When the Grinch First Stole Christmas

On Sunday, December 18, 1966, the Dr. Seuss TV special "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" was shown for the first time on the CBS Television Network. The Grinch was so mean, he preempted "Lassie," although young fans of the beloved collie probably didn't mind. The half-hour animated special has been shown every year since and has been seen by countless millions, most of whom at this point in time were born decades after its original broadcast.

The issue of TV Guide from that week (December 17-23, 1966) featured a "close-up" of the special along with an ad for the soundtrack album in its local programming pages, plus a three-page article about it in the national section, with some interesting insights.

"How the Grinch Stole Christmas" had already been a best-selling children's book, first published in 1957. When Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) teamed up with Chuck Jones, head of MGM's animation department to adapt it for television, a few details had to be worked out. For instance, what color is the Grinch, actually? In the book he was drawn in black and white with red eyes. It looked good on paper, but in the TV special, where things had to be in fuller color, it was decided the Grinch was green.

Also, according to the TV Guide article, "In studying the 'Who's,' whose village the Grinch invades on Christmas Eve, Jones discovered that 'Lady Who's don't have high-heeled shoes--they have high-heeled feet,' and the little girl, Cindy-Lou, 'is not a regular little girl--she has antennas.'"

Production of the special took nearly a year, was made up of more than 25,000 individual drawings, or cells, and according to TV Guide it was at the time "the most expensive half-hour animated cartoon ever created for television." Well-known monster movie actor Boris Karloff narrated the special, virsitle voice actor June Foray ("Rocky the Squirrel" among many others) voiced Cindy Lou, and Thurl Ravenscroft (voice of "Tony the Tiger" of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes fame) sang, "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch."

Theodor Geisel was 62 at the time, and although he had been married for 39 years, they had no children. "Kids frighten him," an unnamed friend is quoted in the TV Guide article. The article went on to tell an interesting story about Geisel and his relations with kids. "Once, in Cleveland, autographing his books at a department store, Ted found himself facing a hostile group of children, who finally told him that one of their number could draw better than he could. Geisel invited the boy to join him at the blackboard.

"'By God, he could draw better!' Geisel recalls."

Theodor Geisel died in 1991 at the age of 87. But it was predicted, even back in 1966, that Dr. Seuss would live on. "I predict that Dr. Seuss will emerge as one of the great classics of this era. In 2059, children will hoot for joy when they come across Seuss books," said Rudolph Flesch, author of "Why Johnny Can't Read" in TV Guide. Added Bennet Cerf, head of Random House, which published the Dr. Seuss books, "We have some great names on our list--Faulkner, O'Hara, Capote. But Ted Geisel is the only real genius among them."

Pierre's Proffesional Recipes for the Housewife

In the late 1930s, a feature called "Pierre's Professional Recipes for the Housewife" was syndicated to newspapers across the country by J.C. Mutty of Rochester, New York. It was a comic strip featuring a French chef, complete with a mustache and white chef's hat, demonstrating in simple, easy-to-follow illustrations, how to prepare main courses for evening meals. That is, if the Depression-era housewives reading the strip in their local papers could afford things like baked ham, lamb shoulder and crown roast. In some American households at the time, the family was lucky to get canned soup and crackers for dinner.

Still, for people interested in old recipes and chef lore, these comic strips are rather interesting and the recipes might be worth trying, if one has the gumption. The samples reprinted below originally appeared in the Minneapolis Tribune from 1937-1938.

Dixie Baked Ham
(originally published July 20, 1937)

                                                          
Roast Lamb Shoulder
(originally published January 7, 1938)

 

                                                           
Sauerbraten
(originally published January 13, 1938)

                                                           
Crown Roast of Pork or Lamb
(originally published January 21, 1938)

   



                                                        
Shepherd's Roast
(originally published June 17, 1938)

Mobile phones--as conceived in 1945

Found an interesting short article under the title "Your Life Tomorrow" by David O. Woodbury, from the June 23, 1945 issue of the long-defunct Collier's magazine, page 66. Published just before the end of the Second World War, the concept of cell phones, or at least mobile telephones in your car, was discussed as one of the big things to come in post-war America. It would be decades before any such thing was workable enough to become commonplace, but here's how cell phones, if you will, were envisioned in 1945:



Illustration from Collier's, June 23, 1945

   "The mobile telephone will give the driver on the road exactly the same performance that his business or home phone does. Rolling along city streets or speeding down a country highway, you will simply lift the insturment off its hook on your dashboard, hear the familiar, 'Number please,' and get your connection. In town the call will go through almost as fast as the present-day local call. In some cases you may even be able to dial it yourself. In the country you will be making what amounts to a toll call, with the usual waits for connections.

