A Conversation with Charles D. Cohen '83

Charles D. Cohen '83 is a foremost collector and scholar of all things Dr. Seuss. A dentist by trade, Cohen (who currently lives in South Deerfield, Mass.) has been collecting Seuss memorabilia since his college days and now boasts one of the world's most comprehensive private collections of“Seussiana.” Recently, he wrote 32 pages of commentary for the 50th anniversary retrospective edition of Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories, which was released by Random House in September 2008. Here, he speaks with Haverford about his passion for the prolific author and his works.

Haverford College: What sparked your interest in Dr. Seuss books? Do you remember the first one you ever read?

Charles Cohen: The earliest Seuss-specific book memory I have was being home from school sick as a child, reading a library copy of I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew, and having it brighten my day and make it feel more like a vacation than a sick day.

HC: Why Seuss? What about him and his work captivate you?

CC: I'm taken with his unusual combination of linguistic and artistic playfulness and prowess. It's rare enough to find someone whose literary style is so distinctive that a phrase like“that sounds like something Dr. Seuss would have written” can be understood immediately by much of the world. But it is truly remarkable that he has produced such unique illustrations that a phrase like“that looks like something Dr. Seuss would have drawn” has the same impact. And I just love those chimerical beasts, landscapes, and architecture.

But in addition to having outstanding talent in those two facets of children's literature, Ted Geisel was also able to painlessly inject a moral into many of his books. I'm certain that a good deal of my personality developed from reading Dr. Seuss books, which happened to reinforce ideas to which I was exposed by my parents and siblings. For example, The Sneetches and Horton Hears a Who! reinforced the message of tolerance that my family had instilled in me…these books taught me the importance of treating people as equals and that physical differences are often just superficial and potentially harmful ways of evaluating people. Fortunately, the Haverford community also stressed the value of individuality and the importance of diversity.

HC: When—and why—did you start collecting early edition books and other Seuss esoterica?

CC: While I was a student at Haverford—particularly during the year that I lived on the Bryn Mawr campus—I used to frequent a used bookstore called The Owl. Along with the poetry books and postmodern fiction that befitted my English major, I found that I was also interested in finding some of the Seuss books I had read as a child. At the time, first editions had little meaning for me—they were very expensive and I was content to just find older editions that were printed on less acidic paper.

It wasn't until I saw the“Dr. Seuss from Then to Now” touring exhibit in the late 1980s that I became interested in the things Ted Geisel did besides his famous children's books. I was enchanted by some of the figures and games that had once been available and I thought it would be great fun to own a few, if I could find any of them. Then came ebay…

HC: How did you come to start writing critical commentary for books like Yertle the Turtle and How the Grinch Stole Christmas?

CC: My writing anything about Dr. Seuss was completely an accident. To explain, I have to go back to my first independent study course in postmodern literature with Jim Ransom at Haverford. Ever since then, I seem to inadvertently stumble across one subject or another that becomes a little independent study course for me. Usually these little projects take me about half a year, by which time I've learned enough to satisfy my curiosity and I move on.

Once I got the bug to learn more about Ted Geisel, I figured that I would read a few articles or a biography about him and my interest would be sated. But when I started doing some research, it turned out that there was a dearth of material written about Ted and, more distressingly, the things that were written often turned out to be wrong. The unfortunate quirks of my nature forced me to find out the real stories, which led me to doing far more research than I had anticipated. But the deeper I got, the more mistakes I found. So I started traveling to find firsthand sources. Eventually, I began to feel a sense of responsibility, feeling that someone really should try to clear up all of the misinformation that existed about Ted Geisel.

When my first book came out (The Seuss, the Whole Seuss and Nothing but the Seuss, 2004), my editor at Random House said that she and her staff didn't think I could get the book done…she said that it takes a team of ten researchers five or ten years to put together a book like that one and they didn't see how I could do it by myself in a year and a half, especially while working full-time as a dentist. The answer was a) I'm a little nutty and obsessive b) I gave up sleeping and c) the Internet allowed me incredible access to information around the world.

