Halloween Is Grinch Night

Premiered October 29, 1977.

On an autumn evening in Whoville, Josiah Who (Hal Smith) notices that the sour-sweet wind is blowing.  Josiah tells his family that they need to get indoors and stay there, because the winds are a sign that Grinch Night is about to begin!

At his home on Mount Crumpit, the Grinch (Hans Conreid) hitches his paraphernalia wagon to his dog Max (Henry Gibson) and sets out towards Whoville.  Max doesn’t enjoy working for the Grinch and wonders to himself why he still does it.

Whoville’s Grinch Alarm Warden Sergeant Samuel S. McPherson (Jack DeLeon) watches the Grinch’s movements and promises the Whos that he will keep them posted about his activities.

On his way to Whoville, the Grinch defoliates trees, runs over flowers and chases after the rare wuzzy woozoo.

In the middle of Grinch Night, Josiah’s grandson Euchariah (Gary Shapiro) says he needs to go outside to use “the euphemism.”  Unfortunately, Euchariah is caught by the sour-sweet winds and carried far away to the mountains.  He winds up in the exact same spot as the Grinch.  

The Grinch tells Euchariah he has no time for him and continues towards Whoville.  The young Who realizes that he has to be brave, stall for time and prevent the Grinch from reaching the town. 

Euchariah asks the Grinch to scare him.  The Grinch responds by sending an array of monsters and ghosts at Euchariah.  Can Euchariah stop the Grinch from Grinching Whoville?

J.A. Morris says:

I saw this special back when it first premiered and I recall being very excited that the Grinch was getting a second holiday special.  So I bring some nostalgia to this review.  When I was a kid, I remember being confused because at the end of his Christmas special, it would appear that the Grinch had reformed his ways and become a better person.  I guess this special doesn’t share any continuity with the first (any more than A Charlie Brown Christmas shares any continuity with It’s The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown).  

We should mention that in spite of the title, the word “Halloween” is never mentioned in the special. Nor is trick or treating or anything traditionally associated with All Hallow’s Eve.  I guess in the Who’s universe (Whoniverse?) Grinch Night is their equivalent to Halloween.  

Euchariah is a sympathetic protagonist.  Unlike the adult Whos, he stands up to the Grinch.  The Grinch we see here seems a little more evil than in his previous appearance, striking out not because he finds Christmas annoying, but simply because he feels like it.  

The animation is gorgeous, especially the sequence where the Grinch tries to frighten Euchariah, which is the high point of the special.  It's filled with creepy ghosts and monsters that show off Dr. Seuss' wonderful imagination.   It's a visually stunning sequence.

There's also an amusing scene where the Grinch's eyebrows come to life and chase Euchariah!

The voice cast is also strong.  Hans Conreid takes over the voice of the Grinch from the deceased Boris Karloff and he also narrates the special.  Conreid was a famous voice actor, best remembered for voicing Captain Hook and Snidely Whiplash.  Hal Smith, who has voiced Santa in multiple holiday specials, is good as Josiah Who.  Henry Gibson voices Max the dog and he sings a sweet, sad song which questions why Max continues to do the Grinch’s dirty work for the Grinch.  

This is a solid, entertaining special, but it’s not in the same class as How The Grinch Stole Christmas!, which is probably why it never became an annual holiday TV fixture.  For starters, the songs and dialogue are very vague about what the Grinch will do to Whoville.  Will he cause them actual, physical harm?  Steal from their homes like he did at Christmas?  Or just give them a very intense Grinch Night scare?  

Halloween Is Grinch Night features songs composed by Joe Raposo, who wrote dozens of great songs for Sesame Street and The Electric Company.  The songs are all pretty good, especially Max’s aforementioned song.  However, Raposo's tunes are a step down from the songs featured in the Christmas special.  They won’t stick with you forever like “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” or “Fahoofores Dahoodores.”  

Halloween Is Grinch night is something everyone should watch at least once, but I doubt it’ll be something most will want to watch every October.  

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 jack o'lanterns.

RigbyMel says: 

I remember seeing Halloween is Grinch Night on the Disney Channel sometime in the mid-1980s.  I thought it was ok then and still feel like it's pretty ok now.  

I appreciate the trippy-ness of the sequence where the Grinch attempts to frighten our protagonist. (Side note: on the subject of trippy-ness, it seems to me that some of the graphic design in this sequence owes a lot to the 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine -- just played for creeps as opposed to peace and love.)  

Also the sheer unholy joy the Grinch takes in being his grinch-iest self  is quite fun to watch. 

