Coordinates	56°09′″N40°25′″N
name	Dr. Seuss
pseudonym	Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSieg, Rosetta Stone, Theophrastus Seuss
birth name	Theodor Seuss Geisel
birth date	March 02, 1904
birth place	Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
death date	September 24, 1991
death place	San Diego, California, U.S.
alma mater	Dartmouth College
occupation	Writer, cartoonist, animator, book publisher, artist
nationality	American
genre	Children's literature
notableworks	The Cat in the HatGreen Eggs and HamOne Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue FishHow the Grinch Stole Christmas!Fox in SocksHorton Hears a Who!
spouse	Helen Palmer Geisel (1927–1967)Audrey Stone Dimond (1968–1991)
website	http://www.seussville.com/
signature	Dr Seuss signature.svg }}

Theodor Seuss Geisel (; March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991) was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist most widely known for his children's books written under the pen names Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSieg and, in one case, Rosetta Stone.

He published 46 children's books, which were often characterized by imaginative characters, rhyme, and frequent use of trisyllabic meter. His most celebrated books include the bestselling Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Horton Hatches the Egg, Horton Hears a Who!, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. Numerous adaptations of his work have been created, including 11 television specials, three feature films, a Broadway musical and four television series. He won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958 for Horton Hatches the Egg and again in 1961 for And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street.

Geisel also worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns, most notably for Flit and Standard Oil, and as a political cartoonist for PM, a New York City newspaper. During World War II, he worked in an animation department of the U.S Army, where he wrote Design for Death, a film that later won the 1947 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.

Geisel's birthday, March 2, has been adopted as the annual date for National Read Across America Day, an initiative on reading created by the National Education Association.

Life and career

Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, to Theodor Robert and Henrietta (Seuss) Geisel. His father, the son of German immigrant parents, managed the family brewery and later supervised (1931–1960) Springfield's public park system. Mulberry Street in Springfield, made famous in Dr. Seuss' first children's book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street! is less than a mile southwest of his boyhood home on Fairfield Street.

College

Geisel attended Springfield's Classical High School, and entered Dartmouth College in fall 1921 as a member of the Class of 1925. At Dartmouth, he joined the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and the humor magazine Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern, eventually rising to the rank of editor-in-chief.

While at Dartmouth, Geisel was caught drinking gin with nine friends in his room. As a result, Dean Craven Laycock insisted that he resign from all extracurricular activities, including the college humor magazine. To continue work on the Jack-O-Lantern without the administration's knowledge, Geisel began signing his work with the pen name "Seuss". His first work signed as "Dr. Seuss" appeared after he graduated, six months into his work for The Judge where his weekly feature Birdsies and Beasties appeared. Geisel was encouraged in his writing by professor of rhetoric W. Benfield Pressey, whom he described as his "big inspiration for writing" at Dartmouth.

After Dartmouth, he entered Lincoln College, Oxford, intending to earn a Doctor of Philosophy in English literature. At Oxford, he met his future wife, Helen Palmer; he married her in 1927, and returned to the United States without earning a degree.

Earliest post-college publications

He began submitting humorous articles and illustrations to Judge, Life, Vanity Fair, and Liberty. One notable "Technocracy Number" made fun of the technocracy movement and featured satirical rhymes at the expense of Frederick Soddy. The July 16, 1927 issue of the The Saturday Evening Post published his first cartoon under the name Seuss. He became nationally famous from his advertisements for Flit, a common insecticide at the time. His slogan, "Quick, Henry, the Flit!" became a popular catchphrase. Geisel supported himself and his wife through the Great Depression by drawing advertising for General Electric, NBC, Standard Oil, and many other companies. In 1935, he wrote and drew a short-lived comic strip called Hejji.

In 1937, while Geisel was returning from an ocean voyage to Europe, the rhythm of the ship's engines inspired the poem that became his first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street!. It was rejected 27 times (numbers will vary). Geisel wrote three more children's books before World War II, two of which are, atypically for him, in prose.

World War II-era work

As World War II began, Geisel turned to political cartoons, drawing over 400 in two years as editorial cartoonist for the left-leaning New York City daily newspaper, PM. Geisel's political cartoons, later published in Dr. Seuss Goes to War, denounced Hitler and Mussolini and were highly critical of non-interventionists ("isolationists"), most notably Charles Lindbergh, who opposed US entry into the war. One cartoon depicted all Japanese Americans as latent traitors or fifth-columnists, while at the same time other cartoons deplored the racism at home against Jews and blacks that harmed the war effort. His cartoons were strongly supportive of President Roosevelt's handling of the war, combining the usual exhortations to ration and contribute to the war effort with frequent attacks on Congress (especially the Republican Party), parts of the press (such as the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune and Washington Times-Herald), and others for criticism of Roosevelt, criticism of aid to the Soviet Union, investigation of suspected Communists, and other offenses that he depicted as leading to disunity and helping the Nazis, intentionally or inadvertently.

In 1942, Geisel turned his energies to direct support of the U.S. war effort. First, he worked drawing posters for the Treasury Department and the War Production Board. Then, in 1943, he joined the Army and was commander of the Animation Dept of the First Motion Picture Unit of the United States Army Air Forces, where he wrote films that included Your Job in Germany, a 1945 propaganda film about peace in Europe after World War II, Our Job in Japan, and the Private Snafu series of adult army training films. While in the Army, he was awarded the Legion of Merit. Our Job in Japan became the basis for the commercially released film, Design for Death (1947), a study of Japanese culture that won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature. Gerald McBoing-Boing (1950), which was based on an original story by Seuss, won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film.

