EDITORIAL CARTOONS – BACKGROUND

My first job after graduating from art school was helping prepare a special geology exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History.  Each day I would walk through a different section of the museum to get to my workplace, absorbing the wonders on display.  When the six months project I had been hired for was complete, I reluctantly chose to move on, where my abilities would face a greater challenge.

I obtained a job in the Art Department of NEWSDAY on Long Island.  When the political cartoonist left, I applied for the position.  At that point, I had never drawn a political cartoon, but the publisher, Alicia Patterson, liked the examples I submitted, and I got my chance to learn on the  job.  I drew the editorial cartoons for Newsday for nine years, leaving only when the publishers, Harry Guggenheim and Alicia Patterson, died, and the paper was sold.

Drawing a political cartoon six days a week was a challenge.  I was sometimes asked to illustrate the day’s editorial at the daily conference.  Other days I could come up with my own ideas.  Alicia Patterson was a Liberal, and her husband Harry Guggenheim was a conservative, so although nothing was ever told me specifically, I was aware there was a fine line I couldn’t cross.  Overall, I was largely free to express my own opinions.  But Alicia Patterson’s love for animals is reflected in many cartoons.

I hope you enjoy looking at the selected cartoons as they bring back the history of the times and passing parade of well-known figures.

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