Dr. Seuss

Attended and graduated from Springfield Central High School in Springfield, MA, class of 1921.

Before working on the childrens books that would make him world-famous, he made sculptures of fantastic animals in the form of taxidermist-mounted heads. Some of the creatures surreal details would later appear in illustrations in his later books.

An unpublished 1973 manuscript for "My Many-Colored Days" had no illustrations. He wrote that he hoped "a great color artist who will not be dominated by me" would illustrate the book, with a new art style and pattern of thinking. The book was published in 1999 with abstract artwork by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher.

Two of his works have been translated into Latin: "The Cat in the Hat" ("Cattus Petasatus") and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" ("Quomodo Invidiosulus Nomine Grinchus Christi Natalem Abrogaverit").

His first childrens book, "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street" , was rejected by over 20 publishers.

Worked as a commercial artist and was known for his humorous spot drawings for many Standard Oil products, most famously Flit bug spray.

In 1942 he was placed in charge of the Animation Division of the Armed Forces Motion Picture unit by Col. Frank Capra. Under his administration a series of instructional cartoons featuring the character Private Snafu (an unofficial acronym for "Situation Normal, All [Fouled] Up") were produced from 1942-45. Snafus concept and name were created by Capra, and the character designed by Arthur Heinemann and Chuck Jones. Interestingly enough, the voice of Pvt. Snafu is none other than Mel Blanc , the voice of most of the characters from the Warner Brothers stable. The cartoons were animated by Warner Bros., United Productions of America (UPA) and Harman-Ising Studios. The films had a unique saltiness to dialog and content (with the occasional "Hell" or "Damn"), but since these were instructional films made for the biweekly "Army-Navy Screen Magazine" newsreel, they were exempt from Hays Office restrictions. Although uncredited, Seuss wrote a few of the cartoons, since much of the dialog is written in "Seussian" rhyme, and several characters resemble the illustrations from his books. A second series of instructional cartoons for the Navy, featuring Private Snafus brother, Seaman Tarfu (an acronym for "Things Are Really [Fouled] Up"), was planned, but the end of World War II brought an end to the series, and only one of these shorts was produced. A total of 24 "Private Snafu" shorts were produced.

Attended and graduated from Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, class of 1925.

Of his many works, only four could truly be called political. "The Lorax" was a parable on short-sighted exploitation of natural resources, "The Butter Battle Book" was a commentary on the arms race, "The Sneetches" dealt with racism and "Yertle the Turtle" himself was representative of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich.

Was a recluse, spending much of his time alone in his studio.

Seuss (his mothers maiden name) is pronounced to rhyme with "voice"--not with "loose", as it commonly is.

Supposedly wrote "Green Eggs and Ham" on a bet with his publisher, Bennett Cerf at Random House, to write a book with only 50 words in it. Published in 1957, "Cat in the Hat" became his all-time biggest seller. The following year Seuss, Cerf and Cerfs wife, inspired by the books success, began the Beginner Books series that continues to this day, with entertaining, elementary-level books by Seuss and other authors.

Pictured on a USA 37 commemorative postage stamp, issued March 2, 2004 (100th anniversary of his birth). The stamp also depicts six characters created by him: the Cat in the Hat; the Grinch; the Glotz (or the identical Klotz) from the book "Oh Say Can You Say?" and three characters from the book "I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew", the Skritz, the unnamed "young fellow", and the Skrink.

His "Cat in the Hat" is shown on a USA 33 commemorative postage stamp, in the sheet of stamps commemorating the 1950s in the Celebrate the Century Series, issued May 26, 1999. The inscription reads "Dr. Seuss The Cat in the Hat".

Posthumously awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6600 Hollywood Blvd., on what would have been his 100th birthday (March 11, 2004).

The University of California-San Diego renamed its main library in 1995 the Geisel Library in honor of he and his wife Audrey, who were La Jolla residents. The library maintains an 8,500-item collection of the works of Dr. Seuss, over a period from 1919-91.

