One Fish, Studio 602 Fish – Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Is there a children’s book author more universally beloved than Dr. Seuss?

Some would posit J.K. Rowling surpasses the Seuss in terms of universal adoration, but I would argue that Rowling does not write children’s books – they are more of the young adult vein. Many Seuss stories like “The Cat in the Hat” were written with the intention of giving children a reading primer that was far more interesting than something like “See Spot Run.”

Maurice Sendak runs a close second in terms of name recognition and popularity, though his output is a bit smaller than the Seuss oeuvre. There are Jan and Stan Berenstain of “The Berenstain Bears,” but even though the world lamented Jan’s passing last week, “The Berenstain Bears” don’t have the same kind of grip on the imagination that creations of Dr. Seuss continue to exert. It’s hard to imagine Danny DeVito ever voicing Papa Bear, as he will do in this weekend’s film version of the Seuss classic “The Lorax.”

Maybe the secret to Seuss’s longevity is the sense of anarchy that subtly nags at the reader throughout. Seuss himself was quoted as saying, “I’m as subversive as hell!” Even the name “Dr. Seuss” is a bit radical, as the name was borne out of a less-than-squeaky-clean episode in Seuss’s college days.

It seems that Seuss and nine of his classmates were drinking gin in his room at Dartmouth College one afternoon. They were caught, and this being 1925, the dean was furious that the students were breaking Prohibition on campus. To atone for their actions, the dean demanded that they give up all extracurricular activities, which for Theodore Seuss Geisel included editing Dartmouth’s humor magazine, the Jack O’ Lantern. In order to keep submitting his works to the Lantern, Seuss devised a number of pen-names, including the short-and-sweet “Seuss,” his middle name and his mother’s maiden name.

It was later expanded into another one of his pen names, Dr. Theophrastus Seuss, then shortened into just “Dr. Seuss.” With such a slyly subversive beginning, how could the Dr. Seuss books contain anything else than a dash of anarchy?

The story of Seuss’s beginnings are inspirational on many levels, not the least of which is the serendipitous good fortune that can come from making a mistake and bucking authority (though I would hesitate to advise any college-aged readers to explain away a write-up by the R.A. by saying Dr. Seuss told you it was okay). It’s a lesson too in working around obstacles, and not letting a mistake stand in the way of pursuing your passions.

Seuss would probably hate that I’m drawing “the moral of the story” out of an early incident in his life, but what can I say? I grew up reading the stories of Dr. Seuss, and those were the stories that taught me to appreciate that unique blend of anarchical attitude and ethical instruction. If he wanted someone to blame, he’d probably have to start with himself.

Photo Credit: Flickr/Mike Fats, via Every Stock Photo