Gustav or Fish Out of Water

I was flipping through the pages of  the newly published  Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories when I found the story of Gustav the Goldfish. While reading the first few lines, I realized that it was  the same story as Fish Out of Water by Helen Marion Palmer. Now, I knew that Theodore Geisel used several pseudonyms, most famously Dr. Seuss, but also Rosetta Stone, and Theo Lesieg; but I'd never seen Helen Palmer mentioned as a pen name. I just know in my gut that Theodore Geisel would never have plagiarized another author's books,  so a-googling I went. It didn't take long to learn that Helen Marion Palmer was Dr. Seuss's first wife. They were married for 40 years but it was not a good ending for Helen. She committed suicide after battling cancer and chronic pain for thirteen years. Eight months later, Theodore Geisel married Audrey Dimond, who had been the wife of his friend, Dr. E. Grey Dimond. In Seuss's own words, "My best friend is being divorced and I'm going to Reno to comfort his wife." This whole story is interesting on a number of levels. Who wrote the story of Gustave the Goldfish/ Fish Out of Water? Dr. Seuss? his wife? or was it a joint writing project? Whoever wrote it, Dr. Seuss is getting credit for it now. After all,  if you published a story by Helen Palmer, everyone would say, "Who?" The other thing that makes this bit of trivia so delightful is that I was in the workroom filing books and talking to a co-worker about  Gustave the Goldfish and the Fish Out of Water , when the boss chimed in,
"Helen Palmer, that's another pseudonym for Theodore Geisel. Helen Palmer and Dr. Seuss are the same person." I dropped silent and then just as pleasantly as possible,  said, "Actually they're not, Helen Palmer was Theodore Geisel's first wife." as I watched her face turn bright red. And that's the way our society worked in the fifties,  men always got the credit, whether they were the ones claiming their spouse's intellectual property or whether it was just assumption made by society. 

So what would Helen Palmer think of the newly published Bippolo Seed? I'm guessing she would have been just fine with it;

Helen's last note to Ted: "Dear Ted, What has happened to us? I don't know. I feel myself in a spiral, going down down down, into a black hole from which there is no escape, no brightness. And loud in my ears from every side I hear, 'failure, failure, failure... I love you so much ... I am too old and enmeshed in everything you do and are, that I cannot conceive of life without you ... My going will leave quite a rumor but you can say I was overworked and overwrought. Your reputation with your friends and fans will not be harmed ... Sometimes think of the fun we had all thru the years ..."
Source: Judith and Neil Morgan. Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel: A Biography. pg. 195.