
"OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO! THERE IS FUN TO BE DONE!" A fascinating portrayal of a fascinating man..Dr. Seuss
By FLDOVE
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Dr. Seuss, or "Ted" to his parents, Theordor Robert and Henrietta Seuss, was born on Howard St. in Springfield, Massachusetts. www.catinthehat.org
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Dr Seuss' family led a fairly comfortable lifestyle even throughout Prohibition and World War I. His father and grandfather ran a family brewery. His mother used to work in her father's bakery before marrying Ted's father. She used to chant the pies that were on special to her customers. It was these "pie-selling chants" that she used to recite to Ted and his sister, Marnie that instilled a sense of love and appreciation for rhymes and rhythm in Dr. Seuss.
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"And to Think That It Happened at Dartmouth"
The picture here is an actual cartoon drawn by Dr. Seuss in January of 1924 and published in the humor magazine at Dartmouth, "Jack-O-Lantern". He was the editor-in-chief for this magazine. -
Dr. Seuss gets caught drinking gin with nine of his buddies in his dorm room. This was against the laws of prohibition and university policy. The dean insisted he resign for all extra-curricular activities including his position at the "Jack-O'Lantern." Ted continued his writings under the pen name "Seuss." This is the first record of his pseudonym.
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Theordor Robert Geisel, Ted's father desperately wanted a prosperous life for his son. After graduation when Ted's father repeatedly question him about the future, Ted lied to his father and told him that Oxford had awarded him a fellowship. This was not true, and when Ted's father found out he did not want to lose any family pride and sent him anyways. He was not actually very interested in his studies there and toured Europe instead.
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He met Helen Palmer in his first class at Oxford. She talked him out of studying to be a college professor and encouraged him to become an artist instead. She later came on to became a children's book author and book editor as well.
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This publication made Dr. Seuss increasingly famous. He was very well known for his "Flit" advertisement, a common insecticide used during the times. He supported his family through the Great Depression by acquiring ads from GE, NBC, Standard Oil, and many other companies. www.wikipedia.org
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While on a cruiseliner the rumbling of the ship's engines inspired Dr. Seuss to create his first children's book. He sent it to 27 publishing houses and everyone of them rejected his story. He bumped into an old friend from Dartmouth who worked at Vanguard Press. Vanguard published this book and it was a huge success!
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Dr. Seuss published "Horton Hatches the Egg" in 1940 and two other stories that were written in prose.
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He began writing political cartoons for PM magazine (a liberal magazine). Because Dr. Seuss was a child of German immigrants he was not an advocate of war; however, he knew it was imminent.
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He created an animated training series for new recruits with a character called Private Snafu. Private Snafu read scripts that were set to rhyme.
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This pink and yellow cover is unique to the first printing of this book. www.1stedition.net
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"The Cat in the Hat" is an unusual publication venture by Houghton Mifflin and Random House. Houghton Mifflin asked Dr. Seuss to write a children's primer book using only 225 "new reader" vocabulary words. Random House kept the publication and trade rights while Houghton Mifflin kept the school rights.
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Just to throw my personal 2 cents in- While I was pregnant, my husband and I read this book to Dylan almost every night before we went to sleep. Our goal was for him to love books at an early age and it certainly worked!
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After suffering from years of poor health including cancer, Helen Palmer takes her own life.
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Audrey is accredited with carrying out many of Ted's wishes, such as publishing his Secret Arts work that include rare paintings done by Dr. Seuss before he died. She believed he should be recognized as an artist as well as a brilliant author.
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This project has led many collectors, galleries, and museums to view sculptures, lithographs, drawings, and paintings done by Dr. Seuss.
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Audrey Geisel proudly accepts the award from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver.
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Thanks to the world wide web for the marvelous information:
www.wikipedia.org
www.catinthehat.org
www.drseussart.com
www.1stedition.net
www.seussville.com
www.amazon.com