You Will Never Believe Who The Grinch Was Inspired By!

By | April 4, 2018

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Theodor Seuss Geisel 1904 -1991, American writer, poet, and cartoonist at work on a drawing of a Grinch, the hero of his forthcoming book, 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas.' (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Grinch is a term often used to describe a person as someone who is negative and unpleasant.

Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known to the world as, Dr. Seuss, was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist. Dr. Seuss was best known for his many children’s stories with a sing-song type of rhyming. The talented Seuss is responsible for giving his fans 60 children’s books including some of his famous ones including, “The Cat in the Hat” and “Horton Hears a Who.” One of his most famous stories that had a special inspiration was the epic and timeless story of, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”

Geisel both authored and illustrated his own books.

The Grinch made his first appearance in, “Redbook,” a women’s magazine publication. The popular magazine was responsible for introducing Geisel’s 32-line illustrated poem, “The Hoobub and the Grinch.” The poem was published in “Redbook’s” May 1955 edition. Before long, the poem had been published as a book.

The Grinch was an unusual person, that did not appreciate Christmas the way the Whos down in Whoville did. Actually, in the story, he was the epitome of everything evil and unpleasant causing him to be shunned by society, in general. Early in life he had been ridiculed and never recovered from the negativity.

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In an interview with, “Redbook,’ Geisel humorously admitted that he, himself, was his original inspiration for the character, the Grinch. He was quoted as saying, “I was brushing my teeth on the morning of the 26th of last December when I noticed a very Grinch-ish countenance in the mirror. It was Seuss! So, I wrote about my sour friend, the Grinch, to see if I could rediscover something about Christmas that obviously I’d lost.”

Theodor Geisel was reportedly feeling, “Grinch-ish” prior to authoring the famous poem about the Grinch.

Geisel’s family couldn’t deny the resemblance between the author and his “fictional” character. When the U.S. Postal Service unveiled a Dr. Seuss stamp in 2003, his step-daughter, Lark Dimond-Cates, gave a speech, saying, “I always thought the Cat … was Ted on his good days, and the Grinch was Ted on his bad days,” as cited in the introduction to a collection called Horton and the Kwuggerbug and more Lost Stories (Classic Seuss).

The car Geisel drove had a vanity license plate that read, GRINCH.

The animated special “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” originally aired in December 1966. The show continued to repeatedly air annually during the Christmas season for 22 years. Unlike today, if you missed it, you had to wait until the following year to see it.

The animated creation starring the Grinch includes, is almost word for word of the entire text of the original black-and-white book. The difference was that color was added in the television airing in some of the scenes with his little dog, Max, as well as musical numbers. Geisel was also responsible for the original lyrics in the musical numbers.

Originally, the lyrics were, “Fahoo fores dahoo dores,” which the Whos down in Whoville gleefully sing on Christmas morning. This despite the fact that all the presents, decorations and Christmas feast had been stolen.