AUTHOR: Andrew Robinson
EDP 380H, FALL, 1995
18 DECEMBER, 1995
The appellation , "Dr. Seuss," has become a name that often evokes fond memories of a cherished childhood. Entrenched in monotony of gray day when, "The sun did not shine./ It was too wet to play," we only had to look at the grinning face of Dr. Seuss's famous cat to remind us that there was more to do than wait as time slipped away. There was something appealing in the simple anapestic tetrameter rhythm, coupled with nonsensical words and illustrations of outlandish creatures that seemed to call out to the vibrant, dynamic imagination of a child.
Through over forty-two books Dr. Seuss has been able to encourage children to seek delight in reading and has opened the minds of successive generations. He designed books that inspire children to learn through entertainment, by providing according to Steven Brezzo, Director of the San Diego Museum of Art, "a fantastic refuge of wacky characters, convoluted logic, and silly vocabulary." The accomplishments of Dr. Seuss are far-ranging: not only did he resurrect the pleasure of reading for children, and inspire them to think creatively, but he taught many a moral lesson to us during what researchers have discovered are our most formative years. We have learned tolerance and consideration, individuality and compromise, and even morality concerning the ideology of nuclear armament(The Butter Battle Book, 1984) and materialistic society's effect upon the natural world(The Lorax, 1971). These lessons were often taught subtly, subconsciously embracing our young psyche, for as children Dr. Seuss was primarily a wonderful synonym for fanciful adventures that showed us a life we could create beyond reality, where having fun was paramount. For many Americans, Dr. Seuss has become as integral a part of childhood, as bicycles, bruises, and peanut butter and jelly; most importantly his books became the first we ever really cared about.
Despite the universally recognizable cat in a tall, red and white striped, smokestack hat, titles such as, Green Eggs and Ham, and the very name "Dr. Seuss" most people know very little about the individual who hold such high esteem among child and parent alike. In fact, one would question, "Who?" at the very mention of the name Theodore Geisel--- the man behind the cat. As is often the case with figures who reach the realm of mythic status in society much is lost as to their own identity. In this study of the who "Dr. Seuss" really was, one quickly comes to learn that with such a story of success it is simply not enough to say, "He graduated from here. He wrote this," but one must analyze the factors that motivated such overwhelming creativity, productivity, and the social responsibility of educating the unlearned masses of children and adult alike (for those of us who still curl up to, Horton Hears a Who.) In developing this study, the model for creativity set up by Dr. Howard Gardener in his book, Creative Frames of Mind will be employed, serving as a basis of critical inquiry and analysis into the complex mind that created a "Lorax" and the "Grinch." Howard Gardener identifies seven frames of intelligence as existing in the human mind and that humans tend to gravitate toward one or a combination of these intelligences, which then determine the nature of a person's creative endeavor or accomplishment. I would argue, as will be illustrated in the biography of Theodore Geisel, that he, does indeed, fit many of Gardener's element in developing and sustaining creativity. In an important deviation, though, from Gardener's model, Theodore Geisel was not only able to accomplish all that he did, through his obvious Verbal and Spatial skills, but that he necessarily employed advanced intellect in the areas of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal as well as utilized a high Kinesthetic sense in many of his works. As this tract continues, more significant elements of Gardener's model will emerge in describing Theodore Geisel/ Dr. Seuss's accomplishments, innovations, and the means to them.
In a roomy middle-class home in the energetic, optimistic and self-reliant city of Springfield Massachusetts, Theodore Seuss Geisel was born on the 2nd of March, 1904. From the beginning "Ted" showed love for the unusual and absurd and showed his overactive imagination through his exaggeration of ordinary neighborhood events into momentous situations. He grew up in a city where people felt they could overcome adversity through hard work and create a name for themselves in the world. Unfortunate, adversity was something that Ted encountered early on in this German-American community. With onset of the World War I, Ted felt a sense of shame at his German heritage. This feeling was exacerbated by the community around him as Ted was described as "the German brewer's kid" and was nicknamed the Kaiser. Yet he overcame, these situations with a sense of humility and endurance, seeking whatever anonymity he could, as was the case with many German-Americans during that period. From this ostracism may have developed Theodore Geisel need for privacy that consumed much of his later life; for Ted Geisel tended to resent the lime-light in his later years, living reclusively and granting relatively few interviews. However, Ted did have an important means of support in his youth, that he continued to cherish throughout his life, in his father. The dedication of If I ran the Circus reads, "This Book Is For My Dad Big Ted Of Springfield The Finest Man I'll Ever Know." Theodore Seuss Geisel looked at his father as the embodiment of perseverance and a positive attitude. When his father was forced to close the family brewery because of Prohibition, Ted watched as his father made the best of the circumstance and moved on to a job as supervisor of Springfield's emerging park system. Ted and his father were fast friends, from an early age. He often encouraged his son in whatever pursuits Ted was engaged. The elder Geisel often tried to interest his son in pursuing athletics for which Ted had no penchant, rather his interests layed in exploring life and entertaining others.