Later years

After the war, Geisel and his wife moved to La Jolla, California. Returning to children's books, he wrote many works, including such favorites as If I Ran the Zoo, (1950), Horton Hears a Who! (1954), Horton Hatches the Egg (1954), If I Ran the Circus (1956),The Cat in the Hat (1957), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957) and Green Eggs and Ham (1960). Although he received numerous awards throughout his career, Geisel won neither the Caldecott Medal nor the Newbery Medal. Three of his titles from this period were, however, chosen as Caldecott runners-up (now referred to as Caldecott Honor books): McElligot's Pool (1937), Bartholomew and the Oobleck (1939), and If I Ran the Zoo (1950). Dr Seuss also wrote the musical and fantasy film The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, which was released in 1953. The movie was a critical and financial failure, and Geisel never attempted another feature film. During the 1950s he also published a number of illustrated short stories, mostly in RedBook Magazine. Some of these were later collected (in volumes such as The Sneetches and Other Stories or reworked into independent books (If I Ran the Zoo). A number have never been reprinted since their original appearances.

In May 1954, Life magazine published a report on illiteracy among school children, which concluded that children were not learning to read because their books were boring. Accordingly, William Ellsworth Spaulding, the director of the education division at Houghton Mifflin who later became its Chairman, compiled a list of 348 words he felt were important for first-graders to recognize and asked Geisel to cut the list to 250 words and write a book using only those words. Spaulding challenged Geisel to "bring back a book children can't put down." Nine months later, Geisel, using 236 of the words given to him, completed The Cat in the Hat. It was described as a tour de force by some reviewers-—it retained the drawing style, verse rhythms, and all the imaginative power of Geisel's earlier works, but because of its simplified vocabulary could be read by beginning readers. The Cat in the Hat and subsequent books written for young children achieved significant international success and they remain very popular today. In 2009 Green Eggs and Ham sold 540,366 copies, The Cat in the Hat sold 452,258 copies, and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish (1960) sold 409,068 copies—outselling the majority of newly published children's books.

Geisel went on to write many other children's books, both in his new simplified-vocabulary manner (sold as Beginner Books) and in his older, more elaborate style. The Beginner Books were not easy for Geisel and reportedly took him months to complete.

On October 23, 1967, suffering from a long struggle with illnesses including cancer, as well as emotional pain over her husband's affair with Audrey Stone Dimond, Geisel's wife, Helen Palmer Geisel, committed suicide. Geisel married Dimond on June 21, 1968. Though he devoted most of his life to writing children's books, Geisel had no children of his own. He would say, when asked about this, "You have 'em; I'll entertain 'em."

Death and posthumous honors

Geisel died of throat cancer on September 24, 1991, after several years of poor health, in San Diego, California. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered. On December 1, 1995, four years after his death, UCSD's University Library Building was renamed Geisel Library in honor of Geisel and Audrey for the generous contributions they made to the library and their devotion to improving literacy.

While living in La Jolla, the United States Postal Service and others frequently confused Geisel with another La Jolla resident, Dr. Hans Suess. Their names have been linked together posthumously: the personal papers of Hans Suess are housed in the Geisel Library at UC San Diego.

In 2002, the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden opened in his birthplace of Springfield, Massachusetts; it features sculptures of Geisel and of many of his characters. On May 28, 2008, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver announced that Geisel would be inducted into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts. The induction ceremony took place December 15 and his widow Audrey accepted the honor in his place. On March 2, 2009, the web search engine Google temporarily changed its logo to commemorate Geisel's birthday (a practice it often follows for various holidays and events). At his alma mater, Dartmouth, where over 90% of incoming first-year students participate in pre-registration Dartmouth Outing Club trips into the New Hampshire wilderness, it is traditional for students returning from the trips to overnight at Dartmouth's Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, where they are served green eggs and ham for breakfast in honor of Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss's honors include two Academy awards, two Emmy awards, a Peabody award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, and the Pulitzer Prize.

Pen names and pronunciations

Geisel's pen name is regularly pronounced , an anglicized pronunciation inconsistent with his German surname. He himself noted that it rhymed with "voice" (his own pronunciation being ) and Alexander Liang (his collaborator on the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern) wrote of him:

:You’re wrong as the deuce :And you shouldn’t rejoice :If you’re calling him Seuss. :He pronounces it Soice.

Geisel switched to the anglicized pronunciation because it "evoked a figure advantageous for an author of children’s books to be associated with—Mother Goose" and because most people used this pronunciation.

For books that Geisel wrote and others illustrated, he used the pen name "Theo LeSieg" ("LeSieg" is "Geisel" spelled backward).

Political views

Geisel was a liberal Democrat and a supporter of President Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal. His early political cartoons show a passionate opposition to fascism, and he urged to oppose it, both before and after the entry of the United States into World War II. His cartoons tended to regard the fear of communism as overstated, finding the greater threat in the Dies Committee and those who threatened to cut the US' "life line" to Stalin and Soviet Russia, the ones carrying "our war load".

Geisel's cartoons also called attention to the early stages of the Holocaust and denounced discrimination in the USA against African Americans and Jews. Geisel himself experienced anti-Semitism: in his college days, he was mistaken for a Jew and denied entry into conservative social circles, although he was actually of German ancestry and a practicing Christian.

Geisel supported the Japanese American internment during World War II. His treatment of the Japanese and of Japanese Americans, whom he often failed to differentiate between, has struck many readers as a moral blind spot. On the issue of the Japanese, he is quoted as saying:

After the war, though, Geisel overcame his feelings of animosity, using his book Horton Hears a Who! (1954) as an allegory for the Hiroshima bombing and the American post-war occupation of Japan, as well as dedicating the book to a Japanese friend.

In 1948, after living and working in Hollywood for years, Geisel moved to La Jolla, California. It is said that when he went to register to vote in La Jolla, some Republican friends called him over to where they were registering voters, but Geisel said, "You, my friends, are over there, but I am going over here [to the Democratic registration]."

