Today is the 106th birthday of Dr. Seuss, a.k.a. Theodor Geisel, grandadddy of modern children's literature. There are few authors who have had such a profound influence on the reading experiences of children in the last several decades.
It's amazing that, as popular as his works remain decades after their initial publication, most of us know precious little about the Mr. Geisel behind the Dr. Seuss. Cast your eye on these 10 fascinating snippets about the man that was The Cat in the Hat.
1. Theodor Geisel began using the pen name "Seuss" after being kicked off of the Dartmouth College literary humor magazine for throwing a rowdy drinks party
When the sassy young Mr. Geisel was caught hosting an adult beverage get-together at Dartmouth College at the height of Prohibition (the early 20s), he was instructed by the college staff to discontinue all of his extracurricular activites, including his editor-in-chief post at the college's humor magazine, the "Jack-O-Lantern." In order to keep writing without the superiors knowing about it, Mr. Geisel adopted the pen name "Seuss."
2. Mr. Geisel added the "Dr" onto his Seuss pen name as a nod to his father's unfulfilled wish for his son to earn a doctorate at Oxford
Mr. Geisel, senior, had always wanted for his son to earn a doctorate at Oxford. Although Geisel, the Younger, entered Lincoln College, Oxford with the intention of completing a doctorate in literature, he returned to the United States before his studies were completed. He added the "Dr" onto his Seuss pen name as a wry acknowledgment of his almost-achievement.
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3. Mr. Geisel/Dr. Seuss first rose to national fame, not as a children's book author, but as the creator of a number of wildly popular insecticide advertisements
In the late 1920s, Standard Oil hired Theodor Geisel to create a number of advertisements for its insecticide, Flit. Mr. Geisel's cartoon-like ads, along with taglines such as "Quick, Henry, the Flit!" "Swat the Fly," and "Kill the Tick," became nationally recognized slogans. Mr. Geisel made a tidy packet on these ads which remained popular throughout the 1930s.
4. Mr. Geisel/Dr. Seuss was inspired to write his first children's book, And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, by the rhythmic sound of a ship's engine
In 1937, Mr. Geisel and his wife, Helen, were returning to the United States from an ocean trip to Europe when the rhythmic sound of the ship's engine suggested to him the idea of writing an equally rhythmic text for a children's book. The result was his first foray into children's literature, And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.
5. Dr. Seuss' first book, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, was initially rejected by over 20 publishers before finally making it to the printing press
Dr. Seuss may be considered classy children's lit today but when he was first starting out, he could scarely get any serious consideration. After sending the And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street manuscript to nearly 30 publishers (and receiving an equal number of rejections), Vanguard Press finally agreed to publish the book.
6. During World War II, Dr. Seuss worked as a left-wing political cartoonist, designed posters for the Treasury Department and the War Production Board, and, after joining the Army, became commander of the Animation Department of the First Motion Picture Unit of the United States Army Air Forces
Not only was Dr. Seuss/Mr. Geisel awarded the Legion of Merit for his efforts during World War II, several full-length movies inspired by the propaganda films he made during his stint in the Army went on to become Academy Award winners. Design for Death, based on Mr. Geisel's propaganda film Our Job in Japan, was awarded Best Documentary Feature in 1947, and Gerald McBoing-Boing, based on one of Geisel's stories, won Best Animated Short Film in 1950. Watch original Gerald McBoing-Boing here (it's a little under 7 minutes long and a pure joy):
7. Dr. Seuss was never awarded the Caldecott or Newbery Medal
A number of Dr. Seuss' books were awarded Caldecott Honor status, but never the full Caldecott Medal.
8. Dr. Seuss' most famous books -- beginner books such as The Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, and Green Eggs and Ham -- were also some of the most difficult things he ever wrote
Great writers always share one common characteristic -- they make writing well seem easy. Nothing could be further from the truth. And while tomes like Hop on Pop and Fox in Socks may seem ridiculously simple to write, Dr. Seuss labored for months on the production of each of these supposedly "Beginner readers."
9. Dr. Seuss' first wife, Helen, committed suicide on October 23rd, 1967 after struggling with cancer for 13 years
Helen Geisel died from an overdose of sodium phenobarbital capsules in 1967 after suffering from years of pain with cancer and partial paralysis. Her death was sadly preceded by several years of angst between the Geisel's and a couple with whom they had become close, Audrey and Grey Dimond. Helen's angst and awareness of the distance between her and her husband are apparent in this excerpt from her last note to him, published in Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel: A Biography by Judith and Neil Moran:
Dear Ted, What has happened to us? I don't know. I feel myself in a spiral, going down down down, into a black hole from which there is no escape, no brightness. And loud in my ears from every side I hear, failure, failure, failure... I love you so much ... I am too old and enmeshed in everything you do and are, that I cannot conceive of life without you ... My going will leave quite a rumor but you can say I was overworked and overwrought. Your reputation with your friends and fans will not be harmed ... Sometimes think of the fun we had all thru the years ...
