| 1 | %% |
| 2 | %% |
| 3 | %% Per Administrivia/CreatorPageGuidelines, only tropes associated to a creator's works are allowed on this wiki's pages. |
| 4 | %% Tropes that only apply to the creator's personal life as if the creator is a fictional character are not allowed. |
| 5 | %% Please do not apply tropes about the creator's personal life as if they are a fictional character. |
| 6 | %% |
| 7 | %% |
| 8 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dr_seuss.png]] |
| 9 | [[caption-width-right:350:Oh, the wonderful things Dr. Seuss can do.[[note]]"Portrait of Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss)" painted by Everett Raymond Kinstler.[[/note]]]] |
| 10 | |
| 11 | ->''"I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living. It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope, which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities."'' |
| 12 | |
| 13 | An American cartoonist and writer, Theodor Seuss Geisel (March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991), more commonly known as Dr. Seuss (pronounced "soyss" like "voice," although he later accepted the far more common "sooss" like "juice"), was famous for his 65 children's books. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, Seuss was the son of a family of brewers, which made the Prohibition era a tough period to deal with. He went to Dartmouth College where he became the editor of the campus humor magazine, ''Jacko'' until he was caught in a drunken incident that made then-Dean Craven Laycock expel him from the editorship. An indifferent student, Seuss still went to Oxford when he made a pretense of getting a scholarship there, which forced his father to send him there on his own money to save face. There, Seuss struggled with his studies until he met his future wife, Helen, who noticed his idle fanciful drawing in his notes looked good enough to be professional. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | Once they married and returned to the US, Seuss struggled to work professionally as a cartoonist and illustrator until he finally landed a steady gig as a cartoonist at the humor magazine, ''Judge''. At the magazine, Seuss often did ProductPlacement in his cartoons and mentioned the insecticide brand, Flit, by chance. That caught the attention of a wife of an executive at Flit and Seuss was commissioned to draw a long campaign of advertisements for Flit ("Quick Henry, the Flit!") that became a sensation for their humor, and established the trope of the CartoonBugSprayer. That got him an exclusive contract that would last 17 years and would get his family through TheGreatDepression with relatively little hardship, which made children's literature one of the few other fields he could work in. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Most of his work liberally uses [[RhymesOnADime rhyming schemes]], [[MagicAIsMagicA illogical logic]], [[{{Bizarrchitecture}} fantastical buildings]], [[PerfectlyCromulentWord nonsensical vocabulary]], and very pretty illustrations. This, at the time, was fairly radical and the epitome of avant-garde, though [[OnceOriginalNowCommon not by today's standards]]. Seuss was a lifelong inhabitant of Springfield, Massachusetts, and drew inspiration from his surroundings; for instance, his first published children's work, ''Literature/AndToThinkThatISawItOnMulberryStreet'', took place on [[WriteWhatYouKnow a real life street.]] (The book's events occur on the intersection of Mulberry and Bliss Streets, which both exist. However, the real-world versions never cross.). |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Although breaking into children's lit was a struggle at first, Dr. Seuss's infectious charm and imagination would have him hailed as the great 20th Century master of the form. The fact that he intentionally discredited the insipid ''Literature/DickAndJane'' primer series along the way while his energetically imaginative work set the standard for modern kids' book that kids wanted to read is a testament of that talent. In fact, that success, beginning with his signature character, ''Literature/TheCatInTheHat'', would lead to Seuss having a secondary career as co-founder and editor of Random House's Beginner Books imprint which published the work of numerous talents such as Stan and Jan Berenstain of ''Literature/TheBerenstainBears'' series. However, that proved a bother to him, considering that the books Seuss personally wrote under that imprint were burdened with limits he hated like strict vocabulary lists of typically less than 300 words, even though he rose to the challenge and created his most bestselling book, ''Literature/GreenEggsAndHam'', which had a vocabulary list of only 50. Eventually, he took full control of the company and broke free to create books with all the words he wanted like ''Literature/TheresAWocketInMyPocket''. