; it's just more teeth that fills up his head. (laughs)
Grinch: (about the Whos on Christmas) They'll blow their Who-whoobas, they'll bang their gar-ginkers!
Doug (vo): This is another way to fill up time.
Doug: Just list all the various things that the Whos are gonna do. You can make up a lot of great wordplay and a lot of imaginative, uh, designs and stuff.
Doug (vo): And in many ways, it's identifiable; there are people that don't like the holidays, 'cause it is loud and kids making so much noise and playing with so much stuff and so much energy in contrast...
Doug: ...to someone that does not have a lot of energy and likes the peace and quiet. Uh, so again, this isn't just filler; it is establishing something, uh, that you can relate to. I think that's one of the reasons people do relate to the Grinch.
Doug (vo): You know, you don't need to give a complex backstory. Sometimes, just being annoyed by the things...
Doug: ...other people love is a totally legit reason.
Doug (vo): What's interesting, too, is Cindy Lou is so connected to the Grinch.
Doug: You know, she's the exact opposite: he's big and intimidating-looking; she's very small and cute-looking. Uh, but she doesn't have much dialogue in this.
Doug (vo): Uh, so they try to kind of get her in wherever they can, and again, that they give her this, uh, really detailed design...
Doug: ...in contrast to the other Whos, so she really sticks out. Uh, so even though she doesn't say much, and even technically doesn't do much, uh, you remember her.
Doug (vo): You really remember her as the symbol of everything that's good about the Whos and Christmas.
Doug: Uh, so it's a very clever way of sort of working in these themes and ideas and, uh, you know, the innocence of Christmas and all that without necessarily hammering it in.
(The Grinch smiles evilly as he comes up with a way to stop Christmas from coming.)
Narrator: The Grinch got a wonderful, awful idea.
Doug (vo): There's a wonderful smile that keeps going and going...
Doug: ...and what I like is, when it finally runs out of room on the face, it goes...
Doug (vo): ...to the top of his head. His head somehow continues the smile!
Doug: That's such a wonderful little touch.
Singer (Thurl Ravenscroft): You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch...
Doug (vo): That's Thurl Ravenscroft as the singer.
Doug: Tony the Tiger. Uh, also the voice in the Haunted Mansion. Uh, did all sorts of, uh, voiceover work. And phenomenal singer! Just a phenomenal voice in general, and he had that voice...
Doug (vo): ...uh, doing, uh, Tony the Tiger, uh, pretty much until the end.
Doug: He did not lose that voice at all.
(The Grinch is now dressed up like Santa.)
Grinch: All I need is a reindeer.
Doug (vo): So from here pretty much until maybe the last five minutes, uh, the whole special...
Doug: ...is about him stealing every kid's favorite holiday pretty much. And that's one of the reasons I love it. That's one of the reasons I, uh, consider it a dark toon. It's 'cause you're just watching this guy steal everything!
Doug (vo): He's stealing Christmas, he's stealing presents from kids, he's going so over the top to make sure there's nothing left.
Doug: But much like Christmas Carol, the darker you go with it, the more appreciative you'll be when it gets to the happy ending. And the happy ending in this matches so perfect. It's just an absolute brilliant contrast.
(As the Grinch and Max make their way down the mountain, the sleigh ends up going faster than Max, who ends up first underneath and then behind the sleigh.)
Doug (vo): This is definitely some old school Coyote and Road Runner stuff...
Doug: ...that of course the director used to do. He used to work with Looney Tunes. And, uh, you can just see something like this, like the Coyote...
Doug (vo): ...getting behind the sleigh and the sleigh going, uh, faster than him. That happened a lot with gravity; one thing would go faster than the other.
Doug: And again, this is filling up the running time, but it's also creating more of a connection between the Grinch and Max.
Doug (vo): You get an idea of how their relationship works. And you like them; they're fun to watch; they don't even have to say that much.
Doug: Even these mountains have kind of that canyon look from those Road Runner...
Doug (vo): ...cartoons, doesn't it?
(A shot of a typical canyon view from a Road Runner short is shown in the corner.)
Doug (vo): It's like it's the exact same locations, there's just snow on it.
Grinch: (to Max, as they approach a house in Whoville) This is stop number one.
Doug (vo): Even the ladder isn't straight.
Doug: Just one attention to detail. Like, everything has to be a little off, a little crooked. Even the...
Doug (vo): ...ladder is a Dr. Seuss ladder. It's a Maurice Noble ladder.
Doug: I feel like you really feel those details. It just makes the world feel so much more livable and believable.
Narrator: (as the Grinch slides down the chimney) He got stuck only once, for a minute or two.
