The Cash in the Stash : Licensing Deals Present Classic Seuss Characters in New Formats

Could you, would you buy a hat? Not any hat, but one with the Cat? Or a tie, or a shirt or a school backpack?

For two generations, parents have been snapping up enough Dr. Seuss children’s books to make them top sellers. Now a handful of companies are trying to cash in on that popularity with merchandise based on fanciful Seuss characters--the Grinch, Sam-I-Am and the Cat in the Hat.

There are clothes and accessories for infants, children and adults--many of whom enjoyed the Seuss books as kids. There are two educational CD-ROMs based on Seuss stories, with three others on the way.

In October, Nickelodeon began airing “The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss,” a puppet series created by Jim Henson Productions, which plans preschool clothing and toys based on the program. Coming next year: Dr. Seuss watches and a line of greeting cards.

That only scratches the surface. Seuss creatures “have huge potential,” said Betts FitzGerald, vice president of licensing at Jim Henson Productions. “It is a classic property--like Snoopy, Garfield and Mickey Mouse.”

Until recently, the whimsical Seuss menagerie has been kept locked away in books. Author Theodor Geisel turned down most offers to license the characters he created for his 47 children’s stories. But after his death in 1991, Geisel’s wife, Audrey, opened the door to merchandising.

Her husband’s longtime attorney Karl ZoBell and International Creative Management agent Herb Cheyette advised her to license the characters to keep them from falling into the public domain. They told her counterfeiting had become a problem. According to ZoBell, the 75-year-old widow risked losing the rights to Seuss works if she did not use them.

Thus began the official Seuss stampede.

Licensing executives say the decades-old characters have broad appeal. Clothing manufacturer Esprit de Corp said its Seuss gear is popular with teenage girls--and their fathers. Silk ties with the Grinch or the Cat are strong holiday sellers, partly thanks to placement in Bloomingdale’s Christmas catalog.

The Seuss license has been rewarding for Esprit. Introduced in mid-1995, the line accounts for about 10% of the company’s annual sales of $250 million. Esprit expects Seuss merchandise sales to grow 70% by next spring, as the company pushes into college bookstores.

Also benefiting is software manufacturer Living Books, a venture between Broderbund and Seuss book publisher Random House. Its electronic rendition of “Green Eggs and Ham,” released in October, is the fifth best-selling educational CD-ROM.

Neither Audrey Geisel nor her advisors would say what the Seuss deals are worth. The amount is no doubt into the tens of millions. The agreement with Living Books alone was into the seven figures. Royalties from the books and TV specials alone have annually generated between $7 million and $10 million in residual payments. They said much of the revenue goes to charity.

The big numbers show the Seuss license has become a sought-after children’s property. Hollywood producers competing for the television rights staged extravagant performances of their proposed shows for Audrey Geisel and her advisors at Beverly Hills offices of ICM.

To nab the movie rights to “Cat in the Hat” for DreamWorks SKG, director Steven Spielberg made several trips to Audrey Geisel’s La Jolla home, along with “Forrest Gump” screenwriter Eric Roth. Work on the film is expected to get underway next year, the 40th anniversary of publication of “The Cat in the Hat.”

Murmurings are that the movie, along with toy merchandise related to it, won’t be out until 1998. But other anniversary events are planned, beginning with a guest appearance by the Cat during the halftime show of the nationally televised Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day. There will be book giveaways and premium offers.

As the marketing blitz hits, there is the worry that the Cat & Co. could go the way of other hyped children’s characters, such as the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Working with her advisors, Audrey Geisel says she is trying to avoid overexposure, rejecting dozens of deals for each one she accepts.

She isn’t interested in putting Seuss characters on eyeglasses or toothbrushes, too small to accommodate cartoon images, or uncuddly cereals or canned pasta. “I don’t want to go into the supermarket and go up and down the aisle and see Seuss,” she said.

Yet no one can really project the saturation point. “You really don’t know until you get there,” said Bill Lampl, vice president of Esprit’s Dr. Seuss division.

Through her Dr. Seuss Enterprises, Audrey Geisel guards the integrity of her husband’s creations. She has final approval on clothing designs and weighs in on CD-ROM scripts, which include new dialogue.

Esprit scrapped a T-shirt design that had the Grinch juggling some objects when Audrey Geisel reminded them that in the books “only the Cat juggles.” She approved an alternative proposal, showing the Grinch on a surfboard.

Author Geisel was extremely wary about licensing his creations. According to ZoBell, Geisel once returned an eight-figure fee to a toy company because he was not happy with the prototypes.

But Audrey Geisel thinks her husband would like the expanding universe of Seuss merchandise. “I think he sensed that after he was gone it would grow and there would be no stopping it,” she said. “He thought somehow I’d be able to manage it.”