How The Lorax Ended Up In The Lbj Presidential Library And Museum

• courtesy The Art of Dr. Seuss Gallery
• Green Cat With Lights by Stroogo Von M: Is this, or is this not, obviously the work of Dr. Seuss?

One of the sad things about writing for print is that there’s a limited amount of space and you have to cut bits that are fun and surprising, but extraneous to the main story. This happened last week when I was reporting and writing about the Art of Dr. Seuss Gallery in Water Tower Place.

According to Gene DeFillippo, curator of the Water Tower Place show, Geisel was normally very shy in social situations and inept at small talk. So when he learned that an upcoming dinner party he would be seated next to Liz Carpenter, who had been Lady Bird Johnson’s press secretary, he planned to talk to her about The Lorax, since he knew her boss was a big environmentalist and would appreciate its message of saving trees.