Tidbit Tuesday: Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Born in Springfield, Massachusetts on March 2, 1904, Theodor “Ted” Seuss Geisel took on the moniker “Dr. Seuss” while still an undergraduate at Dartmouth College. One story claims Geisel was caught drinking (illegal in 1924 during Prohibition) and forced to give up all his extracurricular activities which included editorship of Dartmouth’s humor magazine, the Jack-O-Lantern. In order to continue working on the publication, he signed his work “Seuss.” He continued to use the pseudonym as a graduate student at Lincoln College, Oxford.

Leaving Oxford before graduation her returned to the US where he obtain work as a cartoonist for several magazines such as Vanity Fair and Life. He also secured advertising work with his illustrations for FLIT and Standard Oil being his most well-known. The New York newspaper PM hired him as a political cartoonist.

Wildly successful, Geisel and his wife became wealthy and used their funds to travel extensively. During a trip home on a cruise in 1936, he was inspired to write his first children’s book, And To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street (a real street a short distance from where he grew up). According to his own account he received dozens of rejections and considered burning the manuscript until a serendipitous meeting with one of his former Dartmouth classmates let to its publication with Vanguard Press. By 1940, he published three more children’s books.

With the advent of WWII, Geisel set aside children’s literature efforts. He stepped up his production of political cartoons for PM, drawing over 400 in two years. During that time, he also drew posters for the Treasury

Department and War Production Board. In 1943, he joined the US Army as a captain and was giving command of the Animation Department of the First Motion Picture Unit of the Army Air Force where he wrote propaganda and training films.

After the war, Geisel and his wife moved to California where he went back to writing children’s books, most of which sold hundreds of thousands of copies. He passed away from cancer in September, 1991.

What is your favorite Dr. Seuss book?

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Linda Shenton Matchett writes about ordinary people who did extraordinary things in days gone by. A volunteer docent and archivist for the Wright Museum of WWII, Linda is also a trustee for her local public library. She is a native of Baltimore, Maryland and was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry. Linda has lived in historic places all her life, and is now located in central New Hampshire where her favorite activities include exploring historic sites and immersing herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors. Learn more about Linda and her book on her website or connect with her online: Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.