Man, the 90s were seriously wild with what was and wasn’t okay to talk to kids about. I’ll never forget the time my entire 2nd grade class got taken to the library, sat down in front of a TV, and shown a Dr. Seuss cartoon about how arms races lead to mutually assured destruction, but not told that that’s what the cartoon was describing.
Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, born #OTD, 1904.
Geisel’s “Private Snafu” in “RUMORS”, WW2 training film, NARA ID 35828. NARA Gif here.
From WW2 malaria awareness campaign, illustrated by Theodor Geisel, National Archives at Atlanta, NARA ID 784001.
Image from WW2 Newsmap story, 5/4/1942, NARA ID 66394991.
WW2 War Bonds poster by Theodor Geisel, NARA ID 515479.
Many WW2 soldiers were young, newly-enlisted men with minimal formal education. To both impart info and improve morale, the Army Motion Picture Unit – headed by Hollywood director Frank Capra – created nearly two dozen “Private Snafu” training films that featured a bumbling new recruit who routinely breaks rules (SNAFU = SituationNormalAllFouledUp).Many “Private Snafu” shorts were written by Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel, voiced by Mel Blanc (infamous voice of Bugs Bunny), directed by animation legends Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng, and produced by Warner Bros. Studios.
RUMORS Military Training Film
Dr. Seuss’s unique and imaginative style is evident in this “Rumors” training film. Pvt. Snafu chats with another soldier in the bathroom about “nice bombing weather.”
It was a bright sunny day, air fresh and clean Not a rumor was stirring, except… in the latrine!
The rumor spreads rapidly, taking the form of hot air.
The hot air is blowing. A rumor is flowing!
The hot air fills giant balloons that then go through the “rumor mill” and become animated flying sausages that swarm the training camp, leading to the base shutdown/quarantine for “RUMOR-ITIS.”
Balloon juice - it’s phony, but it makes nice baloney! That’s right. Exaggerate it. Stretch it. Multiply it. Now shoot off your face, And baloney is flying all over the place!
Even worse, Private Snafu ends up straitjacketed in a psych ward’s padded cell #13, where he is tormented by Napoleon Baloney (Bolognaparte?). Lesson learned…
From Theodor Geisel’s Military Personnel File, NARA ID 40933952.
That’s how Theodor Geisel described his books. He wrote to teach children about literacy but also infused his rhyming couplets with political allegory.
The star-bellied Sneetches and their plain-bellied counterparts learn an expensive lesson about the folly of racism. The tragic consequences of consumerism are witnessed by the Lorax, champion of the trees. When he learns that material wealth does not guarantee love, the Grinch’s heart grows three sizes.
(It’s a wonderful irony that Geisel gained the economic comfort to become an author by designing advertising campaigns–for Standard Oil.)
Geisel’s first best-selling story, And to Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street, celebrates cultural diversity. Two years later, in 1939, he wrote his biggest commercial fiasco, also a book with a cause: the liberating potential of nudism.
Though illustrated as a children’s book, The Seven Lady Godivas: The true facts, at last, about history’s barest family, was written for an adult audience. Random House lacked enthusiasm for the project but had to publish it–the price paid for persuading Geisel to defect from Vanguard Press was acceptance of the manuscript.
The story, written in prose, begins with the Godiva sisters mourning the death of their father in a riding accident. They vow not to marry until they’ve all completed quests, in the picaresque tradition, warning people about the dangers of horses.
None of the seven ever wears a stitch of clothing because, “They were simply themselves and chose not to disguise it.” From fat to thin, tall to small, each sister has her own form and shape.
Dr. Seuss (an alias derived from Geisel’s middle name and his mother’s maiden name) anticipated the body positive movement — but he was a few decades too early. When the book didn’t sell in stores, Random House tried to move them at cigar stands at a discount of more than 80 per cent.
The setback caused Geisel to take a leave of absence from writing. A fierce opponent of fascism, he became a political cartoonist for a left-learning New York newspaper opposed to isolationism. When America entered the conflict against the Axis forces, Geisel joined the military as a propagandist. He was assigned the rank of captain and made commander of the First Motion Picture Unit of the United States Army Air Forces. He produced work so effective he earned the Legion of Merit.
(During this period, he supported the internment of American citizens of Japanese descent. Written in 1955, Horton Hears a Who, about an elephant who defends a microscopic world recovering from a disaster, is interpreted by some scholars as an apology.)
