Virtual Talk: “Becoming Dr. Seuss” with Brian Jay Jones

Dr. Seuss made our childhood’s whimsical and wonderful, magical and musical. A green Grinch who stole Christmas, a mischievous cat with a funny striped hat, and an elephant on a mission to rescue a tiny village of Whos.  What would he dream up next?  Yet, Theodor Seuss Geisel didn’t set out to become one of the most beloved and bestselling children’s writers of all time. He wanted to be an English teacher but stopped short of earning his Doctorate in English Literature. He got his professional start as an ad man promoting Standard Oil’s fly-killing insecticide, worked as an illustrator drawing sometimes racist or misogynist political cartoons, and then made short training films during World War II.  The childless Geisel was probably not the best babysitter for kids.  He chain-smoked and swilled cocktails. He was often bawdy and argumentative. Yet, somewhere between his first children’s book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street (1937) and Oh, The Places You’ll Go! (1990), he wrote and illustrated more than 60 children’s books under the pen name Dr. Seuss, took home Oscars and a Pulitzer and cemented the Seussian legacy for us all.

Tickets: $10 nonmembers/ $5 members
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