animated
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...
television special
A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...
, first airing on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
on October 15, 1973, and was sponsored by
Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since ...
. The special is hosted by
The Cat in the Hat
''The Cat in the Hat'' is a 1957 children's book written and illustrated by the American author Theodor Geisel, using the pen name Dr. Seuss. The story centers on a tall anthropomorphic cat who wears a red and white-striped top hat and a red b ...
The Zax
''The Sneetches and Other Stories'' is a collection of stories by American children's author Dr. Seuss, published in 1961. It is composed of four separate stories with themes of tolerance, diversity, and compromise: "The Sneetches", "The Zax", ...
'' and ''
Green Eggs and Ham
''Green Eggs and Ham'' is a children's book by Dr. Seuss, first published on August 12, 1960. As of 2019, the book has sold 8 million copies worldwide.
The story has appeared in several adaptations, starting with 1973's '' Dr. Seuss on the Loos ...
''.
Allan Sherman
Allan may refer to:
People
* Allan (name), a given name and surname, including list of people and characters with this name
* Allan (footballer, born 1984) (Allan Barreto da Silva), Brazilian football striker
* Allan (footballer, born 1989) (Al ...
reprised his role as the voice of The Cat in the Hat from the 1971 television special. ''Dr. Seuss on the Loose'' was Allen Sherman's final project. He died a little over a month later on November 20, 1973 (10 days shy of his 49th birthday). The special became a popular annual repeat for most of the decade until its last CBS showing on July 12, 1979.
The special aired in various countries in 1975, including ITV in England on January 1, and ABC-TV in Australia on September 21.
The anthology was released as ''Green Eggs and Ham and Other Stories'' for a sing-along videocassette distributed by Fox Video and released in 1994 (later re-printed in 1997) and a Blu-ray deluxe edition released in 2012.
Plot
The Sneetches
The first (and longest) story in the collection tells of a group of yellow bird-like creatures called the Sneetches, some of whom have a green star on their bellies. At the beginning of the story, Sneetches with stars discriminate against and shun those without, as shown by a star-bellied youngster being instructed by his parents, then going outside and ignoring a non-starred Sneetch saying a simple good morning. The star-bellied Sneetches sing a song about their greatness by having a party on the beach, where the unstarred Sneetches are excluded.
An entrepreneur named Sylvester McMonkey McBean (calling himself the Fix-It-Up Chappie) appears and offers the Sneetches without stars the chance to get them with his Star-On machine, for three dollars. The treatment is instantly popular, but this angers the Star-bellied Sneetches, who have not only lost their special status, they cannot discriminate which Sneetch is which. McBean does not share the prejudice of the Sneetches, only caring that he has paying customers, and offers another machine called Star-Off, which removes stars for ten dollars. Soon Sneetches are running from one machine to the next.
: "...until neither the Plain nor the Star-Bellies knew
: whether this one was that one... or that one was this one...
: or which one was what one... or what one was who".
This continues until the Sneetches are penniless and McBean dismantles his machines, tipping his hat to the Sneetches and driving away a rich man. He looks directly at the camera, directly telling the viewer "you can never teach a Sneetch". However, the narrator says McBean was wrong, as the Sneetches learn from this experience that neither plain-belly nor star-belly Sneetches are superior, and they are able to get along and become friends. The sketch ends with a reprise of the beach party song, with the lyrics now reflecting how they are accepting of each other.
The Zax
In "The Zax", a North-going Zax and a South-going Zax bump face to face on the Prairie of Prax. Each one asks the other to make way, but neither budges, saying it is against their upbringing to move any other way. Because they stubbornly refuse to move (east, west, or any direction except their respective headings) to get past each other, the two Zax then face off against each other with their arms crossed, thinking if they stand still, the world will too. The Zax stand so long through nights, weather, and seasons, that eventually, they didn't realize that the world didn't stand still, the world grew, because after a couple years, a
freeway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...
is built around them with a highway overpass over them. The story ends with the Zax still standing there "unbudged" in their tracks.
