Cat In The Hat

Ted Geisel was a shy, married man who never had children of his own but found a way as the author “Dr. Seuss” to spark children’s imaginations around the world. With the use of silly words that set an original theme, tone, and mood for his stories as well as curlicue drawings of rascally animals, Geisel created books that became beloved favorites of children and adults alike.

Wildly popular, Dr. Seuss’s books have been translated into more than 20 languages, and several have been made into television cartoons and major motion pictures.

Growing Up: Dr. Seuss as a Boy

Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield, Mass. His father, Theodor Robert Geisel, helped manage his father’s brewery and in 1909 was appointed to the Springfield Park Board. Geisel tagged along with his father for behind-the-scene peeks at the Springfield Zoo, bringing along his sketchpad and pencil for exaggerated doodling of animals. Geisel met his father’s trolley at the end of each day, where he was handed the comic page full of eccentric humor from the Boston American.

Although his father influenced Geisel’s love of drawing, Geisel credited his mother, Henrietta Seuss Geisel, for the most influence on his writing technique. Henrietta would read to her two children with rhythm and urgency, the way she had sold pies in her father’s bakery. Thus Geisel had an ear for meter and loved to make up nonsense rhymes early on.

While his childhood seemed idyllic, all was not easy. During World War I (1914-1919), Geisel’s peers ridiculed him for being of German ancestry. To prove his American patriotism, Geisel became one of the top U.S. Liberty Bond sellers with the Boy Scouts.

It was to be a great honor when former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt came to Springfield to award medals to the top bond sellers, but there was a mistake — Roosevelt had only nine medals in hand. Geisel, who was child number 10, was swiftly escorted off-stage without receiving a medal. Traumatized by this incident, Geisel had a fear of public speaking for the rest of his life.

In 1919, Prohibition began, forcing the close of the family’s brewery business and creating an economic setback for Geisel’s family.

Dartmouth College and a Pseudonym

Geisel’s favorite English teacher urged him to apply to Dartmouth College, and in 1921, Geisel was accepted. Admired for his silliness, Geisel drew cartoons for the college humor magazine, Jack-O-Lantern. Spending more time on his cartoons than he should, his grades began to falter. After Geisel’s father informed his son how unhappy his grades made him, Geisel worked harder and became Jack-O-Lantern’s editor-in-chief his senior year.

However, Geisel’s position at the paper ended abruptly when he was caught drinking alcohol (it was still Prohibition, and buying alcohol was illegal). Unable to submit to the magazine as punishment, Geisel came up with a loophole, writing and drawing under a pseudonym — “Seuss.”

After graduating from Dartmouth in 1925 with a B.A. in liberal arts, Geisel told his father that he had applied for a fellowship to study English literature at Lincoln College in Oxford, England. Extremely excited, Geisel’s father had the story run in the Springfield Union newspaper that his son was going off to the oldest English-speaking university in the world. When Geisel didn’t get the fellowship, his father decided to pay the tuition himself to avoid embarrassment.

Geisel didn’t do well at Oxford. Not feeling as intelligent as the other Oxford students, Geisel doodled more than he took notes. Helen Palmer, a classmate, told Geisel that instead of becoming a professor of English literature, he was meant to draw. After one year of school, Geisel left Oxford, traveled Europe for eight months, doodling curious animals, wondering what kind of a job he could get as a doodler of zany beasts.

Dr. Seuss Has an Advertising Career

Upon returning to the U.S., Geisel was able to freelance a few cartoons in The Saturday Evening Post. He signed his work “Dr. Theophrastus Seuss” and then later shortened it to “Dr. Seuss.” At the age of 23, Geisel got a job as a cartoonist for Judge magazine in New York at $75 per week and was able to marry his Oxford sweetheart, Helen Palmer.

