BLOG: Dr. Seuss B-Day, Whoville Remembers With Candlelight Vigil, Who Hash.
March 2 is a grand day!
“Grand-schmand,” you say.
Why, yes! Yes, it is a grand day, for Dr. Seuss was born today!
Who hasn’t read about the shenanigans of the Cat in the Hat, or that Sam-I-am with his Green Eggs and Ham? Mulberry Street? Been there. Running the zoo? Done that. I bet most of you even know all about the Sneetches and the Lorax, don’t you? But what do you know about the man behind the pen?
Theodor Seuss Geisel, the beloved writer and cartoonist was born on March 2, 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. While his most well-recognized pen name was Dr. Seuss, he also wrote under the guise of Theo LeSieg (Geisel backwards, in case you missed it). He began his writing career while at Dartmouth, writing for the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern, the university’s humor magazine. “Dr. Seuss” first appeared six months after his graduation in The Judge.
World War II altered his focus to the political arena. As the editorial cartoonist for New York City’s left-wing newspaper, PM, he drew over 400 cartoons in two years. By 1942, he was creating posters for the Treasury Department and the War Production Board. Joining the United States Army Air Forces in 1943, he served as the commander of the Animation Dept of the First Motion Picture Unit.
After the war, the “doctor” moved to California with is wife. After Life magazine ran a story about illiteracy in school children in May 1954, a textbook editor compiled a list of 348 words he felt all first-graders should recognize and asked Theodor to write a book using only 250 of those words. Nine months and 236 words later, The Cat and the Hat (and an American icon) was born.
Geisel never had children. He was quoted as saying, “”You have ‘em; I’ll entertain ‘em.” He also never earned a doctorate.
Never mind, my dear Dr. Seuss –
She had a shoeful of kids, and I love you more than that silly Mother Goose!
[Source: KidGlue]
