https://www.earlymoments.com/dr-seuss/Seuss-Authors/PD-Eastman/
Philip Dey Eastman, known in the world of children’s literature as P.D. Eastman, was born on November 25, 1909 in Amherst, MA. After attending preparatory school at Phillips Academy and Williston Academy, he attended Amherst College. Upon graduating from Amherst in 1933 P.D. Eastman went on to study at the National Academy of Design in New York City.
In 1936, Philip Eastman moved to Los Angeles where he began working for Walt Disney Productions, doing production design and animation in the story department.[1] While working for Disney, Eastman met photographer Louise Whitham, who he later married in 1941. Though Eastman left Disney to work at Warner Brothers Cartoons in 1941, before the strike at Disney in that same year, he walked the picket-line to support his wife who was an employee there until the strike ended and she was not rehired.[2] Eastman stayed at Warner Brothers until 1943 when he enlisted to join the army.[3] P.D. Eastman was assigned to the Signal Corps Film unit, which was headed by Theodor Geisel (later known as Dr. Suess) and worked as an animator for training films as well as a storyboard artist for Army-Navy Screen Magazine’s Private Snafu series.[4]
After the war ended Eastman went on to work for United Productions of America (UPA) as a writer and storyboard artist, helping to develop the cartoon character Mr. Magoo and helping create Gerald McBoing Boing, the first non-Disney animated movie to win an Academy Award.[5] Eastman’s career took a turn after an educational short on racial equality called The Brotherhood of Man was produced in 1946 to help the United Auto Workers union overcome racial prejudice as manufacturers opened integrated plants in the South. According to the California Senate’s 1948 report on “un-American” activities in the state, the short was based on a pamphlet by Ruth Benedict and Gene Weltfish that had been banned by the war department because both authors were believed to have connections with the communist organizations.[6] Because the report listed P.D. Eastman’s name amongst the people responsible for the script, he, along with others involved, were subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). A purge ensued at UPA and Eastman was let go. Refusing to name names or answer key questions during his appearance before HUAC, “under that portion of the Constitution which guarantees me freedom of speech and the freedom to associate with whom I please, and also the freedom of conscience.” He continued to assert, "The second reason why I decline to answer is that I consider you are bringing me here under subpoena to an unreasonable search and attempt to seize the contents of my mind. I also have an objection to make on the fact that, in a sense, the atmosphere here is one of a trial, and that you have accepted the testimony of witnesses without permitting me to bring witnesses of my own."[7]
Eastman also explained that his strong stand was additionally fuelled by his family history, stating, "[A] woman named Mary Bradbury in Southboro, Mass… [was] my great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother, and she was convicted of consorting with the devil, despite the fact that 117 of her neighbors testified that she was a good and pious woman. Because I believe she would not have been convicted of witchcraft had she had the privilege of the fifth amendment available to her, to the privilege against self-incrimination, I not only do stand on my privilege, but I am proud to stand on it."[8] Unable to find work after being terminated by UPA in 1952, he moved from Los Angeles to Westport Connecticut in 1954 with his wife and two sons. He did freelance comic book and advertising work until Theodor Geisel approached him about writing for a new series of books at Random House called Beginner Books. [9]
Philip Dey Eastman wrote and illustrated his first children’s book, Sam and the Firefly, in 1958. Two years later came Are You My Mother?—which sold over one-million copies upon publication—followed by the popular Go, Dog, Go! [10] In the article “Children’s Literature Goes to War,” Philip Nel suggests that Eastman’s time in the military writing for Private Snafu and working with Ted Geisel may have influenced his style as an author and illustrator of children’s books. Nel asserts, “Keeping the language simple was key to the success of both the SNAFU films and Random House’s ‘Beginner Books’ series.”[11] This statement appears to be accurate when considering the following reviews:
"Both of the latter books were praised by teachers for telling interesting stories with a very small number of words, making them ideal for children just learning to read. In Are You My Mother?, a newly hatched bird, who has never seen his mother, sets out to find her, asking everyone he meets, 'Are you my mother?' He cannot fly, so he must walk. His journey takes a long time--61 pages, several times longer than most books for young children--but he eventually arrives back at his nest, with his real mother. Despite this book's 'considerable length . . . many children want it read again and again," commented a reviewer for Appraisal.''[12]
"If you believe learning to read should be fun, and laughter is so relaxing, then these books are invaluable. They incorporate cartoon-style illustrations with word play and restricted vocabulary."[13]
Nel also mentions the fact that “P. D. Eastman emphasizes the wisdom of authority figures in both his propaganda cartoons and his children’s books. Just as Private SNAFU needs the guidance of military experts, Eastman’s child characters need the guidance of their elders,”[14] using the example of how the baby bird in Are You My Mother? does not find his mother until the paternal “Snort” places him back in his nest.
The success of Are You My Mother? at the time of its publication may have had to do with the “increasing emphasis on themes of problems and adjustments of individual child characters”[15] and the way the book focused on the experience of a child-like character. It’s continued success as a book for children learning to read still lies in its simple language as well as its the way “it expresses the anxieties associated with separation, describing alienation in a new and unfamiliar world” and how “it reflects the deep ties between mother and child.”[16]
P. D. Eastman died on January 7, 1986 of pneumonia in Cresskill, New Jersey. By the time he passed he had written and/or illustrated eighteen children’s books.
[1] "Random House Kids." About P.D. Eastman. Accessed February 10, 2015.
[2] Karl F. Cohen, Forbidden Animation, (North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1997), 181.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] "P(hilip) D(ey) Eastman." Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Biography in Context. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
[6] Cohen, Forbidden Animation, 176.
[7] Cohen, Forbidden Animation, 179.
[8] Cohen, Forbidden Animation, 179-180.
[9] "Random House Kids." About P.D. Eastman. Accessed February 10, 2015.
[10] Something About the Author. Vol. 46. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research, 1987. 74.
[11] NEL, PHILIP. "Children's Literature Goes to War: Dr. Seuss, P. D. Eastman, Munro Leaf, and the Private SNAFU Films (1943–46)." Journal Of Popular Culture 40, no. 3 (June 2007): 471.
[12] "P(hilip) D(ey) Eastman." Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Biography in Context. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
[13] "For Children Learning to Read." The School Librarian, 1982, 325-27.
[14] NEL, PHILIP. "Children's Literature Goes to War: Dr. Seuss, P. D. Eastman, Munro Leaf, and the Private SNAFU Films (1943–46)." Journal Of Popular Culture 40, no. 3 (June 2007): 474
[15] Homze, Alma. "Interpersonal Relations in Children's Literature 1920 —1960." Elementary English 43, no. 1 (1966): 28.
[16] "Are You My Mother? Finding the Self in (M)others." In Philosophy in Children's Literature, edited by Peter R. Costello. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2012. 63.