Trivia / Horton Hatches the Egg

• Accidentally-Correct Writing: Elephant birds were real, though they looked nothing like the one in the book.
• Disowned Adaptation: Whether or not he liked the Looney Tunes adaptation is unknown, but Dr. Seuss was severely ticked off for only being paid $50 for the rights! This is supposedly the reason why Seuss was so weary of Hollywood adaptations of his works for a while. In 2022, Bob Clampett's daughter, author Ruth Clampett, weighed in on the matter, writing, "I do know that [Geisel] appreciated how the characters in the cartoon looked and acted very true to the book. It was the first Dr. Seuss animation ever done."
• Executive Meddling: According to Bob Clampett, he initially wanted to do a faithful adaptation for the Looney Tunes version, but producer Leon Schlesinger felt that, while it would be heartwarming, audiences expected laughs from the studio's shorts, so Clampett added some of his signature gags to the mix.
• Serendipity Writes the Plot: Horton Hatches the Egg came about when Seuss was doodling out random things on transparent paper, and happened to overlay a drawing of an elephant over a tree so that it looked like the elephant was sitting in the tree, which started him thinking how it might have come about.
• What Could Have Been:
  • In Seuss's original draft, Horton and Mayzie's attitudes about the agreement were a complete reversal of how they ended up in the final draft; instead of a reluctant Horton being pressured by a shiftless Mayzie to watch her egg, Horton volunteered for the task and Mayzie was reluctant.
  • Plans were for a film adaptation of this book to be a sequel to Horton Hears a Who! (2008), but due to unknown reasons, the idea was scrapped before the previous film premiered.

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