In his books

Though Geisel made a point of not beginning the writing of his stories with a moral in mind, stating that "kids can see a moral coming a mile off," he was not against writing about issues; he said that "there's an inherent moral in any story," and he remarked that he was "subversive as hell."

Many of Geisel's books express his views on a remarkable variety of social and political issues: The Lorax (1971), about environmentalism and anti-consumerism; The Sneetches (1961), about racial equality; The Butter Battle Book (1984), about the arms race; Yertle the Turtle (1958), about Hitler and anti-authoritarianism; How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957), criticizing the materialism and consumerism of the Christmas season; and Horton Hears a Who! (1950), about anti-isolationism and internationalism. Shortly before the end of the 1972–1974 Watergate scandal, in which United States president Richard Nixon resigned, Geisel converted one of his famous children's books into a polemic. "Richard M. Nixon, Will You Please Go Now!" was published in major newspapers through the column of his friend Art Buchwald.

The line "A person's a person, no matter how small!!" from Horton Hears a Who! has grown, despite the objections of Geisel's widow, into widespread use on the pro-life side of the issue. While Geisel preferred to let his work speak for itself, in 1986 when the line first started being used by the pro-life movement, Geisel, who would speak out to protect his characters from exploitation, demanded a retraction and received one. In its original context it is unrelated to abortion issues.

Although Geisel's books teach children about so many social problems, his works for children do not speak to feminist issues. His longer children's stories included few important female characters, and it is difficult for them to be called positive portrayals. The most prominent female characters are Gertrude McFuzz (who is vanity personified, although she does learn her lesson at the end of the story) and Mayzie, the very irresponsible bird who laid the egg in Horton Hatches the Egg. The most positive female character in the works is probably Sally in The Cat in the Hat, but she says few words.

==Poetic meters== Geisel wrote most of his books in anapestic tetrameter, a poetic meter employed by many poets of the English literary canon. This is often suggested as one of the reasons that Geisel's writing was so well-received.

Anapestic tetrameter consists of four rhythmic units, anapests, each composed of two weak beats followed by one strong beat; often, the first weak syllable is omitted, or an additional weak syllable is added at the end. An example of this meter can be found in Geisel's "Yertle the Turtle", from Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories:

:"And today the Great Yertle, that Marvelous he :Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see."

The consistency of his meter was one of his hallmarks; the many imitators and parodists of Geisel are often unable to write in strict anapestic tetrameter, or are unaware that they should, and thus sound clumsy in comparison.

Some books by Geisel that are written mainly in anapestic tetrameter also contain many lines written in amphibrachic tetrameter, such as these from If I Ran the Circus:

:"All ready to put up the tents for my circus. :I think I will call it the Circus McGurkus.

:"And NOW comes an act of Enormous Enormance! :No former performers performed this performance!"

Geisel also wrote verse in trochaic tetrameter, an arrangement of a strong beat followed by a weak beat, with four units per line (for example, the title of One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish). The formula for trochaic meter permits the final weak position in the line to be omitted, which facilitates the construction of rhymes.

Geisel generally maintained trochaic meter only for brief passages, and for longer stretches typically mixed it with iambic tetrameter, which consists of a weak beat followed by a strong, and is generally considered easier to write. Thus, for example, the magicians in Bartholomew and the Oobleck make their first appearance chanting in trochees (thus resembling the witches of Shakespeare's Macbeth):

:"Shuffle, duffle, muzzle, muff"

then switch to iambs for the oobleck spell:

:"Go make the Oobleck tumble down :On every street, in every town!"

Artwork

Geisel's earlier artwork often employed the shaded texture of pencil drawings or watercolors, but in children's books of the postwar period he generally employed the starker medium of pen and ink, normally using just black, white, and one or two colors. Later books such as The Lorax used more colors.

Geisel's figures are often rounded and somewhat droopy. This is true, for instance, of the faces of the Grinch and of the Cat in the Hat. It is also true of virtually all buildings and machinery that Geisel drew: although these objects abound in straight lines in real life, for buildings, this could be accomplished in part through choice of architecture. For machines, for example, If I Ran the Circus includes a droopy hoisting crane and a droopy steam calliope.

Geisel evidently enjoyed drawing architecturally elaborate objects. His endlessly varied (but never rectilinear) palaces, ramps, platforms, and free-standing stairways are among his most evocative creations. Geisel also drew elaborate imaginary machines, of which the Audio-Telly-O-Tally-O-Count, from Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book, is one example. Geisel also liked drawing outlandish arrangements of feathers or fur, for example, the 500th hat of Bartholomew Cubbins, the tail of Gertrude McFuzz, and the pet for girls who like to brush and comb, in One Fish Two Fish.

Geisel's images often convey motion vividly. He was fond of a sort of voilà gesture, in which the hand flips outward, spreading the fingers slightly backward with the thumb up; this is done by Ish, for instance, in One Fish Two Fish when he creates fish (who perform the gesture themselves with their fins), in the introduction of the various acts of If I Ran the Circus, and in the introduction of the Little Cats in The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. He was also fond of drawing hands with interlocked fingers, which looked as though the characters were twiddling their thumbs.

Geisel also follows the cartoon tradition of showing motion with lines, for instance in the sweeping lines that accompany Sneelock's final dive in If I Ran the Circus. Cartoonist's lines are also used to illustrate the action of the senses (sight, smell, and hearing) in The Big Brag and even of thought, as in the moment when the Grinch conceives his awful idea.

