227
●
DR. SEUSS [THEODOR GEISEL].
New Departure Ball Bearings.
Pen and ink advertisement on paper. 300x405 mm; 11
3
/
4
x16 inches. Scattered minor foxing
and a few lines of oxidizing, small abraded area just touching machine operator’s head and
cap, and the paws on one animal, but still generally clean and appealling. Unsigned, though
mounted printed label and advertising department rubberstamp of New Departure Ball
Bearings, Bristol, CT., on verso, crediting “Dr. Seuss” with the drawing. On exhibition
mount. 1941.
[15,000/20,000]
ADVERTISEMENT DRAWING
commissioned and executed on the eve of America’s entrance into the
SecondWorldWar, for New Departure, a division of General Motors. Depicts a pipe smoking man at
the controls of a motorized contraption with a smiling nine dog powered hole-digging treadmill in
operation. The finished advertisement as it appeared is contained in the Dr. Seuss Collection at the
Mandeville Special Collections Library (MSS 230), at the University of California, San Diego,
Library.The published ad is captioned “Mechanization Gets in the Groove” and describes the pictured
machine “which digs ditches for pipe lines or for Army trenches,” and above this is Geisel’s rendering
as seen here. Interestingly, two of the canines and the harnesses drawn for this ad are quite similar to
those seen in the bookThe GrinchWho Stole Christmas, published 16 years later.
