Dr. Seuss [Theodor Seuss Geisel] - (1904-1991)
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San Pedro High School in San Pedro, California
I. Biography
Dr. Seuss, originally Theodor Geisel was born on March 2, 1904 (died on September 24, 1991). Geisel was born to Robert Geisel and Henrietta Seuss Geisel in Springfield, Massachusetts. Geisel lived a normal life as a child and was interested in drawing. As Geisel grew older he learned that writing was also a hobby for him. Geisel became a very good drawer and writer over the years and entered many stories in his school newspaper.
In 1921, Geisel attended Dartmouth College where he began drawing and writing for his campus humor magazine called the Jack-O-Lantern . Geisel graduates from Dartmouth College in 1925, and goes on to Oxford University in England. While at Oxford University he meets Helen Palmer and tours through England and Europe. Helen Palmer and Geisel had many things in common such as their love for writing, and for drawing. Helen Palmer and Geisel become very close during these years spending most of their time together whether it was studying or just being together they were in love. On November the 9th, 1927 they were married.
After going to Oxford University, Geisel tried to get many of his works published, but many were rejected. In 1940 Geisel gets a job as an editorial cartoonist for the newspaper PM. In 1943, Geisel is recruited into the United States Army Signal Corps, Information and Educational Division.
During the next three years, Geisel worked on many informational films and receives his first academy award, he would receive three over his lifetime, and also he received the Legion of Merit. In 1948, Geisel purchased a new hilltop home in La Jolla, California. Geisel lived there for the rest of his life. In 1952, Geisel wrote a script and songs and also designed the sets for a movie, which turned out to be not successful. After this, Geisel abandoned the Hollywood scene. In the year 1956, Geisel received an honorary doctoral degree from Dartmouth College, his alma mater. He received this because of the book he wrote called If I Ran the Circus.
After many years of great success from writing book after book, on October 23, 1967 Helen Palmer Geisel, Geisel's wife, died by taking her own life. It was speculated that she came about this after many years of physical and emotional illness. In 1968, Geisel received yet another honorary degree but this time from American International College.
During the same year, Geisel found love again and married a woman named Audrey Stone Diamond. In 1971 Geisel, who is now known as Dr. Seuss, received a Peabody Award for his television specials, How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
After many years go by and Dr. Seuss is made famous around the United States, he is given an honorary doctoral degree from Lake Forest College. He also receives an Emmy Award for, Halloween Is Grinch Night , in 1977. In 1980 Dr. Seuss received an honorary doctoral degree from Whittier College, also he received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award from the American Library Association. In 1982, Dr. Seuss received an Emmy for the television special, The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat.
In 1983, Dr. Seuss received an honorary doctoral degree from John F. Kennedy University, and in 1984 he wins a Pulitzer Prize for his contributions to children's literature. In 1985, when Dr. Seuss received another honorary doctoral degree, this time from Princeton, the entire graduating class recited Green Eggs and Ham.
Over the next two years, Dr. Seuss received two more honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Hartford and from Brown University.
On September 24, 1991, Geisel died in La Jolla, California at the age of 87.
II. Literary Works and More Awards
Dr. Seuss's first written and published work was a cartoon called,The Saturday Evening Post. It was published in July of 1927.
In 1937, after many rejections, Dr. Seuss had published his first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street . Dr. Seuss had published many other books also, but he enjoyed mostly the writing of children's books such as, Green Eggs and Ham, Scrambled Eggs Super! and Dr. Seuss's ABC.
Dr. Seuss, his real name being Theodor Seuss Geisel, also wrote other books and also dabbed into the world of movies such as an army movie he made called, Hitler Lives. This movie was a great success and even won him an Academy Award; he would later win two more.
Most of Dr. Seuss's works were written in La Jolla, California, where he made his home after moving from Springfield, Massachusetts. The most controversial book ever published by Dr. Seuss was The Lorax. This book was so controversial because it deals with despoiling of the earth's environment.
After his death in 1991, his second wife donated 20 million dollars to the Main Library of the University of California at San Diego. The library is now called the Geisel Library.
III. Literary Works
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (1938)
The King's Stilts (1939)
Horton Hatches the Egg (1940)
If I ran the Zoo (1950)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957)
Green Eggs and Ham (1960)
The Lorax (1971)
Please Try to Remember the first Octember (1977)
IV. Sources
Sneetches and Whos and the Good Dr. Seuss by Thomas Fensch
This essay was submitted by a student of Kathy Honda Stein, a teacher at San Pedro High School in San Pedro, California.