| “ | Did someone just say, "Grinch"? | „ |
| ~ Mayor Augustus Maywho |
Mayor Augustus Maywho (simply known as Augustus Maywho) is the main antagonist of the 2000 live-action adaptation of Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas. He is the greedy and pompous mayor of Whoville and the archenemy of the Grinch.
He was portrayed by Jeffrey Tambor, who had previously played K. Edgar Singer, and also voiced Crazy Quilt and Dr. Zin, while Ben Bookbinder portrayed an 8-year-old Augustus May Who.
Biography
Augustus first appeared after hearing that the postman's teenage sons (along with their girlfriends) have trespassed in the perimeter of the Grinch's lair in Mount Crumpit. The postman (known as Lou Lou Who) assured to Augustus that the teenagers weren't doing anything to provoke the Grinch before explaining to his daughter Cindy Lou about the Grinch's existence. Needless to say, Cindy Lou took an interest in the Grinch after he reluctantly saved her life from being killed by the post office's sorting machine.
Using her dad's recorder for several interviews, Cindy learned that the Grinch used to live in Whoville as a mischievous yet kind child, but was ridiculed by a young Augustus and his friends for his appearance while Martha May Whovier took an interest with him.
As a young Augustus was appalled by Martha liking the Grinch, he continued to ridicule him out of jealousy. Due to Martha's gesture of kindness, the Grinch made a makeshift angel as a present for her but starts to feel insecure about his appearance due to Augustus' teasing. The Grinch tried to use a razor but was forced to cover his razor marks with shaving paper. When Augustus soon learns about this, he took the opportunity to mock the Grinch by calling him a 'hack job', causing the other kids to laugh at him, except for Martha. Fed up with this mockery, the Grinch loses his temper by destroying the class' tree and presents (including the makeshift angel), scaring Augustus and the other kids away.
The Grinch then ran off to live in Mount Crumpit, developing a hatred of Christmas and the people of Whoville for their mockery against him for several years while Augustus became the new mayor. He would then try to make Martha his girlfriend, as she was now a beautiful young woman, but she still longed for The Grinch to return.
Touched by this sad story and having her own doubts of the holiday, Cindy Lou decides to invite the Grinch to the Wholibation festivities by nominating him as Cheermeister, much to the others' surprise. Though Augustus tried to explain to Cindy that the Grinch won't join the festivities due to his hatred of Christmas, he reluctantly allows this due to Cindy Lou explaining her reasons to the other citizens. Needless to say, Augustus is astounded to see that the Grinch has indeed arrived for the celebration due to the promise of an award.
At first, the Grinch finds himself uncomfortable during the contests but slowly finds himself accepted after getting his reward, much to Augustus' dismay. Though it would've seemed that the Grinch has finally enjoyed himself and is about to be won over, Augustus (in an act of jealousy) gave him a present: an electric razor to remind him of his traumatic school memory before getting the other citizens to laugh at him for it. Augustus even tops this off by proposing to Martha with a diamond ring and a new car, which finally drove an angry Grinch to destroy the large Christmas tree with a makeshift flamethrower before escaping back to Mount Crumpit, though it was fruitless when Augustus brought in a spare tree to replace it.
Deciding that it was time to stop Christmas from coming, the Grinch made a Santa Claus disguise and a flying sleigh (with his dog Max as a reindeer) to steal all of Whoville's gifts, decorations and food. During his burglary that night, the Grinch comes across a sleeping Augustus dreaming about kissing Martha. Seeking his revenge, the Grinch makes Augustus kiss Max's butt, much to Max's embarrassment. The Grinch also ties up a rope between Augustus' bed and a police car.
After the Grinch finishes his burglary by riding his sleigh up into Mount Crumpit, the people of Whoville soon learned about the Grinch's scheme just as Augustus wakes up after his bed ends up being pulled by the police car due to the panic. Augustus openly blames Cindy Lou for the incident, but Lou (finally realizing what Cindy Lou is trying to say) stands up by reminding everyone that the true meaning of Christmas is to be with friends and family instead of getting gifts or doing contests; even berating Augustus for his treatment towards Cindy Lou and the Grinch.
Realizing that Lou is right, all the citizens of Whoville agreed to celebrate the holiday without their gifts and started singing in cheer, much to Augustus' frustration. Upon hearing everyone singing in cheer, the Grinch got frustrated that his plan failed but soon realizes the true meaning of Christmas before developing a change of heart.
With the help from Max and an arriving Cindy Lou, the Grinch rides his sleigh back to Whoville to return all of the gifts and food to the citizens. The Grinch then confesses and apologizes for his crimes before surrendering himself to the police as he is willing to accept his punishment. Wanting the opportunity to get back at the Grinch, Augustus orders the police to arrest the Grinch, but the police (and the other citizens) decided to forgive him as they have all learned a lesson about the true meaning of the holiday. Even Martha, who too was mad at Augustus, for how he treated the Grinch, she turned down Augustus's proposal by giving him back the ring, saying that her heart belongs to the Grinch.
Augustus shakes the Grinch's hand to assure no hard feelings, which the latter accepts, laughing, kissing him on the cheek and telling him to cheer up since it's Christmas. Augustus was not seen again after this as the Grinch joins everyone at the feast in his cave home on Mt. Crumpit, possibly suggesting that the Mayor left in embarrassment, now that all of Whoville's turned against him and sided with the Grinch. Anyway, it's strongly implied that Augustus no longer harassed the Grinch anymore.
Video Game Appearance
Mayor Maywho appears as an antagonist in The Grinch and Dr. Seuss: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the two video game adaptions of the popular 2000 feature film.
Gallery
Trivia
- Mayor Augustus Maywho is an original character created solely for the live-action adaptation of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. He didn't appear in the original book written by Dr. Seuss nor in the 1966 animated TV special. This is because the film expanded the plot for runtime reasons as the book was shorter, allowing them to create more backstory for the characters, specifically The Grinch.
- In some ways, Augustus was created to give a reason to why The Grinch hated Christmas in the first place. In the original story, why The Grinch hated Christmas is never specified, with the narrator speculating whether it most likely was because his heart was two sizes too small.
- Likewise, Augustus serving as a foil to Cindy Lou, which leads the latter to make the Whos realize what really means Christmas, wasn't present in the original book (where Cindy Lou was a minor character and was possibly two years old). In the original book, the Whos weren't depicted as materialistic and thus they simply celebrated together Christmas after the Grinch stole the presents.
- Despite that Augusts only appeared in the 2000 live-action adaptation, however, the 2018 animated adaptation of The Grinch features another mayor in charge of Whoville, known as Mayor McGerkle. Unlike Augustus, however, Mayor McGerkle is nicer, unselfish and doesn't have any kind of grudge against The Grinch.
- Augustus Maywho's beliefs on Christmas are essentially a criticism of Christmas nowadays. To this day, Christmas has become a materialistic holiday in which people need material presents to celebrate it. This, of course, is what leads Cindy Lou to help the Whos eventually realize that the true meaning of Christmas is spending it with the family, something which Augustus, being the materialistic person that he is, fails to understand.
- Peter Greene, Alec Baldwin, the late Dennis Hopper, Willem Dafoe, the late Bob Hoskins, Danny DeVito and Joe Pesci were briefly considered for the role of Augustus Maywho before Jeffrey Tambor was cast.
- Augstus Maywho being forgiven by the Grinch is likely related to the theme of Christmas being forgiveness. Whether this was the intention of nor is unknown, however, as the moral of How the Grinch Stole Christmas is less about Christianity and more about the joy of Christmas.