SEUSS' SHOES

Seuss.

What a name, what a man, what a legend.

Seuss was both his mother’s maiden name and his middle name. It also became his alias when continuing to work with his college’s newspaper after getting in trouble for drinking during the prohibition era. The newspaper wanted his attributions and work but no direct association with the Theodore Geisel who had severely broken the rules. He became a self proclaimed ‘Dr.’ after dropping out of grad school at Oxford, which naturally he was attending because he had told everyone he had been awarded a full ride scholarship. To his parents dismay, after telling all of their family and friends, they learned that he indeed had not. His father however, insisted he go anyways, if anything to preserve the family honor and reputation. He was in class one day at Oxford when his classmate, Helen Palmer, saw him doodling and asked why in the world he was even there? Seuss couldn’t answer, so he dropped out.

Seuss worked for years in advertising before stepping into the world of children’s literature. It was not an easy transition by any means, his first book, ‘And To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street’, was rejected 27 times. Twenty- seven times. Think about that. To be rejected three or four times… ok, perhaps try once more, but even after ten I think most of us would give up. It took Seuss 27 tries before he became so discouraged, convinced he should go home and burn the manuscript. Thankfully he ran into an old friend on his way home to do so. This friend had just become an editor at Vanguard Press and was willing to take on the book. 

And that my friends is where it all began, the introduction between Seuss’ imagination and the rest of the world. Mulberry Street was certainly a turning point for the Seuss we all know and love. The year was 1937 when it began but it is not where it ends. Seuss’ first book was wildly successful and his second book published in 1938, ‘The 500 Hats Of Bartholomew Cubbins’, was also met with moderate success. That’s it then, right? Find success and you’ve made it. Isn’t that the epitome of the culture we live in now? 

Well, that is not the story of Dr. Seuss in 1939. After writing and illustrating two successful children’s books, he naturally wrote another one. The third Seuss book to ever exist and it is rarely mentioned, ‘The Seven Lady Godivas’. On all Seuss books you will find on the back cover a list of all his works, this one however has been completely taken off of that list and out of print. Seuss intended it to be a humorous tale for adults, adventuring through celebrated proverbs and unearthing their true origins. Or at least the origins he had imagined. The book was a complete flop. Out of 10,000 copies printed only 2,500 sold. Can you imagine? After working so hard to step into a new career, being successful, finishing a manuscript, completing an entire project you were passionate about only to have it fail. And not because you didn’t try, just because well, it didn’t work. 

Seuss went on to also publish ‘The King’s Stilts’ in 1939. And then in 1940 he published, ‘Horton Hatches An Egg’, with one of his most celebrated characters and the precursor to the classic we all know, ‘Horton Hears A Who’. After that year however, it would be 7 years before Seuss would come out with another book, ‘McGelliot’s Pool’. It would be an additional 7 years before he would publish ‘Horton Hears A Who’, one of his all time best sellers. And although the books he wrote and illustrated between 1947 and 1954 are certainly cherished classics, this was a turning point in Seuss’ career creatively speaking. Because after publishing ‘Horton Hears A Who’ in 1954, ‘Cat In The Hat’ and ‘The Grinch’, would come in 1957, ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ in 1960. Books that were wildly entertaining and unprecedented in children’s literature.

Over the course of twenty years (1937-1957), Seuss wrote and illustrated a total of 13 books. One of which was a failure, and others that fluctuated in popularity even to this day. Everything leading up to his most celebrated works (Cat In The Hat, The Grinch) wasn’t twenty years of failure but of development.

When he began his career as a children’s author, I don’t think he had the storytelling capability that is clearly seen in his most celebrated works. It took time, it took process, it took trying before he could create to the caliber he is known for. I don’t think he had the capability when he began, but he had persistence. I wonder how many of us have that same persistence when we find ourselves in his shoes. When we find ourselves being told no over and over. When we try and are rejected. When we succeed and fail again. When our creative career isn’t always moving forward but feels stuck or even as though it’s going backwards. 

Seuss once said that discipline is not the enemy of creativity. Although it takes such imagination and whimsy to create something the way Seuss did, it also took an incredible amount of discipline and persistence. Not only to illustrate a manuscript or to write the stories he did, but to get it through to publishers and the public. Even after they told him no, then yes, then no again, and sometimes maybe. I just think even though it’s 2020, most of us find ourselves in the same shoes Seuss was wearing in 1937 when he was rejected 27 times. Or the shoes he wore in 1939, when he failed- when he couldn’t even make it on The New York Times Bestseller list after being at the top. And I think a lot of us find ourselves in places like the years of 1947-1954, creating and creating, trying and trying, wondering where it will eventually lead. We know how the story ends for Seuss, twenty years of cultivating his craft led him to be one of the world’s most celebrated storytellers. Twenty years. Not ten, not fifteen, or 15 minutes, it took time of sitting down and doing the work to be disciplined and persistent. 

I for one am glad Seuss didn’t give up with the 26th rejection, or the third book, or on the 10th year of writing children’s books. He was creatively beyond talented but he was also incredibly talented in the discipline of trying again. I hope you’ll try again too. I hope you won’t give up even if the 28th rejection comes or if you fail past the third try. I hope we, like Seuss can learn the discipline of trying and trying again.