In honor of his birthday, Weekly World News presents 15 strange facts about Dr. Seuss that you may have never heard before!
1. Dr. Seuss’ real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel
2. After being caught at a drinking party during the Prohibition era, Theodor was forced to continue writing for Dartmouth’s paper under a pseudonym. Thus, Dr. Seuss was born
3. Although he is famous for his children books, he never had any children himself
4. During World War II, Seuss wrote short propaganda films for the United States War Department such as “Your Job in Germany”, to be shown to soldiers about to go overseas into foreign cultures
5. He also drew political cartoons during the War for a left-wing newspaper, including one that depicted all Japanese-Americans as latent traitors
6. After the war ended, Seuss had a change of heart and wrote “Horton Hears a Who” as an allegory for the American post-war occupation of Japan
7. Seuss had a closet next to his studio filled with hats sent to him from children around the world
8. “Green Eggs and Ham” was written on a dare, after a publisher bet him $50 he couldn’t write a book using only 50 different words
9. Seuss was descended from a long line of German brewmasters on his father’s side
10. Seuss Landing, an area of Universal Studios theme park made especially for small children, does not feature a single straight line anywhere in keeping with Seuss’ vision
11. “Cat in the Hat” was written to promote literacy, after a 1954 report on illiteracy concluded that children found books to be boring
12. Before President Richard Nixon resigned, Seuss rewrote one of his books to declare, “Richard M. Nixon, Will You Please Go Now!” and released it to major newspapers
13. After the failure of the live-action film adaptation of “Cat in the Hat” and it’s risqué content, Seuss’ widow has banned any future live-action films being made, declaring them too difficult to monitor
14. The “Butter Battle Book” is an anti-war story, and specifically challenged Reagan’s decision to put defense ahead of social welfare programs during the Cold War
15. “Horton Hears a Who” is often referenced by pro-life groups for recurring phrase “a person’s a person, no matter how small”. His widow discouraged this, and Seuss himself threatened to sue a group for using his words on their stationery
I love Dr Suess, books. They are great for kids & adults. My eldest daughter & i use to read them & laugh so much, when she was 7yrs old. It seems sometimes, was the only books that would brighten us up, when we were feeling down. so, funny & unique. Kids, are captured my the imagination & the interesting story lines. Go Suess, we love ya!!!!
Dr. Seuss lived in La Jolla, a very beautiful, affluent area on the San Diego coast; I think after he passed on his wife remained living there – it's my home town (San Diego, not La Jolla – I wish!) some friends who'd lived in the Midwest 'where they have proper trees' LOL…told me when visiting that 'now they could see where he got the strange shapes for his trees' – they'd never seen a jacaranda next to a magnolia next to a eucalyptus next to a palm tree before hahahaha…and that was just the beginning.
I hope to see the likes of another Dr. Seuss, Ogden Nash, P.D. Eastman, or other such children's writer that's so attuned to their sense of wonder, awe, magic and the seemingly mysterious world around us.
I salute you Leda for continuing the tradition of reading Dr. Seuss down the generations and may you never need a thneed!!
P.D. Eastman's 'Go Dog Go' and Dr. Seuss's (probably lesser known books) 'One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish' and 'Oh The Places You'll Go' (all available for reasonable prices on Amazon. Were favs I had as a child. Just sad I can't have kids as I'd have loved to enjoy them with my children had I been so blessed. Which is why I picked Bat Boy as my icon…the son I never had LOL.
I am not sure whether Dr. Seuss was against pro-life groups using the motto "a person's a person, no matter how small", because it was copyrighted and he didn't want his thoughts used by someone else or whether he was really pro-choice? The story "Horton hears a Who" clearly could be considered a pro-life story. I loved all the Dr. Seuss books growing up!!! They were good stories that encouraged children to learn. I hope to have kids someday and read Dr. Seuss stories to them regardless of what Seuss meant as the underlying message or not.
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