Geisel’s work included drawing cartoons and advertisements with his unusual, zany creatures. Luckily, when Judge magazine went out of business, Flit Household Spray, a popular insecticide, hired Geisel to continue drawing their advertisements for $12,000 a year. Geisel’s ads for Flit appeared in newspapers and on billboards, making Flit a household name with Geisel’s catchy phrase: “Quick, Henry, the Flit!”

Geisel also continued to sell cartoons and humorous articles to magazines such as Life and Vanity Fair.

Dr. Seuss Becomes a Children’s Author

Geisel and Helen loved to travel. While on a ship to Europe in 1936, Geisel made up a limerick to match the grinding of the ship’s engine rhythm as it struggled against rough seas. Six months later, after perfecting the story and adding drawings about a boy’s untruthful walk home from school, Geisel shopped his children’s book to publishers. During the winter of 1936-37, 27 publishers rejected the story, saying they only wanted stories with morals.

On his way home from the 27th rejection, Geisel was ready to burn his manuscript when he ran into Mike McClintock, an old Dartmouth College buddy who was now an editor of children’s books at Vanguard Press. Mike liked the story and decided to publish it.

The book, renamed from “A Story That No One Can Beat” to “And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street,” was Geisel’s first published children’s book and was praised with good reviews for being original, entertaining, and different. While Geisel went on to write more books of exuberant Seuss lore for Random House (who lured him away from Vanguard Press), Geisel said that drawing always came easier than writing.

WWII Cartoons

After publishing a large number of political cartoons in PM magazine, Geisel joined the U.S. Army in 1942. The Army placed him in the Information and Education Division, working with Academy Award-winning director Frank Capra at a leased Fox studio in Hollywood known as Fort Fox. While working with Capra, Captain Geisel wrote several training films for the military, which earned Geisel the Legion of Merit.

After the war, two of Geisel’s military propaganda films were turned into commercial films and won Academy Awards. “Hitler Lives?” (originally “Your Job in Germany”) won an Academy Award for Short Documentary, and “Design for Death” (originally “Our Job in Japan”) won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

During this time, Helen found success by writing children’s books for Disney and Golden Books, including “Donald Duck Sees South America,” “Bobby and His Airplane,” “Tommy’s Wonderful Rides” and “Johnny’s Machines.” After the war, the Geisels remained in La Jolla, Calif., to write children’s books.

The Cat in the Hat and More Popular Books

With World War II over, Geisel returned to children’s stories and in 1950 wrote an animated cartoon titled “Gerald McBoing-Boing” about a child who makes noises instead of words. The cartoon won an Academy Award for Cartoon Short Film.

In 1954, Geisel was presented with a new challenge. When journalist John Hersey published an article in Life magazine stating that children’s first readers were boring and suggested that someone like Dr. Seuss should write them, Geisel accepted the challenge.

After looking at the list of words he had to use, Geisel found it difficult to be imaginative with such words as “cat” and “hat.” At first thinking he could pound the 225-word manuscript out in three weeks, it took Geisel more than a year to write his version of a child’s first reading primer. It was worth the wait.

The now immensely famous book, “The Cat in the Hat” (1957), changed the way children read and was one of Geisel’s biggest triumphs. No longer boring, children could learn to read while also having fun, sharing the journey of two siblings who get stuck inside on a cold day with a troublemaker of a cat.

“The Cat in the Hat” was followed that same year by another big success, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!,” which stemmed from Geisel’s own aversion toward holiday materialism. These two Dr. Seuss books made Random House the leader of children’s books and Dr. Seuss a celebrity.

Awards, Heartache, and Controversy

Dr. Seuss was awarded seven honorary doctorates (which he often joked made him Dr. Dr. Seuss) and the 1984 Pulitzer Prize. Three of his books, “McElligot’s Pool” (1948), “Bartholomew and the Oobleck” (1950), and “If I Ran the Zoo” (1951), won Caldecott Honor Medals.

All the awards and successes, however, couldn’t help cure Helen, who had been suffering for a decade from a number of serious medical issues, including cancer. No longer able to stand the pain, she committed suicide in 1967. The following year, Geisel married Audrey Stone Diamond.