For over 60 years, Dr. Seuss’s illustrations brought a visual realization to his fantastic and imaginary worlds. However, his artistic talent went far beyond the printed page, as in his Secret Art works – the paintings and sculptures he did at night for himself that he rarely exhibited during his lifetime. Seuss always dreamed of sharing these works with his fans and had entrusted his wife, Audrey, to carry out his wishes once he was gone. Audrey, too, believed the work deserved further recognition and that Ted himself would one day be evaluated not only as an author, but also as an artist in his own right. In 1997, this dream was realized when The Art of Dr. Seuss project was launched. For the first time in history, collectors were able to see and acquire lithographs, serigraphs and sculptures reproduced from Geisel’s original drawings and paintings. In her introduction to the collection Audrey Geisel wrote, “I remember telling Ted that there would come a day when many of his paintings would be seen and he would thus share with his fans another facet of himself – his private self. That day has come. I am glad.” This historic project has opened the world’s eyes to the unique artistic talent of Dr. Seuss and, as such, galleries, museums and collectors have helped make Audrey Geisel’s promise, and Dr. Seuss’s dream, a reality. Now, just 15 years after Ted passed away, these artworks have toured to leading galleries and museums across the world, establishing Seuss as a significant artist of the 20th century. Today limited edition prints and sculptures of Dr. Seuss artworks can now be found at galleries along side the works of Rembrandt, Picasso and Miro.

Recurring images

Geisel's early work in advertising and editorial cartooning produced sketches that received more perfect realization later in the children's books. Often, the expressive use to which Geisel put an image later on was quite different from the original.

An editorial cartoon of July 16, 1941 depicts a whale resting on the top of a mountain, as a parody of American isolationists, especially Charles Lindbergh. This was later rendered (with no apparent political content) as the Wumbus of On Beyond Zebra (1955). Seussian whales (cheerful and balloon-shaped, with long eyelashes) also occur in McElligot's Pool, If I Ran the Circus, and other books. Another editorial cartoon from 1941 shows a long cow with many legs and udders, representing the conquered nations of Europe being milked by Adolf Hitler. This later became the Umbus of On Beyond Zebra. The tower of turtles in a 1942 editorial cartoon prefigures a similar tower in Yertle the Turtle. This theme also appeared in a Judge cartoon as one letter of a hieroglyphic message, and in Geisel's short-lived comic strip Hejji. Geisel once stated that Yertle the Turtle was Adolf Hitler.

Little cats A B and C (as well as the rest of the alphabet) who spring from each other's hats appeared in a Ford ad.

The connected beards in Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? appear frequently in Geisel's work, most notably in Hejji, which featured two goats joined at the beard, The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T, which featured two roller-skating guards joined at the beard, and a political cartoon in which Nazism and the America First movement are portrayed as "the men with the Siamese Beard."

Geisel's earliest elephants were for advertising and had somewhat wrinkly ears, much as real elephants do. With And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street! (1937) and Horton Hatches the Egg (1940), the ears became more stylized, somewhat like angel wings and thus appropriate to the saintly Horton. During World War II, the elephant image appeared as an emblem for India in four editorial cartoons. Horton and similar elephants appear frequently in the postwar children's books. While drawing advertisements for Flit, Geisel became adept at drawing insects with huge stingers, shaped like a gentle S-curve and with a sharp end that included a rearward-pointing barb on its lower side. Their facial expressions depict gleeful malevolence. These insects were later rendered in an editorial cartoon as a swarm of Allied aircraft (1942), and again as the Sneedle of On Beyond Zebra, and yet again as the Skritz in I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew.

There are many examples of creatures who arrange themselves in repeating patterns, such as the "Two and fro walkers, who march in five layers", and the Through-Horns Jumping Deer in If I Ran the Circus, and the arrangement of birds which the protagonist of Oh, The Places You'll Go! walks through, as the narrator admonishes him to "...always be detrous and deft, and never mix up your right foot with your left."

Publications

Over the course of his long career, Geisel wrote over 60 books. Though most were published under his well-known pseudonym, Dr. Seuss, he also authored over a dozen books as Theo LeSieg and one as Rosetta Stone. As one of the most popular children's authors of all time, Geisel's books have topped many bestseller lists, sold over 222 million copies, and been translated into more than 15 languages. In 2000, Publishers Weekly compiled a list of the best-selling children's books of all time; of the top 100 hardcover books, 16 were written by Geisel, including Green Eggs and Ham, at number 4, The Cat in the Hat, at number 9, and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, at number 13. In the years after his death in 1991, two additional books were published based on his sketches and notes: Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! and Daisy-Head Mayzie. My Many Colored Days, originally written in 1973, was posthumously published in 1996. More recently, seven stories originally published in magazines during 1950 and 1951 will be released in a collection entitled The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories in September 2011.

At various times Geisel also wrote books for adults that used the same style of verse and pictures: The Seven Lady Godivas (1937; reprinted 1985), which included nude depictions; You're Only Old Once! (written in 1987 when Geisel was 83) which chronicles an old man's journey through a clinic, a satire of the inefficiency of clinics and his last book (written a year before his death) Oh, The Places You'll Go!, a popular gift for graduating students.

Adaptations

For most of his career, Geisel was reluctant to have his characters marketed in contexts outside of his own books. However, he did allow for the creation of several animated cartoons, an art form in which he himself had gained experience during the Second World War, and gradually relaxed his policy as he aged.

The first adaptation of one of Geisel's works was a cartoon version of Horton Hatches the Egg, animated at Warner Brothers in 1942. Directed by Robert Clampett, it was presented as part of the Looney Tunes series, and included a number of gags not present in the original narrative, including a fish committing suicide and a Katharine Hepburn imitation by Maisie.

