THEODORE
GEISEL - DR. SEUSS
Dr. Seuss was born
Theodore Geisel in 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
He graduated from Dartmouth College in
1925. He then went to Oxford University with the
plan of acquiring a doctorate in literature. At Oxford
he met Helen Palmer. He married Helen in
1927. He returned from Europe in 1927 and began
working for a magazine called Judge .
The Judge was the leading humor magazine in
America at the time. He created both cartoons
and humorous articles for them. Additionally, he was
submitting cartoons to Life, Vanity Fair
and Liberty . In some of his works, he made
comments about an insecticide called Flit. These
comments led to a contract to draw comic ads for Flit,
an insecticide produced by Standard Oil. He
wrote his first book, To Think I Saw It on
Mulberry Street, under the pen name of Dr.
Seuss. Seuss was his middle name and he put Dr.
in front of it because his father had always wanted
him to be a doctor. Forty-three publishers
rejected the book, but it was finally published
in 1937 by a friend. It was soon followed by books
such as The King's Stilts (1939) and Horton
Hatches the Egg (1940).
During World War II
(1939-1945), Geisel joined the army and was sent to
Hollywood. He wrote films for the war effort.
Captain Geisel wrote for Frank Capra's Signal Corps
Unit (for which he won the Legion of Merit) and
created documentaries (he won Oscar's for Hitler
Lives and Design for Death).
Geisel returned to
writing children's books with McElligott's Pond
(1947). and for the next several decades he produced
about 40 books in all, including such favorites
as Horton Hears a Who (1954), How the
Grinch Stole Christmas (1957), The Cat in
the Hat (1957), Green Eggs and Ham
(1960), The Lorax (1971), and The Butter
Battle (1984). He was also the creator of the
animated cartoon character Gerald McBoing Boing, for
which he won an Academy Award in 1951. He received a
special Pulitzer Prize citation in 1984 for his
lifetime contribution to the education and enjoyment
of America's children and their parents. His last
books—You're Only Old Once (1986) and Oh,
the Places You'll Go! (1990)—were written for
adult audiences and were also best-sellers. The
children's book Daisy-Head Maysie was
published after his death in 1995 based upon sketches
and text he had created for an animated television
special.
He began his Cat
in the Hat series when he read an article that
said early readers used in schools were "pallid and
idiotic". The article explained that these books
were like this because they could only use the Dolch
reading list. Seuss took 220 Dolch words and
created The Cat in the Hat, a fun book
to read. This book was an instant success. He and his
wife, Helen Palmer, began a whole line of Beginner
Books some of which he wrote and illustrated.
Sometimes he wrote under the name of Theo LeSieg
(Geisel spelled backwards) and let others illustrate
his books. Other times they were done by other
authors and illustrators, but all of the books
used approved educational word lists and
revolutionized children's beginning reading books. In
1960 Bennett Cerf bet Geisel $50 that he couldn't
write an entire book using only fifty words. As
a result Dr. Seuss wrote Green Eggs and Ham.
Bennett Cerf never paid Dr. Seuss the $50.
Helen Palmer Geisel
died in 1967. In 1968 Theodor Geisel married
Audrey Stone Diamond. Theodor Seuss Geisel died
September 24, 1991 in California. |
