With all eyes on the pandemic there are very few cartoons being drawn about the presidential election. Trump still dominates cartoons, along with nasty coronavirus monster-balls, but poor Joe Biden has become almost invisible. I thought I would scour the database for nice, recent Biden cartoons, and there were enough for only two posts of Biden cartoons. Here they are, the recent Biden cartoons, with part two tomorrow.
We may end up re-electing Trump simply because we all forgot that there is a presidential election this year.
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No coronavirus cartoons today (you should go to Cagle.com for that). My legendary cartoonist buddy Randy Enos shares another story about his early days as a cartoonist.
We had all heard the stories, of course, but we didn’t really believe them. So, when I graduated from the 5th grade at the Merrimac Street School in 1946 and was about to start at the Parker Street School, I went with no real idea about the awful terrors I, and my doomed classmates were about to encounter.
Life at Merrimac had been sweet and carefree. Behind the medieval- looking building, there was a nice little playground. I envied my best friend Ottello because he lived but a few strides across the street. He could wake up late and just saunter over to school, whereas I had to often brave snowstorms that pushed so hard on my little body as I crossed the Common that many times I almost gave up to go back to my warmhouse.
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Each morning all the classrooms assembled in the halls, upstairs and down, as we pledged allegiance to the flag. An old Victrola was hand cranked. The little wooden doors on its base were openedand the creaky sounds of The Star Spangled Banner wafted up the stairway to our young ears. Ah, the good ol’ days… we’d soon be missing them … very … very … soon.
I went on through the 6th grade at Parker St. School and then it happened. In the 7th and 8th grade, for the first time we had a home room and went off to other rooms for other classes. My home room was my English class. I had a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Brown, who happened to live in my neighborhood . I would see her sometimes sitting on her front porch rocker.
Across the hall was my history/geography class presided over by a viciously cruel and petty teacher… the absolute WORST teacher in the New Bedford school system known all over town by kids who didn’t even go to this school … the infamous, BULLDOG BENNET!
Parker St. School
She was very short and squat with a pile of grey hair on her head and squinty slanted eyes and a face that looked EXACTLY like a bulldog. She had a permanent scowl. We never saw her smile. We came to think that she wasn’t even capable of smiling. Almost everyone in class was in terror of her and kids could be seen visibly shaking as they entered her class every day. Of course there were a few goody- good “teacher’s pets” who sailed through the two years unscathed, but certainly not your humble narrator. I got insanely awful grades. My father, a former dirt-poor immigrant kid who had never attended school in his whole life, was a stickler for me getting good grades (which I did achieve in Geometry, surprise surprise) and English. But, fortune, never the less, shined down on me due to the fact that Miss Bennet was an ardent right-wing, very outspoken bigot and snob. My father was an ardent Socialistic union man who loved Roosevelt. When my dad heard my terror tales of the horrors going on in my history and geography class, he forgave my bad grades … PHEW!He hated her as much as I did.
She loved to embarrass us kids in class. One time she made us stand and tell what church we went to. I was a product of an atheist household without benefit of a religion so I had to make up a lie about going to some Portuguese church to avoid the obvious confrontation that would have ensued. Anything she could pick on with a kid-victim was fodder for her seething, snarling scorn. Each day she would feed us her political propaganda woven into the history and geography lesson and I would report it back home to dad.
My home room, with the wonderful Mrs. Brown, was my safe haven. One day, knowing my interest in becoming an artist, she asked if I would like to undertake a mural for the classroom. It was to go all the way around the room except for the front blackboards which were used for the lessons. For some reason we were blessed with blackboards on the sides and back of the room. Supplied with colored chalks, I decided I would create a detailed jungle masterpiece peopled with parrots, monkeys, vines and colorful flowers. Sometimes Mrs. Brown would excuse me from the regular class involvement (remember I got good grades in English) to work on my project while the other poor slobs had to recite and compose and read. I loved my mural commission and really got lost in the jungle, inventing the swooping branches, vines and flora that housed my acrobatic monkeys and wildly colorful parrots. I’d stay late in class after school often to work on it.
One day, as I was engaged in my artistic endeavor with only Mrs. Brown at her desk, I became aware of another presence in the room. I turned slowly around to see the awful Bulldog Bennet standing in the doorway glowering at me. Time stopped dead as she spoke … “If he spent half the time attending to his lessons as he does to his art, he’d probably make something of himself!” By Mrs. Brown’s expression and the comments, she made at that point, I could tell that she shared my dislike for our neighbor across the hall.
Bennet went on for those two years bragging that when she was a schoolgirl she would weep if she got only an A, instead of an A+. She would invite the two or three girls who were her favorites to her house for tea and then, the next day, tell us all what fun they all had.
When we all finally graduated to New Bedford High School it was like a deadly curse had been lifted from our battered psyches.
Years and years later, after I was well into my illustration and cartooning career and my mother had died and my father had retired and was doing volunteer work for the Red Cross, he told me that he was regularly taking residents of a nursing home for drives in his car just so they could get out and around a little. He said, “You’ll never guess who is one of my regular ladies … Bulldog Bennet! He said that she was a little shriveled and quite senile version of her old self. He also told me that he always stopped somewhere to buy the ladies an ice cream cone on their trips. He said that the only thing he would ever hear out of her little high, squeaky, cracked voice was… ” Ice cream … ice cream … ice cream!”
