Other Accomplishments and the Last Days of Seuss! Shortly after Cat in the Hat was published and in full swing of making sells, published How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The story, about a Seuss created creature named Grinch, was Ted’s most simple book to write. Grinch hates Christmas, so he steals all toys, decorations, and gifts from the people of Who-ville. The Grinch soon finds the town will celebrate regardless of what they have (Ford, 2003). Because of the success from The Cat in the Hat and now The Grinch, Random House became the largest children’s book company in the country in 1957 (Ford, 2003). Both of these books were propagandists of some sort because they bring light to moral lessons (Nell, 2004). Many festivities and appearances became prevalent for Dr. Seuss at this time, even though he still disliked being in the public eye. During this time, he and Helen continued to work on Beginner Books as well as began working with companies to produce animal toys from his books. In 1959, Seuss was the highest paying author in the world, earning about two hundred thousand a year. These earnings did not mean much to him because he was never interested in money (Ford, 2003). Geisel never forgot that opportunity was unequal; therefore, he gave much of his money to those less fortunate than he (Nell, 2004). He also gave money to libraries, art museums, charities, scholarship funds, and zoos (Krull, 2004). He also refused to do anything he was not happy with. A television producer wanted to use a small verse of his for a holiday commercial, but Geisel refused, even after being offered more money (Ford, 2003). In 1960, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish and Green Eggs and Ham were both published, making Beginner Books top one million dollars in sales (Ford, 2003). His publisher bet Seuss fifty dollars that he could not write a book using only fifty words. That is how Green Eggs and Ham was created (Krull, 2004). His next big series of books were started in his mid-fifties. This series, The Sneetches and Other Stories, deals with prejudice, describing the comparisons of plain-bellied Sneetches and higher status ones with stars on their bellies (Ford, 2003). Throughout the years, the creative writing process never became easier for Seuss. Writing two books at a time made it a bit easier for him because when he got stuck, he could always switch to the other book. He wore hats from his characters on occasion as thinking caps (Ford, 2003). For every book that Geisel writes, he throws out enough material to make thirty-five other books and each book takes around eighteen months to write (Bunzel, 1959). In 1965, MGM studios approached Geisel about making a television adaptation of his book How the Grinch Stole Christmas. He was reluctant at first, but finally agreed. Since the show was to last thirty minutes and the book only took twelve to read out loud, he had to expand on the story. He also changed the Grinch’s eyes to green in order to make him look more evil. It took twenty five thousand drawings to do the show. The show itself boosted book sales and he got up to two thousand fan letters a week. The show aired in December of 1966 (Ford, 2003). CBS paid MGM three hundred and fifteen thousand dollars for the rights to air the special, which is still shown today (Nell, 2004). Less than a year after the launch of the show, Helen Geisel took her own life (West, 1996). Helen’s illness brought a wedge between her and Ted. As they became less involved, Ted transferred his attachments to another family. This family consisted of Audrey Dimond and her two daughters Lark and Leah. Two of his books were dedicated to the family. This relationship, along with her illness led Helen into depression. These factors inevitably led to her suicide (Pease, 2010). In 1967, Geisel’s father passed as well. A short time later, Geisel remarried to Audrey Diamond. They did a lot of traveling together, and while visiting Kenya, Geisel got the idea for another classic of his. He was relaxing when he looked up and saw a herd of elephants running across the mountains. After seeing this, he wrote ninety percent of his story (Ford, 2003). His main character, the Lorax, took a bit of experimenting, but he ended up being a small, gopher-sized creature with a large moustache and wrinkled skin. The Lorax had a serious message: to keep the land, air, and water clean (Ford, 2003). This story put responsibility in the hands of the reader, using words like “unless” and maybe” (Nell, 2004). It was published in 1971 but did not gain popularity until the 1980s. In the following years, Geisel wrote The Butter Battle Book, which stayed on the New York Times best-seller list for six months, which was a record breaker at that time (Ford, 2003). It was the same type of book that puts a problem in the readers lap to insinuate that they can help. These books reflected back to Geisel’s political cartoon days (Nell, 2004). In the same year, Geisel won the Pulitzer Prize for all of his contributions to children’s literature (Ford, 2003). In 1990, Dr. Seuss wrote his final book, Oh, the Places You’ll Go! This book echoed many of his previous books and received honorary doctorate from seven universities, including Geisel’s alma mater, Dartmouth (Krull, 2004). During this time he was suffering from throat cancer because of his years of smoking (Ford, 2003). By 1991, he had written forty- seven books that were translated into twenty different languages. He sold more than two hundred million copies in total. A list of his books in order of publishing date is located in the references section of this website: references.php. On September 24, 1991, Geisel died at the age of eighty-seven (Ford, 2003). The publisher Robert Bernstein said, “While Ted is gone, he left Dr. Seuss behind. As far as any of us can see ahead of us, Dr. Seuss will be around, getting young kids interested in reading, starting them and their parents thinking about important things in this world, and giving them all a great time while doing it” (Lathem, 1976).
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     Website by Jordan Miller |