In 1959, Geisel authorized Revell, the well-known plastic model-making company, to make a series of "animals" that snapped together rather than being glued together, and could be assembled, disassembled and re-assembled "in thousands" of ways. The series was called the "Dr. Seuss Zoo" and included Gowdy the Dowdy Grackle, Norval the Bashful Blinket, Tingo the Noodle Topped Stroodle and Roscoe the Many Footed Lion. The basic body parts were the same and all were interchangeable, and so it was possible for children to combine parts from various characters in essentially unlimited ways in creating their own animal characters (Revell encouraged this by selling Gowdy, Norval and Tingo together in a "Gift Set" as well as individually). Revell also made a conventional glue-together "beginner's kit" of The Cat in the Hat.

In 1966, Geisel authorized the eminent cartoon artist Chuck Jones, his friend and former colleague from the war, to make a cartoon version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas; Geisel was credited as a co-producer, along with Jones, under his real name, "Ted Geisel." The cartoon, narrated by Boris Karloff, who also provided the voice of the Grinch, was very faithful to the original book, and is considered a classic by many to this day; it is often broadcast as an annual Christmas television special. In 1970, an adaptation of Horton Hears a Who! was directed by Chuck Jones for Warner Bros. Pictures.

From 1971 to 1983, Geisel wrote seven Warner Bros. specials, which were produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and aired on CBS: Horton Hatches the Egg (1971), Dr. Seuss on the Loose (1977), and The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (1983). Several of the specials were nominated for and won multiple Academy Awards.

A Soviet paint-on-glass-animated short film called Welcome (an adaptation of Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose) was made in 1986. The last adaptation of Geisel's works before he died was The Butter Battle Book, a television special based on the book of the same name, directed by adult animation legend Ralph Bakshi. Geisel himself called the special "the most faithful adaptation of his work."

After Geisel died of cancer at the age of 87 in 1991, his widow Audrey Geisel was placed in charge of all licensing matters. She approved a live-action feature film version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas starring Jim Carrey, as well as a Seuss-themed Broadway musical called Seussical, and both premiered in 2000. The Grinch has had limited engagement runs on Broadway during the Christmas season, after premiering in 1998 (under the title How the Grinch Stole Christmas) at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, where it has become a Christmas tradition. In 2003, another live-action film was released, this time an adaptation of The Cat in the Hat that featured Mike Myers as the title character. Audrey Geisel was vocal in her dislike of the film, especially the casting of Myers as the Cat in the Hat, and stated that there would be no further live-action adaptations of Geisel's books. However, an animated CGI feature film adaptation of Horton Hears a Who! was approved, and was eventually released on March 14, 2008, to critical acclaim.

Four television series have been adapted from Geisel's work. The first, Gerald McBoing-Boing, was an animated television adaptation of Geisel's 1951 cartoon of the same name and lasted three months between 1956 and 1957. The second, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, was a mix of live-action and puppetry by Jim Henson Television, the producers of The Muppets. It aired for one season on Nickelodeon in the United States, from 1996 to 1997. The third, Gerald McBoing-Boing, is a remake of the 1956 series. Produced in Canada by Cookie Jar Entertainment, it ran from 2005 to 2007. The fourth, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, produced by Portfolio Entertainment Inc., began on August 7, 2010 in Canada and September 6, 2010 in the United States and is currently still showing.

Geisel's books and characters are also featured in Seuss Landing, one of many islands at the Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando, Florida. In an attempt to match Geisel's visual style, there are reportedly "no straight lines" in Seuss Landing.

References

Further reading

Documentary aired on the Public Television System.

External links

Seussville site Random House

New York Times obituary

Dr. Seuss biography on Lambiek Comiclopedia

The Register of Dr. Seuss Collection UC San Diego

The Advertising Artwork of Dr. Seuss UC San Diego

Dr. Seuss Went to War: A Catalog of Political Cartoons UC San Diego

Dr. Seuss' Commencement Speech Lake Forest College

Dr. Seuss / Theodor Geisel artwork can be viewed at American Art Archives web site

A Tale of Two Cartoonists, Hugh Turley, Hyattsville Life and Times, April 2009

Cartoon of John Haynes Holmes. By Dr.Seuss

Category:1904 births Category:1991 deaths Category:American children's writers Category:American editorial cartoonists Category:American illustrators Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:American poets Category:American writers of German descent Category:Children's poets Category:First Motion Picture Unit personnel Category:Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal winners Category:People from Springfield, Massachusetts Category:Recipients of the Legion of Merit Category:Requests for audio pronunciation Category:United States Army Air Forces officers Category:Writers from California Category:Writers from Massachusetts Category:Writers who illustrated their own writing

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Coordinates	56°09′″N40°25′″N
Name	Seussical
Music	Stephen Flaherty
Lyrics	Lynn Ahrens
Book	Lynn AhrensStephen Flaherty
Basis	The stories of Dr. Seuss
Productions	2000 Boston tryout 2000 Broadway 2002 1st USA Tour 2003 2nd USA Tour 2007 Off Broadway
Awards	}}

Seussical (Broadway marketing title, Seussical the Musical) is a musical by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty based on the books of Dr. Seuss that debuted on Broadway in 2000. The play's story is a rather complex amalgamation of many of Seuss's most famous books. After a Broadway run, the production spawned two US national tours and a UK tour. It has become a favorite for school, community and regional theatres.

Productions

Pre-Broadway

In a reading in New York City, Eric Idle played the Cat in the Hat, and was credited at the time for contributions to the story line. In the Toronto workshop in 1999, Andrea Martin played the Cat in the Hat. The musical had its out-of-town tryout in Boston, Massachusetts at the Colonial Theatre in September 2000.

