Becoming Dr. Seuss
Page 48
—FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA, FEBRUARY 2018
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Berenstain, Stan and Jan. Down a Sunny Dirt Road: An Autobiography. New York: Random House, 2002.
Berg, A. Scott. Lindbergh. New York: Berkley, 1998.
Bernstein, Robert L. Speaking Freely: My Life in Publishing and Human Rights. New York: The New Press, 2016.
Cerf, Bennett. At Random: The Reminiscences of Bennett Cerf. New York: Random House, 2002.
Cohen, Charles D. The Seuss, the Whole Seuss, and Nothing but the Seuss: A Visual Biography of Theodor Seuss Geisel. New York: Random House, 2004.
Cott, Jonathan. Pipers at the Gates of Dawn: The Wisdom of Children’s Literature. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1983.
Dr. Seuss Enterprises. The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss. New York: Random House, 1995.
Fensch, Thomas, ed. Of Sneetches and Whos and the Good Dr. Seuss: Essays on the Writings and Life of Theodor Geisel. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1997.
Harris, Mark. Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War. New York: Penguin, 2014.
Held, Jacob M., ed. Dr. Seuss and Philosophy: Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2011.
Jones, Chuck. Chuck Reducks. New York: Warner, 1996.
MacDonald, Ruth K. Dr. Seuss. Boston: Twayne, 1988.
McBride, Joseph. Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.
McKinnon, Robert J. Stepping Into the Picture: Cartoon Designer Maurice Noble. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2008.
Milkman, Paul. PM: A New Deal in Journalism, 1940-1948. New Brunswick (New Jersey): Rutgers University Press, 1997.
Minear, Richard H. Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel. New York: New Press, 1997.
Nel, Philip. Dr. Seuss: American Icon. New York: Continuum, 2004.
________. The Annotated Cat: Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats. New York: Random House, 2007.
________. Was the Cat in the Hat Black? New York: Oxford, 2017.
Pease, Donald E. Theodor Seuss Geisel. New York: Oxford, 2010.
Raines, Rebecca Robbins. Getting the Message Through: A Branch History of the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1996.
Schiffrin, Andre. Dr. Seuss & Co. Go to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of America’s Leading Comic Artists. New York: The New Press, 2009.
Strahan, Derek. Lost Springfield Massachusetts. Charleston, South Carolina: History Press, 2017.
Stofflet, Mary. Dr. Seuss from Then to Now: A Catalogue of the Retrospective Exhibition. New York: Random House, 1986.
NOTES
Please note that TSG indicates Theodor Seuss Geisel.
Chapter 1. Minnows into Whales
1. Dan Carlinsky, “The Wily Ruse of Doctor Seuss: Or, How Ted Geisel Has Done Real Well,” Magazine of the Boston Herald American, March 4, 1979.
2. Sally Hammond, “Dr. Seuss: The Man Who Stole Boredom,” unidentified clipping, c. 1969, Rauner Special Collections Library, Dartmouth College.
3. T. A. Geisel’s backstory takes a bit of detective work to decipher, as both his date of birth and date of emigration have been reported incorrectly by various sources. While many cite his birth date as 1840, his emigration from Germany to the United States as occurring in 1867, and his U.S. citizenship as becoming official in 1872, the dates I’ve provided here were self-reported by T.A. on several passport applications. (See his 1911 and 1914 applications, for example.) Other information comes from a document titled “The Geisel Families of Springfield, MA,” by Christopher C. Broderick, held at the Springfield Museum Historic Library.
4. Hammond, “Dr. Seuss: The Man Who Stole Boredom.”
5. See “Successful Springfield Industries, No. X, Kalmbach & Geisel’s Massive Brewery,” Progressive Springfield, c. 1910, Springfield Museum Historic Library.
6. Ibid.
7. T.A. and Christine’s first child, Bertha, was born in 1872; a second daughter, Christiena, died in 1873 at less than two months old. The next child, Emma Louise, was born November 1, 1874. See Christopher Broderick’s “The Geisel Families of Springfield, MA.”
8. Adolph A. Geisel was born in Springfield on July 17, 1881, while Christine Cornelia Geisel was born October 11, 1888. Adolph, who would have a successful career as a car dealer and hotelier/restaurateur, died September 4, 1962. Christine died March 2, 1965. See “The Geisel Families of Springfield, MA.”