 

   "The trick will be accomplished by a combination of short-wave radio and standard land-line systems. Behind the dashboard will be located a compact low-power transmitter and receiver unit much like that used in Army jeeps and trucks. It will be fed by your car battery and will be entirely automatic.

 

   "When you make a call, your voice will be broadcast ten to thirty miles. Somewhere in this area the telephone company will have a radio pickup station, on the air all the time to receive your signal. These stations will be spotted along the highways closely enough to assure good transmission; in cities they will be so located that steel buildings can't cast radio shadows and so cause fading or echoes. In any area where the service is given, you can be sure of being heard. Frequency modulation will be used to cut down static.

 

  "From the pickup station onward, the system will work as part of the regular telephone network. The operator will signal the exchange you ask for and have your party rung.

 

   "But the service is to be two-way. You can be called while driving along, just as reliably as you can be reached in your home."

 

   The article goes on about how this system would be useful for delivery drivers in particular, and "The sets to be used in trucks and cars are highly developed and reliable. They will be furnished either by the telephone companies on rental or you can purchase your own. Servicing will be done by company electricians or perhaps by special garage mechanics if you get your own set."

 

   "The cost of all of this will not be great. To car owners, having a telephone may be a luxury for a time. But to commercial trucking companies, the cost will be nothing compared to the savings made in operating expenses and time. Drivers who now have to return to headquarters for orders or go ahead entirely on their own will be in touch with the home office wherever they are.

 

   "In the city, practically every type of commercial vehicle can be operated more effectively with telephone aboard. Ambulances, taxis, armored cars, service trucks, delivery wagons -- all can save time and extra miles and give better service, too. The mobile telephone will be especially valuable to doctors and will protect a community better than stationary telephones in an emergency."

 

   The article concludes, "One great advantage on the open road will be that if you are in any kind of trouble, you can get through a speedy call for help that may save a life."

 

   Imagine that!

Barry ZeVan, Tom Ryther and JFK

Anyone who was at least five years old on November 22, 1963 remembers where they were when they first heard the news that President John F. Kennedy had been shot in Dallas and later died. Those who were children then most likely heard about it while in school. Adults heard about it in all different ways, likely either from a television or radio report or through word of mouth.

Whenever I interview someone who was around then, especially people who had careers in media, I like to ask them where they were on that fateful day. I've had the pleasure of talking many times to a couple of talents I grew up watching on television in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, Barry ZeVan and Tom Ryther. The two of them were colleagues and friends who worked together in the Twin Cities market in the 1970s and 1980s, and separately in various other cities. They didn't meet until about seven years after the JFK assassination, but when it happened both of them were young broadcasters, 26 years old at the time, and they both have their own unique stories of where they were when they first heard the news.




KSTP-TV ad promoting Barry ZeVan
 the Weatherman from 1971.

Recalls Barry ZeVan:

I had been attending one of the first BPA (Broadcast Promotion Association) conventions at the Jack Tar Hotel in San Francisco from the 16th to 19th of November, 1963. I had friends in Yuma, Arizona, who asked if I could drive there to visit for a day, and since I had the time, I decided to do so. I arrived in Yuma the night of the 20th, spent the day of the 21st there, then started to drive back home (which was Idaho Falls, Idaho, at the time) the morning of the 22nd. For some reason, I chose to not have the radio on while driving, but decided to turn it on around Noon, Pacific Time. I had just crossed the Colorado River into Needles, California, to get on the highway that would lead me to Las Vegas and northward to Idaho. Just north of Needles, after a commercial had played, I heard Fulton Lewis, Jr., a highly-respected newscaster and commentator, talking about Presidential succession. I thought to myself, "Why?'. Then he stated, for those just tuning in, President Kennedy had been killed. I screamed and nearly went of the road, just south of Searchlight, Nevada (Harry Reid's hometown).

Because there were no cell phones then, I had to wait until I got to Boulder City, Nevada, to call my wife to assure her I'd be driving all night to get home, and for her to not worry about the survival of this country. When I got to Las Vegas about a half-hour later, I heard on the radio all lights on The Strip and downtown, on Fremont Street, would not be lighted until Midnight that night. It was raining and snowing, mixed, that late afternoon and evening, and very chilly for Las Vegas that time of year. The skies were crying, too. I drove through blizzard-like weather all the way to Idaho Falls, which I reached about 7 the next morning. I never turned the radio off. At about 4 a.m., I heard the comforting words of then Senator Hubert Humphrey and Rhode Island's Senator John Pastore, reassuring the nation that all would be well, regardless of the horror we all endured the preceding day. I didn't know at that time Senator Humphrey would become a very good friend to me in later years.