And, so, that’s the way it ended for the infamous Bulldog Bennet … a tiny pitiful voice pleading to my dad “Ice cream … ice cream … ice cream!”
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Here is part two of our BLAME CHINA cartoons! See part one with cartoons defending China pushing against criticism. Since we hear so much about China from the Trump administration, it is interesting that most of the China bashing cartoons come from the international cartoonists.
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We had a tie for the most popular cartoon this week (April 11 – 18) here are both. Scroll down for the next EIGHT of our ten most popular and most reprinted editorial cartoons from last week (which are below the video).
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This popular cartoon by John Darkow rounds out the top ten.
Tomorrow we’ll have part two of the BLAME CHINA cartoons (see Blame China! Part One in case you missed it), and then we’ll have a new remembrance by my cartoonist buddy, the legendary Randy Enos.
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I’m starting out with the cartoons from Luojie, our CagleCartoonist from Beijing who draws for The China Daily, China’s state owned, national English language newspaper. Loujie draws the Chinese government’s official point of view, pushing back against the criticism coming from America.
Interestingly, most of the “blame China” cartoons come from international cartoonists and few come from American cartoonists, even though China focuses on criticism coming from the USA.
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President Trump claims that he wasn’t late in taking action about the pandemic, he argues that he was early, by declaring a travel ban on China on January 31st, to take effect on February 2nd. Trump’s claims are in dispute and there have been many reports of early warnings that the White House didn’t respond to, and recommendations of stronger measures that Trump should have ordered earlier.
Among those sounding an early alarm about the coronavirus threat are the world’s editorial cartoonists. Here is a batch of cartoons from our cartoon first-responders who were among the first to draw about the threat.
This quote is from our conservative cartoonist, Rick McKee,
My first coronavirus cartoon is dated January 31, and I remember thinking at the time, “I wonder if enough people know about this to get the reference?” I was following the story very closely while the virus was still limited to China and hearing stories about how they were quarantining residents by welding them in their homes, monitoring them with drones and building emergency hospitals in 10 days. I knew this was not a normal virus and if it came to the US, things would get bad very quickly. My son lives in Los Angeles and I remember the first documented case of the COVID-19 virus was in L.A. on January 23 at LAX. I texted him that day to alert him to start preparing for the possibility of a city-wide lockdown. Rick McKee
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Here are the 10 most popular and most reprinted CagleCartoons for the week of April 5th through April 11th. These are the cartoons that editors download the most, in high resolution, to be published in their newspapers. Enjoy!
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Steve Sack (This cartoon was the most popular of the week, twice as popular as #2.)
Here are my newest, favorite EASTER cartoons! Happy Easter, be well!
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I was saddened to learn this morning that cartooning legend, Mort Drucker has passed away at 91.
I grew up loving Mort’s brilliant artwork in Mad Magazine and he was a great influence on my own work. I think Mort was the greatest caricature artist ever. Mort drew the best and most memorable Mad Magazine movie and tv parodies.
I got to know Mort through the National Cartoonists Society. Other cartoonists would trail after him and ask him to draw their portrait, to which Mort would always respond to draw the backs of their heads –that was easier, and quick, and it looked just like them. Mort was a gentleman. I also like that he called everyone “darling.”
Mort was a staple in advertising and magazines, not just in Mad Magazine. He drew tons of magazine covers, advertising and movie posters, including the iconic poster for American Graffiti. I loved his work in black and white, but his color was fantastic. Mort painted over his ink linework with Dr. Martin’s Dyes, a difficult medium that I could never wrap my head around, but it made his colors glow.
The video below comes from the National Cartoonists Society. It shows Mort interviewed by John Reiner (a great guy who is a brilliant caricature artist himself).
This piece is the front cover of Mort’s book, “Mad About the Movies” …
A fond memory of Mort who drew many Star Wars parodies …
Mort did lots of advertising work. The odd map (below), of how to get to the Mortgage Bankers Association convention in Atlantic City, was a strange journey for me. The ad agency had hired Mort Drucker to do it, and Mort quit after doing the sketch. The job paid pretty well, and Mort’s sketch was nice, so I gave him a call and asked, “What’s up with this job?” I paraphrase from my 30 year old memory – Mort told me this was a job from hell, and the art directors had so many changes he couldn’t stand it any more.” I asked if he minded that I take the job and work from his sketch, and Mort was fine with that, as long as he never had to hear from those art directors again. So I rendered this brochure artwork from Mort’s lovely, rough sketch. And the art directors from hell didn’t give me any trouble – I think Mort wore them down before I stepped in.
If I was an art director, I would never think of asking Mort Drucker to make changes.
Twenty years later, in 2008, the mortgage bankers would destroy the economy – oh! The irony!
Mort is my hero. He taught a generation how to draw. His inspiration lives on.
Photo from the National Cartoonists Society – and probably from my buddy, photographer Greg Preston.
Our Planet COVID-19 posts end today – unfortunately, the coronavirus may go on for months. I think the cartoonists are doing their best work as they are stuck at home. Disasters bring out the best in cartoonists, and their work is more important now than ever. At the same time, the pandemic is taking a terrible toll on newspapers and we’re seeing a collapse of newspapers now that will bring on a collapse of our political cartooning profession. Please visit Cagle.com/heroes to see what you can do to help save the cartoons.
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Here’s a nice 13 year old post from my friend, Tom Richmond