During the early 1940s he was a political cartoonist for "PM", a daily News York newspaper that was noted for its left-wing politics, superior production quality and the fact that it carried no advertising. A book of his political cartoons was published a few years ago.

Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, Vol. 132, pp. 162-167 (as Theodor Seuss Geisel). Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale.

During World War II he joined the United States Army and was sent to Hollywood. Capt. Geisel would write for Frank Capra s Signal Corps Unit (for which he won the Legion of Merit) and do documentaries. Geisel received an Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Documentary (Short Subject) in 1945 for his writing and producing the propaganda piece Hitler Lives (a/k/a Your Job in Germany ) and in 1947 for Best Documentary (Feature) for Design for Death ).

As a schoolboy during World War I, his classmates nicknamed him "The Kaiser" due to his German ancestry.

Was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon national fraternity (New Hampshire Alpha chapter - Dartmouth College).

The music for "The Cat in the Hat Song Book", a book of Seuss-penned lyrics with music for young singers published by Random House, was written by Eugene Poddany.

In the late 1980s he wanted to get his book "The Cat in the Hat" made into a movie; his choices for the role of the title character were Robin Williams , Steve Martin , John Candy or Eddie Murphy. In 2003 his book was made into a movie with none of them playing the title character.

Wrote and drew political cartoons in the 1940s.

One night while riding home on a train, he saw a pompous, stuffy-looking man with a hat on his head. Seuss wondered what would happen if someone were to knock the hat off his head and then realized the man was so full of himself that another hat would probably appear on his head as a replacement. This inspired Seuss to write "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins".

Was a lifelong liberal Democrat and a supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal.

Despite the famous line from Horton Hears a Who--"A persons a person no matter how small"--being used as a slogan by anti-abortion groups, Seuss himself was a supporter of reproductive rights, and his widow has threatened lawsuits against groups that use this in campaigns.

The film adaptation of "The Lorax" ( The Lorax ) was released on what would have been his 108th birthday.

He was a chain smoker and casual drinker.

Partially based the character of The Grinch on himself, as his house and studio were on a hill in California and, every Christmas, he would look down in disgust at all the cheesy decorations and lights adorning the houses below.

Although famous for the social and moral messages of his books, he usually didnt write his books with morals in mind. He preferred to let it grow out from the story, saying, "A kid can see a moral coming a mile away.".

Today is your day, your mountain is waiting, so get on your way.

From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.

You can get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot,by yourself, sitting alone in a room.

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.

How did it get so late so soon?,I start drawing, and eventually the characters involve themselves in a,situation. Then in the end, I go back and try to cut out most of the,preachments.

Preachers in pulpits talked about what a great message is in the book.

No matter what you do, somebody always imputes meaning into your books.

I meant what I said and I said what I meant.

Adults are obsolete children. Fun is good.

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.

Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.

Everything stinks till it’s finished.

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!,Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.

Look at me!Look at me!Look at me NOW!It is fun to have funBut you have to know how.

I box in yellow Gox box socks.

And the turtles, of course. . . all the turtles are free, as turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.

When he worked, he really worked. But when he played, he really PLAYED.

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.

I meant what I said and I said what I meant.

The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!Now, please don’t ask why. No one quite knows the reason. It could be his head wasn’t screwed on just right. It could be, perhaps his shoes were too tight. But I think that the most likely reason of allMay have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So we sat in the house. All that cold, cold, wet day.

I know it is wet and the sun is not sunny, but we can have lots of good fun that is funny.

The more you read the more places you will go,the more places you go the more things you will learn.

From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.

You can get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot by yourself, sitting alone in a room.

Adults are obsolete children.

Fun is good.

Preachers in pulpits talked about what a great message is in the book. No matter what you do, somebody always imputes meaning into your books.

Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!,I like nonsense it wakes up the brain cells.

Only you can control your future. .