Later in life, Geisel lamented The Seven Lady Godivas as his “greatest failure.” The lesson he took from the experience was to quit writing for the unimaginative and prudish audience that had rejected his exhortation to make nudism the cultural norm.
Instead, future books would be just for kids. “Adults are obsolete children, and the hell with them.”
(Perhaps a better title would have helped sales, say: Thing One and Thing Two.)
he’s figuring on biggering. been feeling really down recently, i finally watched the lorax and i really liked it. it’s not a perfect movie, but it has it’s moments. so here’s a couple doodle of the once-ler. i just think he’s a neat character with an interesting character design.
Dr. Seuss was a one-of-a-kind original, and a true genius to boot. The poet laureate of a generation, his mastery of the language enabled him to construct a whimsical fantasy world that even the youngest child could relate to, and in there lied the good Doctor’s brilliance. His legacy is a brilliant art form all his own, the linguistically simple yet thematically complex children’s book.
Ron Howard (Splash, Apollo 13) may be a great director, but he’s no Seuss. While “The Grinch” adheres tightly to the original text (extended segments are included verbatim, both in voiceover and dialogue), the final product feels kind of slight and simpy – the magic slowly dissipates over the movie’s 100-plus minutes, until we’re left with the sort of simplistic morality play that Seuss himself so perfectly avoided in his work.
Maybe simplistic isn’t the word. Perhaps confused is more accurate. The familiar tale, in which sage innocent Cindy Lou Who saves Christmas for the citizens of Whoville by making nice with the dastardly Grinch, is full of the stuff that makes for good reading, but its complexities get muddled in the screen production.
The movie indicts the citizens of Whoville for making the Grinch what he is (and rightly so). On the other hand, it also insists that anyone who denounces the capitalistic greedfest of modern Christmas is acting downright Grinchy for spoiling the fun. Ultimately, the Whos themselves are torn as to whether Christmas is about sharing gifts or simply sharing joy. (Woe be to those who think Christmas has something to do with a Messiah baby, because this sure ain’t the movie for you).
Out of this confused mess we get a Grinch who insists Christmas isn’t about shiny gifts despite the Whos’ objections and subsequently steals their presents to try and ruin Christmas for them. Yet the Grinch later undergoes a seeming epiphany when he discovers that…well, that Christmas isn’t really about the presents to begin with? Was someone not paying attention before?
Don’t fault the actors for this one – all of the talent is absolutely top notch, starting with leading man Jim Carrey (Ace Ventura, Man on the Moon). Carrey plays the Grinch with both sweetness and swagger, in a role most akin to that in his underrated classic “The Mask.” He nails both the Grinch’s outrageous, cartoonish exterior and his sad, needy soul, almost completely losing himself in the role (save for a few explosions of classic Carrey humor).
But for all of Carrey’s brilliance (and yes there’s quite a bit here), the true scene stealer is eight-year-old Taylor Momsen, playing Cindy Lou Who with the perfect innocence and unconditional love that only a child can bring. Momsen gets everything just right; she’s the wide-eyed naif and loving inner child that even us grown-up kids can connect to. Forgiving the Grinch at every turn, trusting him wholeheartedly regardless of his actions, Cindy Lou is the one Who who sees the Grinch for what he is on the inside, and Momsen draws it out with a true artistic beauty.
Also artistically beautiful are the costumes and sets, which seem to truly embody Seuss’ vision down to the most minute details like the curling tops of the mountains and clouds. The toothy, high-nosed Who’s come off as a group of natural holly-jollies, and Carrey’s Grinch getup is utterly transformative. The twisted décor lends to a wonderfully surreal world – think Salvadore Dali, but full of love.
“The Grinch” is far from the perfect movie, but then again the Seuss legacy is an incredibly high bar to live up to. Perhaps the biggest flaw was unavoidable – there’s really no way to turn a 200 word book into a two hour movie without some serious retooling to the plot, and while the additions are welcome the execution often falls short. It’s unfortunate, but it really drags the rest of the movie down. Watching “The Grinch” is like watching an ice skating routine where the skater falls – most of the performance is great, but you just can’t come out of it feeling too good about the whole thing.
![abellandapomegranate: oldmanyellsatcloud:[x]That’s…the most hardcore I’ve ever seen someone make](https://64.media.tumblr.com/a0b825855c92483a23ecc263b10a0ee4/tumblr_ml1ftmAAu71ro3ealo1_500.jpg "abellandapomegranate: oldmanyellsatcloud:[x]That’s…the most hardcore I’ve ever seen someone make")
