Martha May Whovier is a major character in the live-action adaptation of Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas. She's the love interest of The Grinch and former love interest of Mayor Augustus Maywho. She was played by Christine Baranski while Landry Allbright played 8-year-old Martha May.
Her life[]
Past[]
At age 8, Martha was the only one who was ever nice to the Grinch, who was bullied for his appearance (such as having a beard at the age of eight). She flirted with him by saying that she loved the color of red and green, then caressed his face with her hand.
This surprised The Grinch, who decided to make a gift for her in reciprocation of her feelings. He made a homemade Christmas angel made from an old bicycle horn, silverware and crushed gemstones from antique jewelry. Then, remembering how Augustus May Who (who also had feelings for Martha) had teased him about his beard, he shaved himself. However, this resulted in numerous cuts on his face, so he wore a brown paper bag over his head before going to school.
The next day when The Grinch presented his gift to Martha, his teacher asked him to remove the paper bag. After revealing his face, filled with cuts from the shaving attempt, other classmates laughed and bullied him for shaving in an attempt to impress Martha.
Before Martha could defend him from the ridicule, he left in a rage and had lived on a mountain ever since. Martha didn't see him again, despite still having feelings for him for many years.
Present[]
As a few decades passed by, Martha became a beautiful and stylish woman. Martha became a rival of Cindy's mom Betty Lou Who, who both enter the light decorating contest each year, which Martha wins every year (mostly due to Martha's monetary standing). In addition to competing with her, she‘s also The Lou Who’s next-door neighbor.
Later she‘s seen telling Cindy what she knew about The Grinch from their childhood, and also inadvertently confesses to having a crush on him.
At the celebration, Martha is disgusted with The Mayor's behavior. As The Grinch arrives, she’s seen watching him from the distance and cheering him, but hiding her true feelings.
At the moment of the Gift Pass On, Augustus takes the opportunity to propose to Martha. She was speechless and left feeling conflicted, since she's in love with The Grinch. Before she answers the proposal, she‘s interrupted by The Grinch who starts ranting about the commercialist and frivolous side of Christmas.
She decides to think about Augustus's proposal until the next day. That night, while she and all of Whoville slept, The Grinch snuck into her bedroom and stole the engagement ring from May Who. By Christmas morning Martha watches how Augustus publicly blames Cindy Lou for what happened, even if the blame was his fault.
When Lou defends Cindy, she listens to Lou's speech about the true meaning of Christmas and is touched by it and realizes that Christmas is also about spending time with your loved ones.
By the end, the Grinch has reformed and Martha decides to break off the engagement and gives Augustus back his engagement ring, and says that her heart belongs to The Grinch.
She was last seen during the song "Welcome Christmas" and at The Grinch's home where he's cutting the roast beast and they flirt with each other. It‘s shown that they're in a relationship after they smile at each other before the movie was over.
Appearance[]
Martha has long dirty blonde hair, which was previously straight hair with two pigtails but became curly as an adult, and similar facial features as the other Whos. She's shown to wear a black and white dress, with white gloves in her childhood. Later on, she's shown to have matured into the most attractive woman in town with a curvaceous hourglass figure. She wears a Santa Claus-inspired dress that reveals her cleavage and has a very short hemline. She's later seen in a tight red dress, exposing her figure, and wears a mistletoe pin in her hair. She's later seen in her nightgown, that's white and light blue, with large sleeves and a bathrobe. At the Christmas feast, she wears a white long sleeved dress with her hair in a huge beehive hairstyle. Much like Cindy Lou Who and the rest of the children, she is the only adult Who with no snout, and kept her nose that way through plastic surgery to stay youthful.
Trivia[]
- Her appearance and mannerisms bares a resemblance to Jessica Rabbit.
- Helen Hunt, Nicole Kidman, Cameron Diaz, Famke Janssen, Joely Fisher, Rene Russo, Michelle Pfeiffer, Drew Barrymore, Sandra Bullock and Catherine O'Hara were briefly considered for the role of Martha May Whovier before Christine Baranski was cast.
- The jewels in Martha May's hair when she’s explaining the Grinch's backstory is from the tree topper that the young Grinch made for Martha when they were kids.
- Martha May continues to appear in the annual live action Grinchmas stage performance at Universal Studios but with a more prominent role than in the film, even having her own musical number Martha May and the Who-Dolls. The annual performance has been a regular event at the park since the film's release in 2000.
- Even though she denies that she has feelings for The Grinch, she has harbored a secret crush since childhood. She is unafraid of The Grinch, just like Cindy Lou Who, due to caring about him and shows some kindness to The Grinch in turn, though she doesn't see him until years later.
- Martha May returns The Grinch's feelings after saying that Red and Green are her favorite colors on Christmas, which surprised The Grinch and resulted in him deciding to give her a gift and trying to impress her by shaving. However, the shaving went awry, and his classmates and teacher made fun of him for the attempt, after which he lost his temper and ran away, which broke Martha May's heart, who cared for the Grinch.
- It’s unknown exactly when, or even why Martha May started having feelings for the Grinch, though it’s sometime before we see them in grade school, where we can see that she’s infatuated with the Grinch. It’s implied that she hated the Mayor since they were in school due to his treatment of Grinch, which is further cemented when he publicly ridicule's Cindy Lou on Christmas. It’s assumed she falls in love with Grinch due to him being misunderstood and seeing that underneath his exterior he’s very sweet.
- In a deleted scene, Martha May won the light-decorating content because The Mayor has strong feelings for her and doesn't want her to lose. In another deleted scene, the Mayor asks her out on a date, but she politely turns him down.
- When the Mayor proposed to her, she was stunned because she still loves The Grinch and she knows that The Grinch loves her too. At the end, she calls off the engagement and tells everybody, including The Mayor, that she's in love and the only man that can please her is The Grinch.
- Martha May is the only Who with two love interests due to her good looks.
- Martha was the first girlfriend the Grinch had in any published media.