A Brief Tribute
Today is a grrreat date in animation history.
It came up on today’s Morning Show that this is the date in 1966, when “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” had it’s debut on CBS.
Most of us know that Boris Karloff was the voice of the Grinch in the animated classic. Mr. Karloff even won a Grammy award in 1967 in the spoken word category, when the soundtrack was released as an LP. We also may know that the program was directed by the legendary Chuck Jones, he of Warner Brothers animation fame. It was Chuck Jones's decision to make the character of The Grinch, green. (In the book he is black and white with splashes of pink.)
But fewer people (save for folks in Battle Creek) know that the singing voice on the iconic song, “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch” was none other than Thurl Ravenscroft.
Mr. Thurl Ravenscroft, a voice actor and basso profundo best known as the deep voice behind Tony the Tiger's "They're grrreat!" in Frosted Flakes television commercials for more than five decades. But to sum up his long career in one sentence does the gentleman an injustice. So rather than my rambling on in type, let’s allow Mr. Ravenscroft present his story in his own voice. And a beautiful voice it is.
Mr. Ravenscroft also had a long career in commercials.
A solo recording artist.
And to conclude our brief tribute, a very interesting clip from the 1955 film “Daddy Long Legs” that I think you’ll like.
Mr. Ravenscroft died in 2005.
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