The Grinch is the titular protagonist from the book and t
elevision special, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. He is the resident grouch of Whoville, living high above the Whos on Mount Crumpit with his dog Max—and usually watching them. The Grinch is a Who-hater (except for the ending of the special, where he changes character completely). The Grinch appeared in Seussical the Musical portrayed by Patrick Page. In 2000 Jim Carrey portrayed the Grinch in Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas. He once hated Christmas and his heart used to be two sizes too small.
The Grinch is second only to The Cat in the Hat in terms of popularity.
Appearances
In Cartoons
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
- Halloween is Grinch Night
- The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat
- Horton Hears a Who! (Cameo)
- Holiday Classics
Biography
After putting up with Christmas for over fifty years, the Grinch put his foot down and took the Whos Christmas away from them by dressing up like Santa Claus. Later he saw the error of his ways after seeing that Christmas was more than the objects associated with them, and brought the gifts and presents back to Whoville. He even carved the Roast Beast personally.
Behind the Scenes
Seuss first used the word “Grinch” in 1953 to describe a bird called the Beagle-Beaked-Bald-Headed Grinch in his book Scrambled Egg Super!
The Hoobub and The Grinch
The Grinch first appeared in the short story The Hoobub and the Grinch which was originally published in the May 1955 edition of Redbook magazine. Unlike later incarnations, the Grinch is a yellow colored creature who cheerfully tricks the Hoobub into buying a piece of green string by convincing the Hoobub that the string is worth more than the Sun. It is later revealed that Grinches often tricked Hoobubs into buying worthless items on a regular basis.
Like the later Grinch story, this one is concerned with consumerism and commercialism.
How The Grinch Stole Christmas (TV Special)
The Grinch appears as the main antagonist in the How The Grinch Stole Christmas TV special and takes away the Whos Christmas from them, like he did in the book, but eventually brings it back in the end. He was portrayed by Boris Karloff who is best known for his rolls in old horror films.
How The Grinch Stole Christmas (Film)
This performance loosely follows the book and TV Special but is more of a recluse who just wants peace and quiet. The film also introduces a reason to why he hates Christmas, giving him a tragic backstory. He is portrayed by Jim Carrey in the film.
The Grinch Meets His Max (Book)
The Grinch appears in the The Grinch Meets His Max with an itch that won't go away. A dog named Max comes to play with him but he refuses. He tries to get Max to get away but fails. Later Max scratches the itch; he and The Grinch become friends and live on Mt. Crumpit.
Halloween Is Grinch Night
The Grinch appears in Halloween is Grinch Night as the main villain once again. This time coming down to Whoville because of a sour-sweet wind that blows. He has three encounters with the young Who named Euchariah who isn't scared of The Grinch. The Grinch and his dog Max bring the Paraphernalia Wagon down to Whoville. The wagon is filled with monsters called The Unhuman Race. Euchariah tries to stall the Grinch by getting the Grinch to scare him, more, and unwittingly causes the Grinch to unleash his entire Paraphernalia upon him. The Grinch is sent back to his cave in the end. He was voiced by Hans Conried who is best known for voicing Captain James Hook in the 1953 animated film Peter Pan.
The Grinch Grinches The Cat In The Hat
The Grinch later appears in The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat as once again the main antagonist. He meets the Cat in the Hat for the first time. In the beginning, he is happy until his Grinch Reflection turns him back into himself. He ruins the Cat's day by using a device called the Vackusound Sweaper, which makes him able to make anyone make any sound he wants. He also invented the darkhouse which makes things so dark you can't see a glove in front of you. Near the end of the special, The Cat In The Hat goes to a cafe but the Chef who works there asks him if he wants some food. The Cat was just trying to get away from The Grinch but The Grinch made trouble in the cafe as well. The Cat and the other people sing to The Grinch about his mother, and The Grinch turns nice again. He was portrayed by Bob Holt who is best known for his voice roll as the Hulk in the animated series of the same name.
The Wubbulous World Of Dr. Seuss
The Grinch appears in The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss as a secondary villain in season 1 and a recurring villain in season 2. He was portrayed by Anthony Asburywho is best known for his muppets roles and is the only voice actor of the character to still be alive.
Horton Hears A Who!
The Grinch appears as a cameo in both Horton Hears a Who! installments. He had no lines in either.