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | Besides his children's work, Seuss was a political cartoonist, most notably for the now-defunct magazine ''PM''. He was a committed New Dealer and supporter of UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt, and liberal causes generally. On the less savory side, while he [[http://www.k-state.edu/english/nelp/childlit/seuss/10922.html opposed]] anti-semitism and segregation, Seuss is also known for being [[WartimeCartoon quite racist towards Japanese]] in his WWII-era political cartoons ([[http://www.dartmouth.edu/~hist32/History/Seuss02.jpg here's]] an example). He later realized such work was inappropriate and [[OldShame felt horrible about it]], even dedicating ''Literature/HortonHearsAWho'' to a Japanese friend--he would probably enjoy that hand-drawn, {{Animesque}} spoof in the 2008 ''Horton'' movie quite a lot! He was against Jim Crow, even basing one book on getting over [[SillyReasonForWar small differences]]. Still, some of his children's books (especially the older ones) did nonetheless reflect lingering prejudices in western society at the time, and that combined with the ValuesDissonance of his early cartoons eventually led to his estate pulling six particularly poorly-aged books[[note]]''Literature/AndToThinkThatISawItOnMulberryStreet'', ''Literature/McElligotsPool'', ''Literature/IfIRanTheZoo'', ''Literature/ScrambledEggsSuper!'', ''On Beyond Zebra!'', and ''The Cat's Quizzer''[[/note]] from circulation in 2021. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | Eventually, Seuss decided he had to do more for the war effort, and got an officer's commission with the Army. He was assigned to the Signal Corps under the command of Creator/FrankCapra to produce propaganda and instructional films for the military. His best known work in this capacity was with the ''WesternAnimation/PrivateSnafu'' cartoon series, working with luminaries like Creator/ChuckJones. With that series, Seuss would be responsible for military instructional cartoons that enjoyed a content freedom undreamed of in the civilian market, with his writing talent most evident in ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vaupcu2qqI Rumors]]''. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | Much of his work has been [[TheFilmOfTheBook movie-fied]], whether by animation or live-action. The only movie he himself made was ''Film/The5000FingersOfDrT'', a bizarre film that proved a flop. He did collaborate with various directors (most famously his close friend Creator/ChuckJones) in adapting his stories for television, but again, those were TV specials, and not feature-length. When he succumbed to oral cancer on September 24, 1991, the rights to all his stories and characters went to his widow, Audrey, and no adaptations could be made without her permission. After the dismal 2003 adaptation of ''Film/TheCatInTheHat'' soured her for the casting of Creator/MikeMyers (whom she was strongly against) and the adult jokes that clashed with the family friendly nature of the books, she vowed never to produce any further live-action adaptations of her husband's works since. Audrey herself died on December 19, 2018, at the age of 97, shortly after Creator/WarnerBros. obtained exclusive adaptation rights to all of Dr. Seuss's work. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | There's also ''Seuss Landing'', a portion of [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal's Islands of Adventure]], which features rides, costumed characters and other attractions based on the books. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | Also, [[HeAlsoDid he seems to be the guy who invented the word]] "nerd". [[note]]It first appears in ''If I Ran the Zoo'', describing a frowning {{Muppet}}-like creature that has nothing to do with the word's [[StereotypicalNerd modern definition]].[[/note]] |
| 32 | |
| 33 | He is the subject of the fourth book by pop culture legend biographer Brian Jay Jones, after Creator/WashingtonIrving, Creator/JimHenson, and Creator/GeorgeLucas. |
| 34 | ---- |
| 35 | |
| 36 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 37 | |
| 38 | [[folder:Books published under the name Dr. Seuss, in order of release:]] |
| 39 | |
| 40 | [[index]] |
| 41 | * ''Literature/AndToThinkThatISawItOnMulberryStreet'' (1937)* |
| 42 | * ''Literature/The500HatsOfBartholomewCubbins'' (1938) |
| 43 | * ''Literature/TheKingsStilts'' (1939) |
| 44 | * ''The Seven Lady Godivas'' (1939) |
| 45 | * ''Literature/HortonHatchesTheEgg'' (1940) |
| 46 | * ''Literature/McElligotsPool'' (1947)* |
| 47 | * ''Literature/ThidwickTheBigHeartedMoose'' (1948) |
| 48 | * ''Literature/BartholomewAndTheOobleck'' (1949) |
| 49 | * ''Literature/IfIRanTheZoo'' (1950)* |
| 50 | * ''Literature/ScrambledEggsSuper'' (1953)* |
| 51 | * ''Literature/HortonHearsAWho'' (1954) |
| 52 | * ''On Beyond Zebra!'' (1955)* |
| 53 | * ''Literature/IfIRanTheCircus'' (1956) |
| 54 | * ''Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'' (1957) |
| 55 | * ''Literature/TheCatInTheHat'' (1957) |
| 56 | * ''The Cat in the Hat Comes Back'' (1958) |
| 57 | * ''Literature/YertleTheTurtleAndOtherStories'' (1958) |
| 58 | * ''Literature/HappyBirthdayToYou'' (1959) |
| 59 | * ''Literature/OneFishTwoFishRedFishBlueFish'' (1959) |
| 60 | * ''Literature/GreenEggsAndHam'' (1960) |
| 61 | * ''Literature/TheSneetchesAndOtherStories'' (1961) |
| 62 | * ''Literature/DrSeusssSleepBook'' (1962) |
| 63 | * ''Dr. Seuss's ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book!'' (1963) |
| 64 | * ''Hop on Pop'' (1963) |
| 65 | * ''Literature/FoxInSocks'' (1965) |
| 66 | * ''Literature/IHadTroubleInGettingToSollaSollew'' (1965) |
| 67 | * ''The Cat in the Hat Song Book'' (1967) |
| 68 | * ''The Foot Book'' (1968) |
| 69 | * ''I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! and Other Stories'' (1969) |
| 70 | * ''My Book About ME'' (1970) |
| 71 | * ''I Can Draw It Myself'' (1970) |
| 72 | * ''Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?: Dr. Seuss's Book of Wonderful Noises!'' (1970) |
| 73 | * ''Literature/TheLorax'' (1971) |
| 74 | * ''Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!'' (1972) |
