Oh, the tales we will tell, the stories we’ll share, Of a man with a hat and a cat—so rare! From Lorax to Horton, the lessons abound, But what of the whispers, the questions around? We’ll dive into messages, morals, and themes, Equality, kindness, and big hopeful dreams. But wait! There’s more—controversy’s here, With books pulled from shelves and debates far and near. Was the Grinch misunderstood, or perhaps it’s a ruse? Let’s unravel the world of dear old Dr. Seuss. 🎧 Tune in now for a rhyme-filled ride! Click the link to join us inside! #DrSeuss #PodcastEpisode #OhThePlacesYoullGo #HortonHearsAWho #TheLorax #ControversyUnpacked #SocialJusticeStories
Oh, the tales we will tell, the stories we’ll share,
Of a man with a hat and a cat—so rare!
From Lorax to Horton, the lessons abound,
But what of the whispers, the questions around?
We’ll dive into messages, morals, and themes,
Equality, kindness, and big hopeful dreams.
But wait! There’s more—controversy’s here,
With books pulled from shelves and debates far and near.
Was the Grinch misunderstood, or perhaps it’s a ruse?
Let’s unravel the world of dear old Dr. Seuss.
🎧 Tune in now for a rhyme-filled ride!
Click the link to join us inside!
#DrSeuss #PodcastEpisode #OhThePlacesYoullGo #HortonHearsAWho #TheLorax #ControversyUnpacked #SocialJusticeStories
https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/29/nyregion/public-lives-mrs-seuss-hears-a-who-and-tells-about-it.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Job_in_Japan
Hi Friends! Our transcripts aren't perfect, but I wanted to make sure you had something - if you'd like an edited transcript, I'd be happy to prioritize one for you - please email doomedtofailpod@gmail.com - Thanks! - Taylor
In the matter of the people of the State of California v. James Simpson, case number BA096
>> Taylor: In the matter of the people of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson, case number BA096. And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
>> Farz: Hey, Taylor.
>> Taylor: Hi.
>> Farz: See? Was that announcy? Ish.
>> Taylor: It was. I really liked it.
>> Farz: Thank you. Thank you.
We have 53 followers on Blue sky, which is another social media network
would you like to introduce us? Since I remember all the time.
>> Taylor: Yes. And I'd like to thank all of our new, new listeners from Blue sky, which is just like another social media network that I joined, and we have 53 followers, and they're not people we know.
>> Farz: Seriously?
>> Taylor: Yeah. Because a person named. Let me look. Dr. Who was it? Some wonderful person? No, Dr. Lindsay Fitzharris, who has 40,000 followers. It was a historian. she reposted us because I had sent something to her about Amelia Earhart. She has said something about Fred Noonan, and, I. She said, doomed to fail is such a great concept for a podcast, and, shared it. So, I don't know. 53 followers, hopefully new ones. So.
Doom to Fail is the podcast that brings you history's most notorious disasters
Okay, now we'll introduce us.
>> Farz: Thank you, by the way.
>> Taylor: So, thank you and welcome, new and old people, to Doom to Fail. We're the podcast that brings you history's most notorious disasters and epic failures twice a week, every week. And I am Taylor, joined by fars.
>> Farz: Yep. We are joined here together on this glorious, glorious day. thanks for doing that, Taylor. I. Somebody brought up Blue Skies to me.
>> Taylor: I mean, there's so many places on the Internet, I just want to, like, grab someone's attention, you know?
>> Farz: Do you remember for like, five minutes there was this. There's this huge backlash way back in the day about the, Facebook's data policy. And this company launched. It was when we were living in la, where it was going to be free and it was going to be a social media network, and it wasn't going to sell your data. Was it going to sell advertising? And it was like, all just black and white. Looked like a newspaper. Do you remember this?
>> Taylor: I don't know. It all looks the same to your point.
>> Farz: It's like every week there's a new one.
>> Taylor: Yeah. So I'm like, I'll join this one, I'll join that one. I'll get us out there.
>> Farz: So I joined Threads for like, five minutes and was like, why am I here? I don't want to be here at all.
>> Taylor: I mean, I'm not doing anything scientific. I'm not doing anything different on the different, the different sites. Like our site in the algorithms Dear God. No, my, Everything that I post on Instagram automatically posts to our threads. But, like, that doesn't mean anything, you know? Yeah, it's out there. It's out there. If you could find us, find us, we'd love it.
>> Farz: Well, the fact that you're doing it is appreciated, so thank you. sweet.
So today we're going to do a story from your neck of the woods
So today we're going to do a story from your neck of the woods. And is this going to be one where I'm going to be guessing since I guess we're not going to be doing fairy tales today?
>> Taylor: Actually, we kind of are.
>> Farz: Oh, wow. Okay.
>> Taylor: I know. And I guess I, thought there was some. There's something else that I want to do, a little bit longer. And I got a book about it and I was listening to it and then I was like, oh, you know what? I'm actually flying to Washington up Washington state on Thursday. And I was like, I should listen to this book on the plane. That makes a lot more sense, you know? So I decided to do something else because our friend Morgan mentioned something that you mentioned in our last episode and she was like, oh, my gosh, there's so much more to this story.
Wikipedia says Dr. Seuss wrote 44 books and sold 600 million
so I want to have you guess and I Wikipedia the list of most, bestselling fiction authors. And I remember how we talked about this with Agatha Christie, right? We talked about her that like, the list is ridiculous and the Wikipedia list actually says, quote, this is, this is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. So, you know, it's a guesstimate. But this person is on that list of the best selling nonfiction authors, and he is right behind Tom Clancy. And again, like, the estimate is insane. So he wrote 44 books and he sold anywhere between 100 and 600 million of them. So like, thanks for that very specific data point. But he's on the list. Who do you think that could be?
>> Farz: Is it Peters? Benchley?
>> Taylor: No, they are children's books, obviously, because we're talking like, kind of. They're kind of like. I don't think you'd say fairy tales, but they're children's books.
>> Farz: Goosebumps.
>> Taylor: no, but that's such a good guess. No, they're not chapter books. They're just like regular books and they rhyme. And there's been movies in Broadway musicals about them.
