''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 Who ...

'' The special was produced and directed by

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, painter, voice actor and filmmaker, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He ...

who previously produced the Seuss special ''

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas!'' is a children's Christmas book by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel written in rhymed verse with illustrations by the author. It follows the Grinch, a green cranky, solitary creature who attempts to thwart the pu ...

'' for

MGM Television Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television, formerly known as MGM/UA Television, is the television studio arm of the American film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), specializing in broadcast syndication and the production and distribution of television sh ...

and first broadcast March 19, 1970 on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

. 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 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 very 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!'' wit ...

, 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 Dr. Hoovey's intelligence, and do not share 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 ...

as Horton the Elephant / Narrator / Dr. H. Hoovey *

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 acting, voice actress and radio personality, best known as the voice of such animation, animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha F ...

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 Crack ...

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!" - Hans Conried and MGM Studio Chorus # "Be Kind to Your Small Person Friends" (to the tune of Stars and Stripes Forever) - MGM Studio Chorus

Development

''Horton Hears a Who!'' had already been planned as the second animated Dr. Seuss television special before ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas!'' had debuted, with the decision to

greenlight In the context of the film and television industries, to greenlight is to give permission to proceed with a project. It specifically refers to formally approving its production finance and committing to this financing, thereby allowing the projec ...

the ''Horton'' special dependent upon if ''Grinch'', which had required an unusually high budget, was a success (which it was).

Awards

''Horton Hears a Who!'' was cited in the 1970

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

to the Dr. Seuss programs.

Home media

The special was frequently included on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

, CED,

LaserDisc LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...

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 ki ...

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'', ''

The Butter Battle Book ''The Butter Battle Book'' is a children's book 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, mutual assured destruction and nuclear weapon ...

'', and '' Daisy-Head Mayzie'', and the 1994 documentary '' In Search of Dr. Seuss''. It was also made available in high definition

Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of ...

on October 6, 2009 with all the bonus features except ''Horton Hatches the Egg'', a

of the special, and a Digital Copy.

References

External links

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