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"I've never gone out looking for anything," she says, speaking of the avalanche of adaptations and licensing. "It all comes to me." She volunteers this information to avoid the rap that she's exploiting Seuss and explains that by creating trademarks in various media, she's protecting her husband's creations. Yet some of Geisel's decisions, notably to publish some material that her notoriously perfectionist husband left unpublished, are difficult even for her to explain. "Because everyone out there wanted it," she says, "and because Random House wanted it."
But to call Geisel greedy, or a pawn of corporate interests, would be a mistake. Much of her income is earmarked for philanthropy, and she's driven the same gray Cadillac, with a GRINCH license plate, since 1985. And truth be told, Dr. Seuss himself wasn't averse to seeing his art in other forms. He issued some licenses when he was living. In the early 1980s, he expressed interest in seeing his work turned into video games, and at the time of his death he was writing the screen adaptation of Oh, the Places You'll Go!
The difference now, of course, is that Dr. Seuss is no longer here to guide his work into other realms, and even the sharpest entertainers are finding the transition difficult. Before Universal's recent acquisition of The Cat in the Hat, it foundered under Steven Spielberg at DreamWorks, despite the efforts of Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump), who spent nearly a year composing a screenplay in rhyme. Seussical, the $10 million musical pastiche of several Seuss stories narrated by Seuss's Cat, has also had its share of bumps on the way to Broadway. Key members of the creative team have been replaced, while lyricist Lynn Ahrens, who wrote Ragtime with her partner Stephen Flaherty, has faced the challenge of simulating Seuss's inimitable poetry--"trying to keep the gist of that," Ahrens says, "while trying to find different rhythms so there can be variety in the score."
Without Seuss's guiding hand on the live-action Grinch movie, producer Brian Grazer and makeup artist Rick Baker argued whether the citizens of Who-ville should look odd (Baker's choice) or cute (Grazer's), and debate raged over what shade of green the Grinch should be. Because Seuss's own illustrations in his book were too austere for a splashy holiday movie (his Whos lived in thatched huts), production designer Michael Corenblith had to comb through the entire Seuss canon to find recurring shapes and motifs on which to base the film's swirling, elaborate sets.
But even in the absence of the good doctor, the widow maintains a substantial amount of control. Aided by Karl ZoBell, vice president of Dr. Seuss Enterprises, and ICM agent Herb Cheyette, she reserves veto power over almost every aspect of the adaptations. To list all the movie-related merchandise hitting stores, TIME would have to forgo coverage of the election, but if you're thinking of decorating with Grinch inflatable furniture or have a taste for Oreos with green filling, you're in luck. Still, nothing is on the market without first getting a nod from the widow.