Broadway

Seussical opened on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on November 30, 2000. Directed by Frank Galati with choreography by Kathleen Marshall; though uncredited, Kathleen Marshall's brother Rob Marshall was hired to direct the show when it returned from Boston to Broadway; the original Broadway cast included David Shiner as the Cat in the Hat, Kevin Chamberlin as Horton, and Anthony Blair Hall as Jojo. It also featured Janine LaManna as Gertrude McFuzz and Michelle Pawk as Mayzie LaBird, with Stuart Zagnit as the Mayor of Whoville, Alice Playten as the Mayor's wife, Sharon Wilkins as the Sour Kangaroo and Erick Devine as General Genghis Khan Schmitz also appearing. Throughout the run, there were many celebrity Cat in the Hat replacements, including Rosie O'Donnell and Cathy Rigby.

The production received lukewarm reviews, with critics focusing on the huge cast of characters and unsympathetic plotlines. The Broadway production closed on May 20, 2001 after 198 performances and 34 previews.

US tours

Following the Broadway production, there were two US National tours. The first, in 2002-03, starred Cathy Rigby, and the second toured in 2003-04.

The script for the first tour was extensively reworked after the poor showing on Broadway. This resulted in the removal or reworking of several songs. The biggest change involves Jojo, who is initially an anonymous boy who thinks up The Cat in the Hat when he finds a strange hat at center stage. The Cat helps the boy create the Seussian universe and the rest of the story. The Cat later shoves the boy into the story, making him play the role of Jojo. There is also additional dialogue, as well as the deletion of some songs and their reprises.

It is this version of the musical that is currently rented by the leasing company, and has enjoyed some success in regional and children's theater companies across the country.

Off-Broadway

A 90-minute Off Broadway production was staged at the Lucille Lortel Theatre from July 19, 2007 through August 17, 2007 by Theatreworks USA, directed and choreographed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge and starring Shorey Walker as The Cat in the Hat. This production was downscaled from the first USA tour.

One-Act Versions

Another one-act version of the show, Seussical The Musical, Jr is designed for performances by junior high or middle school students, and part of the MTI "Jr." series. The Junior version of Seussical was changed from the full-length Broadway version to make it shorter, in one act, and more accessible for younger actors.

A one-act version of the show was reworked with the permissions of the playwrights in 2004. The "Theatre for Young Audience" version contains significant changes, including reducing the cast to 12 actors and removing the entire military subplot.

Seuss Books Used

The overarching plot of the show mirrors that of Horton Hears a Who!, centering on Horton the elephant's endeavors to protect the people of Who-ville, who live on a tiny speck of dust. It also features characters and scenarios from many other Seuss books, including the Butter Side Uppers / Downers from The Butter Battle Book, Gertrude McFuzz, and, in addition to a music number based on its original story, The Cat in the Hat also acts an "your host and MC" -- sometimes being an outside observer, a narrator and devil's advocate throughout the show, briefly leaping into the action on several occasions to create conflict and keep the story moving. In all, the following Seuss books have some minor characters and/or settings incorporated into the show:

''Horton Hears a Who!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

The Lorax

Green Eggs and Ham

Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories

Horton Hatches the Egg

I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew

McElligot's Pool

Hunches in Bunches

If I Ran the Circus

The Butter Battle Book

Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!

The Cat in the Hat

The Sneetches and Other Stories

Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

Due to the elimination of songs such as "The Military", "Havin' A Hunch" and "Message from The Front" and phrases and sections of other songs, "Seussical Jr." only uses the books Horton Hears a Who!, Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, The Cat in the Hat, If I Ran the Circus, McElligot's Pool, Green Eggs and Ham, Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories, Horton Hatches the Egg, I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew.

Plot

This synopsis describes the full length Broadway version.

;Act I ("Overture") The "The Cat in the Hat", acting as narrator, sits on a bare stage, save for an odd multi-colored circle background ("Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!").

In the Jungle of Nool, where Horton the Elephant is bathing ("Our Story Begins"), he hears a strange noise coming from a speck of dust. He rescues the speck and places it on a clover to guard ("Horton Hears a Who"). The other animals mock him, except for Gertrude McFuzz, who admires his compassion and begins to fall in love with him ("Biggest Blame Fool"). Horton hears the mysterious voice again, which belongs to the Mayor of "Who", a dust-speck planet covered with microscopic inhabitants called Whos. The Cat in the Hat zooms in on the dust speck as the Whos are revealed. The Mayor and the Whos reveal their planet is so small and fragile they are constantly threatened with death, and beg Horton to help protect. His resolve strengthened, Horton promises he will guard the dust speck ("Here on Who")

The mayor's son, Jojo, is scolded for thinking "thinks", imaginary thoughts which disrupt his school classes and anger his teachers ("A Day For The Cat In The Hat"). Although he tries not to think thinks, he starts to imagine his tub is McElligot's pool where his thinks soon spiral out of control ("It's Possible") and cause time to fly. Frustrated, the Mayor and his wife agree to "lay down the law" but are unsure of just how to discipline their son ("How to Raise a Child"). After receiving a brochure, they decide to send him to a military school run by a misguided warmonger named General Genghis Khan Schmitz, who is preparing to go to war with those who eat their bread butter side down ("The Military").

Horton meets Jojo, with whom he bonds as a fellow social outcast ("Alone in the Universe"). The next day, Gertrude (whose feelings for Horton are still strong) laments that her tail only has one feather, believing its sorry sight is the reason Horton is not noticing her ("The One Feather Tail of Miss Gertrude McFuzz"). Mayzie La Bird, whose tail is enormous and dazzling, advises Gertrude to obtain pills from Doctor Dake, which Mayzie promises will make her tail "almost as amazing" as hers ("Amayzing Mayzie/Amayzing Gertrude"). Gertrude is so excited about her tail, she overdoses.