>> Farz: I don't know.
>> Taylor: Okay. It's Dr. Seuss.
>> Farz: Oh, yeah. Okay.
>> Taylor: I try my best.
>> Farz: You know, it's funny, I m actually thought Dr. Seuss was like a made up human that, like.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: A major book publishing company was like, let's make him sound really professional. Call him Dr. Seuss. That's a silly name.
>> Taylor: So it seems like it would be. And that reminds me, like, you know VC Andrews? Have you ever heard of her?
>> Farz: No.
>> Taylor: So she writes, like, absolutely bonkers books, like Children or Flowers in the Attic. Remember that one? Did you ever hear that?
>> Farz: Heard of that one? I heard that. Like, a really sad or scary book right there is.
>> Taylor: It's so incestual that, like, I was watching. I remember being at a hotel with my family, like, my extended family, and we were, like, hanging out in, like, the living room of the hotel room, and there was the flowers in the attic. Movie was on tv. And it's so confusing because all they do is have kids with their brothers and their cousins because they're, like, locked in this attic for a part of it. And, like, it's a whole thing.
>> Farz: Thank you. It just came back to me. I remember.
>> Taylor: Yeah. And I, like, was looking at a family tree, and I couldn't even figure it out. Looking at a family tree. I'm like, this is wild. But VC Andrews, as a person, died a long time ago, but they were still writing books under her name for a long time after she died, you know.
>> Farz: Interesting.
>> Taylor: So that, that, that definitely does happen, but that did not happen with Dr. Seuss. And I want to show you all my Dr. Seuss books. These are the ones from when I was a kid. I have the Lorax. I have how the Grinch Stole Christmas. I have the Sneetches and other stories, which we'll talk about. I have Happy Birthday to you, which is lovely. I have these kind of, like, random ones. I have. I'm not going to get up today. And miles and miles of reptiles, which are, like, to your point, like, kind of in the style of Dr. Seuss. And by his, like, What is it? By his, like, the Cat in the Hats learning library. So it's just like, about, like, in his style that they still make today. I, also have, of course, Horton. Here's a whole.
>> Farz: Of course.
>> Taylor: And then I have a couple other ones that I actually have bookmarked things to show, to share with you. So I will share with you those in a little bit. But, they are. They're good. So let's talk about them. we'll talk about his political messages, some of his faults, some Cancel Culture things, and then some of his, like, most famous work.
>> Farz: You're saying Cancel Culture was a thing when Dr. Seuss was alive, too.
>> Taylor: No, it is a thing now, and he was involved in it. So I have some examples.
>> Farz: I'm going to have limited patience, but we'll. We'll go through it.
Dr. Theodore Seuss is a real name. He was born on March 2, 1904
>> Taylor: So. Theodore Seuss. Geisel Seuss is a real name. It was his mother's maiden name. So it sounds ridiculous, but it's a real name. He was born on March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Massachusetts. His mom was Henrietta. His dad was also Theodore. His dad ran the family brewery until Prohibition, and then his dad became the supervisor of parks in town. So they were like, well off. Fine, whatever. In 1925, Theodore went to Dartmouth, and he was the editor of the humor magazine that started in 1908 called the Dartmouth Jack O Lantern, which is still around. And he loved writing for it. But he got caught drinking gin in his dorm with some friends because it was Prohibition. He got in trouble, and he had to stop doing his extracurricular activities.
>> Farz: Why was it called Echolochon? Was it just like a Halloween, only.
>> Taylor: No, I kind of looked it up. They call it the Jacko. I feel like it probably was. Like, I feel like it would make people uncomfortable if they read the archives of it.
>> Farz: Got it.
>> Taylor: You know, like, we could talk about that probably separately.
>> Farz: That can be a separate.
>> Taylor: Yeah, yeah. Like, But he was forced to resign from the paper, but he still wanted to write and contribute, so he just wrote under the name Seuss instead of Geisel, which is, like. Seems easy to figure out, but whatever.
>> Farz: Again, they didn't have Internet. They could just go on Facebook and find it out.
>> Taylor: So, you know, but so he was still. He still was writing, and he wrote kind of, you know, all through college. He, went to Oxford after. After undergrad to try to earn a PhD in English literature. While he was there, he met a girl named Helen Palmer. And Helen was like, dude, you're. You are such a great and talented artist. You should do this instead of your PhD. So he dropped out of school. And Helen would say later, ted's notebooks were always filled with these fabulous animals. So I set to work diverting him. Here is a man who could draw such pictures. He should be earning a living doing that, which is supportive and cool.
>> Farz: So Dr. Seuss drew the pictures himself?
>> Taylor: Yeah. Yeah, he wrote and drew all of these.
>> Farz: That's so cool.
>> Taylor: Yeah, like. And it's so, like, specific, you know? You know, when it's a Dr. Seuss drawing, it's really cool.
>> Farz: Yeah. I've been to several art, galleries in the past few years. Where they have, like, a Dr. Seuss section where it's like the. Some, of them are original. Originals of his drawings. And some of them are just like. Like 3D. Like, like statues and busts that were created of his characters that, like. It looks so much more interesting in, like, three dimensions, you know, like, when you see them.
>> Taylor: Yeah. And I feel. I know I don't. Later I'll tell you that he lived in La Jolla, which is near San Diego.
>> Farz: No way.
>> Taylor: Okay.
>> Farz: Because where I saw the first one of the. Well, I guess it wasn't in La Jolla. It was close, though. It was in Laguna.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: On its way to La Jolla from, La.
>> Taylor: That makes sense. Like you said, there's a lot of places you can see it, but, I feel when I drive through Joshua Tree national park, that I live next to that. There's no way he didn't drive through Joshua Tree National Park.
>> Farz: Absolutely.
>> Taylor: You know.
>> Farz: Absolutely.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: Like, it's so the greenery there. Like, the fauna is just like, so. No, the flora, it's just so, like, weird. Otherworldly.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Yeah. There's. I feel like he had to. He had to have seen it because that's what a lot of his trees look like. It's like that. but, yes. So he did all the drawings. Oh. Ah. That also reminded me when we were in. I want to say Prague or maybe in Italy, we went to a Tim Burton exhibit that was similar to that. They had, like, sketches he did on a napkin at a bar.
