Jonathan Wilkins takes a look at the life of the famous The Cat in the Hat children's writer
"A person's a person no matter how small. Children want the same things we want to laugh, to be challenged, to be entertained and delighted."
Dr. Seuss
Born Theodor S. Geisal in 1904, Dr. Seuss charmed his way into the consciousness of four generations of youngsters and parents and in the process taught many to read over the course of his 44 books, the first of which was published in 1937.
After graduating from Dartmouth College (his immediate predecessor on the school magazine, Norman McClean, wrote A River Runs Through It), Geisal studied at Oxford University . He then moved onto a career in advertising which led to a series for Judge magazine, "The Boids and Beasties," which was a precursor to the strangely shaped, silly animals that evolved into the Whos, Zooks and Loraxes of later stories.
Geisal signed his early drawings "Dr Theophrastus Seuss" to lend a scientific cache to his goofy zoology. It evolved to become simply Dr. Seuss (his mother's maiden name) with his first book, And To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street, in 1937.
His 44 cleverly written and illustrated books include classics such as Green Eggs and Ham, Horton Hatches the Egg, The Cat in the Hat and How The Grinch Stole Christmas!, and always embodied the spirit of modern living, mirroring our strengths, weaknesses, desires and fears. Never preachy, the books still imbued important moral lessons for children and adults all the while being endlessly entertaining.
The creation of The Cat in the Hat proved to be a landmark in the evolution of children's literature in the late 1950s. At the time, the popular novelist John Hersey had characterised school primers as antiseptic, pallid, uniform and bland - a best selling critique of children's literacy was entitled Why Johnny Can't Read. An educational publisher challenged Seuss to write a reading primer using a vocabulary of just 225 words that would still captivate young readers. Seuss rose to the challenge with The Cat In The Hat which sold over a million copies.
Legendary animator Chuck Jones persuaded an initially reluctant Seuss to allow him to produce cartoons based on his works. A version of How The Grinch Stole Christmas was produced featuring Boris Karloff as the Grinch (against Seuss' wishes as he feared he would be too scary) and with songs especially written by Seuss himself. One of the singers was the prolific voiceover artist Thurl Ravenscroft who went on to be the voice of Tony the Tiger in the Frosties breakfast cereal commercials.
Capturing the distinctive elements of Seuss' stories, the strange colour schemes and weird psychedelic style of the animations fitted beautifully into the sixties and paved the way for entertaining and educational children's television best exemplified by Jim Henson's Sesame Street.
Dr. Seuss was granted doctorates in literature and fine arts by seven universities and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1984. Although he died in 1991, he continues to be the world's best selling children's book author, having sold over 250 million books.
Nearly ten years after his death a live action version of How The Grinch Stole Christmas was released. Directed by Ron Howard the film proved to be a huge success thanks to a larger than life performance from Jim Carrey in the title role and superb production design that largely stayed true to the source text.
In actuality, Dr Seuss' stories are best enjoyed in their original form; engaging tales, beautifully illustrated with a quality that has, and will, entertain and improve literacy in millions of children for many years to come.
Jonathan Wilkins
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