Biography

---Biography---

Theodore Suess Geisel, better known as, Dr. Suess, was born on March 2, 1904. He found his inspiration for writing rhymes from his mother, Henrietta Suess Geisel, who used to put him to bed by chanting rhymes she remembered from her childhood. Even though there was a world war going on, Ted's family continued to provide him and his sister, Marnie, with a happy childhood.

 When Ted was a teenager he attended Dartmouth College. He was editor-and-chief of the Jack-O-Lantern, Dartmouth's humor magazine. But when he was caught drinking on school property, he could no longer be the editor, yet he continued to contribute to the magazine, signing his work, "Suess." Suess was Ted's middle name, his mother's maiden name. Originally pronounced "Zoice." Ted then went on to a university in England, after he graduated from Dartmorth. He was very bored by his academic studies, so he decided to go visit many European countries. He met Helen Palmer at Oxford. She became his first wife, and she was also an author and book editor.

When World War II came along, Ted set his focus on something else. He started contributing political cartoons to PM magazine. He was too old to draft, but he wanted to contribute to the war effort, so he served the U.S. Army making training movies. This is where he started to get introduced to animation. He then developed his own series of animated training films called Private Snafu.

Ted contributed to many magazines such as Life, Vanity Fair, Judge, and a few others. But then Viking Press offered him a contract to illustrate children's sayings called Boners. It was not such a great sucess but Ted's illustrations got great reviews which gave him his first "big break." Even after this, his first book, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, got rejected 27 times before being published by Vanguard Press. After he published The Cat In The Hat, was when he really became a popular children's book writer and illustrator.

In 1967, Ted's first wife died, and he married and old friend, Audrey Stone Geisel. Audrey influenced his later books, and now is president of Dr. Suess Enterprises. 

By the time he died on September 24, 1991, Suess had written and illustrated 44 children's books that were translated into more than 15 languages. And, Over 200 million copies have "found their way into homes and hearts around the world." His work has been adapted into television specials, a Broadway musical and a major motion picture. He won two Academy awards, two Emmy awards, a Peabody award and the Pulitzer Prize.

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