''Horton Hears a Who!'' is a 1970 American animated television special based on the 1954

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel (;"Seuss"
'' Horton Hears a Who! ''Horton Hears a Who!'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss. It was published in 1954 by Random House. This book tells the story of Horton the Elephant and his adventures saving Whovi ...

'' It was produced and directed by Chuck Jones who previously produced the Seuss special ''

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas!'' is a Christmas children's story by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel written in rhymed verse with illustrations by the author. It follows the Grinch, a grouchy, solitary creature who tries to cancel Christmas by st ...

'' for

MGM Television MGM Television Worldwide Group and Digital (alternatively Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television Group and Digital, commonly known as MGM Television and then-known as MGM/UA Television; common metonym: Lion) is an American television production/dis ...

and first broadcast March 19, 1970 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 ...

. The special contains songs with lyrics by Seuss and music by Eugene Poddany, who previously wrote songs for Seuss' book, '' The Cat in the Hat Song Book''.

Plot

In the Jungle of Nool,

Horton the Elephant Horton the Elephant is a fictional character from the 1940 book ''Horton Hatches the Egg'' and 1954 book ''Horton Hears a Who!'', both by Dr. Seuss. In both books and subsequent media, Horton is characterized as a kind, sweet-natured and naïve e ...

bathes in the watering hole, when he sees a small dust speck floating by. He hears a call for help coming from the dust speck and, thinking someone is living on it, saves it from going over a waterfall. Setting it on top of a clover, he discovers it is home to a tiny town called

Whoville Whoville, sometimes written as Who-ville, is a fictional town created by author Theodor Seuss Geisel, under the name Dr. Seuss. Whoville appeared in the 1954 book '' Horton Hears a Who!'' and the 1957 book '' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!;'' ...

, home to the microscopic Whos. One of the Whos, scientist Dr. H. Hoovey (replacing the Mayor), communicates with Horton through a device he built to see other worlds outside of the speck. The other Whos, however, are confused by and jealous of Dr. Hoovey’s intelligence, and do not believe his views. Horton promises to protect Whoville from harm, feeling that "a person's a person, no matter how small." The other animals in the jungle — particularly the cynical Jane Kangaroo — think he is crazy, and do not believe in the existence of the Whos (mainly due to believing that anything which cannot be seen or heard is nonexistent). Thinking Horton's behavior is a problem, Jane sends the Wickersham Brothers to take the clover with the speck from him. They give the clover to the black-bottomed eagle Whizzer McWoff, who flies away with it. Horton pursues McWoff across the mountains below, but the eagle drops the clover into a large field of clovers and leaves Horton to find it. Horton searches frantically through the field, eventually finding his clover, and learns from Dr. Hoovey that Whoville was badly damaged when the clover was dropped. The other Whos, seeing the destruction as proof that Dr. Hoovey was right, rally behind him. Jane finds Horton with the clover and, with help from the Wickersham Brothers (and their relatives), plans to end Horton's "problem" once and for all. They tie Horton up and pull him into a cage, intending to boil the dust speck in beezle-nut oil. Horton urges the Whos to make noise to prove their existence, but even with the Whos' shouting and loud instruments, the other animals still hear nothing. Dr. Hoovey searches through town and finds a small Who named JoJo, who is bouncing a yo-yo instead of making noise. He takes JoJo to the top of his tower, where JoJo utters a "Yopp", which breaks through the dust speck and allows the animals to finally hear the Whos; they release Horton and allow him to keep it. The special ends with Dr. Hoovey relaxing in his chair when he sees a small dust speck and hears a call for help coming from it, much to his dismay.

Voice cast

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 / Dr. H. Hoovey * Chuck Jones as Junior Kangaroo / Vlad Vladikoff (renamed "Whizzer McKwoff") / JoJo *

June Foray June Foray (born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American voice actress. She was best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer from Disney' ...

as Jane Kangaroo / Birds / Mother Who / Baby Who *

The Mellomen The Mellomen were a popular singing quartet active from the late 1940s through the mid-1970s. The group was founded by Thurl Ravenscroft and Max Smith in 1948. They recorded under a variety of names, including Big John and the Buzzards, the Crackerj ...

as the Wickersham Brothers * The MGM Chorus as the Citizens of Whoville

Songs

# "Mrs. Toucanella Told Me" - June Foray # "Old Doc Hoovey" - MGM Studio Chorus # "The Wickersham Brothers" - The Mellomen # "Doctor Hoovey, You Were Right" - MGM Studio Chorus # "Horton the Elephant's Going to Be Caged" - June Foray and The Mellomen # "We Are Here!" - MGM Studio Chorus # "Be Kind to Your Small Person Friends" - MGM Studio Chorus

Home media

The special was frequently included on VHS, CED, LaserDisc 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 ...

releases of ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas!'', and was released on its own DVD on March 4, 2008. Bonus features include a songs-only version, the cartoons ''

Horton Hatches the Egg ''Horton Hatches the Egg'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss and published in 1940 by Random House. The book tells the story of Horton the Elephant, who is tricked into sitting on a bird's ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', and ''

Daisy-Head Mayzie ''Daisy-Head Mayzie'' is a children's book written by Dr. Seuss and illustrated in his style. It was published in 1995, as Seuss's first posthumous book. It was republished on July 5, 2016, with Seuss's original text and drawings. Plot The book ...

'', and the 1994 documentary '' In Search of Dr. Seuss''. It was also made available in high definition Blu-ray Disc on October 6, 2009 with all the bonus features except ''Horton Hatches the Egg'', a

of the special, and a

Digital Copy A digital copy is a commercially distributed computer file containing a media product such as a film or music album. The term contrasts this computer file with the physical copy (typically a DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, or Ultra HD Blu-ray disc) w ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1970 television specials 1970s American television specials 1970s animated television specials CBS original programming CBS television specials Dr. Seuss television specials Films scored by Eugene Poddany MGM Animation/Visual Arts television specials Musical television specials Short films directed by Ben Washam Television shows directed by Chuck Jones Television shows written by Dr. Seuss Horton the Elephant