Part One of Harry's Adventures in Whoville.... Re: THE GRINCH WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS...

Recently, I returned from a mission out to Los Angeles. One of my many adventures this last time took me to the set of.... THE GRINCH WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS. Well...

I knew heading into this trip that I had problems with the production. My first problem was the idea of giving the Grinch a back story... and based on the early script reviews I was horrified to hear about some sort of High School background.

To me, the concept that the Grinch went to High School just horrified me. I never thought of it in those types of terms. Sure, within the universe of Dr Seuss... there is most certainly an education system... But... I didn’t want to really think about a BEVERLY HILLS 90210 in primary colors.

I didn’t want to hear the ‘whatevers’ and the ‘that is so dones’ and so on. To me, the Grinch was a bad seed. Born with a heart as black as coal. That’s all I need know. I assumed that the Grinch had lived his whole life up in that cave, his parents abandoning him because he was a brat, and him growing up educating himself and becoming a self-made Grinch hating outsiders. Content with his own existence like some Green Guru up on high above Whoville. Till that pesky singing came... and their off-note cheery happy voices annoying him... piercing the privacy of his sanctuary.... He had to silence them... so he takes action.

But... that really is my opinion of things. It’s my perception. My belief of what came before, and I guess it’s these filmmaker’s choice to go in a different direction. Afterall... whatever they do... it doesn’t change the book at all. As a matter of fact, not one line or sketch is diminished. It is... wholly and purely the work of Dr Seuss.

Then another thought hit me... Imagine this... All of us are back in 1938.... The word has just come in that Judy Garland and not Shirley Temple, has been cast as Dorothy Gale in the big production of Baum’s WIZARD OF OZ.

We hear that many of the original sequences have been cut from the film. That the director of CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS and RED DUST has been tapped to direct the film. It was an assignment. Everyone agrees that Judy Garland is waaaaaay too old to play Dorothy.

So... That was what I was taking in my mind in the trip. I want to give Ron Howard the benefit of the doubt going into this... but he has to be making WIZARD OF OZ here. I mean... WILLOW wasn’t a very good movie, and that was his only foray into the world of fantasy. But seriously... How has APOLLO 13, RANSOM, PARENTHOOD and EDtv really prepared Ron Howard to make this... the biggest children’s fantasy film since WIZARD OF OZ?

I had a billion questions to be answered on set. Not so much in an audible fashion. I needed to see what was going on. Sit and watch Ron direct this set. See how he handles this universe. Watch and see if the production design was fantastical.... see if Rick Baker was on pace with Tuttle.... How did the Who’s look? How was their dress? Their homes? Their vehicles? What did the Grinch’s cave look like? What about Jim Carrey?

I woke up early the morning I was to depart to the set. I got dressed, tied the Grinch tie that Annette Kellerman gave me last Christmas... I was fully ready for this adventure.

A P.A. came and picked me up at the Hotel, and as we drove into the behind the scenes world of the Universal Lot, I got a bit antsy. Wow.... I’m not on a Tram. I’m behind the scenes on the Universal lot... and I’m not on a tram. That’s really cool for me. But, as I ride over to the set, I put on my badge which gives me complete access all over the Grinch set.. and I walk past the security guard. As I walk into the studio I notice... it’s really damn cold. People are wearing masks... breathing masks... like the type that construction workers wear in subdivisions. Hmmm... why?

I continue walking around, staring at the backside two by four gridwork of the sets. A lotta lumber here. Finally I find an entrance and walk onto the set itself.

First impressions?

Remember how big that Christmas Village at the mall seemed when you were 4 years old. That strangely artificial but magical shiny friendly world? I felt like a Burl Ives puppet on a Christmas Special world. Fake snow was falling from above, and this.... this humoungous set. This was Whoville.

No second guessing it. It was in fact Whoville. Only... where were the Whos?

That’s when I caught my first glimpse of a Rick Baker WHO.