| 75 | * ''Literature/DidIEverTellYouHowLuckyYouAre'' (1973) |
| 76 | * ''The Shape of Me and Other Stuff'' (1973) |
| 77 | * ''Literature/TheresAWocketInMyPocket'' (1974) |
| 78 | * ''Great Day for Up!'' (1974) |
| 79 | * ''Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!'' (1975) |
| 80 | * ''The Cat's Quizzer'' (1976)* |
| 81 | * ''I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!'' (1978) |
| 82 | * ''Oh Say Can You Say?'' (1979) |
| 83 | * ''Hunches in Bunches'' (1982) |
| 84 | * ''Literature/TheButterBattleBook'' (1984) |
| 85 | * ''You're Only Old Once!: A Book for Obsolete Children'' (1986) |
| 86 | * ''I Am NOT Going to Get Up Today!'' (1987) |
| 87 | * ''The Tough Coughs as he Ploughs the Dough'' (1987) |
| 88 | * ''Oh, the Places You'll Go!'' (1990) |
| 89 | |
| 90 | [-*Out of print as of 2021.-] |
| 91 | [[/folder]] |
| 92 | |
| 93 | [[folder:Books published posthumously under his name:]] |
| 94 | * ''Literature/DaisyHeadMayzie'' (1995) |
| 95 | * ''My Many Colored Days'' (1996, but originally written in 1973) |
| 96 | * ''Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!'' (1998) |
| 97 | * ''Literature/TheBippoloSeedAndOtherLostTales'' (2011) |
| 98 | * ''Literature/HortonAndTheKwuggerbugAndMoreLostStories'' (2014) |
| 99 | * ''What Pet Should I Get'' (2015) |
| 100 | * ''Dr. Seuss's Horse Museum'' (2019) |
| 101 | * ''Literature/HowTheGrinchLostChristmas'' (2023) |
| 102 | [[/folder]] |
| 103 | |
| 104 | [[folder:Books published under the pen names Theo. LeSieg and Rosetta Stone]] |
| 105 | * ''Ten Apples Up on Top!'' (1961) |
| 106 | * ''I Wish That I Had Duck Feet'' (1965) |
| 107 | * ''Come Over to My House'' (1966) |
| 108 | * ''The Eye Book'' (1968) |
| 109 | * ''I Can Write'' (1971) |
| 110 | * ''In a People House'' (1972) |
| 111 | * ''Wacky Wednesday'' (1974) |
| 112 | * ''The Many Mice of Mr. Brice'' a.k.a. ''The Pop-Up Mice of Mr. Brice'' (1974) |
| 113 | * ''Would You Rather Be a Bullfrog?'' (1975) |
| 114 | * ''Hooper Humperdink...? Not Him!'' (1976) |
| 115 | * ''Please Try to Remember the First of Octember!'' (1977) |
| 116 | * ''Maybe You Should Fly a Jet! Maybe You Should Be a Vet!'' (1980) |
| 117 | * ''The Tooth Book'' (1981) |
| 118 | * ''Because a Little Bug Went Ka-choo!'' (1975; this was the one written under the "Rosetta Stone" pen name) |
| 119 | [[/folder]] |
| 120 | |
| 121 | [[folder:Animated Theatrical Shorts and TV Specials made during his lifetime:]] |
| 122 | * WesternAnimation/PrivateSnafu: Wrote for several of the shorts. |
| 123 | * ''WesternAnimation/HortonHatchesTheEgg'' (1942): [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]] AdaptationExpansion of his story, directed by Creator/BobClampett. |
| 124 | * ''The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins'' (1943) and ''And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street'' (1944), two of Creator/GeorgePal's ''WesternAnimation/{{Puppetoons}}'' shorts. |
| 125 | * ''WesternAnimation/GeraldMcBoingBoing'' (1950): A short that he originally wrote as an audio recording, that was adapted by Bill Scott (aka Bullwinkle the Moose) and P.D. Eastman for [[Creator/ColumbiaCartoons UPA]] productions. |
| 126 | * ''WesternAnimation/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'' (1966): One of three animated special collaborations between Seuss and Creator/ChuckJones. |
| 127 | * ''[[WesternAnimation/HortonHearsAWho1970 Horton Hears a Who!]]'' (1970) |
| 128 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheCatInTheHat'' (1971) |
| 129 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lorax|1972}}'' (1972): Produced by Depatie-Freleng Enterprises. |
| 130 | * ''Dr. Seuss on the Loose'' (1973, included "The Sneetches," "The Zax," and "Literature/GreenEggsAndHam.") |
| 131 | * ''The Hoober Bloob Highway'' (1975) |
| 132 | * ''WesternAnimation/HalloweenIsGrinchNight'' (1977) |
| 133 | * ''WesternAnimation/PontoffelPockWhereAreYou'' (1980) |
| 134 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheGrinchGrinchesTheCatInTheHat'' (1982) |
| 135 | * ''The Butter Battle Book'' (1989): Collaboration between Seuss and Creator/RalphBakshi. Seuss notably considered this the best adaptation of all his works. |
| 136 | [[/folder]] |
| 137 | |
| 138 | [[folder:TV Series:]] |
| 139 | * ''Series/TheWubbulousWorldOfDrSeuss'' (Dr. Seuss characters ''as Muppets!'', 1996-1998) |
| 140 | * ''Gerald [=McBoingBoing=]'' (2005-7) |
| 141 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheCatInTheHatKnowsALotAboutThat'' (2010-2018) |
| 142 | * ''WesternAnimation/GreenEggsAndHam2019'' |
| 143 | [[/folder]] |
| 144 | |
| 145 | [[folder:Stage Productions:]] |
| 146 | * ''Theatre/{{Seussical}}'' |
| 147 | [[/index]] |
| 148 | * [[AllMusicalsAreAdaptations Musical adaptations of]] ''How The Grinch Stole Christmas'' and ''The Cat in the Hat'' |
| 149 | [[/folder]] |
| 150 | |
| 151 | [[folder:Live-action films written by Dr. Seuss or based on his works:]] |
| 152 | [[index]] |
| 153 | * ''Our Job in Germany'' (1945) |
| 154 | * ''Your Job in Japan'' (1945) |
| 155 | [[/index]] |
| 156 | * ''Design For Death'' (1947, an expansion of ''Your Job in Japan'')(won the MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestDocumentaryFeature) |
| 157 | [[index]] |
| 158 | * ''Film/The5000FingersOfDrT'' (1953; Seuss's only non-propaganda live-action film during his lifetime) |
| 159 | * ''Film/InSearchOfDrSeuss'' (1994) |
| 160 | * ''Film/{{How the Grinch Stole Christmas|2000}}'' (2000) |
| 161 | * ''Film/TheCatInTheHat'' (2003) |