The night I emceed Vice President Mondale's pre-inaugural banquet at the Washington Hilton in January, 1977, former Vice President Humphrey was in the audience and I got to introduce him to come to the podium for his remarks that evening. I told the preceding story (regarding my memories of him that early November 23rd on the snow-swept highway in Southern Idaho), and how he'd inspired me and the rest of the nation, I'm certain, to know we would survive the event of that terrible preceding day.



Tom Ryther became the KSTP-TV sports director in 1971.

Tom Ryther was on the air on radio station WIBV in Belleville, IL, a suburb of St. Louis, when the news broke. His story appeared in my web article, The RYTHER Factor.

It was high noon on that day in 1963, and we had an old newspaper guy who was our news director and all he did was rip and hand us the news copy [off the news wire]. He hands me this thing, ‘There have been shots fired in Dallas. It is believed that President Kennedy has been wounded.’ I was on the air reading a newscast, and I said, ‘We’ll bring you further details as they develop.’ Al [the news director] goes to lunch. When he came back I said "Al, what the…the President of the United States has been shot!"

In the hour after the first bulletin had cleared the wire, while the news director was out to lunch, Tom ran back and forth between the newsroom and the studio, getting reports from the Associated Press and United Press International wires and getting the information on the air as quickly as possible while playing records and taped commercials in the interim. Finally came the bulletin, which he read on the air:

“Word just in from the Associated Press, President John F. Kennedy has died of wounds suffered in Dallas during a motorcade. It is unknown at this time who did the shooting. Investigations are underway.”

Luckily I had gotten some training so I had some experience, [and] I had a cool head that day.

As a journalism student in 1958, Tom had actually met then-Senator Kennedy when he went to Washington with other journalism students as a guest of Sen. Stuart Symington of Missouri. The future President met with the students outside of Senate chambers and answered questions from the students, including Tom. He says:

I never wrote a story about it, but I was in on the interview. I sat there, asked him questions, talked to him. Great charisma.

(Find out about Tom Ryther's memoir, "The Hummelsheim Kid" here.)

Television Listings--November 22, 1963

Banner headline on the November 22, 1963 edition of the Minneapolis Star evening newspaper read, "PRESIDENT SLAIN Sniper Cuts Down Kennedy, Texas Governor in Dallas Parade". It had news and photos about the infamous day in history when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Meanwhile on television, all of the networks broke into programming as soon as the story hit, and presented wall-to-wall news coverage for the next several days.

But the television program listings carried in the paper were submitted in advance, and on page 23A we see what would have been on had the President not been slain. In those days in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, WCCO-4 was CBS (as it is now), KSTP-5 was NBC, KMSP-9 was ABC and WTCN-11 was independent. Since the Star was an evening paper, the listings start at 4 p.m. Friday and go through 3 p.m. Saturday. Everything listed was preempted that day (although we are not entirely clear what WTCN did that day, as it had no network affiliation at that time).

In addition to the listings, ads on the page promote Lee J. Cobb, Harry Guardino and Gena Rowlands in John O'Hara's "It's Mental Work" on "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater" on NBC that night, and local late night movies on Channels 9 and 11.

Programs highlighted by the newspaper included:

6:30--77 SUNSET STRIP. "Lover's Lane," a drama featuring guest Preston Foster.--ch. 9.

7:30--ROUTE 66. "Kiss the Monster, Make Him Sleep." James Coburn and Barbara Mattes appear in drama filmed in Minneapolis.--ch. 4.

7:30--MOVIE. "Goliath Against the Giants." Brad Harris stars in drama shown for the first time on TV in this area. --ch. 11.

8:30--TWILIGHT ZONE. "Night Call." Gladys Cooper is splendid in a weird little story about an elderly invalid who gets phone calls without the aid of the phone company.--ch. 4.

9:00--ALFRED HITCHCOCK. "Body in the Barn." A suspicious woman is positive that her neighbor has been murdered by his wife, and she wants justice done. The story is well paced and cast. Lillian Gish, Peter Lind Hays and Maggie McNamara have the leads.--ch. 4.

9:00--JACK PAAR. Guests: Liberace, Milt Kamen, Cassius Clay and Mary McCarthy.--ch. 5.

10:30--STEVE ALLEN. Guests: Joe Flynn, Janice Baker, Jack Carter and comedienna Gina Wilson. --ch. 4.