How The Grinch Stole Christmas (Film)
The Grinch will appear in the 2018 computer-animated film remake as the main character and protagonist. He will be portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch
Seussical The Musical
The Grinch has a small role in Seussical the Musical He was portrayed by Patrick Page.
Personality
The Grinch is an unpleasant "Who-hating" grouch with a wicked temper, sour attitude, depressed judgment, and a heart about two sizes too small (the only exception to this is the end of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!", where he becomes whole-hearted and loving), and is always out to ruin something. In Grinch Night he is shown to have been sadistic, chasing an endangered animal about while lashing his whip at it, which shocks even the Whos, who believed the creature would have some sort of immunity. In Grinch Night, the Grinch is far more menacing, and the Whos are shown to actively fear him.
He comes down to Whoville only on holidays, which we see in two of the three TV specials, which are holiday-based. However, in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" he is opposed to the holiday and comes down to sabotage it. In "Grinch Night" he comes down to waltz around for Grinch Night to torment the town. Grinch Night, despite the title claiming it to be Halloween, appears to be a randomly occurring event signaled by the coming of the Sour Sweet Wind. This signals all the Whos to annually lock down their homes.
The Grinch's only friend is his pet dog, Max, a big-eyed pooch who is loyal to his master despite the Grinch treating Max like a nuisance. Max also is an unwitting accompany in the Grinch's plots. The Grinch forces him to masquerade as a "reindeer" by attaching a crooked pair of horns on him and making Max pull the sleigh with all the Whos' Christmas trappings inside.
He is seen to give up his evil reputation and actually become important (or more important) to Whoville.
Live-Action Film
In the live-action film, his behavior is more over-the-top. In the movie, he is portrayed as having a reputation similar to Bigfoot, although in his case, he is known to exist. This version of the Grinch also bears a grudge against the Mayor of Whoville, who had bullied him as a child and is his rival in winning Martha May Who's heart.
Physical Description
The Grinch has a large potbelly, long fingers and feet, a pear-shaped body (much like the Whos), yellow teeth and is covered in green hair. He has red pupils and yellow eyeballs. He stands 1.75 to 6' 6" to 2.14 meters. His fingers and feet look longer due to the long portions of hair coming off of them. He has large, sinister black eyebrows, and deep lines on his forehead. His mouth lines are subtle when he is in a neutral mood, yet very stretched when he is grinning. He has a pair of brooding, deep-set, yellow ovoid eyes with red irises - although they are noted to become rounder and white and feature blue irises after the Grinch's "conversion". In the book, his eyes are red-pink with black irises, while in the movie, they are yellow with black irises.
Since the computer-animated version of "Halloween Is Grinch Night", his eyes are still yellow with now green irises and red pupils. Another physical characteristic noted to change after the Grinch learns the true meaning of Christmas is his face, which in addition to the line softening mentioned above, becomes somewhat heart-shaped as he smiles broadly. A long neck is prominent, with layers of green fur coming down it.
He seems to have pockets in the fur of his large stomach, as he rests his hands inside this area. With regard to posture, he is loose and can bend easily.
Abilities
On at least two occasions, the Grinch has demonstrated above-average (even superhuman) strength. Whether this is a trait commonly found in his species, something he alone can do, or simply examples of adrenaline rush is never stated outright.
Grinch Night - Eyebrow Song
One of The Grinch's more unusual abilities
He is also a skilled architect, having built his sleigh and many of the contraptions within his cave himself, and many contraptions in The Grinch Grinches The Cat in The Hat.
In Halloween is Grinch Night, he is shown to be able to make his eyebrows fly off of his face and attack Euchariah while singing a chant. He was also able to contain many nightmarish creatures within his wagon at some point before the special, and then release them in the special.
Theories
- Using his personality as an evidence (since he turns friendly at the end of the original TV special, and turns back from this state to his former, evil self in The Grinch grinches the Cat in the Hat), the chronological order may be: 1st Halloween is Grinch Night, 2nd How the Grinch stole Christmas, third Horton hears a Who (but only if his cameo is taken as canon), 4th The Grinch grinches the Cat in the Hat.
Trivia
- The Grinch is based on Dr. Seuss' college story, Santy Claus Be Hanged.
Quotes
"There is one thing I hate! All the noise noise noise!"
Gallery
.jpg "Grinch (1).jpg (27 KB)")