9. See “Theodor R. Geisel, Born Here, Combines Athletic with Civic Interests,” Springfield Union/Springfield Republican Magazine, July 21, 1929.
10. “Just What the Doctor Ordered . . . Green Eggs and Ham for the Cat in the Hat,” Star Sports & Magazine, May 8, 1976.
11. See Twelfth Census of the United States.
12. TSG, “Non-Autobiography,” quoted in Judith and Neil Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel: A Biography (New York: Random House, 1995), 8.
13. For more information, see Derek Strahan, Lost Springfield Massachusetts. (Charleston, South Carolina: History Press, 2017), 77–79.
14. See Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 6
15. See “T.H. [sic] Geisel, Parks Boss 30 Years, Dies,” Springfield Republican, December 10, 1968. Also Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 8.
16. See the notice in the Springfield Republican, March 4, 1902.
17. TSG, “Non-Autobiography,” quoted in Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 6.
18. There is some disagreement on Marnie’s given name. While the Morgans report it as Margaretha, other sources—such as the Seuss genealogy in the Springfield Historical Society—cite her name as either Margaretha or Marguerita. Handwritten census data entries from 1910 and 1920 seem to support the spelling as Margaretha.
19. Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 9.
20. TSG, “Non-Autobiography,” quoted in Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 9.
21. Ibid., 17.
22. Ibid., 13.
23. The German population was estimated as somewhere around 1,200 in 1915, while the population of Springfield in 1910 was 88,926. See Thirteenth Census of the United States.
24. TSG, “Non-Autobiography,” quoted in Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 11.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid., 7.
27. Robert Sullivan, “Oh, the Places He Went!” Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, Winter 1992.
28. See Rob Wilder, “Catching Up with Dr. Seuss,” Parents, June 1979.
29. Jonathan Cott, “The Good Dr. Seuss,” from Pipers at the Gates of Dawn: The Wisdom of Children’s Literature (New York: Random House, 1983), in Thomas Fensch, ed., Of Sneetches and Whos and the Good Dr. Seuss: Essays on the Writings and Life of Theodor Geisel (North Chesterfield, VA: New Century Books, 2015), 110.
30. The Hole Book wasn’t Newell’s only novelty act. There was also The Slant Book (1910), which was cut at an angle, and Topsys & Turvys (1893), in which an illustration could be rotated 180 degrees to make a different, recognizable illustration—such as a drawing of an ostrich that, when turned upside down, appears to be a drawing of an elephant.
31. “The Books That Made Writers,” New York Times, November 25, 1979.
32. See Arthur M. Winfield, The Rover Boys in the Mountains, 1902.
33. TSG, “Non-Autobiography,” quoted in Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 7.
34. See “Geisel on the Park Board; Mayor’s Announcement Made at Meeting of City Council,” Springfield Republican, September 28, 1909.
35. See front-page photos in the Springfield Republican, May 26, 1907.
36. C. Robert Jennings, “Dr. Seuss: ‘What Am I Doing Here?’” Saturday Evening Post, October 23, 1965.
> 37. Carlinsky, “The Wily Ruse of Doctor Seuss.”
38. Sullivan, “Oh, the Places He Went!”
39. “Interview with Theodor Robert Geisel,” Springfield Herald, June 22, 1967.
40. Clifford Jordan, “Dr. Seuss,” Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, October 1962.
41. Sullivan, “Oh, the Places He Went!”
42. Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 13.
43. Ibid., 7.
44. See the May 7, 1911, ad in the Springfield Republican, p. 25.
45. Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 7.
46. TSG, “Non-Autobiography,” quoted in Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 10–11.
47. Ibid., 16.
48. Ibid., 15.
49. Dr. Seuss, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street (New York: Random House, 1964), 3.
50. TSG, “Non-Autobiography,” quoted in Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 18.
51. See T. R. Geisel’s draft registration card, 1918.
52. TSG to Whitney Campbell, October 1, 1926. Quoted in Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 19.
53. Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 17.
54. Robert Siegel and Art Silverman, “During World War I, U.S. Government Propaganda Erased German Culture,” NPR, All Things Considered, April 7, 2017.
55. “Roosevelt Bars the Hyphenated,” New York Times, October 13, 1915.