| 162 | [[/folder]] |
| 163 | |
| 164 | [[folder:Animated Films:]] |
| 165 | * ''[[WesternAnimation/HortonHearsAWho2008 Horton Hears a Who!]]'' (2008) |
| 166 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lorax|2012}}'' (2012) |
| 167 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{The Grinch|2018}}'' (2018) |
| 168 | [[/index]] |
| 169 | [[/folder]] |
| 170 | |
| 171 | [[folder:Theme Park Attractions:]] |
| 172 | * ''Seuss Landing'' at [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal's Islands of Adventure]] (1999) |
| 173 | [[index]] |
| 174 | ** ''Caro-Seuss-El'' |
| 175 | ** ''Ride/TheCatInTheHat'' |
| 176 | ** ''{{Theatre/Grinchmas}}'' |
| 177 | ** ''The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride!'' |
| 178 | ** ''If I Ran the Zoo'' |
| 179 | ** ''One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish'' |
| 180 | [[/folder]] |
| 181 | |
| 182 | [[folder:Video Games:]] |
| 183 | * ''Dr. Seuss: Fix-Up the Mix-Up Puzzler'' (1984) |
| 184 | * ''Dr. Seuss Kindergarten'' (1998) |
| 185 | * ''[[VideoGame/TheGrinch2000 The Grinch]]'' (2000) |
| 186 | * ''VideoGame/TheCatInTheHat'' (2003) |
| 187 | * ''The Grinch: Christmas Adventures'' (2023) |
| 188 | [[/index]] |
| 189 | [[/folder]] |
| 190 | |
| 191 | [[folder:Other artwork:]] |
| 192 | * ''Dr. Seuss Goes To War'' ([[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII WWII]] political cartoons) |
| 193 | * ''The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss'' aka ''The Midnight Paintings'' (personal paintings, collages, and unusual taxidermy) |
| 194 | * ''[[http://libraries.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dsads/ The Advertising Artwork of Dr. Seuss]]'' |
| 195 | [[/folder]] |
| 196 | |
| 197 | ---- |
| 198 | !!Trope-based books include: |
| 199 | |
| 200 | * IDoNotLikeGreenEggsAndHam: The [[TropeName title is in the Trope Name]], Sam-I-Am! |
| 201 | * FantasticRacism: ''The Sneetches''. |
| 202 | * GrassIsGreener: ''Literature/IHadTroubleInGettingToSollaSollew''. |
| 203 | * GreenAesop: ''Literature/TheLorax'' is a condemnation of short-sighted consumerism. |
| 204 | * TheGrinch: ''Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'' [[TropeNamer Guess what's in the title here too?]] |
| 205 | * SillyReasonForWar: ''Literature/TheButterBattleBook'', a condemnation of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar and Mutually-Assured Destruction. |
| 206 | * SacredHospitality / TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: ''Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose'', in which the animals who take advantage of Thidwick's generous nature meet an unpleasant end. |
| 207 | |
| 208 | ---- |
| 209 | !!Dr. Seuss's works provide examples of: |
| 210 | %% |
| 211 | %% As with all Creator/ pages, trivia tropes about the creator specifically are to be posted here, |
| 212 | %% not a Trivia/ page, as they technically are InUniverse in the case of the person's career. |
| 213 | %% However: As with all Creator/ pages, items that could go on a specific work's trivia page go there, not here. |
| 214 | %% |
| 215 | %%* AdaptationDistillation: ''Horton Hears a Who''. |
| 216 | * AdaptationalNiceGuy: His less-than-admirable characters tend to get a bit more depth when translated to screen. The Grinch, the Once-Ler and the grouchy companion from ''Green Eggs and Ham'' go from being one-dimensional antagonists who eventually turn good into guys who always had a good side that was buried under years of misery. These adaptations also tend to fill the void with villainous characters who are ''really'' unlikable. |
| 217 | * AdaptationExpansion: All of the feature films and most of the TV adaptations tend to add more material to the plot to keep from running too short. |
| 218 | * AerithAndBob: In ''The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins'' there is Bartholomew Cubbins, King Derwin, Sir Snipps, Alaric and the Grand Duke ''Wilfred''. |
| 219 | * AnimatedAdaptation: There have been numerous animated works based on Seuss's books, including three feature films. |
| 220 | * ArtEvolution: In illustrations of the earliest books, characters were not always originally depicted with "u" shaped pupils. In ''And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street'', nearly every character, except for a few non-humans, were, in fact, shown with BlackBeadEyes. They had sclerae in ''The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins'' but pupils were depicted round and normal. While certain characters had the u-shaped pupils early on, others still did not. This, before finally settling on ''all'' characters depicted as such, as would be the later known style. |
| 221 | * BarbieDollAnatomy: The title characters of ''The Seven Lady Godivas'' are naked, but none of them are drawn with visible nipples or genitals. |
| 222 | * BeforeAndAfterPictures: One of his wartime cartoons had an Uncle Sam Eagle in a Charles Atlas-like parody ad with "Before" and "After" pics: |
| 223 | -->"I was weak and run-down. I had circles under my eyes. My tail drooped. I had a foul case of Appeasement...... |
| 224 | -->...then I learned about 'GUTS' that amazing remedy For all Mankind's Woes |
| 225 | -->Now I am taking it daily and today I feel strong enough to punch Mister Hitler right in the snoot!" |