Although many of Geisel’s books helped children learn to read, some of his stories were met with controversy due to political themes such as “The Lorax” (1971), which depicts Geisel’s repulsion of pollution, and “The Butter Battle Book” (1984), which depicts his disgust with the nuclear arms race. However, the latter book was on the New York Times bestseller list for six months, the only children’s book to achieve that status at the time.

Dr. Seuss Dies

Geisel’s final book, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” (1990), was on the New York Times bestseller list for more than two years and remains a very popular book to give as a gift at graduations.

Just a year after his last book was published, Ted Geisel died in 1991 at the age of 87 after suffering from throat cancer.

By Nocole Daughhetee

Courier Staff

I am a planner and an organizer, and when I found out I was pregnant with my first daughter, my skills went into some sort of hyper-drive. Filled with excitement and anticipation, I wanted to create the perfect environment to welcome her into the world.

Along with the traditional matchy-matchy crib, changing station, armoire, cutesy animal-themed bedding and oodles of pink (a color I never before would have considered for a room in my home), I also joined a book club for her.

Presidents’ Day is an American holiday celebrated on the third Monday in February. Originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, it is still officially called “Washington’s Birthday” by the federal government.

Traditionally celebrated on February 22 — Washington’s actual day of birth — the holiday became popularly known as Presidents’ Day after it was moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act, an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers.

While several states still have individual holidays honoring the birthdays of Washington, Abraham Lincoln and other figures, Presidents’ Day is now popularly viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents past and present.

The story of Presidents’ Day begins in 1800. Following President George Washington’s death in 1799, his February 22 birthday became a perennial day of remembrance. At the time, Washington was venerated as the most important figure in American history, and events like the 1832 centennial of his birth and the start of construction of the Washington Monument in 1848 were cause for national celebration.

While Washington’s Birthday was an unofficial observance for most of the 1800s, it was not until the late 1870s that it became a federal holiday.

1. Romeo and Juliet
This is probably the most famous pair of lovers of all time. This couple has become a synonym for love itself. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. Their love story is very tragic: two teenagers from feuding families fall in love at first sight, marry, become true lovers and then risk it all for their love. Their untimely deaths ultimately unite their feuding households.

2. Cleopatra and Mark Antony

The true love story of Antony and Cleopatra is one of the most memorable, intriguing and moving of all times. The story of these two historical characters, later dramatized by William Shakespeare, is still staged all over the world. The relationship between these two powerful people put the country of Egypt in a powerful position. But their love affair outraged the Romans, who were wary of the growing powers of the Egyptians. Despite all the threats, Anthony and Cleopatra got married. It is said that while fighting a battle against Romans, Antony got false news of Cleopatra’s death. Shattered, he fell on his sword. When Cleopatra learned about Antony’s death, she was shocked and took her own life.

Aristophanes’ speech from Plato’s ‘Symposium’

With Valentine’s Day this week, what better time is there to analyze the true definition of love?

This lengthy dialogue is taken as an excerpt from Plato’s “Symposium,” particularly from the speech delivered by Aristophanes, the eminent Greek comic playwright of the time. Although Aristophanes warns that his speech is absurdist, its satirical content still strikes a chord in many respects to modern readers.

Aristophanes professed to open another vein of discourse; he had a mind to praise Love in another way, unlike that of either Pausanias or Eryximachus. Mankind, he said, judging by their neglect of him, have never, as I think, at all understood the power of Love. For if they had understood him they would surely have built noble temples and altars, and offered solemn sacrifices in his honour; but this is not done, and most certainly ought to be done: since of all the gods he is the best friend of men, the helper and the healer of the ills which are the great impediment to the happiness of the race. I will try to describe his power to you, and you shall teach the rest of the world what I am teaching you.
In the first place, let me treat of the nature of man and what has happened to it. The original human nature was not like the present, but different. The sexes were not two as they are now, but originally three in number; there was man, woman, and the union of the two, of which the name survives but nothing else. Once it was a distinct kind, with a bodily shape and a name of its own, constituted by the union of the male and the female: but now only the word ‘androgynous’ is preserved, and that as a term of reproach.

