15 Surprising Behind-The-Scenes Facts About 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas'
![15 Surprising Behind-The-Scenes Facts About 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas'](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/3/6/4/760364_320x180.jpg)
For a movie that became one of the all-time favorite holiday classics, How The Grinch Stole Christmas didn’t have a terribly promising start. Dr. Seuss was so dead set against making a TV special, he let Chuck Jones pitch him on it just to humor the guy before saying no. Thankfully, Jones was surprisingly persuasive.
Now, it not only has become a holiday staple but theatrical adaptations and even musical versions have been made since the cartoon's television debut in 1966. While the Grinch is now as iconic of a Christmas character as good ol' Saint Nick himself, there's a lot of interesting twists and turns that happened in order for the Grinch to appear on our TV screens every December.
Did you know the Grinch wasn't originally green? Or that the Whos were supposed to sing a small concert in their Who-language? Or that a marriage happened thanks to the TV special?
Here are some fun behind-the-scenes factoids about our favorite green-furred curmudgeon:
![The Grinch's songs were sung by the guy who voiced Tony the Tiger. Thurl Ravenscroft sang The Grinch's songs, but he's probably best known for the lin](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/3/7/8/760378.jpg)
Source: Saturday Evening Post, The New York Times
![26 sponsors rejected the special. with his bank bank-the kind of bank nilt which, by law, can do more for you than any other financial tment. in- d](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/3/7/9/760379.jpg)
Source: Saturday Evening Post
![They used Max just to stretch out the running time. The story took 12 minutes to read aloud, so they needed another 12 minutes for the special's 24-mi](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/3/7/6/760376.jpg)
Source: Saturday Evening Post
![Chuck Jones pitched the special by acting it out. He'd display his storyboards on an easel to potential sponsors, acting out different scenes. Dr. Seu](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/3/7/7/760377.jpg)
Source: Saturday Evening Post
![At first, Dr. Seuss was dead set against the idea of a Grinch TV special. When his old friend Chuck Jones drove up to pitch him on the idea, Dr. Seuss](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/3/7/5/760375.jpg)
Source: Saturday Evening Post
![All the song lyrics in the movie were written by Dr. Seuss. CAT W r AN Har](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/3/7/4/760374.jpg)
Source: Vulture
![The Grinch's face was partly based on Chuck Jones'. Jones says he tends to sneak face in without knowing it, and the TV Grinch ended up lookin](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/3/7/3/760373.jpg)
![The Grinch was made green for the TV special. But the sound wasn't sad! Why, this sound sounded merry! It couldn't be so! But it WAS merry! VERY! In t](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/3/7/2/760372.jpg)
Source: Vulture
![The backgrounds could have been a lot more elaborate. Background artist Maurice Noble wanted to make the backgrounds much more detailed than the simpl](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/3/7/0/760370.jpg)
Source: Saturday Evening Post
![Chuck Jones met his wife thanks to Grinch. TV Guide's Marian Dern interviewed him about the special, and they got married in 1981. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/3/7/1/760371.jpg)
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
![If Chuck Jones had pitched a TV special later, Grinch might never have been made. Dr. Seuss' How The GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS! They picked Grinch as t](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/3/6/9/760369.jpg)
Source: Saturday Evening Post
![Grinch was ridiculously expensive for its time. It cost $315,000c- and A Charlie Brown Christmas, made the year before, cost $76,000. It was around 10](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/3/6/7/760367.jpg)
Source: Saturday Evening Post, Vulture
![Chuck Jones and Dr. Seuss worked together in WWIl. PRIVATE SNAFU They met working on the Private Snafu cartoons, which showed soldiers what they absol](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/3/6/8/760368.jpg)
Source: Vulture
![Dr. Seuss' cut lines for the Grinch's song include You're the king of all that rots, You're a grizzly, ghastly goon, and YOU brush your teeth wit](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/3/6/6/760366.jpg)
Source: Saturday Evening Post
![There was supposed to be a long Christmas concert. In it, the Whos would be talking in their own language, but Seuss eventually decided it would be to](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/3/6/5/760365.jpg)
Source: Saturday Evening Post