His first book that he illustrated was actually not something that he wrote
And you're like, oh, my God, this is so cool. You know, like, very distinctly him and, like, really cool. so he left Oxford. Helen was going there as well, but they both left. they were married in 1927. she might not have had been able to have children, like, physically. But anyway, they didn't have kids. He would say, you have the kids and I'll entertain them. You know, he wasn't interested in having his own kids. she also. Helen wrote some books as well, and they were co writers on a movie that I'll talk about in a little bit. So now it's like the late 20s and the 30s, and he has some jobs doing things like cartoons for the Saturday Evening Post, stuff from different magazines. He does, a pesticide called Flit. He, like, draws their characters. So he's, like, getting these advertising jobs that are actually paying him a fair amount of money. And people loved it. like, we were just saying it's, like, very Dr. Seuss. Like, his illustration Style is, like, really, you know, distinct. His first book that he illustrated was actually not something that he wrote. It was a collection of, like, sayings and jokes for kids. it has such a good name. It's called the Pocketbook of Boners.
>> Farz: Is that. Is that. Is that a joke? Are you doing a bit?
>> Taylor: No, I feel like boners means, like, a joke. So it's called the Pocketbook Boners. And the second one is called More Boners.
>> Farz: Yeah, we're so innocent.
>> Taylor: I'm super mature, and I laughed at that. So, in 1936, helen and ted were traveling around, and he said that the. The way that his boat was moving was made, him want to start writing things in verse. It just, like, reminded him of poetry. So he wanted to start doing things that rhymed. And so thank God he did, because that's a lot of his, you know, fun stuff is. Is the rhyming stuff. so the first book that he wrote was. And to think that I saw it on Mulberry street, which is about, It's a reference to a Mulberry street in Springfield, so kind of going back to his hometown. his second book was Miles favorite book. it is the. Miles is my son. He's seven. It is Horton Hatches the Egg, which I will show you right now. It is about an elephant named Horton who sits on a nest for an entire year. And the bird, Maisie, who he was supposed to be sitting on the nest for, she disappeared to Palm Beach. And some hunters found Horton and they took him to America and they sold him to a circus. And he gets. The circus gets down to Palm beach, and Maisie sees him and she wants her egg back. And Horton doesn't know what to do. He gets off the egg and he. She's like, it's my egg. I want it back. Because he did all the work. And all of a sudden, the egg starts to crack while Maisie and Horton are, like, staring at it and trying to figure out what to do. And they're in the middle of the circus. And then the people came shouting, what's all this about? They looked and they stared with their eyes popping out. Then they cheered and they cheered and they cheered more and more. They'd never seen anything like it before. My goodness, my gracious. They shouted, My word. It's something brand new. It's an elephant bird. And it should be. It should be. It should be like that. Because Horton was faithful. He sat and he sat. He meant what he said, and he said what he meant. And they sent him home happy. 100%.
>> Farz: I can tell you read this to Miles 100 times because we. You picked up all the right inflections and tones.
>> Taylor: We. We can say, I think, by memory, like, the first three pages we've read it so much. He loves it. but it's about, you know, being loyal and saying what you mean. And he always says, I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant faithful 100%. So it's lovely. and that's the first time we hear Horton. We'll hear him again. And Horton Hears a who.
Some of Dr. Seuss' cartoons are very stereotypic of Japanese people
so then It's World War II, and this is the stuff that gets a smidge controversial. And we'll talk about cancel culture. So. And I'll show you. Dr. Seuss was a liberal Democrat. He wholehearted, wholeheartedly, wholeheartedly, supported fdr, including the bad things that FDR did. Like Japanese internment camps. You know, that little thing.
>> Farz: yes.
>> Taylor: So some of the stuff is very, very stereotypic of Japanese people. The political cartoons that he. They drew during this time. There's one, you can see it on Wikipedia, if you want to. It's essentially saying that Japanese people, drawn in a very exaggerated way, are hoarding tnt, waiting for a signal from home to attack in America. And that's why they need to be in campus. So that's bad.
>> Farz: That's on his Wikipedia page.
>> Taylor: Yes. so he did that later. He's gonna tone it down a little bit and be like, you know, kind of take that away. But it's complicated, and there's a lot more complicated stuff between him and Japan. But I do want to mention that Horton, here's a who is about, it's about, you know, the. The Allied occupation of Japan. And it is Dedicate. Dedicated for my great friend Mitsugi Nakamura of Koto, Kyoto, Japan. So he did. He did dedicate Horton. Here's a who to his Japanese friend. And he's, like, figuring it out. in 2021, his publishers. So there's still, like, a Dr. Seuss publishing arm. They stopped publishing six of his books. that. I saw it on Mulberry Street. If I ran the zoo. McElligott's pool on beyond Zebra, Scrambled Egg Super. And the Cats Quizzer. So I have three of those that I've had my whole life, and I will show you kind of what people mean. So if I Ran the Zoo is about a boy who's like, if I ran the zoo, my animals would be better than just, like, lame Lions or whatever. So it has him going to places and finding these really exotic animals like this. You know, I can show you. This is like a deer with, like, really cool horns, you know, and he's like, this would be in my zoo. It'd be much more. Much more interesting. and then there's this page where he travels, to the African island of Yerka and meets these guys. So that's not great.
>> Farz: What is it? I can.
>> Taylor: It's. It's a depiction of African people.
>> Farz: Oh. Oh, that's bad.
>> Taylor: In a bad way. So that's what people were like. We don't want to.
>> Farz: For the record, when I said sweet, I couldn't actually see the details of it.
>> Taylor: Now you see. So that's. That's. That's the thing. That's the thing. They were like, we know what we're not. That could offend some people. So we're not going to publish it anymore. On. On Beyond Zebra, where they talk about different letters that are different than other letters. He does a lot of, like. I think he's doing, like, people from India or cultures where they wear turbans and they're a lot like this. Can you see that?