After Helen's death, Audrey Dimond became Audrey Geisel.
10. At Mr. Geisel/Dr. Seuss' request, he was cremated and did not have a memorial service or tombstone erected when he died
Dr. Seuss died in his sleep on September 24, 1991 at the age of 87 after a prolonged bout with jaw cancer. Although a Geisel Library and Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden have been opened in his honor, his second wife, Audrey, honored his wish to have no grave or marker signifying his final resting place.
While the simple excellence of Dr. Seuss' many books testify to their creator's genius for writing engaging, gently humorous children's literature, here are two Seuss-themed gifts that the kids in your life will be thrilled to include in their Seuss collection.
Note Alive! Dr. Seuss's My Many Colored Days DVD
Dr. Seuss wrote My Many Colored Days as a way of helping children identify and contain their emotions. Throughout the brief picture book, he associates each emotion with a color. This outstanding Notes Alive! production takes the story one step further, by connecting the emotion and corresponding color with an original piece of music. The result is magical. Narrated by Academy Award winning actress Holly Hunter, this brief film is children's programming at its very best. The film alternates between vivid computer graphics portraying a young boy and his dog experiencing every emotion from happiness to anger and live action shots of the Minnesota Orchestra performing the originally composed music. My four children could not get enough of this outstanding production and, frankly, neither could I. A 30 minute documentary including the making of the movie, as well as an interview with Dr. Seuss' widow, Audrey Geisel at Dr. Seuss' former home, complete what is one of the highest quality children's productions I've ever seen.
Green Eggs amd Ham and other servings of Dr. Seuss, featuring performances by Jason Alexander, Michael McKean, and David Hyde Pierce
You'll never think of Dr. Seuss the same way again after hearing this outstanding audio production of some of his most famous works, including Green Eggs and Ham, Oh Say Can You Say?, and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. The featured reading of the CD is Seinfeld's Jason Alexander performing Green Eggs and Ham. I've always liked Green Eggs and Ham, but after hearing Mr. Alexander's interpretation (particularly the bit about the goat), I actually had to lay down on the floor, I was laughing so hard. This recording is a gem; if you've got young ladies and gentlemen in your household who love their Seuss, you can't go wrong getting this high-quality audio production for them.
Comments
Thanks for another informative and enjoyable post. I've always loved Dr. Seuss and now I know "the rest of the story".
I loved this column. Is it true he hated kids?
In the biography written by Judith and Neil Moran, Dr. Seuss' second wife, Audrey, is quoted saying that he was terrified of kids:
"The Geisels had no children and, Ted Geisel himself was not particularly fond of spending time with them. "He was afraid of children to a degree," Audrey Geisel says.
Oddly for the creator of things illogical and unusual, the unpredictability of children unnerved him. "What might they do next? What might they ask next?" she says her husband would muse."
What's funny is that I have four children myself and teach a class at a preschool cooperative and find that I'm often freaked out by kids too!
I also know that Geisel absolutely hated writing the works that made him most famous -- The Cat in the Hat, Hop on Pop, etc. Verse was torturous for him and, with the Beginner Books especially, he was constantly griping to his friends that he hated the word restrictions that his publishers placed on him.
It's interesting that quite a few of the most beloved children's authors of all time either had no children or had very little interaction with the ones they did have. It is almost as if they were able to recreate the experience of childhood in their heads without ever having to see it acted out in front of them. A. A. Milne of Winnie-the-Pooh fame spent precious little time around his son Christopher, and Robert Louis Stevenson, author of A Child's Garden of Verses, my absolute favorite collection of children's poetry, never had children -- he wrote the verses while remembering his own childhood.
The absolute best though is Beatrix Potter. I read a biography of her a few years ago and it certainly shattered my opinion of her as a quiet little repressed recluse. She never had children even though she made her living writing children's books, she came to hate it later in life. When she was in her fifties, after Peter Rabbit et al. was at the height of popularity, her publishers sent her a letter asking her to write more. She sent them a curt reply, remarking, "I am sick to death of writing about these damn rabbits."
Aren't all of Dr. S's books in one form of verse or another? It's weird that he would complain about it; it always struck me as voluntary.
No. 7 in your list is not true. Dr. Seuss received a Caldecott Honor in 1950 for the book he wrote in 1949 --- Bartholomew and the Oobleck.
Hey Ginger,
You're right -- he did get the Caldecott Honor but not the Caldecott medal. While it's still a big deal, the grand pooh-ba is the medal, not runner-up to the medal.
He also received Caldecott Honor Book for McElligot's Pool in '47 and If I Ran the Zoo in '51.
hey
hey karegin
My grandson and I just watched the Gerald McBoing Boing clip. Lovely!
Fun article! Thanks Michelle!
I love this column! It is so true and everything that I saw on here is true because I looked it up!!!...
i LUV all the dr.seuss books it rhymes and funny
hi
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