56. Wilder, “Catching Up with Dr. Seuss.”
57. E. J. Kahn, “Children’s Friend,” The New Yorker, December 17, 1960.
58. Jennings, “Dr. Seuss: ‘What Am I Doing Here?’”
59. See the front page of the Springfield Republican, May 2, 1918.
60. See “Roosevelt Here; Strong for the War; Wants to Fight Turkey; For Armament After Peace,” Springfield Republican, May 9, 1918.
61. Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 22.
62. Carlinsky, “The Wily Ruse of Doctor Seuss.”
63. Charles D. Cohen, The Seuss, the Whole Seuss, and Nothing but the Seuss: A Visual Biography of Theodor Seuss Geisel (New York: Random House Books for Young Readers, 2004), 25.
64. Central Recorder 3, No. 4, October 24, 1919.
65. Central Recorder 2, No. 12, February 17, 1919.
66. Cott, “The Good Dr. Seuss.”
67. Sidney Edelberg, “Dr. Seuss Comes from Springfield,” Springfield Herald, June 22, 1967.
68. Central Recorder 3, No. 9, November 26, 1919.
69. TSG, “Non-Autobiography,” quoted in Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 19.
70. Ibid., 23.
71. Donald Freeman, “The Nonsensical World of Dr. Seuss,” McCall’s, November 1964.
72. Cott, “The Good Dr. Seuss.” Like many of Ted’s stories, this one changes in the telling over the years as well. In some versions of the story, his father would curse, “Damn them! Damn them!” and rise to the position of president the day Prohibition went into effect. See “Just What the Doctor Ordered . . . Green Eggs and Ham for the Cat in the Hat,” Star Sports & Magazine, May 8, 1976.
73. TSG, “Non-Autobiography,” quoted in Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 23.
74. Ibid.
75. Ted’s five-string banjo, an Orpheum No. 1, is now on display at the Wood Museum of Springfield History.
76. See program for minstrel show, April 29, 1921, Rauner Special Collections Library, Dartmouth College.
77. William C. Hill to Dartmouth Committee on Fellowship, February 19, 1925, Rauner Special Collections Library, Dartmouth College.
78. Central Recorder 4, No. 11, January 7, 1921.
79. See Pnalka, 1920–1921, p. 12.
80. Edward Connery Lathem, “The Beginnings of Dr. Seuss: A Conversation with Theodor S. Geisel,” Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, April 1976.
81. Hilaire Belloc, “The Microbe,” More Beasts (For Worse Children), 1910 (reprinted Oxford City Press, 2010).
82. Clifford Jordan, “Dr. Seuss,” Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, October 1962.
Chapter 2. The Slob Generation
1. Daniel Webster, Dartmouth v. Woodward, Statement before the U.S. Supreme Court, March 10, 1818.
2. Leon Burr Richardson, History of Dartmouth College, 2 vols. (Hanover: Dartmouth College Publications, 1932), 2: 769.
3. Judith and Neil Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel: A Biography (New York: Random House, 1995), 27.
4. Judith and Neil Morgan, “Dr. Seuss & Theodor Geisel,” untitled clipping, UCSB archives, 1994.
5. Edward Connery Lathem, “The Beginnings of Dr. Seuss: A Conversation with Theodor S. Geisel,” Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, April 1976.
6. See “Two Arguments Against Matrimony” and “The Pied Piper,” Jack-O-Lantern, Vol. XIV, No. 6, October 1921; “The Fatted Calf,” Jack-O-Lantern, Vol. XIV, No. 4, January 1922.
7. Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 28.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid., 31.
10. Ibid.
11. See “Pity the poor sailors on a night like this,” Jack-O-Lantern, Vol. XV, No. 3, February 1923.
12. Robert Sullivan, “Oh, the Places He Went!” Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, Winter 1992.
13. Lathem, “The Beginnings of Dr. Seuss.”
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. See “Who’s Who in Bo-Bo,” Jack-O-Lantern, Vol. XVI, No. 3, November 1923.
18. Lathem, “The Beginnings of Dr. Seuss.”
19. See “Zimkowitz 14–Zimkowitz 10,” Jack-O-Lantern, Vol. XVI, No. 2, October 1923; “Zimkowitz ex-’27 to Wed Greater-Boston Girl,” Jack-O-Lantern, Vol. XVI, No. 4, December 1923; “Interviews with Famous Ski Jumpers,” Jack-O-Lantern, Vol. XVI, No. 5, January 1924.