Of course, wanting to write a book and actually getting it published are two entirely different matters. For me it was just dumb luck and odd connections that strain credibility. For example, one step was being vetted by Dr. Seuss Enterprises. I had heard some intimidating things about the man with whom I was to meet [Herb Cheyette]. While driving in a car with him and my editor, idle conversation began about where they had each gone to college and the gentleman said that he had attended Haverford (class of 1950!). I was stunned—I'm not sure that, since leaving college, I've ever met anyone else who attended Haverford. Being an alumnus, I suspect, afforded me some credibility in his eyes; I think that knowing that we shared the Honor Code, he felt that I was that much less likely to be some kind of con man looking to make some money off the Seuss name.

HC: What did you discover about Seuss in your research?

CC: I was surprised by the number of careers (and the continued success in each) that Ted Geisel had. He started out as a cartoonist and illustrator, added a great deal of advertising work, began illustrating books for other authors, created calendar artwork, started a mail order business selling sculptures he created, began writing children's books as a diversion, moved on to political cartooning, joined the Army during WWII and created war propaganda as well as educational and documentary films, tried his hand as a screenwriter in Hollywood, and then returned to children's books to change our country's approach to childhood literacy. Virtually everything he tried turned out to be overwhelmingly successful…except for that Infantograph he patented and tried to perfect for the 1939 World's Fair.

HC: How many items of“Seussiana” do you currently own? Do you have a favorite piece and where do you house it all?

CC: I have no idea how many pieces of Seussiana are in my collection, but it is many thousands. The collection itself was an unintended consequence of the research—I found it was much more useful to have firsthand sources on hand than to have to travel to California, New Hampshire, or Washington, D.C. to re-view something.

The things that I find the most interesting are the ones that bring greater understanding of Ted's work and the ones that may be the only remaining examples. For example, the week after [The Seuss, the Whole Seuss, and Nothing but the Seuss] came out, I came across two items that I never knew existed and, as far as I knew, had been completely lost to time. The first was a series of illustrations and advertisements that he did for the Atlas Bulletin, which was a periodical that was mostly found in gasoline stations and garages. The second item was an in-house publication for New Departure for which Ted did the cover, depicting Hitler, Mussolini, and a Japanese figure being kicked by an enormous boot.

As far as other favorites go, I like the set of coasters he designed in 1932; colorful Flit advertising pieces like the 42.5” tall window display from 1933 and, from the same year, the only Flit lotion box I've ever seen (fortunately hailing from before Flit added DDT to its formula); a large poster for Narragansett Bock Beer; the Hankey Bird ( a metal sculpture Ted did to advertise Hankey-Bannister Scotch Whisky); anti-malaria posters Ted did in the army; the coveted beanie and Pick-A-Tune Gondolier from The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T; prototypes for poseable wire-frame Coleco Cat in the Hat dolls that were never produced; and sketches he drew when bored at society functions.

As to where all of these items are stored, I house it all in a bungalow on the southern coast of Tierra Del Feugo, guarded by coelacanths, hairy-nosed otters, and diatomyidae.

HC: What current Seuss-related project are you working on now?

CC: The next book is planned for a fall of 2010 release. It's a collection of seven wonderful“lost stories” of Dr. Seuss. From 1948 to 1959, Ted wrote about thirty stories that appeared in various periodicals. A few of them, like those that appeared in Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories, were re-tooled and anthologized, but most were simply discarded when the next month's issue of each periodical arrived. As a result, most of them have not been seen in more than 50 years.

The sad fact is that Ted Geisel has been gone for 17 years now, so there aren't any“new” Dr. Seuss books to which we can look forward. However, these“lost” stories are“new” to almost everyone and the ones chosen for this new book are delightful. As for the other couple dozen“lost stories,” I've been including a few of them in each of the anniversary editions that we've done so far and I plan to continue to do so for the future ones. I try to choose ones that are relevant to the specific book that is celebrating an anniversary.

HC: We hear you have plans for a Seuss-themed museum; are these still underway?

CC: A museum is another one of those juggling balls. Basically, I knew nothing about the publishing industry when I started out, but since Seuss books taught me never to feel limited, I didn't see why I couldn't publish a book. In similar fashion, I know nothing about building a museum, but I believe that I can figure that out too. It just takes learning new skills, thinking creatively, and making the right connections.

So I have ideas, hopes, goals, and some leads, but certainly nothing as concrete as a“plan.” Having to work for a living really does get in the way sometimes…

Interview conducted by Brenna McBride