Grinch The Grinch first appeared in the May 1955 issue of Redbook in a 32-line poem called "The Hoobub and the Grinch," but made his book debut in the 1957 story "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss, published as both a Random House book and in an issue of "Redbook" magazine. In 1966, the story was adapted into an animated television featurette of the same name, which was directed by Chuck Jones and included the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch". Boris Karloff serves as both the story's narrator and the voice of the Grinch,
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (TV special) were credited at the time. On December 18, 1966, MGM released a soundtrack LP in conjunction with the television special. CD releases include albums produced by Island (1995) and Mercury Records. In the recorded version, Boris Karloff does all voices including Cindy Lou Who. The song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch", which comically describes the level of the Grinch's despicable nature, includes all verses with their original rhyming lyrics and the isolated song tracks have different durations due to being re-recorded. On October 5, 1999, Rhino Entertainment released a new CD soundtrack (which included the soundtrack for another Dr.