Editing Dr. Seuss (section)

===Early career===
[[File:Dr. Seuss ad for Flit, 1928.jpg|thumb|An ad for [[FLIT|Flit]] drawn by Dr. Seuss, appearing in the ''[[New Yorker (magazine)|New Yorker]]'' issue of July 14, 1928.]]
Geisel left Oxford without earning a degree and returned to the United States in February 1927,<ref>Morgan (1995), p. 57</ref> where he immediately began submitting writings and drawings to magazines, book publishers, and advertising agencies.<ref>Pease (2010), pp. 41–42</ref> Making use of his time in Europe, he pitched a series of cartoons called ''Eminent Europeans'' to ''Life'' magazine, but the magazine passed on it. His first nationally published cartoon appeared in the July 16, 1927, issue of ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]''. This single $25 sale encouraged Geisel to move from Springfield to New York City.<ref>Cohen (2004), pp. 72–73</ref> Later that year, Geisel accepted a job as writer and illustrator at the humor magazine ''[[Judge (magazine)|Judge]]'', and he felt financially stable enough to marry Palmer.<ref>Morgan (1995), pp. 59–62</ref> His first cartoon for ''Judge'' appeared on October 22, 1927, and Geisel and Palmer were married on November 29. Geisel's first work signed "Dr. Seuss" was published in ''Judge'' about six months after he started working there.<ref>Cohen (2004), p. 86</ref>

In early 1928, one of Geisel's cartoons for ''Judge'' mentioned [[FLIT|Flit]], a common bug spray at the time manufactured by [[Esso|Standard Oil of New Jersey]].<ref>Cohen (2004), p. 83</ref> According to Geisel, the wife of an advertising executive in charge of advertising Flit saw Geisel's cartoon at a hairdresser's and urged her husband to sign him.<ref>Morgan (1995), p. 65</ref> Geisel's first Flit ad appeared on May 31, 1928, and the campaign continued sporadically until 1941. The campaign's catchphrase "Quick, Henry, the Flit!" became a part of popular culture. It spawned a song and was used as a punch line for comedians such as [[Fred Allen]] and [[Jack Benny]]. As Geisel gained fame for the Flit campaign, his work was in demand and began to appear regularly in magazines such as ''Life'', ''[[Liberty (general interest magazine)|Liberty]]'' and ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]''.<ref name=":0" />

The money Geisel earned from his advertising work and magazine submissions made him wealthier than even his most successful Dartmouth classmates.<ref name=":0">Pease (2010), pp. 48–49</ref> The increased income allowed the Geisels to move to better quarters and to socialize in higher social circles.<ref>Pease (2010), p. 49</ref> They became friends with the wealthy family of banker [[Frank A. Vanderlip]]. They also traveled extensively: by 1936, Geisel and his wife had visited 30 countries together. They did not have children, neither kept regular office hours, and they had ample money. Geisel also felt that traveling helped his creativity.<ref>Morgan (1995), p. 79</ref>

Geisel's success with the Flit campaign led to more advertising work, including for other Standard Oil products like Essomarine boat fuel and Essolube Motor Oil and for other companies like the [[Ford Motor Company]], [[NBC Radio Network]], and Holly Sugar.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dr. Seuss|last=Levine|first=Stuart P.|date=2001|publisher=Lucent Books|isbn=978-1560067481|location=San Diego, CA|oclc=44075999|url=https://archive.org/details/drseuss0000levi}}</ref> His first foray into books, ''[[The Pocket Book of Boners|Boners]]'', a collection of children's sayings that he illustrated, was published by [[Viking Press]] in 1931. It topped ''[[The New York Times]]'' non-fiction bestseller list and led to a sequel, ''More Boners'', published the same year. Encouraged by the books' sales and positive critical reception, Geisel wrote and illustrated an [[Alphabet book|ABC book]] featuring "very strange animals" that failed to interest publishers.<ref>Morgan (1995), pp. 71–72</ref>

In 1936, Geisel and his wife were returning from an ocean voyage to Europe when the rhythm of the ship's engines inspired the poem that became his first children's book: ''And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street''.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://thepeel.appstate.edu/fall2010/blog/id/23 |title=Ten Things You May Not Have Known About Dr. Seuss |first=Andrew |last=Baker |publisher=The Peel |date=March 3, 2010 |access-date=April 9, 2012}}</ref> Based on Geisel's varied accounts, the book was rejected by between 20 and 43 publishers.<ref>Nel (2004), pp. 119–21</ref><ref name="lurie">{{cite book|last=Lurie|first=Alison|chapter=The Cabinet of Dr. Seuss|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BEkB2J-Wb4sC&q=mulberry%20street%20seuss&pg=PA68|title=Popular Culture: An Introductory Text|access-date=October 30, 2013|isbn=978-0879725723|year=1992|publisher=Popular Press }}</ref> According to Geisel, he was walking home to burn the manuscript when a chance encounter with an old Dartmouth classmate led to its publication by [[Vanguard Press]].<ref>Morgan (1995), pp. 79–85</ref> Geisel wrote four more books before the US entered World War II. This included ''[[The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins]]'' in 1938, as well as ''[[The King's Stilts]]'' and ''[[The Seven Lady Godivas]]'' in 1939, all of which were in prose, atypically for him. This was followed by ''[[Horton Hatches the Egg]]'' in 1940, in which Geisel returned to the use of verse.