Horton Hears a Who! (TV special) Information & Horton Hears a Who! (TV special) Links at HealthHaven.com

Horton Hears a Who! is a 1970 television half-hour long special based on the Dr. Seuss book of the same name, Horton Hears a Who!. It was produced and directed by Chuck Jones - who previously produced the Seuss special How the Grinch Stole Christmas! - for MGM Television. The special contains songs with lyrics by Seuss and music by Eugene Poddany, who would later write songs for Seuss' book, The Cat in the Hat Song Book.

Today, the rights to the special are owned by Warner Bros. Animation and Turner Entertainment, as the latter owns the pre-1986 MGM library (the former's parent company bought Turner in 1996).

[edit] Plot

Horton is an elephant splashing in the pool one day when he hears a person calling for help. The sound is coming from a small dust speck. Dr. H. Hoovey, an astronomer on the speck, believes that there's a world beyond the speck, but the rest of the Whos don't believe him. He explains to Horton that the speck is in danger if it's floating around. "A person's a person, no matter how small," says Horton as he decides to save the Whos. But the other jungle citizens don't believe him as they are unable to see them and can't hear as well. Meanwhile, the citizens of Whoville refuse to believe the existence of Horton. Jane Kangaroo, the Wickersham brothers, Raja the tiger and a crocodile are Horton's main and worst tormentors, but at last, the Whos make themselves heard. At the end of the special, Dr. Hoovey is relaxing in his chair when he sees a small speck of dust and hears a "Help!" on it, and says the final line: "Oh, no!"

[edit] Production notes

Some animated cells featuring noisemaking instruments were reused from the 1966 television special How the Grinch Stole Christmas!.
The Mellomen, including Thurl Ravenscroft, a singer on How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, performed another song for Horton Hears A Who!.
Both Chuck Jones and Ted Giesel are famous for their styles of eye pupils. Ted Giesel used horseshoe shaped pupils while Chuck Jones used large circular pupils with solid colors. Both of these types of pupils are used in this cartoon as well as the 1966 special, and even a combined pupil.
Dr. H. Hoovey resembles Chuck Jones.
The song "Be Kind to Your Small Person Friends" is based on "Stars and Stripes Forever".

[edit] Home video releases

The special was frequently included on home video laserdisc and DVD releases of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!,^[1] and was released on its own DVD on March 4th, 2008. Bonus features include a songs-only version, the cartoons inspired by Horton Hatches the Egg, The Butter Battle Book, and Daisy-Head Mayzie, and the 1994 documentary In Search of Dr. Seuss. ^[2] It will also be available on high definition Blu-Ray Disc on October 6, 2009 with all the bonus features except Horton Hatches the Egg, a DVD of the special, and a Digital Copy.^[3]

[edit] Cast

Hans Conried as Narrator / Horton / Dr. H. Hoovey / Raja
Chuck Jones as Junior Kangaroo / Whizzer McWoff / JoJo / Owl
June Foray as Jane Kangaroo / Birds
The Mellomen as Wickersham brothers
Frank Welker as the Crocodile
The MGM Chorus as Whoville

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Horton Hears a Who! at the Internet movie database

[0] The Digital Bits: DVD Review-Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas

[1] Reuters.com Warner Home Video Releases Dr. Seuss' Classic Animated Television Special Horton Hears a Who! on DVD, in an All-New, Re-Mastered Deluxe Edition March 4, 2008

[2] WHV Press Release: Seasonal Family Classics Combo Packs (Blu-ray)

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