tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post7594525779328566685..comments2024-03-14T04:35:06.209+13:00Comments on Beattie's Book Blog - unofficial homepage of the New Zealand book community: 50 Iconic Writers Who Were Repeatedly RejectedBeattie's Book Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01505389626725979100noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-40851995179328018352013-02-12T11:12:20.703+13:002013-02-12T11:12:20.703+13:00Thanks Gordon.
I travelled with Ted & Audrey f...Thanks Gordon.<br />I travelled with Ted & Audrey for part of that tour in the 70's including staying with them at the Wairakei Hotel. Ted had been taken out trout fishing and had caught a trout so that night on the menu for our table was Trout a la Seuss.<br />I received a similar letter to you but sadly it was written in blue fountain pen ink and has completely faded.Later in that week I conducted a series of 5 five minute interviews with him at Avalon for TVNZ.Beattie's Book Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01505389626725979100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-69871978355142993112013-02-12T11:08:49.082+13:002013-02-12T11:08:49.082+13:00Actually, Dr Seuss’s “To Think That I Saw it On Mu...Actually, Dr Seuss’s “To Think That I Saw it On Mulberry Street” (his first book) was rejected by 27 publishers. He was about to quit and destroy it when he ran into a wartime colleague in a New York avenue soon after the second world war. Exchanging updates, Seuss (Ted Geisel) found out out his colleague had just been made Children’s Editor of a prominent publisher. The rest is history. The full “Beginner Books” series, mostly created by Ted, sold around 200 million copies. The 25 best-selling Seuss books are now available in interactive digital formats, on both Apple and Android app stores.<br />On his New Zealand tour in the seventies, Ted and Audrey dined at our home after a three-hour radio interview in the studio that was then part of Gordon Dryden’s Book Corner, now Whitcoulls’ main Auckland bookstore. <br /><br />Ted hated to talk publicly about how he created children’s books, but he was an expert on U.S politics, so we compromised. I interviewed him on American politics, and interspersed this with my own readings of Seuss children’s books.<br /><br />A few days later I received this handwritten letter, from the Travelodge in Queenstown:<br /><br />Dear Gordon: You not only serve your guests fine Chinese food, and run a neat fine radio program in a great bookshop, but you would make an excellent President of the United States. And if both the Democratic and Republican Conventions are deadlocked this year I will personally nominate you as the compromise candidate for both parties.<br /><br />Signed<br /><br />The Cat in the Hat<br />For Dr. Seuss (Ted Geisel)<br /><br /><br />Gordon Drydennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-45213955247882688432013-02-12T09:18:56.448+13:002013-02-12T09:18:56.448+13:00I read that a publisher rejected Animal Farm becau...I read that a publisher rejected Animal Farm because they didn't want books about animals : )Kathy Whitehttp://www.kathywhite.co.nznoreply@blogger.com