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: So it's just, like, not. Not wonderful. So they stopped publishing them. the Cat's Quizzer, which he wrote in the 1970s. So, like, he's not really, like, 100% over the Japanese thing. There's this page where it says, how old do you have? This is like a. It's like a trivia book. How old do you have to be to be a Boy Scout? To be a Girl Scout? To drive a car, to fry an egg, to vote for president? To be the president. And the last question is, how old do you have to be to be a Japanese Ted?
>> Farz: What does that mean?
>> Taylor: I think the answer is zero. You can be Japanese when you're born. But, like, I think I know.
>> Farz: But what is. Like, I don't understand it.
>> Taylor: It's a trivia question.
>> Farz: Why is it offensive?
>> Taylor: Because it says B, Japanese.
>> Farz: Oh, it's the A part.
>> Taylor: I think so. Yeah.
This controversy over Dr. Seuss books sparked a debate on cancel culture
>> Farz: Okay.
>> Taylor: Yeah. but the answer is all Japanese are Japanese the minute they are born. Which is fair, I think. I mean, honestly, I just skimmed through this, trying to find something offensive, and that was the one thing that I saw. I don't know what else there is in here. It's probably something else. He did draw this weird picture of a dinosaur that I'm not 100% on board with. Like, what dinosaur is that, Ted?
>> Farz: No, I Mean, he did put fur where it didn't belong, and clearly he did that with scales.
>> Taylor: Yeah, he, also. Oh. The answer is to fry an egg. How old do you need to be to fry an egg? The answer is. The correct answer is go ask your mother. So that's nice. That's cute. so this did spark a debate on cancel culture. My boomer aunt on Facebook was like, they're canceling Dr. Seuss.
>> Farz: Blah.
>> Taylor: And it's like, no, they're not. They're just saying that these particular images might offend people. So we're going to stop publishing them. If you have them, you can have them. If you want to find them, you can find them. But that's. That's what we're doing, which is totally the right of the publishers to do that. And something that we've learned just last week with the Grimm Brothers, as they did that all the time, they toned stuff down, because people were like, it's gonna scare kids too much. So they would change it or they would write a disclaimer at the beginning of it. Like, that's not new, you know, so you.
>> Farz: Usually. I will say my default when someone's like, we gotta cancel someone. I'm like, I fuck that. I'm like, clearly they're nut cases. But I will say that, like, we all were given Dr. Seuss as little kids, and I would think that if I was, like, a Japanese American kid or an African American kid, and I'm being depicted that way in front of my, like, in the book, in front of, like, class, like, that would make me feel otherwise, and that wouldn't feel great. So in this situation, and only in.
>> Taylor: This situation, look at you right now. like, we're really impressed with not.
>> Farz: Canceling Dr. Seuss, but, like, yeah, have the publishers remove the images so that people don't. Little kids don't feel like they're different and bad different.
>> Taylor: Yeah. And then I think. I think during that time, I also. I have this book of these two books that are old, like, 100 years old that were my great grandmas of children's stories. And I was skimming through them, and there was another one that depicted African people, like, absolutely terribly. And I just ripped it out. I was like, I can do this. I can make the decision myself.
>> Farz: I don't even know if this is. Like, I might have to cut this out. So I went to, like, a super, super white school, right? and, like, me and this other black kid were the only, like, non white people in our class. And we obviously got taught about, like, Jim Crow and slavery and everything else. And it was, like, done in, like, super, super detail. Like, here's when we had, like, black versus white fountains, and here's what someone's back look like for not doing their jobs the way that the masters wanted to. And I always remember that I was like, can we tone this down a little bit? Like, there's only one kid that is seeing this and, like, having something reflected back. Like. Like, obviously, Texas, obviously teach this stuff. Like, I don't know. It just. I was like. In my mind, I was like, you just created this weird dynamic where I was like, we're all like. Everybody's just, like, looking at him like, how does he feel right now? Like, you.
>> Taylor: You.
>> Farz: You made him stand out more in a way that was, like, receiving attention that you probably don't want to be receiving.
>> Taylor: And I don't know the answer to that. Like, I do think you should tell the. The truth. No. About things, of course. But then also, like, we talked about this. We talked about the Alamo, that when people talk about the Alamo, they stop in classes and stare at the Mexican kids, you know, and, like, blame and, like, look at them. Like, how are they feeling? You know? So, yeah, it's. It's. It's tough. I don't know. I don't know the answer, but. Yeah, but I feel like that's a really fair experience to have, you know?
>> Farz: That's what. The Dr. Seuss thing, when you showed me, literally, my first thought went to that kid. I was like, yeah. Like, I. We were all reading this stuff, and there's probably, like, an Asian kid in class. I didn't notice. And he saw that picture of the Asian person was like, oh, so we're just, like, jokes to everyone here. Like, that's not nice.
>> Taylor: It's a lot. Yeah, totally. Yeah. It's really.
He was a commander of the animation department of the United States Army Air Forces
It's really interesting how we are. How we read things based on who we are and the time that we're in, which is literally exactly what the. What, the Grimm brothers were talking about. Thinking about, talking about, like, laws and the time that you're in and things like that, you know?
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: So, super interesting. so again, he did tone a little bit of it down. Not all the way, but still. during the war, itself, he did political posters, obviously. In 1943, he joined the army as a captain, and he was. This is kind of cool. He was a commander of the animation department of the first motion picture unit of the United States Army Air Forces.
>> Farz: That's. That's an awesome job.
>> Taylor: Like, that's what Reagan did during the war, too. He was like, in the motion picture.
>> Farz: Unit, you know, do you get a purple star? Like, if you draw really fast, maybe?
