P. D. Eastman


Philip Dey "Phil" Eastman was an American screenwriter, children's author, and illustrator. As an author, he is known primarily as P. D. Eastman.

Early life

Eastman was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to Clarence Willis and Ann Hull Eastman. After studying at Phillips Academy Andover and Williston Academy, he graduated from Amherst College in 1933 and later from the National Academy of Design in New York City.

Career

Film and animation

From 1936 to 1941, Eastman worked at Walt Disney Productions in assistant animation, story-sketch, and production design. From 1941 to 1942, he worked in the story department of, Warner Bros.'s cartoon unit, and was a member of Local Number Eight Hundred And Thirty-Nine of Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists, the trade union to which cartoonists belonged in the United States.
In 1942, Eastman was inducted into the Army and assigned to the Signal Corps film unit, which was headed by Theodor Geisel, who later became known as Dr. Seuss. Here, Eastman conducted picture planning for animated sequences in orientation and training films, and he also wrote scripts and drew storyboards for the Private Snafu series for Army-Navy Screen Magazine.
From 1945 to 1952, Eastman worked at United Productions of America. He was a writer and storyboard artist for the Mr. Magoo series. Eastman and Bill Scott co-wrote the screenplay for the animated comedy Gerald McBoing-Boing, which won an Academy Award for Short Subject, Cartoons, in 1950. Eastman also directed educational films and worked on the Flight Safety series for the United States Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics while at UPA.

Author and illustrator

Eastman was a protégé and colleague of Theodor Geisel by the time that Geisel had begun using the pen name of Dr. Seuss. He wrote many books for children in his own distinct style under the Dr. Seuss brand of Random House, many of which were in the Beginner Books series. His titles include:
He was the illustrator for:
He and Roy McKie both wrote but Eastman did not illustrate:
His work is included in:
Eastman was a member of the American Civil Liberties Union, Westport Artists, the Screen Cartoonists Guild, and the Audubon Society.

Family

Eastman was married in 1941 to Mary Louise Whitham of Glendale, California. He had two sons, Alan Eastman and Peter Anthony Eastman, an animator, who himself directed video adaptations of Richard Scarry's children's books. Peter has also written and illustrated Fred and Ted Go Camping, Fred and Ted Like to Fly, and Fred and Ted's Road Trip, and contributed new illustrations to several reissues of his father's books, The Alphabet Book, Big Dog... Little Dog, Red Stop! Green Go!, and The Cat in the Hat Beginner Book Dictionary.