Dr. Seuss Declared Halloween ‘Grinch Night’ in This Delightfully Dark TV Special from 1977
On Friday nights — and special occasions! — IndieWire After Dark takes a feature-length beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age.
First, the spoiler-free pitch for one editor’s midnight movie pick — something weird and wonderful from any age of film that deserves our memorializing.
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Then, the spoiler-filled aftermath as experienced by the unwitting editor attacked by this week’s recommendation.
The Pitch: It’s a Wonderful Night for Eyebrows!
Don’t tell the Seventh-day Adventists, but Halloween and Christmas are inextricably linked.
Film lovers can thank Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” for the holidays’ most popular narrative connection — but slasher Santas and Yuletide ghosts existed way before Jack Skellington hit Christmas Town. The connection makes sense. The Western world’s two biggest holidays are contrasting yet complementary: theatrical celebrations of excess and society-wide make-believe that tickle our imaginations, feed our appetites, and provide pseudo-intellectuals with the perfect excuse to misunderstand Pagan tradition. Plus, you know, red.
The spooky-spirited hybrid genre has been so thoroughly mined across TV, film, and literature that it’s almost unsurprising to learn that Dr. Seuss once brought Halloween to Whoville. No, it’s not the annual October 31 holiday as we know it. Grinch Night, as the green giant likes to call it, is a sinister semi-annual occurrence that’s more akin to a natural disaster than a holiday. When the right extreme weather events combine with certain animal behaviors, the Sour-Sweet Wind calls the Grinch (voiced here by Hans Conried) down from Mount Crumpit. He soon wreaks havoc on the Whos sans disguise.
Villagers shelter in place as the Grinch stars his descent into town, riding atop something called a “paraphernalia wagon” pulled by his unlucky dog Max (Henry Gibson; yes, Max gets a song!). Sergeant Samuel McPherson (Jack DeLeon), a kind of meteorologist for the mean green one’s moods, tracks and broadcasts news of the Grinch’s movement in a meandering rhymescape that somehow makes the looming threat of terrorism cute. This is how Whoville learns about the harrowing ordeal of Euchariah (Gary Shapiro): a little kid who gets lost on his way to “the euphemism” — also known as his family’s outhouse — and suddenly finds himself in the path of the Grinch.
Director Gerard Baldwin’s 1977 TV Special “Halloween Is Grinch Night” is seemingly both a sequel and a prequel, foreshadowing the events of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” while taking some narrative swings that don’t make sense in the context of that film. It’s imperfect with as many misfire musical numbers as it has bonafide bops. (“The Grinch Night Ball” is barely a song, but “Grinch Is Gonna Get You” absolutely slaps.) And while it boasts some delightfully strange animation, its story could be better.
Still, hilarious dialogue (“It’s a wonderful night for eyebrows…“) and some surprisingly effective world-building make “Grinch Night” a holiday TV special worth remembering. It’s rare to find a good quality copy of the film; snatch up any VHS tape of it you stumble on. But even a grainy recording will give you fascinating new insight into one of Christmas’ most notorious villains. It’s a scrumptious bite-sized palate cleanser for whatever horror movie you’re watching tonight, and the perfect appetizer for the jollier holiday season just around the corner. Happy Halloween! —AF
The Aftermath: Dr. Seuss’ Silence About the Whoville Amish Community is Deafening
Prequels are often designed to fill gaps in their predecessor’s lore, but sometimes they raise more questions than they answer. Case in point, “Halloween Is Grinch Night” and its inexplicable revelation that every Who down in Whoville was once apparently Amish.
I understand that this Dr. Seuss-scripted Halloween special was designed as a harmless piece of children’s entertainment, and I won’t deny that it succeeds at extending the “Grinch” brand to encompass Halloween with some adorable animation. But watching it as a grown man who only recently learned of its existence, I couldn’t take my mind off the fact that it revolves around a cast of characters with blatantly Amish names like Josiah and Euchariah Who — many of whom had massive beards to match their apparent faith.
Now I have zero beef with the Amish, and I frankly think it’s wonderful that Whoville made space for such a marginalized religion to flourish. But I still found the news troubling — because there is absolutely no trace of the Amish in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” By that point, all of the Whos appear to live largely secular existences. They love Christmas a lot, but it’s clearly just an excuse to eat Who-Hash and roast beast. And their names are all modern, with the only criteria being that their first name has to rhyme with their shared last name (i.e. Cindy-Lou Who). The abrupt shift forced me to ponder an uncomfortable question: What happened between the two specials that eradicated the thriving Amish community in Whoville?
It’s entirely possible that the Hegelian wheel of progress kept turning and the faith died a natural death as young people were exposed to new technologies. But given that we don’t know how much time passes between the two specials — it could simply be the month of November!— we have to consider more nefarious possibilities. Did some cult leader roll through town and prompt a mass conversion to neo-Paganism? Was there a tragic barn raising accident? Or some Who-ified version of the Crusades that led the Amish to perish? Dr. Seuss and Gerard Baldwin mercifully spared America’s children from that knowledge, but it casts a bit of a damper over the entire Grinch brand if you ask me.
Regardless, I’m thrilled that I’m still learning about new Dr. Seuss works after spending so much of my childhood with him. At 22 minutes long, there’s no excuse for any Geisel completionist to miss out on this one. It goes a long way towards answering the timeless question of “What was the Grinch like during the other 11 months of the year?” — making it all the more rewarding when his heart eventually grows three sizes. —CZ
Those brave enough to join in on the fun can stream “Halloween is Grinch Night” on YouTube through The Museum of Classic Chicago Television. IndieWire After Dark publishes midnight movie recommendations at 11:59 p.m. ET every Friday; special editions arrive at the same time on holidays. Happy Halloween! Read more of our deranged suggestions…
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