[Gordo image grabbed from Toonpedia]
Gordo cartoonist Gus Arriola dies in Carmel
by Wyatt Buchanan, San Francisco Chronicle, 3 February 2008
"My main goal was to maintain a positive awareness of Mexico through all the years, every day, without being political," he said in 1989. "When I started, words like 'burrito' were unknown in the United States."
Arriola began the strip in 1941, turning an earlier cartoon's Mexican bandit - who was fat and rather dull - into a bean farmer. He sold the idea to United Features.
Some early strips were criticized by Mexican American readers as a crude stereotype, so Arriola changed Gordo's occupation and his appearance, making him more svelte. He also lost his thick Mexican accent and became more worldly-wise.
….Although he didn't visit Mexico himself until 1961, Arriola learned about Mexican culture from his father, born on a hacienda in the Mexican state of Sonora, and from growing up as the youngest of nine in Florence, Ariz., about 120 miles northwest of the border. He would later recall that he learned to speak English by reading the Sunday funny pages.
….Arriola told The Chronicle that he identified with Gordo "not because he chases girls but because of the freedom he enjoys." ….
Gus Arriola
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