>> Taylor: so he wrote films that included things like your job in Germany, our job in Japan, and one called Private Snafu. I can't even imagine the shenanigans that Private Snafu gets into their training videos. Basically. Like, I mean, videos are training movies, basically. Like, your, job in Germany is from 1945 about Europe after World War II. Same with our job in Japan. And our job In Japan is 17 minutes long. You can watch it on Wikipedia. I watched a little bit of it. what it is about is going to Japan after the war and how do you talk to those people and how do you work with them? It was seen as being sympathetic to the Japanese, citizens, and General MacArthur hated it and was like, absolutely not. But it basically, the parts, as I was like, fast forwarding and watching two minutes of a 17 minute movie, people aren't bad, but they were led by bad people. and one of the things they say, the narrator says, is, what do we do with them when we get there? They can make trouble or they can make sense. And it's our job to make them make sense. And so it talks about, like, the religion in Japan and how easy it was to follow, like a dictator in one person. and then it shows them, like, frisking people on the street and saying things like, we're sticking around and we're taking no more chances. So it's a lot. but was meant for people who were going to Japan after the war and to be like, how do we deal with this? it turned into a longer documentary which has a very confusing name called Design for Death, which is basically the same thing, but extended. But I don't know why it's called Design for Death. That feels very extreme. but. And you can't find that. I couldn't find it. wasn't on Wikipedia, but. Right.
>> Farz: I would love to see the Dr. Seuss illustrations for Design for Death.
>> Taylor: Well, it's not. It's not a cartoon. It's like a,
>> Farz: I know, I know. I'm just saying, if he converted it.
>> Taylor: No, totally. And so actually he and his wife Helen both were the credited writers for Design for Death, and it won the Academy Award for best documentary film film in 1947. So, that's just like the stuff that we need to know about his wartime pursuits and such. So after the war they moved to La Jolla. We've already talked about Beautiful. Near San Diego. Beachy. Very nice. And in 1954, Life magazine published a thing about children not wanting to learn how to read because books were boring and that kids weren't excited about literacy. And literacy rate in America was really, really low. So that's when he decided to do something about it. And I. Literacy rates are not great. So even Today in America, 54% of US adults have a literacy level below sixth grade. 20% of US adults are functionally literate. Like they can't.
>> Farz: 20%.
>> Taylor: Mm, 45 million US adults are functionally literate and read below a fifth grade level. And that's 20%. 44% percent of US adults do not read one book in a year. and yeah, so those are some of the things that like, are happening right now. And if you have a literacy rate below like 5th and 6th grade, it's hard for you to do things like understand the prescriptions you're taking. You know, like real day to day stuff. I was gonna say hold the.
>> Farz: Job or you know, figure out how to sign up for student aid for your kids to go to college.
>> Taylor: Like, oh my God, Exactly. Yeah.
>> Farz: So also, nobody can read their prescriptions. It's just scribbles.
>> Taylor: I mean, I throw, I mean, well, like the 17 pages you get from the Walmart when you pick it up at the pharmacy. I also throw those away. But like, imagine you should be reading those. I throw them away. But that's not my literacy rate. I just toss them in the garbage because I don't care.
In 1955, Dartmouth gave him an honorary doctorate of Human Letters
so that, I mean, that's now, but 1954 was also, also bad. so he decided to make books more fun. And guess what? The first book he wrote to make.
>> Farz: Books more fun, is it Grinch?
>> Taylor: Cat in the Hat. But Grinch was second.
>> Farz: I love Cat in the Hat.
>> Taylor: Yeah, so Cat in the Hat. The Grinch is so good. Miles and I read the Grinch together today. Green Eggs and Ham. Also very fun.
>> Farz: Amazing. Yep.
>> Taylor: and a lot of people bought them. Many of his books are at like the very beginner level. They're easy to read, they're fun, their rhyming is fun, all of that. So, that's, you know, what makes him one of the top selling authors of all time. In 1955, Dartmouth gave him an honorary doctorate of Human Letters. and he joked then he had to be called Dr. Dr. Seuss because then he really had a doctorate, which is cute. So he wasn't able to go to Dartmouth in 1955 to accept that award because Helen was getting sick. So it sounds like she had some, like, physical and some mental ailments that were happening. and then in the Next, you know, 10 years or so, they're living in La Jolla, and he, Ted and Helen meet another couple, and they become good friends. And he begins to have an affair with a woman named Audrey, who's married to a real doctor. I thought was funny.
>> Farz: So he's a real doctor now, though? Come on.
>> Taylor: I mean, he's an honorary doctor at a few main letters. He doesn't have, like, a. He's not going to perform surgery on you. Like, if I say, is there a doctor on this plane? I'm, not going to ask for him.
>> Farz: So Shaq has an honorary doctorate. Are you saying Shaq's not a doctor?
>> Taylor: Yes, I'm saying if someone's like, is there a doctor on this plane? I guess I do want Shaq to be the one that comes to my rescue.
>> Farz: Yeah, don't get. Don't get yourself canceled for no reason, Taylor.
>> Taylor: Well, I don't want, like, a doctor of poetry from, Harvard. I don't want that guy, you know?
>> Farz: No, nobody wants that guy.
>> Taylor: so he begins an affair with Audrey, and October 23, 1967, Helen dies by suicide. she wrote a letter to him.
>> Farz: How old was she?
>> Taylor: she was 69, I believe. It's a pretty old.
>> Farz: Just let the time run out. Like, just let the. Sean Clark's about to call it.
>> Taylor: Anyway, I think she just had. She had. I mean, he was very, I think, probably pretty obviously having this affair. she wrote in a letter to him. Her letter was. Dear Ted, what has happened to us? I don't know. I feel myself in a spiral going down, down, down into a black hole from which there is no escape, no brightness and loud in my ears. From every side I hear failure, failure, failure. I love you so much. I'm too old and enmeshed in everything you do and are that I cannot conceive of life without you. My going will leave quite a rumor, but you can say I was overworked and overwrought. Your reputation with your friends and fans will not be. Sometimes think of the fun we had through all the years. So it sounds like he was trying to leave her. And she was like, I can't do that. the next year, like, within a year, Mary, Audrey would get divorced, and they would get married, in 1968. They would remain married until his death in 1991. There's a New York Times article.
>> Farz: Seuss lived till 91. No way, dude. I thought when you started, I thought you were going to start telling us a story about how, like, he was born right after the Civil War. Like, I didn't realize. He was not that old.
>> Taylor: No, not that old. Not that old.