Ted was often regarded as having a formidable memory and was generally considered a bright student, but not dedicated. The main impression he left upon people was his motivation and charisma. He was actively involved during High School, taking a prominent role reporting for his school newspaper as well as drawing cartoons and writing humor pieces. Here one can readily see the factors developing that were to begin the creation of Dr. Seuss. Ted immersed himself in a flurry of other school activities as well: organizing and participating in the mandolin club, writing and staging a minstrel play, as well as performing comic roles in stage productions. He was voted Class Artist and Class Wit. Such personality and energy was carried by Theodore Geisel when he departed for Dartmouth college in 1921. Ted Geisel saw Dartmouth as his initiation, though he did not know into what. He majored in English, having been persuaded by a young High School teacher that his talents lie in that direction, but once again he did not embrace his studies. He was surprised when Pledge Week came without and invitation to a single invitation to any fraternity; though he had not approached any houses he was still surprised to have been so overlooked. Theodore Seuss later recalled that, "I think my interest in editing the Dartmouth humor magazine [Jack-o-Lantern] began...that Pledge Week." Jack-o-Lantern consumed a great deal of Ted's time, since he edited and contributed both cartoons and humorous essays. It was through Jack-o-Lantern that the name "Seuss" emerged, since Ted had been caught in violation of the school code and in order to retain his editorship he had to acquire a pseudonym.
As can be ascertained, Ted was not a remarkable student, though he did surround himself with other brilliant students and was recognized as among the "big-men on campus" through his dazzling wit and charm. In a true irony, he was voted by his friends in a fraternal club for campus leaders as "least likely to succeed", yet emerged the most successful of any of any of them. Throughout life, it was often a motivating factor Ted to do just that which others said he could not. When Ted's father inquired what he would be doing following graduation in 1925, Ted replied, with his usual degree of exaggeration, that he planned on attending Oxford University on a Campbell Fellowship from Dartmouth (though he had applied, Ted had not received the fellowship at that point.) Ted's father was so excited that he immediately reported to the local newspaper that Ted had been awarded this fellowship. When Ted told his father that he had not received the award, Theodore Robert Geisel, looked at his son hard and decided, that since it had been announced to the community, he was forced to send his son to Oxford in order to save face.
Theodore Seuss Geisel enter Lincoln College, Oxford University, with the intention of earning his doctorate and becoming a professor in English Literature. This sense of purpose quickly vanished as Ted, came to find life in Oxford bleak and the lectures he attended monotonous and uninteresting. Often rather than listen to boring treatises he would wile away the hours in class doodling characters, which were later to become famous, in his black, three-ringed notebook. The margins filled with bizarre creatures and caricatures that eventually spilled onto the paper leaving little space for the note-taking itself. He had quickly become disillusioned with school and sought the advice of his intimate circle at Oxford. A close friend, Helen Palmer, encouraged him to follow his natural desires even if that meant leaving the University. So he soon left school and spent two years traveling through Europe, remaining in close correspondence with Helen, whom he later married.
This theme of relocation and discovery has emerged to be an important part of Howard Gardener's model, since all of the creative geniuses he analyzes have spent time away from their native environment engaging in new ideas by becoming immersed in a foreign culture. In this way, Helen had a great affect upon Theodore Geisel's development has a creative genius. Throughout life, it was also Helen who continually encouraged him and supported him in his endeavors. (In this way, she became his true matrix of support, which he actively relied upon; even to the extent, that later in life when he became president of the children's division of Random House, she held the position of vice-president.) As Robert Kahn wrote in the Saturday Evening Post, "Even with the most serious intentions, the mind of Ted Geisel is so fanciful that he has never been able to completely subdue it. He depends at all times on the level-headedness of his wife, Helen, to pull him out of entanglements in which he has become errantly involved."
