Top 10 Things You Never Knew About The Grinch

“The Grinch” and “The Cat in the Hat” marked a high point in Dr. Seuss’ literary career. Amid this success, Seuss’ first marriage entered a painful final stretch. Helen Palmer, Seuss’ wife and an unofficial editor of his work, saw a significant decline in her health, at one point requiring an iron lung. Between his wife’s illness and the commercialism of Christmas, Seuss wasn’t feeling especially jolly as the holidays rolled around. Looking into the mirror on December 26, Seuss saw a look on his face that he described as “Grinchish.” Seuss found that something had gone wrong with either Christmas or himself. The Grinch served as a surrogate for Seuss, who sought to “discover something about Christmas that obviously [he’d] lost.”

While the 1957 picture book introduced the Grinch as we know him, the character’s name can be found in Seuss’ earlier work. In the discontinued 1953 book, “Scrambled Eggs Super!,” protagonist Peter T. Hooper encounters an assortment of eccentric birds, including the Beagle-Beaked-Bald-Headed Grinch. In the 1955 poem “The Hoobub and the Grinch,” the latter character looks more like a cat. This Grinch is also more of a salesman than a curmudgeon. Predecessors to the Grinch can be seen in Seuss’ advertising work as well. A creature in a 1949 Flit ad looks like a cross between the Grinch and a mosquito. A green character in a 1955 Holly Sugar ad shares an especially striking resemblance to the Grinch two years before his debut.

Seuss described “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” as “the easiest book of [his] career to write,” knocking it out in a few months. By contrast, Seuss spent almost a year finishing “Cat in the Hat.” There was just one element of “The Grinch” that Seuss struggled to crack. After the Grinch stole Christmas, Seuss wasn’t sure how to resolve the story. Stuck on the last page, Seuss considered drawing inspiration from the Old and New Testaments. However, Seuss thought it was “appalling how gooey [he] was getting.” Seuss claims he went through “thousands of religious choices” before settling on the Grinch carving the roast beast with the Whos. Although Seuss felt he hadn’t made any religious statements, that didn’t stop some from drawing biblical parallels.

Following his experience co-writing the 1953 flop “The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T,” Seuss had little interest in working on another feature film. He also regularly rejected offers to adapt his books into features. Following Seuss’ death in 1991, his widow Audrey Geisel oversaw several pitches for a “Grinch” movie. Tom Shadyac, Gary Ross, the Farrelly brothers, and John Hughes expressed interest, but Geisel was ultimately drawn to Ron Howard. To play the Grinch, Geisel said the actor needed to be “of comparable stature to Jack Nicholson, Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, and Dustin Hoffman.” Carrey naturally got the role, although Adam Sandler and Eddie Murphy were also supposedly considered. Wearing his “Nutty Professor” makeup, Murphy ironically crossed paths with Carrey in his Grinch getup.

The 2000 adaptation earned the P in PG, getting away with jokes about key parties and people of color struggling to get a cab. If not for Audrey Geisel’s involvement, the film likely would’ve contained even more adult-oriented humor. Reviewing the script, Geisel said, “There were too many bathroom jokes. That’s not the Seuss world, not at all.” Geisel toned down the potty humor and vetoed a subplot involving a teenage Grinch being a “Who-venile delinquent.” She rejected two particular jokes as well. Whoville almost had a family with a menorah instead of a Christmas tree, being named “the Who-steins.” The Grinch was also gonna have a stuffed trophy modeled after the Cat in the Hat. Imagine if they had gotten Mike Myers to cameo!

During World War II, Seuss played a key role in the First Motion Picture Unit’s Animation department. Among other wartime projects, Seuss wrote for the “Private Snafu” series, working alongside “Looney Tunes” director Chuck Jones. After the war, Seuss and Jones went their separate ways before collaborating again years later. Now working at MGM, Jones was interested in adapting one of Seuss’ books to television. Feeling Hollywood had done him dirty in the past, Seuss wanted nothing to do with movies, but Jones convinced him that television was different. They ultimately agreed on “The Grinch.” While Seuss was generally happy with the results, he couldn’t help but notice that the animated Grinch’s design looked more Jones than his illustrations. Jones doesn’t deny this.

Seuss himself never wrote an official sequel to “The Grinch” in literary form. With the 1966 TV special becoming a holiday staple, though, Seuss was compelled to write two more featuring the green antihero. 1977 saw the release of “Halloween Is Grinch Night,” which some consider a prequel to the Christmas tale. Since MGM Animation/Visual Arts had closed its doors, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises oversaw the production of “Grinch Night.” DePatie-Freleng also collaborated with Marvel Productions on the crossover special “The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat” five years later. Although both of these specials won Emmy Awards, neither had the budget or staying power of the original classic. Despite being involved in all three, Seuss seemed to hold the first special in higher regard.

With a spandex costume comprised of yak hair, yellow contact lenses, and makeup that took nearly two hours to apply every day, it’s not surprising Carrey felt “buried alive” as the Grinch. The roughly eight-hour process turned Carrey into the Grinch in more ways than one, driving him to kick a hole in his trailer. After a day, Carrey was tempted to quit. Producer Brian Grazer found a solution, teaming Carrey with a specialist who trained CIA operatives to withstand torture. Carrey sat in the makeup chair another hundred or so times. While he brought his signature energy to the shoot, it tested Carrey’s patience. The experience wasn’t much easier for the makeup team, although Rick Baker and Gail Rowell-Ryan received Oscars for their work.

Jones thought Boris Karloff would be an inspired choice to voice the Grinch and deliver narration. Karloff made a name for himself in Universal horror movies, playing Frankenstein’s monster and Imhotep in the original “Mummy.” While Karloff is the sole actor credited, three other key talents lent their voices. Dallas McKennon, best known for voicing Gumby, provided the sounds of Max. Cindy Lou Who was voiced by June Foray, whose resume ranges from Rocky the Flying Squirrel to Granny of “Looney Tunes.” Some assume Karloff sang “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” but it was actually Tony the Tiger himself, Thurl Ravenscroft. Although he won a Grammy for his work on “The Grinch” soundtrack, Karloff died before he could reprise the role in subsequent specials.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Jim Carrey Improvised a Perfect Sweep Before Swiping Everything Off the Table

Since Everyone Else Had An American Accent, Cumberbatch Felt the Grinch Should Too

It Was Budgeted at a Then-Steep $315,000 - About $3 Million Today

According to Carrey, That’s How He Got The Grinch Part

The Grinch Meets Norman Bates Is the Crossover We All Need

If you asked anyone what color the Grinch is, they’d say “green” in a pinch. They’d be right and wrong. The Grinch has been green for most of his existence across virtually all media. The 1957 book is an exception, however. While the Grinch has a red Santa suit and pink eyes, he’s otherwise drawn in black and white. When the book was adapted to animation, Jones felt the main character needed a more distinct color. It’s been rumored that Jones got the idea to make the Grinch green because his rental car was the same color. In any case, Seuss agreed that green was the only color that made sense. The green look carried over to future appearances, including full-color reprints of Seuss’ book.


Are there any Grinchy facts we neglected to say? Leave a comment in time for Christmas Day.