The Revealing Life of Theodore Geisel

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The Revealing Life of Theodore Geisel Theodore Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist who is most commonly known for his children’s books. Geisel was born on March 2, 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Geisel’s father managed a family brewery in Springfield, which was later had to be shut down due to prohibition. All of Seuss’s grandparents were German immigrants. Geisel attended Dartmouth College in the class of 1925. At Dartmouth, Seuss began to attend Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity which was a common college fraternity back in the time. He also attended a humor magazine called Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern, where eventually reaching to the rank as editor chief. Theodor was eventually caught by the dean Craven Laycock at the time drinking gin with his nine friends in his college dorm room. The punishment he had to face was he had to resign from all his extracurricular activities and humor magazine. After Dartmouth, he entered Lincoln College, Oxford, intending to earn a Doctor of Philosophy in English literature. At Oxford, Theodore met his wife to be Helen Palmer and married her in 1927, returning to the United States without a degree. He began submitting humorous articles and illustrations to Judge, Life, Vanity Fair, and Liberty. Geisel quickly became popular for his advertisements for Flit, a common insecticide at the time. The slogan, "Quick, Henry, the Flit!" became a popular catchphrase. Geisel was able to sustain himself and his wife through the American Depression through drawing advertising for General Electric, NBC, Standard Oil, Narragansett Brewing Company and many other companies. In 1937, while Geisel was returning from an ocean voyage to Europe, the rhythm of the ship's engines inspired the poem that became his first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, Even though it was rejected 27

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