Dr. Seuss' "How The Grinch Stole Christmas!"

In 1966, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" became an animated television special. On December 18, 38 million people tuned in to watch the first broadcast, and one of the most watched holiday specials in the history of American television was presented to an enthusiastic public. Chuck Jones, the animator behind Wile E Coyote and Bugs Bunny, among others, produced and directed the special. But, Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss) remained heavily involved in its creation. The two had first collaborated in World War II, when they worked together on animation for military training films made by Warner Brothers for the U.S. Army.

Dr. Seuss added two verse passages to the story and wrote the lyrics to the songs. The music was composed by Albert Hague, and the vocals were sung by Thurl Ravenscroft. Boris Karloff was the voice for both the narrator and the Grinch himself. At the time, Variety magazine said it was the most expensive animation ever made for CBS-TV, but its immediate and continuing success more than justified the cost. The special was aired every holiday season for over 20 years. Today, the cartoon is still on the Internet Movie Database's list of the top 250 films.

The Grinch's appearance changed in the cartoon, where he became green and acquired a longer face. Dr. Seuss said that the cartoon looked more like Chuck Jones than it did like his original Grinch, and in later years Jones agreed. "I'm afraid that it did," he said. "I tend to sneak my face in without knowing it, into things that I draw, because sometimes I'll glance in the mirror to get a certain expression I want."

No matter who the animated Grinch resembles, we love him. The animated version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is still watched by thousands of people every year.

In 2000, a live-action feature film adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! was created. It features more than 52,000 Christmas lights, about 8,200 Christmas ornaments, and nearly 2,000 candy canes. Jim Carrey, wearing a costume made of dyed green yak hairs sewn one by one onto a spandex suit, played the Grinch. Costume designer Rita Ryack went for a 1950s look for the film, getting ideas from pictures in old cookbooks and decorating the Who costumes with vintage buttons. No movie has featured so many characters in heavy makeup since 1939's Wizard of Oz.

The film received mixed reviews but was a huge box-office success. It earned $260 million and was the highest-grossing film released in North America in 2000.