17 things you probably didn't know about Dr. Seuss
- Dr. Seuss is well known for his classic children's books, like "The Cat in the Hat."
- The late author's real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel, and he wrote dozens of books before he died.
- His work has been highly debated for its racist and insensitive depiction of certain characters.
Dr. Seuss is a pen name.
Dr. Seuss's real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel.
He had several pen names in addition to Dr. Seuss, including L. Pasteur, D.G. Rossetti '25, T. Seuss, and Seuss.
The title "Dr." was just a moniker, as Seuss himself did not have a doctorate. He would eventually, however, earn several honorary doctorates throughout his career.
He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Among the movie stars and television personalities included on Hollywood's Walk of Fame is Dr. Seuss.
The star was awarded posthumously in 2004 and is located near 6600 Hollywood Blvd.
You've probably been pronouncing "Seuss" wrong.
Seuss is not pronounced "Soose" or "Zeus."
Instead, Dr. Seuss and his family pronounce the name "Soice" (or "Zoice").
He wrote and illustrated 47 children's books before his death.
According to his obituary in the LA Times, the author wrote and illustrated 47 children's books before his death in 1991. Those books were also translated into 20 different languages by that time.
His estate has since published a few books posthumously.
Dr. Seuss reportedly pretended to have a daughter.
Although he and his first wife were unable to have children, Smithsonian magazine and other sources have reported that Dr. Seuss often boasted to friends about the achievements of the couple's imaginary daughter, Chrysanthemum-Pearl.
Dr. Seuss even dedicated "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins" to his imaginary daughter and included her on Christmas cards.
He wrote for an ad agency.
Before making it big as an author, Dr. Seuss kicked off his career creating ads for Flit bug spray as a student at Dartmouth.
He received the job after using Flit as a punchline in one of his cartoons with the line, "Quick, Henry, the Flit," which soon became a part of American vernacular.
He treated his books like his "children."
Audrey Geisel, Dr. Seuss' second wife, once told Reading Rockets that the author didn't have a favorite of his books.
"First of all ... he was like a father, he liked all his children ... Particularly in the time of their conception," she said.
"The Lorax" may have been inspired by a monkey species found in Kenya.
Dr. Seuss may have written "The Lorax" after seeing a particular species of monkey on a trip to Kenya.
According to Popular Science, when evolutionary biologist Nathaniel Dominy was researching in Kenya, he noticed a monkey near Mount Kenya, the patas monkey, that bore a strong resemblance to the fictional Lorax.
It turns out Dr. Seuss stayed at a resort in Kenya before writing the book, strengthening the argument that the monkey was an inspiration.
His first book wasn't published until 1937.
Dr. Seuss' first book wasn't published until 1937, and it was rejected 27 times before getting picked up.
This book was called "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street," and it's no longer being published, in part due to its racist depiction of an Asian character.
Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced in 2021 that it will stop publishing six books because of their "hurtful and wrong" portrayals of people.
He served in World War II.
Known as Captain Geisel, Dr. Seuss served as a volunteer in the military during World War II, as part of the Army's Information and Education Division.
In 1943 he created the cartoon character Private SNAFU, which was inspired by his time in the war, according to History.com.
One of his most famous books was reportedly written because of a bet.
In 1960, "Green Eggs and Ham" was reportedly published after Dr. Seuss's publisher bet him that he couldn't write a book with 50 or fewer words.
The result is his best-selling creation that involves some interesting breakfast choices.
Dr. Seuss' wife thought he was a medical doctor when she first met him.
"I wasn't aware that there was such a thing as a Dr. Seuss. I taught nursing at IU [Indiana University], and doctors were a very understood name and title," Geisel once told Reading Rockets.
She continued, "So, when I was being ushered down this line of about a dozen M.D. doctors and I came to Ted and they said, 'And this is our very own dear Dr. Seuss,' I immediately thought interns and medicine — just automatically."
He won a Pulitzer Prize.
In 1984, Dr. Seuss was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his established body of works.
Officially, he won the award for "his special contribution over nearly half a century to the education and enjoyment of America's children and their parents," per the Pulitzer website.
He collected hats.
Dr. Seuss, who has a book titled "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins," collected a variety of hats throughout his lifetime.
According to Mental Floss, he collected several hundred hats of differing varieties, which he would often don at themed dinner parties.
He reportedly invented the word "nerd."
What appears to be the first known, printed usage of the word "nerd" was in Dr. Seuss' 1950 book "If I Ran the Zoo" — which Dr. Seuss Enterprises is no longer publishing.
Although the way Seuss used the word differs from our modern definition, there is a compelling argument that he created or inspired it, according to Bustle.
He has two Academy Awards.
Dr. Seuss won two Oscars in his lifetime.
The first was in 1947 for best documentary feature for "Design for Death," which he cowrote with his wife, Helen.
He won his second Academy Award a few years later in 1951 for best animated short with "Gerald McBoing-Boing."
He also has two Emmys.
The author and Oscar winner also won two Emmys for best children's special, which he received in 1977 and 1982.
The first was given for "Halloween Is Grinch Night" and the second was for "The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat."
Read More:
- 20 celebrities you didn't know wrote children's books
- 10 classic children's books that haven't aged well
- 15 of the best-selling authors of all time
- 6 classic books that took forever to be made into movies
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufonylvoysnK6ro2LAtr7Pq6CsoZ6ceqetwq2qZmpgZoVufZA%3D