"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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Theodor Seuss Geisel was born
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 experienced a very happy childhood.
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. -
Ted Geisel graduates from Classical High School
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Theodor Seuss Geisel enters Dartmouth College as part of the class of 1925
"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 was quite the partier!
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. -
Theodor Seuss Geisel graduates from Dartmouth and kind of attends Oxford University
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. -
Dr. Seuss marries Helen Palmer and moves back to the United States
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. -
The first cartoon under the name "Seuss" was published the by "Saturday Evening Post"
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 -
Dr. Seuss writes "And to Think That I saw It on Mulberry Street."
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 three more children's book before WWII.
Dr. Seuss published "Horton Hatches the Egg" in 1940 and two other stories that were written in prose. -
Dr. Seuss turned his interest to political cartoons.
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. -
Dr. Seuss serves in Frank Capra's Signal Corps (U.S. Army) making movies dedicated to the war efforts.
He created an animated training series for new recruits with a character called Private Snafu. Private Snafu read scripts that were set to rhyme. -
"If I Ran the Zoo" is published
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The release of "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T" was an overall failure and Dr. Seuss never attempted a feature film again.
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"Horton Hears a Who" is published.
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"If I Ran the Circus" is published.
This pink and yellow cover is unique to the first printing of this book. www.1stedition.net -
Dr. Seuss published "The Cat in the Hat" and becomes the most notable children's book author to date. (In my humble opinion, anyways.)
"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. -
"How the Grinch Stole Christmas" was published.
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"Green Eggs and Ham" and"One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish" are published.
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! -
Dr. Seuss' wife of 40 years commits suicide.
After suffering from years of poor health including cancer, Helen Palmer takes her own life. -
Dr. Seuss marries an old friend, Audrey Stone Dimond.
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. -
The beloved Dr. Seuss died of throat cancer and his ashes were scattered in San Diego, CA.
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"The Dr. Seuss Project" is launched.
This project has led many collectors, galleries, and museums to view sculptures, lithographs, drawings, and paintings done by Dr. Seuss. -
The Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden is unveiled in Springfield, MA.
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Dr. Seuss is inducted into the California Hall of Fame.
Audrey Geisel proudly accepts the award from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver. -
Got to give credit where credit is due:
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