Upon returning to the United States in 1927, Theodore Seuss Geisel, once again, was forced to engage with the "real world." He earned his income through contributing cartoons and humorous pieces to weekly and monthly humor magazines; always signing Seuss, he now reserved his true last name for the great American novel he had dreamed of writing. Soon he appropriated the title, "Dr." and appended it to his name, as well. His humor became increasingly popular, and he began to receive notoriety for his ability to crowd pages with outlandish images and insightfully comment upon the existing social conditions through brilliant wordplay. Throughout these pieces both names and creations appeared that would be transferred to his children's books later in life. Companies began to take note of this talented artist and he was soon hired as an advertiser. Dr. Seuss's advertising campaigns became some of the most successful of the era and soon he was garnering a greater income than many of his fellow "successful" students from Dartmouth and Oxford. Yet marketing did not provide the creative opportunities for mind such as Geisel's that was filled with wit, imagination, and intelligence.
Ted Geisel became engaged with the idea to write a children's book after illustrating a collection of schoolboy howler's in 1931. The idea was enthralling and inescapable yet lay latent in his mind, until 1936 when he was crossing the Atlantic on ship from France to New York. He was entranced by the anapestic rhythm of the motors as they chugged their way into his thoughts. Ted found it impossible to settle and began to doodle on bar napkins. He begins chanting words to the rhythm, and found himself saying, "And that is a story that no one can beat, and to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street." Even after arriving back in New York, Ted Geisel found that he was haunted by the chugging noise and the words that he had recited. As therapeutic measure, his wife, Helen, suggested that he create a story surrounding this rhythm. It was a tedious process since he was immensely critical of his work. For him the illustration came easily enough, but it was creating the sentences that would lead children from page to page, excited at each turn, that was problematic. It took six months before he was satisfied and presented it to publishers, 28 of whom turned it down as being "too different." In a serendipitous moment, Dr. Seuss, bumped into an acquaintance from Dartmouth. Dr. Seuss relates, "It was finally accepted when an old Dartmouth friend who had become a children's book publisher that morning bumped into me on the street. See, everything has to do with luck." And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street was published and received wonderful reviews. It was considered by Ted to be his literary breakthrough.
As one can see, Interpersonal intelligence played a key role in Ted's sucess in New York as well as throughout his life. Certainly the necessity of developing such intellect becomes evident when one considers the tribulations of enaging in the field of publishing. All of the enthusiasm his book generated was remarkable considering that Dr. Seuss was an undisciplined revolutionary in the area of children's literature. In ...Mulberry Street he became the first to emphasize that reading should be fun and doesn't have to be moralistic. He also stressed the importance of illustrations being closely aligned with the text in order to aid in the enjoyment of reading.
A Sense Of Himself
Over the next three years Dr. Seuss produced three more children's books, The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, The King's Stilts, and Horton Hatches an Egg. Through these books, Dr. Seuss continuously manipulated language, by creating words where English fell short. These word compounds, onomatopoeic words, and nonsensical words are a credit to Dr. Seuss's verbal attributes. Geisel claimed that he was drawing upon what he learned in his High School Latin classes and one can also readily see the influence of his studies into Old English while at Oxford. Seuss was an individual engaged in the process of creating his own language. During this period, Geisel was also engaged in an advertising campaign for Standard Oil. With the onset of World War II, however, he soon quit marketing and went to work as an editorial cartoonist for PM Magazine for which he once again gained notoriety through his hilarious cartoons ridiculing Hitler. Then in 1943 Ted Geisel was commissioned to the Army Signal Corps in Hollywood, California. There he headed the animation section and under the command of Colonel Frank Capra (It's a Wonderful Life) he began making documentaries. His most notable contributions were a series of indoctrination films entitled, Why We Fight. He also wrote and produced a film that was later released, in 1945, to the public as Hitler Lives, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject. He had risen to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and travelled from Hollywood to Washington and through Europe by the time the war ended; yet the end of World War II did not signal an end to his film aspirations as he returned to writing children's books. In 1947 he received the Caldecott Award for his illustration in McElligot's Pool, as well as an Academy Award for the Best Documentary Feature in 1947, for Design of Death which was co-written with his wife. In 1948 and 1950 he also received the Caldecott Medal for Bartholomew and the Oobleck and If I Ran the Zoo and in 1951 he received another Oscar in the category of Best Animated Cartoon for Gerald McBoing-McBoing. From this point, Dr. Seuss continued to work on children's books, filmmaking, and advertising until his paramount work emerged in 1957. Through this period of amazing productivity it is important to note that Ted was continuously aided by his wife in the development of plot and character in the final text of these books. Ted remarked, "Helen was an editor and a partner." Helen Palmer Geisel also was writing her own children's books throughout her life with "Dr. Seuss." Also it is at this point I will interject and present my argument for Kinesthetic intelligence as applied to Dr. Seuss. If anyone closely studies his illustrations they will see how important motion and movement of the body is for each character; especially when one considers that the motion is designed to encourage the reader to turn the page and continue on in the tale. In further consideration the nature of filmmaking itself, both animated and live-action is inherently dependent upon how motion is choreographed in the piece. As a three-time recipient of the highest American award in filmaking one could justly content that Theodore Geisel had a superior kinesthetic sense.