| 226 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: Surprisingly, involving Horton in a long lost story, ''Horton And the Kwuggerbug'', where a Kwuggerbug takes advantage of Horton's kindness, asking Horton to give him a lift to a beezelnut tree, with the promise of splitting half the nuts with him. The journey proves to be incredibly dangerous, and Horton is tempted to go back, but the Kwuggerbug reminds him that [[IGaveMyWord a deal's a deal]] and to keep going. When they finally get there, the Kwuggerbug ends up stiffing Horton by only giving him the shells, taking the good parts for himself. Enraged, Horton [[SneezeOfDoom sneezes]] and blows the bug so far away, that he is never able to return to the beezelnut tree again. |
| 227 | * BittersweetEnding: A number of books, but ''[[Literature/TheSneetchesAndOtherStories The Sneetches]]'' is a prominent example. In the end, [=McBean=] successfully cons the sneetches out of all their money with his Star Machine gambit, leaving them penniless, but the experience teaches them how stupid and pointless racial discrimination is and they learn to live as equals from that point on. |
| 228 | * {{Bowdlerise}}: In ''The Lorax'', the Lorax's line, "I hear things are just as bad up in Lake Erie," was removed from the book in 1985 after two research associates from the Ohio Sea Grant Program wrote to Seuss about the clean-up of Lake Erie. However, the same line is still kept in the [[WesternAnimation/TheLorax1972 1972 TV special]] (it is spoken by one of the Humming Fish), even in the VHS and DVD releases. |
| 229 | * CanonForeigner: All movies and most TV adaptations of his books added characters that weren't in the source material. |
| 230 | * CartoonBugSprayer: An ad campaign drawn by Dr. Seuss for Flit brand insecticide featured people facing down improbable creatures with this style of sprayer, with one character always exclaiming the slogan, "Quick, Henry, the Flit!" The ads were wildly successful and doubtless contributed to the Flit-style bug sprayer persisting as a stock cartoon image long after the technology fell out of use in real life. |
| 231 | * CastsNoShadow: Harry Haddow in ''Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?'' |
| 232 | -->He thinks that, perhaps, something's wrong with his Gizz,\ |
| 233 | and I think that, by golly, there probably is. |
| 234 | * {{Catchphrase}}: Horton the Elephant has two: "A person is a person, no matter how small." (''Horton Hears A Who'') and "I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful 100%." (''Horton Hatches the Egg''). |
| 235 | * CerebusSyndrome: Sometime around the late '60s/early '70s, Seuss began writing darker stories like ''Literature/IHadTroubleInGettingToSollaSollew'' and, eventually, ''Literature/TheLorax'', which featured more abundantly heavy themes than his previous books and [[BittersweetEnding not always]] [[DownerEnding the happiest of endings]]. Not coincidentally, this began after [[RealitySubtext his first wife committed suicide]]. |
| 236 | * CharacterisationClickMoment: In the short story [[Literature/HortonAndTheKwuggerbugAndMoreLostStories "The Grinch and the Hoobub"]], the Grinch both looks and acts somewhat differently, posing more as a smooth-talking LovableRogue. It is his second appearance, ''Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'', that solidifies the Grinch with his iconic personality as a curmudgeonly CardCarryingVillain with a HiddenHeartOfGold, though with his original trickster side maintained as a secondary trait. |
| 237 | * ConjoinedTwins: The Brothers Ba-zoo in ''Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?'' are conjoined by their ''hair''. |
| 238 | * CoolOldGuy: |
| 239 | ** The fellow who the {{narrator}} of ''Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?'' meets in the Desert of Drize, who, well, tells him how lucky he is. |
| 240 | ** This concept appeared earlier in Dr. Seuss's work, as well. |
| 241 | * CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Droon is forced to eat nothing but Nizzards at the end of ''The King's Stilts''. |
| 242 | * CosmicHorrorStory: ''Bartholomew and the Oobleck'', if you think about it. A greedy person bored with ordinary life orders his magicians to [[DugTooDeep summon new weather]], which results in the arrival of an ambiguous, borderline-unstoppable phenomenon of potentially apocalyptic proportions. The only thing holding it back is the presence of a moral about saying sorry, and even then the closing lines about the current weather being the only things that ever should be is subtly sinister. |
| 243 | * CreatorBacklash: |
| 244 | ** He felt pretty bad about his political cartoons demonizing the Japanese in the years after the fact. This regret likely extended to several of his other cartoons and ads mocking Jews and people of color years before he drew World War II propaganda. With the advent of World War II, many of the cartoons that he produced around that time decrying antisemitism, racism against African Americans, and bigotry in general -- anti-Japanese sentiments aside -- and he likely recognized that his old work perpetuated the problems that he would later take a stance against. Analysts would later credit this as a factor behind his estate's decision to pull six of his books from circulation for containing racist imagery. |
| 245 | ** He also had nothing good to say about how ''Film/The5000FingersOfDrT'' turned out. |
| 246 | * CreatorCameo: In ''Literature/TheresAWocketInMyPocket'', the Bofa on the Sofa (who the narrator wishes wasn't there) looks very Ted Geisel-ish. |
