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A Year in Comics - March 2nd

Dr. Seuss

Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on March 2nd 1904. Enrolling at Springfield Central High School in 1907 and graduating there in 1921, he took art classes as a freshman, later becoming manager of the school soccer team. He then attended the Dartmouth college, where he joined the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity as well as the humor magazine Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern, of which he eventually became editor-in-chief. However, while attending the college, he was caught drinking gin in his room - during the Prohibition! - which led to the Dean of the college forcing him to resign from all his ectracurricular activities. In order to keep on working on the publication, Theodor Geisel started signing his work with the pen-name Seuss. After graduating from Dartmouth in 1925, he entered Lincoln College in Oxford, England to earn a PhD in English literature; however here he met Helen Palmer, who encouraged him giving up becoming an English teacher, and pursuing a career in illustration instead.

Leaving Oxford without a degree, Geisel returned to the United States in 1927, immediately beginning to submit his writings and drawings to magazines, publishers and advertisement agencies. Eventually he managed to publish his first cartoon in the July 16th 1927 issue of the Saturday Evening Post, encouraging him to move to New York City. There he accepted a job as a writer and illustrator at a humor magazine, having his first cartoon published in October 1927; by the end of November he and Helen Palmer had married, a marriage which would last 40 years until Helen's death in October of 1967.

Starting to publish his work under the pen-name Dr. Seuss in early 1928, Geisel's cartoon work led to him being contacted for an advertisement campaign by Standard Oil for their bug spray, which in turn made him sought after by other publishers such as Life, Liberty and Vanity Fair. Geisel's advertisement work helped him to support himself and his wife through the Great Depression; his increased income even allowed them to socialize in higher circles and to travel.

Regurning from one of their voyages in 1936, Geisel was inspired to write a poem which became his first children's book: And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. Originally, he had trouble selling it, seeing it rejected by scores of publishers - until he met an old Dartmouth classmate who helped him publishing it.

When World War II broke out, Geisel became a political cartoonist, drawing over 400 cartoons which denounced Fascism, were highly critical of isolationist politicians and personalities, and strongly supportive of President Roosevelt's stance. When the US entered the War in December of 1942, Geisel became directly involved in the war effort, first drawing propaganda posters, and then joining the US Army where he became commander of the Animation Department of the US Army's First Motion Picture Unit. While working for this unit, Geisel wrote a number of animated Army training films, the Private SNAFU series; as well as a number of documentaries, one of which, Design for Death, would go on to win the Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 1947.

After the War, Geisel and his wife moved to La Jolla, California where he started writing children's books again. In 1953 he wrote the musical fantas film The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T, however this became a critical and financial failure, after which Geisel never attempted to make any feature films again.

Geisel's big breakthrough came following a report on school children illiteracy, which concluded that the main reason school children were not learning to read was that their school books were boring. The director of the education division of Houghton Mifflin and its later chairman, William Ellsworth Spaulding, compiled a list of 348 words that he felt were important for first-graders to recognise: he asked Geisel to reduce the list to 250 words, and to write a children's book using only these words. After nine months of work, Geisel completed a work he had illustrated himself, using 236 words of the list given to him: this book was the 1957 work The Cat in the Hat, which not only became a success itself, but also popularised Dr. Seuss' earlier work. The same year, he published How the Grinch Stole Christmas!.

In all, Geisel went on to write over 60 books, most using his pen-name Dr. Seuss, but also a dozen using the pseudonym Theo LeSieg, and one as Rosetta Stone. While most were children's books, two were adult books: The Seven Lady Godivas (1939), and You're Only Old Once! (1986).

Originally, Geisel was reluctant to have his characters used outside of the context of his own books; however he did allow the creation of several animted cartoons, starting with an animated adaptation of Horton Hatches an Egg as part of Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies series in 1942. Most well-known remains the 1966 adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, animated by Chuck Jones and narrated by Boris Karloff.

Geisel died as a result of oral cancer on September 24th 1991, at the age of 87. His honours include two Academy Awards; two Emmy Awards; a Peabody Award; the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, and the Pulitzer Prize. His birthday, March 2nd, has been adopted as the annual date for the National Read Across America Day.

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76th entry of ?

