Date of Birth

Date of Death

Birth Name

Nickname

Mini Biography

Author, composer ("Get-Together Weather"), and artist, educated at Dartmouth College (BA) at at Lincoln College in Oxford, England. He was a major in the US Army during World War II and wrote and produced informational films; also, he served in the ETO as Liaison Officer. He was awarded the Legion of Merit. He wrote and illustrated children's books including "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins," "Horton Hatches the Egg," "Yertle the Turtle," "The Cat in the Hat," "One Fish Two Fish," and "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas."

Spouse

Trade Mark

Verse written in anapestic tetrameter.

Trivia

Never had any children of his own.

Before working on the children's books that would make him world famous, he made scuptures of fantastic animals in the form of taxidermist-mounted heads. Some of the creatures' surreal details would later appear in illustrations in his later books.

An unpublished 1973 manuscript for "My Many Colored Days" had no illustrations. "Dr. Seuss" had written that he hoped "a great color artist who will not be dominated by me" would illustrate the book, with a "new art style and pattern of thinking." The book was published in 1999 with abstract artwork by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher.

Two of his works have been translated into Latin: "The Cat in the Hat" ("Cattus Petasatus") and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" ("Quomodo Invidiosulus Nomine Grinchus Christi Natalem Abrogaverit").

His first children's book, "And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street" (1937), was rejected by over 20 publishers.

Worked as a commercial artist and was known for his humorous spot drawings for many Standard Oil products, most famously Flit bug spray.

In 1942, he was placed in charge of the Animation Division of the Armed Forces Motion Picture unit by Colonel Frank Capra. Under his administration, a series of instructional cartoons featuring the character Private Snafu (an unofficial acronym for "Situation Normal, All [Fouled] Up") were produced from 1942 to 1945. Snafu's concept and name were created by Capra, and the character designed by Art Heineman & Chuck Jones. Interestingly enough, the voice of Pvt. Snafu is none other than Mel Blanc, the voice of most of the characters from the Warner Brothers stable. The cartoons were animated by Warner Bros., United Productions of America (UPA), and Harman-Ising Studios. The films had a unique saltiness to dialog and content (with the occasional "Hell" or "Damn"), but since these were instructional films made for the biweekly "Army-Navy Screen Magazine" newsreel, they were exempt from Hayes Office restrictions. Although uncredited, Seuss wrote a few of the cartoons, since much of the dialog is written in "Seussian" rhyme, and several characters resemble the illustrations from his books. A second series of instructional cartoons for the Navy, featuring Private Snafu's brother, Seaman Tarfu (an acronym for "Things Are Really [Fouled] Up"), was planned, but the end of WWII brought an end to the series, and only one of these shorts was produced. 24 Private Snafu shorts were produced in total.

Attended Oxford University, 1926-1928.

Of his many works, only four could truly be called political. "The Lorax" was an parable on short-sighted exploitation of natural resources, "The Butter Battle Book" was a commentary on the arms race, "The Sneetches" dealt with racism and "Yertle the Turtle" himself was representative of Hitler and the Third Reich.

Is a brother in the fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon.

Was a recluse, spending much of his time alone in his studio.

Seuss (his mother's maiden name) is pronounced to rhyme with "voice." Not with "loose" as it commonly is.

Supposedly wrote "The Cat in the Hat" on a bet. His publisher, Bennett Cerf, gave Seuss a list of 100 words with the stipulation that he use only those words in writing a book. Published in 1957, "Cat in the Hat" became Dr. Seuss's all-time biggest seller. The following year, Seuss, Cerf, and Cerf's wife, inspired by the books' success, began the Beginner Books series that continues to the present day, with entertaining, elementary-level books by Seuss and other authors.

Pictured on a USA 37

Dr. Seuss's 100th birthday, ...

By Dr. Seuss. I am Sam