However, this special doesn't have the magic that makes the 1966 version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas a classic that people come back to year after year.   I think there are a couple of reasons for this.   First,  this special isn't based on a book like its better known sibling.  As a result, although the rhythm and rhyme are fun (how could they not be with Dr. Seuss?),  they're just not quite as catchy and memorable as in the original Christmas classic. 

Secondly, I think the story is not quite as satisfying plot-wise.  What exactly is the Grinch going to do when he descends Mount Crumpit?   Scare anyone foolish enough to be outside?  Prank them?  Steal their apple cider?  It's not really clear.  

Plus, unlike in the 1966 Christmas special, there is no "heart grew three sizes" type transformation in this  -- meaning the Grinch remains a rather flat character in Halloween Is Grinch Night. Maybe this has something to do with Halloween being less codified than Christmas as a holiday.  Christmas changes of heart are common -- a la Ebenezer Scrooge and the Grinch himself.   Perhaps I am reading too much into an animated special aimed at entertaining children? 

As J.A. Morris mentions,  the special makes no mention of Halloween other than in the title.  However, the setting is definitely autumnal and definitely spooky.   

All in all, Halloween is Grinch Night is enjoyable enough, but not a perennial classic special. 

RigbyMel's rating: 

2 jack o'lanterns.

Daffy Duck's Easter Egg-Citement

Premiered April 1, 1980.

Three Easter/Spring-themed cartoon shorts starring some of your favorite Looney Tunes characters!

With Easter approaching, the pressure is on for hens, since Easter is peak egg producing season. Foghorn Leghorn tells his employees they need to speed up production so they have enough eggs for the holiday. Foghorn puts extra pressure on Miss Prissy, who hasn't laid a good egg in months.  She keeps laying oddly-shaped eggs.

This changes when she lays a golden egg!  She thinks it's bad news and tosses it down a hill.

Nearby, Daffy Duck and Sylvester are hungry and scrounging for food.

When they decide to steal an egg from a chicken coop, they wind up stumbling on the golden egg.

This creates a conflict between Daffy and his feline "pal," because they both have dreams of using the egg to gain riches.

Elsewhere, a chocolate factory in Mexico is producing Easter candy.  The factory's owners hire Daffy to guard the chocolate from the local mice.  The town's mayor collects all the money the people have in an attempt to buy chocolate bunnies for the kids.  Daffy takes the money, but he sends the mayor away without any candy.

When all hope seems lost, Speedy Gonzalez, fastest mouse in all Mexico appears on the scene and is determined to save Easter for the children.

But Daffy takes his duty as security guard seriously and pulls out all stops to defeat Speedy.

In the special's final short, as winter turns to spring, Daffy flies north with a flock of ducks.  But Daffy's tired of the same old routine and decides to try a different method of migration.

He tries hitch hiking and skiing, but gets nowhere.  Daffy eventually finds a horse and decides to ride it up north, but the horse is not on board with this idea.

J.A. Morris says:
Longtime readers of this blog know that we're huge fans of classic Warner Brothers cartoons and that Daffy was a big part of our childhood.  However, this Easter special is a big step down in quality from the earlier Daffy shorts.

It's worth noting that when Daffy Duck's Easter Egg-Citement premiered on NBC, the network also aired The Daffy Duck Show as part of its Saturday morning lineup.  This show mostly consisted of cartoons produced in the 1960s by the Depatie-Freleng company that also featured Speedy Gonzalez, Foghorn Leghorn and Sylvester shorts.  NBC did not have the rights to air Bugs Bunny cartoons, which is why everyone's favorite "Wascally Wabbit" doesn't appear in this special.

The positive part of this is that in Bugs' absence, we get to see Daffy interact with characters like Sylvester and (briefly) Foghorn Leghorn, something rarely seen in the classic shorts.
The show opens with Daffy talking to his animators, a nice (if obvious) call-back to the classic "Duck Amuck" cartoon.  It's a fun bit (Daffy calls the animator a "Van Gogh of vandalism!") but ultimately it just makes you notice that this Easter special is inferior.

The two Easter-themed shorts were entertaining and the Speedy toon made me smile a bit (especially Daffy's encounter with a vat of chocolate), and Mel Blanc does a nice job with all the voices.  The last short deals with duck migration and has nothing to do Easter.  It's the weakest portion of the special.  However, this special isn't a "forgotten classic" by any means.  Daffy Duck's Easter Egg-Citement rarely made me laugh, but it's generally enjoyable and fans of Daffy and the other characters will want to seek it out if they haven't seen it.