Mature Content

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Description
A Year in Comics - March 2nd

Dr. Seuss

Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on March 2nd 1904. Enrolling at Springfield Central High School in 1907 and graduating there in 1921, he took art classes as a freshman, later becoming manager of the school soccer team. He then attended the Dartmouth college, where he joined the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity as well as the humor magazine Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern, of which he eventually became editor-in-chief. However, while attending the college, he was caught drinking gin in his room - during the Prohibition! - which led to the Dean of the college forcing him to resign from all his ectracurricular activities. In order to keep on working on the publication, Theodor Geisel started signing his work with the pen-name Seuss. After graduating from Dartmouth in 1925, he entered Lincoln College in Oxford, England to earn a PhD in English literature; however here he met Helen Palmer, who encouraged him giving up becoming an English teacher, and pursuing a career in illustration instead.

Leaving Oxford without a degree, Geisel returned to the United States in 1927, immediately beginning to submit his writings and drawings to magazines, publishers and advertisement agencies. Eventually he managed to publish his first cartoon in the July 16th 1927 issue of the Saturday Evening Post, encouraging him to move to New York City. There he accepted a job as a writer and illustrator at a humor magazine, having his first cartoon published in October 1927; by the end of November he and Helen Palmer had married, a marriage which would last 40 years until Helen's death in October of 1967.

Starting to publish his work under the pen-name Dr. Seuss in early 1928, Geisel's cartoon work led to him being contacted for an advertisement campaign by Standard Oil for their bug spray, which in turn made him sought after by other publishers such as Life, Liberty and Vanity Fair. Geisel's advertisement work helped him to support himself and his wife through the Great Depression; his increased income even allowed them to socialize in higher circles and to travel.

Regurning from one of their voyages in 1936, Geisel was inspired to write a poem which became his first children's book: And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. Originally, he had trouble selling it, seeing it rejected by scores of publishers - until he met an old Dartmouth classmate who helped him publishing it.

When World War II broke out, Geisel became a political cartoonist, drawing over 400 cartoons which denounced Fascism, were highly critical of isolationist politicians and personalities, and strongly supportive of President Roosevelt's stance. When the US entered the War in December of 1942, Geisel became directly involved in the war effort, first drawing propaganda posters, and then joining the US Army where he became commander of the Animation Department of the US Army's First Motion Picture Unit. While working for this unit, Geisel wrote a number of animated Army training films, the Private SNAFU series; as well as a number of documentaries, one of which, Design for Death, would go on to win the Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 1947.

After the War, Geisel and his wife moved to La Jolla, California where he started writing children's books again. In 1953 he wrote the musical fantas film The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T, however this became a critical and financial failure, after which Geisel never attempted to make any feature films again.

Geisel's big breakthrough came following a report on school children illiteracy, which concluded that the main reason school children were not learning to read was that their school books were boring. The director of the education division of Houghton Mifflin and its later chairman, William Ellsworth Spaulding, compiled a list of 348 words that he felt were important for first-graders to recognise: he asked Geisel to reduce the list to 250 words, and to write a children's book using only these words. After nine months of work, Geisel completed a work he had illustrated himself, using 236 words of the list given to him: this book was the 1957 work The Cat in the Hat, which not only became a success itself, but also popularised Dr. Seuss' earlier work. The same year, he published How the Grinch Stole Christmas!.

In all, Geisel went on to write over 60 books, most using his pen-name Dr. Seuss, but also a dozen using the pseudonym Theo LeSieg, and one as Rosetta Stone. While most were children's books, two were adult books: The Seven Lady Godivas (1939), and You're Only Old Once! (1986).

Originally, Geisel was reluctant to have his characters used outside of the context of his own books; however he did allow the creation of several animted cartoons, starting with an animated adaptation of Horton Hatches an Egg as part of Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies series in 1942. Most well-known remains the 1966 adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, animated by Chuck Jones and narrated by Boris Karloff.

Geisel died as a result of oral cancer on September 24th 1991, at the age of 87. His honours include two Academy Awards; two Emmy Awards; a Peabody Award; the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, and the Pulitzer Prize. His birthday, March 2nd, has been adopted as the annual date for the National Read Across America Day.

----------

76th entry of ?

Mature Content

<- Back to March 1st ---------- Forward to March 3rd ->