Horton is ambushed by a group of mischievous monkeys, the Wickersham Brothers ("Monkey Around") who steal the clover and give it to an eagle, Vlad Vladikoff, who drops it into a large patch of identical clovers ("Chasing the Whos"). The Cat in the Hat freezes the action and delivers an ironically cheery tune about how fortunate the audience is not to be the Whos ("How Lucky You Are"). Horton looks for the clover, while Gertrude tries to attract his attention. Horton, however, is so intently focused on his mission he does not notice her, and a dejected Gertrude retreats to take more pills ("Notice Me, Horton"). Mayzie LaBird, who has just been abandoned by her lover and left with an egg, interrupts Horton's search and begs him to sit on it so she can take an afternoon off ("How Lucky You Are" (Reprise)). Horton reluctantly agrees, and Mayzie flies away, never to return. As winter approaches, Horton is captured by hunters. Gertrude makes an attempt to rescue him, but the size and weight of her new tail prevents her from flying ("Horton Sits on the Egg").

;Act II ("Entr'acte") ("Our Story Resumes") Horton is transported to New York City ("Egg, Nest and Tree") and auctioned off to the circus ("The Circus McGurkus"), lamenting his sorry state ("The Circus On Tour"). Mayzie is lazing about in Palm Beach, where she admits she tires of the monotony of sunbathing ("Mayzie in Palm Beach"). She decides to attend the Circus, where she reunites with Horton and the egg. Horton pleads for her to take it back, but Mayzie refuses, and gives the egg to Horton to keep forever ("Amayzing Horton"). Alone with the egg, a sorrowful Horton vows to nurture it himself ("Alone in the Universe" (Reprise)) and sings a lullaby about a magical world called Solla Sollew

On Christmas Day, Jojo and his fellow cadets are deployed to fight in the Butter Battle. Jojo finally confronts General Schmitz, declaring his belief in the immorality of the war and deserting the army. However, he causes an explosion which is thought to have destroyed him ("Green Eggs and Ham" ("Transition to Butter Battle)"). Jojo's parents learn of his alleged death ("A Message From The Front") at the Christmas Pageant. The Cat in the Hat, however, reenacts the scene, so the audience sees that Jojo is actually alive, but lost in some dark place far from Whoville ("Lost in Whoville"). Jojo forgives the Cat in the Hat for his perceived offenses, taking his advice and trusting his hunches to lead him back home. He and his parents share a joyful embrace ("Havin' a Hunch").

At the Circus, Gertrude reappears and frees a bewildered Horton. She has swallowed her pride, got her tail feathers plucked, and flew across the world to rescue Horton and find the Whos' clover ("All For You"). Ecstatic that the Whos are finally safe, Horton begins to fall in love with Gertrude. However, their happiness is crushed as the Sour Kangaroo and the Wickersham Brothers drag Horton back to the Jungle of Nool, and put him on trial for the crimes of "talking to a speck of dust and loitering on an egg". Gertrude and Horton make a stand at the trial, but in vain; Yertle the Turtle orders the clover to be boiled in a kettle of beezlenut oil. Aghast, Horton begs the Whos to shout to prove their existence, which nearly fails until Jojo comes up with a "think": the word "YOPP" whose peculiar sound is just enough to reach the jungle creatures' ears ("The People Versus Horton the Elephant"). The court acquits Horton and the Sour Kangaroo repents, swearing that she will help Horton protect the Whos. In Whoville, Jojo is honored as "Thinker Non-Stop" and finally wins the appreciation of his parents.

The egg hatches, and a tiny "Elephant-Bird" emerges. Horton panics, realizing he can't handle flying progeny, but Gertrude promises him that as Horton "teaches him earth", she will "teach him sky". They agree to raise the child together ("Alone in the Universe" (Reprise)). The Cat in the Hat sums things up ("Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!" (Reprise)), "Green Eggs and Ham".

Songs

;Act 1

Overture—Orchestra

Oh, The Thinks You Can Think! -- The Cat in the Hat and the Company

Horton Hears A Who!* -- Bird Girls, Horton the Elephant and Citizens of the Jungle of Nool

Biggest Blame Fool—Sour Kangaroo, Horton the Elephant, Wickersham Brothers, Bird Girls, Gertrude McFuzz, Mayzie LaBird, Yertle the Turtle, Citizens of the Jungle of Nool Jojo and The Cat in the Hat

Here On Who—The Mayor, Mrs. Mayor, The Grinch, Whos, and Horton the Elephant

A Day for the Cat in the Hat—The Cat in the Hat, Jojo, and Cat's Helpers

It's Possible (In McElligot's Pool)* -- JoJo, The Cat in the Hat and Fish

How To Raise A Child—The Mayor and Mrs. Mayor

The Military—General Genghis Khan Schmitz, The Mayor of Whoville, Mrs. Mayor, JoJo and Cadets

Alone In The Universe—Horton and JoJo

The One Feather Tail of Miss Gertrude McFuzz—Gertrude

Amayzing Mayzie--Mayzie LaBird, Gertrude, and the Bird Girls

Amazing Gertrude— Gertrude, and Bird Girls

Monkey Around—Wickersham Brothers and Horton the Elephant

Chasing the Whos* -- Horton the Elephant, Sour Kangaroo, Bird Girls, Wickersham Brothers, The Cat in the Hat, Vlad Vladikoff and Whos

How Lucky You Are—The Cat in the Hat, Whos

Notice Me, Horton—Gertrude McFuzz and Horton the Elephant

'' How Lucky You Are (Reprise) -- Mayzie LaBird, Horton

'Horton Sits on the Egg—Full Company

;Act 2

Entr'acte—Orchestra #

The Circus McGurkus-- The Cat in the Hat, Circus Performers, and Circus Animals #