>> Farz: We were alive at the same time as Dr. Seuss.
>> Taylor: I know. I feel like, I wonder what happened the day he died. Did our parents tell us, were we sad? You know, I don't know. They must have. Well, they must have said it in school, you know.
>> Farz: Yeah, they must have.
>> Taylor: Yeah. so Audrey had two kids and they sent them away because Ted didn't even want to be around kids. So I think they just, like, ended up living together. she gets super rich. Like, obviously, this one. They're absolutely bananas rich. The article, that is in the New York Times about her is from, 2000, but that's right before the movie the Grinch comes out. She's like, about to get a fucking windfall of cash. Like, the first weekend the Grinch was in theaters, it made like, $150 million. And just like, more and more from that. Obviously, like, part of it was all.
Dr. Seuss wins a special Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for education
That was all part of his estate. So she got a ton of money from that. and it's weird, but I, like, I don't hate it. The Jim Carrey one. People. Some people hate it, some people love it.
>> Farz: I never, I never saw that.
>> Taylor: Yeah, I don't hate it. I think. I think it's cute. Dr. Seuss wins a special Pulitzer Prize in 1984, citing his contribution over nearly half a century to the education and enjoyment of Americ, America's children and their parents. He passed away of cancer on September 24, 1991. His, ashes were scattered over the Pacific Ocean. he has so many, like you said, museums and things named after him. On April 4, 2012, the Dartmouth Medical School was renamed the Audrey and Theodor Geisel School of Medicine because they spent, they donated so much money to the college. and there's a crater on the planet Mercury that is named after him as well, which is cool.
Morgan: Some of his political works that I want to talk about
so some of his political works that I want to talk about, and this is what Morgan was like, you have to talk about this, which I totally agree with. so like we said, he was like a liberal Democrat, followed fdr, very anti fascist. so some of his books, in the best order I Can get them in. In, 1954, he wrote Horton Here's a who. which is tolerance and empathy. This is the one that he had dedicated to his friend in Japan. have you ever read Horton Here's a who?
>> Farz: I'm sure I am. It's not one that I remember off the top of my head, though.
>> Taylor: So Horton the elephant picks a clover, which doesn't look like a clover. It looks like a dandelion. And he hears someone on it. He hears someone talking to him. And he has, like, big ears. No one else can hear it. Everybody makes fun of him. And he, realizes that there's a whole city, like a whole planet on a speck of dust on psy. inside this clover. he has. And he's trying to save them. And his friends try to get rid of the clover, tell him he's going crazy. He ends up finding them. He makes the who's. The who's are the people who live on the clover. Make as much noise as possible till other people hear them. And the tagline is, a person's a person no matter how small. Which is like genius people. And then pro life people decided that that was a good slogan for them.
>> Farz: I hate politics so much. Like, like legitimately, like, why is everything so horrible? Like, horrible.
>> Taylor: And Audrey was like, absolutely not. And donated a lot of money to Planned Parenthood, so.
>> Farz: Oh, my God, So funny.
>> Taylor: how do you do that with.
>> Farz: Horn ears or who? Come on.
>> Taylor: I know, I know. there's another one that I can't show you a picture of, but it is called Yertle the Turtle, from 1958. It's an anti fascist, ah, story about a turtle that builds, a throne on the backs of other turtles. Just trying to, like, get bigger and bigger. and obviously the turtle symbolized Hitler. And you know how this shouldn't be totally totalitarian government. and then the book was removed from schools for being, quote, too political in some places. because of the quote. Quote. I know up on top you are seeing great sites, but down here on the bottom, we too should have rights. That feels good. But people were like, too political. 1958.
>> Farz: Yeah. I mean, of. Yes, of course I would get banned. Hoover was wearing dresses and spying on MLK and reading through his news. Like, oh, yeah, of course they're gonna ban that.
>> Taylor: Why is. Why is Hoover on your telephone? He's on everyone else's. Shouldn't have mine. there's one about the Sneetches, which is anti prejudice and empathy, which I Miles and I also read this morning. But it is these star bellied snitches and the ones that don't have stars on their belly. That's all. The only difference between them is stars and the starbillies need they're better than the other Sneetches. And then a man comes to town and he says, I'll give you a star. I'll take your star off. They go back and forth till they can't remember who I started to begin with or why it was important. And then the guy runs away with all their money. So it's like you're done, for like little, little prejudices, you know, like everyone comes on, it's quite lovely. the star bellies, leeches and the plain bellied Sneetches. so it's the absurdity of judging others based on superficial differences.
The Lorax with his Joshua trees is definitely about environmentalism
Ob obviously there's also the Lorax. This is the one that we talked about a little bit last week. the Lorax with his Joshua trees is definitely about environmentalism. The movie the Lorax is quite cute. Danny DeVito is the Lorax, in the, in the thing. But it is about a man who goes to, finds a place, finds this tree, starts chopping down all the trees to make a product called a Thneed. Which is a really fun word to say. A Thneed is something that everyone needs. It's like a sweater, a scarf, a thing, whatever. And he chops on every single tree until there are no more trees. And the Lorax is telling you this story and he gives you the very last seed. or no, not, not the Lorax. The Once Ler is the person who actually chopped down all of the trees. He's telling you the story. He says, plant this one last seed and then the Lorax and all his friends may come back. Wait, I'm going to read it at the very end. Catch. Says the Once Ler. He's let something fall. It's a Truffula seed. It's the last one of all. You're in charge of the last of the Truffula seeds. And the Truffula trees are what everyone needs. Plant a new Truffula. treat it with care. Give it clean water and feed it fresh air. Grow a forest, Protect it from axes that hack. Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back. So that's pretty on, the nose for. Stop chopping down trees everyone.
>> Farz: Why are you looking at me? I don't I? Actually, you know what? I chopped down a tree, like, last week. But that was a one.
>> Taylor: You did not.
>> Farz: Okay, I didn't chop it down. I hate someone to come chop the tree down. It was gonna fall. It was dead. It was a dead tree. It's gonna fall in my house.
