It's Dr. Seuss' birthday today – perhaps Springfield's most famous son. I had the pleasure of reading "McElligot's Pool" to a class at Trinity Methodist Nursery School today – in the same neighborhood as Seuss grew up in. The kids looked a little goggled-eyes when I told them Dr. Seuss was from Springfield. They were a class of four-year-olds and clearly it was difficult for them to understand that someone they had heard of came from the same city as they did.
Seuss should provide inspiration to any writer. His first children's book "And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street" – the real Mulberry Street is a ten minute walk from my house – was rejected dozens of times. He kept going, though.
I'd like to write an in-depth look at Seuss' career in animation. He worked with George Pall on two Puppetoon adaptations of his works and was one of the guys behind the great Private SNAFU series. He also created Gerald McBoing Boing and collaborated with Chuck Jones.
© 2010 by Gordon Michael Dobbs
1 comment:
I just wanted to say I'd love to read an in-depth book about Seuss' involvement animation. It seems so overlooked in the very few Seuss books that are out there, yet it's a large part of his output. The book "The Seuss, the Whole Seuss, and Nothing But the Seuss" mentions two unproduced cartoons that an early 30s non-Schleshinger (I think? facts could be wrong here) Warner Bros. studio was going to produce but never did. There is a brief mention that someone at the time recalled that Seuss tried to animate but couldn't, and was frustrated about it. You probably know all this but it seems like there is a fascinating story there that we only know fragments about. It would also be interesting to know what exactly went into all those animated specials... what his actual input was, etc. Even some of those Depatie-Freleng cartoons have an amazing beautiful quality to them that usually seems like it couldn't have come from anyone but Seuss. Anyway, that book needs to exist. Detailed descriptions and background info about all the Seuss cartoons definitely should be a part of the world. And what about the Seuss Navy, and his "taxidermy" business, and all these bizarre offshoots of his "regular" work that is only ever glossed over? Seems like such a rich subject worth mining.
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