Dr. Seuss' HAT Collection...

[hatsRme]

Theodor Geisel (AKA, Dr. Seuss) was indeed a hat collector. If this is old news to some, it may not be to others. You can find more about this aspect of the "good doctor," but this article seemed like a great start.

http://www.lajollalight.com/2013/07...-tops-legends-gallery’s-new-show-in-la-jolla/

 

[Roan]

Very interesting; I had no idea he collected hats. I'd love the opportunity to see them.

 

[dogguira]

Cool bit of information. During Dr. Suess week I would love them in a classroom.

 

[Short Balding Guy]

Good link Charlie. He was a real life character.

I do love his book "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins." Clever and entertaining way to delver a message.
" Unlike the majority of Geisel's books, it is written in prose rather than rhyming and metered verse. Geisel, who collected hats, got the idea for the story on a commuter train from New York to New England while he was sitting behind a businessman wearing a hat; the passenger was so stiff and formal that Geisel idly wondered what would happen if Geisel took his hat and threw it out the window. Geisel concluded that the man was so "stuffy" he would just grow a new one." (quoted from Wikipedia).

Interestingly, Minnesota's Children's Theatre Company, the only youth theatre company to ever win the coveted regional Tony Award, is the only theater company in the world with the rights to perform The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins on stage. The company has produced it nearly a dozen times since Theodor Geisel and his estate provided Children's Theatre with the rights. The company has toured the play across the USA, in China, Russia and Japan.

This summer the 2013 MN State Fair featured a Suess Florapalooza in the Agricultural Hall. It brought so many terrific memories of the imaginative Suess books that I read and enjoyed as a kid. The 500 Hat book was featured and I tried to get a menaingfull shot. I tried, but was not entirely successful. Below is what I went home with. My memories of a kid and the book are still much stronger.

I can not stop without including a pic with the Grinch. I always sympathized with Max, his dog.

Thanks for the link and the walk into pleasant memories. Best, Eric -

 

[KingAndrew]

Great pictures, Eric. "Bartholomew Cubbins" was always my favorite Seuss book, one of my favorite books of all. I was in college when Dr. Seuss died and we organized a memorial reading in his honor. I read the Cubbins book, wearing my top hat. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of that long ago evening.

I really loved the opening of the book, where he describes the same "mighty view" twice: once showing how it made King Derwin of Didd "feel mighty important" and how it made Bartholomew "feel mighty small."