The History of Animation: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

The 1960s were a decade of a huge change for animation: Gone were theatrical animated shorts, and animation had been taking television by storm, to the point that now short movies were being made entirely for television, such as the Peanuts specials...and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

The special's director, Chuck Jones, had known the story's author, Dr. Seuss (or rather, by his real name, Theodore Geisel) for many years, collaborating for the Private Snafu shorts, and Jones always wanted to adapt one of Geisel's books.  Naturally, when Chuck Jones wanted to take a stab at a television special, he picked one perfect for the Holidays, How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

To voice the Grinch himself, famous monster actor Boris Karloff was chosen, and the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" was performed by the booming voice of voice actor Thurl Ravenscroft, as you can hear below: