1234 Theodor Seuss Geisel was born 2 March 1904 in Springfield, MA. He got the name Dr. Seuss because his mother's last name was Seuss before she was married. When he was a kid he had drawn some funny things like people and animals that no one had seen. He practiced drawing them. They made him happy. When he was a kid, he could not help smiling!
1234 He graduated Dartmouth College in 1925, and proceeded on to Oxford University with the intent of acquiring a doctorate in literature. At Oxford he met Helen Palmer, who he wed in 1927. He returned from Europe in 1927, and began working for a magazine called Judge, the leading humor magazine in America at the time, submitting both cartoons and humorous articles for them. Additionally, he was submitting cartoons to Life, Vanity Fair and Liberty. In some of his works, he'd made reference to an insecticide called Flit. These references gained notice, and led to a contract to draw comic ads for Flit. This association lasted 17 years, gained him national exposure, and coined the catchphrase "Quick, Henry, the Flit!"
1234 Theodor decided to write children's books. He wrote an illustrated alphabet book but no one wanted to publish it. So he didn't write another book for four years. Theodor went to Europe again in 1936. On the way home from Europe he sat on the deck of a ship. He thought that the engine of the ship was talking to him. The words of a story just came into his mind. He wrote down the words of the story and drew pictures to go with it. The story was called 」And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street」 . It was a big success! Dr. Seuss had his first published book.
1234 During WW II, Geisel joined the army and was sent to Hollywood. Captain Geisel would write for Frank Capra's Signal Corps Unit (for which he won the Legion of Merit) and do documentaries (he won Oscar's for Hitler Lives and Design for Death). He also created a cartoon called Gerald McBoing-Boing which also won him an Oscar.
1234 In May of 1954, Life published a report concerning illiteracy among school children. The report said, among other things, that children were having trouble to read because their books were boring. This inspired Geisel's publisher, and prompted him to send Geisel a list of 400 words he felt were important, asked him to cut the list to 250 words (the publishers idea of how many words at one time a first grader could absorb), and write a book. Nine months later, Geisel, using 220 of the words given to him published The Cat in the Hat, which went on to instant success.
1234 In 1960 Bennett Cerf bet Geisel $50 that he couldn't write an entire book using only fifty words. The result was Green Eggs and Ham. Cerf never paid the $50, by the way...
1234 Helen Palmer Geisel died in 1967. Theodor Geisel married Audrey Stone Diamond in 1968. Theodor Seuss Geisel died 24 September 1991.