Many Hands Make Light Work

Well, today is “Read Across America Day.”  A day in which schools all across the country stop and read books to encourage and instill the love of reading in all children.  I miss this day as an educator, as we spent the week prior learning of Theodore Seuss Geisel through class activities and biographical videos that were Seussian in nature.  Even my middle school students couldn’t wait to have an afternoon of reading books from childhood invoking happy memories.   We would bring pillows to cuddle, have a time to be ‘big reading buddies’ with students in the primary grades, and of course, there’s always birthday cake in honor of Mr. Geisel’s birth on March 2 (1904).

Naturally, today I was thinking of Dr. Seuss on film.  Of course, what child of the 1960’s can forget the television animated adaptation of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”? (My sister still has the LP soundtrack, and we would sing to that year-round.)  This was the standard by which the “Boomer Generation” personified Dr. Seuss stories. So, it became the rage to see Jim Carrey bring the Grinch himself to life in 2000 when Universal Pictures brought to the big screen a new vision of Who Ville in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”  This was followed by the perennial favorite Mike Myers playing “The Cat in the Hat” in 2003, and then Jim Carrey again in 2008 bringing personality to an animated “Horton Hears a Who.”

But the film that comes to mind is “The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.”  I first saw this film a couple of years ago on Turner Classic Movies (TCM Channel).  Since it was Dr. Seuss, I thought I’d get a look at this picture from 1953 that I’d never seen of even heard of until then.  The film centers around ‘Bart,’ whose piano teacher is luring in 500 boys to practice on his ‘never-ending’ piano 24/7 (500 boys x 10 fingers each – well, you get the point).  I believe I would have loved this movie more as a child, as I spent six years in front of the piano rehearsing my lessons so that my teacher would place that gold star on my homework each and every Thursday afternoon. ‘Dr. Terwilliker’ (Dr. T) is perfectly played by Hans Conried, who has a voice right from the good Doctor himself (and one of the best (voice) character actors ever to grace the big and small screens!)  Shortly after the story begins, we find that Dr. T is not the friendly piano teacher that one hopes to have.  The film is full of bright colors, weird machinery, expansive sets (yet simplistic in nature – keeping with Seuss imagery) and strange musical numbers (lyrics by Dr. Seuss).  After much turmoil and frustration, the film comes to a screeching halt, and calm is restored to the ‘real world.’ It is interesting at best, and I would at least recommend checking it out.

So, “Happy Birthday, Ted!”  Just as the fan base of movie lovers is innumerable, so are those enchanted by all the ‘work’ you did.  We thank you, and you will forever be remembered by the world for making us believe in ourselves.  “The work for the happy finger method must go on.”(Mrs. Collins – “The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.” )

Today's blog is in memory of Jan Berenstain, who passed away this week at the age of  88.  

She and her husband, Stan, wrote the Berenstain Bear stories, that were part of the 

“Beginner Books” series from Random House, co-founded in 1957 by 

Phyllis Cerf with Ted Geisel and his wife Helen Palmer Geisel.