And we saw him!/ The Cat in the Hat!
Dr. Seuss became inspired at writing the beginning reader for children after reading the argument presented by John Hersey in his article for LIFE Magazine, entitled, "Why do Students Bog Down on the First R?" In the article Hersey attacks the typical school primer as, "pallid...[with] abnormally courteous, unnaturally clean boys and girls." Today the "Dick and Jane"- novel as become a humorous icon in society, yet during that era it was still construed a useful teaching implement. Dr. Seuss had always believed that children regarded these textbook readers as uninspiring and were turned away from reading as a result. So he took up the challenge and supplied with a vocabulary list that was limited to 225 words he set about creating the primary textbook reader for children. Immediately, he became frustrated with the difficulty in writing such a basic children's book as relates: "I was desperate, so I decided to read [the list] once more. The first two words that rhymed would be the title of my book and I'd go from there. I found 'cat' and then I found 'hat'. That's genius you see!"
Ted took the same strategy in his other readers and employed it in writing The Cat in the Hat, only this time it was truly a revolutionary piece of work in forcing past the limits of vocabulary, According to Mary Stofflet, Curator of San Diego Museum of Art, "By enhancing everyday situations with irresistible imaginary characters and telling the tales with cleverly rhymed, easily recognizable words, Seuss gave control of learning to read back to children, while providing wit, charm, comic verse, and a surprise on every page." It was written well outside of the traditional constraints of the educational establishment, by creating children who were not perfect or exemplary but who thought just as normal children do. Even the use of black and white, with the only colors being flat red and blue inks, was unconventional. Dr. Seuss had created his masterpiece and it was regarded as such by the critics.
The Cat became an industry. It is the book that made Dr. Seuss famous. The Cat in the Hat was so popular that it led to the establishment of the Beginner Books division of Random House publishing of which Dr. Seuss was made president. With his wife he developed a list of picture books that would excite the beginning reader. After The Cat he continued to write for children creating the memorable, Green Eggs and Ham, which is written in 50 vocabulary words and has become the third best-selling book in the English language, as well as select other writers for publication; always remaining close to his philosophy of what makes a good children's book. After the Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss printed 31 additional children's books and continued to receive numerous honors, including a Pulitzer Prize Award and several Emmy Awards for his television specials.
One can easily recognize each of Ted Geisel's works as being uniquely "Seussian." Therein lies his finely developed Intrapersonal intelligence, for Dr. Seuss offers a bit of himself to each of his creations. Often Ted was inspired by ordinary events that he experienced and one must remember that many of the illustrations, themselves, have been carried with him a lifetime. The moral lessons Dr. Seuss offers in his books are beliefs that he held important enough to impart upon the youth of the world. Though, he was often critical of his own talents, Dr. Seuss claimed to write to please himself. This is why he has become the success he is, for Theodore Geisel was able to see the child in himself and always attempted to develop and explore that relationship. His accomplishments truly reflect this understanding.
When Theodore Geisel passed away the world once again took note of the impact he had had on many of our lives. Newspapers headlined his death all around the world, as millions of people paid homage to one of history's best-loved individuals. In this study of what made Dr. Seuss the creator that he was, I have, at times, surreptitiously utilized Howard Gardener's model for creativity; yet, one can see that all the element are addressed and correspond in a neat way to Gardener's model. That is, with the exception of the Faustian Bargain. Some have argued that this could be seen in fact that Ted Geisel never had any children of his own; however this was due to a medical condition existing in his wife. All the children of the world were his, for he was a child and in that a friend. I would argue that with his death in 1991, rather than being gone forever, Dr. Seuss is here forever...in the minds and hearts of those who already love him and those who are picking him up for the first time, in over twenty languages and in homes throughout the world. Theodore Geisel is truly is a creative genius who will continue to guide the minds of those who have opened up to him and in this way Dr. Seuss will live on
Kanfer, Stefan. "The Doctor Beloved by All, Theodore Seuss Geisel: 1904-1991". Time Magazine, October 7, 1991.
MacDonald, Ruth K. Dr. Seuss. Boston: Twayne Publishers., 1988.
Morgan, Judith and Neil. Dr. Seuss and Mr. Geisel. New York: Random House, 1995.
Stofflet, Mary. Dr Seuss from Then to Now. New York: Random House, 1986