Most people associate Dr. Seuss’s bitter green creation, the Grinch, with the winter holidays thanks to the success of his Christmas special. In reality, there’s another night of the year that is much more important to this grumpy character, and that’s Halloween. Halloween is Grinch Night first aired on ABC on October 28, 1977, over ten years after the heelish Grinch harassed Whoville before turning babyface to save the holiday in How the Grinch Stole Christmas! This TV special acted as a prequel to the character before prequels were something nearly every fictional property had, and showed viewers a very different side of this character.
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Unlike how the Grinch acted by the end of Chuck Jones’ gorgeously animated X-Mas special, Halloween is Grinch Night proved why this bad banana with a greasy black peel was so dreaded by showing him at his absolute uncensored worst. Not only that, it also showed us a darker side of Dr. Seuss that most who loved his children’s books had no idea lurked in the corners of his mind. This is easily one of the most twisted Seuss creations to come out of his body of work, and a strange piece of Grinch lore that has gone unaddressed for decades.
Halloween is Grinch Night is the scariest Dr. Seuss cartoon
Halloween is Grinch Night wastes no time in letting its audience know that this is the furthest thing away from the character families grew to love in his Christmas cartoon. This is the Grinch before his heart grew three times in one day, a medical condition that non-Whovillians should seek immediate help with. Instead of focusing on the titular character, our protagonist is Eucariah, a bespectacled young man who lives in the shadow of Mt. Crumpet (the Grinch’s home lair) and ultimately becomes our hero against the furry pistachio-colored villain. One fall night, “the sour-sweet wind” blows into Whoville, alerting its citizens that the Grinch will soon be on his way. Everyone in town locks their doors and boards their window as the Grinch Alarm Center is alerted to the impending threat, but young Eucariah’s bladder has other plans.
As he goes out to use the “Euphemism” (a long forgotten word for an outhouse), a strong “Grinch night” wind sweeps Eucariah upwards to Mt. Crumpet, where he crosses paths with the Grinch as he descends in his Max-drawn carriage. Deciding to stall for time to prevent another attack on Whoville, the young boy with an astigmatism stands up to the foul-tempered Grinch and tells him to “do his worst.” This is where the weird stuff really begins, as the hatch on top of the Grinch’s carriage opens and releases surreal creatures whose sole job is to terrorize Eucariah. Words can’t describe the bizarre sights and things he sees throughout this nightmarish sequence (and it’s worth watching the video just to see how unsettling it becomes), yet somehow the boy endures long enough for the soursweet wind to pass through town and send the Grinch back up Mt. Crumpet to terrorize the town another night.
Besides showing a different side of the character, another major change to this special was the voice of the Grinch. Originally performed by Boris Karloff, the famed British actor from the black & white era who gave us iconic horror characters like Frankenstein’s Monster and the Mummy brought the Grinch to life in the 1960’s holiday toon. Karloff passed several years after the Grinch’s animated debut, leaving Hans Conreid (who classic cartoon lovers know as the voice of Captain Hook in Disney’s Peter Pan among others) to step into the role.
Halloween is Grinch Night Shows the Grinch Unhinged
Halloween is Grinch Night enjoyed a solid-run in VHS rental stores throughout the ’90s, but fell by the wayside even as the Grinch enjoyed his resurgence in popularity thanks to the live-action Jim Carrey movie. Since then, it’s been released as part of various Seuss compilation DVDs and Blu-Ray collections, but only the most hardcore Seussophiles seem to know about it. Other films touched on his past, but this short remains as the only piece of media fully devoted to the Grinch’s origin story.
The Grinch is this special is meaner than a box of rattlesnakes, seeking satisfaction only by scaring people with his sinister carriage of horrors. In How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, all the Grinch had was his reputation and a song or two to tell us about how rotten he is. In this cartoon, we understand just why this character is so feared, and it makes much more sense why Whoville wouldn’t want him around. There is one glaring plothole in this prequel, however, and that involves Max the dog. By the very end of the Halloween cartoon, Max leaves the Grinch and runs off to become Eucariah’s companion. By the Christmas sequel, Max is back with the Grinch. Whether Max was dognapped back into captivity, returned willingly because he felt sympathy for his previous puppy parent, or was replaced by an identical dog with the same name is a mystery that will never be solved, but it does make this special feel a little more paradoxical if you overthink it.
Halloween is Grinch Night Shows A Darker Side of Dr. Seuss’ Imagination
The Grinch’s “spooks tour” was essentially an animated art gallery for Dr. Seuss’ fine art pieces. When he wasn’t writing and illustrating his unique brand of children’s books, Dr. Seuss — real name Theodor Geissel — spent his free time painting other strange things from his imagination. His paintings were dreams and nightmares brushed on canvas, influenced by Salvador Dali, Joan Miró and Paul Klee while Geisel lived in France during the early days of the Surrealist movement. Instead of the bright colors readers of his books were accustomed to, Geisel’s surreal art used heavy darks along with a masterful use of contrasting colors to create stunning works of art that had little resemblance to his more famous work.
The scowling eyes, gnashing teeth and clashing colors were all pieces of the dream-like art style that he practiced in his “Secret Art,” which he kept hidden from the world for many years because he didn’t believe the public would understand it or appreciate how different it was from the illustrations that popularized his name. It wasn’t until several years after Geisel passed that his private collection of works was opened up for the world to see, but Halloween is Grinch Night gave audiences a preview of what else awaited them in the quixotic and complex imagination of Geisel through his Seussian alter-ego.
If you watched Halloween is Grinch Night as a kid, what did you think about it? Does seeing the other side of Dr. Seuss change how you feel about his work as an adult? Let us know in the comments!
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