You ever seen that old Twilight Zone.... EYE OF THE BEHOLDER? The one where a lady with a bandaged face is talking to doctors, whose heads we never see. We’re lead to believe that some sort of horrifying disfiguring malady has befallen the lady. But when we finally see her face she looks like a babe, we’re told the operation was a failure... she begins crying, and we pan up to see those strange faces. Well... My instant reaction was that. Now, Baker’s design isn’t as impressionistic as that.

In fact, as I got closer I couldn’t tell where the make up and the person began or ended. This makeup had pores in the skin. The top and bottom lips moved. How was that possible? Those teeth.... those are fake, but... How are they attached... that one is eating a tuna sandwich... how are those teeth staying in?

Then I look, and I see a pair of Whos that I recognize through the makeup.... Rance and Clint Howard.

As I walk over to where Rance is sitting, I marvel at his makeup. It is... quite frankly.... stunning. He has a beard that goes from his chin to his ankles. I’m 3 feet away and staring hard (he’s reading a book) and each hair is apparently plugged into his Who-skin. This is amazing. That profile... it’s nothing like Rance Howard... But the eyes... those belong to Rance. Without a doubt... and them bugged eyes over there... them’s Clint’s.

About this time the publicist finds me. I tried to hide, but I was the only human not wearing a mask.... so I guess that kinda gave me away. Oh yeah... and weighing 300 + lbs and being technicolor redhaired.

He introduces me to Ron, and ya know... try as I might, I can’t get the thought out of my head.... “How are Mr and Mrs C?” Thank God I was able to stifle the embarrassingly lame comment... but I tell you.... It was dead on... stuck in my head.

I so completely grew up with HAPPY DAYS that when faced with Ron, it takes immense concentration to not say Richie... to not ask about Ralph or Potsie or Joanie.... and the Fonz. But I managed to go the entire day without ever making one of those references. It’s amazing.... Ron has directed a damn big load of films... Lotsa pretty dang good ones. But... I can’t help but think of how he was introduced in my mind all those years ago.

At this point... he’s setting up a shot of Jeffrey Tambor (Mayor of Whoville) getting his earhair trimmed by his assistant, played by Clint. Now, I have to admit this. I had no idea whatsoever that it was Tambor in that makeup. He was... completely enveloped. Not to say that Clint’s makeup wasn’t equally amazing, it is just that... well... no amount of makeup can disguise Eaglebauer from my eyes.

I turn to watch the background players. There’s a Who sweeping snow from some Escher-ish steps, there’s a Rockwellian WHO Hot-dog type a thing salesman... A lady WHO with an armful of presents. In the far background there is a semi-Toon Town Bugsy the Cab looking vehicle driving. I’m told that computer snow will be added in the scene. After a bit of watching the scene... I leave the Publicist behind and begin exploring the set on my own.

I take out my Portable CD player, pull out my Busby Berekley CD (#1) and begin listening to the songs of FOOTLIGHT PARADE, 42ND STREET, GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 and DAMES. It’s the happy sort of music that fits the surreal festive universe. I begin walking about the town.... It is a town by the way... it’s huge. Around the skyline the glowing blue of the bluescreen acts as a perfect highlight to the buildings’ tops. I imagine the Seussian Alps... the strange birds and clouds... I look in the WHO shop windows at bizarre Seussian hats. A food shop loaded with nothing but the SAM STORE sized containers of strange foods. It seems nearly everything costs a dollar to ten dollars.

(NOTE: I am getting really sleepy right now... it’s 4:19 am Cool Standard Time, and I must be getting some rest. I’ll do part two either later today or tomorrow night. There is ALOT more, but this is 1600 words as is. In the next part, I’ll talk about my talk with Rick Baker, Ron Howard, Molly Shannon, the Babe Who, Cindy Who’s mom... her real mom, Kevin Mack, various Make-up types. Folks... To put it mildly... We’ve never seen a fantasy on this type of make-up scale. It is huge. Eating at the commisary with over eighty Whos, the adventures in Golfcarting. Visiting the original Lon Chaney PHANTOM OF THE OPERA set... privately. The Grinch’s cave, the Psycho house and the Bates Motel.... Jaws out of the water... and much much more)