ACCIDENTAL AMBASSADOR GORDO – THE COMIC STRIP ART OF GUS ARRIOLA
ACCIDENTAL AMBASSADOR GORDO – THE COMIC STRIP ART OF GUS ARRIOLA by ROBERT C. HARVEY and GUS ARRIOLA, University Press of Mississippi, 2000.
Retails for $25.00
The book is a very complete biography of Gus Arriola and a history of his work. There are many – MANY – pages of GORDO strips, including a few of the Sundays in color. Every GORDO fan should have this. And everyone who has this will be a GORDO FAN.
My favorite part of the book is when I was reading my copy and on page 4, it reads, “The pervasiveness of Gordo’s influence is perhaps better captured by letters from readers, like Jim Guida, who wrote Arriola several years after the cartoonist had retired.” You see, I am Jim Guida and I had no idea my name was in this book. Quite a thrill. Send me your copy and I’ll autograph it!
GREAT COMIC CATS
Malcolm Whyte, Pomogranate Communications, Rohnert Park, California, 2001. This book dedicates six pages to Poosy Gato and features him on the back cover. It is amazingly affordable (seriously – ten cents?) at Amazon.com and elsewhere.
NEAR MINT – A Fanzine for Students, Fans, and Pros of Comic Books, Old Movies and Art
#21 -May 1982 A four-page interview of Gus Arriola celebrating GORDO’S 40th Anniversary.
BALDO (http://www.baldocomics.com/about.php) is a terrific comic strip being published today, although this strip, generously provided by Mark Burstein, a personal friend of Gus and Francis Arriola, is from August 2001.
GORDO CHRISTMAS STORIES – These stories can be found complete elsewhere on this website
CHRISTMAS WITH GORDO is an undated, unpublished, and, as far as I know, unproduced half-hour animated TV special. The story concerns eight-year old New Yorker, Linda Morrison, who wants to stay in Mexico for Christmas instead of returning to her empty New York apartment. Her parents agree and she spends the days before Posada enjoying all the holiday traditions of Mexico, including the food, the parties, and the music.
The introductory material reads “Gordo has enjoyed success and popularity for 28 years,” which would put it around the mid-70’s. It is written in prose and not in “script” style by Jameson Brewer and produced by William Bronson. Jameson Brewer (1916-2003) has an extensive list of writing credits on IMDB, from 1955 to 1999. I have a copy which I hope to include on this website soon.
THE GORDO CHRISTMAS SPECIAL is a half-hour animated special, written by Carol A. Kerney of San Diego and produced by Al Lowenheim of Lion’s Den, Ltd., of La Jolla, CA. Executive producers are William N. Kerney and Al Lowenheim. It is undated and the introductory text claims “a readership totalling over 30,000,000 people.” The story is in prose, not script, and has a very religious tone, actually claiming the birth of Christ as “the true spirit of Christmas,” as opposed to most Christmas shows which don’t mention Christ.
There are no IMDB listings or any other evidence that either of the two stories above were ever produced.
HOGAN’S ALLEY – #6 Vol 2, No. 2
A long and interesting interview with Gus Arriola, conducted and written by John Province. Much of what is written here can be found in ACCIDENTAL AMBASSADOR, but there is enough new information to be of interest to the Gus Arriola collector. eBay – $5.00. Although the printed page is preferred, the interview is posted elsewhere on this website.
THE COMICS JOURNAL
December 2000 – http://www.tcj.com/the-comics-journal-no-229-december-2000/ Although the printed page is preferred, the interview is posted elsewhere on this website.
March 2004 – an article written by RC Harvey on Gus Arriola’s good friend, Eldon Dedini, quoting Arriola http://www.tcj.com/viewing-life-through-a-twinkle/
REFERENCE BOOKS WITH GUS ARRIOLA
Taken from www.AskART.com
DAVENPORT’S ART REFERENCE: THE GOLD EDITION
Ray Davenport 2005
THE ARTISTS BLUEBOOK: 34,000 North American Artists to March 2005
AskART.om Inc. – Dunbier, Lonnier Pierson (Editor) 479 pages 2005
ARTISTS IN CALIFORNIA: 1786 – 1940 (Two volumes)
Edwin Milton Hughes 1249 pages 2002
WHO WAS WHO IN AMERICAN ART, 1564-1975 (3 Volumes)
Peter Hastings Falk (Editor) 3724 pages 1999
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN COMICS – FROM 1897 TO PRESENT (1990)
Ron Goulart (Editor) 408 pages 1990 (color)
CARMEL ART ASSOCIATION TODAY
Gael Donovan 909 pages 1988
WHO’S WHO IN AMERICAN ART – 1959: AMERICAN BIOGRAPHIES
Dorothy B. Gilbert 718 pages 1959