He stole the candy canes, the wreaths, the trees, the wuzzles and puzzles!  He made off with the presents, the Who Hash, the light bulbs, poinsettias, rugs and the window sash!  He filled sack after sack with bicycles and ribbons and bows!  He purloined the wreaths and bizzel binks, the camera, the film, the candy, its wrappers, quite possibly even the kitchen sinks!  (Pictured: a paste-up for a model sheet of drawings by Chuck Jones used in the creation of his 1966  Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas.)
 

The film of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas popularity may be unsurpassed today, but when Chuck Jones set out to bring it to the screen he was unable to find a sponsor and eventually ended up pitching the story 26 times.  Chuck Jones recounts, “In those days, the network wouldn’t accept something unless you had a sponsor,” he said.  “So, I went to every one of the people who were logical:  the breakfast food and chocolate people.  I had done the storyboards, there were seventeen hundred drawings and I went over that thing again and again.  It got to the point where I could almost shut my eyes and say it! At last, in the depths of my despair, success came from the most unlikely source of all:  the Foundation of Commercial Banks!”