Doug (vo): That part always freaked me out as a kid.
Doug: I'm not claustrophobic, but just the idea of being stuck in a chimney like that just really freaked me out. And, uh, I guess the person who wrote Gremlins felt the same thing.
Narrator: He slithered and slunk with a smile most unpleasant...
Doug (vo): See, that's the nice thing about animating Dr. Seuss.
Doug: It's that you can literally show him slithering and (makes "air quotes") "slunking" and doing all that. I mean, you can do a drawing in a book, uh, but you can just literally get more animated in a cartoon. You can actually show him doing these actions that you're actions.
(The Grinch starts taking every present on a Christmas tree.)
Narrator: Pop guns, pampoonas, pantookas and drums, checkerboards...
Doug (vo): Again, you're stretching it out.
Doug: You're describing what he's taking and how he's taking it. And it doesn't sound like much, but to a kid, you're just like "Oh, my God, I can't believe he's taking all that! Not the pop guns!"
Doug (vo): "Not the... bamboozle! What's a bamboozle?! Who cares?!"
Doug: "He's taking it!" And the more and more you get into that and you get invested in it, uh, the bigger the payoff's gonna be, like I said at the end.
(Now the Grinch is raiding the icebox and stealing all the food for the feast.)
Narrator: Why, that Grinch even took the last can of Who Hash.
Doug: (shrugs) Guess they legalized it before we did.
(As the Grinch tries to stuff the Christmas tree up the chimney, he encounters Cindy Lou Who.)
Cindy Lou (voice of June Foray): (seeing the Grinch) Santy Claus, why? Why are you taking our Christmas tree?
Doug (vo): Cindy Lou Who, voiced by the late, great June Foray, did...
Doug: ...voice acting until her death, when she was 99 years old. I mean, just an absolute legend; was...
Doug (vo): ...Rocky in Rocky and Bullwinkle; she's Magica from DuckTales; she was the grandma in Mulan.
Doug: She has just tons, countless' Looney Tunes characters. So just an absolute legend.
Grinch: (to Cindy Lou, about a light that "won't light on one side") So I'm taking it home to my workshop, my dear.
Doug (vo): Another great angle there.
Doug: Just the contrast with how tiny she is and then how...
Doug (vo): ...big you make the shadow. And you can still even see those teeth in the shadow.
Doug: I mean, just his silhouette is just so memorable.
Narrator: Then he patted her head and he got her a drink and he sent her to bed.
Doug (vo): When I was a kid...
Doug: ...I always thought that was odd that he got her a drink. Like, why include that in the story? And then, when he says...
Narrator: And when Cindy Lou Who was in bed with her cup...
Doug: Ah, it was to rhyme...
Doug (vo): ..."stuff the tree up" with something, and "cup" rhymed.
Doug: Even as a kid, I thought that was a little odd.
(As the Grinch continues his raid in a montage, "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" continues.)
Singer: Your soul is an appalling dump heap...
Doug (vo): Case in point about the budget: they clearly didn't have enough money to do new animation here, so they just repeated...
Doug: ...some of the ones they had earlier and laid them over each other.
(At one point, the Grinch empties an ice cube tray out.)
Singer: The three words that best describe you...
Doug (vo): That's my favorite...
Doug: ...stealing the ice cubes! (laughs)
Doug (vo): That's my absolute favorite!
Doug: They could still celebrate Christmas with ice cubes, but not anymore; he took 'em!
(The Grinch's sleigh loaded high with the stolen Christmas decorations, he cracks his whip on Max, who hauls the sleigh up the side of Mount Crumpit.)
Narrator: Ten thousand feet up, up the side of Mount Crumpit...
Doug (vo): Fantastic angles here.
Doug: Again, this is very reminiscent of, uh, the Looney Tunes days when Chuck Jones would get these really great angles.
(Cut to a clip of Drip-Along Daffy, which shows similar angles in the climax as Daffy and the villain Nasty Canasta confront one another for a gun duel.)
Doug (vo): There's this one where there's a shootout with Daffy, and it's part of the joke. It's how many weird angles can they get in such a short amount of time. And again...
Doug: ...you can just tell he carried it over, 'cause it does create such atmosphere and such an environment.
Doug (vo): Despite such a small budget, you just feel the size of this place. You feel how grand these mountains are.
Doug: You can hear the echo practically.
(Then as the Grinch listens for the Whos' reaction to the loss of Christmas, it is not what he was expecting...)
Whos: (singing) Fah-who foris...
Doug (vo): And of course, the big payoff, which...
