Dr. Seuss’ Moral Stories

Dr. Seuss on the Loose introduces Sam-I-Am, from Green Eggs and Ham who insists that everyone sample the dish he loves best! Plus, you'll encounter some very narrow-minded Sneetches and packs of Zax on the prairie of Prax! Brimming with fun, each story also offers a gentle life lesson for young imaginations!

Title: Dr. Seuss on the Loose
Release: October 15, 1973
Genre: Animated TV special
Writer: Dr. Seuss
Director: Hawley Pratt
Music By: Dean Elliott
Produced By: David H. DePatie, Friz Freleng, Theodor Geisel
Distributed By: DePatie- Freleng Enterprises (DFE)
Run Time: 30 minutes

The first cartoon in the Dr. Seuss on the Loose collection is story of The Sneetches and how the star-bellied Sneetches prejudice against the plain-bellied Sneetches with “no stars upon thars” cost them when Sylvester McMonkey McBean comes to call. After the Cat in the Hat’s lead in (he is what ties all of these stories together), the story of the Zax comes next. As in the first cartoon, this one also has a moral: the importance of compromise and finally the last cartoon shows and it’s the immensely popular Green Eggs and Ham.

It has been claimed that Ted Geisel used his feelings about anti-Semitism (prejudice against Jewish people) as the basis of the story for The Sneetches but as an article the Independent Lens states, “Dr. Seuss’s true genius may lie in the fact that all of this was done with such humor and finesse, that few realized he was being political at all.” I believe that The Sneetches can be related to by any child that has been deemed “not cool” because of the clothes they wear or the people they are friends with or any other number of things. A great “moral” story all around!

The second story, The Zax is the shortest cartoon in the Seuss on the Loose collection, being a little over three minutes long. I thought the rhyme was interesting and I loved the fact that Hans Conried (the narrator for Horton Hears a Who) is the narrator as well as one of the Zax’s voices but I didn’t really care for this cartoon as much.

Finally, the last cartoon and my favorite in Dr. Seuss On the Loose collection is Green Eggs and Ham. I just loved the Cat in the Hat’s lead in song about eggs and I was pleased to that the cartoon- and even the animation- stuck to the original Dr. Seuss story for the most part. Of course, whenever I read my favorite Dr. Seuss book I never pictured Paul Winchell (probably better known as Tigger) as the voice of Sam-I-Am’s unnamed friend but it does work!

Dr. Seuss on the Loose wasn’t my favorite animated adaptation, matter if fact none of the DePatie-Freleng Enterprises cartoons based on his books are but this was enjoyable nontheless!

Other Dr. Seuss Animated Cartoon Posts: 9 animated adaptations, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Halloween is Grinch Night