Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Bogobam. Here know someone who doesn't get
Speaker 1: into the holiday spirit? Why they must be a Grinch
Speaker 1: with his green fur, scowling face and heart that was
Speaker 1: two sizes too small. The fictional figure of the Grine
Speaker 1: leapt into the American consciousness from his miserly home a
Speaker 1: top Mount Crumpet in seven with the publication of How
Speaker 1: the Grinch Stole Christmas. He's lived on in vintage cartoons,
Speaker 1: full length motion pictures, and merchandise ever since. But did
Speaker 1: the Grinch have a real life doppelganger? Surprisingly yes, and
Speaker 1: more surprisingly it was probably his creator, Dr SEUs Theodore
Speaker 1: SEUs Geisel, under the pseudonym Dr Seuss, wrote an illustrated
Speaker 1: dozens of books, including How the Grin Stole Christmas. His
Speaker 1: creative works for children were initially met with lukewarm commercial success,
Speaker 1: but Dr Seus's exploration and refinement of his craft coincided
Speaker 1: with the mid twentieth century educational evolution of children's reading material.
Speaker 1: Imagine being a learning to read student pro offered a
Speaker 1: time worn Dick and Jane series and then suddenly encountering
Speaker 1: a colorful page turner. Like Seus's Cat in the Hat
Speaker 1: with its inventive illustrations and lyrical rhymes. This is exactly
Speaker 1: what occurred for nearly an entire generation of students who
Speaker 1: were learning to read, rather than learning whole words from repetition,
Speaker 1: which was the Dick and Jane approach. Dr Seus's Cat
Speaker 1: in the Hat book helped lay the foundation for an
Speaker 1: approach that was based on phonics and emphasized making reading
Speaker 1: more fun. The Cat in the Hat became Dr Seus's
Speaker 1: first commercial hit, and the book sold more than a
Speaker 1: quarter of a million copies by Christmas of nineteen fifty seven.
Speaker 1: Before long, it was joined by another Christmas miracle. Over
Speaker 1: the course of a few short weeks, the story of
Speaker 1: the Grinch practically poured from Dr Seus's pen. It was,
Speaker 1: he said in a nineteen seven interview with Red Book magazine,
Speaker 1: the easiest book of my career to write. And he
Speaker 1: said it was so easy because he only needed to
Speaker 1: look in the mirror for inspiration. He told Red Book quote,
Speaker 1: I was brushing my teeth on the morning of the
Speaker 1: last December when I noted a very grinch ish countenance
Speaker 1: in the mirror. It was SEUs something had gone wrong
Speaker 1: with Christmas, I realized, or more likely with me. So
Speaker 1: I wrote the story about my sour friend the Grinch,
Speaker 1: to see if I could rediscover something about Christmas that
Speaker 1: obviously I had lost. If that wasn't proof enough, On
Speaker 1: the occasion of unveiling Dr. Seuss commemorative and posthumous US
Speaker 1: Postal Service stamp in two thousand three, his stepdaughter Lark
Speaker 1: Gray Diamond Kates remarked that quote Grinch was ted on
Speaker 1: his bad days, and the author and his wife drove
Speaker 1: a vehicle with the vanity license plate showcasing just one
Speaker 1: word Grinch. By the way, science has been thinking about
Speaker 1: the Grinch's heart. You know how it started off two
Speaker 1: sizes too small and then grew three sizes in a
Speaker 1: single day, Pretty unusual for most beings. But cardiologist Dr
Speaker 1: David Cass theorized on All Things Considered that perhaps grinches
Speaker 1: are related to the Burmese python. Burmese pythons grow an
Speaker 1: additional of the muscle mass of their hearts in the
Speaker 1: two days following a big meal so that they can
Speaker 1: pump more blood through their bodies, thus enabling digestion. Afterwards,
Speaker 1: their hearts shrink back down with no harm to the snake,
Speaker 1: and the Grinch is certainly slithery. Today's episode was written
Speaker 1: by Laureal Dove and produced by Tyler clag. Brain Stuff
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeart Radio's Has Stuff Works. For
Speaker 1: more on this and lots of other topics that are
Speaker 1: at least as charming as an eel, visit our home
Speaker 1: planet has to Works dot com and for more podcasts
Speaker 1: for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.