Gus Arriola

Gustavo "Gus" Arriola (July 17, 1917 – February 2, 2008) was an American comic strip cartoonist and animator, primarily known for the comic strip Gordo, which ran from 1941 through 1985.

Biography

Gus Arriola was born in Florence, Arizona, the youngest of nine children. Arriola's father, Aquiles Arriola, had been born on a hacienda in Sonora, Mexico. During World War II, he directed training films for the United States Army while continuing to produce Sunday Gordo cartoons. Gordo was initially designed to be a Mexican version of Li'l Abner, with a highly caricatured style and a lazy overweight title character who spoke in heavily accented English and took naps under a tree wearing a sombrero.

After his early strips were criticized for Hollywood-style cultural stereotypes, Arriola realized that his was the only periodical work in American mass media that depicted life in Mexico and modified the strip to be more sympathetic. A much thinner and contemplative Gordo eventually became a flirtatious tour guide, whom Arriola often described as an "accidental ambassador" for Mexican culture. The strip introduced America to such now-popular words and phrases as "hasta la vista", "amigo", "piñata", "compadre", "muchacho" and "hasta mañana", as well as Mayan, Aztec and Mexican customs, history and folklore.

Arriola did all of the writing, illustration and production of Gordo himself, creating strips every day (except in his army years) for 45 years.

On February 20, 2008, the comic strip Baldo noted, "In memory of our amigo Gus Arriola, 1917–2008." The March 21, 2008, version of the comic strip La Cucaracha, by Lalo Alcaraz, was also a tribute to Arriola.

Awards 1957 and 1965 – National Cartoonists Society Humor Comic Strip Award 1969 Gus Arriola receives a letter of praise by Consul General of Mexico Adolfo S. Dominguez for his educational work on Gordo (comic strip) 2007 – Arts Council for Monterey, California Lifetime Achievement Award