>> Taylor: I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about you. the Polaris. there's another two more that I'll mention. There's one called Marvin K. Mooney, will you please go now? Which is about a child who needs to be asked to go all the time. And I feel like this might be the similar to this. I'm not going to get up today. Like, the kid just doesn't want to do anything story. but basically it's like, martin, you have to go. You have to go. I don't have it. But that's the thing. And then in the, right before Nixon resigned, Dr. Seuss took his own copy of Marvin K. Mooney, will you please go now? Crossed off the words Marvin K. Mooney and wrote Richard Nixon. And then they, like, scanned it and put it in the paper as like, a political commentary, which is cool.
>> Farz: You know, what's funny is back then, everybody thought Nixon was like this devil human being. And now, in hindsight, like, he voluntarily resigned off.
>> Taylor: There's a thing, and I have no comment on that. and then the last one is the Butter Battle book, which is a book about the Cold War. essentially it is, about two opposing sides who are fighting over which side you butter your bread on. And they get so mad at each other that they continue to build up these great arms and these bombs, and they're just, like, staring at each other. And the bombs are just ready to drop, and they don't know when they will drop it. It's about something so trivial and so stupid and everyone's so scared. It was definitely about the Cold War. That actually reminded me in Sneetches, there's another story that I think is very similar about two people. there's two. Two zacks, these little creatures. So there's a North going Zax and a South going Zax. And one always walks north, one always walks south. They run into each other and they won't move, so they just stare at each other. And civilization grows around them and they never budge from their, like, silly thing.
>> Farz: That they're thinking of stubbornness or.
>> Taylor: Yeah, about stubbornness. and, like, what you'll miss if you're stubborn. Like, what people will spend their Time thinking about. If you're thinking about, like, superficial crap and trying to blow people up for the way they butter their bread, you know, I mean, quite fun.
>> Farz: It is very, very cute. It also makes me wonder, like, how do adults become, like, so different from each other? When we were all raised on the same diet of, like, Dr. Seuss, you know, like, the animal and the, like, earth in the humanity stuff, like, soaked in super deep into my brain. And that's why. I don't know. I don't. I don't get how not everybody's not like that.
>> Taylor: I know. That is such a wonderful question, how you can consume the same things and get different results.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: I don't know how you can be raised in the same household and think so differently, you know, basically.
>> Farz: Yeah. I mean, that. Yeah, that's, Me and my brother.
Taylor: I think California Adventures has a Dr. Seuss land
I, like, I would gladly sacrifice a house that has dog hair and drool and is loud to have a dog. And he would rather, like, have a clean house. And he doesn't want to be around the dog ever. Like. Yeah, it's weird.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: I went to the same school district, too.
>> Taylor: No, I. No, I know. It's like, it's. It's interesting. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what it is. But I do love me a Dr. Seuss book. I love the Miles of Horton Hatches egg so much.
>> Farz: You guys gotta. You know what? Actually? Yeah. Yeah. I, think, I think California Adventures has a Dr. Seuss land.
>> Taylor: Oh, I bet. I know that there is one. I didn't look it up, but that sounds fun, too.
>> Farz: Well, there's definitely one in Orlando. I've been to the one in Orlando, but I'm pretty sure the one in Anaheim has it, too. So. I mean, if Miles is, like, that big into it, like, that would totally be worth the trip for him. You know what? I'm positive it has one, because I. It. Maybe it was. Maybe it was universal, not on, Not California Adventures. Yeah, I think it's universal. But they had this, like, very cute little Dr. Seuss, like, train that, like, when I got into it, I realized it was for kids, and I was like, oh, I'm gonna come off this thing. I also have a great time. This is the third time, by the way, Taylor. I've gotten into, like, a roller coaster thing that was, like, made for children and nobody stopped me. And I got in and I realized that it wasn't meant to suit my body.
>> Taylor: Well, I know that we're, You know, this is an audio medium. But Farsis is tall.
>> Farz: Oh, yeah.
>> Taylor: Not a small person.
>> Farz: And, yeah, I'm also, like, vertically and horizontally. Like, I'm also, like, a bigger. I'm gonna call myself husky.
>> Taylor: I don't. I don't think that you should be on a child's ride.
>> Farz: No, no, no. It's not a good. It's not good for me.
>> Taylor: Oh, my.
>> Farz: Gosh.
>> Taylor: also, I think maybe a follow up to your episode you did a while ago about roller coaster accidents. my. I found Florence under the table watching a YouTube video about people who had died at Disneyland. Florence. I get. I get this. I get you. I get you, but stop it. Yeah.
>> Farz: Like, I think I was like. I mean, I. I had to have been, like, 15, 16 before I discovered, like, Faces of Death and all those.
>> Taylor: But that was. That's when it came out.
>> Farz: That's when it came out. I guess if it was around earlier, I probably would have sought it out. Also, kids are maturing younger every generation. Well, are they. Are they going the backwards way? I guess we're going the other way. I guess you're maturing later in life. The more. The older we get in time.
>> Taylor: No, I think it's earlier.
>> Farz: No, because think about it, like, if it was like, the 1700s, I'd be dead right now, and you'd be like, grandmother. Like means go in the other direction.
>> Taylor: That's true. It's true. Not great.
>> Farz: that was fun, Taylor. that brought back a lot of memories.
>> Farz: Yeah, A lot of fun memories.
>> Taylor: Yeah, it's fun. Fun to read. And after you read a couple of them in a row, you think and rhyme for about an hour.
Is R.L. Stein still alive? I think he's still alive
>> Farz: Can I throw out a special request?
>> Taylor: Uh-huh.
>> Farz: Goosebumps or all? Stein.
>> Taylor: Oh, yeah.
>> Farz: I mean, he's still around. Is he still around?
>> Taylor: No, I think he's still alive. Because I think there is some episodes of Castle where he's a writer who's trying to be a detective, where he, like, has a group of writers that he plays poker with, and one of them is definitely R.L. stein.
>> Farz: He has written 240 books. This guy's got to be a billionaire. Is he a billionaire by now?
>> Taylor: I mean, he must be. Oh, he's, He's lower than, Dr. Seuss on this random list and in Wikipedia, but higher than Stephen King. R.L. stein. R.L. stein. Net worth.