| 247 | * CreatorProvincialism: Seuss lived in Springfield, Massachusetts for the entirety of his youth and drew inspiration from his surroundings. Springfield is mentioned in several of his works (most notably ''Mulberry Street'') and some of his illustrations are [[http://tinyurl.com/l8mo4e9 surreal versions of real places in town]]. Today the Springfield Museums have, in a courtyard behind the city's central library building, an outdoor shrine to him that includes statues of him and various characters, as well as a giant book statue containing the entire text of ''Oh, The Places You'll Go''. There is also a Seuss museum, which is largely a childrens museum but has sections in the upper floors with his papers and other work... though [[OldShame not his World War Two cartoons]]. |
| 248 | * DarkerAndEdgier: |
| 249 | ** ''Literature/TheLorax'' is this compared to the other books. It teaches about the consequences of not acknowledging natural resources until they are gone. |
| 250 | ** Even more so, ''Literature/TheButterBattleBook'' is a parable about the nuclear arms race between the US and the USSR, represented by two tribes living on opposite sides of a wall analogous to the Berlin Wall, concluding with a BolivianArmyEnding as the two sides are about to drop their bombs. |
| 251 | ** His work as a political cartoonist during World War Two was this, dealing with real world issues about supporting the Soviet Union against the Nazis and supporting Japanese internment. Seuss would later regret the latter. |
| 252 | ** [[https://www.drseussart.com/secret-archive-works-description "The Midnight Paintings"]] was a collection of paintings Seuss made in private. These paintings touch more on his cynical side and had a [[ArtShift very different art style]] compared to his books. Seuss requested for these to never get released to the public until after his death. Solar Sands [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WSk86uIx2E made a video giving more exposure on his "Midnight Paintings" series.]] |
| 253 | * {{Determinator}}: |
| 254 | ** Sam, who keeps trying to get his friend to try green eggs and ham after being rejected countless times. |
| 255 | ** Horton is always faithful, one hundred percent. |
| 256 | ** The Lorax gets a speech that illustrates this well in his book's 1970's AnimatedAdaptation. |
| 257 | --->I speak for the trees! Let 'em grow, let 'em grow!\ |
| 258 | But nobody listens too much, don't you know?\ |
| 259 | I speak for the trees, and I'll yell and I'll shout\ |
| 260 | For the fine things on Earth that are on their way out!\ |
| 261 | They say I'm old-fashioned, and live in the past,\ |
| 262 | But sometimes I think progress is progressing too fast!\ |
| 263 | They say I'm a fool to oppose things like these,\ |
| 264 | But I'm going to continue to speak for the trees! |
| 265 | ** This Trope is portrayed negatively in "The Zax," from ''The Sneetches and Other Stories''; both Zax are too stubborn to step aside and let the other pass, and simply stand there for years, refusing to budge, until an entire city is built around them! |
| 266 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: From ''Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?'', there's poor Herbie Hart, who has taken his throm-dib-u-lator apart, and is trying to put it together. |
| 267 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Some of his earliest children's books, like ''The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins'' and ''The King's Stilts'', were written in prose rather than in rhyme. (This was also true of the sequel to the former, ''Bartholomew and the Oobleck'', although it was grandfathered in from its predecessor, since by the time the book was written, he had consistently switched to rhyme). |
| 268 | * EvilChancellor: Droon of ''The King's Stilts''. Well, more of a {{Jerkass}} Chancellor anyway. |
| 269 | * ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The Pants-Eating Plants from ''Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?'' |
| 270 | * ExpansionPackPast: He had no compunctions about bending the truth of his own life to make for a better story. Among the biggest is that his famous pseudonym originated to get around being banned from contributing to Dartmouth's humor magazine for drinking liquor during Prohibition, when in fact it appears on several of his cartoons made before that incident, and afterwards he simply left them anonymous until the board figured it out and forbade any more entries without a credited writer. Let's just say he didn't have to stretch very far to write ''And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street''. |
| 271 | * ExtremeOmnivore: Again, the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Pants-Eating Plants]]. |
| 272 | * FailedFutureForecast: The animated version of ''The Butter Battle Book'', a Cold War allegory with a UsefulNotes/BerlinWall expy, aired four days after the real Berlin Wall fell. |
| 273 | * FantasticFlora: Much of his visual work incorporates bizarre-looking trees and shrubs, many of them inspired by RealLife exotic botanical species grown at the San Diego Zoo. Seuss spent much of his time there after settling in La Jolla. |
| 274 | * TheFilmOfTheBook: ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas'' (three times), ''The Cat In The Hat'', ''Horton Hears A Who!'', ''The Lorax''. |
| 275 | * FluffyTheTerrible: Foo-Foo the Snoo from ''I Can Read With My Eyes Shut'' looks pretty menacing for someone named "Foo-Foo". |
| 276 | * FourTemperamentEnsemble: The (arguably) four best-known of his characters: the Cat in the Hat (sanguine), the Grinch (choleric), Horton (phlegmatic), and the Lorax (melancholic). |
