Helen Palmer Geisel
| Helen Marion Palmer Geisel | |
|---|---|
| Born | Helen Marion Palmer September 23, 1898 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | October 23, 1967 (aged 69) La Jolla, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer, cartoonist, animator |
| Genre | Children's literature |
| Notable works |
I Was Kissed by a Seal at the Zoo Do You Know What I'm Going to Do Next Saturday? Why I Built the Boogle House A Fish Out of Water |
| Spouse | Theodor Seuss Geisel |
Helen Marion Palmer Geisel (September 23, 1898 – October 23, 1967), known professionally as Helen Palmer, was an American children's author, editor, and philanthropist. She was married to fellow author Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, from 1927 until her death. Her best-known books include Do You Know What I'm Going to Do Next Saturday?, I Was Kissed by a Seal at the Zoo, Why I Built the Boogle House, and A Fish Out of Water.
Helen Marion Palmer was born in New York in 1898 and spent her childhood in Bedford–Stuyvesant, a prosperous Brooklyn neighborhood. As a child, she contracted polio but recovered from it almost completely. Her father, George Howard Palmer, was an ophthalmologist, and he died when she was 11. She graduated from Wellesley College with honors in 1920, then spent three years teaching English at Girls High School in Brooklyn before moving with her mother to England to attend Oxford University.
She met her future husband, Ted Geisel, in class at Oxford. She had a profound influence on his life, starting with her suggestion that he should be an artist rather than an English professor. She later stated, "Ted's notebooks were always filled with these fabulous animals. So I set to work diverting him; here was a man who could draw such pictures; he should be earning a living doing that." They married in 1927 and never had children, as Helen was unable to.
Following World War II, Ted worked in Hollywood expanding his propaganda films into films for general release. RKO commissioned him to adapt his Your Job in Japan; he brought Helen on as a collaborator and the two shared a writing credit. The finished project, Design for Death, won the 1947 Academy Award for best documentary feature.
For about a decade following World War II, Ted worked to feed a booming children's book market, creating a bevy of books. During this period, he relied heavily on the encouragement and editorial input of Helen. In fact, throughout much of his career, he relied on her support.
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