This special is available on DVD.  It can be found on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 6.

Daffy Duck's Easter Egg-Citement is mildly entertaining, especially the Speedy short, and nicely animated.  I'm giving it a marginal endorsement for Looney Toons fanatics, but it's not likely to become a part of anyone's annual Easter viewing.

J.A. Morris' rating:

2 and a half Easter Eggs.

RigbyMel says: 

As J.A. Morris, says this special was produced by the Depatie-Freleng company, which also produced things like the classic 1970s Dr. Seuss specials featuring the Lorax and the Cat in the Hat as well as the Pink Panther cartoons.   Unfortunately, their work with Looney Tunes characters is not generally characterized as being classic at all.  In fact, many cartoon historians cite the Depatie-Freleng era as the nadir of Looney Tunes production.    I think I am inclined to agree with that school of thought.

To my eye,  Daffy Duck's Easter Egg-Citement feels like a cheaply animated rehash of things that had been done better previously.  The timing seems off and the music cues are nowhere near as cleverly deployed.  It even sounds like Mel Blanc is phoning in his voice characterizations a bit.  It's not utterly awful, but it really does not stand up well when compared to the classic Looney Tunes shorts.
 

It's nice to see Daffy and pals cutting up Easter-style on screen, I just wish the production values and scripting were up to classic standards.

RigbyMel's rating: 

1 and a half Easter Eggs.

Looney Tunes: "Gift Wrapped"

Premiered February 16, 1952.

On Christmas morning, Sylvester (Mel Blanc) wakes up and sneaks a peek at his Christmas present.  It's a rubber mouse, which doesn't satisfy him.

He hears the song "Jingle Bells" emanating from a present for Granny (Bea Benadaret).  Sylvester looks inside and sees Tweety (Blanc).

He switches the gift tags and when Granny hands him the present which now has his name on it, proceeds to swallow the bird!  Granny quickly knocks the bird out of the cat.

Sylvester tries to get Tweety several more times, always coming up empty.

Tweety points to a giant box and tells the cat it's his present.  Inside is Hector the bulldog (Blanc again), who swallows Sylvester.

Granny forces Hector to "drop him!"

It appears that Granny will spend Christmas day disciplining her pets!  Will any heavenly peace be found in the house this Christmas?

J.A. Morris says:

This short can be summed up in one sentence: It's like most other Sylvester & Tweety shorts, except it takes place at Christmas.  If you enjoy their cartoon battles, you'll like "Gift Wrapped." There's lots of great gags, involving fishing rods and pop guns.  And because it's a Warner Brothers cartoon, we get the obligatory stick of dynamite.  Sylvester tries to catch Tweety in many clever ways, my favorite is directing a toy train into his mouth!

The character Granny is usually associated with voice actress June Foray, who voiced Granny for sixty years.  However, in Gift Wrapped, she's voiced Bea Benaderet, who originated the role.

Benaderet was a veteran of many film, TV and radio programs.  She's somewhat forgotten today, but she performed on radio shows like The Jack Benny Show, Fibber McGee and Molly and The Mel Blanc Show.  Benaderet also provided the original voices for Miss Priss (Foghorn Leghorn's love interest) and Betty Rubble in the original Flintstones series.

Bea Benaderet poses with her "alter ego," Betty Rubble.

Her most prominent "live action" role was Kate Bradley in Petticoat Junction.

Gift Wrapped is available on DVD, it can be found on volume 2 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection.  

I've been a fan of Sylvester and Tweety shorts for as long as I can remember.  Placing these characters in a Christmas setting makes them even more enjoyable!

J.A. Morris' rating:

4 candy canes!

RigbyMel says: 

I remember seeing and enjoying this short when I was younger,  whether on Saturday mornings or as part of some sort of holiday programming, I am not certain.   It's still pretty darned funny and the Christmas-ness of it lends itself well to cartoon gags and mayhem around the tree in classic Warner Brothers style.

Don't know that mistletoe will go over well in this scenario ... ! 

Fun fact:  the "Night Before Christmas" narration at the beginning of this short was performed by Daws Butler who is probably best known for his work in various Hanna Barbera cartoons.  He voiced Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear and Elroy Jetson among other characters.

Shish-kebab!  (Oh dear!) 

This is a great Looney Tunes short wrapped up with Christmas packaging to excellent effect.

Plus we get gorgeous background paintings like this one! 

If you're a fan of Warner Brothers cartoons, this one is well worth adding to your annual viewing.

RigbyMel's rating: 

4 candy canes!