ट्रिविया

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

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

Of his many works, only four could truly be called political. "The Lorax" was a 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 Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich.

The film adaptation of "The Lorax" (द लॉरेक्स (2012)) was released on what would have been his 108th birthday.

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

One night while riding home on a train, he saw a pompous, stuffy-looking man with a hat on his head. Seuss wondered what would happen if someone were to knock the hat off his head and then realized the man was so full of himself that another hat would probably appear on his head as a replacement. This inspired Seuss to write "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins".

Despite the famous line from ''Horton Hears a Who''--"A person's a person no matter how small"--being used as a slogan by anti-abortion groups, Seuss himself was a supporter of reproductive rights, and his widow has threatened lawsuits against groups that use this in campaigns.

Before working on the children's books that would make him world-famous, he made sculptures 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.

Partially based the character of The Grinch on himself, as his house and studio were on a hill in California and, every Christmas, he would look down in disgust at all the cheesy decorations and lights adorning the houses below.

In the late 1980s he wanted to get his book "The Cat in the Hat" made into a movie; his choices for the role of the title character were Robin Williams, Steve Martin, John Candy or Eddie Murphy. In 2003 his book was made into a movie with none of them playing the title character.

Attended and graduated from Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, class of 1925.

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").

The University of California-San Diego renamed its main library in 1995 the Geisel Library in honor of him and his wife Audrey, who were La Jolla residents. The library maintains an 8,500-item collection of the works of Dr. Seuss, over a period from 1919-91.

An unpublished 1973 manuscript for "My Many-Colored Days" had no illustrations. He wrote 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.

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

As a schoolboy during World War I, his classmates nicknamed him "The Kaiser" due to his German ancestry.

Attended and graduated from Springfield Central High School in Springfield, MA, class of 1921.

Supposedly wrote "Green Eggs and Ham" on a bet with his publisher, Bennett Cerf at Random House, to write a book with only 50 words in it. Published in 1957, "Cat in the Hat" became his 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 this day, with entertaining, elementary-level books by Seuss and other authors.

Pictured on a USA 37¢ commemorative postage stamp, issued March 2, 2004 (100th anniversary of his birth). The stamp also depicts six characters created by him: the Cat in the Hat; the Grinch; the Glotz (or the identical Klotz) from the book "Oh Say Can You Say?" and three characters from the book "I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew", the Skritz, the unnamed "young fellow", and the Skrink.

His "Cat in the Hat" is shown on a USA 33¢ commemorative postage stamp, in the sheet of stamps commemorating the 1950s in the Celebrate the Century Series, issued May 26, 1999. The inscription reads "Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat".

Was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon national fraternity (New Hampshire Alpha chapter - Dartmouth College).

Wrote and drew political cartoons in the 1940s.

He was a chain smoker and casual drinker.

In 1942 he was placed in charge of the Animation Division of the Armed Forces Motion Picture unit by Col. 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 1942-45. Snafu's concept and name were created by Capra, and the character designed by Arthur Heinemann and 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 Hays 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 World War II brought an end to the series, and only one of these shorts was produced. A total of 24 "Private Snafu" shorts were produced.

He was a staunch and vocal critic of America First, a movement that proposed keeping the United States out of World War II. He penned numerous political cartoons expressing this belief.

Was a lifelong liberal Democrat and a supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal.

Although famous for the social and moral messages of his books, he usually didn't write his books with morals in mind. He preferred to let it grow out from the story, saying, "A kid can see a moral coming a mile away.".

During World War II he joined the United States Army and was sent to Hollywood. Capt. Geisel would write for Frank Capra's Signal Corps Unit (for which he won the Legion of Merit) and do documentaries.

The music for "The Cat in the Hat Song Book", a book of Seuss-penned lyrics with music for young singers published by Random House, was written by Eugene Poddany.

During the early 1940s he was a political cartoonist for "PM", a daily News York newspaper that was noted for its left-wing politics, superior production quality and the fact that it carried no advertising. A book of his political cartoons was published a few years ago.

Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, Vol. 132, pp. 162-167 (as Theodor Seuss Geisel). Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale (2005).

Member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

Geisel's first nationally published cartoon appeared on July 16, 1927 in an issue of "The Saturday Evening Post". By October 1927, Geisel had been hired as a regular writer and illustrator for the humor magazine "Judge",.

He was married twice, but he never had children of his own.

Starting in 1965, Geisel used the pen name "Theo LeSieg" for a number of books which he wrote, but which featured illustrations by other artists. "LeSieg" is "Geisel" spelled backward.

While he was not a communist, Geisel thought that the "House Committee on Unamerican Activities" and its political purges were a greater threat to American life than the Soviets.

Despite claiming that his books have no intended morals, Geisel's books often had political meanings. He wrote books about environmentalism and anti-consumerism; about racial equality; about the Cold War-era arms race; about anti-authoritarianism; about the economic materialism and consumerism of the Christmas season; and about anti-isolationism and internationalism.

Geisel lectured at a 1949 writer's conference at the University of Utah. He explained that writers have to consider the logical implications of a story premise and built upon them. He offered the example of a man with two heads as a story premise. The writer can then deduce what the character is wearing and what are his needs.

When writing poetry, Geisel typically used the anapestic tetrameter, a poetic meter involving four anapestic metrical feet per line.

Geisel was born to a family of brewers, but the family brewery shut down during the Prohibition era (1920-1933).

He wrote the book "Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!" (1972) where an unseen and unidentified individual tells Mooney to leave, and lists various ways for his exit. In 1974, Geisel published a variation of the book called "Richard M. Nixon Will You Please Go Now!", calling for Nixon's resignation as a reaction to the Watergate Scandal.

His book "I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew" (1965) is thought to be a satirical take on fantasy quests and Utopian paradises. After surviving a couple of accidents in his homeland, the unnamed protagonist sets out on a quest to locate the supposedly trouble-free city of Solla Sollew. After meeting an untrustworthy traveling companion and surviving numerous dangers on his way, the protagonist finally finds the fabled city. It is surrounded by a wall with only one door, and the door is permanently locked to prevent anyone from entering or exiting. He then hears a tale about another untroubled city, but the protagonist has decided that it is safer to face your troubles at home than running away from them and heading into even more dangerous situations abroad.

Geisel's first published book, "Boners" (1931), was a collection of children's sayings that he illustrated. It topped The New York Times non-fiction bestseller list.