Happy Fiftieth!

Green Eggs and Ham was first published August 12, 1960. I didn't realize this, but the book was the result of a fifty dollar bet between Bennett Cerf (Dr. Suess's publisher) and the good Doctor. His success with only using 225 words in The Cat In The Hat prompted the wager that Theodor Geisel would be unable to write a children's book using only fifty words. We all know now how that bet came out!

Possibly one of Saturday Night Live's greatest moments was when the Reverend Jesse Jackson gave a reading of Green Eggs and Ham on the show (embedding is disabled for the video, otherwise it would be here - gotta click on the link to see it). I didn't care much for the Reverend before his reading, and I've found I still don't care much for him or his politics, but I cannot deny that he does have a sense of humor and a dramatic flair when it comes to reading this classic. My opinion of him did rise a bit in spite of myself.