Would You Eat Them With a Fox?

A Portland, Oregon man filed a $2.5 million plagiarism suit against the estate of Doctor Seuss (aka Theodor Geisel), claiming that he is the true author of Daisy-Head Mayzie, a book published in 1995 and based on a manuscript discovered by Audrey Geisel, the famous writer’s widow, after her husband's death in 1991.

According to the Oregonian, 36-year-old Charles Augustus Steen III “claims the book, wherein Mayzie McGrew sprouts a daisy from her head, was based on his book The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Steen wrote [it] in 1991 and submitted it to a children's book company.... It was copyright but remains unpublished. Steen missed a date for filing final papers in the suit, and the case was dismissed.”

Angry at this turn of events, Steen wrote a play — The Tragical History of Audrey Geisel or How the Grinch Plagiarized My Goddamn Children's Story — and emailed a copy to Geisel's lawyers. Included in the email, according to the Oregonian, “was a photo of a lewd painting by Steen that, as described in the play, ‘shows the Cat in the Hat without a hat.’ In 2003 ... Steen was arrested and charged with extortion. He was sentenced to three years' probation and ordered to undergo anger management.”

The painting, visible on this page, shows the Cat and a blonde woman in flagrante delicto watched by other figures, including Cindy Lou Who and other happy children waving a copy of Time magazine.

Steen’s play premiered last week at Portland’s Someday Lounge, whose MySpace page notes: “This is the play that Mr. Steen e-mailed to Karl ZoBell, the Attorney for Dr. Seuss Enterprises on September 9th 2003, which caused DSE to commit perjury and obstruction of justice in order to have Mr. Steen arrested. The new version of the play has an added scene with attorney J. Tony Serra who represented Mr. Steen, who?s brother Richard received a million dollar grant from the very same people who lied to have Mr. Steen arrested. Before the play, Mr. Steen will give a fifteen minute slide show proving his innocence. on April 17th 2006 he was found NOT GUILTY and his record was expunged.”