Doug: ...I'm not gonna lie, I did figure out when I was a little kid. I'm curious if you did, too, 'cause I remember I saw it in a classroom with a bunch of little, little kids, and they were all really surprised. You know, "Ohh!" Uh, but how many of you figured that out?
Doug (vo): Either way, it's such a perfect payoff to all of this. And what I really like...
Doug: ...unlike the other versions, the Whos always wake up: "Ahhh! Where is everything?! Oh, well." And they teach themselves what Christmas is about. I like they don't even notice.
Doug (vo): They are just so excited and so in tune with what Christmas is and why it's important.
Doug: To me, that's the perfect way you could do that.
Doug (vo): Great warm colors there. We've seen so much of the blue sky, which has also been phenomenal, but, uh... yeah, just look at how much that pops. Look how...
Doug: ...warm and inviting that feels; just– just so... Man! This is so goddamn good.
Doug (vo): Even the simple act here of dissolving the different color backgrounds, you go from one warm color to another.
Doug: But even the colors it creates in between, going from, uh, purple to...
Doug (vo): ...orange to yellow to orange again back to yellow again...
Doug: ...the slow dissolve in between those really gives way to a lot of interesting colors there.
Doug (vo): I know the expressions show him [the Grinch] transforming there, but just the background, something so simple as dissolving those colors can also be...
Doug: ...so transformative.
(The Grinch, having learned that "maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more", becomes alarmed as the sleigh of stolen Christmas stuff starts sliding down the edge of the cliff. He and Max scramble up toward it to grab the sleigh before it falls over the edge. He tries to pull the sleigh back up and Max in turn bites down on the Grinch's Santa coat and tries to pull him back up, too.)
Doug (vo): And again, this is kind of filling up the running time, but it works...
Doug: ...'cause it shows he's so filled with joy and he so now understands the meaning of Christmas that it gives him all this strength.
(As the Grinch struggles to pull up the sleigh, his heart grows three sizes and he finds "the strength of ten Grinches plus two," allowing him to not only pull up the sleigh, but also triumphantly hold it up over his head.}
Doug (vo): And it does add a little bit of a climax as well without going too long...
Doug: ...and while staying true to what the story is.
(As the Grinch returns to Whoville to return all that he had stolen, the crowd of gathered Whos parts like an opening door to let him in.)
Narrator: He rode into Whoville, he brought back their toys...
Doug (vo): I love the Whos moving there, like it's some sort of
Doug: ...stretchy fence. I don't know why that cracks me. (laughs)
(And the special ends with the Grinch at the head of the Whos' Christmas feast to carve the roast beast for everyone. The camera pulls away from the house they're in and away from Whoville.)
Narrator: Welcome, Christmas, while we stand, heart to heart and hand-in-hand.
(The camera continues to pull away from Whoville and up past the snowy mountains while the words "THE END" appear.)
Doug (vo): Ah, so good. So good!
Doug: God, that's just great! I-I... Every time I see this, it gets better. And I'm so glad, uh, you know, that they update it on Blu-Ray and DVD and so forth. Uh, every version just looks more crisp...
Doug (vo): ...and more clean and more clear, but you can still see some of, like, a little bit of the...
Doug: ...fingerprints on there and smudges and stuff, because it still does give it that texture. But man, the clarity is amazing...
Doug (vo): ...because this artwork is just so amazing, the writing is so amazing, the acting's so amazing...
Doug: ...the music's so amazing, and all just in this short amount of time: 25 minutes! You don't need much. And they just nail it.
Doug (vo): They just knew exactly what was required for this, and they just absolutely nailed it.
Doug: Let me know. What I'd really like to know, uh, when you saw this. I'm assuming you saw it as a child. Uh, did you figure out what the lesson was gonna be at the end? Did you figure out that the Whos weren't gonna care and that it was gonna be about, uh, the true meaning of Christmas? It wasn't gonna be about the presents and everything?
Doug (vo): Uh, or were you watching this, just horrified, like, "Oh, my God! I can't believe he's stealing Christmas!" and were really surprised at the end?
Doug: Uh, I knew what was coming, or at least I had a feeling as a little kid. But– But I still loved it. I loved the journey, I-I loved the message, even as a kid, uh, 'cause I did love Christmas so much and still love Christmas so much. Uh, so yeah, God, just... Oh! What's your favorite part, too? I just love this so much!
Doug (vo): This is just... Watching it again all the way through and talking about what's so great about it, I don't know, fills my heart.
Doug: Man, I just adore it so, but what's your favorite part? Uh, were you fooled by the end as well? Uh, you know, thinking the Whos were gonna be upset? Uh, let me know your thoughts. Merry Christmas, man. God, this is just so good.