| 277 | * GetOut: |
| 278 | ** This is shouted by Mayzie in "Horton Hatches the Egg" when, after allowing Horton to sit on her egg because she's too lazy for that responsibility, the egg of his starts hatching: |
| 279 | -->"But it's MINE!" screamed the bird, when she heard the egg crack.\ |
| 280 | (The work was all done. Now she wanted it back.)\ |
| 281 | "It's MY egg!" she sputtered. "You stole it from me!\ |
| 282 | ''Get off of my nest and get out of my tree!"'' |
| 283 | ** ''Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now!'' is an entire story telling the main character this. |
| 284 | * GrandFinale: ''Oh, the Places You'll Go!''. When Dr. Seuss submitted the manuscript, everyone involved realized it would be his last book. |
| 285 | * HappyBirthdayToYou: The Mandolin plays this briefly at the end of ''The Hoober-Bloob Highway''. |
| 286 | * HardWorkHardlyWorks: The old man in ''Did I Ever Tell You how Lucky You Are'' tells the kid about a ''lot'' of folks who work hard at crummy jobs. Ali Sard has to mow "quick-growing grass" in his stingy uncle's backyard, and paint flagpoles on Sundays to get by. Mr. Potter is an t-crosser-i-dotter who dots i's and crosses t's at an I and T factory. Then there's Professor [=DeBreeze=] who has spent 32 years trying to teach Irish ducks how to speak Jivanese. The worst example is probably the Hauch-Hauchers in Hauch-Hauch. One was told to watch a bee, but didn't do well, so another was told to watch ''him''. Then ''he'' didn't do so well, so another Haucher had to watch him, and so on, until all of them were watching each other. |
| 287 | * HistoryRepeats: Very subtly done in the title tale of ''Literature/YertleTheTurtleAndOtherStories.'' After Yertle is dethroned and sent tumbling down into the swamp mud, the turtles that had previously made up his throne are swimming happily in the pond, with their eyes closed... Except for Mack (whom the other turtles are swimming towards), who is sitting on Yertle's old "throne" and looking upwards towards the sky. Considering Seuss's background as a political cartoonist (and that he admitted the story is an allegory for Hitler), the implication isn't difficult to spot... |
| 288 | * HonorableElephant: Horton is always faithful, one hundred percent. |
| 289 | * HotterAndSexier: ''The Seven Lady Godivas'', which is pretty much a Dr. Seuss {{Ecchi}} book. |
| 290 | * HumanMail: One of the suggested methods of departure made to Marvin K. Mooney. |
| 291 | * HumansAreCthulhu: The protagonist of "What was I Scared of?" from ''The Sneetches and Other Stories'' doesn't look human, but it's the same idea. He keeps running into a ghostly pair of Pale Green Pants which he is terrified of... Until the end, when he discovers that the pants are even ''more'' terrified of ''him''. (Unlike most examples of this Trope, the story has a happy ending, with the two of them coming to terms with the fears and becoming friends.) |
| 292 | %%* IGaveMyWord: See HonorableElephant above. |
| 293 | * IgnoredEpiphany: The Once-ler does this twice in ''WesternAnimation/TheLorax1972''. Once when the Bar-ba-Loots were sent away, and again when the Swomee Swans and Humming Fish leave. The latter instance segues into his rant from the climax of the book. |
| 294 | * JustSoStory: The bulk of ''The Seven Lady Godivas'' is taken up with the sisters learning "horse truths." These consist of humorous, overly literal origin stories for common horse-related idioms. |
| 295 | * KarmaHoudini: The makers of the ''Horton Hears A Who'' film note in the commentary that he "wasn't in the comeuppance business." In fact, with the exception of ''Yertle the Turtle'', the unwelcome guests in ''Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose'' and the Kwuggerbug in ''Horton and the Kwuggerbug'', it's rare that ''any'' villain in any book gets what's coming to him or her. (Sylvester [=McMonkey=] [=McBean=] gets no comeuppance for conning the Sneetches. Of course, doing so would likely distract readers from the overall message.) His exception seemed to be [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard characters responsible for their own undoing]], such as Mayzie in ''Horton Hatches The Egg'' and Yertle The Turtle. {{Heel Face Turn}}s where characters repent and amend their actions also occur, most iconically the Grinch. You can also make a case for the Once-ler, who too late saw that his actions ruined a perfectly good forest. |
| 296 | * KeepCirculatingTheTapes: In 2021, the estate of Dr. Seuss opted to discontinue publishing new copies of ''And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street'', ''If I Ran The Zoo'', ''[=McElligot's=] Pool'', ''On Beyond Zebra!'', ''Scrambled Eggs Super!'', and ''The Cat's Quizzer'' due to racist imagery, which naturally led to an increase in demand for existing copies of those books. |
| 297 | * ModestRoyalty: In ''The Seven Lady Godivas'', this is given as the reason why the sisters go naked. Apparently, they're taking this trope to its illogical extreme. |
| 298 | * MissingEpisode: |
| 299 | ** His very first attempt at a children's book was a simple alphabet primer with animals shaping themselves into letters. It was rejected by every publisher he sent it to and eventually disappeared en route to yet another and has never been found. He did eventually write an alphabet book-- simply titled "Dr. Seuss's ABC"-- but it had nothing to do with this one. |