In the second place, the primeval man was round, his back and sides forming a circle; and he had four hands and the same number of feet, one head with two faces, looking opposite ways, set on a round neck and precisely alike; also four ears, two privy members, and the remainder to correspond. He could walk upright as men now do, backwards or forwards as he pleased, and he could also roll over and over at a great pace, turning on his four hands and four feet, eight in all, like tumblers going over and over with their legs in the air; this was when he wanted to run fast.

There is so much history all around those of us who live in Pickens County, truly one of the most beautiful places on earth.

By Dr. Carl Thomas Cloer, Jr.
For The Courier

We have our Jocassee Gorges, the Blue Ridge Escarpment, and historic Clemson University with its magnificent forests and botanical gardens. We need no more than 30 minutes to be atop the escarpment and in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Most of my life has been spent atop the escarpment in the mountains. If one travels west in Pickens County on scenic Highway 11, the Keowee River (now lake) is crossed, and the traveler junctions with routes leading into the Jocassee Gorges. Highway 130, for example, travels north through the Jocassee Gorges and connects with Highway 107 into Jackson County (N.C.) and the historic Cashiers Valley, where the mighty Whitewater River of Jocassee Gorges fame originates. I have fished the mighty Whitewater all the way to Cashiers.

The story unfolding herein has the components of a Shakespearean tragedy, with bloody divisive politics, terrible tragedy, loyalty, and love. My father was a key actor in the tragedy, and related the story to me in vivid detail. I will have an imaginary Paul Harvey, the old iconic newscaster and storyteller, turn and address you, the audience, in the same manner Richard III does in that Shakespearean masterpiece. In Richard III, most all the bloody and violent acts are not viewed directly by the audience. Note that similarity as this story unfolds. I have always believed this story would make a marvelous novel and/or movie.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929 to teacher Alberta King and Baptist Minister Michael Luther King. He graduated high school in 1944 at age 15 and enrolled at Morehouse College, where he earned a B.A. in Sociology in 1948. Following this, King went on to earn a B.D. from Crozer Theological Seminary in 1951, and a Ph.D. from Boston University in 1955.

In 1953, King married Coretta Scott, a New England Conservatory music student, and they eventually had four children. The son of the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, King was ordained in 1947, and in 1954, he became the minister of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala.

King’s legacy as a Civil Rights advocate began in 1955 when he led a boycott of Montgomery’s segregated city bus lines. The following year earned King a major victory and prestige as a civil rights leader when Montgomery buses began to operate on a desegregated basis. As a result of his outspoken criticism of segregation, King’s home was bombed.

At 6:01 p.m. on April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was hit by a sniper’s bullet. King had been standing on the balcony in front of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., when, without warning, he was shot. The .30-caliber rifle bullet entered King’s right cheek, traveled through his neck, and finally stopped at his shoulder blade. King was immediately taken to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m.
Violence and controversy followed. In outrage of the murder, many blacks took to the streets across the United States in a massive wave of riots. The FBI investigated the crime, but many believed them partially or fully responsible for the assassination. An escaped convict by the name of James Earl Ray was arrested, but many people, including some of Martin Luther King Jr.’s own family, believe he was innocent.

Origins of the Holiday

Hanukkah (sometimes transliterated Chanukkah) began on December 8 and will continue for eight days and nights this week, ending on December 16, 2012.

Hanukkah falls on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev. Since the Jewish calendar is based on lunar cycles, every year the first day of Hanukkah falls on a different day — usually sometime between late November and late December.
According to Jewish law, Hanukkah is one of the less important Jewish holidays — compared to other holidays such as Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, or Purim. Hanukkah has become much more popular in modern practice because of its proximity to Christmas.