20. Lathem, “The Beginnings of Dr. Seuss.”
21. Clifford Jordan, “Dr. Seuss,” Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, October 1962.
22. “The B. and M. Timetable—A Book Review,” Jack-O-Lantern, Vol. XVI, No. 10, June 1924.
23. Lathem, “The Beginnings of Dr. Seuss.”
24. Joe Harrington, “College Boy ‘Least Likely to Succeed’ Has It Made,” Boston Globe, January 22, 1961.
25. Lathem, “The Beginnings of Dr. Seuss.”
26. “A Crusader Flares,” The Dartmouth 46, No. 68, December 10, 1923.
27. “William Jennings Bryan Opposes Evolutionist,” The Dartmouth 46, No. 68, December 10, 1923.
28. TSG, “Non-Autobiography,” quoted in Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 32.
29. Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 33.
30. Ted probably wrote the notice himself. See Jack-O-Lantern, Vol. XVI, No. 10, June 1924.
31. TSG to Whitney Campbell, April 19, 1926. Quoted in Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 34.
32. “Vote for Somebody,” Jack-O-Lantern, Vol. XVII, No. 2, October 1924.
33. See Jack-O-Lantern, Vol. XIV, No. 5, February 1922.
34. “The Old Chivalric Faith—,” Jack-O-Lantern, Vol. XVII, No. 4, December 1924.
35. Lathem, “The Beginnings of Dr. Seuss.”
36. Ibid.
37. “Dartmouth Defeats Jacko Eleven, 13–7,” The Dartmouth 46, No. 40, November 1, 1924.
38. Joe Harrington, “College Boy ‘Least Likely to Succeed’ Has It Made,” Boston Globe, January 22, 1961.
39. “Mr. John Keats Sees the Elgin Marbles for the first time,” Jack-O-Lantern, Vol. XVII, No. 7, March 1925; “Peinture sans Fard,” Ibid.
40. Harrington, “College Boy ‘Least Likely to Succeed’ Has It Made.”
41. Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 34.
42. Ibid., 35–36.
43. Lathem, “The Beginnings of Dr. Seuss.”
44. Charles D. Cohen, The Seuss, the Whole
Seuss, and Nothing but the Seuss: A Visual Biography of Theodor Seuss Geisel (New York: Random House Books for Young Readers, 2004), 55–56.
45. Colin Dangaard, “Dr. Seuss Reigns Supreme as King of the Kids,” Boston Herald American, November 21, 1976.
46. Lathem, “The Beginnings of Dr. Seuss.”
47. Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, 37.
48. Professor Hewette Joyce to Committee on Graduate Instruction and Fellowships, March 13, 1925, Rauner Special Collections Library, Dartmouth College.
49. W. B. Pressey to Committee on Fellowships, March 14, 1925, Rauner Special Collections Library, Dartmouth College.
50. M. S. Sherman to Committee of Fellowships, February 19, 1925, Rauner Special Collections Library, Dartmouth College.
51. Lathem, “The Beginnings of Dr. Seuss.”
52. Clifford Jordan, “Dr. Seuss,” Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, October 1962.
53. R.P.M., On the Firing Line, Springfield Union, July 6, 1925.
54. Theodor Seuss Geisel, “The curriculum of this university,” On the Firing Line, Springfield Union, July 18, 1925.
Chapter 3. Strange Beasts
1. Tolkien, the new Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon, taught courses in Beowulf, Anglo-Saxon literature, and Germanic philology. Ted never mentioned Tolkien by name, but given his fluency in German and his comment about being bogged down by “High German and Gothic,” he may indeed have taken Tolkien’s course.
2. Edward Connery Lathem, “The Beginnings of Dr. Seuss: A Conversation with Theodor S. Geisel,” Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, April 1976.
3. Ibid.
4. TSG, “Non-Autobiography.” Quoted in Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel (New York: Random House, 1995), 42.
5. TSG to Whitney Campbell, August 1926, Rauner Special Collections Library, Dartmouth College.
6. Ibid.
7. See invitation of Viscountess Astor to T. S. Giesel [sic], March 1925, Special Collections Mandeville Library, UCSD.
8. Bob Warren, “Dr. Seuss, Former Jacko Editor, Tells How Boredom May Lead to Success,” The Dartmouth, May 10, 1934.
9. Lathem, “The Beginnings of Dr. Seuss.”