Halloween is Grinch Night

"Halloween is Grinch Night" is a animated television special co-produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and Dr. Seuss. It won the 1977 Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program, (for Programming One Hour or Less). It premiered on October 29,1977.

Plot

This little-known sequel to the much-better-known 1966 hit, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" came out in 1977 as a TV special. It's worth noting that the only mention of Halloween is in the title (indeed, starting in the late 90's, it was released under the name "It's Grinch Night," leaving Halloween out altogether). However, the events portrayed here clearly take place in late autumn. Grinch Night, perhaps, is the Whoville equivalent of Halloween.

Every now and then, environmental evidence points to a coming "grinch night" in Whoville. A Sour-Sweet Wind is in the air, the Gree-Grumps growl, the Hakken-Kraks yowl, and everyone knows to stay indoors, for the Grinch will be coming down from Mount Crumpit on his "paraphernalia wagon". Exactly what will happen when the Grinch gets there is not clear, but possibly to scare them, since his wagon is filled to the brim with spooks. In one song, the Whos claim they wouldn't go out on such a night for "a dollar and fifty cents". During the course of the song, that amount increased, from $2.50, to $6.60, to $60.60, all the way to "sixty-six million, six hundred thousand dollars and an extra sixty-six cents ($66,600,000.66)!" Another famous quote is the Grinch saying "It's a wonderful night for eyebrows. It's a wonderful night for teeth!" and then shows him doing a 12-inch geet with his teeth.

Ukariah, a young bespectacled Who with astigmatism, after being blown away by the wind en route to use the outhouse (referred to as "the euphemism" in the story), decides to take matters into his own hands, and enters the Grinch's wagon to be subject to all manners of spooks and demons within, including creatures from one of Seuss' books, Oh, the Thinks You Can Think, as well as a plethora of original monsters, and a series of eyes glaring in the dark, all to an up-tempo orchestra. Though he is frightened, Ukariah's courage keeps him on his toes long enough for the Sour-Sweet Wind to die down, thus forcing the Grinch to pack up and retire to his cave. As he leaves with his head hung in shame, the Grinch tells the audience, "I'm sure gonna miss that Grinch Night Ball. But... that wind will be coming back someday. I'LL be coming back... someday!"

This was aired on TBS, TNT and the Disney Channel many times over the years, up until about the mid-late 1990s. It aired on Cartoon Network in October 1998.

Credits

Cast

* Hans Conried: The Grinch/Narrator
* Gary Shapiro: Ukariah
* Henry Gibson: Max
* Hal Smith: Josiah
* Jack DeLeon: Sgt. Samuel S. McPherson
* Irene Tedrow: Mariah

Crew

* Directed by: George Baldwin
* Written by: Dr. Seuss
* Produced by: David H. DePatie, Friz Freleng and Dr. Seuss
* Production Manager: Lee Gunther
* Art Department: Roy Morita, Robert Dranko
* Executive Producer: Dr. Seuss

Trivia

*This was the first Dr. Seuss special from DePatie-Freleng for ABC after the studio made the first four for CBS.

*The Hakken-Kraks would later be used in Oh, the Places You'll Go!

*Two years later from this holiday TV special, Henry Gibson was casted as Igor in The Halloween That Almost Wasn't (aka The Night Dracula Saved the World).

External links

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