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| The Cat in the Hat |
Dr. Seuss is the pseudonym for Theodor Seuss Geisel, whose best sellers included Horton Hears A Who! (1954), The Cat in the Hat (1957), How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957), One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish (1960) and Green Eggs and Ham (1960). His work has been adapted into TV specials and series, feature films, and a Broadway musical and a theme park. His books have sold more than 220 million copies and have been translated into 15 languages.
Seuss was his mother's maiden name. Her parents emigrated from Bavaria in the the 19th century. The family pronounced the name Zoice but most Americans say Soose so Geisel finally went with that. He first started using the Dr. Seuss name on cartoons he drew for a humor magazine at Dartmouth College.
Before he became famous, Geisel drew cartoons for an advertising campaign for household insect spray: "Quick, Henry, the Flit!" It wasn't easy getting started in children's books. He told the story that the only reason he did children's books was because they weren't included in the prohibited projects in his contract with Standard Oil, maker of Flit. Geisel wasn't prone to letting the facts stand in the way of a good story. He told interviewers at various times that 20 or 26 or 27 or 28 or 29 publishers rejected his first book before it was finally accepted.
He also told how he was walking down Madison Avenue, dejected over his most recent rejection and ready to toss the manuscript into the trash, when he chanced to meet a former classmate who had just become the juvenile editor at Vanguard Press. The classmate signed him to a contract for his first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street (1937). As Geisel told an interviewer, "That's one of the reasons I believe in luck. If I'd been going down the other side of Madison Avenue, I would be in the dry cleaning business today!"
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