Green Eggs and Ham
In "Green Eggs and Ham", Sam-I-Am pesters an unnamed character to eat a plate of green eggs and ham. However, he refuses multiple times by responding, "I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-Am". Sam further asks him to eat them in various locations (House, box, car, tree, train, dark, rain, and boat) and with some animals (Mouse, fox, and goat), but is still rebuffed. A running gag exclusive to this short not in the book is the fox in the box being hunted by several dogs and fox hunters on horseback. Finally, he vainly accepts the offer, samples the green eggs and ham. When he declares he likes the food, he happily says, "I do so like green eggs and ham. Thank you. Thank you, Sam-I-Am".
Voice cast
*
Allan Sherman
Allan may refer to:
People
* Allan (name), a given name and surname, including list of people and characters with this name
* Allan (footballer, born 1984) (Allan Barreto da Silva), Brazilian football striker
* Allan (footballer, born 1989) (Al ...
–
The Cat in the Hat
''The Cat in the Hat'' is a 1957 children's book written and illustrated by the American author Theodor Geisel, using the pen name Dr. Seuss. The story centers on a tall anthropomorphic cat who wears a red and white-striped top hat and a red b ...
*
Hans Conried
Hans Georg Conried Jr. (April 15, 1917 – January 5, 1982) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for providing the voices of George Darling and Captain Hook in Walt Disney's ''Peter Pan'' (1953), Snidely Whiplash in Jay Ward's '' Dud ...
– Narrator, North-going Zax, South-going Zax, Fox
*
Paul Winchell
Paul Winchell (''né'' Wilchinsky; December 21, 1922 – June 24, 2005) was an American actor, comedian, humanitarian, inventor and ventriloquist whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1950 to 1954, he hosted ''The Paul Winchell S ...
* In the ''Green Eggs and Ham'' segment, a running gag is that a fox-hunting party with a pack of
hound
A hound is a type of hunting dog used by hunters to track or chase prey.
Description
Hounds can be contrasted with gun dogs that assist hunters by identifying prey and/or recovering shot quarry. The hound breeds were the first hunting dogs. ...
s and two horseback riders chases The Fox every time the word "Fox" gets mentioned.
Subsequent releases
In October 2003, it was released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
by
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...
/
Universal Studios Family Productions
Universal Animation Studios (formerly known as Universal Cartoon Studios) is an American animation studio and a division of Universal Pictures, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast. It has produced direct-to-video sequels to ...
, paired with ''
Halloween is Grinch Night
''Halloween Is Grinch Night'' (titled ''It's Grinch Night'' for the 1992 videocassette release and ''Grinch Night'' for the sing-a-long videocassette release) is a 1977 children's animated Halloween television special and is the prequel to the 1966 ...
''. In June 2012,
Warner Home Video
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros.
It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Vide ...
remastered and re-released the special on a special deluxe edition
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
and
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You?
''Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You?'' (renamed ''Pontoffel Pock & His Magic Piano'' for the sing-a-long videocassette release) is an animated musical television special written by Dr. Seuss, directed by Gerard Baldwin, produced by DePatie–Freleng ...
'' and ''
The Butter Battle Book
''The Butter Battle Book'' is a rhyming story written by Dr. Seuss and published by Random House on January 12, 1984. It is an anti-war story; specifically, a parable about arms races in general, mutually assured destruction and nuclear wea ...
'' also included as extras (which were remastered in high definition exclusively for this release).
Hop on Pop
''Hop on Pop'' is a 1963 children's picture book by Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel), published as part of the Random House Beginner Books series. The book is subtitled "The Simplest Seuss for Youngest Use", and contains several short poems about ...
''
* ''
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
''One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish'' is a 1960 children's book by Dr. Seuss. As of 2001, over six million copies of the book had been sold, placing it 13th on a list of "All-Time Bestselling Children's Books" from ''Publishers Weekly.'' B ...
''
* ''
The Cat in the Hat Comes Back
''The Cat in the Hat Comes Back'' is a 1958 children's book written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss and published by Random House. In this book, a sequel to ''The Cat in the Hat'' (1957), the chaos-causing title character leaves a pink stain in the ...