Video: In Memory of Blaine

The Hamilton Spectator's longtime editorial cartoonist Blaine died on February 5, 2012. He was 74.


Mark Mcneil for The Hamitlton Spectator:

Blaine, who was the newspaper’s editorial cartoonist for 30 years until his retirement in 1993, had been in poor health in recent years after heart surgery and a stroke and was living at Macassa Lodge. He died at Juravinski Hospital Sunday evening.

Here's a short video from Mike Cope. It's September 24, 2010. The Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists are having a show "Doodles to Digital: Editorial Cartooning in the 21st Century," at the Jean and Ross Fischer Gallery of the Art Gallery of Hamilton. I was touched by it.



More from The Hamitlton Spectator:

Blaine’s caricatures of Trudeau have a special meaning to The Spec’s current editorial cartoonist, Graeme MacKay. Years ago, as a Grade 10 student with a sketchbook tucked under his arm, MacKay went into The Spec’s newsroom to meet Blaine.

MacKay says he remembers the five-minute meeting with his hero in such detail that he can still play it like a short movie inside his head. It ends with Blaine grabbing a blue pencil and a piece of paper, and in a matter of seconds drawing a cartoon of Trudeau.

“I thought, ‘This guy is incredible,’” MacKay says. “I still have the drawing.”