| 300 | ** Another book, with the working title ''The Pet Shop'', was prepared for publication but for some reason never made it to press. It was posthumously discovered in a file folder and finally published in 2015 as ''What Pet Should I Get?'' |
| 301 | ** ''And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street'', ''Scrambled Eggs Super!'', ''[=McElligot's=] Pool'', ''On Beyond Zebra!'' ''If I Ran the Zoo'', and ''The Cat's Quizzer'' were discontinued in March 2021 and pulled from future publication and sales due to containing racist caricatures. |
| 302 | * ANaziByAnyOtherName: Well, ''Yertle the Turtle'' clearly wasn't one (and he wasn't truly evil, he was just greedy), but as [[WordOfGod Seuss himself said in an interview]], he ''was'' meant to be an allegorical stand-in for UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and those of similar philosophical bent. (Though some of his original drawings had Yertle sporting a toothbrush mustache and wearing a Nazi uniform much like der Führer.) |
| 303 | * NeverTrustATitle: ''Literature/TheresAWocketInMyPocket'' does not contain any Wockets in the book proper. There is one right on the cover, though. |
| 304 | * NothingIsScarier: The vug under the rug from ''Literature/TheresAWocketInMyPocket''. It is never shown, appearing only as a lump under a rug in a dark room, and the only detail the reader knows about it is that it's the only creature the narrator is afraid of. |
| 305 | * OnlySixFaces: Even though the good Doctor is very good at defining characters, some of his male protagonists look remarkably similar to each other and to other characters, such as Herman "Butch" Stroodel of ''Literature/DaisyHeadMayzie'' to the protagonist of ''Literature/TheresAWocketInMyPocket''. |
| 306 | ** Mayzie herself looks similar to Sally from ''The Cat in the Hat''. |
| 307 | * ParentalBonus: The entirety of ''You're Only Old Once!'' Geisel labeled it as a book for "obsolete children", because after his first adult book, ''The Seven Lady Godivas'', flopped, he stated in an interview that "Adults are obsolete children, and the hell with them!" |
| 308 | * PerfectlyCromulentWord: Don't have a rhyming word? ''Just make one up!'' |
| 309 | * PosthumousCollaboration: ''Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!'', fleshed out by poet Jack Prelutsky and illustrator Lane Smith following Seuss's death. |
| 310 | * ProductionPosse: When watching the television specials, expect to hear Creator/ThurlRavenscroft, Hans Conried, and Bob Holt multiple times. |
| 311 | * RhymesOnADime: This guy does it every time, and in no way that is a crime! Most lengthened adaptations break it since it's hard to maintain, but will still stick it in every now and again. |
| 312 | * RhymingTitle: Inevitable. Given that most of his books are written almost entirely in rhymes, it'd be weirder if his extensive bibliography don't contain at least a few works with rhyming titles. Some examples include: ''Literature/FoxInSocks'', ''Literature/TheCatInTheHat'' and ''Hop on Pop''. |
| 313 | * RhymingWithItself: In ''Dr. Seuss's ABC'': |
| 314 | -->Painting pink pajamas.\ |
| 315 | Policeman in a pail.\ |
| 316 | Peter Pepper's puppy.\ |
| 317 | And now Papa's in the pail. |
| 318 | * SdrawkcabAlias: One of Seuss's pen names is [=LeSieg=], which is his real surname (Geisel) backwards. More than one child grew up grumbling about these other beginner books that didn't have cool Dr. Seuss artwork and to be shocked when they learned this when they were older. |
| 319 | * SneezeOfDoom: ''Because A Little Bug Went Ka-Choo!''. The whole thing escalates up to an entire town in absolute chaos because of that bug. |
| 320 | * SpiritualSuccessor: ''Oh Say Can You Say'' is one to ''Fox In Socks'', as it consists of another batch of tounge twisters. The only difference is, ''Fox In Socks'' had a plot, and ''Oh Say Can You Say'' has no plot and the tongue twisters never connect to each other. Both books also start with the same warning. |
| 321 | * SupremeChef: Assuming Peter T. Hooper, the protagonist of ''Scrambled Eggs Super'', was telling his sister the truth, he was willing to go to the ends of the earth to get the eggs to make the best scrambled egg dish ever. |
| 322 | * SurprisinglyCreepyMoment: ''Thidwick'' ends in [[spoiler:the unwanted guests being made into taxidermy]]. |
| 323 | * ThematicSeries: His ''Dr. Seuss'' books are all linked thematically but aren't typically in any sort of continuity. |
| 324 | * TrampolineTummy: ''Hop on Pop'' features two anthropomorphic bear cubs jumping on their father's belly, only for him to tell them "STOP You must not hop on Pop." |
| 325 | * {{Tulpa}}: The Glunk, in "The Glunk that got Thunk", a short story in ''I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! And Other Stories''. Literature/TheCatInTheHat's daughter uses her "Thinker-Upper" to bring a variety of usually cute and harmless thoughtforms into being temporarily. But one night ends up with a Glunk which promptly causes many problems such as racking up very large phone bills. She discovers that the Glunk cannot be UN-thunk by her alone and she and her brother have to cooperate to get rid of it. |
| 326 | * UninvitedToTheParty: In ''Hooper Humperdink? Not Him!'', a boy invites heaps of people to his party except for Hooper Humperdink, except later he changes his mind and invites Hooper anyway. |
| 327 | * TheUnreveal: ''What Pet Should I Get?'' concludes with the two children deciding which pet to buy, but we never see what pet it is. |
| 328 | ---- |
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