>> Farz: Weird. He looks like David axelrod, doesn't he?
>> Taylor: 200 million. He does. Stephen King.
>> Farz: God, he's so rich.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Very fun. In his prime. He was making $40 million a year, man.
>> Farz: He deserves it. I mean, his books, like, the only. I, firmly believe the reason I'm so obsessed with horror movies right now and image. Haunted houses. It had to have been R.L. stein books, like, Goosebump books. When I was a kid.
>> Taylor: I think it's like. I don't know. I read a couple of them, but I was too scared.
>> Farz: Really?
>> Taylor: Yeah. I feel like I want to revisit them, maybe. Or like. I don't. I liked. There was like. I think I liked the Goosebumps movie was dumb in, like, a fun way.
>> Farz: I thought it was so fun, it was even remotely scary. Yeah, it was, like, Cabin in the woods kind of vibe where it was, like, stupid fun.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Yeah, totally. That's fun. Yeah.
My brother did see Buster Murdoch at the airport, which is weird
So that's all I have for today. I, do have one thing that I wanted to remember to tell you. It's not that exciting, but my brother did see, Buster Murdoch at the airport, which is, like, funny and weird that he's out there living a life.
>> Farz: What is he supposed to do?
>> Taylor: Well, he, like, potentially murdered someone, remember?
>> Farz: Oh, that's right. He did. He did kill that girl.
>> Taylor: He's like, a weird orphan because his dad's in jail and his dad killed his mom and his brothers. He's just, like, living by him. I don't know. All his money and, like, all this stuff happened to him, and he's, like, traveling places. I guess he, like, would do that, but I just thought. I think that's.
>> Farz: Was Kincaid, on the flight with him, or.
>> Taylor: I don't think so. He says at the airport, I said, what was he doing? He goes, I don't know. Just, like, living his life. And I was like, weird. And he's like, I know. That's it.
>> Farz: He'll be fine.
>> Taylor: I worry about him. But, yeah.
>> Farz: That's so funny. Did he take a picture, by any chance?
>> Taylor: no. I can't imagine. That was hilarious.
>> Farz: Yeah. I'm literally looking up where I can buy literally the entire collection of Goosebump books, and I don't think they sell those.
>> Taylor: I bet you can get them on ebay or something. Or you could just start collecting them. Like, if you go to a. Go to thrift stores and just, like, manifest them. That's what I did for the Harry Potter books. I was like, I want all the Harry Potter books. And, like, they were all. All of the different thrift stores. I manifested.
>> Farz: How many are. How many of those are there?
>> Taylor: seven.
>> Farz: Okay. It's not that many. That's different than buying 240 books. This is gonna, like. I don't have to cash out my 401k to buy this, like, different situation.
>> Taylor: It is also. I'm sorry, everyone. Remember, two things I forgot to tell you. Remember I called you to remind you to tell you that Hans Christian Andersen went to the Grimm Brothers house and they were like, we don't know who you are. You have to leave. Which is hilarious. And another thing that I'm forgetting, I forgot to tell you during this episode is that, some of Dr. Seuss's political cartoons were against people who were like, america first. Because they were like, trying to be isolationists and keep us out of the war. And one of the people that he was particularly mad at was the American Nazi, Charles Lindbergh. Because Lindbergh was like, oh, come on, we don't need to be a part of this war. Let Europe figure it out. Because he was obviously rooting for the Nazis.
>> Farz: Oh, yeah, yeah. You know, which was anti limberg is what you're saying.
>> Taylor: Yes.
>> Farz: Got it.
>> Taylor: Because he could tell that man loved Goebbels.
>> Farz: There's a tin collection of R.L. stein. Oh, my God, am I going to do this? Yeah, I've seen you 20 books for 55 bucks. That's not bad.
>> Taylor: No, I've seen you with one book. You might have to get a shelf if you get these.
>> Farz: I did. You know what, Taylor? I don't need this shit.
>> Taylor: Literally, I think about is when I will have a library to be able to put all my books in. So, like.
>> Farz: yeah, I'm working my way up. I'm almost there.
>> Taylor: Good for you. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Farz.
>> Farz: No, thank you. That was awesome. I love the stories that bring back, like, elements my childhood that also only mildly involved canceling someone when it's like a full on canceling. It's like, please stop ruining my childhood, people. Yeah, this one was, this one was a justifiable miniature version of that. So, anyways, thank you for sharing.
Do you have anything to read off other than the Buster Murdoch reveal
Do you have anything to read off other than the. Than the Buster Murdoch?
>> Taylor: No, no, that's it. But thanks, friends. And, if you want to follow us and the 10,000 places we are at, doomed to fail pod on everything I think that I can think of at the moment. So find us there. Run YouTube.
>> Farz: Yeah. And if we're not on something like, tell us what it is because we can't keep up with social media. Except TikTok. I don't are you. Are we on TikTok?
>> Taylor: We are on TikTok and M. Because I mean I don't do it all the time. We do get a good amount of views on it and people like save our videos. Because I think the thing that with TikTok that I do that I post cross post to other things is I show my face, which I'm like, not against but like, I think people like it better when they see the people behind it, you know?
>> Farz: That's true. So the final reveal is going to be seeing my face. That's like if you guys listen, let's. If we get a million listeners, the gift for that is seeing my face.
>> Taylor: That's hilarious. You're like, absolutely not mysterious because everyone knows your full name is on episodes, but that's fine.
>> Farz: And on our cartoonized cartoon versions on there.
>> Taylor: have you been putting those flyers around Austin?
>> Farz: I'm working on it, Taylor. I haven't gotten around to it. I just got back from Dallas.
>> Taylor: Put them around Dallas. cool. Well, thank you everyone. Thank you new listeners. Hope you like it. We have a lot of episodes so go back and listen to them.
>> Farz: Yes. And any suggestions, ideas, thoughts you have, write to us at doom to fail podmail.com follow us on the socials at Doom to Fail podcast. And that's it. I'll go ahead and cut it off if you're good. Taylor.
>> Taylor: That's it. Thank you.