Video: A brief history of cartooning at The State

Robert Ariail delivered a lecture last Thursday night, as part of the prestigious Calhoun Lecture Series at the Strom Thurmond Institute at Clemson U. It was about the history of cartooning in general, and at The State in particular.

Today, he dropped by my office to share an anecdote that he told up in Clemson, one which seems particularly apropos to share today, the day the news came out that his career at The State is coming to an end.

It's about the only other cartoonist The State ever actually employed full-time, back in the days of the Gonzales brothers, and why it took 74 years for the paper to hire one
after its first experience...

14 thoughts on “Video: A brief history of cartooning at The State”

Greg Flowers March 17, 2009 at 6:16 pm

Was there a third Gonzales brother? I forget. By 1910 of course N.G. had passed on.

Greg Flowers March 17, 2009 at 7:01 pm

You Tube now says the video is no longer available. What happened?

Brad Warthen March 17, 2009 at 7:03 pm

Yeah, I think Robert got carried away with his story. I was aware of that discrepancy while he was telling it, but didn’t want to stop him while he was on a roll. What I understood him to mean is that it happened back in that generation. The fact that we had moved on to Cole Blease suggests it’s a little after N.G.’s time. (And he’s right that the THEMES reflected in the 1910 cartoon WERE ones that the paper had sounded since its founding.) It’s still a good story, and I’m sure Robert told it more accurately in his lecture. He was talking off the top of his head to me, and he did get interrupted when his mother called me (she was very gracious as always, expressing her regret at my leaving). For that matter, we’re both a bit distracted right now.

Brad Warthen March 17, 2009 at 7:11 pm

… and it still works for me. I just played it again, to check — both here and on YouTube.
Anyway, you should also consider that Robert was just batting the breeze (he didn’t intend for it to be on video). As a veteran of thousands of interviews, I can tell you that most people make such errors in telling their stories. What you have to do is try to nail down all the consistencies before you write what they said.
Greg would make a good editor.

Greg Flowers March 17, 2009 at 9:41 pm

I wasn’t trying to be snarky (I have all the respect in the world for Robert) I just wanted to make certain I had not missed out on “Clovis- The Quiet Gonzales” or somthing of the sort.

Greg Flowers March 17, 2009 at 9:45 pm

But actually it seems (and I loaned my copy of Pierce’s biography of the paper to a friend who is writing a book on the assassination so I can’t check it) that perhaps there was a third brother who got involved with the paper after Ambrose and N.G.; but old age does terrible things to the memory and I’m not certin.

Greg Flowers March 17, 2009 at 10:06 pm

Maybe a William Elliot Gonzales?

Greg Flowers March 17, 2009 at 10:09 pm

Maybe a William Elliot Gonzales?

Dianne Chinnes March 18, 2009 at 5:25 pm

According to PALMETTOS AND OAKS by Robert A. Pierce there were three Gonzales brothers: Ambrose E., N. G. and William E.
Dianne

Greg Flowers March 18, 2009 at 6:42 pm

Thanks, Dianne. So Robert was right!

Brad Warthen March 19, 2009 at 11:12 am

Thanks, Dianne. And yes, I see that there were three.
So Robert was right all along. Of course.
William Elliot Gonzales joined the paper in 1891, its first year. The other was Ambrose, a name that continues in the family to the latest generation.