The Circus on Tour-- Horton, Circus Performers, and Circus Animals #

Egg, Nest, and Tree* -- Sour Kangaroo, Bird Girls, Wickersham Brothers, The Cat in the Hat, Jungle creatures, Cat's Helpers and Hunters

Mayzie in Palm Beach—Mayzie LaBird, The Cat in the Hat and Horton

Amayzing Horton-Mayzie LaBird and Horton

Alone in the Universe (Reprise) - Horton

Solla Sollew—Horton the Elephant, The Circus McGurkus Animals and Performers, The Mayor, Mrs. Mayor and JoJo

The Butter Battle-- General Genghis Khan Schmitz, Jojo, and Cadets #

The Who Christmas Paegeant-- The Grinch, Whos, and Mr. and Mrs. Mayor #

A Message From the Front-- General Genghis Khan Schmitz, Cadets, and Mr. and Mrs. Mayor #

Havin' a Hunch* -- The Cat in the Hat, JoJo, Hunches and Cat's Helpers

All For You—Gertrude, Horton and Bird Girls

The People Versus Horton The Elephant*— Company minus Mayzie LaBird

Finale / Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! -- Full Company

Curtain Call / Green Eggs And Ham—Full Company

=Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and Dr. Seuss

#=Not on the Official Broadway Recording

Seussical the Musical is available as karaoke accompaniment tracks in at least 2 editions.

Principal characters

The Cat in the Hat, the mischievous, imaginative, comedic narrator of the show who also doubles as several other minor characters.

Horton the Elephant, a thinker, the outsider, caring, gentle,

JoJo, a thinker, the son/daughter of The Mayor and Mrs. Mayor, he/she often gets into trouble for thinking.

Gertrude McFuzz, the loyal bird-neighbor of Horton, she loves him but is shy due to having only one feather for a tail.

Mayzie LaBird, a pompous and show-all bird (known for her rather flirtatious ways) who tells Gertrude to take pills so her tail will grow longer, forcing Horton to love her (Gertrude).

Sour Kangaroo, the brash kangaroo who tells all that Horton is a fool for thinking there are people living on a dust speck. She is always seen with her younger kangaroo in her pouch.

Young Kangaroo, the daughter of the Sour Kangaroo-usually played by a child or a puppet; always in mother's pouch and very stubborn; "Humphf!" is her trademark

The Mayor of Whoville, the Mayor of Whoville, the father of JoJo.

Mrs. Mayor, The Mayor's wife, the mother of JoJo.

General Genghis Khan Schmitz, the general of the Academy, leads JoJo to war.

Other characters

The Grinch, makes a cameo in the song "Here On Who" and "The Whos' Christmas Pageant" as The Grinch

The Bird Girls, a type of Greek chorus of birds that are Mayzie's friends.

The Wickersham Brothers, 3 mischievous monkeys who steal Horton's clover from him.

Judge Yertle the Turtle, makes a small cameo in the trial scene, as the judge.

Marshal of the court, bailiff in the trial scene. Can also be played by the Cat in the Hat.

Vlad Vladikoff, a black-bottomed eagle who takes Horton's clover.

Cindy Lou Who, makes a small cameo in the song "The Whos Christmas pageant"

Max the Dog, makes a small cameo in the song "The Whos Christmas pageant"

Who Children #1-4, each have small cameo appearances in the song "The Whos Christmas pageant"

Hunches, visual representations of Jojo's thoughts or hunches

The Fish, the fish that Jojo imagines are in McElligot's Pool

The Whos, all of the citizens of Whoville other than Jojo and Mr and Mrs.Mayor (ensemble)

The Jungle Creatures, all of the creatures of the Jungle of Nool other than the principal cast (ensemble)

The Hunters, They hunt and take Horton to the ship to the circus, sometimes doubled with the Wickersham Brothers.

Circus Performers, these are the acts from "Circus McGurkus". They range from clowns to animals to gymnasts.

Missing Subplots

The Lorax is the only character to be removed from the show. He was in the first tryout of 27 August 2000. The Lorax had its own song and lines and its storyline from the book was also put in. The Lorax's part was after "Havin' A Hunch", where Jojo is left on his own after The Cat in The Hat leaves him. Then Jojo is surrounded by several black figures who tell the story about the Lorax. Jojo talks to the Lorax through a phone, first he has a croaky devilish voice in a sort of hut, but then shouts and jumps out in green and white clothing with an Irish clover in the middle. He then begins to sing and dance in an energetic song.

In Seussical Jr. The entire Military subplot was removed to make the story fit to children more, which resulted in the General Genghis Khan Schmitz character being completely removed. Because of this, the songs "The Military", "Havin' A Hunch" and "Message from The Front" were also removed. Also, Seussical Jr. is a one-act musical. Jojo is a smaller role in the Junior version since the military subplot was removed.

Awards and nominations

2001 Tony Award Best Actor in a Musical -- Kevin Chamberlin (nominee)

2001 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Musical—Kevin Chamberlin (nominee)

2001 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical—Janine LaManna (nominee)

2001 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Music—Music by Stephen Flaherty (nominee)

;Lucille Lortel Award (2008)

Outstanding Revival (nominee)

Outstanding Choreography (nominee)

Outstanding Costume Design, Tracy Christensen (nominee)

;Drama League Award (2008)

Outstanding Revival of a Musical (nominee)

References

External links

Seussical at the Internet Theatre Database

Seussical at Music Theatre International

Seussical: Theatre for Young Audiences Version at Music Theatre International

Seussical Audition Advice & Show Information from MusicalTheatreAudition.com

New York Times Article on the Theatre For Young Audiences version

Seussical the Musical Lyrics

Category:Broadway musicals Category:2000 musicals Category:Dr. Seuss