When you read How The Grinch Stole Christmas, it takes about 10 minutes. Chuck Jones' challenge was making those same rhyming couplets and drawings come alive for television. Jones worked attentively to create the Grinch model based on Dr. Seuss' book and choreographed actions that were only briefly mentioned in the book. According to Linda Jones, Geisel was not always entirely satisfied, but knew Chuck well enough to trust him with the character design and the story to make an engaging half hour special.

Linda Jones explained, "Making character animation without any CGI enhancements is an expensive proposition, but my father insisted on doing it correctly and using the best animators--Maurice Noble, Auril and Richard Thompson, Hall Ashmead and Phil Roman. Good character animation costs $110,000-150,000 per minute. Factor that by 20 and you realize the money involved. I recall there was a Variety review at the time claiming The Grinch was the most expensive animation made for CBS-TV. After 30 years, its success is proof it was not waste of money."

Roger Mayer, Leonard Maltin, June Foray, Chuck Jones and Sara Karloff.

The story was expanded from the book with musical numbers like "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" and "Welcome Christmas" (composed by Albert Hague, lyrics by Dr. Seuss and vocals by Thurl Ravenscroft), as well as the Grinch's celebrated sleigh ride and by developing the part of his devoted canine friend Max, who was originally a minor character. I was glad to hear that Chuck Jones made Max a major character because he is one of my favorite characters when it comes to teaching us the true meaning of Christmas.