← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Acorn
Thread ID: 11237 | Posts: 5 | Started: 2003-11-24
2003-11-24 05:31 | User Profile
I saw a letter on VNN stating that "Dr Seuss" was not a Jew. He was, original name Theodore Geisel. He made many cartoonish "Quick, Henry, the Flit" ads for a bug-spray company before moving on to kids books.
There are a few, very few, Jews disgusted by Judaism such as Israel Shahak, Noam Chomsky, and so on, and "Seuss" in his own quiet way may have been one of those. But he was a Chosen One, do your research and it's not too hard to find this information.
Can you imagine a White guy having any success in the mediasphere going from bug-poison ads to being a huge hit doing children's books? Possible, but not very! Amazingly, I grew up on Seuss books and the VNN writer's arguements for "Seuss"'s non-Jewishness hold water with me - he painted a world where little White kids were friends with much more than users of, animals and trees, etc there was a great love of Nature. There were no non-White kids in his books. He taught a reverence for Nature and tried with his gentle stories taught kids a Folkish awareness of the need to protect Mother Earth. He even wrote one story where "Sneeches" with stars (he did have to make them 5-pointed stars though, Magen Davids would have been too obvious I guess) lorded it over non-star-bearing "sneeches".
There may be pro-Jew messages in his works too, and this is worth discussing, given how pervasive his stories have been in American culture.
2003-11-24 06:52 | User Profile
Acorn,
The name "Theodore Geisel" certainly does sound Jewish enough, but are you sure he wasn't the son of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother? If so, then he technically wouldn't be Jewish -- at least not according to the Jews' definition.
2003-11-24 09:40 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Angler]Acorn,
The name "Theodore Geisel" certainly does sound Jewish enough, but are you sure he wasn't the son of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother? If so, then he technically wouldn't be Jewish -- at least not according to the Jews' definition.[/QUOTE] There is a Geisel Monument to a pioneer family, the Geisel's were attacked murdering the parents and their children. [url]http://www.harborside.com/%7Ewchope/geisel.htm[/url]
2003-11-25 00:22 | User Profile
Theodore Geisel was a FDR-loving, Stalin-loving Marxist. :dung:
[QUOTE]Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel by Richard H. Minear, et al
[url]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1565847040/[/url]
Before Yertle, before the Cat in the Hat, before Little Cindy-Lou Who (but after Mulberry Street), Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) made his living as a political cartoonist for New York newspaper PM. Seuss drew over 400 cartoons in just under two years for the paper, reflecting the daily's New Deal liberal slant. Starting in early 1941, when PM advocated American involvement in World War II, Seuss savaged the fascists with cunning caricatures. He also turned his pen against America's internal enemies--isolationists, hoarders, complainers, anti-Semites, and anti-black racists--and urged Americans to work together to win the war. The cartoons are often funny, peopled with bowler-hatted "everymen" and what author Art Spiegelman calls "Seussian fauna" in his preface. They are also often very disturbing--Seuss draws brutally racist images of the Japanese and even attacks Japanese Americans on numerous occasions. Perhaps most disturbing is the realization that Seuss was just reflecting the wartime zeitgeist.
Dr. Seuss Goes to War marks the first time most of these illustrations have appeared in print since they were first published. Richard H. Minear's introduction and explanatory chapters contextualize the 200 editorial cartoons (some of whose nuances might otherwise be lost on the modern reader). Those who grew up on Seuss will enjoy early glimpses of his later work; history buffs will enjoy this new--if playful and contorted--angle on World War II. --Sunny Delaney --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal Few fans of Dr. Seuss's whimsy are likely to be aware that before authoring The Cat in the Hat Theodor Seuss Geisel penned editorial cartoons for the New York daily PM. This new collection presents approximately half the newspaper cartoons that Geisel drafted for the pro-New Deal paper from the start of 1941 (when his main targets were the isolationists who opposed U.S. intervention in European and Asian affairs) until 1943 (when he accepted a commission in the U.S. Army). Minear (history, Univ.... read more --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Book Description The bestselling treasure trove of World War II political cartoons by Dr. Seuss. For decades, readers throughout the world have enjoyed the marvelous stories and illustrations of Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. But few know the work Geisel did as a political cartoonist during World War II, for the New York daily newspaper PM. In these extraordinarily trenchant cartoons, Geisel presents "a provocative history of wartime politics" (Entertainment Weekly). Dr. Seuss Goes to War features handsome, large-format reproductions of more than two hundred of Geisel's cartoons, alongside "insightful" (Booklist) commentary by the historian Richard H. Minear that places them in the context of the national climate they reflect. Pulitzer Prize-winner Art Spiegelman's introduction places Seuss firmly in the pantheon of the leading political cartoonists of our time. 200 black-and-white illustrations. [/QUOTE]
2003-11-29 08:01 | User Profile
Seuss not Jewish.
from Jewhoo:
[QUOTE]Dr Seuss - (1904-1991)
The pen name of Theodore Seuss Geisel. No, Dr. Seuss was not Jewish as many people think. His ancestors were Protestants of German speaking Swiss background. Geisel did work for the left wing newspaper, 'PM', and produced a number of very funny anti-Nazi cartoons before and during WWII..... [/QUOTE]