Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Though Geisel passed away in 1991, his legacy lives on. Here are five things you might not know about Dr. Seuss...

• Geisel first used the pen name Seuss with an illustration published in a 1925 edition of Dartmouth's Jack-O-Lantern humor magazine. His piece? A cartoon drawing of the Pied Piper.

• Dr. Seuss wasn't a doctor at all. Though he worked toward an English PhD. at Oxford in England, Geisel dropped out to focus on his drawings and cartoons before he completed his course of study.

• A writing career didn't come easily to Geisel at first. The first book he published, And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street, was rejected  27 times before eventually being published in 1937.

• Geisel's penname Seuss was actually his middle name. Though today many Americans pronounce it like "Soose," it is a Bavarian family name and would have been pronounced like "Zoice" by his relatives and native speakers.

• Although Geisel and his wife were unable to have any children of their own he has entertained generations of children with his clever writing.  Geisel was often asked how a childless man could write so well for children. Apparently, his standard response was, "You make 'em. I'll amuse 'em."

Hope you enjoy this clip.  It's funny.