10:30--TONIGHT. Guests: Kirk Douglas, Dave King, Henny Youngman and the Willis Sisters.--ch. 5.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

12:30--SPORTS SPECTACULAR presents charity basketball game between the Harlem Globetrotters and Prince Phillip's Taverners.--ch. 4.

12:30--AMERICAN BANDSTAND. Guests: Johnny Mathis, Connie Stevens, Johnny Crawford and Annette.--ch. 9.

1:15--FOOTBALL. Minnesota vs. Wisconsin.--ch. 4.

"Oddities in the News"--from 1910

This column of tidbits appeared in the February 24, 1910 edition of the Minneapolis Journal evening newspaper, kind of similar to the "News of the Weird" and similar newspaper columns that appear today. One might think everything that happened in 1910 would be an oddity by today's standards, but these were particularly noteworthy to the editor more than a century ago.

Doctors Couldn't Fix His Eye; It Was Glass.
   Joseph Cunningham had trouble with a peddler in Hudson street, New York, and his left eye was cracked. He went with it in his hand to St. Vincent's hospital, but the doctors couldn't help him for it was glass, and couldn't even be glued together.

Train Ran Over Him but He Was Not Hurt.
   While on his way to school at Columbus, Ohio, Dewey Sims tried to cross the tracks in front of a train and fell. Before he could arise, the train was upon him, but he had fallen such a way he did not receive a scratch as it passed over him.

Died as She Played "Home, Sweet Home."
   Literally carried away by her own music, Miss Katherine Beason died playing "Home, Sweet Home," at Attica, Ind. She had a weak heart and doctors said being transported by her own music caused it to give way.

Cured by Dream, Man Throws Away Crutches.
   After suffering long from rhumatism, H. M. Post of Owosea, Mich. dreamed he took a new treatment for the malady. When he awoke he found himself completely cured and threw away his crutches.

Woman Has Spent Much of 102 Years in Sleep.
    During most of her 102 years, Mrs. Susan Hurlbut of Wilkes-Barre has slept from 10 p.m. until 7 a.m. She is in good health and attributes her longevity to plenty of sleep, and regular habits.

Kills 216 Rats With "Bite-Proof" Gloves.
   Arthur Crawford, foreman of E. C. Converce's home near Greenwich, Conn., killed 216 rats in half an hour. There is a rat plague at the henneries. Crawford covers his hands with "bite-proof" gloves, pulls the rats out of holes and breaks their necks.

Convict's Invention Wins Him a Pardon.
   William Howard is to be released from the state prison of Nebraska, where he has been serving a sentence for burglary. The cause is a self-balancing aeroplane he has invented, said to be better than all machines so far. He has been promised financial backing.

Lodges in New Henhouse Since Home Burned.
   In a few years fire has destroyed four fine homes of Mrs. Evelyn W. Murray, and she now lives in a chicken house near the site of her last house, near Somerville, N. J. She is wealthy, but prefers the chicken house to a hotel, partly, it is said, because she will not intrust animals on the place to servants.

Needs Wife and Job to Get That $20,000.
   John E. Mason, a young Englishman in Boston, will have to get married and a job to claim a $20,000 legacy left by his father. He has only a year, and at present has neither the prospect of a job or a wife.

Postoffice Closed; Nobody Wants Job.
   Because the government is unable to get any one to serve as postmaster the office at Dry Brook, Ulster county, is abolished. Nobody wants the job because it pays through the cancellation of stamps only about $1 a week.

Grain Belt beer punch recipe

   This recipe actually appeared in the October 1962 issue of the Grain Belt Diamond, a newsletter for the employees of Minneapolis Brewing Company/Grain Belt Breweries, Inc. in Minneapolis. (The company is long gone but Grain Belt Premium is still around, brewed by August Schell Brewing Company in New Ulm, MN.) Whip up a batch of this for your next holiday party…if you dare.



 DIAMOND CLEAR PUNCH

   Get an oversize bowl and mix the following ingredients in the order given. Stir well, and add as much ice as possible. Serve when chilled.

   Grapefruit Juice, 2 quarts

   Weak black tea, 1 quart

   Lemon Juice, 1 cup

   Light Puerto Rican Rum, 1 quart

   Strong Grain Belt Premium Beer, 8 twelve-ounce bottles

   Sugar to taste, about a cup. Remember, always put the beer in just ahead of the sugar.

(Left: Stanley and Albert were cartoon mascots for Grain Belt Premium in the late 1950s and early 1960s.)