Bill Mauldin exhibit opens

Mark Anderson points us to an article over in the Chicago Tribune about a Bill Mauldin exhibit that opened up on Friday at the Jean Albano Gallery.  There are some interesting historical tidbits about Bill that I didn’t know, such as:

Mauldin won the Pulitzer Prize for these drawings when he was 23. His first collection of cartoons, “Up Front,” became a bestseller. He abandoned cartooning for a time, tried his hand at acting (he costarred with WW II hero Audie Murphy in the 1951 John Huston-directed film version of “The Red Badge of Courage”), wrote a memoir and made an unsuccessful run for Congress in New York.

Those interested in purchasing a bit of editorial cartoon history, there are original cartoons for sale as well as prints.

One interesting closing statement.

The Chicago Tribune currently has no full-time editorial cartoonist on staff, not since the great Jeff MacNelly died at 52 in 2000. I showed some of Mauldin’s work to editorial page editor Bruce Dold. He smiled and said, “They don’t make ’em like MacNelly and Mauldin anymore.”

Would he hire Mauldin if he walked in the door today?

“In a second,” said Dold. “In a second.”

I can think of a few near MacNellys living today.  Somehow I think the Chicago Tribune’s vacant editorial cartooning spot isn’t because of the lack of talent out in the field.

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